The Wokou Black Dog and his men stealthily approached the pier, which was unguarded by any Wokou, allowing them to board it smoothly.
“Pour oil on the chains to avoid making noise, quickly raise the barrier, lift the sea-blocking chains, and welcome the leader’s fleet into the port.”
Black Dog, mindful of Mao Haifeng’s instructions, ordered his men to pour oil on the chains to prevent creaking sounds, then directed the Wokou to raise the barrier and lift the sea-blocking chains.
Everything went smoothly, and the port of Moon Island was opened by Black Dog and his men.
“Quick, signal the leader.”
After opening the port, Black Dog ordered his men to signal out to sea.
Their signal was simple: raising four lanterns high with sticks, waving them in circles.
Soon, several lanterns flickered in the deep sea, flashing on and off, easily mistaken for twinkling stars on the horizon if not closely observed.
Seeing this, Black Dog and his men grew excited, thrilled that the leader’s fleet was just ahead.
The mission was complete, the leader’s fleet could slip in quietly, catching Xu San’s group of Wokou on the island off guard while they slept, ensuring they’d be history by morning!
“What are you lot doing there?!
Not guarding the gate properly, waving lanterns around for what?!”
Just as Black Dog and his men were beside themselves with excitement, a drunken voice suddenly called out from a distance.
It was a drunken Wokou leader, a mid-level figure on Moon Island, responsible for managing the docks.
His room was over a hundred metres from the pier, unlike the rooms near the stronghold gate, within fifty metres, which Black Dog had ordered his men to block.
This Wokou leader’s room was halfway up a slope, giving a clear view of the pier, a spot he’d chosen deliberately.
It allowed him to monitor the docks from his room, resting or sleeping while keeping an eye on his men, ready to discipline anyone slacking off!
But in the dark, he couldn’t see clearly, only noticing a few circling lanterns and vague figures beneath them.
He’d been drunk since daytime, his high tolerance no match for the group effort to get him plastered.
Managing the docks was a safe and lucrative post, coveted by many, and his position had made him plenty of enemies.
Whenever there was a chance, people targeted him.
So, that day, he’d been heavily drunk and sent to his room, sleeping like a log until midnight when a need to relieve himself woke him. Swaying, he stumbled out to the shore.
After relieving himself and pulling up his trousers, he noticed dozens of shadowy figures on the pier waving lanterns toward the sea.
Still hungover, he thought the gate guards were just fooling around by the shore.
“Put out those lanterns!”
Hearing the shout from above, Black Dog broke into a cold sweat, hurriedly ordering his men to blow out the lanterns.
“Too late to put them out now!
Not guarding the gate properly, messing about on the pier!
Wait till tomorrow, I’ll deal with you lot!”
The Wokou leader on the slope saw the lanterns go out, cursed a few times, pulled up his trousers, and turned to head back for more sleep.
Seeing the slope leader mistake them for slacking gate guards, not pressing further and only threatening to deal with them tomorrow, Black Dog and his men breathed a sigh of relief, narrowly escaping disaster.
Deal with them tomorrow? Hah, you won’t see tomorrow’s sun!
Whoosh~ Whoosh~
A chilling sea breeze blew in, making the slope leader, heading back to his room, shiver with goosebumps.
Bloody awful weather, freezing cold!
Time to get back to bed and warm up!
Those gate guards, playing around with lanterns on the pier in this weather, not afraid of the cold, really asking for a thrashing!
Muttering to himself, the Wokou leader headed toward his room, but as he reached to push the door, he froze!
The biting wind had cleared some of the alcohol from his system, and his hungover mind began to stir under the stimulation!
Something’s wrong!
Very wrong!
Seriously wrong!
The Wokou leader spun around, hurrying back. The pier was pitch black, eerily quiet, and in the distance, faint lights flickered on the sea, like stars twinkling on the horizon. But as someone long familiar with the sea, he knew those weren’t stars, they were the storm lanterns hanging on ship bows!
Lanterns circling on the pier!
Storm lanterns on ships at sea!
What did that mean?
It meant the people on the pier were signalling to the ships at sea!
This was a coordinated inside job!
Who sneaks around like this in the middle of the night, friend or foe? It was clear as day!
What kind of friend shows up at midnight?!
The Wokou leader broke into a cold sweat, instantly sober, shouting at the top of his lungs, “Wake up!
Something’s happening at the pier, enemy attack, enemy attack, enemies have infiltrated the island, they’re signalling outsiders!”
“Big trouble!
Something’s up at the pier!
Enemy attack, enemy attack!”
“Wake up, all of you, wake up!
Enemies have snuck in, if you don’t wake up, your heads will be gone!”
The Wokou leader ran, shouting at the top of his voice.
Hearing the slope leader’s cries, Black Dog on the pier was horrified, pointing at him and ordering his men, “Quick, shoot him!
Shoot him!
Don’t let him keep shouting!”
At Black Dog’s command, the Wokou with bows quickly nocked arrows and fired toward the slope.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Arrows flew toward the slope.
But in the pitch-black night, with no light on the slope, the archers couldn’t see the leader’s exact position, shooting blindly based on sound. The leader, running while shouting, was moving, causing most arrows to miss.
The arrows only confirmed the leader’s suspicions, the people on the pier were enemies!
And the ships they were signalling were enemies too!
“Enemy attack!”
“Enemy attack!”
“Wake up quick!
The enemy’s invading!”
The slope leader kept running, shouting loudly.
“Damn it!”
Furious, Black Dog grabbed a bow from someone nearby, drew it fully, aimed the glinting arrowhead along the sound of the leader’s voice, then released. The arrow flew with a whoosh!
“Ah!”
A scream rang out, the slope leader fell, and the cries of enemy attack stopped abruptly.
But Black Dog couldn’t rejoice, as the slope leader’s shouts had been too loud, and several rooms in the distance had lit up…
