The sudden awakening of the corpse-whale interrupted Yang Yi's salt-selling operation.

A massive amount of sea salt was spewed out, and even the Nightmare Star, which was 30 metres away from the island, wasn’t spared, it got hit by a shower of salt.

As soon as the salt began falling, Yang Yi dashed into the captain’s quarters, mainly out of concern that the salt might have some hazardous properties, like turning into Salt People, for example. But fortunately, that wasn’t the case.

What was expelled was just ordinary salt, nothing special about it. Only the salt directly on the corpse-whale’s body could transform into Salt People!

As the corpse-whale began to stir, the loose salt on its surface also seemed to come to life, gathering together to form countless snow-white Salt People, so many that they resembled a full army. These Salt People brandished their spear-like arms and launched an assault on the corpse-whale itself.

“ROAR!!!”

A low bellow rose from beneath the sea. The once-calm sea surface surged, pushing the Nightmare Star back by more than ten metres. Even the stones anchoring the zipline onshore were dragged into the sea by the force.

Yang Yi stepped out of the captain’s quarters and used the tri-ocular lens to scan the island, quickly gaining a general understanding of the situation. Just as he was about to focus on the armour, Suna came running up from the cabin. There was no way she could’ve missed such a commotion, and then, she was stunned by the scene before her. It was something you’d only see in a film.

Countless Salt People, like soldiers, were attacking the corpse-whale beneath their feet. However, the corpse-whale wasn’t about to sit still, it shook its body, flinging off the salt crust that coated it.

To the corpse-whale, it was just a body tremor, but to the Salt People, and to the Penitent Armour on the island, it was no different from a massive earthquake! Salt People were shaken apart or flung into the sea. The Penitent Armour, on the other hand, managed to barely stay upright by anchoring itself with the Ironbreaker (Imitation) embedded in the corpse-whale’s flesh.

A new eruption followed, another torrent of sea salt spewed out. Clearly, the corpse-whale had an enormous reserve of salt inside it. The true battlefield was actually inside its body!

Salt rained down from above like snowfall, piling up a thick layer on the deck of the Nightmare Star.

“Now’s the perfect time to go ashore! The surface salt has been absorbed or shaken off by the corpse-whale, which greatly reduces the chances of being attacked by Salt People!” Suna said, clearly wanting to go to the island, but was immediately and firmly rejected by Yang Yi.

“You’re not going ashore!”

“Why not?”

“There has to be someone left on the ship, and that someone isn’t going to be me,” Yang Yi replied gravely.

Suna frowned.

“That’s your only reason?”

“I’m the captain, you’re the first mate, isn’t that reason enough?”

“But what else?”

Yang Yi could tell Suna was becoming more difficult to deal with.

“Fine! Here’s another reason, you’re too weak. You’ve got no survival methods. I’m afraid you’ll die on the island. Satisfied?” He answered coldly, and Suna finally gave up. But she hadn’t truly given up, or rather, this could have been her actual goal all along, as she reached out her hand towards Yang Yi.

“Give me your right-hand gauntlet.”

“What do you want that for?”

“To wear, of course…”

Suna explained her intention. She planned to use the Penitent Armour, in a split-body remote control form, to explore the island and venture inside the corpse-whale. Yang Yi hesitated for a moment, then finally agreed.

“At most, I can give you the hand armor. But it’s going to hurt, a lot…”

“I’m not afraid of pain!” Suna replied, undaunted.

A dozen seconds later, Yang Yi took off the gauntlet on his right hand, though he left the arm guard on, and handed the gauntlet to Suna.

She took a deep breath and tried to put it on. 

It was a magical piece of armour, unlike other system outfits that would adapt to the player’s body and adjust in size. It was simply one size larger than a normal human’s, but it was never empty inside because it was lined with spikes!

Suna closed her eyes almost instinctively as she slid her right hand into it. The spikes pierced her skin, and the sudden, sharp pain made her crouch down, but she didn’t make a sound. Moments later, the pain vanished. Suna gained vision from the suit of armour stationed on the distant island, along with partial control over it. But the main controller was still Yang Yi, after all, he still wore the arm guard and shoulder plates.

"Why didn’t you take those off?"

"I need them to scout the way, otherwise it’s too dangerous."

Both Yang Yi and Suna were startled. They hadn’t spoken out loud. The exchange had occurred through silent mental communication, similar to a neural interface, though not as complete. It only allowed for communication, not mind-reading.

"This control system is a bit like a brain-computer interface. It's as if we’ve built a local network..." Suna assessed.

But Yang Yi didn’t have time to continue the discussion.

The moment had come.

Most of the salt had been shaken off the rotting whale or absorbed and then expelled, revealing the island’s true form: 

A massive jellyfish floating on the sea, slightly more swollen than before. Its dome was riddled with pores of varying sizes, especially in the centre, where a massive hole lay hidden until moments before, obscured by salt.

Every pore was spraying salt outwards , like a salt-producing machine. Its flesh resembled dehydrated, shrivelled dark vegetables, with very little moisture inside. Every movement was accompanied by cracking sounds from its brittle body.

So, the particles drifting through the air weren’t just salt, they included bits of flesh and blood from the rotting whale. They were minimal and posed no threat to the Nightmare Star.

Yang Yi checked his gear and grabbed a sharkskin wetsuit from the captain’s quarters, along with 1000 litres of fresh water from the hold. It was Yang Yi’s plan for dealing with the Saltmen. The creatures were nearly immune to physical attacks, so fighting them was a waste of time. Instead, he intended to use the fresh water as bait to lure them away.

While trading salt, he’d also stocked up on large amounts of fresh water and had asked Suna to fill one-litre reagent bottles with it using the lab’s equipment, perfect for tossing out to draw the Saltmen’s attention. After all, the water content of the human body could never compare to that of pure water.

As for using water to dissolve the Saltmen, Yang Yi had considered it. However, there was simply too much salt on the island, making that tactic unfeasible. He could only carry so much water.

Once everything was ready, Yang Yi leapt off the ship and transformed midair, into a werewolf. By the time he hit the water, he stood three metres tall, and his right arm guard and shoulder armour had expanded with him.

He ran across the supersaturated seawater towards the island. The density of the water was so high that a person could easily float on it. For the transformed Yang Yi, sprinting across the water's surface was no problem. Even the waves stirred by the trembling island couldn't slow him down.

On the shore, the Penitent Armour was already preparing to receive him. It had cleared the surrounding coastline of salt, and the salt rain from the sky had diminished. It was the perfect moment to land on the island!

Yang Yi reached the island smoothly, pulled out his Broken Iron and flintlock pistol, and dashed towards the hole he’d previously scouted.

That particular hole was different from the others, it had only sprayed salt twice, and then stopped, making it ideal for internal exploration.

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