Grand Voyage : Surviving on a Ghost Ship-Chapter 253 - The Sanctuary

Yang Yi searched the ship’s registry. To his surprise, the Sanctuary actually appeared.

On the crystal sphere, the same cross shaped landmass came into view, but it was too dim to make out properly.

Faint green lights traced its edges, like runway beacons or riverbank markers. Most of the glow was smothered under the black haze and showed only through a blur.

He watched a while and realised the image was too unclear to gather useful information.

He passed the sphere to Suna and ordered the old captain to pick up speed. They would move to within five nautical miles and observe again.

After the update, the Astrologer’s ship’s scrying ability changed. Viewing distant vessels sometimes produced a delay, as if the picture came from days earlier.

The Sanctuary was close enough that this feed should be live. The real problem was the Lightless Sea itself, which drowned the spell’s clarity.

“This thing must be high tier,” Suna said after watching the image.

Among current players there was nothing this large. No record, no discussion, nothing.

Even Ironhead, considered the biggest ship in active play, looked small beside this kilometre long behemoth.

Its size alone made the watchtower mistake it for an island.

Both of them prepared for boarding, sorting supplies. Most of Nightmare’s resources were already on Yang Yi, which made the division easy.

…

Three hours later.

Nightmare reached the planned position five nautical miles out. Yet you could barely see a thing in the direction of the Sanctuary.

Without the map or extraordinary eyesight, no one would ever realise that a giant vessel waited just beyond the dark horizon.

Yang Yi opened the Three-Eyed Vision and finally understood.

The ship was sealed from hull to deck. It resembled less a ship and more a floating fortress or Sanctuary.

At the centre of the cross stood a tower. It looked like a lighthouse once, but its top section had collapsed. Black haze poured over it like tar.

He had not even noticed the tower when he first scried the place.

The vessel was swallowed whole by the dark fog. The indicator lights outlining its shape flickered beneath the haze, almost invisible from a distance.

He studied it carefully, then ordered the captain to shift angles and reposition the Nightmare.

He was searching for an entrance.

A structure this size, or this sanctuary, should have docks.

Suna scanned as well. It had night vision and a thirty mile range, though every use cost money. Even so, Three Eyes performed better. The main issues were field of view and the fog’s interference.

Nightmare drifted slowly, changing position piece by piece.

Yang Yi kept checking, and after several angles, he had a clear outline in mind.

The hull sat at a uniform height of around twenty five metres above sea level. No one knew how deep it ran below, but it was certainly more than one deck.

The highest point was the lighthouse crossing the middle of the cross, reaching one hundred fifty metres.

He spotted what looked like ports, four, one at the end of each arm.

Each end dipped inward like a recessed dock. The lights there were dim or broken, blending with the sea unless studied closely. But they were open ports, hollowed like a bowl.

The entrance would be near one of them. They needed to approach to see it clearly.

Even with Three Eyes, the distance was still too great to distinguish walls from gates under that haze.

“Let’s get closer. I can’t make out anything from here.”

Suna lowered her scope. All she saw was darkness and a skeleton of lights.

Yang Yi nodded. He had come to the same conclusion.

At a glance he found no movement, no sign of life, and no immediate threat. It felt like a ship abandoned long ago, or a Sanctuary left to rot.

The Nightmare closed in until only two hundred metres separated them from the Sanctuary.

At such a distance, even bare eyes were enough to make out its structure.

Yang Yi planned to circle the vessel once and inspect every dock.

When they came around to the opposite side, he spotted a massive breach at the very center where the cross intersected.

Something had hit the Sanctuary hard. That damage might be the reason it was left drifting here.

He chose not to enter through the gap and continued his survey instead. To avoid overusing the Three Eyes, he only activated it after repositioning enough to get a new angle.

Up close, the ship felt even larger. The scale was overwhelming. As they neared the fourth dock, Suna made a discovery. With details coming into focus, she suddenly leaned forward.

“There’s a ship inside,” she said, pointing toward the fourth dock.

The Nightmare had nearly completed its full circuit. Only at the very end did something finally appear.

Yang Yi had planned to pick a dock at random. Now there was no need to choose.

He confirmed with Three Eyes. The dock indeed held a vessel.

A sailing ship roughly twenty three meters long sat inside, shrouded in darkness. It must have been moored there for a long time, even the mast was buried in haze.

There was almost certainly no one alive aboard. It looked abandoned.

What stood out more was the crystal chart. It displayed nothing, no icon, no name. That suggested the ship likely belonged to natives.

“Indigenous ships don't appear on the map,” Yang Yi said.

Though the explanation wasn't perfect. The vessel was soaked in darkness, nearly indistinguishable from its surroundings. Without coming close, they would never have spotted it at all.

“Lend me the telescope.”

Suna handed it over. Even after confirming with Three Eyes, he wanted a clearer, less draining view.

“How about we fire a shot first? If something is hiding inside, it might flush out. Better than sailing straight into an ambush, right?”

He asked, testing her thoughts.

“Why not shoot with a gun? What if you blow the whole thing apart before we even check it?”

Suna leaned towards caution.

He agreed, a cannon carried too much risk. So, he ordered the old captain to move closer and fire two rounds from a rifle toward the deck.

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