Firing the Cannon

After a dozen minutes, Nie Yun felt his energy fully restored, so he pulled back his hand to end the charging process.

He turned to look at a net of seafood—crabs, octopuses, and the like—hanging from the main mast. These were the unlucky souls that had been hiding in the ship and couldn't escape when the new Sea Wolf surfaced. Once Nie Yun took control of the vessel, they became the first captives of the new Sea Wolf.

"This is enough to keep me fed for a long time. Hah! Logistics are fully secured! Now, let me inspect my treasures!"

Last night had been a blur of searching for a hidden refuge and the bad luck of running aground; he had been so busy he hadn't even had a chance to tour his new ride.

The reborn Sea Wolf was a Spanish-style galleon, divided into three levels: the deck, the middle deck, and the hold.

It had a total of 51 cannons, 25 on each side distributed across the deck and middle deck, with one mounted at the bow. However, since all these cannons had been consumed by the Mechanical Insect as raw material, only the lonely, empty gun ports remained.

The deck featured a sterncastle, and the captain's quarters were located on the highest level of this structure. It offered an excellent view, and the ship's wheel was positioned just in front of the quarters.

It was clear that this Spanish-style warship had a distinct aristocratic flair; the captain's quarters were quite spacious, and one could faintly see signs of luxurious decor, though it was now rotting and dilapidated.

Previously, the Mechanical Insect had been busy clearing debris from the ship's surface and repairing damage; it hadn't had time to clean the interior of the ship, aside from devouring the dozens of cannons.

Nie Yun casually commanded the Mechanical Insect to consume everything inside the captain's quarters and then restore it as best as possible.

"Hmm, this place is nice. I'll live here from now on! Oh, and break through the walls of the adjacent rooms to make a large suite. Since I'm the only one on the ship, I don't need to worry about space!"

"Little ones, hurry up and clean this place. I want to move in tonight!" Nie Yun looked at the spacious captain's quarters, his sense of satisfaction nearly bursting.

Who could have imagined that just yesterday he was living in the cramped cabin of a fishing boat, and today he had upgraded to a presidential suite!

Just then, the Mechanical Insect sent a message. Nie Yun's heart skipped a beat, and he turned to look at the bed in the captain's quarters.

The wooden frame of the bed had rotted and collapsed. As the Mechanical Insect continued its cleaning, a wooden box was revealed inside. It wasn't large, only about the size of two palms, and parts of it were already rotting and damaged, revealing a glimmer of gold from within.

Nie Yun's eyes lit up!

He stepped forward to open the wooden box. Although it looked like it had originally been locked, and he had no idea which skeleton held the key, the box was in such a sorry state that it might as well have been drugged. With a little force, Nie Yun snapped the lock and opened the lid.

Suddenly, a burst of golden light dazzled his eyes.

"Gold... gold coins!" Nie Yun's eyes were completely occupied by the box full of gold coins; he couldn't see anything else.

This must have been the dead captain's private stash, right? What a good guy!

If I can sell one silver coin for 10 million, how much are these nearly a hundred gold coins worth?! How many ships could I buy?!

Damn, my old man's son is about to strike it rich!

This was the only thought left in Nie Yun's mind.

He began to fantasize about the Sea Wolf leading hundreds of large fishing boats to hunt across the Pacific! He felt he was one step closer to becoming the greatest fisherman of all time!

Wiping the drool from the corner of his mouth, he carefully poured the gold coins into a metal box newly assembled by the Mechanical Insect, then ordered it to put nine whole locks on the box!

"Remember, without my orders, no one is allowed to open this box! This contains my entire fleet. Absolutely, absolutely nothing can go wrong!" Nie Yun said to the box with great solemnity.

Mechanical Insect: "..."

-----I am an evil dividing line--------

Having hit the jackpot at his first stop, Nie Yun practically floated to the next location on his tour.

"La la la, la la la, the sky is so blue, the clouds are so white, oh ocean! You are such a great treasure!"

"Oh! Look, look, so many lovely cannonballs, they are simply fascinating... uh..." Singing an aria in his excitement, Nie Yun casually opened a hatch, then choked as if someone had grabbed him by the throat.

Cold sweat instantly broke out on his forehead!

What appeared before him were densely packed crates of black powder cannonballs...

The dark, gleaming shells had weathered a hundred years of time, yet their lethality had not diminished in the slightest. At the very least, Nie Yun had been thoroughly terrified.

"Quick... quick... move these shells out! No, wait! Move them slowly... be extremely careful not to bump or drop them. If one goes off, both of us are done for!" Nie Yun's lips turned pale as he stammered out his frantic orders.

Even if black powder had less explosive power than modern explosives, with this many of them, an accidental detonation would be enough to blow the Sea Wolf and its captain to the heavens.

A full hour later, the Mechanical Insects had finally moved all the shells from the magazine to the shore, piling them into a small hill far away from the Sea Wolf.

"Phew! Good thing I found them early. Who knows if these centuries-old antiques would explode? I was basically sitting on a powder keg yesterday. Scared the hell out of me!"

After the false alarm, Nie Yun began to observe the shells from a distance.

He had been too terrified to look closely before, but in reality, a large portion of the shells were solid iron balls; only about thirty percent were explosive shells with fuses, totaling around a hundred.

These ancient shells were spherical; it wasn't until modern times that shells gradually changed to a rounded-tip cylindrical shape to increase airtightness in the barrel during firing.

The earliest explosive shells used burning delay fuses and were filled with black powder or incendiary agents. The ones before Nie Yun were classic explosive shells from that era.

This distance was safe enough that Nie Yun didn't worry about being caught in an explosion, so he ordered the Mechanical Insect to dismantle and recast them directly.

Afterward, he ordered the Mechanical Insect to move one explosive shell far away from the group and light the fuse in an open area.

About three seconds later, with a deafening "boom," smoke and dust filled an area of about 5 meters in radius. The lethality was no worse than a hand grenade.

"Hmm, the power isn't bad at all!" Nie Yun stroked his chin and clicked his tongue.

Then, he excitedly ordered the Mechanical Insect to assemble a cannon. The silver-white barrel gleamed in the sunlight, looking ferocious and cruel! Without a doubt, it was a work of art of war!

As for what he wanted to do, it went without saying. Firing cannons was every man's romance, and Nie Yun was no exception!

He aimed at a cliff not far away, loaded the shell, and lit the fuse!

Of course, Nie Yun operated all of this from a long distance; he valued his own life very much.

After a "boom" of cannon fire, the shell whistled through the air, and seconds later, a column of water erupted from the sea beneath the cliff!

"Uh, that distance... that's a bit embarrassing..."