Under Da Piaoliang’s astonished stare, the merfolk carried Ye Shu to the front of the sailboat.
With an agile leap, Ye Shu landed on the deck, the merfolk following right behind.
"I almost ended up buried at sea… No, the boat’s being dragged in!!"
Moments earlier, the lush island had been overwhelmed by water, its land collapsing underneath. The ocean surface now yawned with a bottomless pit—a dark blue maw that swallowed everything, as seawater poured constantly into the abyss below.
Ye Shu’s mind raced frantically as panic threatened to overwhelm her.
She tried rifling through her inventory and storage for something—they anything!—to escape, but there was nowhere to go.
First, the boat wouldn’t fit in storage.
Second, if the boat broke down, players failed the game all the same—and died just as surely.
And besides, any ordinary inflatable raft would last only seconds in such a hostile sea.
"Merfolk, you’re fast—can you…"
Before she could finish, the boat was racing toward that abyss, propelled by violent currents. Barrels tumbled everywhere, and the sailcloth whipped in the maelstrom’s wind, thundering wildly. The waters around them spiraled in on the abyss, the eye of a storm.
Steadying herself, Ye Shu pulled out a heavy rope and tied it to the merfolk, signaling him to dive overboard and push the boat away from the vortex.
In the distance, players on canoes watched with glee, schadenfreude writ clear on their faces. If not for that fearsome black cat, they’d have stormed the island already… With all that food there, any survivor could have lived in abundance by now.
Now, though, it looked like staying off the island had its perks!
At least none of them would be dragged to die in the deep sea’s bottomless pit.
…
The sailboat’s twelve-knot speed was no match for the current dragging it closer and closer to the deep blue chasm.
The merfolk dove into the water, its dead-fish eyes flicking uneasily to the rope around his waist. He summoned a host of deep-sea fish, urging them to push at the boat’s hull as he swam with all his might.
Ye Shu stared in disbelief at the fish swirling on the waves.
Nothing in the description said merfolk could command fish.
Thanks to their push, it still took every bit of effort—but the sailboat finally broke free from the whirlpool’s deadly pull.
Once clear of the danger zone, the current loosened its grip, and the sailboat floated on its own out of the deadly waters.
Ye Shu finally had a moment to check what resources she’d managed to collect from the island.
If she rationed carefully, with storage space included, these could keep her going for maybe twenty days in the game.
The black cat flicked its tail, glaring with obvious disdain at the ugly merfolk. “Mrow-wow… Master, where on earth did you find this ugly fish-man? What a peculiar little thing!”
“P-p-p-p…”
The merfolk eyed Da Piaoliang, who sat perched on the rail. Though he couldn’t understand the mocking tone, something told him it was not friendly—he responded with a wild outburst, babbling fiercely at the air.
Da Piaoliang couldn’t make out what the merfolk was saying, but harbored no doubt: this ugly fish was swearing at her—and not holding back, either.
Heihei, apex feline predator and former high-level wraith, was never one to suffer fools. Except for that ultra-high-level oddity in the last dungeon, nothing had ever frightened him. No way he’d tolerate this—and so he fired back, hurling his own barbed insults.
So a bickering contest erupted between a supernatural being and a merfolk, with Ye Shu standing awkwardly in the middle.
“...Da Piaoliang, this is your new partner from now on. Try to get along, okay?” Ye Shu said.
“Meow-meow meow, clown fish—he…”—really?
Such an ugly fish! Barely edible, and now she was supposed to see him as an equal? Da Piaoliang simply could not comprehend Ye Shu’s taste. Fish were bottom-of-the-barrel food—and now she had to be friendly with one?
The black cat tapped Ye Shu’s sooty cheek with a paw. “I’ll get along with this clown fish, master… but did you go digging for coal? You’re as black and as lovely as me!”
Ye Shu wiped her face, finding black soot smudging her hands. She used purified water from the stern purifier for a cold rinse, and changed into the pajama set—a pink piglet suit—she’d gotten from a black chest.
She’d saved up tools, food, even protective gear in her storage, but not a single set of ordinary clothes.
She used the ceramic induction stove to whip up a few quick dishes:
Stir-fried wild ferns, cold-dressed grey greens, steamed sea conch, wild scallion stir-fried rabbit; plus a bowl of fluffy, self-heating rice. Dessert was wild strawberries, and Ye Shu even cracked open two coconuts.
Da Piaoliang avoided the wild greens, but managed to choke down the boiled conch. Half the bowl of wild strawberries, though, disappeared into her belly.
The merfolk, meanwhile, set his sights on the unclaimed fish-faced starfish lounging in a wooden bucket.
"Master… can I eat this?"
Even in the deep seas, this kind of creature was rare—he’d never expected Ye Shu to have so many.
Ye Shu paused a moment, eyeing the merfolk’s face with suspicion. "You actually like these?"
After all, aside from that player named Taotie, anyone who wanted her seafood was usually just after a cheap, filling meal.
"Mhm!"
The merfolk clung to his bucket for dear life.
Da Piaoliang shot the ugly fish-man a look of utter contempt. As expected of a bottom-tier fish species! For shame—even foul, rubbery starfish were a treat. Sweet strawberries were so much better—even compared to human blood.
After dinner,
Ye Shu opened the marketplace,
listing ten wild strawberries, 500g of snake meat, 1kg of rabbit, fifteen coconuts, and five scallions plus a handful of wild greens.
[Confirm prices: 3 logs for a strawberry, 2 logs for 100g of non-toxic snake meat, 3 logs for a wild scallion… Steel and coal accepted as trade, too.]
[Confirmed.]
[‘ImYourDad’: Fresh goods up! Wild strawberries, snake and rabbit meat, fresh coconuts—check my personal market for auto-trading or DM for custom deals.]
Ye Shu added images of the strawberries, coconuts, and rabbit meat for greater effect.
[No way! It’s ImYourDad again—fresh strawberries! I seriously want to eat one.]
[Wild scallion… what a throwback, only locals know that taste—I’d trade all my wood for it.]
[Coconuts, too? Boss, you must have found a safe zone island, right? The islands around me are barren, not even a crab except for some conch. So jealous, seriously.]
[What the—there’s even a safe zone?! You guys are too tight-lipped, I just found out. I’ve eaten nothing but sea fish for two days, my mouth’s lost all taste… Missing rice more than ever—never knew how good I had it.]
[Three logs for a single strawberry—ruthless! Not even a fistful of strawberry will fill your stomach. Boycott ImYourDad, get her to lower the prices… Wait—sold out?! Should’ve bought earlier!]
[...]
After the trades, Ye Shu received: Normal Coal x10, Lumber x29, Regular Steel x15, Cloth x3.
Ordinary steel was directly upgraded to fine steel; normal coal was converted to low-grade coal.
[Player Ye Shu, sailboat upgrade requires: Lumber x120, Cloth x10, Iron Nails x50, Fine Steel x35. Confirm upgrade?]