Endless Ocean: Survival Begins with a Dugout Canoe-Chapter 85 - 82: The Lighthouse’s Forbidden Laboratory
Great Western Sea Region.
The Gold-level Wandering Ship, "Cuiyan."
This was a trade ship that wandered the Endless Ocean. Buying and selling special goods was its primary means of acquiring wealth and profit.
The "Cuiyan" wasn’t large, only seventy meters long, but its entire hull was like the most precise instrument, a perfect inheritance of the industrial spirit of Germany, a mechanical powerhouse from the Land Era. Its insignia was a blooming Centaurea Cyanus, but unfortunately, in this day and age, many young people no longer recognized the plant.
It was a Golden Ship under the command of the King-level Wandering Ship, the "Twelve Stars."
Although the "Cuiyan" was affiliated with the "Twelve Stars," it was quite independent. It didn’t have to take orders from any organization or institution, having only formed a loose alliance with other ships to provide relatively cost-effective aid to one another when necessary.
Within the alliance, they could share intelligence and profits, but naturally, there were also contributions to be made.
The name "Cuiyan" carried weight.
As long as there was profit, they didn’t care about the type of transaction or the client. They would even entertain some Bronze-level Wandering Ships.
It was currently a lull in business.
The captain, Reinhardt, was lounging in a hammock on deck. He set down the book in his hands, *Faust*, and focused on a bounty notice on his communicator.
"Tsk, tsk. What a generous offer!"
"Two thousand Pure Dome Crystals! It’s truly unbelievable."
"And they’ve even provided its appearance, serial number, structure, layout, and even its wave frequency."
"But I remember, doesn’t the Lighthouse have some sort of Navigator? The kind who’s best at this sort of mission? Did he die?"
Reinhardt smiled and shook his head.
’He’s probably dead.’
’Besides, is a Silver-level Wandering Ship really worth this many Crystal Stones?’
As a "merchant," he was well aware that the more expensive the fish, the rougher the waves.
A priceless "fish" was certain to be caught in a massive whirlpool. Just getting close would be a disaster. It wasn’t something a Golden Ship like theirs could get involved in.
But providing information alone could net two hundred Pure Dome Crystals.
Two hundred was no small sum. After so many years wandering the ocean, all the wealth his Golden Ship had earned amounted to a mere hundred or so crystals. Even so, that already surpassed the vast majority of Golden Ships!
A casual bounty from a high-ranking Wandering Ship was a fatal temptation for them.
They knew the danger, yet found it hard to resist.
’Looks like I’ll have to pay close attention to recent clients.’
When it came to finding ships, he couldn’t compare to a Navigator, but he still had his own significant advantages.
He accepted the bounty as well.
’Two thousand... I daren’t even think about it. Getting it would be a disaster.’
’But two hundred... That’s worth a shot.’
...
Shi Ming really wanted to report himself.
He even fantasized about a few possibilities, plans to deliberately leak his own whereabouts to scam the sky-high bounty.
But none of them seemed very feasible at the moment.
’What a pity, what a pity. Oh well, Pure Dome Crystals are too far out of my reach anyway. Even if I got them, I wouldn’t have anywhere to use them. I’ll just let them hold on to them for me for a while.’
He knew a glittering net was closing in to catch him.
A tragedy sparked by a single map, you could say.
Although his Wandering Ship had already been upgraded to Gold-level, its wave frequency had changed, and its appearance had been subtly altered, some people, faced with such a high bounty, would rather kill a thousand innocents than let a single target slip by.
No matter.
If they ran into him, they would truly be running into "great luck."
As for what kind of "great luck"? Take a guess.
The kind that sends you flying.
After upgrading to Gold-level, his ship’s speed had increased by about 30%. It had already left the Lost Sea and was heading for the next target Shi Ming had designated—the location of another B-rank sea beast, obtained from the Map of the Endless Sea.
