Chapter 57: Some Choices; Just Throw Them into the Forest Plane

Perhaps because they had seen the pirates slowly sinking into the water with their own eyes, the three women, who had been numb until now, felt a sudden urge to communicate.

Neither Bai Yu nor Bai Xi could understand their speech, but fortunately, they had Bai Miao to act as a translator. Although Bai Miao could only understand a portion of what they said, it was enough to facilitate communication between the two parties.

The three women were all fisherwomen who had lived by the water for a long time. Their lives had been relatively peaceful for many years until the year before last, when a group of pirates raided their home. Not only did the pirates steal everything, but they also tied everyone up and took them away.

The able-bodied men were taken for forced labor, and the young women, like them, were subjected to constant abuse. The young children were herded together like pigs in a pen and given only one meal a day, intended to be raised until they were old enough to work. As for the elderly, they were killed on the spot.

When they were captured, their family members had resisted fiercely, only to be slaughtered one by one by the pirates.

The reason they had been brought out this time was not because they were favored, but because they were in such poor condition that they were on the verge of death.

If they hadn’t encountered the Bai family’s boat, all three would have lost their lives at sea, eventually swallowed by the ocean just like the pirates Bai Yu had thrown overboard.

As Bai Yu listened to their story, her anger grew. Even though those pirates must have experienced pure despair as they slowly stopped breathing underwater, she felt it still wasn’t enough.

“Those people deserve to be cut into a thousand pieces¹!”

“How can people like that exist?” Bai Xi was equally furious. “This is too much! I’m so angry!”

Bai Miao couldn’t understand every nuance of their words, but she grasped the general meaning. She nodded along with Bai Xi. “Miao Miao is very angry too. It’s too much!”

The woman who had been doing most of the talking twitched the corner of her mouth. “There are many of them, and we couldn’t resist at all. You must be careful too. Even if you have some strength, women are in great danger in this world.”

“We aren’t afraid,” Bai Yu said. “The reason we came out this time is because we aren’t afraid of danger. Even if we encounter it, we can handle it.”

If it had been when they first set out to sea, she certainly wouldn’t have brought her two younger sisters along, nor would she have left Bai Xi and Bai Miao alone on the boat. But they had now cultivated magic and spiritual power. Not only had their physical strength increased immensely, but their bodies also faintly contained these two elements.

Facing danger, they had the ability to fight.

Just as they had handled the large group of pirates moments ago, they would be able to handle whatever dangers came next.

However, before that, she was somewhat worried about her Eldest Uncle, Second Uncle, and their families who had initially set out to sea with them. Although they were capable of living by the sea, if they encountered ruthless pirates, they likely wouldn’t have the strength to fight back, just like ordinary fishermen.

Thinking of this, Bai Yu turned to speak to Bai Miao.

Bai Miao nodded and quickly ran to the second-floor cabin. When she came back down, she held a stack of portraits she had previously drawn of their family members.

Bai Yu held up the portraits for the three women to see.

The three women only shook their heads.

“When we were at the pirates’ place, we never had the chance to go out. We haven’t seen the people in your hands. However, there were many women locked up where we were kept, and I haven’t seen the women in these portraits there.”

“At least Sister He and the others are safe for now,” Bai Yu breathed a sigh of relief. “But since there are pirates nearby, we have to go look. If anyone from Eldest or Second Uncle’s families has been captured, we need to rescue them as soon as possible.”

Bai Xi asked, “Where is the place where the pirates stay?”

The three women shook their heads.

Bai Yu frowned again. “When the pirates came out this time, you were locked in the lower compartment the whole time and never came out, right?”

The three nodded.

Bai Yu asked further, “Then do you know the general situation of where the pirates live? For example, the approximate location, or what things are on the island? Different islands have different plants. Think as hard as you can. We need to go to that island, whether it’s for our relatives or for the people locked up with you.”

After saying this, Bai Yu sent Bai Miao to get the maps.

On the maps Bai Miao had drawn, in addition to the locations of various islands, there were also the characteristic plants of each island. The New Plane’s current situation was slightly different from the past, but the overall layout was largely the same.

After looking them over, the three women didn’t find the pirates’ location, but they first identified where they had originally lived.

This was an important clue.

“What else? Do you remember which direction the pirates took you when they left your home, and how many days passed?”

Since the three women came from different hometowns, the routes to the pirates’ lair were different.

Although they were all feeling quite unwell, the thought of being able to rescue the people locked up with them kept them going as they answered all of Bai Yu’s questions.

During this time, Bai Yu also spoke quietly to Bai Xi. After Bai Xi took Bai Miao away for a while, Bai Miao returned to continue translating and talking with the three women.

A short while later, Bai Miao stepped away again and brought back Bai Xi, who was carrying a large, simple food box.

