Heightened Focus

Xia Lun's eyes flew open. Warm droplets of blood flung up by a whip tearing through flesh, mixed with the screams of wounded sailors and icy rain, struck him in the eyes.

He blinked.

The gritty pain was like strong liquor poured into his eyes, yet Xia Lun's heart trembled slightly with wild joy.

—His heartbeat suddenly quickened.

The reason for his excitement was not some masochistic tendency or mental problem. He was excited because this game was simply too real—far beyond the limits of what current technology could achieve!

The ability to perfectly simulate sensory experiences could not possibly belong to a modern, or even near-future, game.

Rather than a fake game, it was more like genuine transmigration!

This game itself was the best proof that supernatural forces existed.

Perhaps his illness really could be cured!

Xia Lun took a deep breath and barely suppressed the elation in his heart before observing his surroundings from the corner of his eye.

—He was at the stern, beside roughly a dozen captured sailors. He and the sailors were straining to pull a massive rope. The rope was long, stretching across the length of the ship like a net and supporting the precarious forecastle at the distant bow.

Behind the sailors stood three armed pirates. Limited by his angle of view and the misty spray, Xia Lun could not make out their expressions. Still, his intuition told him that the short black pirate among them was particularly excited and bloodthirsty, his eyes seeming to gleam with a savage red light.

Xia Lun did not act rashly. He lowered his head and continued pulling the rope with the sailors. The situation was still unclear, and acting precipitously could bring unpredictable consequences.

The hemp rope had become exceptionally heavy after soaking up rainwater. The thumb-thick cord bit deeply into Xia Lun's palms, its rough fibers grinding against his skin like sandpaper. A scorching pain mixed with the damp chill of rain and mist flooded his mind.

Talk about ice and fire at once, Xia Lun grumbled inwardly.

Yet as he pulled, his movements suddenly stopped.

A faint, familiar, but deeply unsettling sense of suffocation surged up from his lungs, like an iron hook snagging the breathing gills of a fish.

Suffocation, pain, dizziness...

Xia Lun's heart sank.

The special medicine he had taken before entering the game had lost its effect after he entered it!

That meant the lung disease that had been suppressed was about to flare up again. Once it fully relapsed, he would completely lose the ability to move.

In this perilous situation, losing his mobility undoubtedly meant death. The bloodthirsty pirates would very likely toss him straight into the sea!

What should he do?

As his thoughts raced, Xia Lun remembered the medicine in the wooden box that treated lung diseases.

One bottle would keep his lung disease from affecting him for a month.

In other words, as long as he got the wooden box, he could temporarily free himself from the effects of his illness!

The only problem was that the wooden box he had spent a fortune on was not beside him.

So my top priority is to find the wooden box where I put my things. Logically, it can't be far from me. It has to be on the deck, Xia Lun thought. But I can't turn around directly right now. If I attract the pirates' attention, I'm dead.

With that thought, he endured the suffocating sensation and the weak groans of the injured sailors, gripped the rope tighter, and kept pulling.

A turning point came quickly.

"Stop howling! You're driving me crazy!" the short Black pirate suddenly roared hysterically. "Why do you have to keep screaming? Why!? Shut up! Shut up!"

As he spoke, he raised his whip in fury and lashed it viciously at the wounded sailor.

The captives all instinctively turned to look, and Xia Lun took the chance to turn his head as well.

At that instant, time seemed to slow.

All the noise around Xia Lun rapidly faded away. The wind, rain, curses, crying, and even the faint screams coming from the cabin all vanished. It was as if he had detached himself from the entire world.

At that moment, he could clearly see the Black pirate's excited, savage grin and every burst blood vessel in his yellowed eyes. He could also clearly see raindrops shattered by the whip, round droplets of flying blood, and fragments of eyeglasses blooming like silver flowers.

His gaze swiftly swept across the soaked matchlock guns, throwing knives, signal flares, and whips carried by the three pirates standing guard.

He could even clearly see the minute deformation of their skin as raindrops struck the backs of their hands. Everything was visible at a glance and rapidly understood and absorbed by his brain.

—Ever since his rebirth, Xia Lun had discovered that he could easily enter this state of Heightened Focus. However, entering this state consumed a great deal of stamina.

Before he developed lung disease, even with ample rest, he could enter this state at most three times a day. Since falling ill, however, exerting himself too much could easily kill him, so he had rarely used it.

