Chen Qi contemplated his subsequent plans.

Little Crow shook her head, seeing a kind of excitement unique to newcomers in his eyes.

In this vast ocean, too many young people, carrying their families' hopes, left their small islands for the coastal cities, wanting to make a name for themselves.

And dimensional rifts, especially unknown ones, contained a large amount of valuable things inside.

Just a random sum from them could exceed what an ordinary person earned in a year.

Among them were those who took desperate risks, tired of day after day of work, wanting to enter the rifts, earn a huge sum, and become respected Transcendents.

The big city newspapers loved to publish these rare success stories every day, causing many newcomers to subconsciously ignore the high mortality rate of unknown rifts.

Little Crow asked:

"Have you been to an unknown rift before?"

Been to quite a few, and was even a strategy leader on the leaderboards.

Chen Qi thought to himself, though his original self indeed hadn't set foot in any unknown rift dungeons.

He hadn't even been to the safe mine rift in his hometown of Damarro Town.

"No."

Chen Qi replied.

Just as expected! Little Crow smiled slightly and sincerely advised:

"Don't believe the newspapers. Aside from a few real events, they mostly make things up. Wanting to get rich overnight is extremely difficult.

Unknown rifts are often extremely dangerous, especially for newcomers like you.

Remember, this gun is for self-defense, not a weapon for seeking wealth.

The rift we're heading to next will be more dangerous than you imagine."

Although pirates were mostly fortune-seeking desperadoes, she didn't want a new assistant, a valuable 'patient', to die so quickly.

"Sister Crow, what kind of dangers exactly are in the rift we're going to?"

Chen Qi asked, pretending to be scared.

If he wanted to formulate an escape plan, he needed more information.

Little Crow walked to the sea creature tank and gently stroked a squid-like sea creature:

"Large sea beast lair. There dwell monsters capable of completely swallowing entire merchant ships.

The moment you see them, their twisted, crawling, damp bodies will slowly seep into yours, consuming you from top to bottom like swallowing a cherry, bit by bit, bit by bit...

And this is just the known intelligence."

As she spoke, Little Crow curled her lips into a creepy smile that matched her dark crow mask.

Large sea beasts...

This is just too...

Awesome!

Chen Qi felt delighted. With his Deep Sea Affinity now, most deep-sea creatures posed no danger to him on the ocean.

They were all his dear friends and family!

One could say this rift that pirates feared was tailor-made for him.

But considering Little Crow's mischievous smile, he absolutely couldn't show this joy right now.

Absolutely not...

Since she was his direct superior, he needed to save face for her and play along with her villainous sinister smile.

Chen Qi cooperatively gasped, indicating it was indeed terrifying.

Seeing his expression, Little Crow happily comforted him:

"But don't worry, in the rift, your job is to be my assistant, meaning help me treat injured crew members. The sea beasts aren't your concern.

As long as you work well, even if danger arises, I'll protect you.

Of course, the premise is you must prove you're worth protecting."

Little Crow patted his shoulder.

"Mm."

Chen Qi nodded. He roughly understood something.

Before returning, as long as he didn't do anything too outrageous, he could gain this ship doctor's protection.

After speaking, Little Crow's tone turned serious:

"Alright, enough small talk.

Next, I'll explain your duties. According to ship regulations, your dinner depends on your work performance.

If your work causes losses, not only will you go without food, but you'll also receive lashings."

Little Crow detailed the ship doctor assistant's duties for him.

The assistant's work wasn't complicated, mainly involving room cleaning and medicinal material processing.

The cleaning wasn't difficult since Little Crow herself was quite tidy and organized.

The real challenge was processing the medicinal materials.

Besides conventional herbs, there was an extremely special type of medicinal material:

Sea creatures.

The small sea creatures in the ship doctor's room each possessed numerous rare medicinal materials.

Like pearls under special jellyfish umbrella bodies, special venom inside octopuses...

These sea creatures were all Transcendent animals, and things from their bodies could be used to create Transcendent potions.

But considering sustainability and Little Crow's special preferences, when collecting these materials, the sea creatures must not be harmed.

Although these creatures were immersed in special liquid, they remained extremely dangerous.

When extracting these materials, improper handling could easily lead to fatal injuries.

This was like trying to pull teeth from a strong, living tiger.

According to Little Crow, the previous assistant died from sea creature venom infection because of improper handling—getting drunk and forgetting to wear gloves.

