Pan Long came to a fishing village. It was approaching evening. The fishermen had already finished their day's work, and smoke was curling in the village.

"Can anyone send me to Black Skull Island?" he shouted, "I'll give out a hundred gold coins."

Hearing his words, the fishermen came out of the house one after another, and dozens of men, women, young and old looked at him, but no one answered his words.

Because of the seal of the Demon King, there were a large number of monsters appearing on Black Skull Island. Except for the elite soldiers in Pike Town, no one dared to approach that island. Even the soldiers in Pike Town only dared to dock the ship at the dock's edge, climbed the watchtower of the dock, and observed the Demon King's seal from afar.

For ordinary fishermen, getting close to Black Skull Island is an adventure in itself.

Monsters don't just live on land, but also in the sea.

So what Pan Long got was silence and no one answered.

On the contrary, an old man kindly advised him: "Young man, Black Skull Island is very dangerous, don't go!"

He sighed and took out a heavy wallet.

"I have 204 gold coins in total," he said. "Whoever sends me to Black Skull Island will give him all the money."

The price is already ridiculously high. You should know that a soldier’s monthly military salary is only ten gold coins, and they often go to fight monsters or bandits.

Fishermen like them can't save more than 200 gold coins in ten years.

This extraordinary high price finally worked. A middle-aged fisherman stood up and asked, "Can you give the money first?"

Looking at his timid but firm eyes, Pan Long understood what he meant.

It's nothing more than collecting money and he's willing to do his best.

"Of course you can give me money first. And... you can send me there and leave, and you don't need to wait for me to come back there."

The fisherman looked at him in surprise, with a puzzled look on his face.

Black Skull Island can be said to be the nest of monsters. Not only can there be no food to fill your stomach, but there is not even clean drinking water. The young man looked empty-handed, except for leather armor, swords and bows, and even water bags, so how could he live there for a long time?

Pan Long immediately realized that there was something wrong with his words and said, "I naturally have a way to contact friends on land. When they need someone to pick up or transport supplies, they will come here to contact you again."

The fisherman then understood and asked curiously: "Are you a brave man?"

Remote contact can naturally rely on magic. In people's impression, only "braves" can do it.

Pan Long nodded slightly: "Absolutely, I am a junior who is determined to become a brave man. I want to go to the place where my predecessors have fought, study and practice."

"That's fine! I promise to send you to Black Skull Island smoothly!" The solemn look on the fisherman's face disappeared in an instant and he laughed.

The name of bravery can be said to be a golden sign among the common people. Everyone admires bravery and yearns to be brave. Because whenever danger comes, bravery always stands out first.

Charge ahead and retreat behind, never retreat, never be discouraged, always fight against evil, and stop until death - even after death, sometimes he will continue to fight against evil in the form of a soul. This is the brave.

When they heard that the brave men needed help, the fishermen's attitude immediately changed by 180 degrees. They came over one after another, saying that they had good skills in driving the boat, and that they had more stable boats, and some people said that they were familiar with the situation in the waters around Skull Island... In short, they were happy to provide help to Pan Long.

Pan Long thanked him one by one, but in the end he chose the first middle-aged fisherman to stand out.

Because he needs money the most.

Even though he refused to accept the money, Pan Long resolutely handed the money to him.

"I don't need money," he explained. "It's useless to have money on Black Skull Island. When my comrades come to pick me up, they have money."

"I can't collect money from the brave, I will be ridiculed!" the fisherman emphasized.

"This is not my money." Pan Long immediately made up a reason, "This is the investigation fee allocated to me by the kingdom, which is public funds. As a person who assists in the investigation, you should receive a reward."

Seeing that the fisherman was thinking and his attitude was no longer so firm, he said, "Do you have children? Do you want them to live a better life, and you can even learn a craft? Then you need the money - and I don't."

"but……"

"Do you know? The king has established a school of bravery. As long as he is determined to be brave, anyone can study. With this money, you can let your child try to receive training. Even if he can't really become a brave, at least in the future he can tell his child, 'I was a classmate of the bravery'...will that be great?"

The fisherman was finally convinced and accepted the money.

Before dawn the next day, they set off on a boat and sailed south.

Sailing may be one of the most boring things in the world. The sea seems to never change, and you don’t need to be careful of road conditions as you drive, and the speed of the boat is mostly slow - fishing boats like this only sail six or seven miles in an hour. According to fisherman Poirot’s estimate, they set out now and it will probably not take until dark to reach Black Skull Island.

