Genshin Impact: Watch me turn the tables and kill my servants at the start!

When Fanes found the fishing rod in a bin in the corner of the second deck of the cruise ship, it was leaning against a roll of spare line. The paint on the rod was a little worn, and there was a thin layer of salt stains on the edge of the guides, but the overall structure was intact, and the reel seat and grip were still usable.

Fanes carried the rod to the side of the boat, rummaged through his toolbox for a roll of unopened fishing line, tied on the hook and weight, baited it, and cast it out.

The sinker, carrying the fishing line, traced an arc and landed on the sea about thirty meters away from the boat, splashing up a small white spray before sinking quickly, leaving only the end of the line taut at the edge of the boat's side.

Fanes rested the rod tip against the metal railing along the edge of the boat and waited. After less than the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, the rod tip suddenly bent down, with an arc so large it didn't seem like he was pulling on an ordinary-sized sea fish.

Fanes gripped the rod and pulled it up slightly. The rod emitted a fine, crisp sound, like wood fibers snapping under extreme tension. Then, the fishing rod broke in two. The upper half, still attached to the fishing line, was pulled into the water by a force. As it sank, it was swept away by a wave. The direction of its descent extended to the edge of the dark water, where it gradually blurred, accelerated, and sank into the deeper shadows.

Fanes stood still, looking down at the remaining half of the rod tip in his hand and the reel seat that was still slowly rotating and had lost the support of the spool. The broken half of the handle was rough and emitted a smell of resin that had been burned after being stretched rapidly. Some splinters that had not been completely broken off were sticking out at an angle, and the fiber bundles at the top were slowly rebounding.

Yakoda was leaning against the cabin door, sipping a freshly brewed cup of tea, when she saw the broken rod in Fanes' hand. She put her teacup on the table and walked over: "Are you sea fishing or dismantling a rod?"

Fanes threw the broken pole into the junk bin at his feet: "The thing underneath is bigger than this boat."

Fanes turned and went to the lower storage compartment. After rummaging through several metal cabinets, he found a steel bar about the thickness of a forearm—probably a reinforcement component left over from the ship's spare repairs, with a rust-proof coating on its surface.

He also rolled up a spare section of the aircraft carrier's arresting cable from the deck tool cabinet. The cable was more than three turns thicker than ordinary cables, with a dense core and tight braids.

Fanes connected the steel bars and the arresting cable, attached a small boat hook anchor to the end, and wrapped the entire device—an iron cage-like structure with an overall diameter close to that of a washbasin—with two servings of fresh fish entrails and scraps of meat, then threw it overboard.

The sound of the steel bar falling into the water was much heavier than before. With the help of its own weight, the resistance continued to decrease steadily, and soon the arresting cable attached to it straightened.

Fanes wrapped the other end of the arresting cable around the mooring bollard on the ship's side and held it in his hand, waiting. A continuous pulling force came from below the surface. It wasn't the jerky feeling of a rapid pull, but more like something slowly moving, turning over, and then swimming continuously in one direction.

The arresting cable stretched taut along the edge of the ship's side, and the base of the mooring bollard emitted a slight tremor as if being pulled.

The force pulled Fanes forward as he gripped the rope, his foot slipped on the deck, and his knee struck the metal railing at the edge of the ship's gunwale. Before he could regain his balance, the tension on the entire arresting cable increased instantly.

Fanes was pulled over the ship's side by the force. As he flipped over, he only had time to grip the end of the rope in his hand. His back scraped against the edge of the metal handrail, and the sound of splashing water and the swaying of the deck briefly filled the area. Then, his vision suddenly changed angle as the water level rose.

The light on the sea surface turned into a deep blue filter the moment it entered the water, the water pressure began to compress from the eardrums, and the temperature quickly dropped below a comfortable threshold.

When Fanes opened his eyes, he saw less than two meters ahead of him a taut cable slanting across the surface of the water, its end disappearing into a moving outline deeper in the water.

The silhouette was much larger than him, and the surrounding sand grains were stirred up and suspended, like a moving black shadow that was longer than an ordinary car.

Phanes surfaced to take a breath, his exhaled breath forming a hazy white mist on the sea surface. He shouted towards the side of the ship.

"Yakoda! Help me! I can't swim!"

Yakoda was running from the hatch, already holding one end of a throwing line in her hand. The line passed precisely over Fanes' head and landed on the water a few feet away from where his arm was outstretched. An automatic inflatable buoyancy ring was connected between the buoy and the end of the line.

