Sea Storm

As the system announcement was made, the sky visibly darkened, the gathered storm clouds seeming to brew a massive catastrophe.

A colossal bolt of lightning suddenly streaked across the sky, as if splitting it in two, thunder roaring deafeningly. The ship sailed alone on the churning, surging sea, the overwhelming effect feeling like true doomsday had arrived.

[Public Channel]

Little Bitter Gourd: "Buying iron ore, willing to trade anything, even my entire belongings. Is there any big shot who can sell me one piece of iron ore? Wuwuwu, I really don't want to die..."

Moyudawang: "Who isn't short on iron ore right now? Upgrading to a Level 3 Ship needs fifty pieces."

Little Bitter Gourd: "I only need one. Anyone with a spare, please sell it to me. I feel like my raft is about to fall apart, and there's a shark nearby. I don't want to become fish food..."

Sad Egg Yolk: "I'm already waiting to die. Thinking about it, dying like this isn't so bad. No more struggling desperately to survive..."

Ling Chu still had sixty pieces of iron ore left, fifty of which were listed in exchange for the Tear of the Ghost. But that item seemed too rare—since she'd posted it, not only had no one traded, no player had even given her a lead.

She figured that since she could harvest supplies from Iron Ore Island again in two days, she'd never be short on iron ore. So she listed all her remaining ore on the Trading Post at her previous price, but added a restriction: one per person.

"Sixty pieces of iron ore listed on the Trading Post. Buy while supplies last."

When Ling Chu sent this message, the Public Chat Channel went silent for two seconds—everyone was probably rushing to grab the ore.

Two seconds later, [Public Chat Channel]

Invincible and Handsome: "Someone really cashing in on lives at a time like this? Not afraid of shortening their own lifespan?"

Squid Ball: "? What kind of crap are you spewing? People selling iron ore right now are bodhisattvas saving lives."

Lulu Loves Eating Melons: "Yeah, yeah. Sixty pieces of iron ore means sixty lives saved. How can some people not tell good from bad?"

Little Bitter Gourd: "Thank you, big shot Ling Chu! I grabbed one piece of iron ore. I'm alive!!!"

Sad Egg Yolk: "I got one too. Oh my god, is this what it means to be destined to survive? Thank you, big shot, for saving my dog life..."

Anyone with eyes could see that Ling Chu listing iron ore at this moment was clearly meant to help those in need, and at the same price she'd sold it before.

If she really wanted to profit off people's lives, she could have raised the price two or three times, or even signed a debt contract with the system.

This Sea Storm would destroy all unupgraded rafts. No matter how many resources someone had, it would all be useless. Those lacking iron ore to upgrade their rafts, desperate to survive, would trade anything.

Moyudawang: "Why is there a purchase limit? I only got one."

Squid Ball: "You want more? How shameless."

Moyudawang: "How many I grab is my freedom. It's all fair trade. Why are you cursing at me?"

Squid Ball: "Cursing you is my freedom too. If you've got the guts, get the system to mute me."

Moyudawang: "No class."

Squid Ball: "You'd swipe two pairs of an old man's underwear drying on the street. So much class you've got."

Ling Chu remembered that Moyudawang was the second-place player in the Ocean Scavenger Public Challenge. He should have already upgraded to a small sailboat and wouldn't be short on iron ore. She was worried about people like him who didn't urgently need ore but still hoarded it—good thing she'd added the purchase limit.

Unusual waves rose on the sea, crashing onto the deck, the ship rocking violently. As the lightning and thunder grew louder, a torrential rain poured down.

Ling Chu immediately closed the Public Channel.

The Sea Storm was coming.

She first stored the potted seedlings and Water Purifier from the deck into her ring. With the rain falling this hard, if her seedlings got drowned, she'd be heartbroken.

Once the seedlings were in the ring, they stopped growing. The storm probably wouldn't last too long, so losing a bit of growth time didn't matter.

After stowing everything, Ling Chu was drenched through, unable to tell if the water on her face was rain or seawater.

The wind and waves were like a giant hand, lifting the ship up and then dropping it. Ling Chu felt like she was on a roller coaster from before her transmigration.

Now it really was a pirate ship.

Her small sailboat had 13 Durability Value. She knew the storm couldn't destroy her ship, but the rocking was so nauseating she wanted to throw up.

She grabbed the railing by the edge of the ship with difficulty and shouted to Titch, who was still at the helm: "The waves are too big! Get into the cabin first!"

