Sir! Don't close the net!

"Even the most difficult challenges can be overcome!" Having overcome his initial fear, Sieg pumped his fist with boundless pride.

Are you... sure?

Eddie raised his hand and waved to the staff by the deep pool.

With a crisp sound, a small splash rose from the calm surface of the deep pool.

"That's it?"

As soon as Li Yili finished speaking, a surging wave swallowed up the small splash, accompanied by a huge roar, and the water in the deep pool swirled into an incredibly turbulent whirlpool.

Li Yili slammed the towel in her hand to the ground with a thud.

Is this a toilet or a washing machine?

“This is the highest difficulty level,” Eddie said calmly, looking at Li Yili. “Minister Li Yili, would you like to take on the challenge?”

Li Yili coughed heavily and raised her hand with trembling hands, "Usually speaking, is there really any possibility of escaping from such a large whirlpool?"

“No,” Eddie shrugged, “but what if?”

"I...I want to choose..." Zieg's teeth chattered as he trembled and raised his right hand.

"Wow—"

A drop of water was flung out of the deep pool, grazed Zig's face, and hit a passing staff member in the face. Visible ripples spread across the staff member's face, the droplet burst, and the staff member immediately tumbled to the side and fell to the ground with a thud, motionless.

Zig's lips twitched.

"Wait a minute! Is this even plausible?!" Li Yili exclaimed loudly. "What kind of vortex is this?! How did you even create such a terrifying vortex?!"

Eddie raised his little finger and tapped his ear, his eyes slightly raised. "Minister Li Yili, I brought a lot of steam engines to match your submarine, but you said you didn't need them. We can't just leave those steam engines lying around, so I made some adjustments and connected them to this deep pool to accelerate the simulated water flow."

"Anyway, with the favored one of God around, what are you afraid of, Minister Li Yili?"

"Teacher Meng, you're actually quite unhappy, aren't you?"

“That’s right,” Eddie readily admitted, spreading his arms wide. “The situation inside the Dead Sea is unpredictable. Even a whirlpool like this can appear at any time. Minister Li Yili did everything she could to ensure your safe arrival at the Dead Sea coast.”

Li Yili's lips twitched as she looked at the terrifying vortex behind Eddie.

"I think I might not even be able to leave this vortex alive."

“How will we know if we don’t try?” Eddie spread his hands to his sides. “Don’t worry, we have safety measures in place.”

"for example?"

Eddie snapped his fingers, and the staff member not far away immediately nodded and pulled down the lever.

Li Yili raised an eyebrow.

Five minutes later, the whirlpool seemed to be less intense than at the beginning, and it took ten minutes for the whirlpool to become usable for washing clothes.

"You see, as soon as danger occurs, we can stop the vortex immediately."

Chapter 139 A couple of practice runs and you're good to go.

"Ugh—ugh—"

Li Yili kept gagging while holding the paper bag. He didn't know what had possessed him to actually believe Eddie's "safety measures" that required ten minutes to stop, perhaps because he had been thrown in directly.

Although Li Yili felt like her brain was about to be shaken apart, at least she got one result: the oxygen in the submarine was enough for them to float around for ten minutes, but any longer would not be enough.

"Cough cough cough— Anyway, let's set the timer for ten minutes first," Li Yili, pale-faced, threw the paper bag into the trash can.

Sieg, slumped in his chair, raised his hand with difficulty. "What if it takes more than ten minutes...?"

“Logically speaking… you’re doomed,” Eddie spread his hands. “The most terrifying thing about the Sea of ​​the Dead isn’t the darkness or all the unpredictable situations, but the isolation and helplessness, no matter what you’ve encountered.”

"You all have to solve this on your own. We don't even know what happened; we can only wait."

"Then, what about those pirates?" Sieg asked, raising his hand after recovering somewhat.

“I’ve heard similar things from the pirates on the Mercury Queen,” Li Yili wiped her mouth, staggered back to the edge of the deep pool, and reached into the water with her right hand. “Their ships would emit a creaking warning sound when they reached a certain height, as if they were about to break apart.”

However, this is a normal phenomenon. Although it is very unscientific, the Mercury Queen is a kind of deep-sea fish. It takes the form of a fish when it is diving in the deep sea, and it takes the form of a ship on land. Ships cannot dive in the deep sea, and fish cannot rest on land. The combination of the two is what makes up the pirate ship in this world.

The only place where one could see the light was the dock, which was like a prison; freedom existed only in the darkness.

As crew members, the pirates... had no way to live freely in the deep sea, nor could they live well on land.

“So they can’t reach the surface of the Sea of ​​Dead Men,” Li Yili tugged at her collar. “We can only rely on ourselves. Are you scared?”

"How could that be!" Even knowing that entering the Sea of ​​the Dead would mean being isolated and helpless, Zieg didn't show the slightest fear. "Even pirates can't reach the surface of the Sea of ​​the Dead, doesn't that mean we're the first people to reach it!"

“It’s good to be young,” Li Yili sighed, glancing at the submarine No. 1 being wiped down in the distance. Her shoulders slumped. “Alright, that’s enough training for today.”

Li Yili raised her hand and patted the wall, muttering "Thank you for your hard work" as she turned to leave. But before she could take more than a few steps, a group of people led by Alma blocked her way.

"What do you want?" Li Yili asked warily, striking a standard Wing Chun pose. "Let me make this clear first: I can take on ten...twenty of you by myself!"

After carefully counting and discovering that there were more than ten people blocking his way, Li Yili immediately changed her tune.

“Minister Li Yili, you’re leaving for Dead Man’s Sea tomorrow,” Alma rubbed her fingers together, her eyes sharp. “Time is limited, so don’t tell me you’ve practiced a couple of times… and you’re ready to go.”

