I created the myth of the Great Old Ones.

"They've taken the bait!"

He pulled hard on the fishing rod, like a skilled angler.

"coming!"

But after all the fanfare, when Lu Ban pulled up the hook, he found that he had only caught a flat fish the size of a palm.

"We call this fish the fan fish because it resembles a fan."

Ah Xiang explained.

"what about the taste?"

Lu Ban didn't care about anything else; he only cared about whether it tasted good.

"...Fishermen usually boil the fish directly in water to make fish soup."

Ah Xiang replied helplessly.

"Are there any other methods?"

Lu Ban pressed for an answer.

"...You can also bake it directly."

"Your method is too bland. Adding some soy sauce and braising it would be much better. Make a few slits on the outside with a knife, then add water and soy sauce and bring it to a boil, so that the flavor can fully penetrate the fish. Mmm, just thinking about it makes my mouth water."

Lu Ban said that the fish looked somewhat similar to the pomfret on Earth. He had loved eating braised fish since he was a child, so he said that.

"Soy sauce...what is that?"

Ah Xiang asked, not quite understanding.

"You don't even have soy sauce?"

Lu Ban was somewhat surprised.

He had initially thought that the fishermen were simply boiling or grilling the food for convenience on their boats, but now it seemed that the island was quite backward in terms of seasonings at that time.

But thinking about it, it's normal. Soy sauce is made through fermentation, and fermentation is a process that requires a certain level of social development to become widespread. Otherwise, it's easy to produce toxins. Considering the current state of development in Hedao, it's not surprising that there's no soy sauce.

Lu Ban then thought of the food and drinks on the table when he first arrived.

Saving the islanders' tongues is Lu Ban's inescapable duty.

He quickly found the ship's cook.

There are no professional cooks on these ships; the cooks on board are simply the best cooks among the sailors.

If you can cook food properly and your hand doesn't tremble when adding salt, you're already a qualified sea chef.

For this reason, the food on board was mostly overcooked fish soup and rice.

After fiddling around in the kitchen for a while, Lu Ban created a variety of modern seasonings, including soy sauce and pepper, and finally managed to make a braised fish that looked pretty good.

He invited Xia, A-Xiang, and Leopard to enjoy the food together.

Upon smelling the aroma of fish, Ah Xiang felt somewhat incredulous. He took a deep breath, and the strange fragrance, like the whisper of a demon, lingered in his mind, making him deeply intoxicated by it.

Picking up his chopsticks, Ah Xiang picked up a piece of fish soaked in the dark sauce, examined it carefully, and then put it in his mouth.

At the same time, Leopard and Xia also ate a piece of fish, about the size of a palm. The four of them only ate two or three bites each.

When his tongue touched the fish and he tasted it, Ah Xiang felt as if he had been struck by an electric current, and his whole body trembled.

"...This taste?"

"It tastes awful, ptooey ptooey ptooey."

Leopard spat out the fish meat from its mouth without any hesitation.

.

"It tastes good!"

Xia commented.

Seeing the two girls' completely different reactions, Ah Xiang was at a loss for words.

Compared to fish soup, which is usually bland due to a lack of salt, the flavor of this fish is definitely "strong". However, the flavor is so strong that Ah Xiang feels as if his tongue is being pinched by red-hot tongs.

He doesn't consider himself a gourmet, but this food is probably unacceptable to him.

Lu Ban also tried a bite of the fish.

Three seconds later, Lu Ban spat out the fish in his mouth.

"It tastes awful..."

Has anyone ever told you that you'd better not cook?

Leopard found a cup in the kitchen and took a sip of the diluted liquor to rinse his mouth.

"It's not my problem, it's the fish's problem."

Lu Ban explained in a serious tone.

"There must be some special components in this fish that can react unexpectedly with soy sauce, which is why the fish tastes strange. This is worth studying."

"Is this really worth studying...?"

Ah Xiang finally realized that the fish really didn't taste good.

"Of course, if this is the only fish that can't be braised with soy sauce, then it means that it contains some special substances. Aren't you curious about why it has these substances and where they come from?"

Lu Ban said seriously.

"...That makes some sense."

Ah Xiang was somewhat confused by Lu Ban's eloquent explanation.

"You two..."

Just as Xia was about to tell the two of them to stop worrying about the soy sauce and to give her all the fish, a loud roar came from outside.

With this roar, countless voices rose up, creating a great commotion, and the entire ship began to tremble slightly.

The roar sounded like cannon fire.

