Su Na picked up the orb of light, her eyes lighting up, then put it into her Treasure Bag.
"What did you get?" Yang Yi leaned over and asked curiously.
"Want to know?
"Beg me, and I'll tell you!" Su Na wore a faint, teasing smile, her eyes narrowing into crescents.
"Then keep it to yourself!"
Yang Yi had no intention of indulging her, nor was he envious.
He had three treasures!
They might not have been gold, but he won hands down on quantity!
Meanwhile, all sorts of superstitious theories surfaced in his mind...
Could this shark have dropped the best loot because it had died first?
He couldn't rule that out!
But he would have to test it later to know for sure!
The only thing he could say for certain was that submitting the same kind of monster corpse repeatedly would drastically lower the drop rate.
Yang Yi left Su Na at the helm and cleaned up the battlefield himself.
He had to admit, the Monster Gacha Machine was convenient. It recycled both the sharks' corpses and their blood.
But repairing the damaged deck and mast, along with the captain's cabin with its gaping hole, would take materials.
They had also hit several pieces of flotsam during the battle, damaging the hull.
Repairs alone cost 40 units of wood.
Fortunately, the gacha machine also produced resources.
Their current food and resources were as follows:
Food: black bread ×12, sausages ×5, fresh water ×8 L, Vitality Coconuts ×67, watermelons ×3 (Su Na's cabin still had over 40 Vitality Coconuts) Resources: wood ×55, cloth ×45, stone ×32, steel ×10, crystal ×8, sulfur ×6 Conch Coins: 2,050
Things like steel, crystal, and sulfur were probably advanced resources, with a conversion ratio of 5:1 in the gacha.
They weren't short on food for now.
Unless he ran out of all other options, Yang Yi would never fish in the Storm Sea again.
He opened the world channel and posted a message.
"You'd better not fish in the Storm Sea. You'll catch monsters!"
"You're really brave. I can't believe you survived!"
"Impressive. You're still alive to tell the tale!"
"Got any pictures? I'm not buying it."
Yang Yi had no intention of arguing.
He hadn't posted pictures to protect their Sanity!
The day soon passed.
It was now the sixth day since the storm had arrived.
The chat channel was lively today, with players constantly posting that they had made it out of the Storm Sea.
It seemed most players were close to the exit and would soon leave these waters.
Only Yang Yi and Su Na were still a long way off.
They were two days behind.
When the storm had first begun, the wind hadn't been strong, and everyone's ships had been fast.
Only later, as the storm intensified and flotsam and monsters appeared, had everyone slowed down.
Yang Yi opened the weather forecast.
Today's weather Location: Origin Sea (Storm Sea) Hours of sunlight: unknown Temperature: 8-12°C. Wind force: 10
The wind had picked up again, and the temperature had dropped, leaving Yang Yi feeling a little cold, though it was still bearable.
Su Na, on the other hand, was still wearing the clothes she had started in and didn't seem cold at all.
Yang Yi left the captain's cabin and went to the bow deck.
"Su Na, time to switch!" Yang Yi called.
She nodded and handed over the crystal ball. Once the handover was complete, she headed for the Nightmare's captain's cabin.
"By the way, aren't you cold in that skimpy outfit?" Yang Yi asked curiously.
"No. These clothes keep me warm."
Su Na sent him a private message.
[Name: Witch's Casual Clothes] [Type: treasure] [Quality: fine] [Description: warm and waterproof. Increases Sanity recovery speed. As a witch, the first thing you need is a set of casual clothes so nobody knows you're a witch!]
It was a piece of fine-quality equipment that increased Sanity recovery speed!
"Witches get a set at the start?" Yang Yi once again questioned the game's fairness, but there was nothing he could do.
Fortunately, he had a powerful Flintlock.
Not long ago, he had used the Low-Tier Fire Essence to give the Sea Serpent's Fang an infusion attribute.
He had originally wanted to infuse the Flintlock, but it misfired from time to time and wasn't reliable.
Infusion merely added an attribute and increased power. It offered no real help with a weapon's inherent flaws.
Besides, the Flintlock was high-grade. The fine-quality Low-Tier Fire Essence probably wouldn't make much difference, so he was better off infusing the Sea Serpent's Fang.
