Chapter 23: Chapter 23

four hours ago.

north atlantic.

Hebrides waters.

This is Scotland's northernmost archipelago and one of the wildest seas in the world.

There are turbulent waves, empty beaches, and dangerous cliffs, surrounded by no-man's land.

The nearest city is Dramberg, more than a hundred kilometers away.

That city was used as a prison for exiles during King Arthur's time, and it was occupied by the famous pirate Drake during the age of discovery, and became his lair to evade capture, and during George I's time, it became a place for hoarding black slaves tax evasion ports.

But now, with the disappearance of pirates, the abolition of the slave trade. There is only a sparsely populated town left, a town of hundreds of people who depend on fishing for their livelihood.

Apart from birds and herring, almost no other species are willing to patronize this area.

But now, in this cliff-strewn sea, an old diesel fishing boat is speeding through the waves.

There were four people on board.

The man who drove the fishing boat was named Terry. He was a typical Caucasian with a big nose, thin lips, and a big beard.

He wore worn-out jeans, knee-high rubber boots, thick hands and feet, and a gray fishing hat. Dressed like any other herring fisherman in this area.

But he is not a fisherman, was and is not.

Before the age of 20, Terry and his father fished at sea, but since he returned to his hometown after experiencing the life and death of World War I, he no longer looked down on such a stable job with no future like fishing.

After more than 20 years of fighting in his home waters, he now has a more lucrative job than fishing herring.

smuggling.

People smuggling.

The Hebrides connect Scotland, Denmark, Iceland, and Norway.

Since the outbreak of World War I, there has been a steady stream of stowaways here. Thanks to the desolate environment here, foreign vagrants try to use Scotland as a landing point from time to time, and then go to the British Empire from here, hoping to find a job in England with a stable environment.

But Terry knew that most of those were fantasies. After layers of exploitation, most of those smugglers ended up dying in a foreign land.

For more than 20 years, Terry has seen all kinds of guests, but this time the guest

He really is unprecedented.

Through the rearview mirror blurred by sea water, he could see three weird guys sitting upright on the rear deck. Their sitting postures were exactly the same, and the sea breeze and waves blowing on them were no different from hitting on the reef.

This kind of temperament Taili is very familiar with, only soldiers have such a straight sitting posture.

But Terry thought it was weird to say that they were soldiers. Because the three of them were all wearing big robes, they couldn't see their faces clearly, and they also wore pointed and high hoods on their heads.

Those were not the tattered robes worn by stowaways. The robe was pure black and brand new. A leather belt with scales is stretched over it. Even in such a strong sea breeze, it is not messy at all.

He had seen so many troops in World War I, but he had never seen any country's troops dressed like this.

The only identifiable thing is a swastika with a red background on each of their arms.

Which symbol Terry looks familiar to me, I often see it when reading newspapers in the past two years, it seems to be a workers' organization in Germany.

But Terry wasn't sure, because the people in the newspaper didn't look like them.

Passing a wave, the boat pitched violently.

"Which direction did your morning guest go?"

Suddenly, the frontmost one of the three, who was also the tallest, suddenly asked.

He sat motionless in the boat, as if his ass had been welded to it.

"Uh..." Terry, who was thinking about it, was a little caught off guard. The three of them hadn't spoken since they got on the boat. He thought they couldn't speak English.

"What did you say?"

"I asked, in which direction did your morning guest go?"

"Sorry, I don't know what you're talking about."

Terry pushed the question back. Although he is a smuggler, smugglers also have rules. More than 40 years of life experience told him that the smartest way to live is not to mix any conflicts.

"Really? It seems that he gave you a lot of money."

The tall man in the hood said softly, his voice seemed to have an inexplicable magnetism, which made people feel relaxed.

Terry, who was still vigilant just now, suddenly lost his eyes.

"Oh, you said that generous little man, he did give me a lot of money."

Hooded Man: "Which direction is he going?"

Tyree: "He also landed on the Isle of Handa, along the Tay River to the south of the Scottish interior. There is nothing there, and many people get lost when they go in, and they never come out again. I advise you not to go in. .”

Snapped!

The fishing boat passed through another wave, and it was bumped violently. The sea wind was blowing, and Taili came back to his senses.

He felt like he said a lot just now, but he couldn't remember what he said.

In the rearview mirror, the three of them were still sitting like a rock. As before, there was no slight change in his expression.

"Damn."

Terry grunted and picked up the speed of the fishing boat. He wanted to end this weird list quickly.

Fortunately, soon, the boat drove to the shore of the island. There are lichens and moss everywhere, the cliffs are mottled sedimentary rocks, and there are jagged rocks, and the cliffs along the coast are covered with bird droppings.

On the shore stood two burly men, smoking cigarettes and waving at the boat.

Seeing them, Terry breathed a sigh of relief. He is a cautious person, and he will not do things that are not sure. Those two are his cousins, and they are in the smuggling business with him. is a very reliable partner.

