Shrouded Seascape

"You seem to know a lot about the surface world. Are you perhaps from the surface world?" Lilith asked, sizing up Charles.

"I'm the one asking questions here, not the other way around. Were there any major events before you were brought down here? By major events, I mean natural disasters like earthquakes or something else," Charles said, forcefully taking the lead in their conversation.

Lilith shook her head and replied, "Nothing like that really happened before they took me away from the orphanage.

"Everything was normal, but it's hard to say for sure because from the time they took me away from that orphanage on the surface until I escaped to the Subterranean Sea... the Foundation never really allowed me to have any contact with the outside world.

"I was isolated. Even the cargo vessels that were transporting experimental subjects like me down here were like iron boxes. In other words, I have no idea what happened to the surface world."

"You said the Foundation captured you in 1991, right?" Charles' heart rate sped up slightly as he asked, "So, how old are you this year?"

"I'm exactly 1,016 years old this year. I'm very certain about this."

The room instantly fell silent. Lilith didn't say anything more, and Charles didn't ask further.

A deafening silence descended upon the Captain's Quarters. After a while, Charles nodded and said, "Let your people come over, then. I agree with your request. You vampires are now members of the surface world exploration team."

"Great. You've made a wise and the most natural choice," Lilith said. The next moment, her blood-red figure vanished into a swirling red mist that soon dispersed in all directions.

Once Lilith had disappeared completely, Charles bent down and pulled open the drawer beside him. The Soul Printer was inside the drawer, and a large stack of papers had already piled up on top of it.

Charles took out the pieces of paper and read them carefully. Lilith did not lie to him at all; everything she said about the surface world was true.

"So it's been a thousand years since my time? Haha, it has really been a long time," Charles said, chuckling softly. His laughter sounded refreshed as if he had truly let go of his burdens. His obsession with the surface had vanished, and Lilith's answer had merely brought it to a complete end.

Charles couldn't be bothered to go elsewhere and conducted the communication ritual right inside his quarters.

Julio, Harold, and Jax did not raise any objections upon hearing that the vampires of Dark Crystal Island had joined the exploration. They were aware of the possible issue they might encounter a hundred years later due to the vampires' proliferation, but they were living in the present, so their priority was to find the darkness and ensure that they'd have a future to worry about.

If they couldn't find the darkness before time was up, then there'd be no need for them to worry about anything.

"Charles, how come we haven't discovered anything at all? We need some good news to boost morale. The islands of the Subterranean Sea are growing restless," Julio said with a solemn expression.

"Good news? It's only been a few months. What good news do you expect me to give? If you're that desperate for good news, then why don't you come up here and explore the surface by yourself?"

"Do you really think that I'm down here to avoid responsibility? It seems that you have no idea, but if I hadn't been here to suppress the Fhtagn Covenant's movements, their faith would have already spread throughout the Subterranean Sea! And you guys up there would have run out of supplies long ago!"

The atmosphere was getting a bit tense, so Harold decided to smooth things over, saying, "Governor Charles, we're not as adept at exploring the unknown as you are. We wouldn't be of much help up there. It's better for us to stay here and work with your wife to stabilize the islands' growing restlessness."

"We're dealing with a serious issue here as well. A calamity is a breeding ground for cultists. It is necessary to manage their movements, as they can easily cause the collapse of the people's restless hearts."

Charles didn't even reply to Harold's remark and simply left.

Julio snorted coldly and was about to leave as well when a sand figure with an octopus head abruptly manifested next to them. The sand figure depicted Octett's figure, who had been missing for quite a while now. Everyone was surprised to see him coming back online.

"Are you really going to keep on working with him, Governor Julio? Charles has fooled not just you but everyone here. He's a disgrace to the humans of the Subterranean Sea. He and the Pope of the Divine Light Order had worked together to bring about that 'death light.'

"Aside from searching for the darkness and retrieving it, you actually have a second choice, which is to join us. Join us, and we can easily bestow upon you bodies capable of living in the depths of the sea.

"Once the Great One awakens, we will all attain eternal life!"

"Scram!" Julio roared, his voice booming like thunder.

"You don't believe me? I have evidence. Read it and be the judge."

"Just wait until I have enough free time to deal with you, you bastards of the sea! I'll slaughter you all sooner or later! Harold, kick this bastard out of here!"

The white-bearded old man tapped his staff lightly on the ground, and Octett's sand figure instantly crumbled to the floor.

Harold stroked his beard and asked, "Why do you not want to hear him speak?"

"There's no need to hear what he has to say. So what if he wasn't lying? Do you really think that we can turn against Charles right now?

"Our top priority is to return the Subterranean Sea to its previous normalcy. Everything else can be postponed once we're done with that," Julio said, and his sand figure immediately crumbled.

Harold was about to leave as well when he saw the President of the Explorers Association using a pen to write something down on a piece of paper. Jax had zero presence throughout the meeting, so Harold hadn't noticed him until now.

Upon hearing Harold's questions, Jax's hand holding a pen froze in mid-air. He adjusted his monocle and smiled, saying, "Sorry, my memory is bad, and I've always believed that even a good memory is still no match for a bad pen."

***

Charles opened his eyes slowly. He had just put on his clothes, but he wasted no time and immediately rushed out of his room. However, he quickly came to a screeching halt upon recalling something.

Today was his day off. He had to rest as well, and he had to release the stress that had been accumulating in his heart. Otherwise, the stress might affect his next exploration.

Charles sat down and took out a dusty drawing board from the corner of his room. Then, he emptied his mind and picked up a paintbrush.

Soon, Charles' self-portrait appeared on the canvas.

Charles exhaled as he stared at himself on the canvas. It had been a while since he last painted, so he had gotten quite a bit rusty at it.

"Mr. Charles, why are you painting yourself?"

Charles tilted his head slightly and discovered that Lily was already standing on his shoulder. It seemed that he was too focused on his painting that he had failed to notice her approach.

"Where have you been these days? How come I haven't been seeing you?"

"I led my friends to the Explorers Association and told them to join the other exploration teams. That way, they'd be able to lend a big helping hand if the other explorers found a place that only mice can enter safely!"

Charles stared at the mouse on his shoulder in surprise. "That's really not a bad idea at all, Lily. I can't believe you came up with such an idea yourself."

"Hehe, this is what everyone should do. If the islands end up getting submerged, everyone will die, so we have to go all out and help in any way possible," Lily said, rubbing her cheek against Charles' bandaged face.

Charles reached out and grabbed her. Lily let out a startled cry, as Charles jumped out of the window next to him rather than walk out of the room through the door. "Let's go. It's my day off, so let's not talk about anything related to exploration for now. Let's go and stroll through the fortress."

"Yay! I love going out with you, Mr. Charles!"

Charles brought Lily with him to appreciate the scenery of the fortress, which was composed of a variety of shops selling many different things. Soon, they passed by a store with a giant colorful mushroom depicted on its signboard.

The shop was selling all kinds of addictive substances, such as comfort fruits, hallucinogenic mushrooms, and a variety of strange powders. These items were illegal on Hope Island, but nothing was illegal here.

After all, Charles had no one to enforce the law here. The mortality rate among explorers was extremely high, anyway, so there was no use enforcing the law.

Of course, Charles also believed that everything was just a matter of perspective. For example, morphine was an addictive drug in the hands of an addict, but it was a great painkiller in the hands of a patient with end-stage cancer.

The explorers' emotions would also be more stable with the existence of such items here.

The shop was extremely popular, and it had an endless stream of customers. Just as Charles was about to walk past the shop with his hand covering Lily's eyes, he caught a glimpse of Margaret picking items inside the shop.

Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om