In the stormy weather, navigating a small boat and reaching the shore was no easy task.
Raindrops continuously pelted Chen Qi's body, and his thoughts shifted from wanting to reach the shore quickly to simply not falling off the boat.
His body became exhausted, and his consciousness gradually blurred.
He didn't know how much time had passed, but the blazing daylight in the sky began to wane and eventually extinguished.
A round, slightly red moon slowly rose from the end of the coastline.
This marked the descent of nightfall and the vanishing of daylight—
Nighttime already… Chen Qi weakly opened his eyes and looked at the pitch-black world before him.
The storm had tormented his body severely.
In the heavy rain, his sense of time was totally blurred.
The steamboat, impacted by the waves, also suffered damage and significantly slowed down.
This boat probably would become unusable after reaching the shore.
However, there was a piece of good news.
As the night descended, the storm now had only wind and some drizzle left.
Where am I? Chen Qi braced against the sea wind and looked ahead.
Suddenly, a faint light hit his eyes.
Another light… Chen Qi raised his head and looked towards the source of the light.
The light grew brighter and brighter.
Suddenly facing the strong light, he had to squint his eyes.
In the distant blur, atop a huge tall tower, an old man holding an oil lamp vaguely looked at him with a puzzled expression.
It's the lighthouse…
Chen Qi lay on the boat, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
Finally…
He had finally reached land…
Seeing the lighthouse meant he was not far from the town and the shore.
Chen Qi shook his head, sat up, and stretched his limbs.
The lighthouse was an essential navigational structure for maritime journeys.
The lighthouses in the Witch Sea region also had to guard against large sea beast attacks and special situations like island fleet invasions.
Thus, the lamp keeper was usually a highly respected, highly inspired, and powerful Transcendent.
This was an extremely boring yet crucial job.
The seventy-year-old lighthouse keeper looked towards Chen Qi's direction.
Today's storm had lasted so long, how could there still be someone at sea!
Moreover, it seemed to be a young man!
This was too reckless! As an elder, the lighthouse keeper always had much concern for young people.
He cleared his throat and shouted in a loud voice:
"Young man, are you alright? Do you need help?"
"What did you say? The voice is too low!"
Chen Qi patted his head and let the water out of his ears.
Upon seeing the light, he became spirited again!
Whatever it was, he smiled, then waved his hand!
Why are you smiling? Be serious! The lighthouse keeper anxiously shouted louder:
"The wind is not right tonight! There might be monsters in the sea! Get to the shore quickly, don't go out to sea tonight or tomorrow!"
He shook his head, thinking that the boy seemed completely unworried and probably didn't understand what had happened tonight.
His high inspiration allowed him to clearly sense an ancient aura mixed in the storm today, like a monster's whisper.
Such winds hadn't blown over the sea for a long time.
From his experience, this monster-like roaring sea wind indicated that some monsters, originally active in the deep sea, were coming to the surface!
It seemed something major had happened.
Many fishermen and merchants had met with mishaps today.
And at night, sea beasts became even more rampant!
This boy, sitting in such a small boat, was lucky not to be attacked by sea beasts.
"Get to the shore quickly!"
The lighthouse keeper yelled loudly; he couldn't guarantee what might pop out of the seawater.
"Okay! I'll get to the shore immediately!"
Chen Qi responded and slightly sped up his steamboat.
With the propeller turning, his small boat sailed towards the island town named "Maro Town."
This was the town he was about to reach, also the town where the original owner of his body was born.
Chen Qi opened the sea chart again and glanced at the Shell Country's terrain and the location of Maro Town.
The major coastal city of the Shell Country was called Moonstone City.
Besides Moonstone City, there were many islands along the Shell Country's coast where humans could live.
Moonstone Islands, Devil Islands, and so on.
Many large and small towns had been established on these islands.
Maro Town was one of the many towns in the Moonstone Islands.
By reading the memories of the original owner, Chen Qi had gained significant understanding of this place.
First, to the people of the Shell Country, the islands were not a good place.
Inconvenient transportation, lack of entertainment, and frequent threats from waves and sea beasts.
Not to mention the increasingly rampant pirates lately.
The small towns on the islands were just remote rural areas.
Many young people from the islands longed for the prosperous cities of the Shell Country.
They worked from dawn to dusk every day, just to go to the big cities and own a house.
Every year, many young people left the islands and headed to the big inland cities of the Shell Country.
