The system is four years ahead of schedule, but Weird is still a cub.

Looking at the little girl's puzzled eyes and her mischievous "poke" just now, Shen Ge's feelings were also somewhat complicated.

Communication is difficult, the geographical location is unknown, resources have been depleted, the land is nowhere to be found, and Xiao Qi's fate is uncertain...

Any one of them would make Shen Ge's head explode.

Without the Red Mist Armor, there is no key to open the Ghost Space, and Shen Ge cannot even guarantee the most basic supplies.

"Ugh."

……

……

"Ugh."

Several months passed in the blink of an eye.

Shen Ge had lost count of how many times he had sat at the bow of the boat, staring blankly at the monotonous blue where the sea met the sky.

After months of recuperation, his injuries had fully healed, and he was even more robust than before. However, the power that had once destroyed the world remained as dormant as the Dead Sea.

Every morning when he wakes up, the first thing he does is try to call out to the system and mobilize his supernatural energy, but all he gets in response is an empty supernatural energy and a lifeless mind.

He, Shen Ge, a seventh-tier Ghost King, is now just an ordinary person with slightly greater strength than the average person.

Over the past few months, he and the five siblings on the ship have developed a peculiar tacit understanding. Through countless gestures and imitations of individual "gurgling" syllables, they have finally been able to communicate in the most basic way.

He learned that the woman who saved him was named Alai, and the one who looked very much like Alai but had a more delicate demeanor was her twin sister, Ellie. The two teenagers were their younger brothers, Kyle and Roca. And the youngest and most lively girl was named Moya.

He also learned about his family's tragic past.

It was a sunny afternoon when Moya used a piece of charcoal to draw a picture on the deck. The picture showed seven little people holding hands, two big and five small, all smiling.

Then she drew a ship with a huge, tentacled black shadow beneath it, which carried away two large little people.

In the end, only the boat and five crying little figures remained in the painting.

The parents were swallowed by a "monster" in the deep sea.

They drifted at sea to avoid being captured by a being they called "predators".

They were reluctant to talk much about the "predators," but every time they did, their eyes were filled with a fear deeper than that of deep-sea monsters.

During their time adrift at sea, they barely survived by fishing and gathering edible seaweed.

At first, Shen Ge was very curious about how the seemingly weak siblings managed to catch enough supplies for themselves in a small, dilapidated boat on the boundless sea.

It wasn't until he saw the two brothers jump into the sea, chase after the fish at the speed of a speedboat, and bring up several large nets of fish in the blink of an eye that he silently gave up the idea of ​​helping to catch fish.

In this unfamiliar sea, Shen Ge could do very little besides helping to repair the tattered fishing nets and sails.

Although the siblings' strong fishing skills made Shen Ge's days on the boat "fulfilling" in terms of food, being trapped at sea all the time was not a solution.

He brought up the idea of ​​"going ashore" to Alai several times, but his suggestion was like a bomb, triggering a violent panic among the five siblings.

Each time, Alai grabbed Shen Ge's arm, his azure eyes filled with terror, shaking his head like a rattle drum, showing that there was indeed something on land that terrified them.

Shen Ge had no choice but to take it one step at a time and wait until she could see land before asking them to take her ashore. As for them... she would respect their choice.

As night fell, the sea breeze grew increasingly cold.

Shen Ge silently inspected every corner of the ship, tapping on each repaired plank with his hand, feeling their fragility under the erosion of sea salt;

He stroked the deep, bone-revealing crack on the mainmast, calculating in his mind how many more strong winds it could withstand.

Since he joined, the "repairs" to the fishing boats have at least become passable. But... a crisis is never just talk.

That evening, the sky darkened without warning, not because of clouds obscuring the sun, but because of an eerie, dark purple that spread rapidly from one end of the horizon. The sea breeze abruptly stopped, and the air became thick and sultry, making even breathing feel stifling.

“Kururu…” Alai muttered to himself, his face turning deathly pale. The fear he felt was far greater than when he mentioned the “plunderers” earlier.

Shen Ge looked up at the sky. This was not a type of storm known on Earth. It was a strange phenomenon of heaven and earth that he had never seen before, containing some kind of violent energy. It even made him think of the strange energy storm generated by the neutralization of strange energy.

Almost the instant Alai finished speaking, a fierce wind howled in!

