The Armor of the Lost Sinner arrived in front of the mast and tried to push away the surrounding salt with the Severed Iron (Fake).After a short while, the sails buried under the salt were exposed. But perhaps they had been buried for too long.The sails were as brittle as paper—just a light touch could poke a hole.And the paint on the mast had already peeled away, revealing the dry, cracked white wood beneath. “This mast is at least over ten meters tall. Digging it out intact is unrealistic,” Yang Yi judged.He controlled the armor to grab a handful of sea salt. It felt rough, like slightly oversized sand grains.So most of the excavation still had to rely on the airflow inside the rotting whale. Yang Yi controlled the armor to crouch down, bracing for the next gust to avoid being blown away.Roughly every thirty seconds to a minute, a powerful blast of air would blow from the front, carrying away huge amounts of sea salt—and also blowing away the salt-people that formed on the surface.Strictly speaking, the wind inside this decayed whale should be categorized as a sandstorm—just with sea salt particles instead of sand. “One blast removes about 30 centimeters of salt. Even if the mast is 30 meters tall, 100 gusts are enough. It shouldn’t take more than two hours!”Suna evaluated after observing the airflow several times.Yang Yi looked ahead.Limited by the armor’s field of vision, he could barely tell what lay in front. Inside the rotten whale was very dim. Light from the opening above was scarce, and the armor’s night vision was nothing compared to the Three-Eyed Race.Not to mention, the swarming salt-people constantly hindered visibility—along with the occasional internal saltstorm.After hesitating a few minutes, he decided to stay here and finish uncovering the ship before exploring any deeper.After all, the armor’s operational range was limited—if it got too far and lost contact, that would be troublesome. The armor could even get blown away and never be found. Having decided, the Armor of the Lost Sinner didn’t proceed forward. Instead, it moved toward the fleshy wall and struck the bright red tissue with its sword.A large amount of white milky fluid sprayed out of the wound, immediately attracting nearby salt-people, which were drained dry in an instant.“The flesh strength isn't much different from pork, and there’s no bone. It’s mainly just massive and extremely tough to kill,” Suna remarked, as if documenting this creature’s characteristics.“This should be the ultimate combined form of those ‘delicious meat chunks’. Once we locate its core, we’ll find out what sets it apart…”…… Half an hour passed.The internal airflow grew stronger, and the frequency stabilized—one gust every minute—becoming rhythmic.Standing on the Nyxstar, Suna could now observe the huge shadow swelling beneath the sea. It swelled slowly, then suddenly contracted—forcing out the air inside along with large amounts of sea salt—before slowly inhaling again.It was like a beating heart.“The decayed whale’s condition is gradually improving!”She snapped a photo from above and sent it to Yang Yi.Once the white seawater arrives, this decayed whale might revive instantly, and the salt-people would no longer be able to suppress it. Inside the whale—Yang Yi had just shattered a salt-person and poured more than 100 liters of water on it before the creature finally lost all aggression.When exposed to excessive fresh water, salt-people dissolve and can no longer form a humanoid body.Yang Yi tossed the dissolved salt sludge away. With the wind now stronger, the spot he occupied had become increasingly dangerous.This was the third salt-person he had neutralized.They couldn’t be killed—only incapacitated and discarded. Thanks to that, the fresh water in Yang Yi’s ring was now less than 500 liters—and he still needed it for drinking, because he was injured too.His left arm had suffered localized dehydration and shriveled up, but after drinking enough fresh water, it was slowly recovering. Deep within the pit—The Armor of the Lost Sinner crouched low, bracing itself against the violent gusts swirling inside.With stronger wind, ensuring he wasn’t blown away became the priority. Large amounts of sea salt were swept aside, and the ship buried beneath finally became visible.It was actually a three-masted sailing ship—the central mast being the tallest, so it was uncovered first.The mast extended farther than predicted—already over thirty meters exposed, yet with no sign of hitting the bottom. The armor occasionally jabbed the salt layer below with the Severed Iron (Fake) to probe the remaining thickness.Another fifteen minutes later—The room on the deck finally emerged. At the same time, the armor thrust down again and finally felt something different—likely the deck.“Go check the room,” Suna urged.Even if she hadn’t said it, Yang Yi had already decided to go.After moving forward a dozen meters, the Armor of the Lost Sinner stood atop the room. Instead of digging for the door, Yang Yi decided to open a hole in the roof.But his strike failed to break through—only leaving a deep scar on the surface.It was surprising that the wood remained so sturdy after being buried in salt for who-knows-how-long.No wonder the towering mast hadn’t snapped despite enduring the internal storms for so long. If not for some dryness and cracking, it would be even tougher.Realizing opening the top would be troublesome, Yang Yi turned to search for the door instead.After another gust washed away half a meter of salt, the door appeared—unclosed.Yang Yi rushed forward with the armor. As expected, the inside was filled entirely with salt. So Yang Yi began excavating, careful not to damage anything inside.If documents or books were thrown out and blown into the air, this would all be for nothing.The salt inside wasn’t being swept away by the wind, so excavation relied entirely on Yang Yi—like an archaeologist digging earth, only less delicate, since…the armor was using a giant sword to dig.Soon, the sword struck something solid. After clearing the surrounding salt, a table was revealed.It was fixed to the room structure and made of the same unbelievably sturdy wood as the ship.There was nothing on the table—probably knocked off during excavation.Checking beneath it, Yang Yi found a fallen bookshelf buried in salt, along with some books and letters. Although the covers were faded and ink had bled, the writing was still barely recognizable: “Logbook of the 13th Whaling Fleet”“World Nautical Chart”“Assignment Order for Hunting the Mini Decayed Whale Nicknamed ‘Jellyfish’”“Letter from Riko”“The Dangers of Decayed Whales” Yang Yi shook the salt off the books and tried opening the one he was most interested in—the world chart.But it didn’t open—the pages were sealed together.After applying more force, he ripped the book in half. The pages inside were stuck together, {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} extremely brittle, and crumbled into flakes.“This book must have been soaked in water…” Suna said miserably. Yang Yi checked the other books and letters—they were the same: unreadable.After the ship flooded, the books weren’t properly dried. Long-term moisture ruined them.Yang Yi stopped forcing the pages and set them aside, planning to take them back aboard the Nyxstar later—maybe they could be restored.Then he turned to the cabinet on the table. A delicate metal lock hung on it—unrusted.

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