The Ultimate Evolution
chapter-90

Although that small cloth seemed useless,with critical thinking, one would be able to find several suspicious points. What was a bandana used for? Obviously to wrap the head. For the exceptionally charming Jack Sparrow, it was used as an alluring aesthetic. Most pirates used it for warmth and to shield against the rain. There were no corpses near the spot where the bandana was discovered , that meant that this should have been placed down by the owner on purpose. Looking at the torn and jagged side of this cloth, it should have been ripped apart instead of being sliced off from a sharp weapon. Therefore, what would a pirate tear apart his bandana underneath a random tree be thinking? The bandana was a cloth that was the least likely to be dirtied, therefore, it was obvious that the most logical explanation was that it was used to wrap a wound! If this deduction was true, Sheyan can then conclude several other points of this. If the owner of this bandana, Old Buqi, had wrapped his wounds well and fled to the Bell and Mug, then they should have met him long ago. This clearly points to the fact that Old Buqi obviously had no plans to head towards the ship. This will then lead to several other possibilities.

The most possible was that after Old Buqi reaped such a massive benefit, he was unwilling to share and fled off. Furthermore he knew this action would incur the wrath and pursue of the Bell and Mug, therefore, either this object's worth must have been richly blinding or that the threat of the Bell and Mug had declined to an acceptable level for him to commit such atrocities. Old Buqi's capabilities were extremely mediocre, the chances of acquiring a precious and rare object was small, therefore, the second explanation is the most logical. That was Xiaer and Blind Matt's groups had suffered from a huge assault, the other pirates became hugely disorganized and thus it gave birth to such a despicable notion of running away after gaining some profits. Of course another possibility was that Old Buqi had met with some terrifying mishap inside the castle, after the calamity he had lost all sense of rationality causing a nervous breakdown which eventually led him to flee in horror. However, it was contradicting that a person that has lost his senses would pause to wrap his wound, but still the odds of it happening was still relevant.

Whatever the case, Tortuga castle was like a lion's den, full of danger at every corner. Sheyan was willing to boldly charge in because he understood one thing. After laying down his trap, a good hunter would wait for all his prey to take the hook before raising the fishing net. He would not want to alert the horde when only one of his prey had entered the trap. Upon seeing that 'luckily' discovered hidden passageway, he immediately knew that it was a trap. The one behind this obviously capitalized on the pirate's greed and looting nature to trick them in. If not for those treasures not holding much worth towards a contestant like Sheyan, he may have also been blinded by such benefits.

Currently inside Tortuga castle, shoutings of curses, cries and even gunshots could be heard. Only these sounds were pretty muffled, as though it came out from enclosed rooms. Following that flashes of flames could be seen, as fuzzy silhouettes could be seen pacing back and forth around the corridors.In this sort of picture it was hard to fathom who had the upper hand. Looking at this, Sheyan's deduction was spot on, the current manpower of Tortuga castle was inadequate. However due to Sheyan's scheming measures, he distributed the pirates into 6 small teams in order to allow the guards to trapped them in, giving them a chance to annihilate the pirates. Sheyan's painstaking planning, was actually to wither out the forces from both sides. Although the Tortuga castle guards were relatively powerful and held the a favourable location advantage, they had already clashed with the teams under Xiaer previously. Currently they were locked in battle with the valiant Bell and Mug pirates, even if they were victorious it would still be a tragic ending. The pitfalls and booby traps within the castle would also have been wasted on the pirates.

If Sheyan seized the opportunity now and entered, the worst possible scenario would be to finish off the already heavily wounded guards, receive their key loots and retreat. The best scenario would be to acquire the mouth-watering and legit 70 years collection of wealth within Tortuga caste! Even though he would not be able to bring everything with him, he could still hand-pick several items. This would earn him immense profits, and also hugely raise his reputation. This sort of situation was exceedingly better as compared to being an always suspected crew head under Ammand.

Time sped by. After waiting for a while, Sheyan tidied up his appearance to look relatively worn out and even wiped on fresh blood on his face. Coupled with his staggering footsteps and dark expression, he looked like a person that was on the verge of fainting. He once again entered into the castle, tiptoeing quietly towards the sounds of fighting.

