Tiny Spiders

Henry's ship was a level-three vessel.

Both expansion spaces on the ship had been used to build cannons.

[Name: Regular Cannon]

[Type: Ship Equipment]

[Quality: Regular]

[Description: A basic cannon with a range of 200 meters.]

[This is a fixed cannon in the operations room and cannot be dismantled.]

Lucas Hall wanted to see if he could transfer the cannon to his own ship, but after reading the details, he completely abandoned the idea.

Henry certainly had it good, hoarding a large amount of supplies, but fortunately for Lucas, those supplies ended up benefiting him!

The supplies on board included:

Wood *912, Cloth *808, Stone *995, Steel *83, Crystals *63, Sulfur *35, Fresh Water *50L, Sausages, Bread, and various foods enough for Lucas and Seraphina to last half a month.

The equipment included regular-quality binoculars, a simple fishing rod, and two fur-lined sweaters.

Lucas calculated that these supplies were enough to upgrade the Nightmare Star to level three.

However, he still had no clue where to get the bodies of the otherworldly demons needed for the upgrade.

If he dismantled this level-three sailing ship, he would get extra materials: Wood *520, Cloth *233, Stone *240, Steel *20.

The total amount of materials already exceeded the capacity of the Nightmare Star.

The best course of action for now was to leave this ship intact. Once he obtained the necessary demon corpses, he could upgrade the Nightmare Star and then dismantle this vessel.

For the time being, he could use this ship as storage and drag it behind him.

After transferring the food, fresh water, and higher-grade supplies to the Nightmare Star, Lucas and Seraphina set sail, leaving the island.

However, after sailing 200 nautical miles, Lucas suddenly felt a strange sensation, as though he were being bitten by countless bugs.

He immediately stopped the ship and turned back, and the itching sensation disappeared.

Lucas realized why Henry had been stuck on this island—he simply couldn't leave.

"What happened?" Seraphina asked, noticing the disturbance as she walked out of the cabin.

"My body has spiders in it that won't let me leave the island," Lucas replied, his face grim.

Seraphina frowned and, after a moment of thought, said, "Stop the ship. Come with me!"

She pulled Lucas along, leading him to the laboratory.

There were two large metal tables inside. On one of them were various instruments, and there was a pile of dismembered meat—a collection of Henry's remains, gathered by Seraphina.

"I've just finished examining this. Now I can confirm the body is empty!" Seraphina's expression was serious.

"Empty?"

"That's right!"

"It has no organs, no bones, just a thin layer of skin!" Seraphina explained as she picked up a piece of meat with tweezers. "Did you notice how little meat was left on his body and how little blood there was? At first, I thought he had fallen into the sea, but after checking each piece, I realized there were no bones or internal organs! It's all just superficial skin and muscle."

Lucas immediately understood.

"This body is hollow, no brain, no intestines, no heart! This must have happened right after Henry died—his organs and bones were all consumed by the spiders!" Seraphina concluded.

After hearing her explanation, Lucas broke into a cold sweat.

It was likely that his own body also harbored these spiders. His life was not in his hands; at any moment, these spiders could feast on him, turning him into an empty shell!

Suddenly, Lucas noticed a pleasant scent.

Once he became aware of it, he couldn't ignore it, and it made his mouth water.

It was the influence of the "Delicious Chef's Knife" that had made Henry's body so tempting.

"Seraphina, you didn't eat it, did you?" Lucas asked, horrified.

Given her nature, he wouldn't have been surprised if she'd taken a small taste.

"What's wrong with you? This is an important sample. How could I have eaten it?" Seraphina replied, a bit annoyed.

"Good!" Lucas sighed in relief.

He had a feeling that eating anything produced by the Delicious Chef's Knife would be disastrous.

It might even become addictive!

"Alright, your turn!" Seraphina said, clearing the table and getting ready to have Lucas lie down.

"What...?"

"I need to examine your body to see how these spiders appeared inside you!" Seraphina explained.

Lucas felt uneasy but eventually lay down on the metal table.

He also wanted to know what was happening in his body.

Seraphina started checking Lucas's body, feeling around.

"Everything seems normal. Open your mouth."

Lucas did as instructed.

Seraphina examined his mouth with a magnifying glass and scraped some of the mucosal tissue, preparing a simple slide to examine under a microscope.

Lucas could sense her growing concern and felt as though he were waiting for a doctor's judgment.

The more uncertain the doctor seemed, the more anxious the patient became.

Minutes later, Seraphina walked over with a sharp knife in her hand.

"What are you doing?"

Lucas quickly sat up and backed away.

"Relax! If you're afraid of pain, just give me some money. I'm out of Sea Conch coins!" Seraphina said calmly, the knife in her hand radiating authority.

Lucas quickly transferred 2000 Sea Conch coins to her.

Seraphina then activated the log and, moments later, a modern blood-drawing kit appeared in her hand.

"You're going to draw blood?" Lucas asked.

"Yep! I was planning to cut you open, but you seem scared of pain, so I'll use this instead." Seraphina said, walking toward him with the blood-drawing kit.

Damn it! Lucas suspected that she had set this whole act up to scam him out of his Sea Conch coins.

Although he had no proof, he was fairly sure of it.

While she drew his blood, Lucas asked about the laboratory.

"Does the lab provide all kinds of tools?"

"There's a lot of restrictions. It mainly offers experimental equipment and medical tools, the more complex and larger the item, the more expensive."

"And what about lighters?"

"Lighters are available, but without fuel. The lab can only create items like glass, metal, ceramics, and plastics. It doesn't provide alcohol or other fuels, and anything purchased from the lab can't be taken out."

"I see." Lucas nodded.

No wonder there was no alcohol in the alcohol lamps he'd seen before.

"Can you generate flint or other fire-starting tools?" Lucas asked again.

"No, but you can try friction fire."

"Forget it."

Lucas didn't believe he could start a fire on a wet sea using friction.

Even if he did succeed, it wouldn't be a long-term solution—once they reached the extreme winter seas, he doubted he'd ever be able to get a fire going!

Seraphina drew 300cc of blood from Lucas, then prepared a blood smear for further examination.

"Look, come take a look at this." She gestured for Lucas to see.

Lucas wasn't very knowledgeable about biology, but when he looked through the microscope, he could tell something wasn't right.

In the view, besides red blood cells, there were countless tiny particles.

"Do you see those black particles? Get ready!"

Seraphina magnified the view and adjusted the focus. Lucas immediately broke out in a cold sweat as he saw what was on the slide.

There were tiny, curled spiders huddled together. Only with sufficient magnification could their outline be barely discerned.

Theoretically, there shouldn't be spiders smaller than cells.

But Lucas clearly saw them under the microscope.

Inside him... there were likely thousands of these tiny spiders, dormant for now. If they were awakened... Lucas would endure unimaginable torment before being eaten alive, turning into an empty shell.

It seemed that going to the island was unavoidable.

There had to be a solution there!

"Don't rush," Seraphina said, her voice soft as she approached, "Give me some time. I'll try to kill the spiders inside you."