Grand Voyage : Surviving on a Ghost Ship-Chapter 245 - Zero
It sprouted after thirty seven hours, which was still an acceptable pace of growth.
Yang Yi took out a pack of tasty fertiliser. Inside was nothing but white powder, almost the same colour as the soil in the pot.
He poured some of it into the pot, added a little fresh water, and then checked the countdown.
It had dropped from thirty seven hours twelve minutes to twenty nine hours forty seven minutes.
The effect was obvious.
He sent Suna the information about the potted plant and told her he was keeping one in the captain’s room.
“Perfect. Come to the lab. I need you to tell me whether my eyes are playing tricks on me.”
“Playing tricks?”
“You will understand when you get here.”
Yang Yi set the little plant under the captain’s room window, then headed towards the cabin.
…
Inside the lab, Suna was examining the portal voucher.
It was made of some unknown material. It was tough, resistant to corrosion, and wouldn’t fall apart even after being soaked in water.
The system only issued a warning when it was brought close to fire or sharp objects like scissors.
【Warning: If more than ten percent of the voucher is damaged, it will lose its value. 】
Suna avoided destructive tests and instead placed the whole voucher on the stage of an optical microscope, securing it with clips.
It did not let much light through, so the microscope image was quite dark.
Even so, Suna managed to spot something unusual through the lens. She could barely look away.
“This is so strange.”
She muttered to herself, stunned, even beginning to doubt her own eyesight.
Just then, a private message from Yang Yi came in.
…
When Yang Yi entered the lab, Suna immediately called him over to the metal table where the microscope sat.
“It’s already adjusted. Take a look,” she urged.
Yang Yi gave her a puzzled look, leaned in with his right eye, and froze.
“You see it too, right?”
He nodded, his expression turning serious.
He saw a mass of red material stacked together, which must have been from dried blood.
What was strange was that the material was arranged in a highly regular pattern, forming countless ovals.
Each oval was nearly identical, clinging tightly together like rows of zeros.
“What do you see?” Suna asked at the right moment.
“Zeros,” Yang Yi replied.
“I knew it.”
The fact that they both saw it meant the bloodstain probably did take on that shape at a microscopic level.
Yang Yi tried using his third eye, holding the voucher in his hand.
He did this because his third eye couldn’t benefit from the microscope or a telescope.
He focused, letting the eye’s magnifying ability work, and he could see similar structures on the voucher.
The magnification was weaker than the microscope, but he could still make out the tiny circles.
“This is not an illusion,” Yang Yi said with certainty.
Suna was thinking about what could have caused such a pattern.
“Maybe before the blood dried, the cells and other substances linked together and formed that shape. After it dried, the pattern stayed, and you can still see it clearly near the edges,” she offered.
Her explanation made sense, but Yang Yi remembered the numbers he had seen in the phantom of the players’ island.
On the tallest building were the digits “07”.
Could the two things be connected? Could this cluster of zeros represent Player Island Number Zero Zero?
Yang Yi thought it over for a while before deciding to use the voucher. He needed to see what it actually did.
There was no point in speculating. He still had no idea what the portal was supposed to be.
He took the voucher to the bow deck to use it.
Suna went back to the captain’s room and glanced at the plant.
“Call me when it sprouts.”
She was curious about what would grow from it.
Yang Yi inserted the voucher into the capsule machine, and not a moment later, the machine shone with golden light.
It seemed it only did that when giving out special items. That much was clear now.
Ten seconds later, a palm sized portal popped out.
【Name: Player Island Portal】
【Type: Ship Equipment】
【Quality: Special】
【Description: A portal that leads to the Player Island. Only players and crew members can see it. Avoid using it in front of natives. The portal may be damaged. Repairs consume materials. Can be removed at any time.】
Yang Yi shared the item information with Suna, then went to the ship’s atrium and installed the portal beside the crystal sphere.
The procedure was similar to installing other ship equipment.
Once he confirmed the position and placed the model of the door, the portal suddenly expanded, turning from a miniature model into a real door.
It had an open frame made of grey metal with black geometric markings carved across the surface.
In essence, it was simply a doorframe.
Yang Yi reached a hand inside, yet nothing happened.
On the right side of the frame was a small LCD screen and a keypad. Instructions were written on it in the world’s common language:
【Enter the Player Island number to connect.】
Yang Yi glanced at Suna, and under her urging, typed in the digits 07.
As expected, nothing happened except for an error message appearing on the screen.
【Error. Unable to connect. Please try again.】
“Try zero zero,” Suna suggested.
Yang Yi didn’t. Instead, he tested every number from 01 through 10. All showed the same error.
Only after that did he enter “00” and confirm.
【Error. Unable to connect. Please try again.】
“Whew.”
Yang Yi let out a long breath.
It was only typing numbers, yet he felt a trace of tension. His forehead even had a bit of sweat.
“Looks like it doesn’t work. For now it’s just decoration.”
But then a thought surfaced.
‘Why assume it had to be two digits?’
The microscope had shown a whole cluster of zeros.
He tried again and found there was no limit to the number of digits he could enter. He could make the string as long as he wanted.
Suna saw what he was doing and understood immediately.
“Try entering nothing but zeros,” she said.
Yang Yi nodded, drew his flintlock, and held it in his left hand while preparing to type.
“Stand back.”
He turned towards her as if expecting a fight. The moment made Suna tense up as well.
Yang Yi cleared the input field and began holding down the zero key.
A rapid beeping filled the air. The screen was quickly flooded with zeros, but the input kept going.
He held the key for five full minutes before the beeping finally stopped.
Yang Yi held his breath and pressed the confirm button.
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