There’s something else on the ship!Yang Yi realized it, but it was too late.A fishing rod shot toward him, the hook stabbing into his left shoulder, tearing through flesh.He bolted forward, clutching his bleeding shoulder as he turned back.In front of him stood a skeleton — half of its skull missing, a ghostly green flame burning inside its cranium.It was the ship captain’s remains. He had come back to life, holding the same fishing rod, the tip now stained red with Yang Yi’s blood.The skeleton’s jaw opened and closed continuously, as though mocking him.“You damned bastard!”Yang Yi cursed, eyes blazing with fury.【You were ambushed by the dead. Sanity -10】【Sanity below 50 — entering Madness state: immune to most mental debuffs. Strength +2, Agility +1, Constitution +1, Spirit -2. Pain ignored, fatigue suppressed, fearless and tireless until sanity recovers.】Mental debuffs include: charm, mind control, fear, despair, etc.Note: When stamina reaches 0, blood vitality will replace it. The madness stat cap is 10 — cannot exceed mortal limits.Yang Yi raised his flintlock and fired at the skeleton.Click!The gun misfired.The skeleton lunged forward, wielding the fishing rod like a spear.Yang Yi felt no pain, but the wound on his leg slowed him down slightly — enough to make every step risky.Circling the skeleton in his injured state was dangerous. A single mistake, and that two-meter-long rod would impale him.After a brief thought, Yang Yi changed tactics. Instead of retreating, he charged straight at it.He hurled the spear in his hand — it struck the skeleton dead-on, jamming between its bones and freezing it momentarily.Seizing the opportunity, Yang Yi closed in for melee combat.He still had a weapon — a flintlock, and a blunt one at that!If he gripped it by the barrel, it became a short hammer — perfect against bones.Raising it high, he smashed it down on the crack in the skull, aiming for the green soul fire within.But the skeleton reacted fast, throwing up its hands to block.It seemed terrified of the gun — it even dropped the fishing rod to grab for it.Yang Yi wasn’t about to let go.They wrestled over the weapon, locked in a contest of strength.The skeleton’s strength was slightly lower than Yang Yi’s madness-boosted state — likely around 4 points.Still, in such a struggle, Yang Yi couldn’t land a decisive hit.And if the gun went off by accident… it’d be game over.He needed another plan.Even in madness, Yang Yi’s mind remained clear. Soon, he had one.It wants the flintlock so badly? Fine, I’ll give it to it.He waited for the right moment, struggling a bit longer, then suddenly pulled the trigger.Click!Another misfire.He immediately let go of the gun.As expected, the skeleton focused entirely on grabbing the weapon.Yang Yi took advantage of that, slipping free and sprinting toward the cabin.By the time the skeleton chased after him, it only saw a dim silhouette in the dark interior —Yang Yi, crouched in shadow, gnawing frantically on a lump of wet, bloody flesh.The skeleton pulled the trigger — nothing happened. The gun was still cooling down.The ship was barely ten meters long, and since both had been running, the weapon hadn’t yet reset.An unloaded flintlock was no better than a hammer.Yang Yi charged, mouth dripping with dark slime, eyes bloodshot.【You consumed a Human-headed Octopus. Strength +1, Constitution +1, Spirit -1, Sanity -20. Duration: 1 minute.】Yang Yi’s strength rose from 3 to 6 — a full double (madness +2).And he noticed something — the stat increase wasn’t linear, but exponential.Meaning two extra points could allow effortless domination.He closed the distance in a blink.The skeleton still hadn’t reacted, seemingly confused why the gun wouldn’t fire.In the next instant, Yang Yi tackled it to the ground. Both its arm bones snapped and flew off to the sides.Pressing {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} his advantage, he thrust his right hand into the skull’s crack, reaching for the green soul fire inside.Now the skeleton showed fear. Its jaw chattered rapidly — as if begging for mercy.But it was too late. It had no strength left to resist.Yang Yi grasped the flame. It wasn’t hot — it felt almost warm.The skeleton convulsed violently, then collapsed, scattering into a pile of bones. The green fire flickered out completely.But was it really dead?He doubted it.Having been ambushed once, Yang Yi had grown cautious.He picked up the skull and flintlock, setting the skull on the ship’s rail.Even though he could now view its data, he didn’t trust it.【Name: Captain’s Remains】【Description: He was once a fishing-obsessed captain… until he caught something he shouldn’t have.Can be used in the Monster Gacha Machine.】Two minutes later, as expected, the green glow reignited inside the skull.Yang Yi didn’t hesitate — he pulled the trigger.Bang!A sharp flash. The skull exploded into fragments.【The gunfire is eerie. Sanity -1】“Looks like killing or subduing monsters lets me see their info,” Yang Yi concluded.But what was this “Monster Gacha Machine”?He’d never seen one — and there was none on the ship.Just in case, he decided to keep all the monster corpses.He tossed them into the cabin, taking the skeleton’s arm and leg bones with him.After all, headless skeleton soldiers sometimes did come back — he’d seen it happen in games.Better safe than sorry.The once-foolish Yang Yi now had eyes everywhere.He bandaged his wounds with torn cloth and returned to the captain’s quarters.Then he checked his stats:Yang YiStatus: Injured (Left and right legs yellow, left shoulder yellow)Sanity: 24 / 100Stamina: 21 / 100Health: 82 / 100No wonder he was exhausted — his stamina was almost gone.He opened the world chat channel and typed a casual message:“If you sleep tonight, make sure you lock your doors.”Replies came fast:“Bro, what did you run into? A siren?”“Damn, don’t tell me you killed it!”“Is it hard to fight? Does it drop loot?”Yang Yi replied irritably:“No. Just torture.”He ignored further chatter, closed the channel, and lay down on the bed — placing the skeleton’s thigh bone beneath his mattress as a makeshift pillow.His gun stayed within arm’s reach.Tonight had been too dangerous.Any mistake could mean death.Tomorrow, he planned to set up noise traps — early warning systems.If he could detect danger in advance, maybe he could survive longer.He thought over the plan as he tried to sleep.But he never did, not until dawn.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.