It was the nearest B-rank sea beast target, but the journey would still take about six hours. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖
He needed to increase his strength as quickly as possible.
The plan to hunt A-rank sea beasts was already on the agenda. But everything had to be done step by step. First, it was time to allocate some points!
As he was contemplating the future, one of the communicators on the table rang again.
It was his personal communicator, the one he’d gotten after becoming captain.
"Oh? Nailu Ye?"
’That 45-year-old female captain who betrayed the Black Society to join me... why would she be contacting me out of the blue?’
...
...
...
Deep within the lowest level of the colossal Wandering Ship, the Lighthouse, lay a secret research institute.
This place was a taboo on the ship; no more than thirty people knew of the secret institute’s existence.
The air here was thick with the smell of chemicals, and shelves to the side were lined with sturdy glass jars.
Chunks of flesh from unknown creatures floated inside the jars.
Although they had been sliced into chunks and steeped in an unknown liquid, their flesh was still very much alive—sparks of electricity danced across the surface of some, others emitted a strange blue glow, and within the organs of yet others grew bizarre, squirming parasites.
But now, they were all just specimens, piled together to become objects of scientific study.
A researcher in a hazmat suit dissected a writhing tentacle, then drew a tube of red human blood from a petri dish and injected it into the exposed flesh.
That still-squirming piece of flesh was no simple thing; it was a low-level experimental subject cultured from a small fragment of a Holy Hall-level creature’s remains, though it possessed only some of its biological characteristics.
The researcher carefully observed the flesh’s reaction, his brow furrowed.
"The blood of an A-rank Awakened is being rejected at the genetic level."
"We need the flesh and blood of an S-rank Awakened."
He whispered obsessively.
"The flesh and blood of an S-rank Awakened? Doctor, don’t even think about it. Every S-rank Awakened is a treasure to the Lighthouse. Research requires huge amounts of flesh and blood; it’s impossible to use them for experiments. It would also incur the wrath of the higher-ups. You’d best give up that idea."
"You think they’d be unwilling only because you don’t know them well enough," the "Doctor" said, lifting a strip of fascia.
"To uncover the secrets of the Holy Hall-level Sea Beasts, certain sacrifices must be made. The rewards will be worth it. I will apply to the higher-ups."
"They will definitely be willing," the Doctor added.
BANG!
The exposed flesh beneath his hands exploded into fragments.
The Doctor brushed away the bits of flesh clinging to his hands, face, and equipment as if they were insignificant specks of dust.
...
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P.S.
Author’s Note on Going Premium
(I’ve never really written one of these before, and I felt too awkward to make it a separate Chapter, so I’ll just put it at the end~)
My editor notified me today that the book will be going premium tomorrow.
Time really flies. I still remember when I first published the book over a month ago, I made a silly mistake and posted it in the Xuanhuan (Eastern Fantasy) category. I wrote over 30,000 characters with my head down, but I had barely any collections, and the only person ’following’ the story was me.
For a while, I was filled with extreme self-doubt.
It wasn’t until my editor came and asked me about it that I realized my mistake.
But thankfully, once it was moved, the follows and collections slowly started to increase. After four rounds of recommendations, from the initial 100 collections and 0 followers, it has now surpassed 10,000 collections. It even reached the top 30 on the new book charts at its peak. While it’s nothing compared to many of the top authors, I’d say it’s still pretty decent.
The road lies ahead, and there is still much climbing to do.
I want to give a special thanks to my editor, Chen Xiang. For any aspiring authors out there, you can all submit your work to him. Chen Xiang is a wonderful and kind-hearted person, extremely patient, and will proactively communicate with authors about all aspects of their book. A very responsible editor. He also hangs out and chats with everyone in the group chat, filling the place with a fun and lively atmosphere.
...
And last but not least,
Tomorrow, I’ll do my best to release a bunch of Chapters. I also hope everyone can give me a ’first subscription.’ I’m incredibly grateful. Thank you all so much.