However, in Chen Qi's view, Maro Town was quite a good starting village.
In addition to having a household registration in Maro Town,
more importantly, with the start of the Crack Tide, many cracks would be born on the sea.
And cracks meant extraordinary resources, meant land, meant oil, meant money, meant power!
When the complete Crack Tide of the Witch Sea arrived, it wouldn't be the islanders rushing to the inland.
It would be the inlanders coming to the sea for adventures, sparking an adventure era like the Gold Rush in America.
These islands, closer to the dense crack regions, would be more populated than big cities due to their better transportation locations, making them more favored by adventurers.
Well, housing prices might even rise slightly…
"Huh, here I am!"
Chen Qi stopped the steamboat and excitedly jumped onto the port of Maro Town.
He then shook off the water from his body like a cat!
This was the feeling of solid land, how refreshing!
After properly securing the steamboat, Chen Qi planned to get something to eat as he was really hungry.
Seeing Chen Qi reaching the shore, the lighthouse keeper finally felt relieved.
Luckily, nothing major happened…
Suddenly, the lighthouse keeper had a flash of inspiration.
That young man just now was the boy who had sea beast disease and went to the city for work a few months ago…
He still managed to come back and even bought a small boat… the lighthouse keeper felt a bit sentimental.
Sea beast disease, as the name implied, meant terrifying deep-sea creatures had infected a human body.
To cure it, one typically needed a bloody surgery, and finding an unlicensed black doctor would also cost a large sum of money.
Even he himself probably couldn't afford so much money immediately.
In his view, if Chen Qi could return, it must be either because he was ready to "die in his hometown,"
or he had been forced to join some illegal organization, earning money through labor, with a perilous fate.
"This generation of young people, it isn't easy for them…"
The lighthouse keeper sighed and shook his head.
...
...
Having just ended a storm, the pier at Maro Town was exceptionally quiet.
Chen Qi walked towards the town while rummaging through his backpack.
In his backpack, besides the treasure map, were the medical supplies given by the little crow.
Among them, the Healing Potions could be sold without a loss.
Such good items for emergency healing were valuable everywhere.
The problem was that Chen Qi himself currently had a great need for Healing Potions too.
Painkillers and calming sea beast oil were also sellable items.
But the sum amount of miscellaneous items wasn't much either…
Am I really going to have to work in a factory… Chen Qi frowned deeply.
In Maro Town, there was a crack mine with a zero percent mutation rate, where anyone could apply.
Having transmigrated and still needing to work, no, that's out of the question…
As a strategy guide creator, he knew that working was actually not a bad option in many situations.
But now he had the Black Knife, and his attributes weren't bad, so the fastest way to make money was still to explore cracks.
Chen Qi shook his head. Right now, he didn't even have a bit of money on him.
Gold coins were more popular among pirates, whereas ordinary people used the Shell Country's official currency—Shell Coins.
Besides the different name, Shell Coins were very similar to Earth's currency, also a type of paper money.
As a country embodying the "Shell" nature form, the Shell Country's currency was relatively stable.
Shell Coins were also quite commonly accepted in other countries, making them a fairly reliable currency.
"Before I get some money, I can only continue eating seawater-soaked bread…"
Chen Qi looked at the bread soaked by seawater in his backpack, smiling bitterly.
His current funds weren't enough to allow him a good meal.
But at least he was a transmigrator, going hungry wasn't such a big deal.
Suddenly, a whiff of grilled food aroma drifted in!
Who's grilling at night! Especially right after a stormy evening!
Chen Qi looked in the direction of the aroma.
Maro Town's dockside tavern, the only tavern on the entire island.
He saw a group of young people around a grill roasting fish outside the tavern.
Inside the tavern, people's loud and noisy voices could be heard!
So many people on a stormy night…
This tavern is packed! Chen Qi was slightly surprised; even city taverns rarely had this many people.
He looked up and saw the tavern's sign written on a banner:
"It's a great day today, all drinks and meat, even vegetables, are free inside the tavern!"
Free!
All free…
Chen Qi's heart pounded.
It was just a simple island tavern, making everything free would leave the owner working for nothing for a month or even two!
For a small-town owner, this was a huge expense.
What good day was it to make such a big giveaway?
Chen Qi pondered and, fueled by curiosity, took a few steps forward.
Unknowingly, he stepped over a drunkard at the doorway and squeezed into the noisy tavern.