"Take these."

Little Crow took out two books.

Chen Qi accepted the "Sea Creature Medicinal Material Extraction Guide" and a "Normal Human First Aid Guide."

Before reaching the rift, besides tasks, he needed to find time to practice shooting and gather some ship intelligence.

He could just coast through this task...

Little Crow instructed:

"Extracting medicinal materials is the main work, but it's somewhat difficult for newcomers. You can practice with the safe sea creature tanks on the table.

If you perform well these next few days, I'll give you special rewards."

Rewards! Chen Qi instantly perked up.

With other pirates, there probably wouldn't be extra rewards.

As she spoke, Little Crow used a key to open a door within the ship doctor's room.

Behind it were glass jars filled with sea creatures.

At a rough glance, there were at least forty such glass jars!

"Before tonight, if you can extract from three or more, meat added to your dinner.

If you can extract from five jars, I'll give you a life-saving potion.

If your learning ability and hands-on skills are strong enough for ten or more, I'll give you a super amazing potion.

The value of this potion is such that even if you worked hard for a year, you might not afford it."

"What about more than fifteen?"

"Twenty is my personal level."

Little Crow snorted dismissively.

More than fifteen? Are you joking?

Extracting materials from sea creatures sounded simple but tested patience and technique greatly. Even Little Crow, with years of medical experience going all out, could probably only manage twenty before tonight.

"Don't set overly high goals from the start. Be practical and maintain patience."

Little Crow picked up a medical kit,

"Alright, I'm going to check the ship's hygiene and distribute medicine.

Remember, when handling sea creatures, don't lose patience. Patience is key.

You must remember, each of these sea creatures is extremely precious, very precious, precious enough to make you work ten extra years."

After these instructions, Little Crow left the ship doctor's room, leaving Chen Qi alone.

"Hoo..."

After she left, Chen Qi sat in a chair, browsing through the "Sea Creature Medicinal Material Extraction Guide."

The book contained numerous cases of severe injuries from failures.

The other world wasn't easy either—some died extracting materials, there was still damn mortgage to deal with, and studies too...

Five minutes passed in a flash.

"Alright, spent five minutes, I completely understand now."

Chen Qi closed the book. His brain fully grasped how to extract materials from sea creatures.

His current newbie stats were too weak; he needed to develop for a while.

Little Crow was a doctor with many powerful potions. If he could get these reward potions, it would significantly help his future actions.

Before confirming escape, he should behave obediently.

Chen Qi entered the sea creature storage room, put on gloves, and started working!

In theory, with his Deep Sea Affinity, sea creatures wouldn't actively attack him, making this extraction work as easy as pie.

But the specific effects of Deep Sea Affinity needed more verification.

First, Chen Qi targeted a human-head-sized black octopus.

He slowly reached his hand into the jar, immersed it in water, and reached into the area under the octopus's head.

Then raised his middle and index fingers, carefully plucking the granular special medicinal material from the octopus's body.

According to the book, every step was important.

Slowly, have patience...

Suddenly, the octopus's tentacles and suckers forcefully wrapped around his wrist.

Damn, messed up!

His brain understood, but his hands didn't!

At this moment, this monster from the deep sea exerted force with its tentacles, emitting indescribable strange sounds, like low weeping, yet also like a funeral dirge.

What was it conveying to him?

Fear, hostility, assimilation, or introducing me to their god?

Chen Qi broke out in cold sweat.

Although he had Deep Sea Affinity talent, he didn't understand deep sea monster language.

He could only rely on intuition, bodily intuition, to sense this ancient biological information.

Sense, slowly sense...

As long as he took it slow, he could understand this sea creature's terrifying language!

Chen Qi relaxed his body, focusing attention on his hand.

Finally, in an instant!

Chen Qi sensed the meaning of that ancient biological language:

"Ah, comfortable, more, more~"

Damn!

The moment he sensed it, Chen Qi's heart turned cold, inwardly cursing uncontrollably, then swiftly grabbed the medicinal material and pulled his hand from the jar.

He looked horrified, pupils contracted, staring at the terrifying octopus sea creature in the tank.

What the hell did he just sense! Is this what a deep sea monster should convey to a human! Where's its dignity as a monster!

Did that earlier mistake hit this sea creature's pleasure spot?

Wait, what part of this sea creature did I touch just now?

