Chapter 1: The Exiled Daughter Claims a Wreck

The sea wind lashed at Lin Wan’s face like a razor, the salty brine choking her until she felt like she couldn't breathe. The freezing water lapped past her chin, and the deep, unknown chill of the abyss seeped through her pores straight into her marrow, threatening to freeze her last shred of reason. Absolute silence surrounded her; apart from the dull thud of waves beating against rotting timber, not even a bird could be heard.

This was the Wasteland Sea, a death zone in the eyes of her clan, and the "final destination" Steward Zhao had meticulously arranged for her. She struggled, trying to grab a floating piece of driftwood, but her fingertips brushed only against slippery, icy wreckage.

Her consciousness grew hazy as darkness surged in like a tide. Just as she was about to sink, a flash of deep blue light suddenly pierced her mind, accompanied by an old, arrogant voice exploding beside her ear, laced with unquestionable sarcasm, forcefully pulling her back from the edge of death.

"Talk about slow, little girl. I was about to yawn my head off."

Lin Wan snapped her eyes open, gasping in lungfuls of foul-tasting air, and found herself sprawled on the edge of a slightly raised deck. The board that had been cracked and loose just moments ago was now miraculously steady, its surface coated with a faint, deep-blue sheen. It was no longer rotting, blackened old wood, but possessed the hard texture of metal.

She looked back, still shaken, to see the ship that had been riddled with holes and ready to fall apart at any second—the Candle Remainder—now wreathed in a faint blue glow.

The ocean debris churning up from the seabed—shattered plastic bottles, rusted iron anchors, and even the dry bones of some unknown creatures—was being pulled in by an invisible hand, sucked bit by bit into the seams of the hull.

"Who are you? What is this power?" Lin Wan's voice was hoarse as she forced down the turbulent waves in her chest.

"I am Mozi, the soul of this rust bucket, and the one saving your skin—barely," the voice said with a heavy nasal tone, sounding quite displeased. "Don't look at me like that. If it weren't for me, you'd be fish food by now. There's no shortage of trash in these waters, which is just right to give old man here a snack."

Lin Wan didn't speak again. She quickly surveyed her surroundings. Countless bits of junk drifted across the surface, slowly gathering along the ocean currents as if drawn by some magnetic field, moving slowly yet steadily toward the Candle Remainder. Every piece of debris that touched the hull made a faint sizzling sound and vanished on the spot, causing the ship's blue glow to brighten a fraction.

She felt a strange connection, as if the vessel had become an extension of her own body. She could clearly sense the narrow, stuffy hold deep inside the ship expanding at a visible speed, its spatial barriers becoming transparent and solid.

"What are you doing? Eating trash? That's a bit cheap, aren't you, Mr. Mozi?" Lin Wan couldn't help a barbed remark, trying to ease the tense atmosphere.

"Cheap beats dead," Mozi sneered. "This is the baseline evolution of an Abyss Warship, Phase One: Material Digestion. The junk you see here, once processed by me, turns into raw materials to reinforce the hull. A bit low-tier, sure, but enough to keep you alive out of this scrap heap. As for being cheap... in this world, surviving is the only skill that matters."

Lin Wan took a deep breath and said no more, her gaze locked tightly on the expanding blue light. She knew windows of opportunity were fleeting. The hit squad sent by Steward Zhao was barely a hundred nautical miles away; the moment they discovered the anomaly in these waters, or even just made a routine check, this place would become a second trap. She needed to stabilize herself as fast as possible and figure out the true nature of this ship.

The deck beneath her feet gave a slight tremor, sending back a solid feedback loop—no longer that weak, rotting fragility, but a heavy sturdiness like solid steel. Lin Wan tentatively reached out and touched the gunwale. The tactile feel was cold, hard, and even carried a warm, flowing current of energy.

Her heart skipped a beat. This material far surpassed ordinary steel, coming close even to legendary meteorite iron. If what Mozi said was true, this ship was evolving, and the resources driving that evolution came from something as crude as ocean trash.

"Cargo hold capacity increased by fifteen percent," Mozi’s voice chimed in again with a hint of smugness. "Don't look at how small it is now; once it swallows enough rare materials, your hold will be able to store an entire fleet. Of course, provided you're alive to haul those good things back up."

"Can it defend us now? What if the assassins show up?" Lin Wan asked bluntly. As the legitimate daughter of a maritime merchant clan, even in exile, the rules of survival were carved into her bones.

"Defense? Ha, you think I'm a god?" Mozi scoffed. "With this bit of reinforcement, we can withstand a few standard cannonballs at best. If we run into a heavy battleship, we'd better start running or pray they're half-blind. Still, your luck seems decent—that piece of wreckage we just swallowed looks a bit interesting."

