After more than ten minutes, Nie Yun felt his energy fully restored, so he pulled his hand back and ended the recharge.
He turned to look at the bundle of crabs, octopuses, and other seafood hanging from the mainmast. They were unlucky stragglers who had been hiding inside the ship when the new Sea Wolf surfaced and hadn't escaped in time. Once Nie Yun had taken over the vessel, they had become the new Sea Wolf's first prisoners.
"This is enough to keep me fed for a long time. Mm! The provisions are more than adequate! Next, let me take a look around my beauty!"
Last night, he'd had to find a concealed place to hide, then had the bad luck to run aground. He'd been so busy he hadn't had a chance to look around his new ride.
The newly reborn Sea Wolf was a Spanish-style ship with large triangular sails and three decks: the upper deck, the middle deck, and the lower deck.
It had a total of 51 cannons, 25 on each side, distributed between the upper and middle decks, plus one at the bow. But the Mechanical Insects had already devoured every last cannon for nourishment, leaving only the empty gunports.
A raised sterncastle stood on the upper deck, and the Captain's Quarters occupied its topmost level. It had an excellent view, and the helm was just in front of it.
The Spanish-style warship clearly had an aristocratic air. The Captain's Quarters were spacious, and traces of lavish decorations could still be seen inside, though they were now thoroughly decayed.
Earlier, the Mechanical Insects had been busy clearing debris from the outside of the ship and repairing the damage. Aside from eating dozens of cannons, they hadn't yet had time to clean the inside.
Nie Yun casually directed the Mechanical Insects to devour everything in the Captain's Quarters, then restore the room as best they could.
"Mm, this place is nice. I'll live here from now on! Oh, and knock through the walls of the rooms next door to make a huge suite. I'm the only one on the whole ship, so there's no need to worry about space!
"Get to cleaning, you little guys. I'm moving in tonight!" Looking at the spacious Captain's Quarters, Nie Yun felt so satisfied he was practically bursting.
Who could have imagined that yesterday he'd been living in the cramped cabin of a fishing boat, and today he'd moved straight into a presidential suite?
Just then, the Mechanical Insects sent him a message. Nie Yun's heart stirred, and he turned to look at the bed in the Captain's Quarters.
The wooden bed frame had rotted and collapsed. As the Mechanical Insects continued clearing it away, a small wooden box appeared inside. It was only about the size of two palms, and parts of it had rotted away, revealing a glimmer of gold within.
Nie Yun's eyes lit up!
He stepped forward and opened the box. It looked like it had originally been locked, but the key was probably on some skeleton by now. The box was so rotten it might as well have been drugged with Ten Fragrance Soft Tendon Powder. Nie Yun gave the lock a little tug, snapped it right off, and opened the lid.
A flash of golden light dazzled his eyes.
"Gold... coins!" Nie Yun's vision was filled with the coins in the box. He couldn't see anything else.
This must have been the dead captain's little stash, right? What a good man!
I can sell a single silver coin for ten million. How much would nearly a hundred gold coins be worth?! How many ships could I buy?!
Damn, your old man's son is about to strike it rich!
That was the only thought left in Nie Yun's mind.
He began imagining the Sea Wolf leading hundreds of large fishing boats on a fishing expedition across the Pacific! He seemed to be one step closer to becoming the greatest fisherman of all time!
Wiping the drool from the corner of his mouth, he carefully poured the coins into a newly assembled metal box made by the Mechanical Insects, then ordered them to fit it with no fewer than nine locks!
"Remember, without my permission, no one is to open this box—not anyone! It holds my entire fleet, so it must not be lost! Absolutely not!" Nie Yun said solemnly to the box.
The Mechanical Insects: "..."
...I'm the evil scene-break line...
Having struck it rich at his very first stop, Nie Yun practically floated into the next place he went to inspect.
"La la la, la la la, the sky is so blue, the clouds are so white, oh, ocean! You're one giant treasure trove!"
"Oh! Look, look, so many adorable cannonballs! They're simply irresistible... Uh..." Still singing an aria in his excitement, Nie Yun casually opened a hatch, then choked as if someone had grabbed him by the throat.
His forehead instantly broke out in a cold sweat!
Before him stood stacks upon stacks of crates filled with black-powder cannonballs...
The cannonballs were dark and gleaming. Even after a hundred years, they hadn't lost any of their menace. At least, Nie Yun was already terrified.
"Q-quick... get these cannonballs out of here! No, no! S-slowly... Don't bump them or knock them around. One wrong move and we'll both be done for!" Nie Yun's lips had gone pale as he stammered out his orders.
Even if black powder was less powerful than modern explosives, there were so many cannonballs that an accidental detonation could still send the Sea Wolf and its captain flying.
It took the Mechanical Insects a full hour to carry every cannonball out of the powder magazine and pile them into a small hill far away from the Sea Wolf, on the shore.
"Phew! Good thing I found them early. Who knows if these centuries-old relics have gone unstable? We were practically sitting on a powder keg yesterday! That scared the life out of me!"
After that close call, Nie Yun began observing the cannonballs from a safe distance.
He'd been so frightened that he hadn't examined them carefully. In fact, a large number of them were solid iron shot. Only about thirty percent were black-powder explosive shells with fuses—around a hundred in all.
These ancient cannonballs were spherical. It wasn't until modern times that they gradually changed to pointed cylinders, which improved the seal inside the barrel when fired.
The earliest explosive cannonballs used burning time fuses and were filled with black powder or incendiary materials. The ones before Nie Yun were classic examples of shells from that era.
The cannonballs were now far enough away to be safe. Even if they exploded, Nie Yun didn't think he'd be caught in the blast, so he ordered the Mechanical Insects to break them down and recast them.
Then he had the Mechanical Insects carry one of the explosive shells far away from the rest and set it down in an open area, where they lit its fuse.
About three seconds later, a loud boom rang out. Smoke and dust filled an area roughly five meters across, and its destructive power wasn't much less than a hand grenade's.
"Mm, not bad at all!" Nie Yun stroked his chin and clicked his tongue.
Then, excitedly, he ordered the Mechanical Insects to assemble a cannon. Its silver-white barrel gleamed in the sunlight, savage and vicious! There was no doubt about it: this was a work of art crafted for war!
As for what he planned to do, that went without saying. Firing a cannon was every man's idea of romance, and Nie Yun was no exception!
He aimed at a cliff in the distance, loaded the cannon, and lit the fuse!
Of course, Nie Yun did all this from a distance. He valued his life.
With a loud boom, the cannon fired. The shell whistled through the air, and a few seconds later, a column of water erupted from the sea below the cliff!
"Uh, that range is... awkward."
Before you continue