Shrouded Seascape

Dipp felt all tension in his body go upon hearing that they were temporarily safe. He slumped to the floor and leaned against the wall with a grimace. His skin, which had been wrapped in wet fish skin, had cracked open.

It was already impressive that Dipp managed to go this far despite his severe injuries.

"Are you okay?" Charles asked. He rushed over to Dipp, but Linda had beaten him to it.

After a quick assessment of Dipp's condition, Linda took out a bottle of medicine and poured half of it into Dipp's mouth. Then, she poured the remaining half into Cook Planck's mouth, who was leaning against the wall next to Dipp.

"He's not going to die—for now," Linda said. Her hands moved nonstop as she anxiously treated the injured.

Charles' heart tightened at the sight of his crew members groaning in pain. They were still behind enemy lines and were not out of the woods yet.

Once those monsters discovered that none of them had actually escaped through the crack in the welded iron door, they'd definitely come back to the factory and search for them. They had to escape this damned place as soon as possible.

"Audric, transform into a bat and stay on the lookout. Tell us immediately once you see them approaching us," Charles commanded.

The blind vampire with a broken leg nodded and transformed into a bat before flying away.

Once Audric had left to act as a sentry, Charles crouched down and used his dagger to draw a simple map on the ground. The map featured their current location and the chokepoints in the factory.

Charles racked his brain hard, trying to find the best way to escape.

The factory was massive, so they had no issues navigating it unseen. However, there was a vast open space between the factory and the welded iron door.

There was no way they could cross that clearing directly, as the mobile task forces would surely intercept them.

It seems that we really need external help... Charles pondered briefly before taking out his diary and flipping it open to the second to the last page. "Sparkle, come here with Mommy."

Wriggling tentacles rushed out of the diary. In no time, Anna and Sparkle appeared in front of Charles. Charles breathed a sigh of relief. They would have no issues retreating from here with Sparkle's help, even if they had to face two undying mobile task forces.

Anna walked up to Charles and lifted the bandages on Charles' face, revealing a grotesque scene. Charles was disfigured by the flames of the incinerator, and his skin was stripped off of his head, which made his head appear like a bloody skull.

"Huh? What happened to you? You look terrible. Wait, are you going to look like that forever?" Anna asked, her voice filled with disdain.

Charles gently pushed her finger away and said, "Let's focus on getting out of here alive. The enemies are quite troublesome. I'll explain their abilities to you, and we should put our heads together to create a plan against them.

Charles glanced at Sparkle and saw that she was frozen in place—no, Sparkle wasn't merely frozen in place. She was trembling like an aspen tree, and she looked utterly terrified.

The couple exchanged glances and hurriedly approached her to pat her head.

"Sparkle? What's wrong?"

Sparkle suddenly burst into tears, and her petite figure collapsed as she reverted to her horrifying true form. The indescribable cluster of tentacles riddled with green eyeballs spun rapidly, creating a huge commotion.

One glance was enough to deduce that there was something wrong.

"Sparkle! What's wrong?! Answer me!!" Charles exclaimed; his heart was filled to the brim with anxiety. His invisible tentacles extended to wrap around Sparkle's wriggling tentacles in an attempt to soothe her, but it was to no avail.

Swoosh!

Sparkle abruptly vanished; she had teleported away.

Charles took out his diary and called out to Sparkle, but he received no response.

Anna's hand rested on Charles' fingers as he lightly tapped the diary. "Stop it. I know what's wrong with Sparkle. She's afraid."

"Afraid?" Charles asked, casting an astonished gaze at Anna.

"Have you already forgotten what I told you? Sparkle once tried to break through the rock layer to reach the surface, but she dared not go up. Something on the surface has scared her away."

"What is she so afraid of on the surface?" Charles asked.

Anna shook her head with furrowed brows. "I don't know. Perhaps it's a difference in perception. I think there's something that she truly finds terrifying on the surface, but we simply can't perceive it."

Charles felt a bit worried upon recalling Sparkle's fearful expression. It was the first time he had seen such an expression on his daughter's face. It had to be known that Sparkle hadn't exhibited such an expression despite facing the Pope.

"It's okay, don't worry about it. Our daughter is fine. She's just scared. I'll go and comfort her properly after. For now, you should focus on getting out of here. I'm not sure if you've forgotten, but you're still trapped," Anna said.

Charles sighed softly and set aside his concerns for his daughter to explain the ongoing situation to Anna.

"Two mobile task forces of the Foundation. Hmm... this is a bit tricky..." Anna muttered, resting a hand on Charles' shoulder.

"The main issue here is that they are capable of revival, and they're highly adaptable. Upon suffering a setback, they'd change their approach in the next encounter. The more we fight them, the stronger they become against us," Charles explained.

Anna glanced at the crew members, who were staring at her. "How about dividing some of them into suicide squads? Sacrifice a few to save the rest."

"No." Charles vetoed Anna's idea. "If we do that, I'm afraid there aren't going to be many people willing to stay and become the Narwhale's crew. Besides, that is just addressing the symptom, not the root of the issue. Moreover, they also have the numbers advantage."

Just as they were brainstorming ideas on how to break the blockade of the mobile task forces, a song drifted in from the outside. The singing voice sounded pleasant to the ears, and the singer was a woman.

Everyone instantly became silent upon hearing the familiar singing voice; they were afraid of attracting her attention.

Charles pressed his ear to the ground and listened for a while.

"Only one set of footsteps; the singer must be Alice."

"Alice? That's a woman's name. Is she your new harem member?"

Charles glared at Anna. He couldn't quite believe that Anna was still in the mood to joke around despite their predicament.

"Wait here. I'll be right back. She's greatly weakened, and perhaps we can find a solution to this predicament through her," Charles said, and his figure vanished into thin air.

A few minutes later, Charles jumped back into the workshop through the window with a trembling Alice on his shoulder.

Charles was a bit out of breath. He had found himself in a dangerous situation earlier. He was still under the effects of the adrenaline coursing through his veins, as the patrolling members of the mobile task forces had almost discovered him.

Anna stared at Alice with a surprised gaze. "She doesn't seem to be human."

"It doesn't matter what she is. Anyway, can you extract her memories? See if there's anything in her memories like the mobile task forces' weaknesses or anything else," Charles said.

"It's going to be a bit difficult, but I've become quite a bit stronger, so it shouldn't be that difficult. I'll give it a try."

Bandages had remained silent all this while, but he suddenly walked over to Alice and asked, "What song... were you singing?"

"The Foundation's anthem, of course. Why? Do you know how to sing it? Want to sing it together?" Alice asked sweetly.

A violent tremor ran across Bandages' figure. He stood frozen for a few seconds before shaking his head slowly and backing away. His back profile seemed a bit desolate in Charles' eye.

Charles' expression was complex as he stared at Bandages. Bandages couldn't remember it, but the fact that he was familiar with the Foundation's anthem meant that the Foundation had to have been an integral part of Bandages' life long ago.

Charles raised his right foot to walk toward Bandages, but he eventually put it back down. Then, he turned to look at Anna, whose eyes were closed with a hand on Alice's head.

Just then, Audric flew into the workshop and reported, "Captain, they're looking for us everywhere, and they're moving extremely fast. It's only a matter of time before they reach us here."

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