The result was quite good. The Sea Serpent's Fang had advanced into fine-quality equipment.
[Name: Sea Serpent's Fang (infused)] [Type: treasure] [Quality: fine] [Description: a short sword made from a giant sea serpent's tooth. Infusion has granted it the power of fire. Inflicts burns on wounds and carries fire poison.]
The Sea Serpent's Fang's blade had turned red. It would burn his hand if he touched it too long, and it was considerably sharper than before.
Yang Yi continued steering, taking turns with Su Na.
After another day passed.
Yang Yi woke in the captain's cabin and checked the log. He had probably slept for less than three hours.
He had suffered nightmares again, one after another.
In the first dream, Su Na had pointed a gun at his head, her gaze cold and sinister.
But how could that be possible?
If she wanted to kill him, she could have done it when he fell into the sea during the fight with the sea serpent. Why wait until now?
Yang Yi dismissed it without letting his imagination run wild. He shook his head, which ached a little from lack of sleep.
In the second dream, an enormous centipede-like worm had swallowed him!
But where would a giant centipede come from at sea?
Could this supposed precognitive effect merely be coincidence and chance? After all, the system hadn't said anything about it.
Yang Yi began doubting himself, but soon dismissed the thought.
No matter what, he had no intention of letting nightmares lead him by the nose. Even if these dreams could predict the future, he alone would make his decisions, not the nightmares! Otherwise... wouldn't he become a follower of the nightmares?
After eating a Vitality Coconut, Yang Yi felt much better.
His wounds were almost healed. The Holy Water had worked well! With two more days of rest at most, he would recover completely.
"Why is it so dark?" Yang Yi pushed open the door and was startled by the sight before him.
Outside, he couldn't see his hand in front of his face.
It hadn't been this dark over the past few days!
Yang Yi immediately checked the weather forecast.
Location: Origin Sea Hours of sunlight: none Temperature: 12-18°C. Wind force: 10
Compared with yesterday, the temperature had risen, but the hours of sunlight had changed from unknown to none...
A sudden unease came over him, and he made his way toward the bow, holding on to the ship's rail.
"Su Na, are you there?" Yang Yi shouted, but nobody answered.
He took out the Sailing Log. The little booklet gave off light, allowing him to barely make out his surroundings.
Only then did he realize the Nightmare had stopped and wasn't sailing. The surging waves had kept him from noticing.
Yang Yi's heart tightened. He immediately ran onto the bow deck and found nobody at the helm.
"Where's Su Na?"
His pupils contracted sharply and his heart raced as he immediately looked around for any sign of Su Na.
There was a faint glow ahead to the left, seemingly blocked by a dark figure.
Yang Yi hurried over and found Su Na standing there, holding the crystal ball against her chest. She stood motionless, staring blankly out at the turbulent sea ahead, as though absorbed in something.
Seeing her, Yang Yi said irritably, "I was calling you. Why didn't you answer?"
She barely reacted, merely raising a finger to point ahead as she said quietly, "We seem to be surrounded..."
Yang Yi immediately looked in the direction Su Na was pointing.
It was pitch-black there. It should have been, anyway.
But perhaps because of what Su Na had said... Yang Yi began to feel... as though something was writhing on the sea ahead.
"What is that?" Yang Yi narrowed his eyes, trying to see clearly.
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning flashed, and Yang Yi finally saw what those things really looked like.
They were giant, elongated worms resembling centipedes, with segmented bodies and four blade-like jaws on their heads. The jaws spread open to either side and could slice through prey in their mouths like guillotines.
These creatures closely resembled marine Bobbit Worms, only much larger. Their diameter was difficult to judge at this distance.
Their length was hard to determine too, as most of their bodies remained hidden in the sea.
There were many of them, even at the farthest reaches of his vision. The closest was roughly a kilometer from the Nightmare.
These giant worms swayed in the storm, rocking their heads as though performing some ritual, or reveling.
[You have observed unknown giant creatures. Your Sanity decreases by 20.]
Deeply shaken, Yang Yi immediately looked at the crystal ball.
The nautical chart showed these giant worms all around them, numbering no fewer than a hundred.
On the nautical chart, the monsters appeared as sesame-seed-sized black dots scattered around the Nightmare.
They were surrounded by these giant worms...
Before you continue