"Uh... is it not allowed?" Li Yili scratched the back of her head and laughed awkwardly.

“I can practice by myself!” Zig raised his right hand.

"Of course not! It's absolutely unacceptable!" Alma suddenly raised her voice. "Minister, don't forget, even though you're just a supporting character, you play a very important role. Without you, the submarine can't surface! How are you going to let Sieg practice by himself!"

Li Yili's lips twitched violently.

He really couldn't refute what Alma said. Time was limited, and the more times Zig practiced, the lower the risk of a rollover. After all, he was sitting in the passenger seat.

"Don't worry, Minister Li Yili, I will shut down a few steam engines this time," Eddie gave a thumbs up.

"Alright, alright, let's practice a few more rounds," Li Yili sighed deeply, rubbing her forehead.

The training lasted until evening. Fueled by youthful passion, Zig dragged his exhausted body home, while Li Yili was carried back by Nakya.

After downing two bottles of alcohol, Li Yili finally transitioned from motion sickness to a state of intoxication. Although she disliked this feeling of almost losing control of her behavior, she had to admit that alcohol was more effective than medication in this uncomfortable situation where she wanted to fall asleep but couldn't.

"Ugh... I'm so tired..."

Li Yili put down her wine glass and let out a long sigh. Her listless appearance made Valhou Lei mutter, reaching for the wine on the table, "Aren't you just an accessory? Nakya is the one doing the work."

Sitting quietly beside Li Yili, like a doll, Nakya slapped away Valhae Rei's hand with lightning speed.

Valkyrie's eyes twitched violently.

"That's the key point. I don't have to do anything, I can only be swayed back and forth, and my ears are still ringing," Li Yili said, pressing her palm against her ears and rubbing them hard. "To be honest, I regret it now. I should have known better than to brag about reaching the sea within seven days. Wouldn't a month have been better?"

"You can go to that pirate queen now to amend the bet. After all, it's something that's unprecedented and will never happen again, like going to the Sea of ​​the Dead. I think she can understand your stage fright, no, your careful decision."

“No way~ It’s rare to get Heidi Serra, the pirate queen, to agree to grant me a wish that has nothing to do with morality or values,” Li Yili yawned deeply. “If I were to change the bet, she would definitely remove this wish or add a few conditions.”

“Ugh—that sounds awful,” Valhae Rae shrank back, her face full of disgust. “Aren’t you worried that Heidi Sera won’t be able to stand your broken promise? Only I can put up with a sadistic guy like you.”

"Heidi Serra, though a pirate, values ​​her promises."

The cellar door was kicked open, and Valkyrie, carrying a case of wine, staggered in.

“Galarhorn and Heidi Serra have done business together before.”

"So the Galar Horn didn't show up?"

Li Yili's quick answer silenced Valqiu Yuan.

"Really?" Li Yili's lips twitched.

"Cough—cough! No..."

"You could call it a breach of contract," Valkyrie coughed awkwardly, placing a case of liquor on the table and raising a finger to correct her, "but we couldn't come up with the agreed amount at the time, though we still paid part of it."

"It just means you didn't pay the full amount, not that you didn't pay at all...?"

"Yes, yes, yes—"

"Don't worry, I won't tell Heidi Serra about your relationship with me!"

Chapter 140 You Become Levi Esther Richard

"Boss, boss, are you asleep?"

Jones approached the tightly closed captain's cabin door and cautiously probed in a voice barely audible to a mosquito.

Less than a second later, Jones turned and shook his head at the pirates who were peeking out from behind the steps.

……

"Boss—Jones has something to report to you! I heard it's related to Mr. Li Yili!"

Just as Jones was about to make his escape, someone in the huddled group of pirates shouted, and then all the pirates scattered and fled as if by prior arrangement. Soon, not a single hair was left in front of Jones, and the captain's cabin behind Jones opened a crack.

Jones swallowed hard and backed away to the door of the captain's cabin.

"Boss, I heard that Mr. Li Yili has completed a device called a submarine and will set off for the Dead Man's Sea tomorrow...the surface of the sea."

Jones emphasized the word "sea".

Because they had never seen the sea surface in all their years of sailing.

But if the sea really exists, and if, as Li Yili said, going there can fulfill all wishes, then it would be a place that pirates all over the world would be crazy to pursue.

"Really? He actually intends to do it within seven days?"

Heidi's voice came from the captain's cabin. Her relaxed tone made Jones breathe a sigh of relief, but Heidi's next words immediately sent chills down Jones's spine.

"What do you think that man would ask me to do? What would be a wish that transcends morality and is not bound by conventional values?"

"This one……"

Jones's eyes flickered, and cold sweat poured down his forehead.

This is practically a death question and answer session. If you say you don't know, what kind of wish will you make? Heidi's opening line is "I think," which means he has to add some personal opinion. So, if he answers "I don't know," wouldn't that imply to Heidi that he has no expectations of her as his boss?!

Actually, it wasn't a difficult problem. Li Yili had already written what he would wish for on his face, it was practically an open-book exam, but he really didn't dare to say the answer out loud.

After all, he was a man who kept a mistress at home and had an ambiguous relationship with his secretary.

“It must be a wish that will surprise all of us,” Jones said, scratching the back of his head and laughing awkwardly.

For example, having the famous pirate queen as a mistress or bed partner.

"That's something to look forward to."

"Hahaha—" Jones laughed even more awkwardly. To avoid Heidi noticing the embarrassment in his tone, Jones immediately changed the subject, "Speaking of which, that guy Yirun has been in the Dead Man's Sea for so long and hasn't come to see you! It's really too much!"