His gaze continued into the distance, and in the next instant, his pupils contracted slightly.

He saw the wooden box.

The pale yellow wooden box sat atop a pile of barrels used to store tools and ropes, in front of the deckhouse near the bow. It was quite far from him in a straight line. He could not possibly reach it before the pirates reacted.

—He needed to wait for an opportunity, such as when the next huge wave hit, throwing everyone off balance and plunging the deck into chaos. That would be his moment to act.

As long as he got a weapon, Xia Lun was confident he could take control of the situation on deck. After all, the pirates' matchlock guns could not be used in a torrential downpour.

Xia Lun lowered his eyelids and withdrew his gaze.

As he left the focused state, the roaring rainstorm and a stabbing pain in his cerebral blood vessels crashed over him like a tidal wave.

At the same time, the faint suffocating sensation in his lungs instantly turned into the agony of drowning. When he inhaled, he seemed to hear the dull sound of capillaries rupturing in his lungs.

"What are you spacing out for?" a pirate overseer barked from behind him. "Keep staring into space, and you'll be the next one getting whipped!"

As he spoke, he casually swung the whip again, and it struck Xia Lun squarely across the back.

Flesh split open. Seawater ran down the blades on the whip and into the wound. The icy saltwater touched his blood vessels and instantly became a searing pain.

Yet Xia Lun clenched his fists and did not make a sound.

Though he was quite angry, a small lack of restraint could ruin a great plan. It was not time to act yet.

"The mast's got a problem, shorty! Get over here and fix it!" the pirate captain's voice suddenly carried through the howling wind and rain. "Stop fucking whipping people around! If this wreck capsizes, none of us will survive! Move it, quit standing around!"

The Black overseer's excited, ragged breathing abruptly stopped, and he instinctively stepped back twice.

"Why not make Da Lun do it..." the overseer muttered under his breath.

—He seemed extremely averse to this job. Xia Lun's heart stirred.

The mast stood amidships, already swaying precariously in the gale. A wedge-shaped crack visible to the naked eye appeared to be slowly widening.

Reinforcing the mast was undoubtedly difficult and dangerous work.

But from another perspective, it was also an excellent opportunity!

With that thought, Xia Lun did not hesitate any longer. He suddenly spoke up. "I used to be a ship's Carpenter. I can fix the mast!"

As he spoke, he turned around and looked at the pirate behind him.

Thunder exploded, and pale lightning lit Xia Lun's face.

The Black pirate overseer jumped in fright. A moment later, he suddenly realized what Xia Lun had said, and his face lit up with delight. "You're a Carpenter?"

"He's not a Carpenter! The Carpenter died ages ago. He's the navigator!" one of the captured sailors suddenly shouted.

"Time is short. To secure the mast, we can only use rope to tie another Pani Knot for now. After the rainstorm passes, we'll redo the ballast."

Xia Lun acted as if he had not heard the captive's accusation. He calmly met the overseer's eyes and spoke in an even tone.

"You're a Carpenter too..."

"We'll do as you say!" The Black pirate overseer tacitly ignored the captive's shouting as well. Avoiding Xia Lun's gaze, he hurriedly cut him off. "You heard what the captain said. Go!"

The first priority of deception was to say what people wanted to believe.

Though Xia Lun's story was full of holes, as far as the Black overseer was concerned, as long as someone could let him avoid the dangerous repair work, he was willing to clutch at that straw.

"I need tools." Xia Lun deliberately slowed his speech. "Where are your tools?"

"Quit dawdling like a woman! If you don't want to go, let the one with guts do it!" the female captain's voice came again through the wind. "Just hurry! Up!"

"What are you rushing me for? I'll kill you sooner or later..." the overseer muttered, but as the captain continued urging him, he gave in.

"They're over there, by those barrels next to the deckhouse. The extra rope is there too!" The Black overseer made no effort to hide his displeasure as he pointed toward the deckhouse at the bow. "You can grab them on the way to fix the mast."

As he spoke, a flash of malice suddenly crossed his face. He then raised his whip and viciously lashed the sailor who had spoken earlier.

Crack!

The overseer once again wore an excited smile, regaining his earlier swagger and authority.

"Thank you."

Xia Lun thanked him softly, calmly looked away, then briskly passed the pirate on guard and steadily headed toward his wooden box.

—At this moment, he showed no inappropriate joy or excitement. Xia Lun knew that the closer one came to success, the more cautious one had to be.

