Grand Voyage : Surviving on a Ghost Ship

“It’s really dark down here.”

Yang Yi muttered to himself, relying on the headlamp and the large floodlights from the diving work module for illumination as he swam forward.

It was his first dive. The feeling was strange, and for no clear reason his heart began to race, a tight unease lingering for more than ten seconds before finally subsiding.

He then scanned his surroundings. The sea felt utterly lifeless, not a single fish in sight, only the sound of water flowing from the propulsion unit on his back.

Two robots followed behind him, swimming toward the same target.

Ahead, a large number of the drowned had gathered, all clustered around the point where water was leaking into the ship’s cabin.

There were quite a few along the way as well.

Yang Yi raised his underwater tactical rifle and tried to aim.

These drowned were bizarre. Underwater, they looked like suspended corpses, seemingly motionless, yet they would slowly drift toward the living, their means of movement a mystery.

Yang Yi fired.

Thwip!

A harpoon shot out, striking the abdomen of a drowned one over ten meters away.

Then an electric current surged through the cable attached to the harpoon, coursing into the target. The drowned convulsed violently before suddenly bursting apart.

After killing it, Yang Yi reeled the harpoon back in via the cable, as foul blood and shredded flesh drifted toward him.

“Nice.”

He was very satisfied with the rifle’s performance. Its range was long enough to keep him outside the explosion radius of the drowned.

The weapon could be loaded with one harpoon, three miniature torpedoes, and a special electric charge round.

This electric round was a specialized magazine used in conjunction with the harpoon. Its effect was to discharge electricity, transmitting current through an insulated cable to strike distant targets directly.

It was simple to use. After firing the harpoon, he just had to hold down the trigger to maintain the electric discharge.

Moreover, Yang Yi’s diving suit was insulated, so he didn’t have to worry about leakage. The robots were unaffected as well, their internal circuitry protected.

After killing the drowned, Yang Yi picked up a chunk of flesh and stored it in his ring, then checked the consumption of his electric rounds.

About one third had been used.

Thirty electric rounds should be enough to kill ninety drowned, sufficient for approaching the leak point.

He pushed the control grip at his waist and continued forward.

The grip adjusted the power and direction of the suit’s propulsion system, much like the joystick of an electric wheelchair, simple to operate.

With two robots in tow, he gradually approached the leak point.

The robots still retained some combat capability underwater. They were equipped with beam cannons, though the color had changed, indicating a different wavelength.

Because of the water, the effective range of the beam weapons was greatly reduced to less than ten meters, so Yang Yi, armed with the electric harpoon, remained the primary combat force.

He fired four harpoons in succession, striking the drowned ahead. Then he held the trigger to send current through the cables, switched magazines, and detonated them, killing the targets.

“We’re here!”

Yang Yi made a hand signal, telling the robots behind him to stop.

Then he aimed at the cluster of drowned near Leak Point No. 1 and fired a miniature torpedo.

The torpedo had its own propulsion system and a red indicator light at the tail, giving it a long range and even allowing it to self-correct its trajectory.

It hit a drowned squarely in the waist. Immediately, three metal prongs sprang out from its sides, piercing into the flesh and anchoring it firmly.

After about three seconds, the torpedo exploded with a dull thud, dragging more than a dozen nearby drowned into the blast and shredding them to pieces.

The shockwave was so powerful that even Yang Yi, over thirty meters away, was sent tumbling in the water.

“That strong?”

He realized he had underestimated the torpedoes.

With a total of 120 rounds, they would be more than enough to deal with these clustered drowned.

He fired the remaining two torpedoes, clearing out all the drowned at this point, then signaled the robots to move in for repairs.

“Sonar has detected a large group of drowned approaching. The ones driven away by the earlier explosion are returning.”

Xiao Ji’s voice sounded inside Yang Yi’s helmet, likely using underwater wireless communication.

“Got it. You go handle the repairs. I’ll deal with them.”

Yang Yi replied, aiming his gun behind him, while the robots entered the breach and began emergency repair work.

There seemed to be a few drowned still stuck inside the hole, but the robots’ beam cannons took care of them, scattering chunks of flesh.

Yang Yi collected some of the remains, they could be used for capsule draws, after all, no point letting them go to waste.

But collecting every single piece wasn’t necessary; it would take too much effort. The priority was ensuring the repairs proceeded smoothly.

He constantly swept the area with his searchlight. The beam created a Tyndall effect in the water, forming a visible column of light filled with drifting particles.

These were likely fragments of the drowned or something else.

The first to approach were the drowned gathered at the other two leak points. Yang Yi dealt with them directly using miniature torpedoes. Since his position was already exposed, he might as well go all out.

The explosions tore through large numbers of the drowned.

These things moved very slowly. As long as he had ranged weapons, they weren’t difficult to handle.

“Duds too?”

Yang Yi noticed that two torpedoes hadn’t detonated. They had probably malfunctioned after being stored for too long.

…

Inside the breach, the two robots worked together, using magnetic adhesion to anchor themselves in place. They cut through the steel on site, then welded it to seal the leak.

The robot on the inner side extended a mechanical arm to hold the steel in place, assisting with the welding.

The intense heat caused large amounts of seawater to evaporate, so streams of bubbles constantly escaped from the breach.

“Emergency repairs are expected to be completed in one hour,” Xiao Ji’s voice came through.

“Copy that.”

Yang Yi replied through the microphone inside his helmet.

Fixing one breach would take about an hour. Three breaches would mean three hours.

But in reality, it would be much faster. Su Na was repairing additional robots, which meant more helping hands.

Forty minutes later, the emergency repairs were completed ahead of schedule.

There was now an extra robot assisting inside the cabin, apparently Unit Three.

Using the harpoon, Yang Yi had killed dozens of drowned. His electric rounds were nearly depleted, with only four remaining.

Fortunately, he still had plenty of miniature torpedoes left, 103 rounds.

He called Xiao Ji and Robot No. 7 down, preparing to head to the second repair point.

Twenty minutes later, another robot emerged from the diving operations module and joined the repair team.

Efficiency improved further. In less than thirty minutes total, the second leak point was sealed.

But the number of drowned was also increasing. In the distance, a dark mass of corpses drifted toward them, likely those drawn away earlier by the explosions.

“Hurry up with the repairs!”

Yang Yi sent the robot team toward the third leak point while he aimed at the incoming drowned and fired three miniature torpedoes into the densest cluster.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The shockwaves rippled outward.

A large number of drowned bodies were blown apart, their fragments slowly sinking downward.

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