Chapter 92.1: The Inkshadow
Plop.
A dead Venom Snake landed at Yao Dangkong’s feet.
Of all the ordinary sea monsters, the Venom Snake was one of the creatures Yao Dangkong dreaded the most.
It wasn’t just because its venom was highly corrosive—getting even a tiny splash on your skin brought excruciating pain—but also because it was incredibly fast.
Just imagine it. A long, slender snake, four or five meters away, suddenly spraying corrosive venom straight at you. You try to kill it from a distance, but it effortlessly dodges every ranged attack.
So you decide to get close and crush it instead. But the instant you approach, it launches itself like an arrow, sinking its fangs into your flesh and latching onto your arm, thigh, or even your face.
And then, the next moment—
Agony.
Yao Dangkong had never been bitten herself, but she had once met a kind-hearted captain who told her what it was like. He said the pain felt as though your very soul were being torn apart.
One of his crewmen had been bitten before. The man had immediately clutched the wound and collapsed to his knees, barely able to move. His screams of agony carried for a great distance, terrifying everyone who heard them.
For the next two months, the pain never left him.
He couldn’t eat. He couldn’t sleep. He wasted away until he was little more than skin and bones. Had the captain not ordered people to force food into his mouth, the sailor might have starved himself to death.
Two months later, the pain finally faded.
But from then on, the sailor developed a crippling fear of snakes. Even the sight of a hemp rope was enough to make his whole body tremble.
And that was under relatively fortunate circumstances.
The sailor had served aboard a large ship under a captain with a conscience. Even though he was unable to work for two whole months and was in too much pain to eat, there were still people forcing food and water into him and stopping him whenever he tried to take his own life, allowing him to survive until the pain eventually passed.
Yao Dangkong had no such support.
She sailed alone. There was no one else aboard her ship.
If one of those snakes ever bit her, she wouldn’t last even a week before starving to death.
Whenever Yao Dangkong encountered a Venom Snake, her first move was always the same. She would immediately raise a steel plate as a shield, then retreat below deck as fast as possible, locking each thick hatch behind her one by one. Only after the incessant pat-pat-pat of venom striking the ship had finally gone silent would she venture back outside—to the inevitable sight of her vessel in ruins.
In fact, she wasn’t the only one.
Any ship whose crew knew what Venom Snakes were capable of, no matter how large or small, handled them the same way.
Everyone would rather take some damage than face a Venom Snake head-on.
And yet now, lying before Yao Dangkong, was a Venom Snake that couldn’t possibly be any deader.
Half of its long venom fangs had been snapped off. Its supple body had been twisted into a knot. There was a gaping hole in the top of its head, and the bones of its skull had clearly been completely shattered.
It looked as though it had been tortured beyond belief before it died.
Ever since she’d seen those hundred-plus ships appear together, Yao Dangkong’s mind had already gone numb.
Now, at the sight of the dead Venom Snake, it went completely blank.
This person…
Had killed a Venom Snake.
How in the world had she managed that?
The Blue Sea resident who had gifted Yao Dangkong the sea monster snake, Zhong Yin, didn’t notice Yao Dangkong’s stunned expression at all.
To Zhong Yin, it was as simple as: My deck is perfectly fine and doesn’t need repairing. Yours looks like it does. So you can have this snake.
Zhong Yin absolutely loved sea monster snakes!
They looked so small and weak, as though they wouldn’t yield any worthwhile resources.
But after killing seven of them, she’d found a crystal inside the head of one.
That was amazing!!
Blue Sea’s policy of exchanging crystals for contribution points was still very much in effect.
And everyone knew that all crystals collected in Blue Sea were sent to the temple.
Sent to the temple meant offered to Our God.
Offered to Our God meant Our God wanted crystals.
Which meant they absolutely had to collect even more crystals to offer to Our God!
The previous world, Dazzling Star, hadn’t had any crystals, leaving many Blue Sea residents eager to prove themselves feeling slightly disappointed.
But Green Billow Star did.
Not only that—they could even be found inside sea monster snakes as weak as these.