His boots splashed through puddles on the deck, and before long, Xia Lun reached the middle of the ship.

Blood slowly trickled from the whip wound on his back as he moved, dripping onto the deck with the rain and seeping down into the cabin below.

Xia Lun ignored the pain in his back completely. He was no longer as far from the wooden box as before.

"Fuck, why hasn't Da Lun brought the sextant up yet?" the captain's voice pierced the curtain of rain. "Why's there no movement in the cabin?... Something's wrong. First mate, take some men below and check."

Another bolt of lightning flashed, briefly illuminating the deathly black deck.

An eerie sound like flesh squirming and writhing suddenly rose above the pounding rain.

"What the hell is that?" a pirate cried out behind him. "Old witch's fingers, look at the leeward side!"

"Starboard, seven o'clock. There's a Monster!" the silent Black first mate's voice came from afar.

"Enemy attack!" the captain roared.

A sudden change erupted!

Xia Lun knew something had happened, but he did not even look back. He bent down and charged forward!

No matter what had happened, getting the medicine and a weapon was the most important thing!

As he sprinted, he saw a pirate pick up a short-handled harpoon from the ground and howl as he rushed toward the rail.

But less than two seconds later, accompanied by the nauseating crack of breaking bones, half a mangled corpse trailing a long string of intestines flew back like a bloodied kite with its string cut and slammed into the mast ahead of Xia Lun.

Boom!

Thunder suddenly tore through the rain curtain. The already unstable mast groaned under its burden, and the wedge-shaped crack rapidly widened—the mast was on the verge of collapse.

In the pale lightning, Xia Lun saw a huge, writhing, limping fleshy tendril. It seemed to belong to some kind of mollusk. Its slick, sticky black hide looked like muscle fibers, yet also like rotting fat. Along both sides of the tendril grew layers of short, trembling black barbed tentacles resembling sideburns.

This was clearly some kind of supernatural Monster.

Several pirates tried to fire their guns, but the rain made it impossible for them to light their match cords.

The next moment, the Monster abruptly opened its insect-like scarlet compound eyes. Like sliced-open wounds, those eyes densely covered its writhing, crawling body. The chaotic compound eyes suddenly locked onto the enemies ahead, and in the next instant, slick tendrils shot forward like spears, instantly shattering several men's skulls.

Red, white, and pink matter mixed with rainwater and spattered across the deck.

Xia Lun stepped over the twitching headless remains and snatched a short-handled axe from a corpse's chest before continuing his mad dash forward.

Though the axe handle was still sticky with warm blood, its heavy weight gave Xia Lun a small measure of comfort.

With a weapon, he at least had a chance to fight back now.

"Gunner, go to the second deck and bring up a cannon! Blow this thing to pieces!" The captain's voice drifted through the storm and the sound of the Monster writhing. "First mate, spread everyone out!"

The captain's orders were undoubtedly feasible, but the entire ship had already descended into hysterical chaos. No one was carrying them out.

The most reckless had died on the spot. The cowardly scattered in every direction like headless flies, crying and screaming as they fled. As for most of the others, they had not even realized the Monster existed yet.

Xia Lun took three steps in two and rapidly approached the forecastle. He was now only a dozen or so steps from the wooden box.

At that moment, however, something extremely ominous entered the corner of Xia Lun's eye—the Monster's seven compound eyes suddenly all turned to stare at him.

Xia Lun turned to look at the huge Monster. Man and Monster met eye to eye—nine eyes in all!

The Monster had targeted him, and for the first time, he clearly saw its main body.

The Monster resembled an irregular mass of black tumors. Bursting keratinous cysts drooped from its body one by one, covered in whitish mucus. Four massive tentacles extended from the abdominal cavity formed of cysts and tumors, drifting gently like a young girl's hair ribbons.

This powerful Monster seemed about to attack!

Thump, thump... Thump, thump...

His mouth went dry, his field of vision narrowed, and amid the distant sound of his heartbeat, fear, unwillingness, and a thread of despair surged into his heart alongside the chill rising from the soles of his feet.

But in the next instant, those weak thoughts were driven away by fury and savagery!

Xia Lun clenched the short-handled axe in his hand.

Better to die standing than kneeling!

Kill!

He never wallowed in self-pity. In that flash of lightning, he made his decision.

Under the intense stimulation of adrenaline, he entered Heightened Focus once more.

