Gourmet

The Nightmare Star towed the large sailing ship closer, stopping about 300 meters from the Good Luck.

Ordinary bows could not reach that far.

Yang Yi jumped down from the mast, his brow deeply furrowed.

"That's strange. Why isn't there any movement? Did he go ashore?"

"Or... is he hiding, waiting to ambush me?"

Yang Yi surveyed the Good Luck.

It was a sailing ship less than twenty meters long. At first glance, it looked ordinary. On closer inspection, it looked even more ordinary.

"Su Na, take the helm. I'll lob a few shots at him and see what happens!"

Yang Yi fetched several units of stone from the cabin. Each unit was about one cubic decimeter in volume and weighed two and a half to three kilograms, just right for the catapult.

He planned to fire a few shots at the sailing ship to see whether anyone was aboard.

After aiming, Yang Yi fired immediately.

He had been using this catapult for several days and had plenty of experience. His first shot landed squarely on the Good Luck's deck with a tremendous crash, but did not smash through it.

"Pretty sturdy."

Yang Yi fired another six or seven shots. One punched a hole straight through the deck, but there was still no response.

"Su Na, bring us closer. Open a hole in its hull so I can see whether anyone's hiding in the cabin!" Yang Yi instructed.

He had ambushed someone this way before, so he was especially cautious. There was no way he would fall for the same trick.

But... he was overthinking it.

The Bobbit Worm's head had four extremely sharp jaw blades. A single bite sheared off a section of the Good Luck's stern, exposing the cabin inside.

But there was nothing in there!

Yang Yi stood rooted to the spot, a flicker of embarrassment crossing his face.

After all that fuss, he had only been matching wits with thin air.

He hesitated no longer. He directed Su Na to pull alongside, laid down a plank bridge, and readied himself to board the Good Luck by force, Flintlock in hand.

Then he... boarded without any resistance.

Ten minutes later, Yang Yi received a notification in his log saying he could dismantle the Good Luck.

That meant the ship's owner was well and truly dead.

"But how did he manage it? How could he have died so quickly?

"I came over at daybreak. It hasn't even been an hour! Even if you put a pig on that island, it couldn't die that fast! I'd already poisoned almost all the spiders on the island!" Yang Yi complained to Su Na.

"How would I know? Do you want to put down some more poison?"

"No. I don't think the spiders were the problem. Just be careful when we get there!"

In the end, Yang Yi dismantled the Good Luck and decided to go ashore to avenge him!

The supplies he found were: black bread ×2, fresh water ×2 L, wood ×23, cloth ×15, and one fishing rod.

[You dismantled the Good Luck and obtained wood ×143, cloth ×95]

Damaging a ship really did reduce the yield from dismantling it.

A few hours earlier, before dawn, the Good Luck had just reached shore.

Its captain, Li Rong, tossed aside the fishing rod in his hands and waded ashore.

Yang Yi could never have imagined that Li Rong would be so bold as to venture onto the island at night.

"Hehe, I'll go ashore under cover of darkness and catch them off guard! There's no way there'll be an ambush!" Li Rong was rather pleased with himself, his eyes bloodshot.

If he had checked his status, he would have discovered...

------

Li Rong

Energy: 67/100

Sanity: 42/100 (Madness-Arrogance)

Vitality: 100/100

------

After reaching shore, Li Rong drew his machete and swaggered inland.

He planned to search for Tinder Wool Grass in the dark.

And look for any treasure chests that might be there while he was at it.

If he found a recipe for a Tinder Wool Sweater, he would be rich!

But Li Rong stopped after barely taking two steps.

He smelled an incredibly enticing fragrance, one he simply could not resist.

"That smells amazing!"

[You smelled a sweet fragrance. Sanity -10]

Li Rong followed the scent and discovered a puddle of "chocolate" stuck to the ground.

Many maggots crawled over it, but Li Rong ignored them.

Perhaps the darkness made it hard to see, or perhaps it was something else.

Li Rong scooped the chocolate into his hands and took a deep sniff.

"So fragrant!"

[The fragrance filled the air. Sanity -10]

[Sanity below 30. You fell into an abnormal state of ravenous hunger]

Li Rong swallowed the chocolate in one gulp, an expression of unprecedented satisfaction spreading across his face.

"So delicious!"

He ate indiscriminately, consuming all the chocolate on the ground and even scraping away a layer of soil. His belly bulged, and his fingernails peeled back.

As for his machete, he had long since thrown it away.

"Thank you for nature's bounty!"

Li Rong's face contorted at the delicious taste.

His nose twitched...

"There's more?"

Li Rong ran to the next spot, scooped up a puddle of rotten leaves, and began eating, bliss written across his face.

[You ate something more delicious than anything you had ever tasted. Your body and mind were satisfied. Sanity -20]

[Sanity below 10...]

Before going ashore, Yang Yi checked his status.

Status: Healthy "A diagram of a human body with arms and legs spread, entirely green"

Strength: 4 (97/100)

Spirit: 7+1 (2388/8000) [Talent bonus]

Agility: 5+1 (23/200) [Pirate outfit bonus]

Constitution: 4 (99/100)

Perception: 5 (172/200)

Sanity: 100/100

Energy: 72/100

Vitality: 100/100

Talents: Iron Will, Refuse Death

Special status: Spider's Kiss

----------

Over this period, his Agility had increased by one point, reaching the human average of five. He could run faster than before, and his movements were more nimble.

His Strength and Constitution were also close to increasing, and his Perception was not far off either.

Only Spirit was extremely difficult to raise.

High attributes were far harder to increase than low ones.

Once their preparations were complete, Yang Yi and Su Na exchanged a look and nodded to each other, indicating that they were ready.

They went straight ashore and headed into the woods.

Yang Yi kept searching for the Good Luck captain's footprints.

They were not hard to find.

Anyone coming off a ship had to wade ashore, making it easy to leave clear footprints in the mud.

"He came ashore and died on the island soon afterward. Stay alert!"

Yang Yi spoke seriously to Su Na as he walked in front.

He still did not know that the man had lost his mind and chosen to go ashore at night.

Yang Yi followed the trail with all due care and soon discovered a machete lying off to the side.

[Name: Ordinary Machete]

[Type: Treasure]

[Quality: Common]

[Description: An ordinary machete.]

The blade was of very low quality.

Anyone who dared venture onto the island with such an ordinary weapon either had commendable courage or some real skills!

The two soon noticed some unusual marks nearby.

Someone had scraped away a layer of soil, but it was shallow, and nothing had been buried there.

For the moment, Yang Yi had no idea what to make of it.

Standing behind Yang Yi, Su Na, whose sense of smell was keener than his, twitched her nose and looked up.

"This is..."

She spotted a scrap of cloth hanging from a branch above the marks and immediately understood.

"Yang Yi, it looks like he ate the rotten meat you threw in here?"

"Huh?

"No way! That meat was crawling with maggots. However good it smelled, surely he wouldn't actually eat it?"

Yang Yi looked in the direction Su Na was pointing and spotted the scrap of cloth.

"He really ate it?" Yang Yi felt a little creeped out.

"He ate it without even checking what it was.

"You can't blame me for that!"