Grand Voyage : Surviving on a Ghost Ship

Yang Yi glanced at the world chat channel for a while and saw no signs of danger.

Aside from a few reckless players crashing into icebergs, none had sunk and were currently making emergency repairs.

However, whether any players had crashed into pale worms disguised as icebergs and been dragged into the sea was unknown.

After all, the pale worms moved swiftly, not even giving victims enough time to leave a final message before being taken...

A private message flashed — Suna was urgently calling him to the lab.

Yang Yi immediately stood up, confirmed the Twilight Veil was still activated, and then headed towards the ship's cabin.

Upon entering, he carefully closed and locked the door before heading down the stairs.@@novelbin@@

Although there was some thin fog in the cabin since it was connected to the outside through windows and gunports, the visibility was manageable.

Inside, there were many wooden barrels filled with oil extracted from the pale worms, totalling about 1,100 litres. 

The wood alone had cost several hundred units, leaving only about 2,400 in stock. It wasn’t wasted, however, since the barrels could be burned and used to provide warmth. 

Yang Yi entered the witch's laboratory, which was free of fog.

"Look at this!" Suna held up a jar of the white fog. 

She placed it over a flame, and soon, the fog disappeared, turning clear and transparent.

"The fog vanishes when heated. What's so strange about that?" Yang Yi asked.

"Watch again!"

Suna removed the jar from the heat, and within seconds, the fog reappeared exactly as before.

"Do you still think this is just regular fog?" Suna questioned.

Yang Yi fell silent.

Clearly, this fog was anything but ordinary!

It seemed to be a special gas that changed appearance with temperature.

"I’ve tested it, but it’s hard to describe what it is exactly. It’s definitely not water vapor, nor does it resemble solid dust."

Yang Yi took the glass jar and switched to his third eye — nothing appeared. However, when he switched back to normal vision, the fog became visible again.

"Your mutated left eye can't see this fog. So I think the fog might not truly exist — it could be the result of a large-scale magic spell your left eye is immune to. This explanation should make sense."

Suna shared her theory and expressed further concerns.

"This fog doesn't seem toxic. Inhaling it doesn’t cause discomfort or immediate harm. Is it possible that, over time, things might change? 

If people stay in this dense fog for too long, they'll start to wonder what's hidden inside.

They might gradually become anxious, fearful, paranoid, and even delusional. Eventually, they might..."

Suna didn’t finish, but Yang Yi understood.

Prolonged exposure could lead to a drop in sanity, resulting in madness or even mutation into monsters — especially for lone players.

"We have plenty of pale worm oil. Why not expand the fire to drive away the fog and make navigation safer?" Suna suggested.

It was a reasonable idea.

However, Yang Yi still had concerns.

He didn’t know how vast the Frozen Sea was or what other dangers awaited. It was best not to burn through resources too quickly.

Additionally...

He worried that the bright firelight might attract abnormal creatures.

"I'll give it a try," Yang Yi replied, turning to leave the lab.

Just before stepping out, Suna called him back.

"How was the effect of that sleep potion I gave you earlier?" she asked.

Yang Yi paused, hesitated for a couple of seconds, and finally replied, "The taste...wasn’t bad!"

"The crafting material requires holy water. One bottle of holy water can make about two bottles of Sleep Potion. If you get me some holy water, I can make some for you," Suna continued.

"Alright, let's wait until we're out of this sea first."

Yang Yi left the cabin and returned to the deck of the Nightmare Star.

The white fog still lingered, but he didn't rush to set sail. Instead, he brought out the Pale Worm Fishing Rod while thinking about his next steps.

He cast the line, tossing the small pale worm bait into the sea, and waited quietly.

In just two or three minutes, there was a reaction on the other end of the line.

Yang Yi pulled hard and discovered a Bronze Supply Chest.

Inside were 100 units of wood, 100 units of stone, and 20 crystals — not a bad haul, which meant the first cast of the day didn’t always guarantee a Long-Legged Sardine!

Good to know!

After reeling in, he went to the bow and gazed out at the sea.

Without using his third eye and relying solely on the campfire for illumination, visibility was about 25 metres.

If the campfire was extinguished, visibility would drop to just four or five.

Yang Yi gathered some stone and built two new ones at the bow.

With the pale worm oil, keeping the fires burning and reducing wood consumption was much easier.

He lit all three campfires, causing a large portion of the white fog to dissipate, increasing visibility to 50 metres.

With two campfires, visibility was around 40 metres.

Relying on the light from the two campfires, he navigated the Nightmare Star for a while.

Given the ship's performance, it could maintain a speed of 15 knots in this visibility. Even if an iceberg appeared, there would be enough time to dodge or prepare for cannon fire.

With just one campfire, the safe sailing speed would drop to about 10 knots.

He experimented with adding more campfires but found the improvement was minimal. Unless he built multiple large bonfires or set the entire ship on fire, visibility wouldn't improve much.

After some thought, he decided to proceed with two campfires, sailing at 15 knots nonstop for 24 hours.

This setup wouldn't consume much wood—  factoring in the oil, the daily consumption would be around 30 units.

With 2,500 units of wood, he could sustain sailing for over two months while keeping some in reserve for emergency ship repairs.

As for food, Yang Yi checked and found it could also last about two months.

If food became scarce later on, Yang Yi could choose to stop taking the Appetite-Boosting Potion, greatly extending his endurance!

He sent the sailing plan to Suna to get her opinion.

But the reply he got was just one word: "Okay."

And so, the plan was smoothly put into action. Yang Yi carefully steered the Nightmare Star forwards.

At the same time, he closely monitored the world chat channel, sensing that the situation was becoming increasingly tense.

After the initial chaos, players gradually calmed down and began noticing the fog's characteristics.

"Fire! Campfires can drive away this fog!"

"But visibility is still too low. I don't dare to speed up!"

"Does anyone remember the coordinates of the Black Fog? Tell me, so I can feel more at ease!"

"Only by expanding the fire can visibility improve!"

"Buying wood, high price!"

"Full speed ahead! The fog can't scare me! This is all about courage — charge!"

"..."

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