Pain!
So much pain!
In the midst of a storm, in a dark room on the lowest floor of a ship.
Shi Ming huddled in a dark corner, trembling uncontrollably as a throbbing pain shot from his right arm to his head. A sticky liquid trickled down his arm, dripping onto the grimy wooden planks.
Blood…
The stench of decay and mold permeated the air, now tinged with the fresh scent of blood.
He suddenly snapped awake!
No!
Wasn't I dead? How could I still be conscious?
He opened his eyes, vaguely visible in the gloom. His right hand was stained with sticky blood, and before him lay the body of a middle-aged man. He had killed someone.
Yes, he had.
He remembered that as a special individual soldier carrying out a top-secret mission, "Escort: Eye of God," he had killed a mercenary from a hostile faction who had attempted to steal the mysterious, blood-stained antique he was guarding.
How come the enemy's corpse had now transformed into a middle-aged man, seemingly emaciated and powerless?
And hadn't he died in the explosion?
His body should have been reduced to ash, so how could he still be alive?
This place, the smell of the sea, the roar of waves, the constant turbulence and rocking?
On a ship?
His head ached.
Memories returned like a tide.
...
Shi Ming looked at the corpse of the middle-aged man before him.
He had been reborn.
He had killed the middle-aged man before him.
To be more precise, the original owner had killed him.
This was the slave quarters on a ship. Due to a severe storm at sea, the ship had been without any food for ten days. The last rations had been five days prior.
The captain had given each slave two dry, hard buns. Since then, they had only had a bottle of salty water with a little bit of nutrients added to it daily.
After days without food, the twenty-odd slaves were starving, their eyes green with hunger, like dying animals.
The original owner accidentally exposed his food reserves to a slave, who fiercely snatched them. A fierce struggle ensued, and both died...
He traveled through time and space, reborn.
But the bad news was that the original owner had committed murder, and he was the scapegoat. The iron rule on the ship was: whoever kills must die! This was especially true for slaves.
His eyes scanned the surroundings. In the stinking dark room, slaves lay like lifeless creatures. Some groaned incessantly, while others silently decayed, their bodies emitting a foul stench.
If the time travel hadn't reset the original owner's state, he would probably be in a similar position now.
He felt in his pocket, finding half a steamed bun.
It was the half that the original owner had been unwilling to part with, even at the cost of his life.
The bun had molded in the damp environment, but it could save lives. In this dark room, people died every day, and this little bit of food was precious.
Shi Ming hid the bun.
He didn't want to die yet, especially after his own death.
Even at the beginning of his rebirth, he had been inexplicably saddled with murder.
Moreover, this was a devastating world—according to the original owner's memories, it had long since become an ocean world after a devastating natural disaster.
People relied on "drifting boats" to survive. As order crumbled, the world gradually degenerated into a primitive society where the strong preyed on the weak. The powerful controlled the lifeline of all resources, while the weak became "talents," less than slaves.
His drifting boat was currently battling a storm at sea, and the crew had received no food supplies for ten days. They could neither fish nor produce.
The people in the dark room had been hungry for five days, becoming little more than the walking dead.
Under special circumstances, the ship's food supply was running low, so slaves like them were naturally the last thing to consider.
If the final moment came, they might even become food.
Never underestimate the desire for survival.
As someone who had died once before, having left his homeland in a previous life, witnessed the final struggle of life in war and missions, and finally died unwillingly, Shi Ming, now reborn, had an insatiable desire to survive! He would never die easily!
Even if he truly had to die, he would fight tooth and nail!
He stared at the corpse of the middle-aged man before him, his mind racing. He wouldn't starve to death for now.
But the ship's rule was that the murderer must be killed. He had to find a way!
Fortunately, his strength had been restored and was at its peak, and he still had half a steamed bun left to him by the previous owner.
...
... ...
...
An unknown amount of time passed.
The single energy-saving lightbulb in the darkroom flickered on, and from outside came the creaking sounds of machinery and the faint sound of human voices.
"This damn storm has finally stopped. Let's check how many supplies are left, don't let them all die..."
A commotion erupted in the darkroom.
The living instinctively raised their heads, staring at the single door with numb eagerness.
"Creak!"
A decaying sound, along with fresh air, poured into the dark room, long since desolate.
...
"Captain, in Room 403, 11 of the 20 slaves remain. Six likely starved to death, and three died in a private fight. One died about an hour ago, blinded by a finger, then suffocated."
A man in blood-stained combat fatigues reported to his superiors.
The captain referred to the leader of the exploration team. Aboard this apocalyptic ship, there were not only the usual positions like captain, first mate, second mate, and chief engineer, but also the all-important exploration team.
Their responsibilities included exploring and searching for resources, ensuring internal security, and defending against external threats.
"Oh? An hour ago? After starving for so long, you still have the energy to fight?"
"We're starving outside, braving the storm, and these slaves still have the energy to fight? The drifting ship's food supply for the slaves is indeed too much."
Under the yellow light, the exploration team leader looked at Shi Ming, who was closest to the corpse, and the large red patches on his right hand and arm.
"You killed him?"
The captain's sharp eyes turned over, and the club in his hand reached out first.
Shi Ming deliberately didn't move to avoid it, and was hit hard.
"Huh, you have quite a bit of strength." The security captain snorted coldly.
The reaction of a club hitting a normal person is completely different from that of hitting a defenseless person.
"Killing people at will, what do you think this place is?"
The clubs rained down, but they didn't hit the fatal spots.
Even someone like the captain was just another form of slave, not qualified to decide the life and death of others.
"This is a drifting ship, a refuge protecting human civilization, not a society of the survival of the fittest! Even slaves should not be killed by you."
"Number 3, take him to the captain and let him deal with him!"
"Take those bodies with you, too! We're running low on fish and food, so we need the bodies to make a nest."
"Everyone else, give each of them a steamed bun and a bottle of water."
(End of chapter)