Fanes reached out and grabbed the buoyancy ring, and Akoda began to pull in the rope on the deck, bringing him back to the side of the ship.

Fanes flipped over the gunwale and lay on the deck, panting for a while. Once he caught his breath, he rolled over and lay on his back on the deck. The sunlight shone on his soaked clothes, and water was flowing down his trouser legs and cuffs, quickly forming a small, translucent puddle on the deck.

Fanes stood up, wrung out the water from his clothes, and walked to the stern to look at the anchor crane.

The machine was fixed in the middle and aft section of the deck, with its base welded to the main rib of the hull. The electric motor was powerful enough to retrieve the anchor, which weighed several tons, from the seabed.

I walked over to the crane, untied the arresting cable from the mooring bollard on the ship's side, looped it around the guide wheel at the front of the boom, and secured it in the winch's slot. Then I walked to the control panel and pressed the start button.

The winch began to rotate slowly, the arresting cable was tightened little by little, and the cable passing through the guide wheel rubbed repeatedly against the pulley groove wall during its journey, producing a series of continuous and even sounds.

As the load increased, the contact surface between the bolts of the crane base and the deck of the ship was slightly pressed down, and the waterline of the entire stern was noticeably deeper than before after the ropes were taut to a certain extent, causing the ship to tilt slightly at an angle.

As the underwater resistance continued to increase, the winch motor speed slowed down, and wisps of gray smoke drifted into the air.

The boat lurched violently the moment the rope was fully taut, tilting about a hand's width towards the stern.

Immediately afterward, a surging wave rose from beneath the water, and a black spine, larger than the outline he had seen before, emerged from the water, covered with a dark outer skin with segmented carapaces and traces of moss. As it left the water, it briefly exposed part of its torso before submerging again.

The ridge was almost as wide as the middle of the boat, and the part above the water was covered with horizontal lines and clusters of barnacles. Old wounds overlapped on the new skin, and a layer of translucent algae clung to the edges. The boat shifted half a body length laterally along the water's surface when it capsized.

During the rocking, debris on the deck slid down the bulkhead to the stern, and several empty barrels came to a stop hitting the bottom of the railing with a hollow metallic clanging sound.

Fanes steadied himself and retreated to the side of the ship, drawing his standard-issue pistol from his waist and aiming the muzzle at the top of the spine that was re-entering the water—he had found a soft area not covered by thick armor, which formed a noticeable depression on the surface of the spine, with less moss at the edges than around it.

As the gunshots echoed across the sea, the ship's rocking had not yet completely stopped. Yakoda leaned out of the side door of the cabin, holding the short bow and a specially made arrow already strung. She approached the stern along the edge of the swaying deck and drew the bow fully before the ship shifted into position for the second time.

The interval between the two shots was very short. When the bullets landed on the exposed soft area of ​​the spine, a stream of dark liquid splashed out and flowed down the edge of the armor; then the specially made arrow embedded itself from the side into the gap between the segmented armor plates in the middle of the torso, exploding into a small shockwave at the point of impact.

After being attacked, the sea monster's body began to roll to one side, first shifting laterally a short distance, then sinking further into the water. The arresting cable attached to it slipped off the guide wheel in the instant it loosened, dragging its end along the stern into the water. It extended a short distance downwards as the surface smoothed out, finally being carried away from view by the currents in the deeper water. The surface returned to calm, with only a few shallow ripples spreading outwards.

Fanes put his gun back in its holster, stood on the edge of the ship, and looked down at the sea that was gradually calming down, as the ship slowly righted itself.

Yakoda put away her bow and walked over, standing next to him. Her gaze shifted from the sea back to his face. "Boss," she said, "I think we should check if there are any other spare fishing gears on the boat—if there's a next time, I think you should make a contingency plan."

Fanes turned around and glanced at her, then looked down at his still-drenched clothes: "Let's stop fishing for now. Go upstairs and change into something dry."

Fanes took two steps toward the hatch, then stopped: "Wipe the water off the deck, or you'll slip later."

Yakoda responded, turned around and went to the tool cabinet to get a mop and a dry cloth. She turned on the tap on the outer edge of the deck and rinsed the mop head. She then began to wipe the water-soaked deck surface from the stern to the middle. The water marks left by the mop shone with a wet luster in the sunlight, but quickly faded to a light color. The wind carried away the fine film of water on the surface, revealing the dry base color of the floor.