Zhong Yin couldn’t help but let her imagination run wild.
Kill seven sea monster snakes, get one crystal.
Then what if she killed seven hundred? Seven thousand? Seventy thousand…?
Hehehe.
Our God! Wait for me!
Of course, Zhong Yin didn’t forget to remind Yao Dangkong.
“There’s a crystal inside a sea monster snake’s head. After you kill any others, remember to crack open their heads and check.”
Yao Dangkong: “…”
Kill a Venom Snake?
Me?
Her mind, overwhelmed moments ago by the sight of over a hundred ships and the dead Venom Snake, finally began functioning normally again.
Looking at Zhong Yin—with her bright smile and immaculate clothes—Yao Dangkong hesitated before asking quietly,
“Um… you’re… not from Green Billow Star, are you?”
—
Far away, Cheng Qisheng, who had been studying a batch of strawberry seedlings, paused slightly and turned her attention toward that stretch of sea.
Green Billow Star was enormous, which meant its inhabitants were spread far and wide.
This was the first time the people of Blue Sea had encountered a native of Green Billow Star.
Zhong Yin answered, “Of course not! Hahaha… Oh! You’re from Green Billow Star!”
Realization dawned on her.
No wonder.
How could a Blue Sea resident possibly have a ship in such terrible condition?
The seas of Green Billow Star had a harsh climate. One moment the weather would be clear and sunny, and the next it would erupt into a raging storm. To keep its citizens safe, Blue Sea was building ships at full speed and only allowing residents with relatively safe, well-maintained vessels to leave the Safe City.
A boat like Yao Dangkong’s had roughly a thirty percent chance of being capsized if it ran into a storm.
If she’d been departing from Blue Sea, there was no way she would have been allowed to set sail in it.
Earlier, Zhong Yin had assumed the woman had only recently left Blue Sea and somehow managed to wreck her ship this badly.
After all, just yesterday she’d seen an even more battered vessel—one that looked as though half of it was about to fall apart.
According to the hunting squad aboard, they’d run into a medium-sized sea monster. They’d gotten so excited that they’d charged in and fought it head-on. They succeeded in killing the monster…
…and their ship ended up looking like that.
“Nice to meet you!”
Zhong Yin had only turned eighteen this year. It was her first time being allowed to leave the temple on her own, and also her first time meeting a native of Green Billow Star.
She was excited.
“My name’s Zhong Yin. I’m from Blue Sea. What’s your name?”
Yao Dangkong: “…”
The other woman didn’t ask, “How did you know I wasn’t from Green Billow Star?” Nor did she ask, “What do you know?”
Instead, she simply introduced herself and asked for Yao Dangkong’s name.
The sea was full of dangers. In the apocalypse, the laws of the old world had long since become nothing more than scraps of paper. To ensure their own safety, unfamiliar captains always spent a long time probing and testing one another before cautiously settling into a normal conversation.
This was the first time Yao Dangkong had met a captain like this.
Still, since the other woman had shown nothing but goodwill from the very beginning, she answered honestly.
“My name is Yao Dangkong.”
Recalling what she’d been taught at the temple, Zhong Yin thought: If a local doesn’t seem hostile, gather some intelligence. If they’re wary, talk about something else first to lower their guard.
She looked Yao Dangkong over but couldn’t tell whether she was being cautious or not.
To play it safe, she decided to build a little rapport first.
“Dangkong, have you eaten yet?”
Yao Dangkong replied absentmindedly, “…I have. Thank you.”
Good.
She’d said thank you.
In Zhong Yin’s estimation, that meant they’d become friendly enough.
So she asked, “Are there a lot of outsiders on Green Billow Star?”
The two boats bobbed up and down with the swells.
Zhong Yin glanced around.
“It’s really inconvenient shouting across the water. Can I come aboard your ship?”
The moment someone asked to board her vessel, Yao Dangkong instinctively became wary.
But then she looked down at the dead Venom Snake lying on her deck.
This woman could kill a Venom Snake.