The calm sea instantly transformed into a raging beast, with mountain-like waves crashing violently against the fragile fishing boat, producing a creaking and groaning sound. The hull was tossed high into the air and then slammed back down, each impact making it seem as if it were about to fall apart.

"Ah!" Ellie and Moya screamed in terror and clung to each other tightly.

Kyle and Roca desperately tried to grab onto something to steady themselves, but a wave knocked them to the ground, and they swallowed several mouthfuls of seawater.

Amidst the chaos, only Shen Ge's eyes remained calm. He had experienced calamities a hundred times more terrifying than this; the storm before him, though terrifying, was not enough to throw him off balance.

Moreover, given his physical strength, he wouldn't necessarily die even if he were thrown into the eye of the storm.

"Hold on tight!" Shen Ge's voice was torn apart by the gale.

Against the wind and waves, he remained firmly planted on the deck like a nail, grabbing Roca who was about to be thrown overboard and pulling him back.

He rushed to the mast, tied himself tightly to it with a rope, and then gestured to the terrified Alai and Kyle, instructing them to do the same.

"Wow!"

With a thunderous roar, the old crack on the mainmast broke completely under the onslaught of yet another giant wave.

The huge sails, like birds with broken wings, crashed down onto the deck with half of the mast attached.

"careful!"

Shen Ge's pupils contracted sharply. In that critical moment, he used all his strength to pull the rope tied to the mast. His body swung like a pendulum, and he slammed his back into Ellie and Moya, pushing them away from the danger zone.

"Bang!" Half of the mast crashed heavily onto the spot where he had just been standing, smashing a large hole in the deck and letting seawater rush in.

"Alai! Take them to the cabin, quick!" Shen Ge shouted at Alai, who was equally stunned, pointing at the surging seawater.

Alai couldn't understand what he was saying, but fortunately, after spending time together, he could roughly understand what he was trying to say through some gestures.

At this moment, Shen Ge's seasoned composure and undeniable aura finally pierced through Alai's fear.

Looking at this figure who remained calm and composed even in dire straits, she saw him as someone she could rely on for the first time. Gritting her teeth, she pulled her younger siblings up and, under Shen Ge's cover, struggled to hide in the flooded cabin.

Shen Ge, meanwhile, faced the raging storm alone. He untied the ropes, found the largest piece of rag on the boat, and struggled against the wind and rain to plug the hole.

The storm lasted all night.

As dawn broke and the storm finally subsided, the fishing boat was only slightly better off than a pile of floating wreckage. The mainmast was broken, the sails were destroyed, and the hull was riddled with holes. It was only thanks to Shen Ge and the two boys constantly bailing water that it barely managed to stay afloat.

Everyone was exhausted and collapsed on the flooded deck.

Shen Ge pointed to the outline of the land that was faintly visible in the morning light not far away, looked at Alai, and his gaze was more determined than ever before.

He didn't speak, but his eyes said it all.

We had no other choice.

Looking at her dilapidated "home," at the pale, weak faces of her younger siblings, and then at the man who stood tall, soaked to the bone and covered in wounds, Alai's fear and hesitation were finally replaced by a resolute determination.

She nodded vigorously.

Using oars and planks, the group mustered their last strength to paddle through the wreckage, struggling to approach the land that represented both unknown fear and the only hope for survival.

The moment the hull of the boat touched the beach, everyone collapsed to the ground, utterly exhausted.

They arrived at a black sand beach, with the still surging sea behind them and a desolate and eerie jungle before them.

The trees in the forest were twisted and gnarled, their color dark as if they had been soaked in ink, and they exuded a faint smell of decay.

A faint energy fluctuation permeated the air, so weak that it caused an extremely subtle, almost imperceptible tremor in Shen Ge's dormant progenitor cells, which had been dormant for months.

A thought struck him, and he suppressed the strange feeling, leading everyone to a sheltered cave to settle down temporarily.

After settling the exhausted group, Shen Ge left the cave alone. He needed to find food and water, and more importantly, he needed to confirm the source of that energy.

He proceeded cautiously along the edge of the jungle, where the plants all had a sickly appearance, even the moss on the ground had an unhealthy dark purple hue.

Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks, his gaze fixed on a twisted tree.

There, a creature more than half a meter tall, resembling a crab but with a shell like a black rock and sticky mycelium growing at its joints, was gnawing on the roots of a plant.

