"This is Yu Dawei, captain of the Heart of Steel. Hey, you two! Can you see this message or what?" Yu Dawei spammed in the Regional channel. At this point, only three poor saps were left in the buffer zone, so he wasn't exactly worried about hitting up the wrong people."Hello. Yang Yi, captain of the Nyxstar," Yang Yi replied, straight to the point."Captain Yang! The hell is your ship?! I don't see it!""It sank.""HUH?!" Yu Dawei's brain blue-screened on the spot. He had no idea you could rebuild a sunken ship and was already planning his own funeral at sea. He was convinced he was totally, utterly screwed. It was only after Yang Yi explained the situation that the gears in his head started turning again."You're only short 7 wood? Pfft, that's nothing! I'll shoot you 100!" Yu Dawei typed back instantly. "But—and this is a big but—once your ship is fixed, you gotta give me a tow!"Yang Yi considered it for about half a second before agreeing. Time was running out, the creepy black fog was rolling in, and their only chance of getting out of this alive was to team up.Seeing Yang Yi's "yes," the anvil in Yu Dawei's stomach finally dropped. "Okay, I'm heading over now! Please don't shoot me! That thing on your belt is a pistol, isn't it?!"Yang Yi blinked. The Heart of Steel was still thousands of meters away. How the hell could this guy see details like that? Was he using binoculars or something?In reality, it was Yu Dawei's talent. He had two of them.[Eagle Eye: Perception +2, stupidly good eyesight, great for tracking and aiming.]His second talent only unlocked after he slaughtered a metric ton of giant sea beasts.[Firepower Is God: As long as you have enough guns, you'll charge headfirst at anything. Sanity will not drop below 50. TRUTH! ONLY EXISTS WITHIN THE RANGE OF YOUR CANNONS!]The Heart of Steel chugged closer to the island. The black mist had already swallowed half the sky and was only 15 nautical miles away. At this range, they could just yell at each other."I'm gonna shoot the wood over with my whale gun!" Yu Dawei bellowed across the water. "Try not to freak out!"True to his word, a harpoon shot out from the Heart of Steel, a massive bundle of lumber tied to it, and landed with a thump about ten meters from Yang Yi. It was exactly 100 units of wood.With all the parts he needed, Yang Yi wasted no time. He found a good spot, fiddled with his log, and started the rebuilding process. The moment he hit confirm, all the materials soared into the air, dissolved into tiny sparkling fragments, and then, like a set of demonic LEGOs, they snapped together to form a ship.It was about thirty meters long and still a beat-up old ghost ship, but it was a much bigger beat-up old ghost ship. The hull was still grungy and plastered with barnacles. A ship captain's skeleton was tied to the bow like a morbid hood ornament, complete with a few strands of seaweed for that "fresh from the grave" look.The biggest change from the Nightmare was the giant crystal ball sitting on the mid-deck, right in front of the mast. A few sections of the hull were now covered in rusty iron plates, making it look a tad sturdier.[Nyxstar, Level 2, Durability 1000/1000, Capacity 3000 units, Sailing Speed 60 knots][Ship Skills:Nightmare: Sleep quality on the ship is extremely poor, causing nightmares and reducing energy recovery efficiency by -75%. Only affects the captain.Angler's Curse: Cannot catch normal fish. The probability of catching abnormal objects is increased.Astrology: Can display the surrounding sea chart with a radius of 150 nautical miles, viewable in the crystal ball. Warnings can be set to alert other players of their presence via vibration.Scry: Can search for ship names and player names to obtain the ship's coordinates and view an image of the ship. Limited to one target per day.][Description: You chose to merge with a ghost ship… Hope you don't regret it!]Yang Yi looked over the stats, generally pleased. The ship was tougher, faster, and the Astrologer's skills had evolved. The map was bigger, and the scry skill was now basically a global satellite spy system."Alright, let's get on!" Yang Yi called to Suna.Inside the Nyxstar, he saw more changes. A new bedroom had popped up next to his—Suna's room. The cargo hold was bigger too, with two empty slots for more buildings. The potential of both ships had basically been smushed into one. All their stuff was there, too: the pirate suit, the fishing gear, the coconuts, and even a chunk of the giant worm he'd headshotted earlier. A pleasant surprise!Meanwhile, Yu Dawei was sweating bullets. He was terrified Yang Yi would just peel out and leave him for dead in the dust… er, wake. He was pretty sure he could cripple the Nyxstar if he had to, but then he'd be just as screwed.Luckily for him, Yang Yi wasn't a moron.[Yang Yi, captain of the Nyxstar, has sent you a friend request]Yu Dawei accepted so fast he almost broke his log. Then came a message: "I'm heading to my stern. Throw your grappling hook over."Seeing that, Yu Dawei let out a huge sigh of relief. He stumbled out of his bridge and onto the foredeck, coming face-to-face with Yang Yi. Because the Heart of Steel was a towering behemoth, Yang Yi could only see the guy's torso and head.Though he was wary, Yang Yi got straight to business."Captain Yu, your ship is, uh… massive. So let's get this straight: if I can't tow you faster than 15 knots, I'm ditching you. No hard feelings, and you don't try to blow me up. Deal?"Yu Dawei listened, his expression shifting through five different shades of panic. After a long pause, he finally choked out, "If it comes to that, can I, uh, just jump on your ship and hide?""Sure, no problem," Yang Yi agreed instantly. Ships can be rebuilt. People can't. If you're dead, you're dead.Yu Dawei hurled the grappling hook over. Yang Yi secured it in multiple places to spread out the strain. The rope itself was indestructible, according to the game log, so no worries there. Once everything was latched on, he ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) gave Suna the signal to floor it. The Heart of Steel also cranked its engines to max.Both captains felt their asses clench as they watched the speed slowly… agonizingly… climb.11 knots!12 knots!It wasn't until the speedometer ticked past 15 and hit 16 knots that the two of them finally unclenched. If it had been any lower, things would have gotten awkward. Thankfully, the Nyxstar had some real horsepower.The final speed topped out at 17 knots, a whole two knots faster than the creepy death-fog behind them.

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