The eerie pitch-black feeling of his castle was as dense as before, and the stench of blood was piercing to the nose. Sheyan did not follow the stone steps and ascend the building this time, rather he followed the dark corridor on the right as he felt his way along. The reason he did this was simple, because rumour has it that most of the treasures were all hidden in a secret underground lair beneath the castle. Sheyan equipped his 'Intoxicated man' title and gulped down a mouth of rum, thus raising his explosive strength. Because there may be traps ahead, his every step was extremely steady, taking gentle steps one at a time.

A gentle flame could suddenly be seen in the darkness ahead. Following that were curses and pathetic wailing cries. This cry was very familiar, it was one of Scarface Harry's trusted aide. Normally emotionless even in the face of crisis, who knew what terrifying experience he had just went through. The cries gradually weaken, it was obvious that the victim was nearing the end of his life. Another trembling voice echoed.

"No, Don't come near! Freaks! Oh Lord, God, please open your eyes. If anyone can save me from this depth of hell, I am willing to give up my life and be his loyal servant!" Sheyan had already felt the entrance of the door, he took a furtive glance inside. He could see a hidden passageway exposed within the castle room, the passage was flooded with dripping blood. Blood was splashed everywhere, as though someone had taken basins of blood and aggressively splashed away. Such was the tragic battle that had occurred. Flames could be seen at the end of the passageway, constructed there was a heavily enforced cell. Its surrounding walls were crafted with massive rocks piling up, looking similar to a firm city wall.

Within the cell were three men dressed in black tight fitting chain armour. The chain armour seemed to not only have excellent craftsmanship, it was made with superior quality materials. In this world, this equipment was similar to the special forces bullet proof vest in America. These three men had their backs against the door, silently standing. Their shadows were elongated by the blazing flame, their skin was abnormally pale, this caused the atmosphere here to be particularly sinister.

From Sheyan's angle he could see a pirate bounded to a stone chair on the right side. Although he could not see his face, he could tell this pirate was badly frightened, his entire body violently shivering. Through the gaps of the three clad in black armour men, a stone platform could be seen. On the platform should be a victim, tied up and tortured. The limbs of that person gave out a final twitch, and obviously submitted to his fate. His miserable ending also smashed the hopes of the other guy in captive.

Sheyan inhaled a deep breath of blood stench. He once again activated his 'insight' ability and started probing out the strength of these 3 guys. If he had to take a huge risk, then he would leave without hesitation! To him, saving the other guy was secondary, the most important was retaining his strength to acquire the treasures inside the castle.

After once again expending 100 utility points, a flow of information of these 3 guys streamed in and displayed itself in front of Sheyan.

Black guard.

Tortuga castle elite guard. Status (Injured) Description: They have been affected by witchcraft; decreased feeling of pain, various attributes increased, but lifespan has been greatly shortened.

Height: 5 foot 4 inches Weight: 80 kg Strength: 10 points (Injured) Agility: ? points Physique: 8 points Perceptive sensing: 6 points Charm: 8 points Intelligence: 7 points Spirit: 7 points Basic close combat lvl 3, basic endurance lvl 1 Elite guard category passive ability: Lethargy lvl 1, Blackguards speed of blood flow is affected by a chilling frost, flowing speed is greatly reduced, immunity to blood loss effect.

Elite guard category passive bility: Zombie lvl 1, A portion of the blackguard's soul has been offered to its owner, they would not be affected by fear or negative effects. Elite guard category passive ability: Tenacity lvl 2. Additional bonus of 300 HP. Lifepoint upper limit value: 177 points (Injured) Looking at these 3 injured fellows, and after considering his interests, Sheyan made a decision in his heart. Shutting his eyes, he regulated his breathing as his muscles started to loosen up, and tense up, and then loosening again. He already made a decision, that was to get rid of these 3 guys and save the guy. At this time, a black guard suddenly shouted.

"If you refuse to talk, we will commence our punishment. You've already seen, once this sentence has been placed on you, even if you immediately divulge information, you will still die. Therefore, this is your last chance of survival."