Lin Wan followed the direction Mozi indicated. A massive, black metal fragment was floating on the sea surface, part of some sunken warship. Its surface was covered in a thick layer of biological calcification, making it look exceptionally heavy, and tiny glowing jellyfish swam in circles around it, as if guarding something.

“That chunk there… is a backplate fragment of an Iron Shell Crab, with a bit of deep-sea magnetite mixed inside,” Mozi explained. “Devour it, and you can generate a basic Magnetic Shield. It’s flimsy, sure, but it’ll be enough to blind those sonar trackers chasing you for a little while. Grab it inside, right now!”

Lin Wan didn’t hesitate for a second. She scrambled to the edge of the gunwale, staring at the massive fragment. With her current stamina, she couldn’t possibly lift it. But she didn’t need to lift it—she only needed to guide it. She closed her eyes, focused her mind, and imagined that devouring force channeling through her fingertips straight into the ship. Even though the process was brutal, feeling like a million ants gnawing at her nervous system, she gritted her teeth and refused to let go.

A moment later, the black fragment slowly shifted, finally sliding into a slot on the hull’s side with a sharp *click*. Blue light flared violently, then steadied into a calm, ash-white glow. Lin Wan felt a refreshing current rush out from the interior of the hull, washing over her entire body. Her exhaustion vanished instantly, replaced by a vibrant, energized fullness.

“Done. Basic shield online, duration three minutes. That’ll be enough to slip past the first wave of scans.” Mozi’s tone carried its usual haughty edge. “Don’t get cocky yet, though. The next test actually requires devouring a real sea beast, and those aren't anything like snacking on garbage.”

Lin Wan leaned against the rail, gazing at the ash-white hull with a faint, wry smile on her lips. From the very moment she was exiled to this place, she had never once given up on the possibility of striking back. Steward Zhao thought dumping her into the Wasteland Sea would settle things once and for all, little knowing he’d handed the ultimate weapon straight to his own enemy. A loophole in the rules? No, this was a miracle beyond them.

The surface of the sea suddenly went still for a beat, the churning waves smoothing out into a mirror-like flat. Lin Wan pricked up her ears in vigilance, catching the slightest shift in the wind.

“Something’s coming.” Mozi’s voice turned dead serious, dropping the previous banter. “The signature is heavy, reeking of blood. Is it a Deep Sea Beast Group? Or… something worse?”

Lin Wan looked up. Beneath the dreary sky, eerie ripples began to spread across the deep ocean. Those ripples weren’t whipped up by wind and waves, but by an impact pushing up from below. A massive dark shape moved slowly underwater, so colossal that even the Candle Remainder looked like a speck of dust drifting beside it.

“Is that an Abyss Whale juvenile? No, bigger than that.” Mozi’s voice trembled slightly. “Watch out—they love to hunt things carrying metallic energy. Your ship is glowing like a beacon right now. To them, you’re sitting ducks on a platter.”

Lin Wan clenched her fists, her knuckles turning white. She couldn’t panic; panic meant death. Since the cheat code had already activated, since the space had folded, and since the shield was up, her only shot lay within these fleeting three minutes.

The dark shadow crept closer, turning the ripples on the surface into a swirling vortex. Just as the whirlpool was about to swallow the Candle Remainder, Lin Wan slammed her palm hard against the deck, striking it with enough force to send a dull thud echoing through the hull.

“Get ready! Fold space, engage stealth mode!” she shouted in her mind.

Mozi responded instantly. The ash-white glow across the hull’s surface rapidly shrank, turning into a nearly transparent film. At the same time, the spatial barrier beneath the ship expanded wildly, wrapping up the sections of the vessel that had been exposed above the waterline.

The moment the dark shadow brushed against the hull, the water exploded violently. The immense pressure nearly cracked Lin Wan’s ribs. But she clung desperately to the guardrail, enduring the agonizing limit of her body being stretched, with only a single thought echoing in her mind: *Hold on.*

The spray settled, and the shadow was gone. It hadn’t missed—it was circling the ship instead, letting out a low, rumbling roar. The sound reverberated right through the seawater, striking straight at the soul and triggering an involuntary urge to submit.

“It’s probing us,” Mozi said coldly. “Your shield hid you visually, but your signature is still there. It smelled danger, so it pulled back for now. But you need to understand—this is just the appetizer. What’s hiding beneath this Wasteland Sea is far scarier than you can possibly imagine.”

Lin Wan panted heavily, cold sweat soaking through her clothes. As she stared at the surface, which had returned to an eerie, deceptive calm, her chest churned with a mix of relief and high alert. Steward Zhao’s conspiracy and her family’s exile seemed like nothing more than the outermost ripples of this storm. The true tempest was already brewing right here on this battered ship, inside this embryonic warship poised to devour the starry skies.

Out on the open water, a few silver fish broke the surface, only to vanish in a flash. And down in the unseen depths of the deep sea, more eyes were beginning to open, glowing in the dark.