Endless Ocean: Escape Starting from a Canoe

Chapter 7 The Bald Slave's Reward

According to the information obtained by Shi Ming, awakening requires bathing in the blood of a sea beast.

The more powerful the sea beast, the better the skills it acquires after bathing. The most powerful awakened ones possess A-level or even S-level skills, and are born to stand at the top, superior to others. In this apocalyptic world of endless ocean, they can control more resources and have more say.

Xuanwu is undoubtedly the strongest among the sea beasts.

This Xuanwu, which has turned into an island, has lived for who knows how many years.

It seems it's not dead yet, but just in a dormant state.

Trying to kill it is undoubtedly wishful thinking, but one of its wounds has bred so many worms, as well as moths with sharp teeth and large beaks, as big as eagles, let's call them fierce moths for now. Moreover, these worms and fierce moths may have a strange symbiotic relationship with Xuanwu, with the worms helping it clean up decay, while it provides nutrients.

If you can soak it in the water below, it will most likely awaken.

But the problem is, how do we deal with so many ferocious moths and so many worms?
Worms have underdeveloped mouthparts and may not be very aggressive, but those fierce moths have rows of sharp teeth, so no one would think they are herbivores.

Jumping down to bathe with them is tantamount to offering food to a tiger.

Unless, someone can attract the attention of these ferocious moths.

Who can attract the attention of these creatures?

Shi Ming had a rudimentary idea.

……

He silently retreated from the crack and continued to explore the surrounding area.

To attract the attention of the ferocious moths, the captain and his exploration team were naturally the best choice.

If Shi Ming wanted to utilize the captain and the exploration team on the drifting ship to draw the monsters' fire, he needed to have a thorough understanding of the surrounding environment and master the use of all available external conditions to compile a credible report.

It was used as a "pledge of allegiance" to gain the captain's trust.

Fortunately, the greatest danger on this island lies with the dormant ferocious moths. On the verdant new island, Shi Ming discovered no other threats, but instead found a considerable amount of resources, such as large chunks of sea crystal, strange red crystals, and some special types of wood.

During his exploration, he saw that most of the other slaves were wandering around the outer perimeter of the island, and dared not venture too far inside.

On the outskirts of the island, he also encountered the bald slave who licked the tin can.

The bald man saw Shi Ming and came over to greet him.

"Team leader, I really want to thank you on the ship for giving my brother half a steamed bun... If you need any help, please don't hesitate to ask..."

"It's nothing, just a steamed bun. Did you encounter anything suspicious while you were exploring the outer perimeter?"

Shi Ming asked casually.

"Suspicious situation... well, no, it's safe."

"By the way, ... I found this on the island. I'm a roughneck and can't read, so please take a look, team leader. If it's useful, please keep it."

The bald man pulled an item out of his pocket.

It was a sealed bottle.

Shi Ming was a little surprised. He took it and saw that it was a storage bottle that he used to see a lot before his rebirth. It was very well sealed. Because it was often used to store penicillin in earlier times, it was also called a penicillin bottle.

The vial in front of me looks more sturdy and has a more high-tech feel. There's a label on the vial that reads "Mimetic Dust".

This bottle looks quite old; I wonder if the contents still have any effect.

“Well done, I will report your merits to the captain.”

Shi Ming understood the bald slave's intention and accepted it without hesitation.

"Thank you, team leader."

The bald slave lowered his head and smiled ingratiatingly.

In fact, he handed over the spoils he found to Shi Ming, firstly to repay a debt of gratitude, and secondly to curry favor with Shi Ming and thus establish a connection.

As a slave at the very bottom of the social hierarchy, with no connections whatsoever on the adrift ship, his life was naturally worse than that of pigs and dogs. Now, this foreman was not only willing to help him, but also seemed to be favored by the captain and had a promising future. Using an item that was destined to be handed over to curry favor with him was a win-win situation. If Shi Ming really became the leader of the slaves in the future, establishing a good relationship now would elevate his own status and allow him to protect his frail younger brother.

He understands the ins and outs of it all very well.

"By the way, where's your brother?"

"He's not feeling well, so I found him some fruit and he rested for a bit. Team leader, we'll go exploring soon, and I promise we won't slack off!"

The two then discussed the situation around the island.

Shi Ming did not obtain any additional information, so he prepared to leave and go to other places to take a look.

After walking a few steps, he stopped, turned around, and gave a reminder.
"Night is approaching. On such a quiet and deserted island, the danger level may increase exponentially at night. You'd better find a secluded place to hide immediately."

"Ah? Okay, team leader."

The bald man understood what Shi Ming meant and said gratefully.

How could he not understand the subtext?!

dangerous!
As soon as Shi Ming left, the bald man quickly reunited with his younger brother.

"Stop eating, let's find a safe and secluded place right away..."

"What's wrong, bro?"

I'll tell you the details later.

……

It's night.

The nights on the island were exceptionally cold and quiet. The slaves' clothing was very thin, like ordinary burlap sacks with three openings cut open for their arms and heads to crawl through.

Such clothing is clearly not enough to keep out the cold.

But there was nothing they could do; the adrift ship didn't provide them with any more clothes.

The slaves huddled together in twos and threes for warmth. Their mission lasted a full day, twenty-four hours. After a day, no matter how much intelligence they gathered, they would need to regroup at the original landing point and return together.

There's still a long way to go before the return flight.

To guard against potential dangers at night, Shi Ming found a relatively high spot on the island early on, where there were many rocks piled up. He used the power of his Arm of Strength to knock out a few rocks, creating a hole in the original spot that could accommodate an adult. After he entered, he used another rock to block the entrance.

In this way, he had a safe place to hide.

The detection and breathing openings at the cave entrance were only the size of a fist, too small for any ferocious moth to pass through. At the same time, Shi Ming could observe the general situation outside through these openings.

In case of an emergency, he can seal the fist-sized opening from the inside to prevent the ferocious moths from having the ability to launch "poisonous gas attacks." Although it cannot completely block the airflow, it can still have a good effect.

As night deepened, the slaves ceased their "exploration."

When Shi Ming encountered some slaves before, he also subtly mentioned that wild beasts might appear on the island after dark to hunt for food at night, and that they should be on guard and not let their guard down. It would be best to find a safe place as a base.

Of course, he didn't say it too obviously, only hinted at it.

After all, the captain's mission was for them to explore the island, not to hide at night and sleep until dawn.

Some people understand his implication immediately.

And some people...

They even lit a bonfire to keep warm.

Through the small hole, Shi Ming saw a fire burning in the distance.

"Damn! Don't these people have brains?"

He couldn't hold back any longer and blurted out a curse.

(End of this chapter)