The moment everyone heard the alarm, they scrambled out of bed, quickly grabbed their gear, and hurried to the deck, asking, "What happened? What's going on?"
"Worms are attacking our ship, and they're right on the hull!" the soldier on duty reported immediately.
Suddenly, everyone looked towards the hull and saw dense clusters of worms clinging to both sides. Each movement left a clear trail on the ship's surface.
"Ugh, how disgusting. What kind of strange worms are these in the sea?" Upon seeing the worms on the hull, everyone immediately showed expressions of disgust, clearly detesting the slimy creatures to the extreme.
"Now is not the time to express your opinions, but to deal with these worms on the hull. If we're not careful and they get onto the deck, there will be even more danger, as we don't know what these worms are capable of," Yun Laizhe said calmly.
"These worms look a lot like snails without shells. I heard that if you sprinkle salt on a snail's back, it will turn into water. Why don't we try this method?" Hu Xueli suggested.
"Can you think a little more seriously? We're at sea! How could there possibly be a lack of salt in the seawater? These worms came from the sea, they definitely won't be afraid of salt!" Wang Aoye said, shaking his head helplessly as he saw his subordinate offering a bad idea.
"I don't think we need to be nervous about these worms at all. If you observe closely, you'll notice they don't climb very fast, much like snails. Once they climb up, each of us can just use a broom to sweep them away," Ke Yiming quickly said.
"That's indeed a good idea, but we don't know what kind of attacks these worms have. If we ignore them and let them crawl on the ship, it could cause danger," Mu Ying also quickly added.
"We definitely can't let these worms move freely. If you look closely, you'll see many marks on both sides of the hull. The mucus secreted by some of these worms is corrosive. Even though the ship has many coatings, they can't withstand the corrosion of this mucus," Li Xiankang warned everyone upon seeing the situation.
The others didn't dare to be careless either. They all looked towards the sides of the ship and indeed found many scratches on the hull. These were twisted lines, and upon closer inspection, it was clear that the coatings in many places had been corroded where the worms had crawled.
"Damn it, I didn't expect there to be other creatures in the sea that could threaten us. We only stayed at sea for one night and encountered such bad luck!" Wu Kai couldn't help but complain.
In fact, many people were full of surprise. They hadn't expected to encounter such a situation at sea. They thought their target was only the worms in the nest, but upon reaching the sea, they discovered that the creatures in the ocean were not just a few simple arthropods, but also strange worms.
When they set out, no one expected to encounter such a thing, nor did they prepare any specific insecticides for worms. Some used the ship's insecticides meant for water spiders and sea striders, hoping they would kill the worms. However, the results were extremely disappointing. The worms showed no reaction after being sprayed with the insecticide, indicating they were not affected by it.
"These worms are truly disgusting. Perhaps they pose no harm to humans, but they can corrode our ship," Ke Yiming said, shaking his head helplessly.
Yun Laizhe frowned even more. He had a deeper understanding of ships being corroded. Years ago, when a group of them went out to sea, they encountered sea beasts that could use strong acids to corrode ships. Once a ship sank at sea, the people on board would face a catastrophic end.
"If all else fails, I'll have to use the most cumbersome method: coating the entire ship with copper. Copper is quite stable and generally not corroded. However, this would mean I wouldn't be able to participate in combat tomorrow, as coating with copper consumes too much physical strength," Yun Laizhe said with a frown.
"Everyone, step aside. Let me handle this. I'll just use my abilities around the ship, providing ice protection for the hull. The worms won't be able to climb onto the deck at all!" Mu Ying interrupted Yun Laizhe.
Upon hearing this, everyone suddenly realized that indeed, the simplest way to deal with these worms was to ask Mu Ying to act.
Mu Ying then began to use her abilities on the ship. The surrounding temperature instantly dropped, and white frost appeared around the hull. In just a moment, the sides of the ship were covered in ice, freezing countless worms within.
