How should a lesser siren be folded to take up the least room in a cubic meter of space?
Su Na could not be bothered to think about that question and chose a more convenient method: cut it into more pieces!
One piece for the fish tail, one for the human torso, with the arms and head removed as well. Stacked neatly that way, it would not take up much space!
That was exactly what Su Na was doing.
Yang Yi came over and asked, "Do you have any basic rope on you?"
"I have 15 units," Su Na replied. (One unit was one meter.)
"Great!" Yang Yi was delighted. "Give me all your rope. I'll make a raft, and we can cross this stretch of sea on it.
It's too far and too dangerous to swim!"
At that, Su Na stopped what she was doing and looked out at the sea.
Her Astrologer was moored beside the Nightmare, nearly a kilometer from land. Swimming there would indeed be difficult.
"All right!"
After a little thought, Su Na agreed to Yang Yi's proposal and gave him all her rope.
At this point, cooperation was the best choice.
Their earlier battle had also established the most basic level of trust between them.
Yang Yi took the rope, then ran back into the cave. He converted the male corpse's clothes into cloth and rummaged through the pile of bones, obtaining a total of 5 cloth, which he crafted into 5 units of basic rope.
That gave him 20 units of rope.
Next came the logs.
Yang Yi had a flintlock pistol. It was powerful enough to blast through a slender tree with a single shot.
With a little time and a few shots, they had enough logs.
Then they trimmed the logs with the Witch's Dagger and lashed them tightly together with rope.
A small, one-meter-wide raft was complete!
It had cost a total of 13 units of rope and 8 logs.
The spare rope could be tied around Su Na's and Yang Yi's waists.
If one of them fell into the water, the other could come to their rescue in time.
Their preparations were complete. Now it came down to how well they carried out the plan.
After all, they had only just met, and all sorts of uncertainties remained.
"All right, climb on. The raft's ready!" Yang Yi told Su Na.
He had checked the raft. It had enough buoyancy to carry two people without a problem.
She had also finished dismembering the siren, so she came over and climbed aboard.
Each holding a makeshift paddle carved with the dagger, they propelled the raft toward the ships.
Thanks to the trees and the island, this stretch of water was much calmer than the sea outside.
The journey went smoothly, and they quickly drew closer to the ships.
Yang Yi even started eyeing the coconut palms.
Although the trees were flooded, they still bore coconuts, which he could pull down with a grappling hook.
As he was thinking about it, a tremendous force struck the bottom of the raft, nearly tossing both of them into the sea.
"There's something in the water, and it's big!"
Yang Yi immediately went on alert, aiming his flintlock at the water.
Su Na had nearly fallen over and was now lying on the raft. Out of the corner of her eye, she happened to catch a dark shape swimming past.
"There's a giant snake in the sea! Over here!" she warned, pointing.
Yang Yi was just about to look when the raft was thrust upward again. A rope snapped, and the raft began coming loose.
A few more hits would surely break it apart!
Then they would fall into the water and face the giant sea snake's attacks directly.
The consequences would be unthinkable!
They were still two hundred meters from the ships. There was no way they could swim there in time!
At that thought, a vicious light flashed in Yang Yi's eyes.
He was in a frenzied state, fearless and extremely eager to fight.
Since this sea snake wanted to eat him, surely it would have no complaints about being eaten!
He grinned and tried firing the flintlock underwater.
Boom!
Water splashed everywhere.
As expected, the flintlock was completely unaffected by water. Neither rain nor even being submerged prevented it from firing!
Hearing the noise, Su Na turned and asked, "What are you doing?"
"Testing the gun."
Su Na frowned, not understanding what Yang Yi meant, and offered her own solution.
"We could try luring it away with the siren's flesh and blood. I'll throw some farther away..."
"No need. That won't work!" Yang Yi shook his head, watching the dark shape in the sea. "I can feel it. It's after me. It's inviting me down for a duel!"
"Feel it? Are you having an episode? How much sanity do you have left?"
Yang Yi did not answer. Like a madman, he jumped straight into the water, leaving only these words hanging in the air.
"When there's a big disturbance underwater, pull me straight up!"
"You... you're going to fight it in the water? That's suicide!"
But in fact, Yang Yi had a chance of winning, and a very good one!
He was extremely calm, keeping careful track of the time.
In another 15 seconds, he could fire again.
