"There's something else on the ship!"
Yang Yi realized it instantly—but it was already too late.
A fishing rod thrust forward and stabbed into his left shoulder, piercing deep into the flesh.
He immediately ran forward, turning back as he clutched the wound with his right hand.
Standing before him was a skeleton. Half of its skull was missing, and inside burned a ghastly green soul flame.
It was the captain's skeleton.
It had come back to life.
In its hands was the fishing rod, its tip stained red with Yang Yi's blood.
The skeleton stared at him, its jaw opening and closing repeatedly, as if mocking him.
"You sneaky b*st*rd!"
Yang Yi cursed, rage blazing in his eyes.
[You were ambushed by the dead. Sanity −10]
[Sanity below 50. You have entered a Frenzied State.Immune to most mental debuffs.Strength +2, Agility +1, Constitution +1, Spirit −2.Ignore pain, tireless, fearless in battle—until sanity recovers.]
Mental debuffs include charm, mind control, fear, despair, etc.
PS: When stamina reaches 0, health will be consumed instead. Frenzy cannot exceed the mortal stat limit of 10.
Yang Yi raised the gun and fired at the skeleton.
Click!
The gun misfired again.
The skeleton wielded the fishing rod like a spear and charged forward.
Yang Yi felt no pain in his frenzied state, but his injured foot still affected his movement.
Trying to circle around the skeleton while wounded was far too risky. One mistake and that two-meter fishing rod could pierce him through.
After a brief moment of thought, Yang Yi changed tactics.
Instead of retreating, he charged straight forward.
He threw his spear, hitting the skeleton squarely. The weapon lodged between its bones, briefly staggering it.
Taking advantage of the opening, Yang Yi closed the distance and engaged in close combat.
He still had a weapon.
A blunt one.
If he gripped the barrel of the flintlock pistol, the gun became a short hammer—perfect against a skeleton.
He raised the pistol high and smashed it toward the cracked skull, aiming directly at the soul flame.
But the skeleton reacted quickly and blocked the strike.
It seemed terrified of the gun.
It even abandoned the fishing rod and reached out with both hands to seize it.
Yang Yi naturally refused.
The two began struggling over the weapon.
The skeleton's strength was slightly lower than Yang Yi's in his frenzied state—probably around 4.
But while grappling like this, Yang Yi also had difficulty launching an effective attack.
If the gun accidentally fired and hit him, he'd be finished.
He needed a plan.
Even in his frenzied state, Yang Yi remained surprisingly clear-headed.
And soon he came up with an idea.
If the skeleton wanted the gun so badly…
Then he would give it to him.
Yang Yi calculated the timing. After wrestling for a bit longer, he suddenly aimed the pistol and pulled the trigger.
Click.
Another misfire.
Then he let go of the gun.
Just as expected—the skeleton's attention was almost entirely focused on the pistol.
Yang Yi broke free and ran toward the ship's cabin.
By the time the skeleton arrived, it only saw a dim figure standing in the darkness.
It was Yang Yi.
Standing there, he was devouring a pile of unknown flesh with savage hunger.
The skeleton pulled the trigger.
Nothing happened.
The pistol was still in cooldown.
From bow to stern was only about ten meters. Both had run the distance, so the gun hadn't reset yet.
A pistol that couldn't fire was no better than a hammer.
Yang Yi suddenly charged forward.
Black slime smeared his mouth, and his eyes were bloodshot.
[You consumed the Human-Headed Octopus.Strength +1, Constitution +1, Spirit −1, Sanity −20.Duration: 1 minute.]
Now Yang Yi's strength jumped from 3 to 6.
It had doubled.
(Frenzy +2 included.)
And Yang Yi had discovered something else—
The strength stat wasn't linear.
It was exponential.
That meant a difference of just two points could create overwhelming superiority.
Yang Yi lunged forward.
The skeleton hadn't even reacted yet, seemingly still puzzled about why the pistol wouldn't fire.
In the next second—
Yang Yi tackled it to the ground, tore off both of its arm bones, and hurled them aside.
Without giving it any chance to recover, he thrust his right hand into the broken opening of the skull and reached for the soul flame inside.
Only then did the skeleton show fear.
Its jaw clattered desperately, as if begging for mercy.
But it was already too late.
It had no way to resist.
Yang Yi grasped the flame.
It wasn't hot.
In fact, it felt strangely warm.
The skeleton reacted violently, its entire body trembling.
Then it collapsed into a heap of ordinary bones, the soul flame extinguishing completely.
But was it really dead?
Not necessarily.
After being tricked by the Drowned One earlier, Yang Yi had become far more cautious.
He grabbed the skull, picked up the flintlock pistol, and placed the skull on the ship's railing.
He strongly suspected the skeleton wasn't truly dead—even though he could already see its information.
[Name: Captain's Remains]
[Description:Once a captain who loved fishing…Until the day he caught something.
Can be used in the Monster Gacha Machine.]
Two minutes later—
Just as expected.
The ghastly green light flickered back to life inside the skull.
Yang Yi didn't hesitate.
BANG!
Flames burst from the muzzle. The shot rang out sharply.
The skull was blasted into fragments.
[The strange gunshot disturbs your mind. Sanity −1]
"It seems that whether you subdue or kill monsters, you can obtain their information," Yang Yi concluded.
But the Monster Gacha Machine…
What exactly was that?
He had never seen one.
There wasn't one on the ship either.
Just to be safe, it was better to keep the corpses.
Yang Yi dragged the remains into the cabin and removed the skeleton's arm bones and thigh bones.
After all, a headless skeleton might still exist.
He had seen that kind of thing in games before.
Better to keep part of its body—just in case.
After suffering a few surprises tonight, Yang Yi now acted with extreme caution.
He wrapped his wounds with cloth and returned to the captain's room.
Then he checked his status.
Yang Yi
Status: Injured (both feet yellow, left shoulder yellow)
Sanity: 24 / 100Stamina: 21 / 100Health: 82 / 100
"No wonder I'm exhausted…"
Yang Yi opened the world chat channel and typed a short message.
"Remember to lock your doors when you sleep at night."
Replies appeared almost instantly.
"Boss, what did you run into? A sea demon?"
"Holy crap, did you actually kill it?"
"How hard was it? Did it drop equipment?"
Yang Yi replied bluntly.
"Nope. Just pure suffering."
He ignored the rest of the messages, closed the chat channel, and lay down on the bed.
He placed the skeleton's thigh bone under the mattress as a pillow, while keeping the pistol within easy reach.
Tonight had been far too dangerous.
One mistake could have meant complete annihilation.
Tomorrow, he planned to set up noise traps as an early warning system.
If he could detect danger in advance, many threats could be avoided.
Thinking about this, he tried to fall asleep.
But until dawn arrived, he never managed to sleep again.