It seemed there were more worms in the sea, preparing to climb up the hull. However, these worms, upon reaching the ice, quickly became immobile. Their mucus froze, preventing them from climbing or even moving.
It is said that in the Northeast, there is a legend that in winter, railings taste sweet. This legend is nothing more than a trick to get people to lick the railings. If you lick them, your tongue will instantly freeze. The reason is simple: the moisture on your tongue freezes upon contact with the cold environment, thus freezing your tongue.
The worms at sea are now in a similar situation. The moment they encountered the ice, their mucus began to freeze, rendering the worms completely immobile.
"The Ice Maiden really has a solution! Now that she's acted, these worms can't pose any threat to us!" the people around praised Mu Ying.
Mu Ying shrugged and said helplessly, "This isn't any great skill. It's just that my abilities happen to be very useful at sea."
While Mu Ying's ship had resolved its danger, the other four ships were still in peril. The captain quickly ordered small boats to be lowered and asked Mu Ying to go and use her abilities on the other ships. By covering the hulls with ice, the worms would no longer pose a threat.
After Mu Ying completed this task, she was still quite energetic. For her, coating a few ships with ice was a simple matter.
"Alright, alright, the crisis is resolved. Everyone quickly go and get some rest. We'll be starting the battle tomorrow morning, and there won't be time for rest then." Seeing that the crisis had been successfully resolved, everyone confidently returned to their rooms to sleep.
Throughout the night, no worms could break through the ice barrier. Typically, as soon as these worms crawled onto the ice on the ship, they would be frozen solid and then die on the ice. By the next morning, these worms had disappeared from the sea's surface, presumably because they were active at night.
"Everyone, get ready. We are expected to reach the vicinity of the worm nest within an hour. Once the battle begins, everyone must work together and not try to save themselves! Otherwise, our efforts will be in vain!" the captain said seriously to everyone.
"Understood!" everyone replied loudly.
Then, the captain ordered his crew to set sail towards the direction of the worm nest.
Someone keenly noticed that Wu Kai seemed to be missing. Upon realizing this, everyone went to Wu Kai's cabin and knocked on the door.
"Wu Kai, are you alright? How are you feeling? Why didn't you come to the meeting earlier?" everyone asked from outside the door.
"It's nothing, I'm just a bit seasick and not feeling well. I want to rest for a while. I'll definitely show up when the battle begins," Wu Kai replied from inside the room.
The others didn't find this answer strange, as they all knew that the person in this room was sent in to gain experience, and his presence or absence made no difference. Since he was slacking off, they decided not to bother with him.
"He wasn't seasick yesterday, but now, after one night, he's seasick? If you ask me, he's just being lazy!" someone voiced their opinion.
"That's complete nonsense. If you ask me, he's simply afraid of death! Think about it, a young master accustomed to a pampered life, used to living in the city, going out to sea for the first time, and about to participate in such intense combat, how could he not be afraid?" others said with mocking smiles.
Chatting and laughing, they walked onto the deck, the air filled with a cheerful atmosphere.
Meanwhile, Wu Kai was in his room, his eyes bloodshot, his face haggard. He was holding a mirror, constantly observing himself, noticing changes in his skin.
"Why am I encountering such an absurd situation? I clearly watched the excitement last night, and now worms have entered my body!" Wu Kai was filled with despair. Worms were now in his brain, and he could feel a piercing pain, but he couldn't cry out. If he let out a cry of pain, others would immediately notice something was wrong.
The reason for this was that last night, after returning to his room, he was sleeping with his head tilted back when a worm suddenly fell from above and instantly burrowed into his mouth, then down his esophagus to his abdomen.
Wu Kai didn't know why there were worms in the cabin. Perhaps a soldier on deck had been careless and accidentally allowed a worm to appear in the cabin.
However, this was not the most important thing. The most crucial matter now was that Wu Kai had been parasitized by a worm!