If she really wanted to do something to Yao Dangkong, could Yao Dangkong actually stop her?
Besides, all those ships passing nearby were obviously traveling with Zhong Yin.
Just moments ago, one of them had sped past and loudly called out a greeting to her.
“Sure. Our ships are moving at about the same speed right now. We just need to bring them a little closer. Should I throw the mooring line over, or will you?”
Given the size of their vessels, if someone wanted to board the other ship, they first had to maneuver until the two ships were close enough together. Then they would secure them with ropes at the bow, midship, and stern to prevent them from colliding.
Finally, they’d lay down a wooden plank to serve as a gangway.
Yao Dangkong was just about to adjust her ship’s course to close the distance. She had refueled not long ago, so maneuvering wouldn’t be a problem.
At the moment, the two ships were about seventeen meters apart.
Since the mooring lines had to be thrown by hand, it would be safest to close the gap to around five meters first.
She was still calculating the approach when Zhong Yin laughed and waved a hand.
“No need to go through all that trouble.”
“I’ll just come over.”
Come over… directly?
How was that—
Just as the thought crossed Yao Dangkong’s mind, she heard a whoosh.
A long pole came flying through the air and landed on her ship.
Wait.
They were seventeen meters apart.
How had the other woman managed to throw something that long and that heavy all the way over here?
Before Yao Dangkong could process her astonishment, something even more unbelievable happened.
On the opposite ship, Zhong Yin picked up another long pole, planted it firmly on the deck, chose her angle, then sprinted forward.
The pole bent deeply beneath her weight.
The next instant, it launched her into the air—
Thump!
With a relatively light landing, Zhong Yin touched down right in front of Yao Dangkong.
Yao Dangkong: “…”
Seventeen meters!!
That was a full seventeen meters!
And she’d crossed the gap with nothing but a single pole?!
—
Watching from afar, Cheng Qisheng wasn’t the least bit surprised.
Using a long bamboo pole to launch yourself over a great distance had become a popular sport in Blue Sea.
It was no different from elementary school kids on Earth spending their recess skipping rope, eating spicy snacks, playing Gomoku, or kicking a soccer ball around.
The elementary school students of Blue Sea also spent their recess playing mock war games, racing in sprint competitions, scrambling to climb the school flagpole, tackling four-hundred-meter obstacle courses, and seeing who could launch themselves the farthest with a bamboo pole.
It was a practice that dated back to Blue Sea’s more primitive days. Whenever they came across terrain that was difficult to traverse—cliffs, for example—they would use bamboo poles to vault across to the other side while hunting.
Yao Dangkong, of course, had no idea this was considered an elementary school PE activity in Blue Sea.
She only felt that everything she’d witnessed today was utterly incredible.
At the same time, she realized this was an opportunity.
If she could build a good relationship with Zhong Yin, she’d gain another friend on these perilous seas—and another possible lifeline.
At the very least…
If Zhong Yin ever decided to become a pirate, she might spare her.
So, after inviting Zhong Yin to sit down, Yao Dangkong stopped hesitating and told her everything she knew.
Cheng Qisheng had expected her to mention the Safe Cities.
Instead, what Yao Dangkong revealed was something entirely different.
“A captain once told me that Green Billow Star’s space-time seems to overlap with other places. When a space-time rift grows large enough, people or objects from other planets can be pulled onto Green Billow Star.”
“I guess that’s what happened to you too, right? You’re really lucky—you even arrived with your ships. And… do you have some kind of special ability? We obviously shouldn’t be able to understand each other’s languages, but I can understand everything you’re saying.”
Zhong Yin smiled proudly and dipped her head toward the sky in respectful reverence.
“It was our great God who bestowed upon us the ability to communicate with every civilization.”
Yao Dangkong thought, Oh. So they’re religious aliens.
She didn’t believe Blue Sea actually had a god.
If it did, why would these people have been transported to the perilous Green Billow Star?
Meanwhile, the “great God,” Cheng Qisheng, fell into thought.
What Yao Dangkong had just said matched what the Lord of Duxi City had told her as well.
