Clear skies, perfect for fishing and netting.
Location: Sea of Origins
Remaining daylight: 8 hours.
Temperature: 15~25°C.
Wind: Level 1.
Lucas Hall was desperately fishing.
He not only needed fresh water but was also in dire need of medical supplies.
Both of these could be obtained through fishing.
He had seen on the global chat that someone had caught ordinary-quality medical bandages, which had healing and anti-inflammatory effects.
Although bandages wouldn't be of much help to Lucas's current wounds, other medical items definitely existed!
He had to keep fishing.
[You've caught a rotten piece of wood.]
[You've caught a long-legged sardine.]
[You've caught a long-legged sardine.]
[You've caught a piece of rotten cloth.]
[....]
"F**k!"
Lucas cursed as he picked up a long-legged sardine, bit off its head, and swallowed it whole, internal organs and all.
He remembered a survival expert saying that if you remove the head, it's edible....
Lucas was so hungry that he ate whatever he caught.
As for the sanity loss from eating raw long-legged sardines, he didn't have the luxury of worrying about that.
If he starved to death, what was the point of worrying about his sanity?
He was desperate enough to eat anything!
After eating several sardines, Lucas made a new discovery—
The sanity loss from the same event would decrease the more it happened.
For example, eating long-legged sardines now only reduced his sanity by 1 point, occasionally 2 points.
If he kept eating them, the sanity loss would probably become negligible.
Moreover, his mental experience was rapidly increasing.
Mental growth seemed to be related to receiving sensory input or stress.
He kept fishing for another 2 hours.
Lucas felt his condition worsening. His wounds started itching terribly.
He fought the urge to scratch, knowing that doing so would only worsen the infection.
At the same time, his diarrhea caused him to lose large amounts of water and salt.
Combined with the fever, his vision grew blurry, and his body felt weak.
[Status: Wounded / Corpse Poison Infection (Moderate, Fever) / Food Poisoning (Mild, Diarrhea)]
"Just hold on a little longer... I'll catch some life-saving medicine soon!"
Lucas forced himself to stay focused, continuing to fish. Finally, he caught something he had never seen before.
[You've caught an Eyeball Fruit.]
It was a fruit shaped like an eyeball, blinking, and about the size of a fist.
[Name: Eyeball Fruit]
[Description: Though its appearance is strange, it is a fruit from the Abyss, slightly sweet, and can replenish vitamins, salt, and water.]
Without hesitation, Lucas took a bite, splattering black liquid, the fruit vibrating slightly in his hand.
[Your sanity decreases by 2.]
The fruit was terrifying in appearance, but it tasted much better than the sardines. The flesh inside was crunchy and slightly sweet. Lucas devoured it all.
After eating the Eyeball Fruit, he felt much better.
The diarrhea had mostly stopped, but the corpse poison infection remained.
Wasn't there any medicine for corpse poison that could be caught through fishing?
That couldn't be true! Fishers could catch anything!
But even by nightfall, he hadn't caught any medical items. He had, however, caught a bottle of fresh water. His haul was as follows:
[Eyeball Fruit X2, Long-legged Sardine X8, Wood X10, Cloth X9, Cystic Pufferfish X1, Fresh Water 1L.]
Everything else was consumed by Lucas.
The 1L of fresh water was a unit, and it could be stored in the cabin. However, a container was needed to retrieve it.
The cabin wasn't a physical space.
Resources like wood, cloth, fresh water, and steel were stored as invisible data, and could be accessed when needed.
Lucas was thirsty, having drunk about one-third of a 1.5L bottle of "Farmer's Three Punches."
He needed to ration it, since fresh water was scarce.
By night, Lucas didn't dare stay on deck. He finished fishing and returned to the captain's quarters.
As usual, he placed his flintlock rifle by his side, lay down, and tried to sleep.
But the fever and the infection in his wounds kept torturing him...
It was destined to be a sleepless night, and there were nightmares and curses to deal with as well.
Lucas couldn't sleep and opened the chat channel to take a look.
It was still lively, but those paying attention would notice that the online player count was no longer displayed.
The dead didn't speak, and they disappeared without a sound....
"I just made two spears. If any skeletons come tonight, I'll make them explode with gold coins!"
"Dude, have you ever played this game? Do you know that skeletons have piercing resistance because they don't have flesh?
A spear won't help—you're better off using your fists!"
"I've got steel reserved, need 982 more units. PM me for details!"
"Steel Heart, are you still alive?"
"Damn it! You guys are all dead, but I'll never die!"
"With your ship speed, how are you outrunning the black mist?"
"Give me the steel and I'll tell you!"
"Shut up! I don't want to know!"
"...."
In the rear of all the ships, a steel battleship was desperately speeding.
Not far behind it, the black mist was closing in at a terrifying speed of ten knots.
The ocean below was teeming with fish, all of which were fleeing from the black mist in a panic.
A chubby middle-aged man stood on the ship's bridge, his unkempt beard and cigarette in his mouth, holding onto the helm.
Despite his casual demeanor in the chat, he was actually extremely nervous.
One mistake, and he would die.
Chatting was one of the few ways for him to relieve pressure.
His ship had ample supplies, unlimited ammo, and incredible durability. Its only flaw was its slow speed, making it vulnerable to being overtaken by the black mist.
Moreover, his starting position was near the mist.
Fortunately, there was a giant harpoon gun on his ship. It was a type of harpoon that pierced through giant sea creatures, difficult to remove once stuck.
He was now looking for a target to harpoon, so that the giant sea creature would drag him faster, increasing his ship's speed.
"Damn it, this stupid fish can't hold on any longer? So weak?"
He reeled in the harpoon, aiming at the next target, trying to choose the bigger, faster swimmers.
Thanks to this, he had only managed to sleep for 3 hours.
The rest of the time was spent searching for a target. After all, these giant sea creatures also bled, got tired, and could die...
As for the fish that were foolish enough to attack his ship, he would teach them what firepower suppression and civilized artillery meant!
Next Day.
Lucas woke up with a splitting headache.
He wasn't sure when he had fallen asleep, but he knew he had dreamed of something unpleasant, something that made him want to vomit.
The ship was worse than he had imagined.
Without other methods of recovering energy, his game efficiency would drop dramatically.
After a full night of rest, his energy had only recovered by 30.
And the corpse poison infection had worsened.
His wound no longer itched, but it now only slightly stung. This was not a good sign....
The wound had a disgusting fishy smell, similar to that of a corpse that had been dead for a while. It was eerily similar to the smell of the drowned ones.
Human immunity wasn't enough to fight off corpse poison!
His stats, including strength, agility, and endurance, had all dropped by 2, and he had entered a weakened state.
But Lucas didn't give up. He had been in worse situations—he had been bedridden for five years.
He walked out of the captain's quarters, went to the cabin, ate two Eyeball Fruits and a few long-legged sardines for breakfast, then continued fishing.
His luck was better today, catching an Eyeball Fruit right off the bat.
[You've caught an Eyeball Fruit.]
[You've caught a long-legged sardine.]
[You've caught a piece of rotten wood.]
[You've caught....]
Suddenly, Lucas's vision went black, and he collapsed onto the deck, falling unconscious.