Grand Voyage : Surviving on a Ghost Ship-Chapter 231 - Waiting - part 1

Yang Yi stepped out of the captain’s cabin and took a deep, greedy breath of the salty, fish-scented air.

It didn’t smell pleasant, but after wearing a beaked mask for so long, the sharpness of it was just right for him, enough to awaken his senses and wash away the lingering bitterness of medicinal herbs.

It was now the second day since the Nightmare Star had entered the End Point zone, about twenty-four hours had passed.

The sun still hadn’t appeared, and no sunlight shone down.

By now, it was clear: this was a lightless region.

Only a few star-like gleams hung in the sky ahead, providing faint illumination.

Yang Yi opened the weather interface to check.

…

Today’s Weather:

Currently in the End Point zone. Please wait patiently.

Location: Sea of Origin (End Point)

Daylight Duration: ??Temperature: 17°CWind: Calm, Level 0

…

He looked up at the sky. There was nothing but clouds.

The sun might be hidden above them, or perhaps there was no sun at all.

He couldn’t be sure.

There wasn’t much for him to do here besides fishing, training, and trading.

He tried buying some crystal diamonds, though the prices were high.

He managed to purchase five units in total, spending 3,000 Shell Coins.

Some sellers were asking as much as 1,000 Shell Coins per unit, which Yang Yi refused to pay, that was absurd.

Upgrading the Nightmare Star to Level 5 required 30,000 units of crystal diamond.

At 1,000 coins per unit, that would cost 30 million Shell Coins, an impossible sum for him.

And in any case, there weren’t that many available on the market.

He stopped after buying five units, planning to wait until prices stabilized before buying more.

During that time, he also sold off the ship’s surplus sea salt, 14 tons in total.

Once they left the Bountiful Sea, salt would lose its value, so it was better to sell it now.

To be safe, he kept the Giant Sea Salt Grenade, but sold all the rest, from the deck, the storage bay, and even his stomach pouch, earning 840,000 Shell Coins in total.

The current market price for salt was 60 coins per kilogram, slightly lower than before since the exit had been announced and players were no longer hoarding it.

Some who had stockpiled too much were now selling, driving prices down.

It took Yang Yi the whole day to gradually sell everything.

Afterward, he bought 50 loaves of black bread at 300 Shell Coins each, spending 15,000 coins in total.

It was expensive, but the ship’s food stores were running low, the last batch of black bread was gone.

Fishing alone couldn’t sustain them; the results were too unpredictable.

Having a stocked pantry was the only way to avoid hunger in emergencies.

Once prices stabilized, he planned to buy more provisions.

At present, the Nightmare Star’s storeroom held around thirty vitality coconuts, twenty cans of apples, plus dried fish, and the newly purchased bread, enough for both of them to last about twenty days.

Yang Yi pulled out the Pale Worm Fishing Rod and got ready to fish.

Up at the bow, the old captain had already caught something.

Yang Yi walked over and saw two long-legged sardines flopping in the bucket. Not much, but better than nothing.

Fishing in this sea, he figured, counted as night fishing.

It was probably because they were in a safe zone that no players had caught any aggressive fish here.

Yesterday, Yang Yi had spent four hours fishing. His haul included one red-lipped eel, five long-legged sardines, and from the nets, a few palm-sized starfish, and a human-faced octopus, a modest but acceptable catch.

Most of the edible fish were dried into jerky. The inedible ones went to the lab to be turned into magic potions.

Today, he was ready to fish again.

He baited his Pale Worm Rod and cast the line.

After about ten minutes, he pulled up a thin, long-legged sardine.

Thirty minutes later came the second, another sardine.

Then a third...

Suddenly, a splash drew his attention toward the old captain at the bow. The man had just reeled in a red-lipped eel nearly a meter long, even bigger than the one Yang Yi had caught yesterday.

That couldn’t stand.

Yang Yi rebaited, this time using a sardine as bait and tying a small stone to the hook to reach deeper water.

Two hours passed with no movement on the line.

He began to wonder if he had chosen the wrong spot, when the rod suddenly bent into a tight arc, the tip dipping into the sea.

“There’s something big!”

Yang Yi’s eyes lit up as a powerful force tugged from the other end of the line.

His muscles bulged as he pulled back hard, locking into a struggle with whatever massive creature lurked below.

The commotion caught the old captain’s attention. The man turned to watch, in his usual way, by detaching his head and holding it up for a better view.

Yang Yi was standing near the captain’s cabin, right where the head could see him clearly.

Man and fish wrestled for nearly an hour.

Finally!

“Got it!”

Yang Yi grinned, feeling the creature’s resistance fade.

Half an hour of tugging had worn it out completely.

As the line drew closer, a faint light began to glow beneath the dark water.

“What is that...?”

He didn’t pull it up immediately. Instead, he drew his flintlock pistol, readying himself.

If he could see the light, it meant the fish was close to the surface, close enough to hit.

He fired first.

Bang!

The pistol roared, sending up a spray of seawater.

The creature below thrashed violently, clearly hit.

Yang Yi gripped the rod with his left hand, locking the reel, while planting his right foot on the gunwale for balance.

Then he fired again, one shot every five seconds.

The thing was running out of strength.

After five rounds, the water fell still.

A cloud of dark purple blood spread across the surface.

Whatever it was, it wasn’t any ordinary fish, its size and the force of its struggle proved that much.

If Yang Yi hadn’t been as strong as he was now, he never could have reeled it in.

With a few more pulls, the creature finally surfaced, a monstrous fish more than five meters long.

The glowing object he’d seen was a lantern, hanging from its head.

“An anglerfish?”

Yang Yi recognized it instantly.

It was far larger than a normal one, but that bloated body and demonic face left no doubt.

He fired two more shots to be sure it was dead, then started hauling it onto the deck.

It was hard work, especially once the fish was out of the water, but Yang Yi shifted into his wolf form, his body stretching and strengthening, and with a surge of power, he dragged it aboard.

Luckily, his Pale Worm Rod was high-quality and didn’t snap. A lesser rod would have shattered under the strain.

【Name: Demonized Giant Anglerfish】

【Description: A deep-sea anglerfish enlarged and corrupted by abyssal pollution. It uses the lantern on its head to lure prey before devouring them. Its flesh is tender and edible, though it rarely surfaces. Can be used in the Monster Vending Machine.】

A notification popped up right after the system logged his catch:

【The Old Captain saw you catch a huge fish. He’s furious and will refuse to work for one day.】

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