Chapter 99.2: Merchant Ship and Sea Monster Barrier
And at this very moment, he had just been lucky enough to encounter the merchant ship the Star’s captain had mentioned.
Good heavens.
Captain Kuka now understood why the captain of the Star had said, “I don’t need to tell you what that ship looks like. Once you see it, you’ll know it’s a merchant ship.”
It had a broad cargo deck, and from the Sun, he could see that the entire spacious deck was piled high with densely packed goods.
Most of the cargo had been placed in boxes that were arranged in neat rows and were all exactly the same size.
Some other goods had simply been spread out across the deck.
At first glance, Kuka immediately spotted barrel after barrel, obviously filled with fresh water, along with bundles of coarse cloth sacks, various strips of dried sea-monster meat, simple weapons made from sea-monster fangs and other body parts, fishing rods, floats, and fishing nets.
Good heavens, were those bags of flour?
He thought he could also see strings of dehydrated vegetables hanging across the other ship’s deck.
Captain Kuka couldn’t help leaning forward, trying to get a better look.
The people aboard the Rush Rush Rush were standing among the cargo, enthusiastically waving at him. They didn’t look worried in the slightest that the Sun might have hostile intentions.
Captain Kuka couldn’t help but marvel. This scene looked exactly like a trap.
If he hadn’t heard about them from the Star beforehand, he would have been extremely wary right now.
But being extremely wary didn’t mean he wouldn’t cautiously attempt to trade with them.
After all, there wasn’t a single captain who could refuse those strings of dehydrated vegetables.
Although, strictly speaking, the sea of Green Billow Star was no longer really the same sea as before, replenishing fruits and vegetables was still extremely important for people living at sea, just as it had been before the apocalypse.
Otherwise, scurvy would come knocking.
And as Green Billow Star gradually became completely submerged and less and less land remained, fruits and vegetables had become increasingly scarce. Many people could only eat shellfish and seaweed raw to supplement the nutrients their bodies needed.
But doing so also carried the risk of parasites.
Some ships therefore grew vegetables and fruits aboard their vessels, but that raised another problem: where did they get the seeds?
A single seed or seedling for a vegetable or fruit plant could fetch an astronomical price on Green Billow Star.
So when the Rush Rush Rush crew glanced over and noticed that there wasn’t a trace of greenery on the Sun’s deck, they waved even more enthusiastically!
Come on, come on!
Come buy something!
What?
What if the other side saw how much cargo they had and got greedy?
Well, the Rush Rush Rush crew only traded with ships they believed they could beat.
If they spotted a large ship from a distance, they would naturally turn around and run.
The engines on Blue Sea’s ships could outrun nearly eighty percent of ordinary vessels.
And if they couldn’t shake them off?
Then they fought.
The Rush Rush Rush crew naturally had the confidence to go into business as a merchant ship.
They enthusiastically beckoned customers over while simultaneously patting the battleship-class main gun beside them.
It had a caliber of 305 mm/45 caliber, with a range of 16 kilometers. A single shot could split the hull of a relatively old ironclad and blow apart the ship’s upper structures.
Sure enough, the Green Billow Star people aboard the Sun, who had been waving just as enthusiastically, visibly slowed their movements.
But in the end, Captain Kuka of the Sun still boarded the ship with two crew members.
Back in Blue Sea, the Rush Rush Rush team was merely an ordinary group of crystal hunters.
Their greatest contribution had been made on Velvet Star, where they discovered large numbers of cattle and sheep. This subsequently led the Blue Sea residents who had rushed over to hunt them to discover the objective of the Velvet Star world mission: Dr. Yu Zhitian, a virologist.
That contribution had earned the Rush Rush Rush team a large number of points, giving them a higher starting point than other Blue Sea residents.
As a result, on Green Billow Star, the Rush Rush Rush team had a ship that was neither particularly large nor particularly small, along with a shipload of cargo.
Yun Yu, originally a Velvet Star native and now a Blue Sea resident, received the three guests from the Sun.
He took a deep breath and began his recitation:
“We’ve got fresh water, fruit pulp, spirits, salt blocks, wheat flour, brown rice, compressed wheat biscuits, pickled beef and mutton, dried mutton, beef, rabbit, and fish, fresh vegetables, dehydrated vegetables, dried fruit, spices, hemp cloth, fine cloth, heavy-duty canvas, waterproof fabric, all kinds of sewing thread, ready-made clothes, hats, headscarves, waterproof pants, quilts, cotton socks, machetes, kitchen knives, axes, hand saws, whetstones, tung oil, wood wax, preservative asphalt, waterproof resin, hull-repair adhesive…”
Yun Yu continued his recitation for a full two minutes.
He finally brought it to an end with medical supplies.
“Anti-inflammatory medicine, fever reducers, antidiarrheals, anti-scurvy medicine, deworming medicine, painkillers… What would you like?”
Captain Kuka and the two crew members were completely dumbfounded.
Yun Yu mentally gave himself a victory sign.
Exactly the reaction I wanted.
As the saying went, you got what you paid for.
