Ye Guichen had no time to pay attention to the blue-eyed man, taking almost two minutes to complete carving the rune.

Without delaying any longer, Ye Guichen once again cut his finger with a dagger and let the blood drip onto the freshly carved rune.

"Boom!"

When the blood fell on the rune, a booming sound erupted from within the shark.

The giant shark instantly calmed down, acting like a docile little kitten.

Ye Guichen wasn't sure if the rune was effective, and he promptly ordered, "Make all those sharks leave!"

The giant shark made another strange noise, and all the other sharks, as if receiving an order, quickly left.

The blue-eyed man was completely shocked: "You, you know how to control sharks with magic?"

Ye Guichen exhaled a long breath.

The rune indeed worked.

However, he didn't bother to answer the blue-eyed man. Instead, he stepped on the shark's back and commanded it to swim back.

The shark's body floated halfway above the water surface. Ye Guichen grabbed the blue-eyed man with one hand, standing proudly on the shark's head, as if standing on a moving island.

After not long, Ye Guichen encountered Gongsun Fengying, Su Wu, and Lu Bu who had followed behind.

Because they couldn't hold their breath underwater for long and had to keep killing sharks, their speed was naturally much slower than Ye Guichen's.

Suddenly seeing a giant shark swimming towards them, the three of them immediately became vigilant, ready to act.

Su Wu's sharp eyes spotted Ye Guichen on the shark's back, his eyelids twitching as if he'd seen a ghost.

When the giant shark approached, Su Mu and the other two finally saw that Ye Guichen was indeed standing on the shark's back.

"Come up, we'll talk when we get back!"

Ignoring their shock, Ye Guichen waved at them.

The three of them had somewhat dazed expressions.

Especially Gongsun Fengying, who looked at Ye Guichen as if he were a stranger.

The three quickly jumped onto the shark's back.

The shark swam very steadily, feeling more stable than the previous big ship.

In just a few minutes, they returned to where the ships were waiting.

Seeing them returning on a giant shark, the others erupted in commotion.

"What's going on?"

"Those sharks suddenly retreated, how did they come back riding a shark?"

"Heavens, did they control the shark?"

People speculated amongst themselves.

Soon, someone noticed the blue-eyed man in Ye Guichen's hand, looking at him with puzzled expressions.

Ye Guichen didn't explain, dragging the blue-eyed man onto the ship, leaving the shark to wait aside, then gathered all the captains from the other major organizations onto the ship.

After a quick headcount, out of the originally eight organizations, except for the likely lost Qinglei Garden, only seven remained.

Moreover, due to the shark attack, there were countless casualties, leaving barely fifty people alive.

In the ship's cabin, everyone wore a dejected look.

Since they could serve as captains, they were naturally elites with strong martial skills, though some were still severely injured. Fortunately, their martial prowess prevented fatal injuries.

"Captain Ye, what exactly happened?" After a long silence, Lu Bu finally spoke.

Ye Guichen pointed to the blue-eyed man: "Let him explain!"

The blue-eyed man, now viewing Ye Guichen as someone akin to Caesar, had been muttering non-stop since being thrown onto the ship, even occasionally bowing to Ye Guichen: "Heavens, you must be Emperor Caesar's brother. Only Emperor Caesar's brother would possess the ability to control those wild sharks."

Apart from the trio who first saw Ye Guichen standing on the shark's back, the other captains were clueless about what had happened. Hearing the blue-eyed man's words, they turned their shocked gazes on Ye Guichen.

Ye Guichen controlled the sharks?

This, this is impossible!

Ye Guichen couldn't be bothered to explain. Seeing the blue-eyed man continuously kowtow despite a fractured sternum, he was curious about this Western man's physique.

Normally, with a fractured sternum, breathing would be difficult, but this guy's continuous chatter seemed unaffected.

"Speak!" Ye Guichen lifted the blue-eyed man who was kneeling before him, "Tell us everything you know."

Initially expecting to interrogate, Ye Guichen was surprised as the blue-eyed man quickly recounted everything without any hesitation.

After listening, the cabin fell into silence once again.

Lu Bu furrowed his brows, looking at Ye Guichen: "Captain Ye, what do you think?"

After this calamity, although there were hostilities among the seven remaining organizations, an invisible force seemed to be drawing them together, making their relationships much closer.

Especially after witnessing Ye Guichen's methods, they unconsciously started seeing him as their cornerstone.

Su Wu, having learned the entire situation, re-evaluated Ye Guichen—someone he initially had little respect for.

Gongsun Fengying, on the other hand, still held a grudge against Ye Guichen.

Previously, Ye Guichen had revealed her physical problems, making Gongsun Fengying feel as though her weaknesses were exposed to everyone.

Having her cards laid bare, Gongsun Fengying naturally held no fondness for Ye Guichen.

Though she once wanted to kill Ye Guichen, she found herself more curious now, wondering how he knew about her condition.

Regardless, fighting Ye Guichen in the current situation was clearly not a wise choice.

Ye Guichen furrowed his brows and said gravely, "What the Sea King said corroborates my earlier suspicions. This time, we might just be bait for the regiment's trap, meant to lure out Caesar."

The Sea King was the title Caesar had granted the blue-eyed man.

"Bait?"

"How is that possible! While this competition is a talent selection for the regiment, using so many of us as bait is an exaggeration, isn't it?"

"Exactly, you're just trying to scare us." Gongsun Fengying was also indignant.

Ye Guichen ignored her and continued, "There's no need to disclose this to others, it stays between us."

"The urgent task is that Caesar already knows of our arrival. Having sent this blue-eyed man to intercept us, there are bound to be more contingencies. Hence, our mission now is not just to find Atlantis and kill Caesar, but most importantly to unite and work together as one."

"Only then do we have a chance to win this competition. I believe everyone understands that having come this far, as elites, we can't turn back. Doing so would undermine our respect in the regiment and within our organizations."

"Therefore, we must show the regiment that we're not merely bait or pawns, but players who can control the game."