Chapter 143. The Way to Get Up
"What do you desire? To occupy an island with fresh water? Mark my words: in the Land of Light, freshwater is as abundant as the sea. People there even bathe in it."
"You mean... like the central islanders?" Conor asked with a glimmer of anticipation in his eyes.
"Yes. Once we reach the Land of Light, each and every one of us no longer need to struggle to survive in this mad ocean. We can live like central islanders."
Charles's tempting persuasion seemed to diminish their fear of death as animated discussions erupted among the group. Those who had chosen a seafaring career were known for their brazen disregard for life. After all, those who lived by fear would never join the crew of an exploration vessel.
However, not everyone was naively optimistic. Dressed in a black military uniform, the captain of the amphibious vessel calmly stared at Charles and posed a question, "Captain Charles, even if the paradise above is as great as you claimed, how are we supposed to get up?"
Right, how do we get up?
Charles was troubled over the same problem. As far as he knew, the Subterranean Seascape was severely lacking when it came to aerial transport.
"Is there anyone among your crew with the ability to fly?" Charles posed the question to the captains.
The various captains exchanged glances before, in unity, their gazes settled back on Charles.
"Mr. Charles, don't you possess a relic that can turn you into a giant bat?" asked one of the captains.
Charles pulled out the Bat Mirror, but after a brief moment of thought, he tucked it back into his coat again. "I'm afraid this thing won't do. Its previous owner was a vampire, and vampiric items fear the sunlight even more."
"How will we know if we don't try? Mr. Charles, let me try!" A young man with a prosthetic eyeball emerged from the crowd with apparent eagerness.
Charles cast a glance at the young lad before he tossed the Bat Mirror to him without uttering a word.
Sadly, the result was devastating. The moment the giant bat soared into the air, it erupted into a ball of flames and was soon reduced to mere ashes, scattering into the wind.
Charles furrowed his brows and bent down to pick up the mirror, which glimmered under the sunlight from its spot in the sand. He thought he would be able to leave as soon as he found the exit, so he had never expected the exit to be suspended in the air.
"Yeah, the sun is so bright. How are we supposed to get up? What if it's always sunny like in Africa? We'd been stuck here forever," Richard quipped.
Hearing Richard's lament, a sudden thought struck Charles. He had briefly been ensnared in an oversight of understanding. Having spent too much time in this subterranean space, he had nearly overlooked the fact that in the surface world, the sun didn't shine incessantly.
Richard instantly understood Charles' train of thought. "Bro! You're a genius to remember that the sun doesn't shine in the night. That means, in another twelve hours, at most, we will be able to return to the surface!"
Charles nodded in agreement. A hint of excitement painted his countenance as he stared at the Bat Mirror in his hands.
This was promising news, and he immediately shared it with everyone.
Hearing the exhilarating news, a tidal wave of jubilation washed over the faces of every individual present. This meant that they would soon be able to reach the fabled land.
It was impossible for anyone to remain calm in the face of news of this magnitude. The emotional rollercoaster of the day was unprecedented for the sailors, and their facial muscles for the past few hours had been put through a rather challenging test.
While the sailors reveled in celebration with whistles filling the air, First Mate Bandages discreetly spat a mouthful of blood into the sea.
His action didn't go unnoticed by Charles' keen observation. He immediately approached Bandages.
"What happened? Are you injured?" Charles' voice was tainted with apparent concern.
Bandages shook his head and opened his mouth for Charles to have a look.
The flesh within his mouth was bloodied.
"It's nothing... I ate too much fish... There's some decay in my mouth..."
Charles immediately understood. Bandages was likely suffering from scurvy due to a deficiency in Vitamin C. He recalled Laesto's words from earlier and surmised that other crew members were mostly likely suffering from the same disease, albeit with different levels of severity.
Gazing at the brightly lit tropical island in the distance, Charles pondered for a brief moment before he patted Bandages on the shoulder and said, "Wait here."
Charles returned to the island and started exploring the dense forest. The forest was a tapestry of greenery with an abundance of plant species. Soon enough, Charles caught sight of some familiar fruits.
There were bananas measuring nearly tens of centimeters in length and pineapples the size of a fist.
Most fruits are rich in Vitamin C, and these tropical fruits could easily resolve the issue at hand. As for the task of testing these fruits for toxicity, Lily's mice would serve as the perfect lab mice.
As Charles continued to gather the fruits, he noticed a sense of oddity. The concentration of fruit-bearing trees on this island was unusually dense and deviated from the pattern of any typical forests he had encountered.
Scaling a tree trunk, Charles reached the upper branches. As his eyes settled on the overgrown ruins in the distance, the source of the island's peculiarity became immediately clear to him.
Charles headed toward the ruins. Despite the building's decayed state, he could still discern the minimalistic architectural style of the Foundation.
He didn't find it any surprising to find a structure on the island tied to the Foundation. Given their knack for seizing every available chance, it was unlikely they'd overlook an exit to the surface world.
Among the ruins, a series of lengthy glass edifices caught Charles' attention. Broken glass shards littered the ground while a pristine steel framework stretched into the forest like a colossal insect's exoskeleton.
"A greenhouse?" But the moment he saw a steel chamber, he immediately discarded the idea.
"The Foundation is sure fucking incredible," Richard commented as he tilted his head skyward to view the gaping crack in the terrain overhead. "They manage to build an elevator to reach such a height."
The metallic chamber functioned as the elevator space, and the steel beams served as the framework to transport the elevator from the ground through the overhead fissure. It was an architectural marvel created by the Foundation.
Charles wasn't sure if other exits existed elsewhere, but he theorized that this was certainly one of the main passageways between the Foundation and the surface world.
"We're heading back now." Clutching an armful of fruits entwined with vines, Charles leaped from one tree to another like an agile monkey and made his way to the shore.
Most of the fruits that Charles brought back were rather lacking in the taste department. The small green pineapples were tingling to the tongue and tasted rather astringent. The bananas, despite their large size, didn't have a hint of sweetness. Their seeds were also unusually large.
Among the three fruit species, only the coconuts had a somewhat decent flavor. Regardless, they served their purpose to provide the crew with the necessary Vitamin C.
Most fruits with high water content were usually heavy. After multiple trips, Charles was visibly exhausted. It was an inconvenient situation, but currently, he was the only one who could move under sunlight.
Donning the sunglasses he had acquired from Audric, Charles reclined on the beach and savored the sun's comforting warmth as he took occasional sips of coconut water from the fresh coconut next to him. After experiencing sunlight once again, he was reluctant to return to the shadows.
Squeak—
A series of squeaks sounded to Charles' left. Perplexed, he sat up and looked over to see Lily, along with her group of rodent pals, gnawing on a coconut he had just plucked.
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