With such an extensive selection of goods, it was only natural for them to charge high prices.
Sure enough, the people aboard the Sun went absolutely crazy over the goods on the Rush Rush Rush, wishing they could spend a fortune and buy everything.
The only reason they didn’t was because they didn’t have a fortune to spend.
Yun Yu said, “We primarily accept payment in crystals. Of course, if you have something we consider worthwhile, we also accept trades.”
He held out a crystal. “This is what a nuclear crystal looks like.”
Captain Kuka exclaimed excitedly, “I have them! I have them! Wait here, I’ll go back to my ship and get them!”
The people aboard the Sun had always called them energy crystals. One of the furnaces aboard their ship required them as fuel.
But the Sun also had other furnaces that could run on ordinary firewood, so crystals weren’t particularly important to them. Kuka had therefore kept only fifty crystals in reserve and brought the remaining 870 crystals aboard the Rush Rush Rush.
The Rush Rush Rush team’s backs straightened immediately when they saw those 870 crystals.
Our God!
There are so many crystals on Green Billow Star!
The captain of some random little ship could actually produce more than eight hundred crystals!
Even after deducting the hefty Blue Sea commercial tax—with the tax being particularly high because they were selling supplies—the Rush Rush Rush team had already made an enormous profit from this single transaction.
What a coincidence. Captain Kuka thought the exact same thing.
He could use crystals that were practically useless to him to exchange for precious dehydrated vegetables, dry shampoo powder, medicine, and a whole bunch of burlap sacks.
Wasn’t that an incredible bargain?!
Both sides were delighted.
It was at this moment that Ma Yuetian and Zhu Feifan’s raft arrived beside the Rush Rush Rush.
Yes. In just a few days, their plank had already evolved into a raft.
Although it was extremely crude, thanks to the ocean’s tremendous buoyancy, it remained remarkably stable. The two of them propelled it with oars carved from bones, slowly paddling their way over to the Rush Rush Rush.
The moment Yun Yu saw the two of them looking so effortlessly cool even while standing on a “raft,” he knew they were Blue Sea people.
He hurried over.
“What happened to you two? Where’s your ship?”
Zhu Feifan gave his head a suave toss. “It has set off toward freedom.”
Yun Yu: “?”
Ma Yuetian tactfully translated, “It broke apart.”
Yun Yu: “…Come aboard first. We go back to restock every two months. Want us to take you back with us?”
Ma Yuetian shook her head. “We don’t want to go back yet. You’re a merchant ship, right? Do you have any materials for repairing a ship, or perhaps a finished boat for sale?”
“We also want to buy some food and other supplies. We might as well get those at the same time.”
Yun Yu said, “We do have those. Don’t worry, when we sell to Blue Sea people, we charge the internal Blue Sea price. There isn’t much markup. But do you have enough points?”
Ma Yuetian replied matter-of-factly, “Nope.”
Yun Yu: “…”
Zhu Feifan smoothly added, “We can buy on credit.”
“Exactly. We’re both employees of the Agricultural College, so we have employee salaries and credit limits.”
Ever since the flying-wing project had become a huge success, all kinds of Blue Sea research projects had been highly valued. So Zhu Feifan tried to paint Yun Yu a grand vision:
“Besides, we came out here to look for seeds. You know there are seabirds on Green Billow Star too, right? Their droppings will contain local seeds. If we cultivate those seeds, maybe we can develop a crop with a yield several times higher than normal. Then, once we receive our rewards, you guys, as the people who lent us a hand when we were down on our luck, can get a share too! And someday, we’ll be written into Blue Sea’s textbooks, and your Rush Rush Rush will go down in Blue Sea history alongside us!”
Yun Yu scratched his head. “You’re painting me a pretty big picture here, aren’t you?”
Zhu Feifan put on a serious expression. “No. I’m helping you envision a beautiful future.”
Yun Yu: “Hahaha, hang on. I’ll go get our captain.”
After all, he wasn’t a pure-blooded Blue Sea native. Although he had already converted into a believer, he still didn’t know what to do in a situation like this.
The captain of the Rush Rush Rush crystal hunting team soon poked his head over the railing.
He didn’t even ask the two of them how much credit they wanted.
He simply tossed out a single sentence.
“Swear it to Our God.”
Ma Yuetian placed a hand over her chest.
“I swear to Our God by my resident number that I will repay every debt I owe! I’ll take out a loan and repay it as soon as I get back!”
Zhu Feifan: “Same here! I swear to Our God by my resident number!”
—Cheng Qisheng, who was just about to head out and “pick up” some new things, sensed their oaths.
She casually glanced over and saw that Blue Sea residents were making a transaction, so she wasn’t surprised.
Ever since Blue Sea had arrived on Green Billow Star and its merchant ships had begun traveling all over the place, the number of oaths sworn by its residents had increased dramatically.
After all, Blue Sea had its share of unscrupulous merchants too.
