Grand Voyage : Surviving on a Ghost Ship-Chapter 234 - Chance encounter and ending

After Yang Yi returned, the two ships parted ways and kept some distance between them.

Inside the Fisherman.

He Qi was tending to the young siren called Qiqi, wrapping a bandage around her ankle. She had accidentally cut herself a moment ago.

She seemed capable of shapeshifting, as her lower body could change between a fish tail and human legs.

“How could you be so careless? Would it kill you to stay in the cabin for once?”

He Qi scolded her, though there was clear concern in his voice.

“I was worried about you,” Qiqi said softly.

Her teeth looked human, flat, and neat, but if someone forced her mouth open and looked closely, they would find a second layer of fangs hidden behind the first, ready to spring out whenever needed.

“You don’t understand,” she continued. “That man is an executioner. I can smell death all over him. He’s killed many living things, including some of my kind.”

Unlike her delicate, almost pitiful appearance, Qiqi’s eyes were full of fear and disgust when she spoke of Yang Yi.

She had recognised what he was: a demon hunter.

“Enough. I actually think he’s a decent guy. He even gave me a bottle of liquor before he left,” He Qi said, taking out the craft-brewed burnt rum Yang Yi had given him.

“Well, I still don’t like him…”

Qiqi turned away as she muttered, but halfway through the sentence, she stopped. Her nostrils flared slightly.

Unlike humans, she could close her nasal passages completely, but when they were open, they worked just the same. Her sense of smell was far sharper than a human’s, and when underwater, breathing through her gills, she could pick up scents from several kilometres away.

“This scent…”

She turned back, snatched the bottle from He Qi’s hand, and her eyes flashed.

“Burnt rum! And a high-grade one at that!”

The disgust in her eyes deepened.

“That man is a hidden Fire Worshipper cultist. You mustn’t deal with him again! One day he might decide to burn you alive just for fun!”

“Huh?”

He Qi looked baffled, thinking she was overreacting. He had never met any Fire Worshippers and knew almost nothing about the cult.

…

Five days passed.

More and more players reached the end-zone area.

Around the Nightmare Star, the number of ships had grown from two to more than a dozen, with new arrivals each day.

It meant the main group of players was catching up; soon, the area would be crowded with ships.

Most of these vessels traveled in groups, three or four together, and few sailed alone.

They all kept a safe distance from one another, clustering near the exit while staying well away from the Nightmare Star.

“There’s a ghost ship at my end. Not sure if someone’s piloting it, but it’s creepy as hell!”

Someone posted a photo of the Nightmare Star in the chat.

(Attached photo: the Nightmare Star floating in the pitch-black sea; the lighting made the image grainy and unclear.)

“Creepy. Glad I don’t have that thing near me.”

“Maybe it’s a hidden boss. Fire a shot at it, bet it drops gold!”

“Why don’t you shoot it yourself? I’ll even send you the coordinates!”

“…”

None of them knew that Yang Yi was in the chat too, quietly reading their nonsense.

But someone eventually recognised the ship.

“The skeleton ship… It’s different from the photo, but could that be One-Eye’s ship?”

“Huh? Let me check. If One-Eye’s on deck, I’ll spot him for sure!”

The person must have gone to look, because soon another message appeared.

“Checked it. Not him! The lighting’s bad, so it’s hard to tell through the scope, but I’m sure, it’s not One-Eye. The tonnage is too small.”

“Yeah, I saw it too. Too skinny to be One-Eye.”

“Then it’s not a monster, good. Let’s just wait it out.”

Yang Yi glanced at the cluster of ships near the entrance and decided to move.

He piloted the Nightmare Star forward, all the way to the air-wall ahead, putting plenty of distance between himself and the others.

“The ghost ship’s running away.”

“Huh?”

“Maybe he could see your messages too, and you annoyed him, so he just left…”

…

Time passed quickly. Another ten days went by.

Since getting the giant anglerfish lantern, Yang Yi’s fishing results had improved dramatically.

Many of the fish weren’t suitable for direct consumption, but the sheer volume made up for it. The old captain benefited from the boost as well, so Yang Yi had been meeting all his protein needs through fishing lately.

He dried the surplus catch into fish jerky, which only kept piling up.

It wasn’t as tasty as the yellowtail He Qi caught, but the long-legged sardines were surprisingly good, just a bit lacking in meat.

His black bread stock was lasting longer than expected too; he still had over thirty loaves left.

Meanwhile, the number of ships in the area had exploded to more than two hundred. They crowded near the exit, keeping a cautious distance from the Nightmare Star.

The closest was the Fisherman.

He Qi had also moved farther ahead because of the growing traffic.

Something big had also happened in the chat channel.

The Iron Brotherhood had arrived at the end zone, but by sheer bad luck, they ran straight into the New Human fleet.

The difference was easy to spot: the Sakura had a massive cherry blossom tree growing on its deck, and the surrounding seawater glowed faintly with a fluorescent tint.

That’s how the naval battle started.

The Nightmare Star was too far away to feel any shockwaves from the fight, but based on player photos and reports, it looked like the Iron Brotherhood won. The enemy lost more than a dozen ships, and the Sakura’s tree was nearly blasted in half.

“What firepower…” Yang Yi muttered as he scrolled through the battle photos.

The New Human fleet had several “special ability users”.

One man had more than a dozen giant arms that could flap hard enough to let him hover briefly. Another was a two-headed giant with incredible strength. There was even someone who could discharge electricity and swim through the sea like a fish.

It was hard to judge their combat power from pictures alone, but under the Brotherhood’s overwhelming artillery fire, they were torn apart. Only five or six ships, led by the Sakura, managed to flee.

“If you’ve got guts, don’t run! I’ll take you on one-on-one!”

Yu Dawei taunted openly in the chat, basking in his moment of glory while no one from the New Humans replied.

After the commotion died down, the expedition to the Bountiful Sea finally neared its end.

For once, the system didn’t throw a curveball at the last moment. Just as the black fog reached the final stretch, it announced that all players had officially left the Bountiful Sea.

The black fog wasn’t visible at the endpoint, it only appeared on the world map.

Although the coordinates lined up, there was a clear divide between the Bountiful Sea and the final area. Then, every player’s activity log displayed a simultaneous system notification.

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