Chapter 15 Arriving at the Shipwreck Area: Your Expectations Are Different From Mine

The raft slowly approached, the sun was blinding, and the figures on the other side gradually became clear.

The man stood on the raft, tall and slender with broad shoulders and a narrow waist. His trench coat accentuated his lean yet powerful physique. The interplay of light and shadow revealed his sharp, hawk-like eyes, reflecting a cold, silvery-gray hue.

Fang Zhiyi waved at him: "Chu Zhao?"

"It's me." The other person's voice was also very pleasant.

Fang Zhiyi smiled and said, "I am fzy, the initials of my name, Fang Zhiyi."

As they were talking, he noticed that the other person's gaze had fallen on his cheek, and a smile suddenly appeared between his brows, softening the cold and distant feeling of unfamiliarity.

Fang Zhiyi belatedly raised her hand to touch her cheek, finding the back of her hand covered in black grime. Looking down at the sea, the reflection of her face resembled a cat with a smeared face and a small red flower on her head—it was utterly hilarious.

Fang Zhiyi's eyes widened: "!"

He frantically wiped his face, explaining, "The raft caught fire on the way." Unexpectedly, the more he wiped, the more smudged his face became, and his hands were covered in black soot.

quack!

Birds chirped, as if mocking his futile efforts.

Fang Zhiyi looked up, somewhat annoyed. The parrot flapped its wings and landed, clutching something in its claws.

After hesitating for a moment, I reached out and took a clean handkerchief.

"...Thank you." Fang Zhiyi lowered his head and wiped his face clean, but his handkerchief was also dirty. He held the filthy handkerchief, feeling embarrassed to return it like that. "I'll wash it clean and give it back to you."

Chu Zhao chuckled softly: "You and I think a little differently."

Fang's meaning: ...

Do you have to be incredibly good at surviving?

Is it wrong to say it's funny?

Fang Zhiyi muttered, "You and I think a little differently."

Chu Zhao whistled a short whistle at the parrot.

The parrot circled once in the air, grabbed the thing from Chu Zhao's hand, and then returned to Fang Zhiyi.

Chu Zhao said loudly, "These are the ammunition design drawings you requested."

[Design drawings for ship gun ammunition]

[Requires 3 pieces of wood and 3 pieces of iron]

[Smash them!]

Fang Zhiyi held the design drawings, her face clearly showing her doubt: Where did this come from?

Chu Zhao: "Collected from the shipwreck."

Fang Zhiyi subconsciously looked towards the shipwreck area.

The area surrounding the shipwreck is a reef, where a slight misstep could cause it to run aground and sink. Snow-white waves crash against the rocks, carrying fragments of a raft that look brand new, as if it had just sunk.

"You've already gone in?"

Chu Zhao gave an irrelevant answer: "There is a sunken pirate ship in the center of the shipwreck area, and the core of the ship should be on it."

Beyond the various wrecks, a half-sunken pirate ship powerfully occupies the central position. Its long mast is angled into the sea, its flags flutter in the wind, and the cannons mounted on one side of the ship are dark and menacing, seemingly ready to raise the sails and fire at any moment.

"A sea monster lurks beneath the pirate ship. It is about twice the size of the pirate ship, has degenerated eyes, is very sensitive to sound, and has a strong sense of territory. Any ship that enters its territory will be capsized and destroyed by it."

Fang Zhiyi was a little bewildered by the massive amount of information.

No, Chu Zhao arrived at most two hours earlier than him, so he must have already figured out the boss of the sunken ship area.

Chu Zhao saw the question in his mind: "The parrot saw it. It can share my field of vision."

The parrot landed on Chu Zhao's right shoulder, spread its wings, and made a triumphant "caw caw" sound.

Chu Zhao continued calmly, “When I arrived, I happened to encounter someone who had broken into the shipwreck area and angered a sea monster while collecting materials, which is why I was able to see so clearly.”

Fang asked, "Where are they?"

As soon as he said it, he knew it was a pointless question.

Having angered the sea monster, how could they possibly escape unscathed? The floating debris of the raft before them is the best answer.

Chu Zhao warned, "It's very dangerous inside."

Fang Zhiyi was not deterred; his amber eyes shone with determination: "I will obtain the ship's core."

Chu Zhao met his gaze for a moment, sensing his determination, and slowly said, "We can cooperate. I also need the ship's core."

Fang Zhiyi made a quick decision: "Okay. I'll go in first and see if there's any way to deal with the sea monster."

The raft entered the outer perimeter of the shipwreck area.

Hidden here are reefs and whirlpools; one wrong step and you could accidentally touch a sinking ship.

Fang Zhiyi was completely focused and carefully controlled the raft, navigating the treacherous reefs. When there were obstacles that couldn't be avoided, he had no choice but to bear them head-on.

They continued onward, repairing the boat with wood as they went.

Fortunately, there are plenty of wreckage in the shipwreck area, so there is no shortage of wood.

Finally, after passing the reefs, we arrived at the inner circle of the shipwreck area. There are many shipwrecks here, with fragments of all sizes tumbling in the waves. Countless people have perished at sea.

Fang Zhiyi gripped the ship's rudder and gazed at the pirate ship.

The pirate ship was wide and had a deep draft. It was equipped with 16 cannons, was well-equipped and had ample firepower. In its heyday, it could have dominated a sea area, sailing the ocean with its flag flying high. But now it has become the lair of sea monsters.

Fang could have completely avoided confronting the sea monster.