Chen Qi shook his head, not wanting to dwell on it—he wasn't some deep sea creature enthusiast.

Regardless, he extracted the material and increased his understanding of the Deep Sea Affinity talent.

This also showed his Deep Sea Affinity talent was truly strong!

Bang!

At that moment, the ship doctor's room door was suddenly pushed open, and Little Crow's small head slowly peeked in, looking at the startled Chen Qi.

She had just passed by when she heard the sea creature's sounds and Chen Qi stepping back.

Some sea creatures' sounds had a magical quality that could induce fear.

Chen Qi's reaction clearly showed he was frightened.

For ordinary people, sea creatures were still too terrifying, Little Crow gently shook her head.

Like this, forget about more than five—whether he could manage even three before tonight was questionable.

He might even develop deep sea creature phobia!

How could he continue as her assistant then!

Cultivating a good assistant wasn't easy, Little Crow sighed inwardly, comforting him:

"Stay calm, take it slow. There's still plenty of time before night.

Don't fear because of one failure."

This is probably something I can't help but fear—Chen Qi thought.

After speaking, Little Crow withdrew her head and left again.

She had much work today. As they approached the target rift, more people were developing uncomfortable symptoms.

"Tch..."

I'll definitely be more careful next time, Chen Qi patted his face, looking at these bizarre small sea creatures, rolling up his sleeves again.

He could now confirm that with his Deep Sea Affinity, extracting these materials was extremely simple.

These sea creatures weren't monsters to him—they were like human children holding lollipops!

And he just needed to be quick-eyed and swift-handed to snatch their lollipops!

Even extracting all would take at most an hour.

He just needed to periodically grab some materials from the sea creatures.

This meant he had plenty of free time today.

Chen Qi turned, looking outside through the small window, and at the Collector pistol at his waist.

The fog was thickening; they weren't far from the rift.

He wasn't proficient with firearms and lacked close-combat weapon knowledge. He needed to set aside time to enhance his combat skills.

Also, for escape purposes, it was best to observe the entire ship's condition.

Decision made...

Chen Qi revealed a determined look.

Let's do this!

...

The busy day passed in a flash. Night fell, and the Sawshark sailed smoothly through the darkness.

"Done!"

Chen Qi promptly collapsed into a chair. Today, he had completed his work and observed the entire Sawshark's situation.

He had also practiced shooting techniques with pirates outside for a while.

"I'm back. How's the work going?"

After finishing work, Little Crow opened the door. She held two dry breads in her right hand, carried a medical kit on her shoulder, and held a leather whip in her left hand.

Whip!

Resting in his chair, Chen Qi saw this object and instantly jolted awake.

Completely alert now!

On pirate ships with strong violent atmospheres, newcomers were usually targeted. Pirates would find excuses to pick on them and beat them up.

Especially crew members like Chen Qi who were former slaves with no background.

Today, while observing the Sawshark, Chen Qi heard about ship doctor Little Crow from some crew members.

This former website's cute yet mischievous Miss Crow, in the eyes of these bloodthirsty pirates, was actually a very terrifying eccentric doctor.

Emitting creepy laughter during treatments, performing surgery without anesthesia on crew, violently treating patients who didn't follow medical advice...

Through violence, Little Crow was someone many crew members feared.

Considering her undercover identity, this might be her way of taking revenge on 'pirates'.

But according to Chen Qi's speculation, there was another reason.

She might have sadistic tendencies!

Especially when she had a whip in hand! This further confirmed his suspicion!

This was definitely bad news for him!

"Sister Crow, let me help you put things away."

Chen Qi immediately went over, promptly taking her medical kit, bread, and the whip from her hand, then slowly placing them on the cabinet.

"How did the work go?"

Little Crow rotated her hand and asked.

Based on management tips Captain Blackeye told her today—after giving sweets comes bitterness—she should establish some authority with this new crew member tonight!

After all, she was small in stature with a not-so-intimidating voice, unlike Captain Blackeye who could scare people just with his eyes.

Chen Qi quickly answered:

"Cleaning is done. For material extraction, following the guide, I extracted from nineteen jars total."

"How many?"

Little Crow's eager hands instantly went limp.

"Nineteen."

Chen Qi answered seriously again. His original self had experience handling sea creatures, so this number wasn't exaggerated.

Not fifty jars because he was lazy and wanted to be realistic.

Not twenty jars to save face for his direct superior, this Little Crow.