Part Three: The Traveler Chapter 18: The Interrogation of “White Shark”
Pounce!
The bartender fell to the floor, curling up in a ball and rolling around in pain.
”White Shark” Hamilton grunted heavily, said nothing, and turned his head toward the second floor, making the wooden steps creak.
After the hilarity was over, the drunks dispersed, and Captain Erland and the others returned to the upper floor unaffected, continuing to play cards.
Crane took the opportunity to follow them up the stairs.
He returned to the Flying Fish and Wine, not to deal with the White Shark for non-existent hazards, but purely to find out more information from the barkeep, who had connections with several pirate forces. After all, the hidden meaning of his new identity, Gelman, was to hunt down pirates with blood on their hands, replacing the “writhing hunger” of those to be released with their spirit, flesh and extraordinary properties.
Damir Harbor had no gas resources, and the second-floor aisles were dimly lit by flickering brass sconces set into the walls on either side.
As he surveyed his surroundings, Klein reached up and wiped a hand across his face, silently transforming into one of the guards on the first floor.
As for the difference in clothing and decorations, he made up for it with his ability to create illusions.
Ready to go, he headed for the “White Shark” Hamilton room in his psychic intuition.
He was the first to pass by the card-playing area without attracting any attention.
He came to a couple of guards guarding the passageway, stopped himself, and lowered his voice:
”There’s something going on downstairs again.”
”Storm on top, what the hell is going on tonight?” One of the guards sighed out.
”Let’s hope the kagome’s don’t get hurt.” Another guard said with slight concern.
He was referring to the prostitutes that were attached to the bar.
”They’re fine.” Klein stepped past the guards to the door of the White Shark and cautiously raised his hand to knock.
”Who?” Hamilton asked warily.
”Boss, it’s me, there’s another situation downstairs!” Klein said in a deliberately hoarse voice as he recalled the name calling information he had gotten while watching the action earlier.
”Damn it!” Hamilton roared, “Get in here and tell us what’s going on!”
Klein twisted the handle and stepped inside.
As he closed the door smoothly, he lifted the illusion and his face muscles wriggled sharply as he changed back to his last identity – a blonde-haired, blue-eyed new drinker with ordinary features.
”You ……” Hamilton froze at first, then opened his mouth wide and tried to shout.
At the same time, pieces of illusory fish scales surfaced on the back of his hands, and his already tall and obese body swelled another round.
Suddenly, his heartbeat thumped faster, and a strong fear originating from instinct strangled his throat.
At this moment, he felt that the stranger standing by the door was a demon that had been starving for many days and was scrutinizing his own flesh and blood and soul back and forth with a cold, thirsty gaze.
For a moment, “White Shark” Hamilton was in a state of extreme panic, unable to respond effectively.
Klein slowly walked over to the sofa position, sat down, and politely smiled:
”Can we communicate calmly now?”
The feeling of being stared at by a horrifying monster disappeared with a huff, and Hamilton became relaxed all of a sudden, while his body was like a balloon that had been punctured and dried up.
He stopped recklessly calling for help and asked with sweat on his forehead:
”Who are you? What do you want?”
”A hunter.” Klein replied casually, “I’ve heard that you’re connected to multiple pirate forces, and I’d like to know accordingly.”
”No, I don’t ……” “White Shark” Hamilton subconsciously denied.
He immediately felt that maddening hunger to the extreme again, and only felt that the eyes of the man opposite him seemed to be tinted with a dark red.
Klein mentally weighed the persona and smiled svelte:
”You have two choices.
”One is to answer frankly, or to be killed by me and then, answer frankly.”
Killing a psychic? “White Shark” Hamilton had heard similar rumors and swallowed hard and said:
”Why do you want to know these circumstances?”
Klein flashed a smile and said:
”I’m a hunter, and I chase bounties.”
Hamilton suddenly felt an indescribable meaning of madness in the other party’s courteous smile, and couldn’t help but take off his mouth:
”Are you, are you mad?
”I have seen many similar adventurers, but all of them were buried at the bottom of the sea!
”It’s not difficult to hunt a pirate alone, but can you guard against subsequent retaliation? A prostitute in a bar, an ordinary looking customer, might be a pirate informant! An accomplice friendly with you can be bribed to shoot you in the back at any time! The pirates will gather information in advance and surround your ship, can you protect all the passengers? Can you survive the bombardment of artillery, in a sea where you can’t escape?”
After venting his inner fears in one breath, he saw the man across from him, who called himself the Hunter, blossom into a Sven and gentle smile once more:
”Kill them all and you won’t have these problems.”
…… The real madman …… “White Shark” Hamilton inhaled a breath and said:
”I am in contact with many of the pirates, but it’s all passive, the cash, jewelry, and goods they grab need to be sold, they need to be exchanged for spirits, food, fresh water, weapons, and the comfort of women, and that has to go through me, but all I can do is wait for them here, not knowing exactly where their ships are traveling, and what their latest targets are.”
”And?” Klein asked without moving.
