Chapter 71: Welcome, Tengu Tribe

“Ah, my name is Dailisi. I came here with my father. The dark matter in his body reached a critical point, so he was exiled here. That’s why I…”

The delicate Miss Dailisi instinctively started explaining, her pale lips chattering away, sounding aggrieved. But before she could finish, she realized something was off.

She stomped her foot in frustration and shouted, “Is this really the time to be talking about this? We should be running away, escaping!”

Yun Qimu reached out and pinched her soft, chubby cheek, leaving Dailisi wide-eyed and completely stunned.

“W-what are you doing?” she mumbled, teary-eyed, looking at Yun Qimu.

Yun Qimu, showing no hint of guilt, leisurely withdrew her hand and said calmly, “You just looked so cute, I couldn’t resist pinching your cheek.”

Dailisi’s eyes widened, her expression screaming, “I can’t believe someone so good-looking could be like this!”—a mix of shock and indignation.

Meanwhile, the two girls seemed to have forgotten everyone else and were just playing around.

Amos: …

Ge Miao: …

The three space pirates: …

The bald pirate glared at them, the muscles on his face twitching. “So you two ladies don’t take us seriously at all, huh? Heh heh… Well, I hope you’ll have just as much fun when you’re in the Black Skull Pirate Crew’s hands.”

“Black Skull Pirate Crew?” Yun Qimu, who had just been acting nonchalant, looked over in surprise. She scrutinized the three burly men and actually found them a bit familiar.

“What, you know about the Black Skull?” The bald brute puffed out his chest, looking quite pleased. “Well, I guess that makes sense. Our Black Skull Pirate Crew is pretty famous out there.”

Ge Miao and Dailisi immediately tensed up. Oh my god, turns out this is such a notorious pirate crew!

Only Amos looked as if he’d just realized something.

The Black Skull Pirate Crew? Weren’t they the group of slaves who’d been worked to the bone back in Earth Village?

He’d heard that when they first arrived, they were all muscle-bound tough guys, but after just a few days of hard labor, they’d been worn down, their muscles practically melting away. Those once-proud strongmen had become oppressed, cold and hungry, suffering slaves.

The village chief had even said that, for the sake of “sustainable development” and “long-term use” of the slaves, he was considering easing up on them a bit so they wouldn’t work themselves to death.

And now, more members of the Black Skull Pirate Crew had just delivered themselves right to their door—perfect to replenish the village’s labor force.

As expected, the chief’s luck was off the charts.

Amos looked at Yun Qimu with deep admiration.

“What’s going on? What happened here?”

Masa had been waiting in the tribe for Yun Qimu to return, but she still hadn’t shown up. With the half-hour paper-cutting session about to start, he led a group of anxious tribespeople out to look for her.

When they saw the three fierce-looking brutes across from them, Masa didn’t hesitate. He rushed over and shielded Yun Qimu and Dailisi behind him, standing protectively in front of the two girls.

He glared at the three men with authority and suspicion, demanding, “Who are you people? What do you want? These girls are under the protection of my Tengu Tribe. You—”

Before he could finish, the bald brute lost patience and snapped, “Shut up, you nagging old man. Don’t get in my way.”

He raised a black energy gun and fired directly at Masa.

A powerful red shockwave exploded in front of everyone, catching them completely off guard.

“Ah—!”

The tribespeople who’d come along shrieked in alarm, especially the young women and aunties who’d come for the paper-cutting contest. They’d never seen gunfire before and scattered in panic.

Masa hadn’t expected the other side to be so ruthless. They hadn’t even exchanged names, let alone spoken a few words, and they’d already opened fire—with a powerful hot weapon, no less.

His powers couldn’t withstand that!

Masa’s pupils shrank in terror, and he instinctively tried to summon a water shield.

But someone grabbed his arm and swiftly pulled him back.

“Ding—”

The red shockwave exploded against a giant golden axe, ringing out with a clear, crisp sound.

As the smoke cleared, a golden axe taller than a person was revealed, gleaming even brighter than gold.

Not a single scratch was left on its surface. The snow-white, razor-sharp blade at the top glinted coldly, sending chills down everyone’s spine.

“W-what kind of weapon is that?” The three space pirates were so shocked their voices stuttered.

They considered themselves well-traveled, but they’d never seen an axe with such incredible defensive power!

That red shockwave just now was enough to kill a weaker A-rank ability user. In their pirate crew, it was a precious and important weapon—usually brought out just to show off.

They’d fired at Masa mainly to intimidate him, since they’d recognized him as the chief of the neighboring Tengu Tribe—the one Blackbeard was wary of, and rumored to be a high-level ability user.

But when they saw the rest of the tribe coming, the three of them—who had no abilities—started to panic. They’d hoped to scare everyone by taking Masa out first.

But to their shock, not only did the attack fail, even the axe used for defense was completely unscathed, as if mocking their incompetence.

Masa, who’d been pulled to safety, was just as stunned, his jaw practically dropping. “W-what is that?”

“That’s an A-rank weapon I got from a treasure chest. It can change size. Looks like it’s good for more than just chopping monsters—it’s great for defense too,” Yun Qimu said, marveling at the golden axe.

She then shrank the giant axe back down to a small one, playing with it in her hand and grinning. “Looks like we’ve discovered a new use for it. Maybe next time I’ll see if it can block a battleship’s cannon fire.”

…Masa clutched his chest, eyes wide in disbelief.

A treasure chest could give you a weapon like that?

That was just too incredible!

Masa’s heart pounded wildly, his expression shifting through shock and awe before he finally looked at Yun Qimu with solemn respect. “Chief Yun, I think we should discuss relocating the entire Tengu Tribe to Earth Village.”

Yun Qimu looked at him in surprise. “You’ve made up your mind, Chief Masa? You’re willing to leave this place?”

Masa nodded heavily and sighed. “Our people have lived here for generations, but we only stayed for survival. Now that we have a better choice, there’s no need to cling to this land anymore.”"