“Eat something first. We don’t know how long you’ve been starving. The books say people who have been hungry for too long shouldn’t eat too much at once, so I made some meat porridge to fill your stomachs.”

“Is this for us to eat?” the three asked.

“Yes,” Bai Xi placed bowls of porridge in front of them one by one. “It’s freshly cooked, so it might be a bit hot. Eat while we talk. Although we’re anxious to find the pirates’ nest, a little more time won’t hurt.”

The three women carefully picked up the porridge and took eager sips.

The porridge was indeed hot, but they couldn’t bear to put it down and kept drinking.

Bai Xi had to go get a water skin and add some cool water to their porridge to quickly lower the temperature.

Even though it was just porridge, after finishing it, the three women felt the slight discomfort that comes with being too full after a long fast.

However, no one rushed them to digest quickly. They just sat quietly by their side, waiting for them to fully recover.

“We don’t know much about where the pirates are, but I remember one thing. All the trees there lean toward the east. Does that help you find the place?”

Bai Yu heard Bai Miao’s translation and continued to look at her.

Bai Miao nodded and, with Bai Xi’s help, opened a large-scale map.

“Based on what they’ve said, there are several key pieces of information…” Relying on her excellent memory, Bai Miao recounted the women’s words point by point. Using their descriptions, she found their original homes and then, based on the other information, she took a pen and circled an area on the map she hadn’t been able to draw before. “It should be around here. It’s mainly these two small islands and this coastline near a large landmass.”

The distance between the three locations wasn’t far. A boat could travel between them within a few hours.

“Why is there a coastline near a landmass?” Bai Yu frowned. “What does that imply?”

Bai Xi thought for a moment. “Does it mean people on that land are in league with the pirates? I was reading a book the other day that said in the ancient times of the New Plane, some fishermen living by the sea would collude with pirates. Miao Miao, do you remember?”

Bai Miao nodded. “Yes, the book said fishermen who collude with pirates pretend to be ordinary fishermen, but as soon as someone comes to attack, they quickly send word to the pirates. So… there might be pirates in all three of these places.”

“If that’s the case, we can’t just sail our own boat there. Our boat is clearly different from a pirate ship. We’ll likely be discovered as soon as we get close,” Bai Yu said, looking down at the pirate ship beneath her feet. “What if we sail this ship directly toward them?”

Bai Xi nodded, then said, “But we don’t have a crew for this ship.”

After several upgrades, their own ship had been fitted with special devices underneath, allowing it to move forward directly without the need for manual control.

The pirates’ ship, however, still required a crew to man the oars.

“We don’t need to go too far. We’ll sail our own ship first, and when we get near the pirates’ location, we’ll switch to this pirate ship,” Bai Yu said, glancing down at the vessel beneath them. “This ship is still too large, making it a bit of an obvious target. It would be better to have a small boat and fly the pirate flag, which would allow us to approach smoothly.”

“Maybe there are small boats where the pirates are located,” Bai Xi said, her eyes suddenly lighting up. “Eldest Sister, those pirates definitely won’t stay on the island all the time. They’ll have to come out eventually. When they do, maybe we can find a way to get a small boat.”

Listening to this, Bai Yu also felt it was a good idea.

The two sisters discussed their plans, and as they talked, they would occasionally ask Bai Miao about the methods for dealing with pirates described in her books.

Although Bai Miao was still young and could not fully understand many things even after reading about them, she had an excellent memory. She never forgot anything she had read, so they could get plenty of knowledge from the books through her at any time.

In the end, they all agreed to get a small pirate boat first.

However, before that, they had to deal with the ship beneath their feet.

“It’s a real waste to just throw it into the sea. Why don’t we take it to the Forest Plane? Even if we can’t use it, we can chop it up for firewood,” Bai Xi suggested. “The White Mist Plane would work too, but it’s hard to find things there because of all the fog outside.”

“Let’s just drop it in the Forest Plane,” Bai Yu agreed, also feeling that throwing it away was wasteful. “By the way, there are still a few crates on the ship.”

She stood up and walked toward the cabin, returning a short while later carrying several large crates.

When she opened the crates, she found various goods inside.

There were several crates of porcelain, several crates of spices, and three crates of fabric.

They weren’t particularly short on fabric right now, but since these materials were obtained for free, it was naturally a gain.

“Xiao Xi, I’ll organize these things. You take those girls to the pool on the ship and let them have a good bath to wash off all the filth. Then go to the Magic Plane to get some herbs for stopping bleeding and removing bruises to treat them. Let them stay on the ship for now,” Bai Yu said. “Oh, the warm grass fluff I just brought back from the Magic Plane has already been woven into bedding and can be used immediately. Give them the bedding we were using before.”

Bai Xi nodded to everything. “Alright.”

She then pulled Bai Miao along. “Miao Miao, explain things to these three older sisters and take them to bathe.”

Translator’s Notes