The cracks spread at the speed of a tortoise. A minute passed, and it was only halfway done.
When the mining progress bar hit 90%—just about to finish—a red dot suddenly flashed across the minimap.
It was so fast that if Zeke hadn't been focusing most of his attention on the minimap, he wouldn't have noticed it at all.
Zeke's movement faltered, and the locker door, which he had painstakingly mined halfway, reverted to its original state.
Do you know the despair of mining Obsidian with your bare hands, only to be ambushed at 99%?
Zeke cursed inwardly but raised his guard.
This must be the creature the Whiteshield mentioned. Sure enough, it was still on the ship.
The quality of Cadian soldiers was a cut above the average planetary PDF. Whatever could wipe out their squad was definitely no ordinary opponent.
Need to make some preparations. Zeke took out the Crafting Table and placed it on the floor.
From the three Logs obtained from the Bonus Chest, he had crafted 12 Planks. Four went into the Crafting Table, two into Sticks, leaving 6 Planks remaining.
Enough. Zeke took 5 of the planks and arranged them on the Crafting Table.
Fast, are you? Let me show you Minecraft's strongest single-target crowd control.
Zeke resumed mining the locker door. Two minutes later, the door was finally smashed open, revealing the contents inside.
[Egg x3], [Grox Jerky x2], [Recipe x1]
The locker was messy with egg yolk and broken shells, but fortunately, three intact eggs remained.
Further inside were two strips of Grox Jerky, wrapped perfectly in waterproof cloth, with a note stuck on top.
A true Warhammer gourmet.
The items in the locker—whether the eggs or the Grox jerky—were ingredients not easily obtained.
In Warhammer, chickens had long since gone extinct, so eggs were generally cloned.
And Grox Jerky, made from a large, farmed herbivore called the Grox, was far superior to Grox-meat-in-a-can in both taste and safety.
Zeke picked up the note next to the food. When his fingers touched the paper, text popped up in the chat box.
[Mod: Warhammer's Delight (Farmer's Delight Warhammer Edition), Unlocked]
[Recipe Learned: Grox Sandwich]
[Grox Sandwich: Restores 5 Hunger, 6 Saturation, grants Regeneration I for 30 seconds]
At the same time, the recipe information rushed into Zeke's mind.
Three Wheat on top, three Wheat on bottom. In the middle row, from left to right: Egg, Grox Jerky, Egg.
This recipe was similar to crafting a Cake; for a food item, it was considered complex.
However, it provided powerful buffs, making it absolutely worth the cost. This trip to the merchant ship had already paid for itself.
Zeke unfolded the note. It was the menu for this mess hall.
Day 1, Crew: Grox Can; Captain: Fried Eggs + Bread
Day 2, Crew: Grox Can; Captain: Sandwich + Recaf
...
Crew eats cans every day, while you keep all the good stuff for yourself, huh?
After clearing out the locker, Zeke glanced at the Adamantium locker—one side broken, five sides remaining—and stored the whole thing in his Inventory.
It contains high-grade metal, after all. Once I unlock Tinker's Construct or similar mods later, it'll definitely be useful.
After confirming there was nothing else of value in this room, Zeke returned to the main corridor and continued exploring.
Stepping out of the mess hall, Zeke habitually scanned the minimap. A red dot appeared at the edge.
Zeke didn't stop walking. He continued down the corridor, keeping the red dot in his peripheral vision.
The red dot was moving with him. Its goal was clear: it was coming for him!
Zeke's muscles tensed. He naturally angled his body slightly, glancing behind him.
Up on the pipes, a pair of eyes glowing yellow hid in the darkness, spying on him.
Its senses were extremely sharp. Zeke had tried his best to hide his movements, but it had still noticed.
The torch in his hand flickered as a cold draft rose out of nowhere behind him.
The red dot on the map shot from the edge to right in front of Zeke in less than a heartbeat.
So fast!
There was no time to think.
Relying entirely on instinct, Zeke immediately placed the item he had just crafted behind him.
It was a crude Wooden Boat.
Thud. A dull sound of impact and violent shaking followed, and a gust of wind brushed past the back of Zeke's neck.
Gotcha. Zeke's heart pounded wildly. He turned around to see that the simple wooden boat now had a passenger.
A cat-like creature, face full of shock. It bared its teeth at Zeke, claws waving frantically, but was powerless against the prey right in front of its nose.
It couldn't even stand, forced into a comical semi-squat inside the boat. Zeke chuckled unkindly; the pose was just too funny.
Zeke circled the boat, observing the creature carefully.
HP: 20. The name displayed was [Phyrr Cat].
Although it had "Cat" in its name, it was closer to the creature in Zeke's memory called a Saber-toothed Tiger:
Sharp claws, a pair of fangs protruding from its lower lip, and limbs packed with bulging muscles, full of power.
This Phyrr Cat was also infected by the plague; its fur and skin had begun to rot.
He had never heard of this creature, but that was normal. The Warhammer universe was so vast that no one could recognize every species.
Around the Phyrr Cat's neck hung a collar engraved with five large words: "Escher's Beloved Pet."
Zeke took out his Stone Sword, positioned himself carefully, and struck. One hit, two hits, three hits...
At first, the Phyrr Cat aggressively tried to swat the stone sword away, but as its health dropped lower and lower, the beast felt the fear of death.
Its aggression faded. It lowered its head, emitting a pitiful purr-purr whine.
In the end, it even exposed its fragile belly to Zeke like a tamed house cat.
This action reminded Zeke of his dog, Er Dan, back home, and a wave of sadness hit him.
Without me, I don't know if that dumb dog can survive. Zeke felt hope was slim.
However, Zeke didn't stop his attack. Deep in the Phyrr Cat's pupils, he saw wriggling maggots.
It was parasitized. The empty Grox cans in the mess hall were probably eaten by this little glutton.
What a pity. Zeke delivered the final blow. The Phyrr Cat's body turned into a puff of white smoke.
A tooth-aching squeak-squeak sound came from the smoke.
Flesh-Boring Worm, HP 8/8.
Three fat, white worms fell to the ground from the dissipating smoke, twisting their bodies frantically, trying to escape.
Zeke cleanly executed two Sweeping Edge attacks, clearing out the worms.
Colorful experience flowed into Zeke's body.
Level Up! Zeke reached Level 2.
[Phyrr Cat Meat] x2, [Leather] x4.
The drops from the cat were normal, but the Flesh-Boring Worms dropped a novelty item.
[Parasitic Egg] x1
Checking with Mod: JEI, he found it was a throwable item that could inflict the Parasite buff on the target for 30 seconds.
The Parasite buff existed in vanilla Minecraft (via commands/potions rarely) or mods.
The effect: While under this status, every time the target takes damage, there is a 10% chance to spawn 1-2 Silverfish.
Nice weapon. Zeke pocketed it.
The remaining cabins looked like crew quarters. Aside from some clothes, there were only a few bottles of unopened drinking water.
Zeke took out the Promethium Buckets and filled two of them with water.