Cheng Qisheng generally didn’t bother interfering. Although Blue Sea’s unscrupulous merchants liked to shave a little off the weight or quantity, they never tampered with the freshness of food, nor did they sell meals that were harmful to their customers. If they wanted to be unscrupulous, so be it.
Just yesterday, she had seen a merchant ship selling ready-made meals for life at sea through a rather unconventional approach. They had quietly reduced the portions, only to be caught by their customer.
The customer was also a Blue Sea resident and immediately said, “Swear to Our God that you didn’t reduce the portion.”
The ready-made-meal seller immediately replied, “All right, I reduced it.”
In the end, the merchant sheepishly compensated the customer with ten meals.
Cheng Qisheng had only casually glanced over after sensing the oath, but when she saw Zhu Feifan, she kept a portion of her attention on him.
Among the Old Eights, who loved fighting, he was the only one with a fear of blood.
That was hard not to remember.
Cheng Qisheng had already been curious about Zhu Feifan’s constitution back on Velvet Star. She had even wondered whether his unusually distinctive constitution might trigger some kind of supernatural ability.
Although he still hadn’t awakened an ability, that unusual trait alone was enough for Cheng Qisheng to spare a little attention for the two of them.
Captain Kuka of the Sun was also keeping an eye on Zhu Feifan and Ma Yuetian.
Kuka happened to be selecting supplies aboard the merchant ship at the time, so he watched helplessly as the two approached aboard a small wooden raft. As far as tradeable goods were concerned, they had, at most, a single large bottle.
As a result, when the two boarded the Rush Rush Rush, they came back down with not only a brand-new small boat, but also a boatload of various supplies.
Captain Kuka looked down at his own box of supplies, small enough to carry in his arms.
Then he looked at their boatload.
Once he came out, he couldn’t help himself. He quietly asked the Rush Rush Rush crew member who had helped him select his supplies:
“Those two… did they pay with higher-grade crystals?”
Could it be that these two were secretly much more important than they appeared, and had been carrying a high-grade crystal on them?
The Rush Rush Rush crew member said, “No. They’re very poor. Between the two of them, they only have three first-grade crystals.”
Captain Kuka was confused. “Then how were they able to buy so many goods?”
The Rush Rush Rush crew member said, “They bought on credit.”
Captain Kuka’s eyes widened. “You give credit?”
“Yeah.”
He began to wonder whether he had gone crazy too, and was now hearing things.
“Then… aren’t you afraid they won’t pay you back?”
“They swore they would.”
Captain Kuka looked at everyone aboard the Rush Rush Rush and felt as though he were looking at one golden-haloed, rising Buddha statue after another.
“They… swore?”
A member of the Rush Rush Rush team looked at Captain Kuka’s completely shattered worldview.
“Oh! Don’t misunderstand. We worship the same god, so only fellow believers can swear oaths to Our God like that.”
Captain Kuka still found it unbelievable.
Naturally, there were people of faith on Green Billow Star, but he had never heard of believers who worshipped the same god being able to use an oath to buy things on credit.
First he was astonished. Then he couldn’t help feeling envious. Finally, he asked quietly,
“Which god do you worship? Do you think… I could become a believer too?”
The Rush Rush Rush crew member, who had been in his “I’m at work, I’m totally composed” state just a moment ago, suddenly lit up.
Even though they were in a different world now, the activity of bringing new believers back to the city in exchange for reward points had never stopped.
He worked his jaw a little, then began giving him a crash course:
“Our God is the great Creator God of Blue Sea.”
“The world was born from Our God’s hands.”
“When heaven and earth were destroyed, Our God, in Her mercy, opened up a path of survival for us…”
“When you find yourself at a dead end, you can pray for Our God’s protection…”
By the time Captain Kuka returned to his ship with the supplies and his crew, he had acquired a small wooden statue.
The statue had an indistinct face, but its craftsmanship was exceptionally fine, with smooth lines that faintly conveyed a sense of divinity.
He noticed that the other side had many identical statues in their possession, almost as though they had been produced by a carving machine from before the apocalypse.
But surely that couldn’t be the case, right? When worshipping a god, shouldn’t one insist on carving the idol by hand?
“Captain, what’s this? A free gift?”
Captain Kuka glared at the crewman who had asked.
“How can you put it that way? This is the great Creator God of Blue Sea. Don’t blaspheme against the divine.”
Although, admittedly, it had been given away for free.
But considering that becoming a believer meant they could buy things on credit simply by swearing an oath, Kuka decided that from this day forward, he would bow before this wooden statue every morning and evening to cultivate his own devotion.
He just had no idea what the principle behind that so-called crystal-ball believer test actually was.
Never mind. He would just do his best first and worry about the rest later.
The next time he encountered a merchant ship claiming to worship the great Creator God of Blue Sea, he could simply bring this statue aboard. Maybe then he would be able to buy on credit too.
Captain Kuka enshrined the statue in his cabin and even made a point of bowing before it before going to sleep.
“Great Creator God of Blue Sea, please bless the Sun with good health and keep us free from disasters and misfortune, so that we may continue living peaceful lives with plenty to eat and drink.”
