"Ed? Do you need help?"

Jason's voice came from above.

Ed's head popped out of the cave entrance to answer.

Having jumped out, Ed held a yellow cloth bag in one hand. With the other, he drew a shotgun from his thigh and pulled the trigger directly at the female figure locked in a tug-of-war with Jason.

It was hard to believe neither of them had been able to do anything the entire time he was in a life-and-death battle with Nivek. Were they just pretending to fight?

The dull gunshot made the woman immediately dodge Jason's attack.

Seizing this opportunity, Jason followed Ed as they ran toward Andre and the others.

Seeing Ed and the others return, Andre and his crew didn't hesitate to break away from their enemies.

They all rushed up the hillside.

Several enemies tried to give chase but were immediately stopped.

"Alright, let them go. We've already lost," said Welter, standing there and watching Andre and the others disappear behind the mountain.

"Are we just going to give up like this?" the female figure asked unhappily, standing beside Welter. Her voice was filled with resentment.

Welter reached up and touched his bald head, turning to look at his three teammates. "In a direct confrontation, I can't handle Andre, and they have the numerical advantage. If it weren't for cooperating with the governor, we wouldn't have had much of a chance to seize this treasure."

"Failure doesn't matter; it will only dispel the obsession in my heart. Besides, Andre and his group are now in an invincible position. They hold two keys to the great treasure vault and know its location. We know nothing. This operation was our only chance to intervene."

"Now that the opportunity has vanished, Andre and his group can simply hold onto the two keys and not open the vault. Unless we can hold out on this island indefinitely, there's no way to stop them from arriving and opening it whenever they choose."

"Let's pack up and go. We haven't even had time to follow the treasure clues from last time." With that, Welter turned and walked out of the woods.

At this moment, the middle-aged member turned to look at the cave entrance. "Nivek might still be inside the vault."

But Welter showed no sign of stopping. "That mad dog is dead. Why bother with him? Let him rot in there."

Hearing this, the other members felt somewhat relieved and, like their leader, left without hesitation.

Only Nivek's body remained, silently resting in the darkness of the vault.

...

The group's journey back was silent. They finally returned safely to their ship, the Blue Fist.

Bobby was already waiting on board. Once again, Ed was carried back by Elena. Although he didn't know why none of the others had picked him up, leaving the task to the young girl, he felt more comfortable riding on her back and certainly wasn't going to complain. Still, he thought the other crew members were being rather heartless toward him.

He leaned completely against her, limp as a ragdoll, without even the strength to take advantage of the situation as he had last time.

"Put him in the infirmary," Vanessa said, walking toward the room next to the captain's cabin.

"Sister Vanessa, is he really okay?" Elena asked worriedly, looking at Ed, who had been placed on the hospital bed and seemed completely paralyzed.

Jason, standing beside them, nodded repeatedly. While he and Ed were returning, his companion had suddenly collapsed on the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut, which had scared him to death. Thankfully, Vanessa had been with them and told them not to worry too much.

Vanessa waved a hand casually. "Don't worry, didn't I tell you before? He was just anesthetized by the poison. There's nothing seriously wrong with him."

She walked over, tugged at Ed's cheek, and shook his head firmly. Ed's eyes could still move, and he looked at Vanessa angrily as she pinched his cheek too hard. Sadly, except for rolling his eyes, he couldn't do anything else. Everything else had shut down.

"See? He's even rolling his eyes at me. He is perfectly fine."

She then took out a bunch of unidentifiable herbs and potions from a nearby cabinet. Her magic flowed from her palm into them. Under its gentle influence, the herbs and potions transformed into threads, which were then woven and twisted together.

She parted Ed's lips and inserted the thread into his mouth. It looked creepy as hell but was actually very effective.

"This kind of anesthetic poison is usually used for interrogation or some kind of perverse hobby. If I'm not mistaken, it should be that madman Nivek's work," Jason said curiously. "He should have been fighting Ed in the vault, but not long after, only Ed came up alone."

Hearing this, everyone turned their attention to Ed on the bed with amazement. For a novice to kill a veteran was not something to be taken lightly. But seeing that Ed could only roll his eyes, Vanessa swallowed the question she wanted to ask.

"Alright, you two go back now. He'll need to stay like this until tomorrow morning," Vanessa said, shaking her head and dismissing the two curious crew members who wanted to know what had happened to Nivek.

Hearing this, the two waved to Ed on the bed, receiving a response from his rolling eyes.

After they left, Vanessa continued treating Ed, repairing all his wounds. A few moments later, she bent down, smiling, and pinched Ed's cheek again.

"Little guy, you should rest here for the night. See you tomorrow."

She blinked playfully, ruffled his hair, and closed the infirmary door. Only the lantern beside the table flickered with a faint light.

Lucilia had been sitting on a stool beside the bed the entire time, her chin resting in her hands as she stared at Ed.

"You can't speak or move now, isn't that too pitiful? How about I tell you a story?"

Ed's response was to roll his eyes from side to side. Although he wanted to say that he was fine and she could leave him alone, he thought that would be a bit too boring. Since he couldn't easily fall asleep due to his injuries, listening to a story wasn't a bad idea.

"Okay, let me think... which story is suitable for now? Hmm... Legend has it, a long, long time ago..."

While listening to her story, his gaze fell blankly onto the ceiling.

I'm hungry... He thought, and soon he began listening seriously, as the tale was indeed interesting.

At some point, probably an hour later, the story gradually stopped, replaced by a soft, soothing melody that gently entered Ed's ears.

Ed, who was already feeling sleepy, closed his eyes and drifted peacefully into sleep.

Lucilia, sitting on the stool beside him, smiled, her chin still resting in her hands as she watched the sleeping Ed. Seeing him asleep, she reached out and poked his cheek. Seeing no reaction, she nodded with satisfaction.

"Have a sweet dream."

She reached out to turn off the oil lamp on the table. However, her hand passed right through it.

"Hmph!" Huffing, she puffed out her cheeks in annoyance and retreated back into the necklace on Ed's chest.

Night fell. Only the sound of the tide ebbing and flowing echoed outside the window, and moonlight streamed through onto the floor beside the bed.

"Creak~"

The door slowly opened. Looking at Ed, already asleep on the bed, the figure gently and quietly approached, reaching out to extinguish the oil lamp on the bedside table. Then, the figure gently pulled the blanket up over Ed again.

As the figure went out of the infirmary, silver hair was revealed in the moonlight.

With a creak, the door closed softly.

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