A few days after Shu Yuqing left, Yu Sen and the other three were once again transported into the world of the clock in their sleep.

This time, Yu Sen’s experience was very different.

His consciousness floated in and out amidst an intense, vicious dizziness, making it almost impossible to wake up or struggle.

After being tossed around for a while, he fell into a warm embrace, but the dizziness still hadn’t passed. It felt as if his body was falling into a dark, bottomless pit, continuously descending with no end in sight.

A thread of panic welled up in his heart.

“…Yu Sen! Ge!…Baby! Baby…”

Si Xuanyang’s voice sounded muffled, as if coming from beneath the surface of the water. Yu Sen tried hard to open his eyes, wanting to see Si Xuanyang’s face.

After much effort, he finally managed to open a small slit, but the person above him still seemed to be swaying.

The dizziness drained Yu Sen’s strength, and even though he grasped Si Xuanyang’s clothing, he couldn’t hold on tight. His fingers went limp and slid down, only to be caught and held by someone.

“I know you’re dizzy, don’t worry. Take your time, slowly…”

His mind was in a haze, and at first, Yu Sen didn’t understand what Si Xuanyang was asking him to adapt to.

When he was lifted up and seated in Si Xuanyang’s embrace, he barely managed to make out a bit of the surroundings in the dim light.

Yu Sen gave a weak smile, involuntarily cursing under his breath.

“Fuck this clock… What kind of grudge does it have against me…”

The last time, when his gastritis flared up badly, the clock placed him in a world with utterly inhumane food. This time, as low blood sugar tortured him, it sent him into a…

—sea scene!

What a frustrating piece of technology!

He had seen those movies and TV shows where, when a strong storm hit, the ship would sway like a pendulum. It was hard enough for someone in good health to endure, let alone him—it was like adding insult to injury.

Yu Sen’s face turned pale as he pressed his forehead against Si Xuanyang’s chin, as if only by clinging to something tangible could he feel less “adrift” and more grounded.

Si Nan and Luo Yu watched him anxiously, but at that moment, Yu Sen couldn’t say anything to ease their worry.

He glanced around briefly; the four of them were on a small wooden boat. The boat was quite light, heavily affected by the waves, and swayed so much that Yu Sen couldn’t stand steadily on his own for even a moment.

Even sitting steadily was difficult.

There was a small kerosene lamp at the bow, placed in an iron-caged glass enclosure, creaking in the wind and waves, trembling as if it could be easily swept into the sea at any second.

The salty sea air surrounded them. It was night, and the moon was barely visible through the clouds over the sea, casting just enough light to make out their immediate surroundings. The endless darkness pressed down, bringing an indescribable sense of oppression and cold.

In the distance from their small boat, there were five or six other small boats from other people, but in the dark sea, with only the light from the kerosene lamps on the boats, it was impossible to make out anyone’s features.

The boundless night sea felt like a lurking, ferocious beast. Being in it, with no idea of what might happen, one couldn’t help but feel a creeping sense of fear.

Compared to the power of this sea, they were no different from that swaying kerosene lamp.

By the time Yu Sen could fully open his eyes, the clock and pocket watch were no longer visible in the air. For now, he wasn’t concerned about the items that had fallen. With his lips pressed against Si Xuanyang’s neck, he softly asked, “Did you collect all the things that fell?”

Si Xuanyang knew that in this unstable environment and with these disorienting sensations, Yu Sen needed more and stronger physical contact to strengthen that faint sense of security.

Ignoring whether it might hurt Yu Sen, Si Xuanyang hugged him tightly, tightly holding onto him as if he wanted to merge him into his very being.

Si Xuanyang whispered, “They’re all in my pocket. Don’t worry.”

Yu Sen didn’t reply. The temperature in the deep sea at night was extremely low, and with the wooden boat being unsteady, the icy seawater had splashed into the boat several times. Despite Si Xuanyang’s efforts to shield him, the boat was so small that some water inevitably reached his skin.

The cold seeped into his bones, and Yu Sen could feel his body losing warmth uncontrollably.

He knew Si Xuanyang was holding him very tightly, but in his daze, he felt as if he was about to drift away from that hold.

This wasn’t a good sign.

Yu Sen sniffled, hooked his fingers around the hem of Si Xuanyang’s clothes, and struggled to speak: “Baby, be good, hold me tighter.”

He could barely feel the strength in his arms, but then a soft kiss landed on his forehead. Si Xuanyang steadied his emotions and kept talking to him.