But there's no point in running away.

Facing sea monsters might mean certain death and shipwreck. Without obtaining the ship's core and upgrading the raft, it's certain to be eliminated by the increasingly harsh environment and challenging terrain.

Therefore, he must obtain the ship's core.

Otherwise, it's just a matter of dying sooner or later.

Since there's no way out, we might as well take a gamble.

Fang Zhiyi made up his mind and approached the pirate ship.

Chu Zhao took in his expression and asked, "Have you come up with a solution?"

Fang Zhiyi said frankly, "Not yet." He thought for a moment, "Is there any information about the sea monster? The more detailed the better."

Chu Zhao thought carefully: "The sea monster has a strong possessive desire for the pirate ship and will not leave easily. It only moves within a 5-meter radius. Even if you anger it, it will return to the seabed as soon as you leave this area."

Fang Zhiyi pondered for a moment, then took out a pirate hat and put it on his head.

Pirate Hat

[Equipping this item increases the raft's speed by 10%]

Fang Zhiyi: "I'll go in and say hello to it."

As soon as he finished speaking, the sail on the raft was fully lowered, and it accelerated and rushed out.

Fang Zhiyi had completely mastered the raft, and with the 10% speed boost, he was fully confident that he could escape unscathed from the sea monster.

Sailing against the wind and waves, the sails billowed in the wind, and in the blink of an eye, the distance to the pirate ship gradually closed.

Ten meters, nine meters... five meters!

The moment it reached within five meters, the sea surface trembled slightly, followed by a loud "boom" as a dark shadow shot out from the seabed, creating a wave more than two meters high.

The water curtain fell.

A deep black tentacle appeared before them, thick and powerfully twisting. The sea monster emerged from the seabed and coiled itself around the pirate ship.

Deep-sea monster

Fang Zhiyi dodged the attack, turned the ship's cannons around, aimed, and fired!

boom--

Accompanied by the thick smell of gunpowder, the shell shot out and met the tentacles head-on.

It's not very harmful, but extremely insulting.

A shallow mark was left on the tentacles, and the suckers twitched. As if enraged, the sea monster let out a long roar, and then its tentacles began to frantically pound the sea surface, trying to tear the raft that had invaded its territory to pieces.

Fang Zhiyi controlled the raft to increase its speed, traversing the sea surface unscathed, and even playing with the tentacles.

Just as he was getting into the swing of things, the pirate hat on his head came loose and floated off in one direction.

He quickly pulled his hand away and pressed it down, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw something faintly visible in the waves.

With a thought, the raft steered in that direction, and he reached in and pulled something out of the sea.

Before he could even look, he saw a wave surge high in front of him, from which a tentacle extended.

Fang Zhiyi grabbed the rudder and drifted to a turn, managing to escape the sea monster's territory in time.

The sea monster, having been chased for half a day without catching anything, was filled with rage and had nowhere to vent it. It used its tentacles to grab shipwreck debris and stuff it into its mouth, creating a huge wave.

After venting its anger for a while, the sea returned to calm, and the tentacles slowly retracted back to the seabed.

After all that back and forth, Fang Zhiyi was a mess, her hair soaked by the sea, but she was smiling happily, her amber eyes bright and captivating, like melted honey.

"It's not as scary as I imagined," he said with a laugh.

Chu Zhao gave him a deep look: "You're the one who's amazing."

Not only are they skilled, they're also incredibly daring.

Chu Zhao seemed to know why he was the first to upgrade to a level 3 raft and also took first place on both leaderboards.

Face the danger head-on, without internal conflict or fear.

If he couldn't clear the level, Chu Zhao couldn't think of anyone else who could.

Fang Zhiyi sat on the ground, and after he recovered, he remembered the things he had picked up casually in the sea monster's territory.

"I found this."

[Diary]

[Everyone, Pirate Captain]

[Who writes a diary every day? What, the captain isn't a good person? Never mind then.]

Fang Zhiyi opened the notebook.

The diary had been soaking in seawater for too long, and most of the writing on it had become blurred and indistinct. I stared at it, looking at it from every angle, but I still couldn't make it out.

Chu Zhao: "I can read handwriting. If you don't mind, you can..."

Before he could finish speaking, Fang Zhiyi eagerly shoved the diary into his hands, as if he had thrown away a hot potato.

"Yes, that's great! You'll see."

Chu Zhao opened his diary without holding back, pointing to a page and saying, "This is the pirates' route map."

Turning the page again, I saw that the pirates were not well-educated and wrote only a stream of consciousness. I skimmed through it, but finally my gaze stopped.

Found it.

"...A sea monster appeared on the only route, attacking passing ships everywhere and scaring away all the fat sheep."

"We have to deal with the sea monster... We found a siren and traded her jewelry for a bottle of her poison, which is said to kill the sea monster... Damn it, the bottle containing the poison was lost by the stupid first mate... He said a bear picked it up, what a joke, I'll hang him."

Chu Zhao closed his diary: "It seems the problem is a bit tricky. I need to find a bear first, and then ask it for the siren's poison bottle."

Fang Zhiyi: "I've already encountered a bear on the road."

He took a bottle out of his backpack. The bottle was made of glass and contained a deep purple liquid that refracted a mysterious and captivating light.

In nature, the more beautiful something is, the more poisonous it is.

[Sea Monster Venom Bottle]

Fang Zhiyi: Brother, it's time to take your medicine.

A note from the author:

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