Chapter 806 Pirates

Shea was the first to react. The kitchen had no windows, so she rushed through the narrow cabin and saw sailors rushing back and forth on the deck. The shouts and the roar of cannons immediately brought her back to the battlefield.

bang——

A whooshing sound rang out, and Xia saw a leaden black cannonball hurtling past the ship's side at high speed, carrying some wood fragments with it, heading towards the mainmast at a sharp angle of incidence.

If that shell had hit the mainmast, the ship would have been doomed. In this era of sail power, a broken mainmast was practically incurable, leaving no choice but to abandon ship and escape.

Before she could react, without moving an inch, some invisible force immediately bound the cannonball.

The fuse has burned into the shell and is about to come into close contact with the gunpowder, bringing a little spark of civilization.

But that flame was extinguished by an invisible force, and ultimately failed to fully shine and contribute its youth.

Beyond the cannonballs, Xia saw three ships in the distance.

The other three ships were slightly smaller than this one, with only two masts. These ships were agile, fast with the wind, and inexpensive to build, and were typically used as short-distance merchant ships or coastal escort vessels.

However, black flags were flying above the masts of those ships.

The black flag, painted with swords and skulls, clearly belonged to pirates.

Xia didn't know what kind of sea this was, but since they had been sailing for a while without landing, it must be in the open sea, so it was normal for pirates to appear.

This also suggests that there must have been islands nearby that served as strongholds for the pirates.

These pirates possessed cannons, three ships, and a considerable number of men. They must have already plundered many vessels. Since two-masted sailing ships were not suitable for long-distance voyages, a large portion of their wealth was probably left on the island without being taken away or spent.

In other words, these pirates must have been very rich!

Having reached this point in her mental decline, Xia could no longer contain herself.

"Pirates! Pirate attack!"

The sailor who was perched at the top of the mainmast shouted. In the midst of the gunfire and chaos, it was already quite difficult to hear the sailor's shout, which is why sailors at sea had to be loud.

The ship quickly organized a counterattack. Captain Changzheng turned the rudder, directing the entire ship toward the three pirate ships. This would effectively reduce the impact area and prevent the ship from being riddled with bullets.

Of course, this means that the number of cannons that can be used is not so many. Only the two cannons at the bow can face the enemy head-on, while the others can only be fired from the side when maneuvering.

Another series of cannon shots rang out, but this time most of the shells missed their mark, splashing water instead.

In such an era, although artillery was highly lethal, its accuracy was always criticized. Often, two ships would fire at each other for half an hour, and neither side would suffer any damage.

Therefore, a common tactic was for two ships to board each other and engage in close-range firefights to see which ship had the thicker armor. This led to warships becoming increasingly robust, capable of withstanding multiple cannonballs. Subsequently, weapons experts began to study how to increase the yield, enlarge the caliber of the cannons, and make the cannonballs more powerful, thus ushering in the era of giant ships and cannons in naval warfare.

Of course, all of this was later changed by air superiority and aircraft carriers, and then by the missile age, but that's another topic altogether.

Looking ahead, Xia saw the three pirate ships gradually spreading out and flanking them from three directions. This meant that no matter how Xia's ships moved or positioned themselves, they would inevitably be caught from the side.

At sea, numerical superiority is overwhelming.

The premise is that it relies solely on ships.

Sia arrived at the bow, where the sailors were still busy loading cannonballs, preparing to attack the foremost ship. The sailors noticed Sia and tried to dissuade her from leaving.

"Miss, it's dangerous here, you'd better leave..."

A sailor kindly offered a reminder.

But before he could finish speaking, he saw Sia raise her right hand.

A certain kind of palpitation, hard for even ordinary people to ignore, spread through the air, and a moment of silence enveloped the sea.

It's like in a noisy classroom during self-study, when everyone is talking freely, suddenly, in a coincidental moment, all the voices disappear.

The sailors looked at each other, feeling a sense of dread. The armored girl seemed to be disrupting reality.

The next moment, a certain distortion vanished from Sia's hand.

Only under the most intense sunlight can these distorted entities be seen—those palm-sized orbs of light, completely transparent, whose shapes can only be discerned by the wind.

The ball of light was initially slow, like a snail climbing step by step, but soon it began to accelerate, becoming extremely fast, surpassing cannonballs, and heading straight for the pirate ship in front of it.

On the pirate ship, the fierce-looking pirates were still busy loading ammunition and sharpening their knives, preparing for the upcoming boarding battle. Some of them noticed that the cannons of another ship had suddenly stopped firing. Before they could even celebrate, they felt something hit their own ship.