Ch. 29 - The black fog is approaching

On a deserted island, there were only a man and a woman.The man was responsible for swimming and collecting wood. The woman was responsible for fishing, gathering cloth, fresh water, and food. Although a bit tiring, compared to the nerve-wracking sea journey they had faced before, it was pure bliss! If possible, finding an island to settle down and farming a bit wouldn’t be a bad choice. But Yang Yi knew it was impossible! He looked back at the direction from which he sailed. In the distance, at the edge of his vision, he could see a thick, dark patch — the black fog. That day, it had grown even darker in colour. What it indicated was that the black fog was getting closer, and they needed to escape the sea area as soon as possible! They still needed 72 units of wood, but they had gathered enough cloth and stone. Yang Yi even had Suna collect some extra stone to take on the ship, just in case. While rocks were easy to gather on the island, they were hard to come by at sea and could only be acquired by fishing, which was extremely inefficient. After all, stones, like iron, didn’t float on water unless you happened to come across a resource crate. If nothing went wrong, they would be able to gather all the materials needed to rebuild the Nightmare Star by the end of the day. After breakfast, Yang Yi set out early to start the day’s logging work. Over the past few days of training, he wouldn’t call himself a swimming champion, however, being an expert swimmer wasn’t an exaggeration. With the added benefit of his sharkskin swimsuit, he even felt confident enough to challenge an Olympic swimmer! On the first three trips, Yang Yi managed to collect 57 units of wood without any trouble. Two trips tops, and they’d have enough wood! But on the fourth trip, something abruptly changed — the sea became turbulent. Yang Yi was about to use his gun to shoot down a tree. Suddenly, a massive school of fish rushed past him. These fish, big and small, many of which Yang Yi had never seen before, swam desperately forwards as if they were being chased by a demon or fleeing for their lives. Even the usually ferocious carnivorous sharks had not thought of hunting and sped past Yang Yi like a gust of wind. The current they created was like a shockwave, tossing Yang Yi around underwater. With great effort, he finally surfaced. Yang Yi wasn’t hurt, but he did swallow a few mouthfuls of seawater. The fish only brushed past him, as if deliberately avoiding him, unwilling to pause even for a second. Yang Yi had never seen anything like this before. Thanks to this, the logs he had prepared were nowhere to be seen, swept away by the current. Even Yang Yi himself was pushed forwards by the water caused by the fish. “Yang Yi, are you okay? Something seems wrong with the sea!” Suna sent a private message. She was fishing on the shore and had also noticed the anomaly. However, Yang Yi had discovered it earlier and had already experienced it firsthand. “I’m okay, just swallowed some water! The fish in the sea have gone crazy, all swimming like their lives depend on it. I think the black fog is coming! I’m swimming back to shore, could you help me out?” Yang Yi replied. He wasn’t too confident about his stamina, so he asked Suna for assistance. Thankfully, Suna helped him just in time. After coming ashore, Yang Yi had only 23 stamina left, and they still needed 15 units of wood — a little more. He struggled to stand and looked back. A swarm of giant bugs had also swum over. Strangely, these giant bugs disappeared as soon as they entered the buffer zone, which was a safe area. It was as if they had passed through a thin film into another world. “Thank goodness the bugs can’t get through!” Yang Yi breathed a sigh of relief. Sёarᴄh the Nôvelƒire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. If those things had gotten in, he might have really given up! “Suna, we’re still short of 15 units of wood. It’s impossible to go back into the water to get them! Fishing isn’t reliable either, so let’s try digging up some tree roots!” Yang Yi suggested. The 15 units of wood they were missing didn’t seem like much, but fishing for them wouldn’t always yield results even after a whole day’s effort. And the black fog didn’t seem so friendly to give them that time. After regaining some energy, Yang Yi joined Suna in digging up tree roots. But digging for wood was an incredibly slow process! By evening, they had only managed to gather 7 units, still short of the 15 they needed. Yang Yi was growing anxious. They could already see the shadow of the black fog behind them. Three massive bugs had also swum over. Each one, seemingly carefully selected, had a diametre of seven or eight metres. They moved forward side by side, collided with the buffer zone, and then disappeared. Where the three giant bugs disappeared, three huge harpoons fell. Following this were cries and howls of despair. “Ah God! Ah Boy! Dog Balls!1 Where did you three disappear to?” Behind the three giant bugs was a massive steel battleship. The voice came from the captain of the vessel, Yu Dawei. Yang Yi immediately recognised the ship. Even though several parts were smoking and charred, the iron hull and the colossal 200-metre length made it unmistakably the Iron Heart. He didn’t know how Yu Dawei managed it, but somehow, he had gathered 1,000 units of iron, upgraded his ship by two levels, and fought his way out of a swarm of giant bugs! The ship was covered with the scars and bloodstains of a fierce battle, and even a huge, sharp jawbone from an unfortunate giant bug was embedded in the deck. After upgrading, the ship’s firepower became even more impressive. Besides the enormous cannon at the front with a diameter of nearly five metre, there were over forty gun barrels extending from the sides, though many were bent or broken. Captain Yu Dawei, standing alone on the bridge with a cigarette in his mouth, cursed and occasionally glanced nervously at the black fog not far behind. Not long ago, he was just an overweight middle-aged man. But now... After a period of intense, high-stress sailing, he had slimmed down to an enviable figure, with dark circles under his eyes, looking like a completely different person. As for the speed of the Iron Heart... It wasn’t slow, just very slow. To Yang Yi, who was used to travelling at tens of knots, this ship was pitifully slow. Suna stood beside him, watching the enormous ship with Yang Yi. Further behind them was the black fog, moving at 15 knots but still quite a distance away from the Iron Heart. Without the giant bugs towing it, the Iron Heart couldn’t outrun the black fog, and the captain was now frantic, like an ant on a hot pan, running around in a panic. Finally, he spotted the man and woman on the island ahead; his eyes lit up, and he waved, calling out for help. “Hey, you two! I’m in urgent need of help! Can you lend me a hand?” However, they were too far away, and his voice couldn’t reach them. With no other options, Yu Dawei steered the ship toward the island. After the upgrade, the Iron Heart’s speed had doubled! 【Iron Heart, Level 2, Durability 5829/10000, Capacity 20000 units, Speed 10 knots】 【Ship Skill: Full Firepower: Increases cannon firing speed by 200% for 15 minutes. Triple Whale Harpoon: Can pierce and latch onto an object, cooldown time 1 hour. Sea Monster Slayer: A super cannon with tremendous power that can send sea monsters packing. Cooldown time 4 hours per shot.】 【Description: It’s bigger, stronger, and tougher! Speed increased by 200%!】 Yu Dawei was initially surprised when he saw Yang Yi and Suna, but he quickly realised they must’ve been the other two survivors in the stormy sea. If they were willing to help, perhaps he could hope to survive. In the buffer zone...he couldn’t find any giant creatures to help tow his ship. Seeing that shouting wasn’t working, Yu Dawei had a bright idea and tried using the regional chat in his log. Notes In the raws it literally translates to “dog egg” but after a quick google search, I was made aware that it can be used as a phrase describing dog testicles or dog kidneys :3 ~ Ashka↩