Frenzy

There was something else aboard!

Yang Yi realized it, but it was too late.

A fishing rod stabbed into his left shoulder, piercing deep into his flesh.

He immediately ran forward, then turned back, his right hand covering the wound on his left shoulder.

Before him stood a skeleton with half its skull missing and a ghastly green Soulfire burning inside.

It was the captain's skeleton. He had come to life and held a fishing rod, its tip stained red with Yang Yi's blood.

He watched Yang Yi, his jaw opening and closing nonstop, as though mocking him.

"You sneaky bastard!"

Yang Yi cursed, his eyes blazing with anger.

[Ambushed by the dead. Your sanity decreased by 10.]

[Sanity below 50. You entered the Frenzy State, gaining immunity to most negative mental effects. Strength +2, agility +1, constitution +1, spirit -2. You ignored pain, never tired, and were brave and fearless until your sanity recovered.]

Negative mental effects: charm, mind control, fear, despair, etc.

PS: When stamina reaches 0, vitality will be consumed in its place. The attribute cap during frenzy is 10; the limits of mortal beings cannot be exceeded.

Yang Yi raised his gun and fired at the skeleton.

Click!

The gun misfired.

The skeleton charged, wielding the fishing rod like a spear.

Although Yang Yi felt no pain, his injured foot would still affect his movements to some extent.

Circling the skeleton while wounded was too risky. One lapse in attention, and that fishing rod over two meters long could stab him!

After a brief moment of thought, Yang Yi changed tactics. Instead of retreating, he charged straight at it.

He threw the spear in his hand, striking the skeleton squarely. It lodged between its bones, briefly staggering it.

Seizing the opportunity, he closed in for hand-to-hand combat.

He still had another weapon, and it was a blunt one!

Gripping the flintlock by its barrel turned it into a short hammer, exceptionally effective against skeletons.

He raised the flintlock high and swung at the opening in the skeleton's skull, aiming for its Soulfire.

But the skeleton reacted in time, immediately reaching out to block him.

It seemed terrified of the gun. It even abandoned its fishing rod and reached out with both hands to snatch it away.

Naturally, Yang Yi refused to let it.

They began wrestling for the gun.

The skeleton's strength was slightly lower than Yang Yi's in his Frenzy State, most likely 4.

But locked in the struggle, Yang Yi also found it difficult to land an effective attack.

If the gun accidentally went off and hit him, he would be finished!

He needed to think of a way out.

Even in the Frenzy State, Yang Yi remained clearheaded and quickly came up with a plan.

It wants the flintlock, doesn't it? Then let it have it!

Yang Yi timed it carefully. After wrestling a little longer, he found the right angle and pulled the flintlock's trigger.

Click!

The gun misfired.

Then he decisively let go of the gun.

Sure enough, most of the skeleton's attention was focused on the flintlock.

Yang Yi broke free successfully and ran toward the cabin.

By the time the skeleton arrived, all it saw inside the cabin was a dimly lit figure with his back turned...

It was Yang Yi. Standing in the darkness, he held a mass of unidentified flesh in both hands and gnawed at it ravenously.

The skeleton pulled the trigger, but the gun did nothing. It was still on cooldown.

The bow and stern were only a little over ten meters apart, and both had run there, so the flintlock was still on cooldown.

A pistol that couldn't fire was no different from a hammer!

Yang Yi charged, his mouth covered in black slime and his eyes bloodshot.

[You swallowed a Human-Head Octopus. Strength +1, constitution +1, spirit -1, sanity -20. Duration: 1 minute.]

Just like that, Yang Yi's strength rose from three to six, doubling outright! (Frenzy +2)

Yang Yi also discovered that the strength represented by these stats grew exponentially, not linearly.

That meant an advantage of 2 strength points was enough to overpower an opponent with ease.

Yang Yi closed in.

The skeleton still hadn't reacted, seemingly still wondering why the gun wouldn't fire.

The next second, Yang Yi tackled it to the floor, brutally tore off both its arm bones, and flung them to either side.

Yang Yi pressed his advantage, thrusting his right hand through the opening in the skeleton's skull to grab the Soulfire inside.

Only then did the skeleton show some fear, its jaw opening and closing nonstop as though begging for mercy.

But it was too late. It had no way to resist.

Yang Yi grasped the flame. It wasn't hot; instead, it felt warm.

The skeleton reacted violently, trembling all over before quickly collapsing into a scattered pile of ordinary bones. Its Soulfire went out completely as well.

But was the skeleton really dead?

Not necessarily!

After being caught off guard by the Drowned Dead earlier, he had become much more cautious!

Yang Yi grabbed the skeleton's skull, picked up the flintlock, and set the skull on the ship's rail.

He strongly suspected the skeleton wasn't dead, even though he could already view its information.

[Name: Captain's Remains]

[Description: He was once a captain who loved fishing, until he caught...

Can be placed in the Monster Gacha Machine.]

Two minutes later, sure enough, a ghastly green light flared inside the skull again.

Without a word, Yang Yi fired.

Bang!

Flame burst forth with a shrill gunshot.

The flintlock blasted the skull straight into fragments.

[The gunshot sounded strange. Your sanity decreased by 1.]

"Looks like subduing monsters or killing them both let you obtain their information," Yang Yi concluded.

But this Monster Gacha Machine... what exactly was it?

Yang Yi had never seen it, and there wasn't one aboard!

To be safe, it would be best to keep these monster corpses.

Yang Yi tossed them into the cabin and took the skeleton's arm bones and thigh bones.

After all, headless skeleton soldiers might exist too! Yang Yi had seen them in games before.

Just in case, it was better to take part of its body with him!

Having learned his lesson, Yang Yi seemed to have grown a hundred times more wary.

After giving his wounds a basic dressing with cloth, he returned to the captain's quarters.

At the same time, he checked his status.

Yang Yi

Status: injured. "On the human silhouette, both the left and right feet had turned yellow, and the left shoulder was yellow."

Sanity: 24/100

Stamina: 21/100

Vitality: 82/100

My stamina's so low. No wonder I'm dead tired...

Yang Yi opened the world chat channel and casually typed a line.

"Remember to lock your doors when you sleep tonight!"

Replies soon came in.

"Boss, what did you run into? A siren?"

"Holy shit, don't tell me you killed it!"

"Was it hard to fight? Did it drop any gear?"

Yang Yi replied irritably.

"No drops. Just pure torment!"

Ignoring whatever anyone else might say, he closed the world channel and lay down on the bed, placing the skeleton's thigh bone beneath the bedding to use as a pillow.

He also kept the gun close, somewhere he could reach it at a moment's notice.

Tonight had been far too dangerous!

Any misstep could have doomed him beyond recovery.

Tomorrow, he planned to set up some noise-making traps to provide an early warning.

With advance warning, many dangers could be avoided.

He thought as he tried hard to fall asleep.

But even when dawn arrived, he still hadn't managed to sleep.