She and Titch ducked into the cabin one after another. The cramped cabin had no windows and was well-sealed, blocking out the thunder.

Ling Chu's seasickness eased a bit. She took out a grill, lit some charcoal to warm up, and used the heat to dry her soaked clothes.

If you enjoy this book, to avoid losing it next time, please remember to bookmark it.

She thought to herself, I have to find that Tear of the Ghost soon and upgrade the ship again. This little boat is way too cramped.

She and Titch sat by the fire, staring at each other.

With nothing else to do, Ling Chu struck up a conversation: "By the way, Titch, how did you die?"

She clearly remembered that when Titch was found, his whole body was curled up inside a Wine Barrel. With such a strange posture, it couldn't have been suicide, could it?

The Ghost Fire in Titch's eyes flickered twice. He spoke with some melancholy: "My most trusted first mate betrayed me. The bullet from his gun hit me right in the heart."

He pointed to the left side of his sternum. Ling Chu looked closely—below his third rib, there was a clear mark left by a bullet.

"Why did he betray you?"

Titch shook his head. "I don't know."

"That day, we were celebrating a victory. Joseph roasted an entire sheep. Everyone on the ship gathered to drink. He put sleeping pills in the alcohol."

"As I was drifting off, I saw him shoot me. After I died, he must have stuffed me into a Wine Barrel and thrown me into the sea."

Titch sighed again as he spoke. "I don't know if my other crew members are dead or alive either. I reckon their fate was just as miserable as mine."

Ling Chu sympathized with Titch's plight.

At least he had the chance to be revived by her after death. If she died herself, she probably wouldn't even have anyone to collect her corpse.

This question from Ling Chu opened the floodgates for Titch, who began to ramble endlessly about his past days sailing with his crew.

Ling Chu grew drowsy amidst the rocking pirate ship and the story of a real pirate skeleton.

About four or five hours passed.

Ling Chu, who had fallen asleep, was woken up by Titch.

"Captain, the rain outside seems to have stopped."

Ling Chu wiped her face, sobered up a bit, stood up, and walked out of the cabin. The sky outside had indeed cleared, and the waves had visibly calmed. The ship's railings were hung with a lot of seaweed that had been swept up. She also picked up two oysters and a dead horse mackerel on the deck.

She checked the ship's status; the durability had become 64/100. Her ship's durability value should be considered high. If even she had lost this much durability, other players would only be worse off.

Repairing the ship required 30 wood and 10 cloth. After Ling Chu chose to repair, the system showed it would take 2 hours to complete.

She and Titch cleaned up the seaweed on the ship together and put the planting pots back in their original positions.

During this time, the public chat channel remained lively.

[Public Channel]

Little Bitter Gourd: Ship durability is down to 13 points, scared me to death. Thanks again, big shot Ling Chu. If I hadn't upgraded the raft, I'd definitely be meeting my great-grandma by now.

The World Is Not Worth It: I remember our server had 100,000 people. Now there's 92,000 left. A storm killed almost 8,000?

Squid Ball: You remembered wrong. Before the storm, there were only 98,000 people left. About 5,000 died.

Driving a Ferrari with One Hand: Trading food or fresh water for wood! Motherf*cker, there's a huge hole in my deck, I'm desperate for wood to fix the ship!

A Silly Bird: When I was cleaning the ship just now, I found a giant clam on the deck. I opened it and there was a pure white pearl inside!

Lulu Loves Eating Melons: So jealous, bro. Your luck stat must be really high. My ship only has trash and seaweed.

Some players were rejoicing in their survival, while others were still shaken. Because of this storm, the price of wood had gone up.

Ling Chu had over 5,000 units of wood on her, all bought earlier with iron ore. She couldn't use that much wood anyway, so she decided to take advantage of the high prices and put half of it on the trading post in exchange for food, prioritizing fruits and meat.

From her observations over the past three days, food prices were the most stable. The price of iron ore would probably gradually drop in the future, so it was better to exchange all surplus resources for food and stockpile it. After all, food wouldn't spoil in her ring.

[Congratulations to all players for safely surviving the sea storm. The next disaster type will be a meteor shower, arriving in seven days. It is recommended that players increase their ship speed to 30 km/h.]

[The leaderboard and shop functions are now fully open. You can view them in the system panel.]

[You have been listed on the leaderboard. Do you wish to hide your profession information?]

If you find this book enjoyable, to avoid losing it next time, please remember to add it to your bookshelf.