Endless Ocean: Escape Starting from a Canoe

Chapter 26 The Gang's Secret Treasure

After catching more than thirty blue trout, Shi Ming reluctantly put away his fishing rod when the fish tank and bucket on the boat could no longer hold them.

Of the thirty-odd fish, twenty-nine were caught by him personally, and the other three were pulled out of the sea by former exploration team members Shidun and Lin Hai with great effort. As promised beforehand, Shi Ming rewarded each of them with three hundred nautical coins.

This made every crew member extremely envious.

As for the source of the nautical coins, Shi Ming was not too worried.

He inherited the drifting boat from his predecessor, and naturally, he also inherited the ship's treasury.

He still had over 20,000 nautical coins in his treasury, enough for him to squander for a while.

There are currently twenty-five crew members on board. Shi Ming needs to pay each of them 200-300 nautical coins per month for their labor. The crew members then use these nautical coins to purchase food and services on board, thus enabling the internal circulation of the nautical coins.

The whole cycle is: "Crew members provide labor - Shi Ming pays nautical coins - Crew members pay nautical coins to obtain food and other services - Shi Ming receives nautical coins".

Therefore, although more than 20,000 nautical coins may not seem like much, they can continue to "sustainably" without being traded externally.

It sounds like the work of an unscrupulous capitalist...

However, Shi Ming knew very well that internal consumption accounted for a very small part of the expenses of the drifting ship. Trading opportunities at sea were rare, and every encounter between different drifting ships would bring new opportunities for mutual exchange, which was also a time when a lot of navigation coins would be spent.

However, such equal transactions are only limited to situations where the two parties are roughly equal in strength.

If a bronze-class drifting ship encounters a gold-class drifting ship... and you still want to trade? You'd be lucky to escape far away!
Plundering often occurs when there is a disparity in strength, except for King-class drifting ships. King-class drifting ships are superior and will not plunder other ships. They will also actively provide various platforms and services to all lower-class drifting ships.

Each of the King-class drifting ships is like a "utopia" or "Garden of Eden" at sea. They are symbols of human civilization, lighthouses, and signposts.

No one wants to be a member of a King-class drifting ship, but unfortunately, a spot on a King-class drifting ship is extremely difficult to obtain. The difficulty of obtaining a crew member is no less than obtaining a green card from Shi Ming's previous life's homeland, and perhaps even ten times more difficult—unless you were born a native, which requires the skill of being born into the right family.

However, visiting or trading is still very easy.

……

The angler's daily routine came to an end, and the drifting boat returned to its normal course—refining sea crystals for energy use in areas with high purity of sea crystal energy, while also catching some ordinary fish and shrimp.

This is life on a drifting ship. Encountering new islands or other unexpected events such as storms, eddies, or drifting ships are the different spice in a monotonous life.

As for entertainment activities?

Does fishing count?
Does practicing combat count?
After finishing his fishing trip, Shi Ming struck while the iron was hot and formed a new exploration team.

The new exploration team is led by Shi Dun as captain and Lin Hai as vice captain. The team consists of eight people. In addition to continuing the tasks of the previous exploration team, they are also personally led by Shi Ming to train their physical strength and combat skills every day, in order to cultivate a second "Awakener" in a short period of time.

Of course, awakening is not free; it is an equal exchange.

The other personnel were reorganized into the "Office Team" and the "Navigation Team".

The internal affairs team is responsible for the crew's living, catering, and administrative affairs, while the navigation team is responsible for navigation affairs such as reconnaissance, navigation, and steering.

Due to the reduction in personnel, the crew's salary has been increased by 100 nautical coins per month to improve their motivation and encourage them to try new foods offered by the food production line.

Shi Ming did not expect his crew to be extremely loyal to him immediately.

Loyalty can only be cultivated.

……

Back in the captain's cabin, Shi Ming prepared to take a short rest. Suddenly, an ordinary communicator placed under the globe on the captain's table started beeping.

Oh? There's news?
Shi Ming immediately sat up as if he had been given a shot of adrenaline.

That was the former captain's communicator, which he had found in the body's pocket and kept in the most conspicuous place on the table, hoping to get some good surprises.

—As for the former captain's body, no reusable materials or extraordinary properties were extracted, and the blood had no effect whatsoever. This greatly disappointed Shi Ming, who had read "Lord of Mysteries." After reluctantly accepting that the corpse was useless and no longer held any secrets, he sent it back to the sea.

After all, he didn't have a penchant for collecting corpses.

Shi Ming picked up the communicator.

It was a string of Japanese characters, which translated to: "Junichi-kun, return the secret treasure navigation instrument immediately, or you will face the wrath of the Great Wilderness Governor."

Junichi is the name of the former captain.

Secret Treasure Navigation Instrument?
There really is treasure!

Could this be the captain's secret?
Shi Ming immediately glanced around the room.

No, that's not right!

There might be a hidden treasure, but it shouldn't be the same as a secret.

The former exploration team leader, "Iron Tower," joined this drifting ship five years ago as a traitor. From that time on, he should have been plotting the ship's secrets. It's impossible that he lent the Governor General's treasure to Junichi for a full five years.

A secret that requires five years of investigation must be a big secret!
interesting.

This ship holds both treasures and secrets; it seems I won't lack for fun in the days to come.

However, since Chun-ichi is dead, if the governor is Chun-ichi's superior, he would probably be able to detect this information from the status of the "Skynet chip" very quickly.

When the time comes, what awaits this drifting ship may not be just anger.

This drifting ship was once one of the drifting ships under the [Black Society]. Although I reconstructed and cracked all the systems on the ship, including the positioning system, the governor does not rule out the possibility that there are other means to find me.

The only thing not to worry about is that, given the status of a general-class drifting ship, it is absolutely impossible for a third-level governor of the Great Wilderness to order that "general-class drifting ship" to come and hunt him down!

Or, send other subordinate ships to retaliate?
He had to be wary of these things.

He replied in the same encrypted language, but in Japanese.

"receive."

He knew that too much talk could lead to mistakes. He didn't know what Junichi's reply habits were, but not replying to such a message would only make the other party more wary.

As for the consul's anger?

Haha, is he scared?

How do you write the character for "fear"?

What interests him most now is the governor's secret navigation instrument, and the secret of the former captain, Junichi.

"Jun-ichi, what other surprises do you have that I don't know about?"

(End of this chapter)