The problem was, they couldn't really tell whether this blood-colored shard had fallen when the ball burst or if it appeared after killing that little ghost. Either way, this shard seemed to have no real significance.
"Maybe it's used against ghosts afterward. For example, after killing a certain number of ghosts, collecting a certain number of shards could combine into a weapon to defeat the boss," guessed Mu Anqi, who had plenty of experience with novels and games. But even if that were the case… this shard was still too trivial for them. After all, this kind of game item couldn't be taken out—just looking at the prompt that popped up when picking up the shard made that clear. As for killing the boss…
This team had output and support, everything they needed; what boss couldn't they handle? Xia Yun tore a piece of clean cloth to wrap the shard and then handed it to Mu Anqi to store in her storage ring. There was only one shard for now, and no one knew how many shards needed to be collected, so naturally it was safer to have Mu Anqi, who had the storage ring, keep it.
After dealing with the little ghost that had come out at night to play with the ball instead of sleeping properly, Mu Anqi and the others had a good rest under the protection of the Yin-energy alert robot.
The next day passed just as ordinarily.
On the third day in the morning, Mu Anqi was woken up by the sound of thunder.
The thunderstorm had finally begun.
Thick, ink-black clouds gathered heavily over the sea, and rain poured down in torrents. Mu Anqi, wrapped in her clothes, looked outside and saw a white-purple lightning strike straight from the edge of the clouds to the sea, disappearing instantly. Fine electric currents flickered like a spiderweb, and a second later came the deafening roar of thunder.
The waves on the sea grew even larger, and the ghost ship was tossed and shaken continuously. Mu Anqi withdrew back into the resting cabin, took out some dried meat and dry bread from her storage ring to share with her teammates, and then packed all the bedding into the storage ring. "Let's eat something to fill our stomachs first. Once the thunderstorm calms down a bit, we'll go out."
But with such violent tossing, Mu Anqi felt a bit seasick. She hadn't eaten the food, and the discomfort in her body left her without much appetite. Yet the hunger itself sapped her strength. After a brief hesitation, Mu Anqi took out the strawberry-flavored nutritional drink and drank it all. The sweet-and-sour taste somewhat eased the heaviness in her chest.
"This weather, we really have bad luck," Fang Xunjiu said, gnawing on some bread. He opened the diary and flipped to the handwriting on the third page. On this child's third day, it was still a bright, sunny day. Of course, for this family who had once been on the ghost ship, the sunnier the day, the more terrifying the night—a kind of contrast. "According to the storyline, we should be getting sun every day. How did it end up pouring rain instead?"
Though he complained, Fang Xunjiu had no power to change it. He could only sigh and continue reading the diary. The days were still warm and dreamy, but…
"Today, the sea under the ship was pitch-black…" Fang Xunjiu read this and wondered if "pitch-black" was a typo, only to see the next line: "But in the afternoon when I went to look, the sea by the ship had turned blue again."
"A huge, pitch-black shadow under our ship?!" Fang Xunjiu was stunned. Watching the child still thinking it was some guardian or friend made him feel dizzy. What fun is there in a spirit ghost voyage following your shadow? The sea under the ship is pitch-black… Could it be an army of eight million water ghosts?
For some reason, today's diary was unusually long. Besides the usual descriptions, it also mentioned more and more black shadows on the ship, scattered dismembered limbs nearby, severed arms in the cooking pot, eyeballs in buckets, and other disgusting things. Although some of the more complex characters were given pinyin annotations, Fang Xunjiu still felt an inexplicable sense of discord in the descriptions, as if they had been added later.
"This is disgusting!" Mu Anqi was furious. Ignoring the heavy rain and crashing waves, she dashed toward the kitchen cabin. This ghost was becoming completely lawless—daring to touch their food?!
Fang Yunjiu and the others hurried to follow. Fang Xunjiu, still holding the diary, hadn't reacted yet as all four teammates ran off. He stared blankly at the diary in his hands. "Wait, I haven't finished reading it!"
"These ghosts can attack people now?!"
Panicked, Fang Xunjiu quickly stuffed the diary into his clothes, grabbed a jacket, and ran after them. But just as he stepped into the kitchen cabin, he saw the split-headed ghost, a flying sword stuck in its head, huffing and puffing while doing push-ups. Just as alarm bells rang in Fang Xunjiu's mind and he wanted to escape, that deep, magnetic voice echoed through the cabin again: "Baby, do you see how powerful I am?"
Fang Xunjiu: "Ugh—"
Why, why is it always him who gets hurt!
Mu Anqi fired several shots, blasting the ghost in the head, then without a word handed Fang Xunjiu a roughly made hand grenade as compensation. Fang Yunjiu breathed a sigh of relief when she lifted the pot lid and found no dismembered limbs inside. Mu Anqi quickly went over to the bucket, confirmed it hadn't been tampered with, and hurriedly stuffed everything into her storage ring.
While the players were urgently trying to prevent the diary from appearing, the planning ghost began arguing with the two shark demons it had summoned.
