That Willow Guy

He took a glimpse towards his back. Man! He was put into immense shock. His situation by then was like a honeycomb dripping fresh, concentrated honey, where the hornets tailed vigorously. The first ever time it was Ye Chong that felt an urge to stab the damn honeycombs a thousand times whenever he saw it. Without much guessing, he accelerated to maximum speed and prayed to God that this piece of pirate mount had capacity great enough to sustain him throughout the run from being chased down. If the capacity wasn’t good enough, he’s going to get cornered and shredded into nothing. If only that would happen!

Fortunately, the craft indeed outperformed the rest and sped away. Well it seemed like even a good o’ pirate like Mr. One-eye feared death too, that he must make sure he manages to run away.

Anyway, at least I was saved.

Riding the gigantic craft, he ran through space.

The pirates went after him and didn’t seem to be giving up anytime soon. Some even hopped onto their mech and rode on the pirate ship instead! Fire at will! They launched attacks without any pause, with any kind of weapon they had – be it the typical heat ray gun, lux blaster (spreading beam shooter) or the advanced laser sniper rifle, they even have their own particle cannons. However… Wonder if it was because the ship had undergone some sort of modification for it being the mount of the potent corsair, for some reason, when the bombardments struck, the body of the ship was hardly damaged. At most, only the sniper rifle could leave little pores on the surface.

The new leader of the pirates was in regret by then. He was formerly a devoted crewman under Mr. One-eye’s leadership. It was an unwavering bond of friendship too between the captain and himself. Iron, or Mr. Iron, mourning over the captain’s death ,went after the murderer, yet he was in such a pile of regrets, for why the heck did he modify his leader’s craft to be that overpowered in the first place, making the murderer literally invincible at that moment.

Seeing how he was truly invincible from the shooting, Ye Chong was oh sure jolly! Later, the gap between the pirates and himself grew larger and larger. Obviously he was on the right ship! The speed was well ahead of them all!

At least he secured himself. Alert disengaged for him. He gasped in relief and switched to auto-pilot mode, before collapsing into the seat. Every part of his body was worn out, especially his hands, aching like being pricked by needles. The soft commander seat cloaked him with slumber. He felt like catching Z’s finally, after being stressed for so long. He couldn’t hold it any longer, the guards or whatever and dipped into his dreams.

…

It’s been 6 hours since Ye Chong woke up.

The smell of death wafted throughout the control room. The bloody mess was such an eyesore! Ye Chong knotted his brows as the coppery smell spiked his nostrils. He lifted the dead body of the good-for-nothing pirate whose glory had become history and simply dumped him into the garbage chute. As he walked back to his lovely seat, Strategist Willow somehow flinched right on the wall. Wait, aren’t you dead yet? This frail guy is still alive? It can’t be! He knew the strength of his iron fist well, even a bulky guy like Mr. One-eye would crumble in one punch. It’s no good. It doesn’t seem like that kind of fist a weakling like that willow guy could take!

Some thoughts sprung in his mind. He began unbuttoning Strategist Willow’s shirt and it was as guessed! He discovered a kind of cloth, light yellow and with countless dark threads crossing over each other.

Ye Chong removed the clothing from the strategist and fiddled with it. Such strength. He pulled the clothing forcefully with his hands yet there was no splitting or splatting, the sound in which he was expecting when clothes were torn. The clothing remained intact. Ye Chong was quite intrigued and changed into it straightaway. He tried punching his own chest and strange things happened. He only felt a moment of heat on his body and the pain felt much lesser than he imagined. It was then he realized the concept of how the shirt worked. It generally dispersed the damage received throughout the entire clothing, which in return reduced the fatality of attacks.

This is a nice safety charm! He couldn’t let go of it and carefully had it to be the innermost of his outfit. Of course he did mutter, of how marvelous it could be if it was an overall for starters!

