"Meow... There really is a black treasure chest?!"
Da Piaoliang felt a chill run down her spine. Last time, when she fished up a crimson blood chest, there was the most hideous creature locked inside. And when her master met that ugly mermaid in a cave, it too had crawled out of a chest...
This black chest, etched with incomprehensible runes, clearly wasn’t anything ordinary!
She needed to get rid of this cursed thing right away.
"Don’t throw it away. Keep it," Ye Shu interjected, as if reading Da Piaoliang’s mind.
Though a black chest meant danger, danger brought opportunity. Who knew what treasures might lie within? After all, hadn’t the recipe for the brazier come from such a chest?
"Meow... Fine!"
With a swipe of her claw, Da Piaoliang pulled the chest back into place.
[Black Treasure Chest opened. Obtained: Iron*999, Glass*111, Coal*666, Wood*999, Cloth*88, and... an ultra-rare Cursed Abyssal Seahorse from the ocean depths!]
Before Ye Shu could savor the cascade of notifications, a spray of black, membranous slime shot toward her.
Truly, high risk meant high reward!
In a flash, she swept all the chest’s materials into her warehouse and dodged aside from the filthy splatter.
Looking closer, she realized it wasn’t slime at all—it was seahorse eggs.
Not far away, a creature was climbing from the black chest, its torso swelling rapidly. In moments, it had grown from half a person’s height to over ten meters long.
The seahorse fixed her with sinister ink-dark eyes, its body coated in oily black slime. Pale green fungal blotches mottled the thin membrane along its hide, and, most grotesque of all, its swollen belly was so distended, the black skin stretched translucent, allowing her to see the eggs squirming inside from across the deck.
Ye Shu’s mind blanked for a split second.
She had thought the peculiar sea urchin from before had stretched the limits of her tolerance!
Never did she expect her bottom line could go any lower. She’d never seen a monstrosity this vile.
Compared to this seahorse, even Da Piaoliang’s true form looked positively dashing!
[Abyssal Cursed Seahorse—a high-tier aberration from the deep sea. In the Ocean Survival game, it transcends the advanced category. Its curse often pollutes the victim’s mind, causing confusion and eroding sanity. Remember: male seahorses are extremely dangerous—never touch their eggs! Once they sense warmth, they immediately burrow into flesh to parasitize. The human body is their favorite nursery.]
"Scatter!!"
"Pang Pangzi, Shi Yi, get out of here! All of you—leave now!"
At the words ‘beyond advanced existence,’ ‘parasitic,’ and ‘human nursery,’ Ye Shu’s expression shifted drastically.
Pang Pangzi had grown tired of living under others’ protection. He no longer wished to hide—only by fighting could he force himself to become stronger. Puffing up his chest, he declared, “Heroine, we can help you, too!”
Fu Shiyi gave an emphatic nod in agreement.
This was a real man's battlefield!
How could they retreat so easily?!
He might not measure up to Third Brother, but he wasn't a coward, either. Monsters? Just grab a brick and bash away.
Ye Shu danced around the splattering seahorse eggs and produced her peachwood sword without a care. "Is that so? This is an abyssal cursed seahorse—a monster beyond advanced category. Are you sure you really want to stay? It’s partial to human flesh. If you're parasitized... Would you rather just become baggage for the rest?"
"I don’t have a spare hand to keep you safe."
She knew Pang Pangzi's abilities all too well.
The seahorse would surely love his plump self—was he trying to stay behind just to attract trouble?
Pang Pangzi, shovel trembling in his grip, froze, then forced an awkward grin. "I see now, Ye-nüxia. I’ll stop bothering you—getting myself out of your hair!"
Fu Shiyi: "……"
So he really was a burden.
Fu Shiyi felt a pang of helplessness. Since when had he grown so soft…?
With Jie-zi here, that disgusting seahorse would be finished soon.
Fu Jingchuan eyed the ever-expanding monster, drew his pistol, and precisely aimed for its eye.
Unsurprisingly, bullets barely scraped the surface; even the shallowest wounds were swiftly mended by the seahorse’s oily membrane.
"Conventional weapons are useless!"
Ye Shu barely acknowledged him, offered a single warning, then charged with her sword drawn.
The peachwood blade sliced into the creature, shearing off a lump of putrid flesh with ease.
Splat—the rotten meat hit the deck, scattering a pile of tiny, ant-sized black meat grains. Those wriggling things seemed alive, converging on Ye Shu’s location.
"What the heck?!"
Ye Shu nearly gagged from disgust.
She dodged aside just in time.
Glancing back, she saw the seahorse’s mutilated side was already regrowing; in mere breaths, more than half the gap had closed.
"This thing can regenerate! If we can’t finish it off in one go, it’s endless," Fu Jingchuan said, frowning, all bullets spent for nothing—its wounds healed by that cursed membrane. Truly, it seemed invincible.
"Understood," Ye Shu replied, pulling out a grenade.
Fu Jingchuan hesitated—if the ship were damaged, the game would end in failure. That’s what made this seahorse a 'beyond advanced' calamity: regenerative, indestructible, and any harm to the vessel was an instant loss. For anyone else, it would be an impossible crisis... But with Ye Shu, perhaps not.
He remembered the times he’d seen her salvage ships bombed by the Si family—each time, she’d restored them perfectly from the brink of sinking.
"Let’s see which is tougher—your hide or my grenade!"
This was her upgraded explosive, packing more punch than ever.
BOOM!
Even the steel deck plates were blasted skyward.
The monster was blown in half, but to her chagrin, it was already healing—she could see fresh rotten flesh growing before her eyes.
Ye Shu muttered, “…You’re impossibly tough.”
Her ship was nearly wrecked—yet still, the creature refused to die.
[Warning! Warning! Hull damage detected. Durability reduced to 69%. Only 50 defense remaining. Danger! Danger! Please repair immediately. Durability at 0% will result in mission failure.]
Da Piaoliang and the merman Xiaobai joined forces against the cursed seahorse, ducking the barrage of eggs as best they could. The little clownfish in the stainless steel basin could only cower and try to be invisible.
Ye Shu optimized the hull.
Then she improved her peachwood sword, charging forward once more.
The seahorse monster emitted a series of bizarre noises—“Pupu…%￥&*（@#￥))”—which gave Ye Shu pause, though she quickly rallied.
She had experienced this before with Xiaobai; mind pollution was not so easily suffered again.
Unexpectedly, Fu Jingchuan remained as composed as ever, his steely gaze unwavering.
Hot weapons were futile; only the wooden sword would do.
Ye Shu went straight for its weak point, her blade bursting the seahorse’s swollen belly. Eggs poured forth like a flood.
Fu Jingchuan tossed a jar of opened cooling balm. He’d meant it only to counteract the visual revulsion, but to his surprise, the seahorse eggs and those black-speckled larvae shied away as if terrified.
"Ye Xiaoshu, the balm works… They fear the cold..."
Fu Jingchuan froze a field of the black larvae beneath his feet with his ice element card.
"Afraid of the cold? Then that makes it easy!"
But for Fu Jingchuan’s ice technique, Ye Shu might have forgotten she herself was bound to an awakened ice ability card.