After catching over thirty blue trout in a row, Shi Ming reluctantly put away his fishing rod once the ship's fish tanks and buckets were completely full.
Of these thirty-odd fish, he had personally caught twenty-nine. The other three had been hauled out of the sea with great effort by two former exploration team members, Stone Pillar and Lin Hai. As promised, Shi Ming rewarded each of them with three hundred Sailing Coins.
This made every crew member burn with envy.
As for the source of the Sailing Coins, Shi Ming wasn't too worried.
He had inherited the previous captain's Wandering Ship, and with it, the ship's small treasury.
The treasury still contained over twenty thousand Sailing Coins, enough for him to spend freely for a while.
The ship now had twenty-five crew members, and Shi Ming needed to pay each of them a monthly salary of 200 to 300 Sailing Coins. The crew would then use these coins to buy food and services on board, creating an internal circulation of Sailing Coins.
The entire cycle was: crew members provide labor -> Shi Ming pays Sailing Coins -> crew members spend Sailing Coins on food and other services -> Shi Ming collects the Sailing Coins.
Therefore, while over twenty thousand Sailing Coins might not seem like much, as long as there was no external trade, the system could remain "sustainable" indefinitely.
'Why does that make me sound like a ruthless capitalist…'
However, Shi Ming knew very well that internal consumption was only a small fraction of the Wandering Ship's expenses. Trading opportunities at sea were rare, and every encounter with another Wandering Ship presented a new chance for exchange. These were the moments that would consume large amounts of Sailing Coins.
But such equal trades were limited to situations where the two parties were of comparable strength.
If a Bronze-level Wandering Ship encountered a Gold-level one... trade? You'd be lucky just to get away!
Plundering was a common occurrence between ships of unequal strength, with the exception of King-level Wandering Ships. King-level Wandering Ships were above such things; they wouldn't plunder other vessels and would even proactively provide various platforms and services to all lower-level Wandering Ships.
Every King-level Wandering Ship was like an "Ideal Land" or an "Eden" on the sea. They were symbols of human civilization's survival—Lighthouses and guideposts.
Everyone dreamed of becoming a crew member on a King-level Wandering Ship, but unfortunately, positions were incredibly hard to come by. The difficulty of securing a spot was no less than getting a green card in Shi Ming's home country from his past life—perhaps even ten times harder. Unless, of course, you were born a native. That was all about the luck of your birth.
However, visiting or trading with them was quite easy.
...
With the fisherman's daily routine over, the Wandering Ship returned to its normal course—navigating through areas with high-purity Sea Crystal Stones to refine them for energy, while also catching ordinary fish and shrimp.
This was life aboard a Wandering Ship. Encounters with a New Island or other unexpected events like storms, whirlpools, or other Wandering Ships were the only things that broke up the monotonous existence.
As for recreational activities?
'Does fishing count?'
'Does combat practice count?'
After he finished fishing, Shi Ming struck while the iron was hot and formed a new exploration team.
The new team was led by Stone Pillar as captain and Lin Hai as deputy captain. It consisted of eight members in total. In addition to continuing the duties of the previous exploration team, Shi Ming would personally lead them in daily Physical Strength and combat training, striving to cultivate a second "Awakened" in a short period.
Of course, Awakening wasn't free. It would be an equal exchange.
The remaining personnel were reorganized into the "Internal Affairs Team" and the "Navigation Team."
The Internal Affairs Team was responsible for crew life, food, administration, and other internal matters, while the Navigation Team handled scouting, navigation, helming, and other sailing duties.
Due to the reduced number of personnel, the crew's monthly salary was increased by 100 Sailing Coins to boost their morale and encourage them to try the new foods coming from the food production line.
Shi Ming didn't expect the crew to become fiercely loyal to him overnight.
Loyalty had to be cultivated.
...
Returning to the captain's cabin, Shi Ming prepared to take a short nap.
A plain communicator, placed beneath the globe on the captain's desk, suddenly started beeping. BEEP, BEEP, BEEP.
'Oh? A message?'
Shi Ming sat up straight, as if he'd just been shot with a stimulant.
It was the former captain's communicator. After finding it in the corpse's pocket, he had kept it in the most conspicuous spot on his desk, hoping for a pleasant surprise.
As for the former captain's body, it hadn't yielded any reusable materials or extraordinary traits, and even its blood was useless. This had been a great disappointment to Shi Ming, who had once read *Master of Mystery*. After reluctantly accepting that the corpse was worthless and held no more secrets, he had returned it to the sea.
After all, he had no penchant for collecting corpses.
Shi Ming picked up the communicator.
It was a string of Wokoku script. Translated, it read: "Lord Chunyi, return the Secret Treasure Nautical Instrument at once, or you will face the wrath of the Great Wilderness's Governor."
Chunyi was the name of the former captain.
'Secret Treasure Nautical Instrument?'
'So there really is a treasure!'
'Could this be the captain's secret?'
Shi Ming's eyes immediately swept across the entire room.
'No, that's not right!'
'There might be a secret treasure, but that's probably not the same as *the* secret.'
'The former exploration team captain, Iron Tower, joined this Wandering Ship five years ago as a mole. He must have been scheming for the ship's secret since then. There's no way the Governor would have lent his Secret Treasure to Chunyi for a full five years.'
'And a secret that takes five years to investigate must be a big one!'
'Interesting.'
'This ship has both a treasure and a secret. Looks like I won't be bored for a while.'
However, Chunyi was dead. If the Governor was Chunyi's superior, he would probably soon notice this information from the status of the "Celestial Net Chip."
When that time comes, what awaits this Wandering Ship might be more than just wrath.
This Wandering Ship was also once a subordinate vessel of the [Black Society]. Although he had immediately deconstructed and cracked all the ship's systems, including its positioning system, the Governor might have other ways of finding him.
The only thing he didn't need to worry about was the status of a General-level Wandering Ship. With the power of a mere Third-level Governor of the Great Wilderness, it was impossible for him to command a "General-level Wandering Ship" to hunt him down!
'Or maybe he'll dispatch other subordinate Wandering Ships for revenge?'
He had to be on guard against these possibilities.
Using the same encrypted language, he replied with a single sentence in the Wokoku language.
"Received."
The more you say, the more you risk slipping up. He didn't know what Chunyi's reply habits were, but not responding to a message like this would only make the other party more suspicious.
As for the Governor's wrath?
'Heh, was he afraid?'
'He didn't even know how to spell the word 'fear'.'
Right now, he was most interested in the Governor's Secret Treasure Nautical Instrument. And the secret of the former captain, Chunyi.
"Lord Chunyi, what other surprises do you have for me that I don't know about?"