Chapter 317 - Setting Sail
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As expected, Yang Yi’s post was selected as a featured post. Shortly afterward, he received payment from the Great Press, ten thousand Shell Coins.
However, the images in the post had been censored and came with a warning:
“Those with low Sanity or musophobia are advised not to view the original images.”
Even so, some players who enjoyed bizarre content, or were simply curious, clicked on them and ended up losing a portion of their Sanity.
【Holy crap! You’re telling me this thing is a rat?!】
【My skin is starting to ache just looking at it. Everyone, seriously, don’t open the image.】
【I hereby declare this the ultimate rat.】
【...】
Among the many commenters, one stood out in particular.
【Damn it! That scared me so badly that I threw the freshly grilled mouse skewers I had just made into the sea! My precious chubby little mice that I spent so long raising!!!】
The commenter’s ID was Pets Are Your Lie.
Afterward, Yang Yi’s post was added to the Monster Compendium under the entry for the Homing Rat.
Yang Yi had actually sold information about this mouse to the Great Press long ago, but it had not attracted much attention from players at the time.
Including Yang Yi himself, no one had expected the creature to be this terrifying.
From now on, players would likely never underestimate that seemingly insignificant, ball-shaped rat again.
Not long after the post went live, another pinned announcement appeared on the forum.
“…In light of the fact that some players have uploaded excessively disturbing images that may cause mental contamination, the forum will implement an image review system starting tomorrow. From then on, all images in player posts must pass review before being displayed. High-risk images will be censored, and players may choose whether or not to view them.
We are also recruiting image reviewers. Alternate-day shifts. Interested players may contact us via private message. Requirements: optimistic personality, positive attitude, and a Mental attribute of at least 7.”
The Shelter’s defense systems had been fully repaired, and the Nightmare Star was making its final preparations for a long voyage.
Everything progressed smoothly, except for one issue that continued to trouble Yang Yi: his hair.
As a werewolf, he should have possessed exceptionally vigorous hair growth.
Yet despite having shaved his beard nearly ten times, the top of his head remained completely smooth and bald.
It was so shiny it reflected light like a perfectly polished braised egg.
“Have you made any progress on that hair-growth potion I asked for?” Yang Yi messaged Suna.
Suna replied without much concern, “It’s not urgent. No one out at sea is going to stare at your bald head anyway. I’ll make it when inspiration strikes.”
“Uh…”
Yang Yi typed a few words, then deleted them. In the end, he smacked his lips and gave up trying to argue.
Making a post to buy a hair-growth item was obviously out of the question. That would be no different from announcing to the entire player base that he had gone bald. By the next day, the forums would probably have a user named One-Eyed Baldy.
So he could only browse other players’ shops and hope he got lucky.
“Right.”
Yang Yi suddenly remembered that he had once caught a strange creature with hair-growth properties, the Black Thread Corpse Manipulating Worm.
If he ate more of those worms, maybe he could restore his thick, glossy black hair.
He decided to try fishing again while checking the marketplace. Perhaps he would get lucky.
At that moment, movement appeared on the surface of the water at the open-air harbor in Zone C. The underwater elevator slowly rose.
This time, however, it was not carrying cargo.
Only Xiao Ji emerged, mounted with a land-operation module resembling a multifunctional tracked engineering vehicle.
Yang Yi had specifically asked Xiao Ji to bring it along—just in case. Better safe than sorry. Although it was called an engineering vehicle, it was extremely effective against Aberrations. One swing of its bucket could injure even Yang Yi if he failed to dodge.
Moreover, Xiao Ji could still use its beam cannon while operating it.
Its only drawback was high power consumption, but the Nightmare Star had plenty of magic stones, so energy supply was not a concern.
Xiao Ji disconnected itself and climbed down from the vehicle using its mechanical arms.
Yang Yi examined the connection point between Xiao Ji and the module. It resembled a tank hatch, but only about one meter deep—just enough for Xiao Ji to interface with the control system.
“Xiao Ji, can this engineering vehicle switch to manual driving mode?” Yang Yi asked.
“No,” Xiao Ji replied. “This is a land-operation module designed specifically for robots. Manual driving was never considered during its design phase, so it has no control console.”
“What a pity.”
Yang Yi had wanted to try driving it himself, but it was clearly impossible.
He stored the nearly five-meter-long, 1.5-meter-high module into his stomach pouch, then carried Xiao Ji back onto the deck of the Nightmare Star in preparation for departure.
Because of its size, the module could not be stored inside the cabin and had to remain on deck.
Yang Yi placed it in the central courtyard area. The rotary beam cannon was also stationed on deck as a mobile anti-air turret.
After everything was arranged, Yang Yi stood at the stern for several minutes, carefully reviewing the setup. Once he confirmed there were no issues, he had Xiao Ji send a message to Selt aboard the Shelter, instructing it to prepare for navigation.
The entire Shelter lit up brilliantly. Every light was activated, and the lighthouse at its center projected four powerful searchlights in different directions, sweeping through the darkness.
The light could not dispel the abyssal darkness completely, but it still illuminated a vast area in the pitch-black sea.
“Tell Selt to turn off the lights. We sail in silence; the quieter, the better,” Yang Yi said.
Xiao Ji relayed the order.
Soon, all the lights shut off.
Yang Yi piloted the Nightmare Star out of the harbor. After traveling a few hundred meters, he turned back to look at the Shelter.
What he saw made him pause.
The colossal behemoth began to disassemble before his eyes. Each section separated and transformed into an independent vessel. Including the central unit, there were five ships in total, all heading back along the route he had come from.
The navigation plan and destination had already been set.
The Shelter would travel to the zero coordinate point on Yang Yi’s sea chart, then reassemble into a single whole.
He had already passed through this route before. There were no islands or large creatures along the way, so there should be no problems. The shadows would not interfere with the Shelter’s navigation.
Moreover, there were four robots onboard, along with defensive beam cannons. Even if they encountered Abyssal beings like Drowned Ones, they could handle them.
Yang Yi withdrew his gaze and informed Suna of their departure.
Suna was busy, sweat beading on her forehead, and for once she felt irritated.
Earlier, in her witch form, she had discovered many things, including methods to reduce the depth of corruption. She had even planned to create a potion that could reduce contamination levels and possibly resolve the mutations in Yang Yi’s body.
However, she encountered an inexplicable problem during production.
“Which step went wrong?” Suna muttered, utterly puzzled.
She even considered entering her witch form again to investigate further.
But she couldn’t. If Yang Yi found out, things would become extremely troublesome.