Just now he answered, mainly to scare “white shark”, as for the pirate’s retaliation, he is not worried at all, as a “faceless man”, if it is so easy to be found, it would be better to find a place to sink to the bottom of the sea.
And …… “White Shark” Hamilton throat wriggled, did not immediately do sure or negative description.
He closed his mouth tightly, looking at the gentleman wearing a half-height silk bowler hat, and the other side of the calm introverted as if brewing madness in the eyes of the stare up.
The disquieting silence was like the sea before a storm, gently reverberating, crashing, fermenting.
Finally, Hamilton averted his eyes and annoyingly propped his hands on the table in front of him and said:
”Yes, I’m still gathering information for them, and if there’s any urgent information, I’ll utilize the radio they’ve given me to alert them.”
”White Shark didn’t dare to take any chances, fearing that the other party had the unique and extraordinary ability to judge whether he was telling the truth or not, whether he was telling the whole truth or not.
”Radio?” Crane, who had succeeded in his gaming, caught a term keenly.
”That’s what they told me to call it, similar to a telegraph, but without the wire.” Hamilton turned to the off-white safe and crouched down.
Wireless telegraphy? Pirates were so high-tech now? Klein vaguely guessed what the other man was talking about with the radio.
He had once thought of inventing something similar, but as a result of flipping through the corresponding magazines, he realized that wireless telegraphy had already appeared a long time ago, only that it hadn’t found its own place in the commercial field for the time being – the Raging Sea that separated the north and south continents was constantly flashing with lightning and thunder, the magnetic field was disturbed, and storms were rampant, and there were only a handful of navigational paths that could be traveled, so even if it was equipped with a Wireless telegraphy was also nearly useless, similarly, the Misty Sea and the Sunia Sea had drastic weather changes, and there were many factors affecting electromagnetic propagation, so the application of wireless telegraphy was greatly restricted.
Could it be that an improved model has been developed to solve some of these problems? Klein watched “White Shark” pry open the floor in front of the safe, and by twisting the device, a secret door appeared on the wall.
Behind the secret door was a hidden cabinet divided into three compartments, the top shelf held some documents and bills, the center had revolvers, new semi-armed guns and other weapons, and the bottom was stuffed with complex black machinery.
Crane just glanced at it and judged that the mechanical creation belonged to a radio station through his impressions from his previous life and the information he had gathered before.
”That’s the thing, they call it a radio, the message tapped out can be received as far as something similar in the Rothschild Islands, anything further than that has to depend on the weather and rely on luck, and usually, usually it’s a pain in the ass, lots of restrictions.” Hamilton did not know much about it, and described it vaguely accordingly, from what he had been taught and from his experience in using it.
It is more powerful than the new radios that are currently being commercialized …… and I don’t know who invented them …… Klein listened quietly and asked directly:
”Who are they?”
He made himself act like a bounty hunter who didn’t know anything about technology.
”White Shark,” Hamilton wiped the cold sweat from his forehead:
”The ‘Silver Coin Viper’ O’Dell, who claims to be in the service of the ‘Dawn’s’ master, and Old Quinn, the intelligence officer of the ‘Admiral Above the Blood’, they were together when they appeared, and I can’t confirm that they’re working together, but of course, Odell has always only claimed that.”
”The owner of the Dawn, the Mysterious Queen?” Klein retracted his gaze, and a gold coin was in his hand at some point.
The gold coin kept rolling between his fingers, and finally jumped into the air and fell down, looking at the “White Shark” with uncertainty and trembling.
Glancing down, Klein slowly stood up.
Just then, he suddenly asked:
”Who gave you the magic potion?”
”Old, old Quinn ……,” Hamilton hesitated or chose to answer frankly.
Klein nodded gently, no longer inquiring, and turned towards the door.
Clang! The wooden door opened and closed, and the figure in the black tweed coat disappeared into the “white shark” room.
Hamilton held his breath, waited for more than ten seconds, and finally took a long breath.
He quickly wiped the sweat off his face, moved the radio to the table, flipped out a code book, and busily tapped a telegram into the distance:
”I’m being watched!
”Strange fellow!”
Beside the absorbed Hamilton, Klein watched quietly with his hands in his pockets, taking in all the contents of the band spectrum and the code book.
His departure just now was just a large-scale illusion show, more than enough to deal with White Shark, a low serializer of the “sailor” path.
As for the question of whether or not he would be able to remember the specific contents afterward, the “Diviner” did not need to think about it, and could recall them all with a single “dream divination”.
”Blood on the General” and his men love to kill, love blood, keen on violence against women, every time they plunder passenger ships, always create a tragedy …… This is a recognized thing, and they themselves are also very proud of this, always do not mince words! …… The target of hunting, the object of adventure, prioritize them …… Klein thought briefly and took the opportunity of Hamilton packing up the radio to prepare to really leave the room.
He does not intend to deal with the “white shark” for the time being, for fear of disturbing the real prey, in any case, this kind of body on land, have a fixed territory, and by their own hold the handle of the guy, afterward a letter of complaint can be easily resolved.
Kline’s silent footsteps, the door slowly cracked open, and then quietly closed, bringing in a slight cool breeze.