"You want us to ram the ship in our true forms, but we can't let the ship break or capsize. So what are we supposed to ram it for? Can't we just go up and attack them directly?"
"Follow my script!" the planning ghost shouted angrily, hands on hips. "I'm the one paying! You just do as I say! First, hide under the ship in your true forms to scare them, or wait for an opportunity to bump into the ship—but don't capsize or break it. When they make a move, you can change forms appropriately to get on the ship and attack. There will be ghost reinforcements to help you then."
The two shark demons hesitated. "If we stay near the water surface, our dorsal fins will show."
"The waves are this high, just go ahead and get on," the planning ghost waved dismissively. With waves this big, who could even see whether dorsal fins were showing? As long as the monsters hit the ship, that's enough. Besides, once those two go ashore and start fighting, it's inevitable they'll be exposed. He sighed with some regret—too bad these creatures couldn't modify themselves like ghosts. If they could transform their appearance to be a bit more Lovecraftian, that would be so much fun.
The players guarding the kitchen cabin hadn't even relaxed yet when the ship suddenly trembled violently, as if it had hit some huge object. Mu Anqi clutched the edge of the stove tightly to avoid sliding straight out of the cabin.
"Monsters under the sea!" Fang Xunjiu shouted, instinctively imagining terrifying giant octopuses or sea monsters. "The ship's going to capsize!" This old, unmanned ghost ship had no chance of withstanding an attack from sea monsters.
"Fang Yunjiu, guard your brother and Wu Sansheng. If any ghosts appear, burn them!" Mu Anqi shouted as she ran outside, gripping her handgun tightly. Her clothes were soaked through, her hair plastered to her face. She wiped away a stream of water and, amid the violently crashing spray, struggled to make her way toward the deck.
Xia Yun rode her flying sword into the rain, soaring out. From midair, she looked down and clearly saw the massive black shadow beneath the ship—but—
"Giant shark?!"
The sea monster was actually a giant shark? Xia Yun was a little stunned. She controlled the flying sword to take her to the top of the tall mast. Gripping the mast tightly to stabilize herself, she then split her focus to control her bonded sword, forming a sword formation and plunging toward the sea floor to attack.
The waves grew even larger, and the ghost ship was pushed farther and farther by successive giant waves, the hull swaying dangerously. Mu Anqi wedged herself against the deck railing with her candy cane, and upon hearing Xia Yun's exclamation, couldn't help but look below the ship. The waves were too rough to see clearly, but she could make out a dorsal fin sticking out.
A shark—such a huge shark… it must be a monster, right? Mu Anqi switched to bullets specially made for monsters and, struggling to aim on the swaying deck, fired. She didn't dare wish it luck—one backflip from this giant shark would be enough to capsize the entire ship.
"Bang—"
The ship was rocking violently, and she couldn't hit the exposed dorsal fin at all.
Gritting her teeth, Mu Anqi pulled out a regular hand grenade. She knew roughly how long it would take to explode; all she had to do was throw a timed grenade near the target, but she had to get the timing right.
Mu Anqi silently counted down in her mind, then hurled the grenade with all her strength. After two rounds of training with General Ji, she felt that the strength in her arms was far greater than before. If she had just entered the game, she probably wouldn't have been able to throw a grenade to the target in such a heavy downpour, but now—
"Boom!—"
The waves were violently displaced, and Mu Anqi heard a pitiful, agonized scream. The exposed dorsal fin was blown apart, the shark's flesh torn and shredded by the blast, blood gushing from the wounds in a grisly display. At this moment, Xia Yun seized the opportunity, fiercely controlling her flying sword to unleash the skill [Power Strike], plunging sharply into the explosion zone—
"The ship, the ship!—" The massive shark writhed and rolled uncontrollably in agony, and the fragile ghost ship looked like a helpless lone boat in the waves, nearly being smashed into the sea. Pots, pans, and dishes in the kitchen cabin were thrown about, and potatoes and oranges tumbled everywhere. Fang Yunjiu and the others clung tightly to the cabin walls, struggling to maintain balance. Mu Anqi held onto the railing with all her strength. As a giant wave was about to hit her, the storage ring suddenly heated up. Feeling the warmth, Mu Anqi freed one hand to retrieve the hand grenade and took out the token instead. The red-glowing token immediately triggered a faint red-and-black Yin-energy barrier in front of her, shielding her completely.
The moment the barrier enveloped her, Mu Anqi's rain-soaked, icy body felt a rush of warmth. Of course, this warmth came from the barrier; her body was still wet, and after the barrier faded, the rainwater would continue hitting her face.
But in that instant, Mu Anqi suddenly felt General Ji's emotions.
As the ship rocked, Xia Yun decisively summoned her flying sword and stepped onto it to avoid the tossing. When she intended to rescue Mu Anqi, she saw the faint black-red barrier enveloping her.
And, faintly, a heroic beauty seemed to look at her with an extremely cold gaze.