Chapter 81: The Second Day at Sea

A red beam shot from the bow of the Sea Windmill and struck a small iceberg a hundred meters ahead, shattering it into pieces. The underwater part of the iceberg was also cracked by the red light. The massive ship smashed through recklessly, pushing the broken ice floes aside as it continued deeper into the North Sea.

Lin Qi, tied with a safety rope, stood proudly beside the bow figurehead. His left hand rested on the mermaid statue, the Sea Windmill’s mascot, while his right hand held a sharp harpoon. He stared intently at the sea.

Suddenly, a blue shark about three meters long leaped from the water, opening its mouth to bite a bloody piece of meat hanging from the ship’s side. Lin Qi laughed wildly. A yellow glow of Combat Qi flashed briefly around him, and the harpoon shot out with a yellow streak, piercing the shark’s head with a sharp whistling sound.

The harpoon went through the shark’s head, killing it instantly. Lin Qi laughed heartily and pulled the shark up using a tough sinew rope attached to the harpoon. His eyes shone brightly. He grinned at several sailors on the deck who were also holding harpoons, waiting for targets. “A big one! A fresh Hammerhead Shark! What a prize! Its liver is a supreme delicacy! Thor! Thor!”

In the biting cold wind, a burly sailor who was tall and bulky like a bear, his chest bare and covered with thick black hair, walked over with a laugh. He helped Lin Qi pull the Hammerhead Shark, which weighed at least a thousand pounds, onto the deck. Thor, the boatswain of the Sea Windmill, drew a sharp fishing knife and skillfully sliced open the shark’s belly, carefully cutting out its liver.

The Hammerhead Shark was a common aquatic magical beast in the North Sea. Its skin was excellent material for Leather Armor, and its fins fetched a high price in The East. Dun Er Ke exported hundreds of thousands of Hammerhead Shark fins to The East every year, earning piles of Gold Coins. But the most delicious and valuable part of the Hammerhead Shark was its liver.

Several sailors gathered around. They brought a large wooden plate, and Thor finely sliced the liver right on the deck. He mixed it with a little soy sauce and added some pungent mustard. Lin Qi greedily grabbed a piece of liver and stuffed it into his mouth. The tender liver almost melted on his tongue. A spicy, sweet, and strangely fishy juice flowed down into his stomach, and soon a warmth spread from his belly.

“Excellent! It’s been a full three years since I last had fresh Hammerhead Shark liver!” Lin Qi exclaimed with feeling. He skewered a few slices of the liver with a small knife and strode towards the cabin.

The upper deck of the Sea Windmill had several separate cabins reserved for the captain, the first mate, and honored guests. Right now, Enzo was lying face down on a bed in one of these cabins, holding a wooden basin and vomiting miserably. From yesterday until today, he hadn’t drunk a drop of water or eaten a single grain of rice. He had emptied his stomach of everything, even bile, and now he was dry heaving, feeling as if his internal organs were about to come out of his mouth.

Enzo felt weak all over, and his vision was dark. He didn’t even notice Lin Qi entering the cabin.

Lin Qi took the wooden basin from Enzo’s hands, grabbed Enzo, pried his mouth open, and shoved a few pieces of the liver inside. Enzo chewed instinctively a few times and swallowed the liver. Enzo, who had never eaten mustard before, sneezed violently several times. He suddenly found strength from somewhere and leaped up from the bed.

Lin Qi laughed triumphantly and slapped Enzo on the shoulder. “Hammerhead Shark liver! Good stuff! For a rookie like you, a few pieces will help you get used to life on this ship! Come on, cheer up! There are plenty of fun things waiting for us!”

Enzo shook his head. The warmth in his belly spread throughout his body, and his listless spirits indeed recovered quite a bit. Even his previously agonizing internal organs felt comfortable and settled. He rolled his eyes at Lin Qi and said bitterly, “Boss, you should have given this to me yesterday!”

Lin Qi shrugged helplessly and pulled Enzo out of the foul-smelling cabin. He sighed long. “No choice. We weren’t in Hammerhead Shark waters yesterday. The magical beasts in the sea are like those in the mountains and forests; they all have their own territories!”

The North Sea was home to countless aquatic magical beasts. Mid-tier and low-tier magical beasts were scattered freely across various sea areas. But powerful magical beasts like the Frenzied Unicorn Whale and the Hammerhead Shark had their own specific activity zones. A Frenzied Unicorn Whale wouldn’t rashly cross into another powerful magical beast’s territory, and other magical beasts naturally followed the same rule.

After tying a safety rope around Enzo’s waist, Lin Qi led Enzo, whose energy and strength had recovered somewhat, back to the deck. Enzo still couldn’t stand steadily on the deck and moved awkwardly, but supported by the wonderfully effective liver, he no longer felt dizzy at all.

The Sea Windmill continued deeper into the North Sea. The crew happily hunted freely on the deck.

These sea magical beasts were greedy and stupid. As long as bait was hung from the ship’s side, they would leap up on their own, exposing their vital spots to the sharp harpoons. In the water, a Hammerhead Shark could easily kill an Earth Knight. But when they left the protection of the sea, they were no match for the sharp harpoons.

Soon, nearly a hundred Hammerhead Sharks were neatly arranged on the deck. The skin, fins, livers, and teeth of these big creatures were cut off. Their meat was carefully chopped up, mixed with their blood and some special medicine, and made into barrel after barrel of pungent, bloody paste.

Lin Qi kicked a fin discarded on the deck and sneered. “In The East, those rich big shots would pay over a thousand Gold Coins for a top-quality Hammerhead Shark fin! They love this stuff. But us? We only like their livers. Eat plenty of Hammerhead Shark liver, and even a rookie like you will soon become an experienced sailor!”

Taking a deep breath, Lin Qi looked maliciously at Enzo. “Enzo, my good brother, how about I teach you to swim? You could even act as bait, maybe attract a few high-tier Hammerhead Sharks? Tsk, a high-tier Hammerhead Shark’s fin is worth tens of thousands of Gold Coins in The East!”

Enzo shivered suddenly. Swimming in this freezing weather, in the North Sea full of icebergs?

And who knew how many vicious sharks were lurking below!

Enzo righteously refused Lin Qi’s offer. He gritted his teeth and said, “No! I’d rather duel you than learn to swim in this awful place!”

His eyes darting craftily, Enzo suggested, “If it were the small river next to Light Town, maybe I’d be interested in learning!”

Lin Qi spread his hands to show his disappointment. Suddenly, another red beam shot from the bow, blasting another small iceberg into fragments.

Suddenly, the lookout on the mast shouted loudly. “A ship! There’s a ship over there!”

After a pause, the lookout yelled as if he had seen a ghost. “A boat less than three meters long! Damn it!”