Warm blood seeped from his nostrils, the corners of his eyes, and his pores, but he had no time to care.

His gaze swept rapidly over the Monster's dancing tentacles, scarlet compound eyes, and the precarious mast before it.

Xia Lun suddenly stopped short. He dropped his shoulder, bent his arm, curled his wrist slightly, and lightly pressed his thumb against the edge of the axe handle.

The next moment, he violently pushed off the ground and twisted at the waist. Using the force transmitted through his spine, he hurled the axe at the precarious mast several meters away!

There was no point in attacking the Monster, but there was a point in bringing down the mast!

After throwing the axe, Xia Lun did not have time to confirm the result. He immediately lunged forward and threw himself to the deck.

Squelch! The instant he dove forward, a sharp whistle tore through the air above his head.

The fleshy tendril covered in barbed tentacles swept over his head in an instant, spraying round droplets of blood and clumps of hair across the deck.

The next moment, accompanied by the explosive crack of splintering wood, the heavy mast suddenly collapsed and crashed directly toward the Monster in the midst of its furious slaughter.

The earth shook and the mountains trembled!

A shriek sharp enough to make his eardrums ache instantly erupted!

Hiss—

Xia Lun struggled to raise his head and saw that half the mast had stabbed straight into three of the Monster's compound eyes like a dragon-slaying lance.

A sour, foul-smelling viscous fluid gushed from the wound like a fountain. Pus mixed with still-wriggling rubbery flesh fell onto the deck, splashing rainwater everywhere.

This Monster was not invincible. It could be hurt too!

A few startled cries rose from the panicked crowd.

The impact feels pretty good, Xia Lun thought.

Boom!

Another clap of thunder lit the darkness.

The Monster staggered backward. Perhaps because of the agonizing pain, it did not even notice the captain poised atop the forecastle.

"Fine mast repair, Carpenter!" the captain shouted as she grabbed the long-handled axe at her side.

The next second, the captain jumped straight down from the forecastle—she actually landed on the Monster's head!

Her boots stepped onto its black keratinous hide. The captain swayed slightly twice and regained her balance.

With a savage grin, she swung her axe and smashed another of the Monster's eyes. She pulled back with both hands, hooking the axe blade as black gelatinous matter sprayed in every direction!

Another axe blow!

The Monster wildly flailed its tendrils, shredding even the rain curtain above its head. Yet no matter how frantically it lashed out, it could not strike its own head—its head was a blind spot in both its vision and attacks!

For the time being, the Monster had no time to deal with Xia Lun.

Only then did Xia Lun finally relax a little. He closed his eyes and rested for two seconds, quietly feeling the cool air squeeze through his windpipe into his lungs, restoring a little of his strength.

Opened his eyes.

Between his lung disease and repeatedly entering a focused state, he was practically a man drenched in blood. The horrific hemorrhaging had even formed steaming pools of blood across the deck.

Xia Lun wiped the bloody fluid from his face with the back of his hand, braced both hands against the ground, and climbed up from the slick, blood-soaked deck.

The next moment, his bloodshot eyes locked onto the wooden box within arm's reach.

—He pressed the latch with the pad of his index finger and gave it a light push with his thumb, popping open the lid.

Xia Lun grabbed the bottle of medicine and drank it in one gulp.

The sweet, icy liquid slid down his throat into his stomach. The next instant, Xia Lun felt a rumble explode at the back of his head, followed by a chill cascading down his spine.

"Thump... thump..."

His heartbeat became steady and powerful once more. The weakness brought on by oxygen deprivation was swept away by a sense of fullness rising within him, as though every cell in his limbs and body had been nourished and allowed to grow.

The agonizing pain that seemed to seep from between his bones vanished completely. Even breathing felt immensely refreshing.

"Whew..." Xia Lun let out a long breath. At that moment, he felt reborn.

The process had been somewhat winding, but he had ultimately carried out his plan.

After observing for a moment, Xia Lun picked up an ammunition belt from one of the corpses on the ground and fastened it around his waist. Then he took out the bullets and loaded them into the belt in order.

Finally, he took the revolver and short sword from the box.

Gun in his left hand, sword in his right, the cold sensation from their grips invigorated him.

He glanced toward the corner of his vision and discovered that, during the fierce battle just now, a long string of messages had actually flashed across the game's illusory interface.

["Proficiency" detected. Proficiency confirmed: Cold Weapon Throwing (Basic).]

