novelaction Chapter 1297 Purify the City of Sin!
Chapter 1297 Purify the City of Sin!
He knew, of course, that there was a trap behind this.
But the opportunities contained within were so great that they drove him, and even the entire East India Company, crazy!
The value of that warship wreckage is immeasurable. The technology on it is the core technology that the company has been eager to obtain from the "Nihilists," but which they have always refused to share!
And if the blonde female prisoner's identity is indeed as he suspects...
Her value will far exceed that of a hundred "Victory" ships!
As for the so-called "Kunlun Kingdom".
Governor Harrington's lips curled into a cold smile.
Another nouveau riche who thinks he can challenge the world order just because he found a gold mine in the East.
They may have money and power.
But they don't understand politics.
They don't understand the only law on this vast ocean—survival of the fittest.
“Your Excellency, then… what should we do now?” The fat officer asked in a trembling voice, looking at Harrington’s unpredictable expression.
"How to do?"
Harrington turned around, his face once again displaying the elegant yet hypocritical smile of a British aristocrat.
"Of course, we will welcome our distinguished guests from afar in the warmest way possible."
He walked to the expensive mahogany desk, picked up the gold-inlaid quill pen, and quickly wrote a line on a letter with the company emblem.
"Send someone to deliver it."
He carefully placed the envelope, sealed it with sealing wax, and handed it to his secretary.
“Tell His Highness the ‘Prince of Kunlun’ that I, Charles Harrington, on behalf of the East India Company and the great British Empire, welcome him and His Highness the Princess.”
“The best-looking Tulip Manor in the city has already prepared accommodations and a dinner for them.”
"As for that 'huge deal,' we'll have plenty of time to discuss it after they've rested."
……
Half an hour later.
Lin Zhen and his group, "escorted" by the fat officer and dozens of fully armed soldiers, set foot on the land of Novo Batavia.
They walked along the white marble-paved avenue toward the "Tulip Manor" in the city center.
Along the way, Yue Fei's brows furrowed into a deep frown.
This iron-willed general, who devoted his life to serving his country with utmost loyalty, felt that his eyes were being tainted by the surrounding scenery.
The streets were lined with taverns, casinos, and brothels.
A scantily clad foreign woman flirts with sailors from the balcony.
A drunken pirate openly embraced a prostitute in the street, engaging in lewd acts that drew laughter and cheers from the crowd.
The air was filled with the nauseating smells of cheap rum, spices, sweat, and vomit.
This is not a city.
This is a dumping ground for all the world's sins and desires.
In Yue Fei's view, several emaciated children were rummaging through the garbage heap for rotten food like wild dogs.
Not far away, a bloated merchant casually tossed a nearly untouched roast suckling pig to his lapdog.
This scene pierced Yue Fei's eyes deeply.
He gripped the hilt of the knife tightly, his bronze face revealing undisguised murderous intent.
If it weren't for the prince's order, he would have drawn his sword and slaughtered everyone in this city right now!
Unlike his anger, Elizabeth acted as if she had returned to her own backyard.
Her sapphire-blue eyes sparkled as she surveyed everything with great interest.
"Oh! Look! Jack the One-Eyed's tavern! I won his favorite 'Siren' here three years ago!"
"And over there! Bloody Mary's auction house! They're sure to have some good stuff stolen from the East tonight!"
She acted like a perfect tour guide, introducing every "sightseeing spot" to Lin Zhen and Murong Yan, her tone filled with nostalgia.
Murong Yan listened quietly, her phoenix eyes empty.
This gesture itself is a silent declaration.
Her gaze swept over the crowds on both sides of the street.
Those who stopped in their tracks because of her appearance, casting complex glances of amazement, greed, and awe, were no different from the pebbles on the roadside in her eyes.
Whether they were bloated merchants or poorly clothed slaves, they were nothing more than a group of pitiful creatures about to be utterly crushed by her and her husband.
Their fate was already sealed.
Just then, a commotion arose at the front of the group, and the group stopped in their tracks.
Not far ahead, a circular plaza surrounded by dozens of iron cages appeared before them.
A burly white man, shirtless and holding a blood-stained whip, stood on the stage, roaring at the greedy businessmen below.
"Gentlemen! Come and take a look! Have a look!"
"A brand new batch of top-quality 'goods' from the Far East!"
"Skin like milk! Body like silk!"
"I guarantee that each of them will provide you with a royal experience!"
It was a huge and cruel human market, a living hell where people were bought and sold like livestock.
That square, surrounded by cold iron cages, resembled a huge, festering wound.
It is laid bare in the heart of Novobatavia.
The air, thick with the stench of rum and sweat, was filled with an even more nauseating smell—the sour, putrid stench of despair and bloodshed.
The iron cages held people—dozens, perhaps hundreds, of women from different countries and races.
Most of them were very young, wearing only a few tattered pieces of burlap that barely covered their private parts.
His skin was covered in whip marks and grime.
All that remained in their eyes was the deathly silence utterly emptied by fear and numbness. They huddled in the corner of the cage, their bodies trembling from the cold and fear, yet they dared not utter a sound.
Occasionally, a few newly captured slaves, whose eyes still held a glimmer of resistance, would be immediately subjected to a brutal beating by slave traders wielding leather whips. The sound of the whips tearing flesh was mixed with suppressed groans and cries of pain.
That was the most jarring background noise in this sinful deal.
The square was surrounded by onlookers.
A fat-headed East India Company official, a burly pirate captain, and an Arab merchant dressed in gorgeous silk.
They pointed and gestured at the woman in the cage as if she were livestock.
They made unrestrained comments about their appearance, figure, and "durability".
There was not a trace of pity in that gaze, only the most primal and naked possessiveness.
Yue Fei's fists were clenched so tightly they were making a "crackling" sound.
His bronze face turned a deep liver color from extreme anger.
If it weren't for his last shred of reason holding him back, he would have rushed up immediately and cleaved the arrogant slave trader on the high platform, along with everyone else involved in this dirty deal, in two.
He had seen more dead people than living people on the battlefield, but he had never seen such a scene of trampling on the dignity of "human beings".
This disgusted and angered him even more than the bloody massacres on the battlefield.
Elizabeth's excitement and curiosity had long since vanished. Although she was a pirate who had committed many murders and robberies, she had never been involved in such a sordid human trafficking.
In her view, this was the kind of thing only the lowest and most shameless pirates would do.
She looked at the slaves in the cages, who were women like herself but were suffering inhumane treatment.
For the first time, a complex emotion surfaced in those blue eyes that always burned with a wild flame.
There is compassion and sympathy, but more than anything, there is the indifference of the strong towards the weak.
This is the law of this world.