Chapter 144. Halted Rotation
Charles felt as though a vice grip had clenched his heart. He sprinted over, scooped Lily up, and turned his back toward the sun to shroud the white mouse in his shadow.
“Do you have a death wish?”
“Mr. Charles, don’t worry. I’m fine. The sunlight doesn’t seem to be lethal against mice.”
“How do you know?”
“It’s true! Furry and the others even secretly tailgated you into the forest just now.”
At Lily’s words, Charles turned toward the mice beside them, which were gnawing joyfully on the fruits. Seeing that each and every one was alive and kicking, he let out a sigh of relief.
He wasn’t sure if it was due to the difference in anatomical structure between mice and subterranean humans, but it was evident that the sunlight dealt no harm to these rodents.
“No wonder they said that rodents and cockroaches are the most adaptable creatures on Earth,” Charles mused as though he had stumbled on the most plausible explanation.
Lily scratched at the various scratches and cuts crisscrossing Charles’ body with her tiny paws and quipped, “Really? Mice are that amazing?”
“Of course. Our Lily is exceptionally amazing,” Charles commented while patting the white mouse on the head. Lying back down on the warm, sun-kissed beach, a hint of drowsiness crept onto him. Unable to fight off the zzz monster, he slowly closed his eyes.
“Lily, I’m sleeping for a little while,” Charles muttered and drifted off to dreamland.
He had a great rest, uninterrupted and free from any nightmares. Finally waking up after some time, Charles felt incredibly refreshed both physically and mentally.
He also found his body to be buried in sand; only his head remained above the surface. Several makeshift, crooked sandcastles were built atop him. Noticing the clear rodent footprints on the buildings, Charles was certain that Lily was the artist behind these masterpieces.
“She’s really still a kid, after all,” Charles commented with a chuckle as he sat up and dusted the sand off his topless torso. Very soon, he spotted the owner of the artwork standing not too far off with her group of rodent pals.
In the distance, Lily was directing the mice to bury the bodies. Each grave was even thoughtfully marked with a twig sticking out to resemble a makeshift tombstone.
“Mr. Charles, can you host a funeral for them?” Lily asked with pleading eyes as she tilted her head up to look at Charles, who had approached them.
“I don’t know how to,” Charles replied as he pulled the pocket watch out of his pants.
“Come on, just say a few words. Hosting a funeral is relatively simple. People pass away all the time in my father’s hospital. You just need to stand in front of their graves and...”
Lily’s words trailed off as she noticed Charles’ relaxed expression gradually contorting into a mix of dread and anger.
“Mr. Charles, what’s wrong?” Lily asked with a hint of caution in her tone.
“Lily, how long did I sleep?” Charles asked. His hand clutching the pocket watch was trembling visibly.
“About half a day. Mr. Charles, is your pocket watch broken? Doesn’t it show the time?”
Thud!
Charles violently flung the pocket watch into the sand. Shocked by his outburst, Lily recoiled in fear and sought refuge beside her rodent friends.
As she watched Charles cursing and swearing in the language she had heard before but couldn’t understand, Lily’s eyes were gradually consumed by worry and concern.
“Jumpy, do you think Mr. Charles has gone mad?” Lily whispered to a brown mouse next to her. Her words dripped with evident sorrow.
The brown mouse responded with a couple of squeaks before Lily reached out a paw and gave it a light slap on the back. “Don’t you say that about Mr. Charles! How could he always have been mad?”
Soon enough, Charles' frenzied gestures ceased, and he became especially quiet. He lay sprawled on the white sand and panted heavily.
Gazing at the steamship shrouded in the distant darkness, Lily cautiously approached and asked in a soft whisper, “Mr. Charles, are you alright?”
Swish!
Charles’ hands shot out at an extreme speed, leaving a trail of afterimages. Snatching Lily up in a tight grip, he stared at her intensely with his bloodshot eyes and roared, “Why hasn’t the sun set? It has been thirteen hours, but the sky is still bright! Do you understand what that means?”