[Cold Weapon Throwing (Proficient) (Progress 2% → 3%): You know how to correctly throw cold weapons such as axes, daggers, darts, and lassos, but you cannot yet be called an expert. Still, if you entered an ordinary darts or lasso competition, you would already have a chance of contending for a regional championship.]

[Note: Combat is a shortcut to rapidly increasing proficiency progress, while Memory Points are another.]

Long before entering the game, Xia Lun had trained in all kinds of skills. Cold Weapon Throwing was not one of his specialties.

What he was truly good at was Firearms Use. He estimated that his Firearms Use skill was at least one tier above his Cold Weapon Throwing.

["Talent" detected. Talent confirmed: Familiarity with Pain.]

[Familiarity with Pain: Physical pain and mental torment have long been your old friends. The limit of pain you can endure is far higher than that of ordinary people; therefore, it is difficult for you to go into shock from pain.]

Xia Lun touched the blood-drenched back of his head, his gaze swiftly moving downward.

["Skill" detected. Skill confirmed: Heightened Focus.]

[Heightened Focus: At the cost of greatly and permanently damaging your mental health, you may voluntarily enter a state of Heightened Focus. In this state, your perception and thinking abilities will improve, and your thought speed will increase. Based on your health condition, this skill can be safely used at most three times per day.]

[Current safe uses: 1/3]

[Note: If you had another revolver, you could make a cameo as a sharpshooter in a Western—high noon!]

Greatly and permanently damaging mental health?! Xia Lun was stunned.

—Before he fell ill, he had basically entered a state of Heightened Focus every day while working. If the game interface was telling the truth, then his mental state was probably already in a very precarious condition...

He instinctively looked at his mental health on the panel—"Mental Health: Calm."

"Maybe because I've lived two lives, my mental resilience is a little better than other people's?" Xia Lun secretly guessed.

He shook his head, driving those thoughts from his mind, while silently deciding that unless absolutely necessary, he would not enter a state of Heightened Focus again.

After briefly taking stock of his gains, Xia Lun took a deep breath.

According to his plan, if the heavily wounded pirates had gained the upper hand, then he could conserve his strength.

Once the Monster died, he could use his achievements from earlier, along with the overwhelming firepower advantage provided by the revolver, to directly take control of the situation—or even control the entire ship.

And if the severely injured Monster had gained the upper hand and the pirates were on the verge of collapse, then he still had the equipment to put up a fight.

But regardless of how the battle unfolded, once he obtained the wooden box, he had effectively secured an unbeatable position.

And once the Monster died, he could carefully search for relevant supernatural clues. After all, his main purpose in playing this game was to cure his illness.

A supernatural Monster like this might possess clues to curing his terminal disease...

In short, his actions just now had directly established his current position of overwhelming advantage. That mad gamble had brought extraordinary returns.

To put it simply, the advantage was his!

Thinking this, Xia Lun leisurely turned his attention to the battle.

At that moment, the captain's close-quarters assault was still ongoing.

However, the Monster seemed to have changed its strategy. It closed the eyes on its main body, while the axes, already hacked dull, could not damage the Monster's slick, keratinized hide at all.

Still, from the looks of it, it was only a matter of time before the Monster was physically exorcised by the crowd.

Yet at that moment, Xia Lun suddenly witnessed a strange scene.

The first mate exchanged a glance with the attendant beside him, and the first mate's attendant nodded.

"Da Lun's bunch is as good as dead. Geliide is isolated and helpless. We can make our move."

The next instant, a spinning silver flash suddenly entered Xia Lun's peripheral vision.

—A throwing knife abruptly tore through the curtain of rain and flew straight toward the captain. Caught off guard, the spinning blade instantly ripped through the captain's cloak and stabbed into her shoulder blade.

The captain cried out in pain, her weapon flying from her grasp as she fell from the Monster's head!

Xia Lun recognized that throwing knife—it was the secondary weapon of that short black overseer!

Almost at the same time, the black first mate on the deckhouse suddenly pulled out a flintlock pistol from his clothes. With a flash from the explosion of black powder, a deafening gunshot rang out, and a blossom of blood instantly burst from the captain's back.

Xia Lun froze for a moment, then realized what was happening before his eyes:

The pirates had mutinied!

Before Monster was even dead, the first mate had actually taken the lead in turning on his own side!

Xia Lun stared in utter disbelief and could not help cracking a deadpan joke. "I don't understand!"