Grand Voyage : Surviving on a Ghost Ship

When Yang Yi reached the main storage area, it had completely changed.

The once massive numbers of Nesting Rats, Rat Thralls, and even the fused rat colonies were all dead, rapidly decaying under the influence of the black mist.

Mixed with garbage and seawater, the place had turned into a swamp.

“No wonder it smells worse than before… it’s practically a—".

Yang Yi touched his stomach, checking the state of the Gluttonous Maw.

If that thing started rummaging around in here for food, it would be completely unusable.

As soon as he stepped out of the corridor, the foul water was about a meter deep, carrying all kinds of floating debris as it slowly flowed back toward the hallway.

Further inside was something closer to a muddy garbage heap, mixed with a large number of corpses. At its thickest, it was probably three to four meters deep.

These rat thrall corpses and fused nests could normally be used for draws, but after being washed around like this, recovering them would be troublesome.

And the pelts of the Nesting Rats had been soaked in water and corrupted by darkness. Whether they still had any value was uncertain. Since only the outer layer provided protection, there might be nothing left but fur.

Yang Yi quickly scanned the area and grasped the situation.

There were still three leak points. What had once been streams of water had now turned into fountains, spraying more than three meters above the garbage swamp, bubbling and surging.

“Xiao Ji, can you operate in this kind of environment?”

Yang Yi looked at the two robots beside him.

“Yes.”

Xiao Ji’s indicator light flickered as it replied.

This model had been designed with underwater operations in mind. Its wheels could rotate and extend fins, functioning like underwater thrusters.

Now it had already switched to propulsion mode, with half its body floating on the water.

“I will first assess the damage. This process may take five to ten minutes. Please wait,” Xiao Ji added.

Yang Yi was about to ask how it planned to do that when Xiao Ji sank into the murky water. Panels on both sides opened, extending two flexible mechanical arms with multiple joints. Each arm ended in three flat fingers for grasping, with a beam cannon in the palm.

Click.

The arms locked tightly against the hull, apparently using magnetic adhesion.

In this form, Xiao Ji looked like a trash can with mechanical chicken legs, though far more flexible.

“Wnn… wnn…”

Waves of vibration spread outward from Xiao Ji, strong enough to be felt.

Ultrasound. Ordinary people wouldn’t hear it, but Yang Yi could faintly pick it up and immediately understood.

It was using ultrasonic waves to scan the hull damage, working much like sonar, except far more precise.

Before long, the scan was complete. Xiao Ji retracted its arms and surfaced using its thrusters.

A semi-transparent hologram projected from its camera, displaying the damage beneath the storage area.

“There are three leak points, all caused by projectiles of similar power.

The outer openings are larger, nearly two meters in diameter. The inner openings are about thirty centimeters.”

As it explained, it demonstrated the damage in the projection. Strange points of light flickered beneath the hull.

“What are those?” Yang Yi asked, frowning.

“Based on their characteristics, they are Drowned Ones.

They are retreating, moving toward the direction of the earlier explosion,” Xiao Ji replied.

Yang Yi nodded and studied the distribution of the lights, quickly understanding the situation.

Some of the Drowned Ones drawn by earlier events had gathered beneath the ship, trying to squeeze in through the holes and getting stuck.

Because there were so many of them, they had actually slowed the rate of flooding.

But now, after the explosion, they were moving away toward its source, increasing the water intake.

“I see.”

Yang Yi took a photo and sent the information to Suna, then turned back to Xiao Ji.

“Can you repair these leaks?”

“Of course!”

Xiao Ji answered without hesitation and laid out the repair plan.

“For a complete repair, we need 87 units of Sea Silver and 1,124 units of steel. For emergency repairs, approximately 400 units of steel will suffice…”

“Emergency repairs,” Yang Yi said immediately.

He didn’t have even a single unit of Sea Silver right now, and there was no way he could gather 87 units in time.

Besides, the situation was urgent. Speed mattered most.

Xiao Ji acknowledged the command and immediately began organizing the repair work.

…

“We’ll need to go underwater to fix the outer side?” Yang Yi asked.

“Yes. The water pressure is high. We’ll need personnel on both sides to carry out the repairs simultaneously.”

Xiao Ji explained the plan, which involved underwater laser welding to seal the leaks with steel.

“We could also use emergency repair tape, but…”

Its camera turned toward the floating garbage in the storage area.

Clearly, any such tape had long since become part of the trash and was no longer usable.

As for any remaining supplies elsewhere, they had likely been taken by the natives.

“Alright. I’ll go down with you,” Yang Yi said.

There were Drowned Ones in the water, and all the materials needed for the repairs were on him.

Handing over a spatial storage item filled with supplies directly to Xiao Ji wasn’t safe.

“Xiao Ji has C-level authorization and can requisition materials from the storage system in emergency situations, within a set quota,” Xiao Ji suddenly said.

“You can directly access the shelter’s storage?”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you say that earlier? I carried all this steel for nothing.”

“You did not ask,” Xiao Ji replied.

Yang Yi pressed a hand to his forehead. The possibility hadn’t even crossed his mind.

But if Xiao Ji could access the storage, it must also be able to see the inventory.

“How much is in storage?” he asked.

Xiao Ji’s indicator light flickered a few times before responding:

“There are 1,928,627 units of wood, 913,319 units of cloth, 2,072,916 units of stone, 1,097,317 units of steel, sulfur…”

“That much?”

With every number Xiao Ji read out, Yang Yi’s eyebrow twitched.

Aside from rare resources, crystal diamonds, blackwood, and magic stones, each under ten thousand units, the basic materials were all counted in the hundreds of thousands, even millions.

Even if they packed the Nightmare Star to capacity, they wouldn’t be able to carry away much of it.

“Start repairs now!”

Yang Yi gave the order immediately.

There was no way he would let this treasure of a shelter ship sink.

…

Fifteen minutes later, Yang Yi and Xiao Ji returned to the robot production workshop.

There was very little standing water here. The door was watertight, so only a small amount of dirty water and debris got in when it opened.

Inside, Suna was busy repairing robots, surrounded by piles of parts. She was dismantling, assembling, and calibrating them.

Yang Yi explained the emergency repair plan to her, including the status of the shelter’s resources.

“Underwater repairs? Can you even breathe underwater?” Suna asked.

“I have a way…”

Yang Yi’s original plan had been to restore his mana with a mental potion, then attach a few fish heads to himself to gain the ability to breathe underwater.

Of course, he would have to destroy the fishes’ brains first.

But now, thanks to Xiao Ji’s reminder, he had a better solution.

“The elevator in Zone C is still operational. It can actually descend underwater for maintenance work, and there are diving suits available. I already confirmed it with Xiao Ji.”

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