Shrouded Seascape

"Hurry up, the plane is about to take off. We can't wait anymore, or it's going to be too late." Alice's voice suddenly echoed behind Charles.

Charles turned around and saw Alice's playful and adorable smile.

"I guess no one has used these elevators for a long time now, right?" Charles asked, turning around calmly and walking toward the huge plane.

"Yeah, it's been so long since the last time they were used that I thought they stopped sending people up from below," Alice said, hopping and skipping toward the airstairs.

Charles cast a calm gaze at his crew before turning around and following Alice up the airstairs. He took a peek at the cabin and saw that the details were perfect; the plane was indeed exactly the same as a real plane.

"I want to sit in first class," Charles said, stepping forward to enter the cabin.

"Suit yourself. It's all the same, anyway," Alice said with a carefree expression.

Just then, Charles leaned close to Alice's ear, and his mouth fluttered open to whisper something into her ears. His action made a slight blush appear on Alice's cheeks.

"This isn't a real plane, is it?" Charles asked. In the next moment, his invisible tentacles erupted to life, pushing Alice deep into the cabin behind him.

Charles then rushed out and slammed the cabin door shut. He took on a fierce expression as he pressed against the cabin door with all his might.

Bang!

A deafening noise echoed from inside the cabin as Alice pounded heavily on the door. The impact was so powerful that Charles outside felt the cabin vibrate.

Before Alice could keep pounding on the door, the plane's lights came to life, flashing red. A few seconds later, the red lights went out, and a conflagration erupted from within the plane, instantly filling the cabin.

The plane wasn't a real plane; it was an incinerator!

"Fuck! How ruthless is the Foundation?! To think they'd betray their people and burn them to ashes!" Charles roared. Then, his expression became gloomy as the puzzle pieces started falling into place.

The desolate surface world, the so-called "hub airport" Alice had mentioned, the elevator that led underground, and the gray "powder" outside.

The facts that he had gathered so far fell into place, allowing Charles to create a terrifying hypothesis that was instantly proven by the conflagration that had erupted in the plane's cabin.

This damned place was created to kill the Foundation members who had retired and returned to the surface world!

Those qualified, those who had retired, and those gravely injured could never return to their world!

All of them only had one fate: they'd be burned to ashes by the plane-shaped incinerator, and their ashes would then be scattered to the desolate world outside!

The so-called surface headquarters in Boston did not exist at all.

It was all fabricated!

Charles' face twisted in agony, and he slammed his fist on the cabin door.

Boom!

Charles had just discovered the truth, but it was a cold, cruel truth. However, everything finally made sense. The Foundation had known about the surface long ago, and they definitely knew why the surface had become a desolate world.

"Time is not on our side." K9's words before proceeding with the rushed experiment to create the Light God echoed in Charles' mind.

The GK Council members definitely knew the reason behind the surface world's plight, and it had to be the reason behind their desperation to create their own Divinity.

Bang!

A loud noise echoed as the cabin door was flung open, sending Charles flying.

An unscathed Alice walked out of the cabin with an annoyed look. "What a hassle. I knew it. I knew you'd kick up a fuss because you've brought weapons up. I really hate being hassled."

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Charles wasted no time, squeezing the trigger of his flesh revolver, sending white bone bullets flying toward Alice.

However, Alice did not even bother dodging in the face of Charles' bullets. The bullets struck her, but they didn't even tear a hole in her clothes, much less harm her.

A blue mist floated over from the side, enveloping Alice. The blue mist was Dipp, and it condensed into a hand, which reached out for Alice's back. However, the blue mist actually started melting before Dipp could grab Alice from behind.

Dipp roared in pain, and the blue mist coalesced into Dipp's fleshly form. Dipp fell down the airstairs and rolled on the ground. Inexplicably, his scales were melting, dripping onto the ground.

Alice's figure blurred, and she reappeared next to Dipp. She folded the airstairs with a kick before grabbing Dipp by the neck and throwing him toward the slightly ajar cabin doors.

The injured Dipp made a beeline for the cabin, but Charles snatched him out of mid-air in his monstrous bat form. Then, he turned to the rest of his crew and shouted, "Come to your senses! Attack!!"

Dazzling flashes of light erupted as a hail of bullets flew toward Alice, eliciting clanging noises as they made contact with Alice's form. However, Alice remained completely unfazed despite the attacks, and the same innocent smile was still tugging at her lips.

Cook Planck pulled the pin of a grenade with his teeth and hurled it at Alice's feet using his right hand.

BOOM!

An earth-shattering explosion tore through the workshop, and Alice was instantly engulfed in flames and smoke.

"Keep at it! Don't stop!" Charles roared, and a steady stream of grenades flew toward Alice, creating a string of deafening explosions that pervaded the workshop.

Charles flapped his wings and carefully set Dipp on the ground. Ship Doctor Linda immediately rushed over and opened her medical kit. She then pulled out a chunk of wet fish skin that she layered over Dipp's melted skin.

Charles felt a bit relieved upon seeing Linda's quick actions to assist Dipp. It seemed that his boatswain would most likely survive his injuries.

"Captain, be careful. She has no soul." Dipp pointed out while enduring the pain.

Charles was about to say something when the cloud of smoke in the distance spewed out a black grenade that rolled toward them.

"Oh no, it's gonna blow!" Charles roared. He kicked off the ground and rushed toward the ground.

BOOM!

The grenade exploded, and flames enveloped Charles at once. When the smoke and flames finally dissipated, a panting and unmoving Charles was revealed. His clothes had been reduced to rags, but he hadn't lost any limbs.

Charles had relied on his high defense and his invisible tentacles to withstand the grenade.

"Wait, maybe we can talk this out. It doesn't matter what you are; the Foundation is gone, and you no longer have to do the same old, monotonous work that you've been doing so far," Charles said, trying to placate Alice.

"You lied to me, and I hate liars," Alice said. Her words had just fallen when Charles felt something hot above him. He turned slightly and saw that fireballs were flying toward him from the incinerator. One of them had even grazed his hair, setting it ablaze.

She can even control flames? Charles was shocked. He didn't even have the luxury of thought and was forced to retreat instinctively. However, a pair of cold, iron hands grabbed him by the arms, immobilizing him before he could retreat.

Charles turned and saw that Alice had somehow appeared behind him, even though she was supposed to be standing a few meters away from him. Alice had immobilized him with just her hands.

"What a hassle... I even have to send you in myself," Alice said, lifting Charles off the floor before lunging toward the incinerator.

"Captain!!" the crew roared anxiously from afar as they ran toward Alice and Charles with all their might. However, Alice was just too fast for them to catch up.

Alice charged into the incinerator; Charles' clothes and hair instantly caught fire, transforming him into a human torch. Charles groaned unconsciously amidst the extreme pain. He struggled with all his might, but it was futile.

Alice was just overwhelmingly powerful.

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