Grand Voyage : Surviving on a Ghost Ship-Chapter 202 - The changing nightmare and its pattern

Yang Yi jolted awake, immediately sitting up and lifting his shirt to inspect the mouth on his stomach.

The stitches were intact, they hadn't snapped.

He let out a long breath of relief.

Another nightmare. The content was similar to before, but with a twist. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

In the dream, he was strapped to a metal table while Suna teased him.

Eventually, he broke free from the restraints and lunged at her. The stitches on his stomach ripped open, and Yang Yi stuffed Suna into his belly.

The touch, the taste, it all lingered, almost too real.

Yang Yi narrowed his eyes to slits, gradually calming down.

It was the first time the nightmare had changed. That meant it had adjusted itself based on the present situation, which proved the dream’s foresight, or prophetic ability, was limited.

It had no idea a mouth would appear on his stomach, nor what kind of aberrations the corruption would cause.

So, the outcome wasn’t reliable, only worth using as a reference.

There was no way he would ever allow the scene in that dream to happen. Now, he felt even more confident and determined to overturn, or rather defy, the nightmare.

Checking the time, he saw he’d slept less than three and a half hours, yet his energy was surprisingly restored, likely thanks to the food’s effect, already back up to 96 points.

He messaged Suna to say he was awake, then drank a Growth Potion and used his stock of Long-Legged Sardines to activate the light of the Life Fireplace.

Supplies were running low; he’d have to fish during the day to restock.

After a quick workout, Yang Yi left the captain’s quarters to relieve Suna and take the helm of the Nightmare Star, steering toward their set destination.

With more than five hours until sunrise, he decided to use the time to feed the stomach pouch and see if its capacity would increase.

He stuffed three pieces of cake into it, but aside from his hands getting soaked in saliva, there was no change in the pouch’s stats.

“No effect… or maybe not enough?”

He fed it three more pieces, and finally, the Stomach Pouch’s info updated, capacity increasing from 10 cubic meters to 10.1. A tiny boost.

“What a big appetite…”

He stopped feeding it.

If he dumped his entire stock of over a hundred cakes into it, the capacity could only grow by two or three cubic metres. It was better to wait until daylight, find a good spot, and let it drink its fill of white seawater.

Yang Yi kept steering the ship.

…

Over five hours later, the sky began to brighten as the sun rose over the horizon.

Yang Yi timed it carefully, using his third eye to observe the sunrise, but found nothing unusual.

It was simply a sphere rising from the edge of sight, no anomalies.

Continuing on, he looked for a safe place to feed the pouch, but midway, he encountered a large chunk of flesh and decided to approach it.

It was a jet-type meat mass.

When the Nightmare Star drew close enough, nozzles on its surface blasted out numerous meat balls of various sizes. They stuck to the ship’s hull, turning into fleshy membranes that spread and began corroding the vessel.

Fortunately, the corrosion never made it past the deck, where the sea salt blocked its advance.

The membranes were also quickly destroyed by the skeletal arms.

Yang Yi fired a shot to stun it, then rammed the ship into it, luring it to latch onto the hull.

Once aboard, it was surrounded on all sides by skeletal arms, which relentlessly sprinkled salt onto its body…

After about forty minutes and half a ton of sea salt, Yang Yi killed the meat mass.

With enough salt, killing the things wasn’t difficult; you could just lure them aboard and cut off their retreat.

They weren’t exactly intelligent.

【Name: Delicious Meat Mass (Large)】

【Description: Omitted…】

Yang Yi tossed the harvested meat into the vending machine.

The rewards for the large meat chunk and the medium meat chunk were calculated independently. The first three rewards almost always contain equipment or items.

Yang Yi picked up the thing that had been ejected from the machine. It was a paper snack box, worn with the passage of time, but the colours hadn’t faded.

【Name: Boxed High-Energy Protein Bars】

【Type: Consumable】

【Quality: Premium】

【Description: A box of 24 high-energy protein bars. They have little taste and aren’t particularly delicious. Some people make these meal-replacement energy bars to save time. Eating one provides enough energy to sustain an adult for a week.】

“Not bad… Suna could use these protein bars for potion-making…”

Just as Yang Yi was about to hand the box to Suna, he noticed a pattern on the packaging.

It was a human head, bald, with an intricately detailed brain drawn inside, along with some structures resembling circuits.

But that wasn’t the most striking part, because the centre of the brain contained a red gemstone.

Yang Yi recognised the gemstone instantly: it was the Stone of Truth.

A red, crystal-clear gem appeared in his hand. Comparing it to the gemstone in the illustration, the resemblance was uncanny, exactly identical…

“What did the machine give you?”

Suna’s voice suddenly rang out from behind, startling Yang Yi.

He had been so focused on examining the protein bars that he hadn’t even noticed her footsteps, or, perhaps, he was simply accustomed to her scent and wasn’t on alert.

“Nothing,” Yang Yi said, turning back.

The red gemstone in his hand had already vanished, and he passed the box of 24 protein bars to Suna.

“The boxed protein bars from the machine, these should be useful to you.”

“Why is the packaging damaged?”

She asked, a bit puzzled since the machine had never dispensed broken items before.

“I don’t know. It came like this, probably just been stored for a long time,” Yang Yi explained calmly.

“I don’t even know if these have an expiration date. Take a look and see if they’re spoiled.”

Suna reached out and began inspecting each bar one by one.

Just as Yang Yi thought the matter was settled, Suna suddenly looked up.

“I think I just saw a red gemstone in your hand.”

Her bright red eyes stared at him intently, exactly the same colour as the Stone of Truth.

“Oh, that’s a super-delicious candy. I was tempted to eat it but held back,” Yang Yi replied quickly, without hesitation.

“I see… if your body shows any abnormalities, you need to tell me. I might be able to help,” Suna said, seemingly convinced, and didn’t press the matter further.

She took the protein bars and headed to the cabin.

Yang Yi let out a long sigh of relief.

The Stone of Truth was a hot potato: extremely valuable, yet potentially dangerous.

Judging by the nature of items produced in this sea region, benefits usually come hand-in-hand with risks.

What exactly would happen if someone consumed this stone? What would Suna become? It was entirely unknown.

Yang Yi dared not gamble.

At the very least, he wouldn’t give it to Suna until he fully understood the consequences of consuming it.

Besides, this stone was connected to some organisation.

The information he had at hand was far too limited. It would be ideal if he could get in touch with the local inhabitants of this sea region.

Yang Yi stopped overthinking, found a suitable spot, and prepared to try flushing seawater into his stomach.

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