I Want to Fuse with You!

The wind in the Storm Sea had died down to level 1.

The number of survivors dropped dramatically.

It was just like the "danger zone" in a battle royale — once the timer was up, players still trapped in the area would be killed.

But the buffer zone was different; here there were no giant worms, the waters were calm, and a small island with a diameter of several hundred meters lay in the middle of the sea.

A man dressed in a sharkskin diving suit struggled onto the shore.

It was Lucas Hall, who had swum here, clinging to a broken piece of driftwood after paddling for almost two nautical miles!

On the driftwood beside him lay a woman.

"Seraphina... you're heavier than I thought!" Lucas gasped, clearly exhausted.

The reason he had chosen this direction was that there was a small island at the edge of the buffer zone. It wasn't far, and if the ship sank, they could swim to the island and take shelter for a while.

But Lucas had underestimated the distance of two nautical miles.

By the time he was halfway there, his energy was completely depleted.

If not for his berserk state, which allowed him to use vitality in place of energy, he might have drowned.

After reaching the shore, Lucas collapsed, lying flat on his back like a dead fish in the sand.

Beside him, Seraphina was unconscious, having fainted from exhaustion when her energy ran out.

She was a strong swimmer, but her energy was limited, so Lucas had dragged her the rest of the way.

Thanks to that, Lucas's vitality was running low too, only 17 left.

He checked his stats:

Rationality: 42/100

Energy: 0/100

Vitality: 17/100

It was a close call!

Even though the Nightmare had sunk, Lucas wasn't desperate.

Ever since the Astrologer ship had sunk, Seraphina had shared information about shipwrecks.

Once a ship was destroyed, it could be rebuilt.

Lucas opened the ship interface and saw the message at the top:

Materials needed for ship reconstruction: Wood x500, Cloth x250. You may use materials from the ship's hold.

Rebuilding requires at least one month of cooldown; items on the ship will be frozen.

He checked his resources. He had enough cloth since others had given him a large supply.

But the wood… he was short by a lot. However, he could chop trees.

Thinking about it, he fell asleep. This time, there were no nightmares. He slept more peacefully than ever before.

How long he slept, he didn't know, but eventually, Lucas was woken by a system announcement.

"Remaining players in the Storm Sea: 3. Please evacuate the Storm Sea as soon as possible, or you will be swallowed by the Black Mist..."

Lucas opened his eyes and realized he was lying inside the island.

Seraphina was beside him, staring at him with eyes as red as blood.

This scene seemed oddly familiar, but Lucas was still groggy and didn't realize what was happening at first.

"Do you know how long you've been asleep?" Seraphina asked.

"I don't know," Lucas muttered.

"Over 12 hours. When I woke up, I dragged you here. It's already been 12 hours!" she replied.

"Is that so? No wonder I'm so hungry."

Lucas didn't think much of it and patted his empty stomach.

The long sleep had restored him, and he was now at about 70% of his usual state, except for the overwhelming hunger.

"When you were asleep, you were as heavy as a dead fish! I couldn't even drag you!" Seraphina complained.

"Same goes for you!" Lucas immediately shot back.

"Really?"

Seraphina wasn't angry. Instead, a mysterious smile appeared on her face.

"But now that you're awake, you can answer me!"

Her gaze suddenly turned cold, and she raised a flintlock pistol, pointing it directly at Lucas's head.

Lucas recognized it immediately. It was his precious flintlock pistol, the Microbeam Flintlock.

But how did it end up in Seraphina's hands?

Before he could think further, Seraphina began speaking, and the words seemed eerily familiar.

"Man, three sentences. Give me one reason not to kill you!"

Her blood-red eyes looked dangerous, and her smile was unsettling, sending chills down Lucas's spine.

At that moment, Lucas remembered a nightmare from before.

In that nightmare, a woman with red eyes had pointed a gun at his head. Wasn't that exactly what was happening right now?

His alertness kicked in, and he suddenly grew more serious.

"Seraphina, this joke has gone too far!"

"Do I look like I'm joking?" Seraphina asked, her gun unwavering, pointed straight at Lucas.

"By the way, that's the first sentence. You've got two more, so use your chance wisely!"

Lucas fell silent immediately.

The dark barrel of the gun was putting immense pressure on him.

He looked around and realized that the tide had risen again, and the island's diameter had shrunk to less than fifty meters.

The trees around had all been chopped down, likely by the flintlock pistol, turning into piles of wood.

It looked like Seraphina was preparing to hoard all the wood and build just one ship, the Astrologer.

Lucas figured out the situation and narrowed his eyes.

It was survival of the fittest — the usual human nature!

His voice turned cold as he responded, "I can give you all my gear, and the wood on this island is yours. Just spare me!"

"NO, NO, NO, not enough!" Seraphina shook her head immediately. "Have you thought about this? If I kill you, all of it naturally becomes mine!"

"You…" Lucas immediately fell silent, realizing that would be his third sentence.

He hadn't expected Seraphina to be so ruthless!

After everything, he had trusted her!

Anger flared inside Lucas, but after thinking for a long time, he couldn't come up with any other bargaining chips.

Finally, he growled, "Then shoot me!"

Lucas stood up, ready to fight back.

His Refuse Death skill would prevent him from dying for a short time, and it was his last trump card.

"Ha ha ha... as expected! Even when the gun is pointed at you, you panic!" Seraphina suddenly burst out laughing, her body shaking with mirth, and tears flowing from her eyes.

"You…"

Lucas's gaze turned sharp, a hint of displeasure showing.

But then Seraphina added, "How about this? I'll take half of everything you have, and then I'll spare you!"

"What?" Lucas frowned.

"Don't get it? I mean, I want to fuse with you!"

"Fuse?!" Lucas was taken aback.

"Yes, that's right. Fuse!" Seraphina confirmed.

Lucas was at a loss for words.

But at the same time, he felt a sense of relief.

Seraphina didn't actually want to kill him; she was just seeking revenge. After all, he had done the same to her not too long ago!

He sat back down, utterly dumbfounded, and sighed, "What if I don't agree?"

"With the gun in my hand, you have no choice but to agree!"

Seraphina waved the gun around confidently, then started rummaging through her bag.

Lucas finally relaxed, thinking, "This woman must have lost her mind!"

In the middle of nowhere, suddenly asking him to "fuse"? He wasn't some transforming mech that could combine parts to form a head.

What on earth was she talking about?

But looking at her rummaging through her bag, she seemed serious, so… surely she wasn't pulling out a balloon?

Lucas's mind raced, watching her every move.

When he finally saw what she pulled out, all hope was gone.

It wasn't a balloon at all. Instead, she pulled out a collection of strange organs and body parts: a sea monster's tongue, eyeballs, brain, glands, throat, heart, and more, all preserved in jars.

[A bunch of strange organs, your rationality decreases by 5.]

"Sorry, there's so much, it took me a while to find..."

Seraphina finally pulled out what she was really after — a golden card.

Lucas took it, his vision going dark.

[Name: Ship Fusion Card]

[Type: Consumable]

[Quality: Special]

[Description: With mutual agreement, two ships can fuse. The resulting ship will be larger, with more rooms, and inherit the abilities of both ships. The ship can only inherit up to two abilities from each ship, and subsequent upgrades will require more resources.]

"So, you mean this kind of fusion…" Lucas turned his head and awkwardly asked.

"Well, what did you think I meant?" Seraphina laughed, shaking with glee.

"Uh…" Lucas was left speechless.

This girl was absolutely doing it on purpose!

And this item… it must be the legendary gold card she pulled earlier...