“Mr. Charles... you’re hurting...me,” Lily whimpered as she desperately clawed at his hands in an attempt to free herself.
“It means the fucking Earth has stopped spinning! It means something catastrophic has happened up there! It means everything above is no longer the same! It means even if I can get back up there, my home is no longer there!” With each sentence, Charles’ grip tightened a little further without his conscious knowledge of his action.
Squeakkkkk!
Realizing Lily’s plight, the mice swarmed at Charles and frantically bit down on his hand to make him release his grip on their friend.
Jolted back to his senses by the physical pain, Charles dropped Lily to the ground and stood frozen like a statue.
Upon landing on the white sand, Lily burst into tears. Her cries were not just from the physical pain due to dropping from a height but also out of the fear she felt from Charles’ erratic behavior.
Squeaks echoed incessantly in the air as the swarm of mice carried a crying Lily toward the Narwhale.
Upon the mice’s return, the crew gathered around the white mouse trying to find out what went down on the shore. Whimpering between sobs, Lily complained about Charles’ actions.
After hearing Lily recount her tale, the crew collectively turned to stare at the still silhouette of the man on the beach. A tinge of worry crossed Second Mate Conor’s face, and he looked at Laesto, “Doctor, is Captain inflicted with some sort of ailment?”
Shaking his head in response, Laesto tilted his head back and took a swig from his tin flask. “No idea. This isn’t a symptom caused by the cursed whisperings at sea. Probably gotta continue monitoring him to find out.”
“Seriously? Are you a sham? Is that something a doctor should say?” Conor retorted.
Laesto shot an icy look and Conor before he roared in frustration, “He’s standing in the sunlight that’s lethal to us! What am I supposed to do? Dash to his side and offer my life to the light? I’m old, but I still want to live out my years!”
Minutes ticked past. The crew was starting to get a little restless from the wait. Anxiety painted the faces of everyone as they waited for their captain’s return.
Standing at the corner of the deck, Bandages had been silently watching Charles. Knowing that they had no time to waste, he moved toward the deck cannon without uttering a single word.
Boom!
An explosion rang out as a cannonball shot out of its barrel and landed on the beach, leaving a crater in its wake.
The commotion jolted Charles out of his daze. He cast a fleeting glance at the Narwhale before he walked toward the sea and swam toward the vessel.
Ascending the soft ladder, Charles got on board. For some reason, Charles’ calm expression struck the crew with a deeper sense of worry and concern,
“Dipp, gather the other captains. I have something to announce.”
Feeling a sense of slight unease in his heart, Dipp nodded in affirmation. He entered the cockpit and sounded the ship’s horn.
“Charles, what happened just now?” Laesto walked up to Charles and carefully observed the latter’s face for any traces of anomalies.
“Nothing, I’m fine.”
With that, Charles approached Lily and knelt down on a single knee. “Lily, I’m really sorry for accidentally hurting you just now. I apologize.”
Lily’s furry face still bore evidence of her tear streaks. Ignoring the apology, she retreated into the swarm of brown mice. Only her pink tail remained visible to Charles.
“I’m really sorry,” Charles continued to coax the white mouse. “Just now, I realized that a huge catastrophe had occurred in the world up there, and I lost it. Please forgive me.”
Hearing Charles’ explanation, Lily hurriedly poked her head out of the sea of brown mice. In a concerned voice, she asked, “Then what about your home, Mr. Charles? Will you be able to return home?”
Charles extended an open palm, allowing the white mice to climb onto it. Stroking her on her tiny head, he said, “Yeah...I might not be able to return home, but no matter what happened up there, I still want to go up and have a look. If my family is still around, I’ll do whatever it takes to find them and save them. If—”
Charles paused just as his next thought struck him. He slightly composed his emotions and continued, “If my family and my home no longer exist, I will still stay there and rebuild a new home there!”
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