The moment Shen Ge saw the creature, the tremor within him intensified.

That's it! That familiar aura of "weird energy" that he both loathed and longed for—though faint, it couldn't be wrong!

This is the "weirdness" of this world!
Shen Ge did not act rashly. He quietly went around to the back of a boulder, picked up a stone about the size of a human head with sharp edges, and held it tightly in his hand.

He assessed the strength of this "Stone Crab Monster," which was roughly equivalent to a first-tier monster. With his current physical abilities, he was fully capable of fighting it.

He took a deep breath, burst out from behind the boulder, and with all his might, slammed the stone in his hand hard against the stone crab's back.

"boom!"

The stone crab staggered from the impact, letting out a sharp screech. It reacted swiftly, its eight segments digging into the ground, then it turned and brandished its two enormous rock pincers, lunging at Shen Ge.

Shen Ge dodged to the side, lunged forward, and kicked it in the side, knocking it over.

He flipped over and straddled the stone crab's belly, punching it repeatedly in the soft abdominal cavity and joints.

There are no supernatural abilities, no special characteristics, only the purest, most honed fighting skills and physical strength!

The stone crab struggled frantically, but Shen Ge was like a leech, no matter how much it rolled around, he just wouldn't let go.

Finally, with a dull cracking sound, the stone crab's struggles gradually ceased, and green juice flowed from its abdomen.

Shen Ge, panting heavily, stood up from the corpse. Just as he was about to drag the "crab" back as food, the strange, ancestral devouring instinct deep within his bloodline roared wildly like a hungry beast awakening.

He reached out as if possessed and placed his hand on the stone crab's cold, rocky shell.

The next second, a faint but pure energy surged into his body through his palm, like rain after a long drought, and was instantly devoured by the dormant progenitor cells.

However, the expected system notification tone did not sound.

The energy was so weak, like a drop of water falling into a dried-up lake, disappearing without a trace without even causing a ripple. But Shen Ge's body trembled violently, and an incredulous ecstasy flashed in his eyes.

There was no sound, no prompting, but he "sense" it!
In the instant the energy was absorbed, a faint, extremely weak connection seemed to form between him and the "system" within his body that had been dormant for months. It was like seeing a fleeting spark in the endless dark void.

It was still there; it hadn't been torn apart along with the Red Mist Armor in that strange energy storm. However, Shen Ge wasn't surprised by this outcome.

Because he had long since become one with the system, if the system were torn apart, he would have no chance of survival.

This discovery was more exciting for Shen Ge than the restoration of any power.

He knew that as long as this foundation remained, and as long as he could find more "nourishment," he would have the opportunity to reignite the raging fire.

He suppressed his excitement and stopped worrying about the system's silence. His immediate priority was survival.

He looked at the ugly stone crab carcass at his feet; it was food, but also the key to regaining his strength.

Shen Ge did not rashly dispose of the body. Based on his experience of surviving in countless strange disaster areas, he knew the danger of unknown creatures.

He dragged the heavy stone crab back to the cave. When Alai and the children saw such a large "prey," they were first surprised, and then their eyes revealed a mixture of fear and longing.

“This is edible.” Shen Ge expressed himself with the simplest gestures and mumbled “gurgle” sounds. He pointed to the stone crab, patted his belly, and made a chewing motion.

Kyle and Roca, the two boys, were so hungry that their stomachs were practically sticking to their backs. They were eager to use bone forks to pry open the crab shells and then devour them.

"Wait!" Shen Ge immediately stopped them. He pointed to his mouth, shook his head vigorously, and then made a flame-like gesture.

Eat it raw? Are you kidding me?

Who knows if this thing has parasites or toxins inside? On the ship, it was out of necessity. Although his physique could completely ignore these things, and even if there was some kind of supernatural energy erosion, he could treat it as a tonic, he had to consider the situation of Alai and Moya.

Don't go through all that trouble to find food, only to have everyone turn into monsters after just one meal; that would be a real disaster.

Shen Ge sent the two boys to collect dry branches, while he searched for suitable wood near the cave. Most trees in this world are damp and tough, but he still managed to find a relatively dry and hard piece of hardwood and a softer piece of wood based on his experience.

Shen, the Fire Worshipper, is online! (End of Chapter)