But Duxi’s conclusion had merely been a guess based on the experiences of his own homeworld.
From the way Yao Dangkong spoke, however, it sounded as though the captain she knew had actually witnessed such an event firsthand.
Zhong Yin asked the same question.
“Why did that captain say that? Had he actually seen it happen?”
“He had.”
Yao Dangkong set aside her speculation about Blue Sea’s religion and answered with complete certainty.
“He once rescued someone like that. The man didn’t look like us. He had long, pointed ears and slit pupils. It took the captain two whole years to teach him Green Billow Star’s language.”
“The man said he came from a place called the Gamma Kingdom on Hulin Star. The level of technology there was about the same as Green Billow Star’s before the apocalypse.”
“Before he was transported to Green Billow Star, he wasn’t doing anything special. He was just watching a movie in a theater. Then, in the next instant, he found himself out at sea on Green Billow Star.”
“Fortunately, there happened to be a wooden plank floating nearby. He clung to it and drifted for three days before the captain found him.”
“And he wasn’t the only case. I’ve seen something similar myself—I just didn’t know what it was at the time.”
Yao Dangkong’s gaze grew distant as she recalled the memory.
“It was an extremely hot day. The sun was blazing overhead, and I was on deck repairing the railing.”
“All of a sudden, the sunlight in front of me was blocked. I thought it was about to rain, so I looked up…”
She took a deep breath.
“…and saw half of a building.”
“It had been sliced cleanly down the middle. At least forty stories tall, like one of those residential apartment buildings from before the apocalypse. It slowly forced its way out of thin air…”
“…and then sank straight into the sea.”
Cheng Qisheng recorded everything in her notes.
Meanwhile, Zhong Yin, who usually came across as carefree and straightforward, immediately picked out the key point.
“So how are you sure that half of the building came from another planet?”
“Because I salvaged a lot of things from the sea where it sank.”
Yao Dangkong asked Zhong Yin to wait a moment.
She went back into her cabin and soon returned carrying a round machine.
“Back then, I recovered clothes, food, mattresses, plastic storage bins, framed pictures, a unicycle, and a lot of things that looked like banknotes and identification cards…”
“They all looked like the kind of belongings you’d find in an apartment building.”
“I’ve used most of them. Some I even took apart and burned as firewood. But I kept this machine because it’s solar-powered, and whenever you touch it, it makes a pleasant musical sound. Look.”
She pressed a button on the round device.
It immediately whirred to life, stuttered for a moment, and then, just as she’d said, emitted a clear, melodious voice.
Yao Dangkong listened with an expression of pure appreciation.
“I figured it’s probably some kind of solar-powered speaker. It must have been damaged by seawater, so it only repeats the same line over and over. Still… it sounds pretty nice.”
Thanks to the blessing of Our God, which allowed her to understand every intelligent species’ language, Zhong Yin fell silent.
She tried to hold it in.
She really did.
But in the end, she couldn’t stop herself from telling the truth.
“It’s saying, ‘Master, Xiao Suo can’t connect to the network and can’t clean properly. Please connect Xiao Suo to a network.'”
Scratching her head awkwardly, she added,
“So… I think it’s a robot vacuum.”
Yao Dangkong: “…”
“Well… the robot vacuum does have a very pleasant voice.”
She gave an embarrassed cough.
“Anyway, I couldn’t figure out why something like that had happened until I met that captain. That’s when I realized that half of the apartment building had probably ended up here the same way that alien had.”
Yao Dangkong noticed that Zhong Yin—who had clearly been fascinated by the story and looked ready to discuss it further—suddenly froze and lifted her gaze toward the sky.
The carefree smile on her face was replaced by reverence and excitement, as though someone in the heavens were speaking directly to her.
The moment lasted only about thirty seconds.
Then Zhong Yin looked back at Yao Dangkong, her expression noticeably more serious.
“Dangkong…”
“Do you still have anything else that you salvaged from where that half of the building sank?”
<< _ >>
Green Billow Star native encountered! Hooray!