The island was like a battlefield. The Saltmen were relentlessly draining moisture from the island. They pierced the decaying whale's body with the spikes formed from their arms, extracting whatever trace amounts of water remained.

“If only we could capture one… Try to find out what’s controlling these Saltmen.”  Suna’s voice came through. 

Even without the logbook, she could still communicate with Yang Yi and observe everything happening on the island.

“Keep an eye on the ship! Don’t focus solely on this side! If that rotting whale comes back to life, it might attack the ship!”

“I’m watching it!”

Yang Yi followed behind the Penitent Armour, firing at any Saltmen along the way who looked like they would attack. Though the bullets couldn’t kill them, the force of impact made it difficult for the Saltmen to re-form immediately. As long as he avoided stepping on salt, he could pass through safely.

If a large group blocked the way, Yang Yi would toss out a few bottles of fresh water to lure them away before moving forwards.

He was well-practised in throwing weapons, so his aim with the bottles was dead-on. Before long, he reached the cave entrance, a hundred metres away.

Two Saltmen standing nearby like guards were smashed apart by the Penitent Armor leading the way.

Then man and armour, like twin phantoms, charged inside, while the battle between Saltmen and the rotting whale raged on outside. Inside the cave, violent gusts of air would erupt intermittently.

While they couldn’t harm Yang Yi or the Penitent Armour, the salt particles hidden within them were still dangerous.

“Yang Yi, be careful, the air blasts contain small amounts of salt!”

“No problem!”

Yang Yi was already prepared.

He had intentionally run through water on his way here to soak his wolf fur, allowing him to carry a significant amount of water on his body, even if it was highly saline.

He could even pour it over his head to replenish moisture. That way, the small amount of sea salt sticking to him along the way couldn’t dry out the water in his fur. He could shake it off and pour more fresh water on himself…

Neither man nor armour was hindered by the salty wind, and they pressed on.

“Yang Yi, I think you’re becoming more and more like a real wolf! You keep staring at me. You think I don’t notice?”

“Suna! You’re really talking too much!” Yang Yi said, frustrated.

Suna’s mind worked quickly, her inner thoughts were far more active than she let on.

“Alright, alright. I won’t distract you. Just be careful, okay?” Her voice faded from his ears, as if an invisible presence had just vanished from beside him.

Yang Yi pulled his focus inward and dedicated himself fully to the exploration. After all, no one knew what lay ahead.

After going more than 500 metres deep, the tunnel gradually narrowed. The dark brown walls shifted in hue toward reddish-brown.

Yang Yi released his werewolf form — moving through a tunnel barely two metres high was far too inconvenient.

He also put away the Ironbreaker and instead held throwing darts in his hands. He didn’t use the Serpent Fang, it wasn’t the right time to start a fire.

The rotting whale’s flesh was dry and low in moisture. If it accidentally caught fire, it would turn into a massive fireball, and there’d be no way to continue exploring.

After another 200 metres, the armour reached an exit. It was a huge vertical shaft, constantly spewing vast amounts of sea salt upwards. Yang Yi estimated the distance, this wasn’t the central cavity of the island. But if all that salt rained down on him, the consequences could be severe.

The shaft spewed less salt only because most of the salt had sprayed upward and only a small portion had made it down.

From that point on, it wasn’t suitable for a living person to proceed. However, as the salt continued to vent out, the amount inside the rotting whale would decrease. Once it dropped to safer levels, Yang Yi could advance again. Until then, sending in the armour to scout was the wiser choice.

Yang Yi halted near the shaft.

The armour drew a fake version of the Ironbreaker and drove it deep into the reddish-brown wall of flesh just outside the shaft. Then, using its own weight, it slid rapidly downwards, the Ironbreaker slicing through the wall to cushion the fall, carving a deep gash along the fleshy wall as it descended.

As it descended deeper, the condition of the surrounding flesh steadily improved. The reddish-brown hue gradually turned to a vibrant crimson, and the previously dry and stiff texture became softer and increasingly saturated with moisture.

It had descended nearly a thousand metres. At last, the Penitent Armor reached the bottom of the cavern.

Underfoot was a thick layer of salt, but the surrounding walls had turned into bright red flesh, glistening and slowly writhing.

Countless Saltmen soldiers were attacking the walls. With every stab, they absorbed large amounts of moisture, causing the walls to wither temporarily. But with the arrival of a gust of air, all the Saltmen lost their form, were blown apart, and carried upward by the wind.

The walls then quickly regained their colour, and from the salt below, new Saltmen emerged… A seemingly endless war was unfolding between the two sides!

The air currents were much stronger, meaning it was likely they were close to the source.

The armour crouched low, lowering its center of gravity, and walked forwards like a silent observer.

“How incredible…” Suna’s voice rang out, she, too, was seeing through the armour’s eyes.

“You can still see?” Yang Yi was a little surprised.

After all, the connection range of the gauntlet was only a kilometre, and they had far exceeded that.

“Why wouldn’t I be able to see?” Suna asked.

Yang Yi hadn’t told her that the armour had a control range limit, since he had always been the primary operator.

“A kilometre? Why didn’t you tell me that earlier?”

“This armour is far more dangerous than you think!”

The two exchanged a few quick remarks but didn’t argue — it was hardly the time for that.

And in the end, it turned out for the better: Yang Yi had become something like a signal relay, allowing Suna to receive the armor’s vision in real-time.

Onward the armour went.

It aided neither the Saltmen nor the rotting whale. After all, a single suit of armour could do very little in a battle between such massive beings. Its role was limited to small interventions at most.

The salt beneath its feet felt like desert sand. Yang Yi controlled it to crouch down and try digging, but even after half a metre, there was no bottom in sight. And with the constant air currents, digging was nearly impossible.

This suggested a huge amount of sea salt was present. The rotting whale probably wouldn't stop spewing salt anytime soon.

“What’s that?” Suna’s voice suddenly rang out. Yang Yi noticed it at the same time.

After the most recent gust of wind, about two hundred metres ahead, a short wooden pole had been revealed, tied with some surprisingly intact rope.

Earlier, Yang Yi might not have recognised it. But he was sure it was a ship’s mast, which meant something was buried beneath the salt, likely a whole ship!

“Go dig it up! There must be a ship under there!” Suna sounded thrilled, as if she were the one personally exploring the site.

“Don’t hijack the controls, I’m the captain!” Yang Yi reclaimed control and calmly walked towards the spot.

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