Survival at Sea. Chapter Ninety-Two: Survival at Sea

The endless sea—can you ever reach its edge? — The Playwright.

All attributes have been reduced to ordinary human levels.

You may choose to carry five items.

It was almost the same as the Playwright game last time, but considering that this was a third-tier difficulty, and that surviving on the open water was difficult in itself...

It was certainly harder.

Among the optional items, there were a few besides the ones Wu Hui himself possessed.

The Ocean Sail, a sail with its own power.

The Water Purifier, which could separate seawater into salt and fresh water.

The Navigation Dial, which pointed toward the nearest land.

The Wonder Fishing Rod, a rod that needed no bait.

The Hauling Bucket, which could draw random resources from seawater.

Note: in this game, you may encounter other players. Please choose carefully.

Other players could be encountered? Still, the Playwright was rather kind to tell you. If this were the Ruler, information like that absolutely would not be mentioned.

Among these five items, the Ocean Sail and the Navigation Dial were definite choices.

And then there was the fact that Wu Hui had been turned into an ordinary person, which meant the fish-lung potion from the last round had lost its ability to let him breathe underwater. Of course, he could still hold his breath and swim.

So he would bring the card that summoned the squid. It was fairly strong in the water.

He should bring the dire wolf too. If he came across a small island, it would be useful.

If there were other players, then maybe other items could be stolen, but combat power had to be secured first.

So the final item was the flintlock pistol. It generated its own fire, and if the angle of fire was set right, it could also ignite things.

His marksmanship now was also at least decent.

Mm... that should be it.

Wu Hui finished choosing and began the game. Thanks to the precautions he had taken in the previous desert-island game, he now found himself on a very well-equipped raft, powered by the Ocean Sail and stocked with ample supplies.

He had stored quite a bit of food, and he also had a rotten fishing net, so for the moment he would not lack food. As for the water purifier... Wu Hui had prepared distillation equipment and plenty of fresh water on the raft, so he was not in a rush. But other players would probably choose it, and he could just seize theirs later.

Then again, there was no need to seize it; cooperation would do as well. It mainly depended on who he met.

The game officially began.

The objective this round was to reach the mainland. In other words, small islands did not count.

So this would be a long journey indeed.

Wu Hui gazed around him. Everywhere he looked was seawater. The island behind him had vanished without him noticing when.

With the navigation dial, at least he had a direction to travel. The Ocean Sail was excellent, too, faster than a squid could paddle. He did not need to do anything himself, saving a great deal of stamina.

In the previous round, Wu Hui had inscribed the raft as an armored vessel, increasing its defense and sturdiness.

Now he had chosen the Ocean Sail as well, with the squid as a beast-mark to provide power. There were almost no shortcomings left. The ample supplies on board also allowed him to choose combat-type items.

It could be said he had an excellent opening.

Only, this time he had not chosen the glasses, and that was a little uncomfortable.

No players were discovered quickly. At the start, he simply sailed quietly across the sea. Now and then he would spot some objects floating on the surface; if they were close enough, Wu Hui would have the squid bring them over for a look.

They were all things like plastic bottles—mere ocean trash. Clearly, this was not like in the game, where items fished up from the sea could directly expand the raft or something of the sort.

Waterlogged planks were not exactly useful.

Right now, the bottom of Wu Hui's raft was mostly made of plastic barrels as a source of buoyancy. The wood itself served chiefly as structural support. To be honest, without the armored-vessel inscription, something like this would capsize very easily.

Fine for cruising near shore; practically impossible for a long voyage.

But with the inscription and the Ocean Sail, all one could say was that people had better not argue with extraordinary power.

"If some people didn't prepare properly last round, they should sink pretty easily this time, right? Mm, the difficulty really has gone up a lot," Wu Hui thought, when the vessel suddenly began to shake.

As if something were ramming it from beneath the water.

At once, he ordered the squid to react, while drawing the flintlock pistol and preparing for battle.

A ferocious fish burst from the water, only to be struck by a shot at once. Wu Hui felt a slight swelling in his head; although this gun did not need reloading, it did consume mental strength.

With his abilities suppressed to ordinary human level, he probably would not be able to fire too many shots at once.

First, let him see what kind of fish this was.

Wu Hui had the squid bring up the corpse: merely a large fish about thirty centimeters long—though if it were not large, it certainly could not have rammed the raft hard enough to make it shake. Its head was swollen, and it looked highly aggressive.

Mm... an unfamiliar species. It shared traits with several kinds of fish, and might not even be from Earth.

Of course, Wu Hui could not be sure. He was not a biology specialist, so he would not dare claim to know every fish in the world. In truth, even a biologist would not dare say that.

"Perhaps it could be a material for some kind of potion. I wonder if the meat is edible..." Wu Hui rather missed his glasses.

But the items he had chosen were not easy to swap out, after all. This round had other players, and combat might very well occur. Besides, he needed at least one thing that could produce fire.

The infinite lighter from last round was gone now. He could have chosen it, but the flintlock pistol was better, with more uses.

And the squid was indispensable for movement in the water.

On land, the dire wolf would surely be a great helper. He could not very well fight in close quarters himself, and on islands, having a mount would save a great deal of stamina.

The navigation dial and the Ocean Sail—the former was also an absolute must, and as for the latter, Wu Hui had weighed it for a long while before deciding.

One could only say that five items were far too few, leaving him unable to bring everything he wanted.

Perhaps he could find a player and have him taste the fish to see whether it was poisonous. For now, he would make do with the dire wolf.

Just because the beast-mark could eat it without issue did not mean he himself would be fine. But at least it lowered some of the risk. In theory, fish of this shape were not very likely to be poisonous. After removing the innards and cooking it thoroughly, it should be edible.

But he could not be one hundred percent certain, so for now he would keep it as reserve... though it could not be stored for too long, since fish meat spoiled easily.

He did not lack food at present, but he still had to think long term. The food on the raft was mainly flour-based provisions and sausage-dried vegetables found on the shipwreck last time. These were supplemented by a small amount of fruit Wu Hui had gathered on the island, along with some wild greens in a foam box that might not grow for who knew how long.

If he had had time, Wu Hui would probably have dried some fish as well, but at the time the island grew more dangerous by the day, and he could only leave as quickly as possible. And making dried fish took at least several days of effort.

Now that he was out at sea, things might be even more troublesome...

But Wu Hui seemed to have overestimated the game's difficulty once again. Soon, he encountered the first island. It was not large; the vessel could circle it in a few minutes, and there were no other rafts nearby, meaning no one had arrived before him.

Such a tiny island probably would not have much in the way of resources. Especially not the fresh water Wu Hui was most short of.

A few lonely trees, a scattering of stones. He could pick some fruit, dig up a few crabs and shells, and see whether there was any trash to collect. And if all else failed... strip off the leaves and such. Once dried, they could serve as fuel.

Wu Hui, the hoarder who had plenty of supplies on board yet still kept gathering more, spent his first night on the ocean.

P.S. Third update today, and a new volume begins. While writing, I watched quite a few videos about ocean-survival and raft survival.