“Don’t be afraid, we can’t stay here forever. Remember, the last few times, we only reached the mission location after traveling for a while. What if this time it’s a deserted island? Once we hit solid ground, you won’t feel dizzy anymore. Talk to me, Ge, don’t fall asleep…”

Yu Sen smiled weakly, his voice faint: “It’s not that I want to sleep; it’s just that every time I open my mouth, I get a stomach full of cold wind. I don’t want to talk…”

Si Nan leaned in closer, chattering away: “Then just listen, give me some reaction, even if it’s just humming a bit with your mouth closed. It doesn’t take much effort. You can’t pass out again. If you fall asleep in this kind of weather, you’ll probably get sick…”

The sound of the waves grew stronger and more intense. Even though they were on the same boat, Si Nan had to shout for Yu Sen to hear him. After talking for a while, his voice began to tremble, but he didn’t pause, continuously chattering in Yu Sen’s ear.

A warm feeling spread in Yu Sen’s heart. He let out a barely audible sigh, quietly releasing his grip on Si Xuanyang’s coat, and discreetly pinched the web between his thumb and forefinger to keep himself conscious.

His fingers were so numb from the cold that he could barely feel the slimy, wet liquid on them. Only when the pain finally registered in his brain did it keep him from slipping into unconsciousness.

Si Nan shivered as he recounted childhood stories, complaining about how Si Xuanyang bullied him and how he never held grudges, his tone gradually growing more aggrieved.

Yu Sen could only laugh. He said he didn’t hold grudges, but how could he remember it so vividly?

….

Several small boats, driven by an invisible force, slowly drifted in the same direction.

When people are starving and freezing, time seems to crawl by. The effects of low blood sugar in such harsh conditions were worse than Si Xuanyang had imagined.

After half an hour, the person in his arms was almost completely cold, no matter how hard he tried to warm him. Under the flickering lights, his face was even paler than the moonlight.

The voice that could still manage a few single syllables just two minutes ago was now completely silent. When he leaned in closer, he could barely hear Yu Sen’s breathing, which was as weak as a dying flame.

Panic gripped Si Xuanyang. He fiercely bit down on Yu Sen’s bloodless lips, his eyes turning red, his trembling voice thick with unshakable fear, every word seeming to carry a drop of blood: “You are not allowed to sleep…”

Yu Sen hovered on the edge of unconsciousness, but the sharp pain in his lips pulled him back a little, making him shiver involuntarily.

“Mm… why are you so harsh?”

His eyelashes, wet from the seawater, fluttered as he slowly opened his eyes, a droplet of water rolling down like a clear tear.

Si Xuanyang stared at him, forcing a smile, and said with difficulty, “Then why are you so sleepy?”

It almost sounded like a sob.

Yu Sen knew his condition was alarming and that Si Xuanyang was scared. He gently pressed his lips against Si Xuanyang’s face, rubbing slowly, his own way of providing comfort.

In this endless sea, they were each other’s only support.

…

At that moment, the boat swayed again, and Si Nan suddenly shouted excitedly, his voice trembling, “Look, look! There’s a big ship on the sea! It’s a cruise ship! It must be stable inside!”

Sitting in this small boat, Si Nan’s stomach was already churning. One could only imagine how uncomfortable his best friend was feeling.

“Yu Ge! Soon you’ll be able to sleep well. Just open your eyes for a moment! Hurry!”

“Shut up…”

Yu Sen lifted his eyelids. Everything in front of him was still swaying, but perhaps because he could finally see a goal, he felt a bit more energized.

He leaned against Si Xuanyang, squinting in the direction Si Nan was pointing.

Compared to their small boat, that “massive” thing on the sea, with its dim lights, seemed to be leading the way for them.

As it gradually became clearer, Yu Sen froze for a moment, then let out a speechless and weak chuckle: “A cruise ship? That’s a pirate ship, you idiot…”

“Huh?”

Si Nan looked closer in shock and indeed saw a tattered black flag flying atop the ship’s mast, flapping loudly in the howling wind.

The black flag had a white skull wearing a crown painted on it, bold and evil.

It was unmistakably a pirate flag.

As their small boat drew nearer, they could see the ship’s exterior clearly.

It looked like a ghost ship that had decayed for many years, with a bow carved into the shape of an angel with wings, though after years of exposure to the ocean, the angel’s appearance had become disturbingly eerie.

The entire ship was pitch black, covered in sea plants and the tentacles of some unknown creatures, giving it a vibe straight out of “Pirates of the Caribbean.”

Yu Sen, with a somewhat optimistic mindset, wondered: Could he meet a carefree Captain Jack Sparrow?

Several rope ladders were lowered from the deck, and their small boat conveniently stopped in front of one of them.

Seeing this, Si Xuanyang frowned, “Are we supposed to climb up ourselves?”

Although the pirate ship’s deck wasn’t as high above the water as some modern cruise ships, it was still more than ten meters up, which wasn’t a problem for Si Xuanyang. Si Nan and Luo Yu could probably manage too.

But with the ladder swaying like that, how could Yu Sen, in his current state, possibly climb it?