Grand Voyage : Surviving on a Ghost Ship

The Nightmare Star welcomed its first expansion structure: the Witch's Laboratory.

Once construction was confirmed, a blue light radiated from the ship's hull, followed by a system notification announcing the completion of the build:

【Witch's Laboratory construction complete. Please proceed to the ship's interior to inspect.】

The two of them entered the ship's cabin from the stern, where they discovered a new room.

The room was quite large, occupying nearly half of the cabin. The floor was pristine – not the usual rotting, mouldy wood, but rather a dark, smooth stone that felt solid underfoot.

It was, however, mostly empty, furnished only with two large metal tables, seemingly equipped with their own lighting, though Yang Yi couldn’t see any lamps.

Along the walls were rows of metal racks, cold to the touch, holding many empty glass containers.

“There’s nothing in here…” Yang Yi felt the materials used in construction weren’t worth the cost.

However, Suna was thrilled, fully aware of the room’s functions and how to use them. Her log had an extra page compared to regular players — a Mysticism Interface.

Through this interface, she could use Shell Coins to purchase lab equipment and conduct occult research.

The information about the Witch's Laboratory was as follows:

【Witch's Laboratory: A special structure that can only be built by witches who covet forbidden knowledge. Within the lab, research consumes 50% less energy, sanity loss is reduced by 25%, and aberrant samples won’t decay. Displayed aberrant samples will enhance the witch's inspiration. Current sample count: 0, inspiration rate increase: 0%.

Note: Mysticism research involves risks, including but not limited to sanity loss】

After reading the information, Suna immediately took out aberrant body parts from her magic bag and placed them in the glass containers on the shelves.

They were on the verge of decaying, but after being placed in the containers, they gradually regained their vitality, as if freshly harvested.

The scene was somewhat sanity-draining.

【Sanity decreased by 2】

Yang Yi frowned. He felt it was better to avoid the lab as much as possible!

At that moment, the bisected corpse of the twin-horned demon shark, which should have been discarded, was also brought out, cut into three large pieces, awaiting dissection.

Additionally, a dried, thirty-centimetre-long merman specimen was taken out.

It was Yang Yi’s first time seeing such a creature, but it wasn’t unfamiliar.

Before Suna met him, she had probably killed a merman.

With these three items combined, the number of samples in the lab reached 3, increasing the inspiration rate by 3%.

“I still need a large amount of Shell Coins. I don’t have any money on me!” Suna reached out to Yang Yi, resembling a researcher asking for funding.

Yang Yi, on the other hand, was the unfortunate soul providing the money.

“Why do you need so many Shell Coins?”

“The lab equipment needs to be bought with Shell Coins,” Suna explained.

“What? The lab’s equipment has to be bought separately?”

Yang Yi suddenly realised this lab might be a massive money pit, one that could never be filled.

But since the materials had already been used, he couldn’t back out — the sunk cost was too great.

He reluctantly transferred 1,000 Shell Coins to Suna.

This was already a “huge sum”! After giving it to her, Yang Yi only had 1,050 Shell Coins left!

Suna seemed slightly dissatisfied with the amount, however, she didn’t say anything and began dissecting the demon shark, wielding a new handy scalpel.

Yang Yi quickly slipped away to the deck, to avoid being asked for more money.

Besides, he didn’t want to stay in the lab; he always felt he might end up as another sample.

“Prioritise researching stamina recovery potions and healing potions and try to avoid using Vitality Coconuts as an ingredient — they’re hard to find,” he messaged Suna, then started planning his next steps.

To enter the Extreme Winter Sea, he needed to prepare enough winter supplies.

Besides winter clothing, Yang Yi felt that fire was essential.

It not only meant hot water and cooked food, but also warmth and light in the freezing cold; it could be potentially life-saving.

Additionally, he needed to stockpile enough supplies, particularly long-lasting food, and freshwater.

In the icy wilderness, food and supplies would undoubtedly be scarce.

Finally…he needed to upgrade his ship to Level 3 and install the cannon.

The upgrade required a massive amount of materials, so Yang Yi placed this task at the bottom of his priority list.

Through the world channel, he learnt that a regular ship upgrade to Level 3 needed x500 wood, x300 cloth, x100 stone, and x20 steel.

However, the Nightmare Star required x1,200 wood, x500 cloth, x300 stone, x50 steel, x100 crystals, and ten aberrant corpses.

Setting aside the vast amount of materials, the ten aberrant corpses alone left Yang Yi clueless — he could only rely on luck.

Sticking to the plan, Yang Yi opened the chat channel and started searching to see if anyone was selling fire-starting tools.

To his surprise, there was indeed something available.

“Selling a lighter; message me if interested.”

【Name: Longevity Brand Lighter】

【Type: Tool】

【Quality: Fine】

【Description: An ultra-durable lighter, the best choice for arson. You’ll never have to worry about it running out of fuel in your lifetime!】

Yang Yi immediately messaged the seller.

“How much for the lighter?”

“You’re too late — it’s already sold. The one I have left, I’m keeping for myself.”

Yang Yi felt a bit disappointed.

At the same time, he realised something: if he was thinking about these things, other players likely were as well…

Everyone was scrambling for fire-starting tools, leading to a market shortage!

As he was fretting, Yang Yi noticed the world channel suddenly becoming lively, with new messages popping up constantly.

He quickly scrolled to the latest messages and saw that someone was recruiting players.

“I’m Captain Shen Guanquan of the Hope and also the leader of the New World Fleet. We already have over a dozen like-minded captains, including those from the Farmer and Ironhead, among other special ships.”

“Our New World Fleet has no entry barriers; anyone can join. However, players who join must open their ship’s boarding permissions, disarm, comply with orders, and turn in all equipment and supplies. These will be redistributed by the fleet!”

“In return, your safety will be guaranteed! We have guards responsible for combat, fishermen for fishing, farmers for farming… As time goes on, the roles will diversify, and together we’ll rebuild human civilisation!”

“I, Shen Guanquan, promise that as long as I have something to eat, you won’t starve or freeze to death!”

“If you’re willing to join, please come to the following coordinates: X: 38201, Y: 53182.”

“Make sure to disarm and open boarding permissions; otherwise, you will face lethal consequences!”

“Our New World Fleet will be stationed here for half a month.”

These statements were likely prepared in advance, then posted all at once.

The response was significant, with the majority of people thinking it was a trap.

“Disarm and give you all our supplies? Won’t we just become fish on the chopping block?”

“Why should we trust you?”

“Only a fool would go!”

The scepticism was relentless, but Shen Guanquan didn’t respond.

There would always be some who would come; those were his targets.

With such a large player base, even if only 100 people showed up, his New World Fleet would grow stronger than ever.

The name Hope was rather impressive, though it was unclear whether it was a special ship.

But Yang Yi had a way to find out.

He ran to the Nightmare Star’s atrium and picked up a small crystal ball placed nearby.

After the ship's fusion, the number of small crystal balls had increased to two, placed beside the large crystal ball, allowing both Yang Yi and Suna to check the sea map at any time.

【Activate Scrying, searching… Hope, Shen Guanquan.】

Soon, the small crystal ball displayed the image of the Hope.

Shen Guanquan would never have guessed that a player could use a skill to spy on him.