The first night at sea was destined to be a sleepless one.
Yang Yi didn't know how long he had been lying there before he finally fell asleep. He tossed and turned on the ship, cold sweat constantly forming on his forehead.
He was having a nightmare.
At the same time, inside the cabin of the Nightmare, the captain's skeleton suddenly moved. Its bones began to tremble, and within its cracked skull a faint soul flame flickered to life.
Creak… creak!
The bones scraped and rattled against each other as the skeleton slowly stood up.
It walked out of the cabin and slowly made its way to the captain's room at the bow. Gently, it pushed the door open.
Inside the room, Yang Yi was still asleep, occasionally turning over.
The skeleton stared at him for a long time. Then its gaze shifted to the barnacle-covered fishing rod resting nearby.
It walked over, picked up the rod, and without hesitation left the room. Soon it arrived at the relatively spacious middle deck and began fishing.
...
More than ten minutes later, something bit the hook.
A pale, swollen hand suddenly reached out of the sea and grabbed the fishing line.
Yang Yi was still dreaming.
And it was still a nightmare.
"Ah!"
He suddenly woke up and instinctively clutched his abdomen. Only after realizing he was unharmed did he let out a long breath.
Just moments ago in his dream, he had seen a bloated drowned corpse silently push open the door and walk into the room.
The dream had felt incredibly real—so real that it was as if he had witnessed it with his own eyes.
He even remembered the sound of the corpse walking.
Plop… plop…
Like a wet mop slapping against the floor.
By the time Yang Yi woke up in the dream, the drowned corpse was already right in front of him.
Without hesitation he grabbed the flintlock pistol beside his bed and fired at the corpse.
Click!
The gun misfired.
In the next instant, the corpse pinned him down on the bed. Like a fish on a chopping board, he was disemboweled, his hot crimson organs spilling onto the floor.
[You experienced death. You were tortured and devoured. Sanity −15]
"Haah!"
Thank god it was just a dream.
Yang Yi let out a long breath.
But then he suddenly noticed that the door to the captain's room was open.
He immediately grabbed the flintlock pistol.
"Was it the wind?
Impossible… there's barely any wind tonight."
Plop… plop…
The familiar footsteps echoed again.
A bloated drowned corpse appeared in the doorway.
It seemed to have been soaking in the sea for a long time, its body swollen and rotten. The remnants of a sailor's uniform hung from it like tattered rags, tangled with seaweed.
Its pale eyes stared directly at Yang Yi.
"FxxK!"
[You saw an unknown creature. Sanity −5]
Yang Yi cursed and immediately pulled the trigger.
Click.
The gun jammed.
The drowned corpse seemed to retain a trace of intelligence. Seeing the pistol fail, it split its mouth open in a grotesque grin.
Only a few teeth remained.
A crab crawled out of its mouth.
The scene looked exactly like the nightmare, so Yang Yi was already prepared.
The moment the gun failed, he hurled the pistol like a stone, smashing it straight into the corpse's head.
Taking advantage of the moment it staggered, Yang Yi grabbed the spear nearby and charged forward.
The spear stabbed straight into the corpse's neck as his body slammed into it.
But he wasn't trying to kill it.
He just wanted to escape the captain's room.
Only by getting out of this narrow space and onto the deck would he stand a chance of fighting it.
With the force of his charge and his body weight, Yang Yi managed to squeeze past the corpse.
The stench of rot and decay nearly made him vomit.
[The disgusting stench makes you nauseous. Sanity −5]
Yang Yi wasn't strong enough to knock the corpse down and overpower it.
Without stopping, he ran straight to the bow deck.
Here, he finally had enough space to maneuver.
He turned to look.
As expected, the corpse's bloated body made it clumsy and slow. In terms of speed, it couldn't match Yang Yi.
"I can win this."
Excitement surged through him. Adrenaline flooded his body and his breathing quickened.
On the bow deck stood a raised platform with the ship's wheel.
If he circled around it and used it as cover, he could easily shake off the corpse's pursuit.
At the same time, he silently counted down in his head.
"48."
"47."
The wooden spear was still stuck in the corpse's neck, yet it chased him as if nothing had happened.
...
"3."
"2."
Yang Yi suddenly stopped circling, slipped away from the corpse, and dashed back toward the captain's room.
At the doorway he picked up the flintlock pistol, raised it, and carefully aimed.
The distance was only a few meters. The target was huge.
There was no way he could miss.
As long as the gun didn't misfire.
BANG!
The gunshot thundered like a shrieking wail, making one's stomach churn.
[The strange gunshot disturbs your mind. Sanity −2]
The shot was slightly off, but it still hit.
Half of the corpse's head exploded. Black pus splattered across the deck as the body collapsed forward.
"I won…"
Yang Yi finally relaxed a little.
He walked over to retrieve his spear.
But just as he approached—
The corpse moved again.
Half its head was gone, yet it still moved.
A pale hand suddenly grabbed Yang Yi's ankle with terrifying strength, digging into his flesh.
"D*mn! It's still alive?!"
Yang Yi reacted instantly. With a fierce glint in his eyes, he grabbed the spear and stabbed again.
This time the spear plunged straight through the shattered opening in the skull.
The corpse's grip weakened.
But for some reason, just before dying, it turned its head and stared at Yang Yi with pure malice.
Then its abdomen began to swell rapidly.
"Self-destruct?!"
Yang Yi reacted instantly and threw himself backward.
BOOM!
Rotting flesh and bone fragments exploded everywhere like a rain of blood.
The drowned corpse had detonated.
Fortunately it had been lying face down, so most of the blast force went into the deck.
Yang Yi had fallen back just in time and avoided the worst of it.
But his foot was still injured.
Two teeth pierced through the sole of his shoe and stabbed into his foot.
A piece of bone also cut his right arm, though the wound was shallow.
Chunks of flesh rained down on him, disgusting but no longer dangerous.
[Corpse fragments make you nauseous. Sanity −2]
Yang Yi struggled to his feet and tore the severed hand off his ankle.
He checked his status.
Status: Injured (both feet marked yellow)
Sanity: 55 / 100Stamina: 40 / 100Health: 91 / 100
He removed his shoe and pulled the teeth out of his foot.
Fortunately the force wasn't like a bullet. After passing through the shoe it had barely broken the skin.
Otherwise, he might have been finished.
Suppressing the pain, Yang Yi stood up and looked toward the corpse.
He immediately s*ck*d in a sharp breath.
Only a broken skeleton remained on the deck. The spine was gone, probably blown into the sea.
The ribs, however, were embedded in the deck like arrows, buried deep in the wood.
The explosion had been powerful.
If even one of those ribs had struck him, the consequences would have been disastrous.
At that moment, new information appeared in the system log.
[Name: Drowned One]
[Description: An unfortunate soul who drowned at sea. Driven by hatred toward the living, it rises again.
Can be used in the Monster Gacha Machine.]
"Monster Gacha Machine… what's that?"
Yang Yi was completely confused.
But after calming down, he noticed something unsettling.
The Drowned One had appeared right outside the captain's room.
But who had opened the door?
Before the creature appeared, the door had already been open.
At that realization, the hair on his body stood on end.
He suddenly heard footsteps approaching behind him—
And then a sharp pain shot through his left shoulder.
Something had stabbed him.