"My boat only has one small sail," he said. "One person can't control the sails too big, and my boat is too small and too big is not safe. For example, the warships in Parker Town, their ship has at least four to five groups of sails. Not only is it very stable and safe, but it can sail very quickly unless it encounters a headwind."

As he said such words, his face was full of envy.

"How much does a ship like that cost?"

"It's always a thousand gold coins, maybe more." Poirot sighed, and then smiled again, "but two hundred gold coins are enough to buy a good fishing boat. It can have two masts, one with a sail and the other with a sail, and another spinnaker at the stern - that can also drive quickly and steadily."

He said again: "I'll hire someone, and one person can't control such a big ship, at least two people are required. If it's safer, three people can be considered to be able to get it completely done."

"But there is a boat that I don't have to set off every morning and come back to the evening. I can spend a few days on the sea. Fishing at night is very profitable, because many fish will float to shallow water at night... Maybe in a few years, I can save enough money to buy a real big ship..."

He looked at the sea, murmured to himself, and fell into reverie.

Pan Long did not disturb him, and sat quietly beside him. He did not say until he woke up by himself, "When you arrive at Black Skull Island, you will decide whether to go back overnight according to the situation - sailing, you are the expert, and I will not interfere with your opinions."

"But there is one thing you must remember."

"What's up?"

"If one day you see dark clouds condensed in the sky towards Skull Island, then hurry up and let go of everything and take your family north. The faster you go, the better, and the farther you go."

Pan Long thought about it, afraid that Poirot would not take it seriously, and emphasized: "Remember, don't waste time packing things, just bring cash with you. The key is to be quick, the faster the better!"

Poirot was a little puzzled and asked why. Pan Long naturally would not say "The Demon King is going to be resurrected." He only said: "There may be powerful monsters on the Black Skull Island. They cannot kill me, but it is very dangerous for you. As long as one or two such monsters, there are not enough people in your entire village to kill."

"Then isn't it good for me to escape to Piketown?"

"...You should stop causing trouble for the soldiers in Pike Town! If there are monsters that really attack, it will be hard enough for them to deal with monsters. Do they have to be distracted to protect you? Are you going to exhaust them to death?"

Poirot touched his head and smiled embarrassedly.

"I understand. If I see black clouds in the direction of Black Skull Island, I will immediately take my family to flee north and come back when the matter is over."

"Yes! Remember, remember!" Pan Long nodded, "It's best to convince everyone to run with you. If it doesn't work, don't delay. Time will be very tight at that time and there will be no delay at all."

"Understood!"

After solving this problem, Pan Long felt a little relaxed and his mood improved a lot.

He was not sure whether he could solve the revived demon king, but he always had to make some preparations.

Although he still has a trump card, he is not really able to fight alone, even if he uses the trump card, he is not very sure of getting the devil.

Therefore, do some preventive work so that the fishermen on the coast can escape early after the devil is resurrected, and at least fewer people can die.

As for the rest of things... he had no choice. After all, he was just a "preparatory brave man".

They were lucky today, and the wind was smooth all the way. It was about an hour before darkness, and the fishing boat had already arrived at Black Skull Island.

This isolated island sealed with the Demon King looks calm at this moment. The sea water is still blue, and the sky is still blue and white clouds. The trees on the island are still lush and green, and the pier and watchtower built at the northernmost end of the island are still intact.

...It's so different from the strange situation that when attacking the Demon Island in the game, it was like hell coming to the earth.

At that time, the trees on this island were noose trees, flowers were sharp-toothed flowers, birds and beasts were all demons, the soil would turn into demonized elements, ghosts and resentful souls would fly out of the wind, and even a pool on the side of the road had continuous sources of energy that would slimes that would eat people.

As for the pier and watchtower, of course, they all became ruins. In addition to barely finding a place to dock, there was not even a fortress for defense.

If the signs of the Demon King's recovery can be discovered in advance, even if the masters from various countries come a little later, as long as they can rely on the fortress to take every step, they should be able to withstand the Demon King's army and lock the battlefield on Skull Island.

In that case, the losses suffered by the world will be much smaller, and the war will be quelled earlier.

As for the preparatory heroes... even without this war, they should be able to grow up...

After getting off the boat, watching Poirot return and slowly moving away on the diagonal line, he smiled and pulled out the long knife he bought in the royal capital Yilor City.
Chapter completed!