The first night at sea was destined to be sleepless.
Lucas Hall didn't know how long he had been tossing and turning before he finally fell asleep, drenched in cold sweat.
He was having a nightmare.
At the same time, in the nightmare ship's hold, the captain's skeletal remains suddenly began to stir. The bones started to tremble, and the broken skull glowed with the flame of a soul.
Creeeak! Creeeak!
The bones clattered as the skeleton stood up.
It walked out of the hold, slowly heading towards the captain's room at the bow of the ship and gently pushed open the door.
Inside, Lucas Hall was still lost in his dreams, occasionally shifting his position.
The corpse gazed at him for a long time, but then its attention was diverted by a fishing rod covered with barnacles beside it.
It walked over, picked up the rod, and without hesitation, exited the room and went to the ship's courtyard to begin fishing...
Several minutes later, something tugged on the line.
A pale, bloated hand emerged from the sea, gripping the fishing line.
Lucas Hall was still in his nightmare.
"Ah!"
He suddenly woke up, feeling his stomach to ensure it was intact, then sighed in relief.
Just moments ago, he had dreamt of a bloated drowned corpse quietly pushing open the door and walking inside.
The dream felt so real, as if he had seen it with his own eyes.
He remembered the sound of the corpse walking.
Squish, squish!
It sounded like a wet mop slapping the ground.
When Lucas woke up, the drowned corpse was already right in front of him.
Without hesitation, he grabbed the flintlock pistol from the bedside and shot at the corpse.
Click!
The gun jammed.
In the next instant, the drowned corpse pinned him to the bed, and he became a fish on a chopping board, his guts spilled all over the place, hot and red.
[You have experienced death and been tortured and devoured, your sanity drops by 15]
"Ha!"
Thank goodness it was just a dream!
Lucas sighed deeply.
But then, he noticed the captain's room door was wide open. He immediately grabbed the flintlock.
"Was it the wind?"
"No, impossible. There was no wind tonight!"
Squish, squish!
The familiar footsteps echoed.
A bloated drowned corpse appeared at the door.
It seemed to have been in the water for a long time, its body swollen and putrid, wearing a sailor's outfit torn into tatters, and covered in seaweed.
At this moment, it looked at Lucas with its pale, lifeless eyes.
"Fxxk!"
[Seeing an unknown creature, your sanity drops by 5]
Lucas cursed and immediately fired.
Click.
The gun jammed again.
The drowned corpse, seemingly retaining a bit of its intelligence, grinned when it saw the pistol misfire.
A few teeth were missing from its mouth, and a crab crawled out.
This scene was eerily similar to his nightmare, so Lucas had already prepared for it.
As soon as the gun misfired, he threw the flintlock like a stone, hitting the drowned corpse's head.
Taking advantage of the corpse's momentary disorientation, Lucas grabbed a nearby spear and charged at it. He drove the spear into the corpse's neck, then collided with it.
But his goal wasn't to kill, but to escape the cramped captain's room.
Only by getting out into the open, to the deck, would he have a chance to fight the drowned corpse!
The force of his charge was immense, and with his weight, Lucas managed to squeeze past the corpse.
The foul, rotten smell almost made him vomit.
[The disgusting stench, your sanity drops by 5]
Lucas didn't have much strength, so knocking over the corpse or pinning it down was impossible.
He ran as fast as he could to the deck at the bow of the ship.
Here, he would have enough space to deal with the drowned corpse!
Lucas looked back.
As expected, the bloated corpse, being cumbersome, was no match for Lucas's speed.
"I can win!"
Lucas felt a rush of excitement as his adrenaline surged and his breathing quickened.
On the deck, there was a high platform with the ship's helm.
All he had to do was imitate the ancient sages and use the tall helm as cover, circling around it to shake off the corpse's pursuit.
At the same time, he started counting in his mind.
"48."
"47."
The wooden spear pierced the corpse's neck, but the creature kept coming after him.
...
"3."
"2."
Lucas stopped running in circles and made a sharp turn back to the captain's room.
He grabbed the flintlock by the door and aimed it at the corpse, taking a deep breath.
At a distance of just a few meters, with such a large target, he couldn't possibly miss.
As long as the gun didn't jam!
Boom!
The gunshot was deafening, like a shrill wail, making Lucas want to puke.
[The strange gunshot, your sanity drops by 2]
He missed slightly, but still hit it.
The majority of the corpse's head shattered, black pus splattered everywhere, and it staggered before collapsing face-first.
"I won..."
Lucas felt his tense nerves finally ease.
He walked toward the corpse to retrieve the spear from the ground.
But just then, the corpse, which he thought had died, suddenly moved again!
Its head was almost completely obliterated, and yet it still moved!
Its pale hand grabbed Lucas's ankle with immense force, digging deep into his flesh, leaving deep scratches.
"Shit! This thing's not dead?"
Lucas immediately reacted, his eyes flashing with fury. He grabbed the spear again and stabbed it into the corpse's head.
The spear drove through the gap in the corpse's skull.
With a final blow, the corpse's grip loosened. It seemed to be dead now.
But for some reason, just before it died, the corpse turned its head and looked at Lucas with venomous hatred in its eyes.
Then, its abdomen began to rapidly swell.
Self-destruct?!
Lucas immediately realized what was happening and quickly backed away.
Boom!
A muffled explosion rang out, and rotten flesh and shattered bones flew in all directions, as if it were a blood rain.
The corpse had exploded, creating quite a disturbance.
Fortunately, the corpse had been on its stomach, so the blast mostly affected the deck.
Lucas fell back in time, avoiding the splattering pieces of bone and flesh.
But his foot was unfortunately injured.
The left foot throbbed with pain as two teeth pierced through the sole of his shoe and into his foot.
His right arm was scratched by some debris, but the wound was shallow.
As for the falling blood and meat, they had lost their lethal power, but they still made Lucas nauseous.
[The body fragments make you nauseous, your sanity drops by 2]
Lucas struggled to get up, pried the severed hand from his ankle, and checked his status.
Status:
Injured "Human Shape": Both left and right feet have turned yellow.
Sanity: 55/100
Energy: 40/100
Health: 91/100
He removed his left shoe, gritting his teeth through the pain, and pulled the teeth out of his foot.
Thankfully, the injury wasn't fatal. The teeth had only penetrated his skin.
If they had been as powerful as bullets, it could have been life-threatening!
Lucas, enduring the pain, stood up, looking at the drowned corpse. Then, he took a sharp breath.
On the deck, only a broken skeleton remained, with its spine completely missing, likely scattered into the sea.
The ribs were lodged into the deck like arrows, deeply embedded into the wood.
The self-destruction power of the corpse was no joke. Luckily, Lucas had been in the direction where the impact was weakest. Had he been hit by one of those rib-like bones, the outcome would have been unimaginable!
Meanwhile, the journal displayed information about the drowned corpse.
Name: Drowned One
Description: A person who drowned in the sea and, driven by resentment toward the living, reanimated.
Can be used in the monster capsule machine.
"Monster capsule machine? What the hell is that?"
Lucas was utterly confused.
But as he calmed down, he realized something alarming.
The drowned one had approached the captain's room, and just before it showed up, Lucas had noticed that the door was already open.
What had opened the door?
His skin prickled at the thought.
He heard footsteps approaching from behind and suddenly felt a sharp pain in his left shoulder.
Something had pierced him...