The first night at sea was destined to be sleepless.
Yang Yi had no idea how long he had lain there before falling asleep. He tossed and turned in bed, cold sweat constantly beading on his forehead.
He was having a nightmare.
Meanwhile, inside the Nightmare's cabin, the captain's skeleton suddenly stirred. Its bones began to tremble, and soul fire lit up within its damaged skull.
Creak! Creak!
Its bones knocked and scraped against one another as the skeleton stood straight up.
He left the cabin and slowly walked to the captain's quarters at the bow, gently pushing open the door.
Inside, Yang Yi was still asleep, occasionally turning onto his side.
The skeletal remains watched Yang Yi, staring for a long while, before his gaze was drawn to the barnacle-covered fishing rod nearby.
He walked over, took the fishing rod, then left without pausing. He went to the relatively spacious midship area and began fishing...
A dozen or so minutes later, something took the bait.
A deathly pale, swollen hand reached out of the sea and grabbed the fishing line...
Yang Yi was still dreaming, and it was a nightmare.
"Ah!"
He suddenly jolted awake and felt his abdomen with his hand. Only after finding it intact did he let out a long sigh of relief.
Just moments ago, he had dreamed of a bloated drowned corpse silently pushing open the door and walking inside.
The dream had been so real, as though he had seen it with his own eyes.
He remembered the sound of the drowned corpse walking.
Splat, splat!
It sounded like a wet mop slapping against the floor.
When Yang Yi woke up, the drowned corpse was already right in front of him.
Without another word, he grabbed the flintlock pistol beside his bed and fired at the drowned corpse.
Click!
The gun misfired.
The next instant, the drowned corpse pinned him to the bed. Helpless as a fish on a chopping board, he was disemboweled, his hot, bright red organs spilling all over the floor.
[You experienced death, brutally killed and devoured. Sanity decreased by 15.]
"Phew!"
Thank goodness it was a dream!
Yang Yi let out a long sigh of relief.
But suddenly, he noticed that the door to the captain's quarters was actually open. He immediately grabbed the flintlock pistol.
"Was it the wind?
"No way. There's barely been any wind at sea today!"
Splat, splat!
Familiar footsteps sounded.
A bloated drowned corpse appeared in the doorway.
It seemed to have soaked in the sea for a long time, until it had swollen and begun to stink. It still wore a sailor's uniform rotted into rags and was draped in seaweed.
At that moment, it was staring at Yang Yi with its deathly pale eyes...
"FxxK!"
[You saw an unidentified creature. Your sanity decreased by 5.]
Yang Yi cursed angrily and immediately fired at it.
Click.
The gun jammed.
The drowned corpse seemed to retain some intelligence. Seeing the pistol misfire, it split its mouth into a wide grin.
Only a few teeth remained in its mouth, and a crab crawled out.
This scene was very much like his nightmare, so Yang Yi was already prepared.
The moment the gun failed to fire, he hurled the flintlock like a rock, hitting the drowned corpse squarely in the head.
Taking advantage of the moment it was struck, Yang Yi snatched up the spear beside him and charged. He drove the spear into the rotting corpse's neck, then slammed into it with his body.
But he was not trying to inflict damage. He was desperate to leave the captain's quarters.
Only by escaping this cramped space and reaching the deck would he have a chance of fighting the drowned corpse!
The force of his charge, combined with his body weight, barely allowed Yang Yi to squeeze past the drowned corpse.
The rotten, fishy stench nearly made him vomit.
[The nauseating stench decreased your sanity by 5.]
Yang Yi was not very strong. Knocking the drowned corpse down and pinning it beneath him was impossible.
Without stopping, he ran onto the bow deck.
Here, he would have enough room to maneuver around the drowned corpse!
Yang Yi looked back.
As expected, the drowned corpse's bloated body was clumsy. In terms of speed, it was no match for Yang Yi.
I can win!
Yang Yi grew excited. Adrenaline surged wildly, and his breathing quickened.
There was a raised platform on the bow deck, with the ship's wheel on it.
He only needed to follow the example of the wise men of old, using the tall ship's wheel as cover and circling around it to evade the drowned corpse's pursuit.