Then Willow faintly woke up and found out himself top-naked, and chilly. “You…You… Don’t you come here! Please!” He was frightened, “Spare my life, mister. Please spare me…” Ye Chong was still directing his cold sight upon the trembling strategist. Willow gulped a few times, there was only horror on his face. It took him a moment to spit few words as he shrunk, “Mi…Mister? I’m… I’m… a virg- sorr…sorry… but… this…It…It is my first time… with a guy… you know… Please…Please do… do it gently!”

…

Ye Chong couldn’t hold the impact and slammed the ground as he fainted on the carpet with his mouth bubbling.

…

Ye Chong slowly reached the dagger at his waist and Willow saw that, “Please spare me master! Please! Spare! Me!” Even more terrified, he pleaded quickly, “If master could spare this worthless life of mine, Willow is willing to follow master everywhere and show loyalty. Willow would take care of everything for master’s everyday needs and is willing to die for master!”

“Hmm.” He drew the dagger rather sluggishly and spoke slowly, “Oh. Tell me a reason not to kill you!”

The willow man was sweating hard but he didn’t have time to wipe it off, “I know well about the environment and its surrounding. Ex-Extremely well! If master could spare me, I can guarantee to escort you out of the filthy pirates’ raids! Also I know well about the pirates around here too! I could take up simple chores like getting things ready for master or hitting the underlings. I can tell you that I’m good at them…” Over time, as he lifted his lips and spoke, the anxiety faded away as he spoke smoother and smoother till it was really unstoppable!

The speech caught Ye Chong’s attention. The surrounding was truly foreign to him. If he were to stick his head out everywhere, he would be caught by the pirates in no time. Maybe it would be a good idea to keep a man like this willow guy.

The strategist was intelligent for sure, discerning the changes in Ye Chong’s expression, he rejoiced in his mind. It seems it’s working!

Ye Chong who made up his mind glanced at the willow strategist, “You are right with your words. Indeed, your pathetic life would linger. However, if you were to do something funny, specifically, anything that you shouldn’t have done. Hmph…” His wrist shook and the dagger in his hand was sent flying, like dark lightning. Zap! It rubbed through the dented cheeks of the strategist by a few millimeters, and embedded all the way into the wall right next! The whole blade!

Strategist Willow felt the chillness on his cheeks, as well as his own doom! But he then realized he was still in one piece, he let off a sigh of relief! Right when he thought of resting his eyes, he caught sight of the shrill dagger as he turned his head, and the panic that was formerly swallowed went up to his throat again. Such frightening strength! Every wall in this ship was made out of high density low-carbon materials, which even a heat ray gun could only leave a tiny hole on it. He never thought a mere man like his master could make such a strike. His new master was absolutely a terror!

Till he heard about his master sparing him his life for real this time, he got to relax and bowed numerous times to express his faithfulness.

He actually had his own plans. He knew, despite being the second-upper figure in the Red Owl Beard, he stayed on only because he had the trust of his old leader. Unlike the third-upper man in the crew, Iron, who had way more charisma and trust of the entire lower crew. Currently Mr. One-eye was dead and without doubt the crewmen would crown Iron as their new leader automatically. He never had a good time with Iron. He had issues with him. The Red Owl Beard had no longer a place for himself, and if he stayed, it was only a matter of time for his permanent doom!

Thinking again… the new master before him didn’t seem to be an easier one to handle either, especially right after Iron witnessed how cold his master’s eyes could be, bloodthirsty like an animal. This would be the kind who goes murdering without thought. Wonder how much blood had stained his hands! Talk about the number of lives who died by his knife!

But that was clearly a misunderstanding. Yes, he was right about Ye Chong murdering without thinking much, nevertheless, talking about the number of lives who died by his knife… That was rather an accusation than a statement! Ye Chong grew up on a trash planet and his childhood was spent with mutated lifeforms lurking in the rubbish dumps. He had to struggle to survive! So to his eyes, men were no different than the mutated lifeforms. So killing a man to him was just like killing a mutated lifeform!

Frowning, Ye Chong waved his hand and interrupted the strategist’s buttering up session, he threatened, “No more of this complimentary nonsense from now on.”

“So W-i-l-l-o-w. Tell me, what is your actual name?”

“It would be Bai Linan” With respect, he answered sincerely.