With the power of this flintlock, a single hit would be enough to kill the snake.
The snake, however, would need at least several minutes to kill him.
Snakes had no sharp teeth for tearing prey apart and generally killed through constriction and suffocation.
During that time, Yang Yi could fire at least three shots, perhaps even four.
As long as one shot fired and hit, the snake would be blasted in two on the spot!
The giant sea snake could not have wished for more than its prey coming down of its own accord. It quickly coiled around him.
The snake was as thick as an adult's thigh, moved as nimbly as a fish, and was an excellent swimmer.
On land, Yang Yi might have been able to put up a fight.
But in the water, without a suitable weapon, his chances of winning were infinitely close to zero.
The snake wrapped him in a crushing grip. He barely managed to free his right hand, giving himself a chance to fire.
As for the rest of him, why not let it have that?
Soon, Yang Yi pulled the trigger for the first time.
Click!
The gun misfired.
But that did not matter. He still had a chance!
The sea snake tightened its coils. Yang Yi felt his ribs grinding against one another, unable to resist.
He counted the seconds and fired a second shot.
Click!
Another misfire.
The air had been squeezed out of Yang Yi's lungs, his ribs were at risk of breaking, and his whole body was going numb.
But he remained calm and waited for his next chance to fire.
The sea snake sensed something was wrong.
Yang Yi was unlike any prey it had ever encountered!
It went for the killing blow, sinking its teeth hard into Yang Yi's left shoulder.
You dare bite me... then I'll bite you too!
Yang Yi bit into the snake in turn, with enough force to pierce its scales.
At the same time, his third shot came, aimed at the snake's head on his left shoulder.
Boom!
Thunder erupted underwater.
The shot blasted away half the sea snake's head.
But it did not die immediately. With a piercing hiss, it released its troublesome prey at once.
Its death, however, was already certain. It could not survive!
I won!
Yang Yi had claimed the final victory and felt somewhat relieved and relaxed.
Despite the difficult struggle, he had won!
His body was slowly sinking...
Damn it, I need to swim up!
Yang Yi tried to control his body, only to discover, to his surprise, that he could not muster any strength...
On the surface, a tremendous bang sent water exploding into the sky.
A great deal of black blood floated up right afterward.
Su Na had been watching for movement underwater. The instant she heard the gunshot, she pulled on the rope around her waist.
But the rope's other end was broken.
At some point during Yang Yi's struggle with the sea snake, it had snapped.
Su Na looked at the water and hesitated for several seconds. Finally, she jumped in.
Several minutes later.
Yang Yi spat out a large mouthful of water, along with a piece of snakeskin he had bitten off.
Once he resumed breathing, his health rapidly recovered, and his consciousness cleared.
Su Na had saved him and performed CPR on him.
"Thank you. I owe you my life," Yang Yi said gratefully.
Before passing out, he had noticed the broken rope and thought he was doomed. He had never expected this woman to jump in and save him.
He also noticed that the unlock requirement for his question-mark skill had changed to 2/3.
By now, Yang Yi had a rough idea of what the requirement was: probably coming close to death three times.
Meanwhile, Su Na was also filled with mixed feelings.
There was something strange about the way she looked at Yang Yi... as though she were looking at some rare animal.
Risking his life in a fight without the slightest hesitation-this already goes against biological instinct!
How strange. I'll have to put this in my observation journal later...
Having finished that thought, she noticed the wound on Yang Yi's shoulder.
"You were bitten. That snake might well be venomous!"
Su Na leaned closer and tried sucking the poisoned blood out for Yang Yi, only stopping once the blood she spat out turned bright red.
Yang Yi watched her, feeling somewhat touched.
After all, doing that carried risks.
Although most snake venom was protein and would be digested by stomach acid.
If there were any breaks in the mucous membranes of the mouth or digestive tract, however, it would be very dangerous and could cause poisoning.
Once she finished treating him, Yang Yi had also caught his breath.
The two reached the ships without trouble and boarded their respective vessels.
Observation journal: Yang Yi
His frenzied state is so fascinating!
He never backs down, retains clear awareness, and devises battle plans.
But he himself may not even realize how strong his desire to fight is, how desperately he wants to kill his opponent. Even if he himself will die, he will not hesitate...
But what if his opponent is far too powerful...
What choice will he make then?
This warrants further observation...
-Witch Su Na
Before you continue