At the same time, he was counting down in his head.
48.
47.
The wooden spear had pierced the drowned corpse's neck, but it pursued Yang Yi as though nothing had happened.
3.
2.
Yang Yi stopped circling, broke away from the drowned corpse, and turned to run back to the captain's quarters.
He picked up the flintlock pistol by the door, raised it toward the drowned corpse, and held his breath as he aimed.
It was only a few meters away, and the target was so fat. Yang Yi had no reason to miss.
As long as it doesn't misfire!
Bang!
The gunshot was deafening, like a shrill, mournful scream that churned the stomach.
[The strange gunshot decreased your sanity by 2.]
The shot went slightly wide, but it still hit.
Most of the drowned corpse's head shattered, spraying black pus across the floor. It lost its balance and toppled heavily forward.
"I won..."
Yang Yi's taut nerves relaxed a little.
He walked toward the drowned corpse, preparing to retrieve the spear on the floor.
But just then, the drowned corpse he had thought dead suddenly moved again!
Most of its head had shattered, yet it could still move!
Its deathly pale hand clamped around Yang Yi's ankle with tremendous force, digging straight into his flesh and leaving claw marks.
"Fuck! That still didn't kill you?"
Yang Yi reacted immediately, a vicious gleam flashing in his eyes. He picked up the spear and thrust it at the drowned corpse again.
This thrust went straight through the hole in the drowned corpse's skull.
After that strike, the drowned corpse's grip gradually weakened. It seemed to have worked.
But for some reason, in its final moments, the drowned corpse turned its head to look at Yang Yi, its eyes filled with malice.
Then its abdomen began swelling rapidly.
Self-destruct!?
Yang Yi reacted at once and immediately threw himself backward.
With a muffled bang, foul-smelling rotten flesh and bone fragments sprayed everywhere, like a rain of blood.
The drowned corpse had exploded, and the blast was considerable.
Fortunately, it had been lying facedown, its belly against the deck, which took most of the blast.
Yang Yi had dropped in time, avoiding the flying bone fragments and rotten flesh.
But his foot was unfortunately still injured.
Pain shot through his left foot as two teeth pierced the sole of his shoe and punctured his foot.
An unidentified bone fragment slashed his right arm, though fortunately, the wound was shallow.
As for the falling flesh and blood, it no longer had any force to injure him. It showered over Yang Yi, doing nothing but turning his stomach.
[The nauseating corpse fragments turned your stomach. Your sanity decreased by 2.]
Yang Yi struggled to his feet, pried the severed hand off his right ankle, and checked his status.
Status: Injured. "On the human-shaped diagram, both the left and right feet had turned yellow." Sanity: 55/100 Energy: 40/100 Vitality: 91/100
He took off his left shoe and, gritting through the pain, pulled the teeth embedded in the bottom of his foot out.
Fortunately, they had been less powerful than bullets. After piercing his shoe's sole, they had barely broken the skin.
Otherwise, it really would have been fatal!
Yang Yi stood up despite the pain and looked at the drowned corpse, then sucked in a sharp breath.
Only an incomplete skeleton remained on the deck. Its entire spine was gone, probably flung into the sea.
Its ribs had all embedded themselves deeply in the deck like arrows.
The explosion had been quite powerful. He had simply happened to be in the direction where it was weakest. Had those arrow-like ribs struck him, the consequences would have been unimaginable!
At the same time, information about the drowned corpse appeared in the log.
[Name: Drowned Dead] [Description: An unfortunate person who drowned at sea, risen again with resentment toward the living. Can be used in the Monster Gacha Machine.]
"The Monster Gacha Machine? What's that?"
Yang Yi was utterly confused.
But after calming down, he noticed something else he had overlooked.
Yang Yi had spotted the Drowned Dead just as it reached the captain's quarters.
But what had opened the door to the captain's quarters?
Before the Drowned Dead appeared, the door had already been open!
At that thought, every hair on his body stood on end. He heard footsteps approaching from behind, followed by a pain in his left shoulder.
Something had stabbed him...
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