As Terry moored the boat, one of his cousins ​​came up and knocked down a rusty iron rod, and the other fastened the cable to it.

Terry: "Just get it here. The total price is 45 pounds. I'll give you a discount. It's 40 pounds for you. If you want to take a car, you can walk 30 kilometers east along the coast."

After speaking, he stood beside the boat with his hips akimbo, waiting for one of the three to come out and pay the bill. And his two cousins ​​stood beside him in case any accident happened. After all, what they do is illegal business, and the guests they receive are mixed.

The three people on the boat stood up, and the tall man at the head asked softly, "Did that little man get off the boat here too?"

"Yes, don't ask, just pay the money and go, there are also coast guards in this area." Taili said anxiously.

Ignoring Taili's uneasy emotions, the tall man turned his head and said indifferently: "überprüfen." (Check it out)

The other two got off the boat silently and dispersed, turned their heads to look around, and one of them took out a black stick to draw in circles.

See how they do it. Terry narrowed his eyes, and a dangerous light flashed in his eyes. He slowly lifted up his half-wet shirt, revealing the mahogany revolver handle at his waist.

His two cousins ​​saw that Taili was looking pale, and after they looked at each other, they put their hands into their pockets. There were two thick handles of knives.

Terry was a smuggler and a man with blood on his hands. He has seen dangerous stowaways, murderers, robbers, thieves... But in the past 20 years, no one has ever taken advantage of them.

However, a scene that shocked Taili appeared.

The chest of the tall hooded man in front of him suddenly swelled, and then, a gleaming silver monkey head popped out. It has long silver fur and huge eyes.

It crawled to the shoulder of the tall man in the hood, looked at Tyri sympathetically, then closed his eyes, shaking his head in the air.

Terry had never seen a monkey like this, not at all.

His two cousins ​​were also completely dumbfounded.

The silver monkey suddenly opened its eyes, pointed in one direction and squeaked.

The man in the hood nodded, and the other two men holding the black sticks immediately put away the black sticks.

The three of them walked towards the direction pointed by the silver monkey, without any intention of stopping to pay the bill.

Terri was furious, and he pulled out the revolver on his waist. Click to point forward.

"Hey, stop, what are you doing!"

His two cousins ​​drew out their machetes with a clatter.

However, those three people walked ahead one after the other, their steps were steady and firm, and they had no intention of stopping at all. The shouts to him seemed unheard.

Terry put his hand on the trigger, a fierce gleam in his eye. He is also a person who has participated in the war, and he does not shy away from killing at all.

However, at this moment, something suddenly fell down and landed on Taili's shoulder.

Terry thought it was a seabird in this area, but when he turned his head, he was immediately dumbfounded.

It was a creature he had never seen before.

It has a body like a butterfly, but it is as big as a falcon. It is covered in green, with purple horny protrusions on its wings. It has cold red eyes and pointed claws.

Terry was dumbfounded.

The next second, the creature opened its mouth, revealing sharp teeth and purple letters.

It hissed without giving Terry time to react. Flying towards Taili's face, Taili, who had never seen such a battle at all, panicked. He tore up in a hurry, trying to tear off the monster attached to his face.

"Idiot, please help!!"

His two cousins ​​with knives were also dumbfounded. They didn't care about the three weird men anymore, and hurriedly tried to help Terry pull the weird creature away.

The monster was so tightly attached that it was useless to use the strength of an adult. The monster opened its thin mouth, and the letter pierced Taili's head in one fell swoop.

"Ugh!!"

Terry let out a miserable cry, he just felt that all his memories were rapidly moving away from him, including his emotions and rationality.

The two cousins ​​were in a hurry and started tearing apart frantically.

But at this time, two strange creatures fell from the sky and landed on the shoulders of Taili's two cousins.

After the two looked at each other, they were instantly enveloped in great fear.

They couldn't care about anything else, and ran wildly in a panic.

They didn't run very far before they fell to the ground. One by one struggled desperately and twitched.

On the other side, Terry couldn't even remember his own name, and finally, he pulled the trigger frantically in desperation.

boom!

boom!

boom!

The smoke dissipated, and after a few gunshots, the beach became silent.

Terry collapsed on the beach, motionless. So did his two cousins.

Green and purple fleshy wings hugged Teri's face. On the deserted beach, there was a toothsome sucking sound, and half of its body got into the head of the man in front of it.

Finally, the sound of teeth grinding ended.

The green and purple creature pulled out its head and shook the blood from its body. Immediately, he spread his wings and quickly caught up with the man who was only a few spots away.

Soon after, the other two also finished eating, got up and started chasing the owner.

Only the bodies of the three people were left lying on the deserted beach. A hole the size of a bowl was drilled out of each of their foreheads, and the inside was empty.

After the high tide, the bodies of the three people were swept up by the sea water, rolled a few times on the stone flood beach, and disappeared without a trace.