Chapter 206. Deep Dwellers
Charles shook his head and said, "I can't sleep in this situation. How are the other crew members holding up?"
"They are doing fine. Everyone's a seasoned sailor now; they know well enough that they cannot afford to panic in a situation like this."
Charles' tension was slightly relieved. Fortunately, he had a reliable crew. With the right crew, they could weather the harshest storm.
He kept drinking the hot broth and felt the heat radiate from his stomach to the rest of his body. As he finished over half of the cup, growing sleepiness started to tug at his eyelids.
Charles shook his head in a feeble attempt to dismiss the drowsiness. However, it clung to him and grew heavier with each passing second. Feeling the weight of his eyelids, he glanced at Dipp and said, "I'll take a short nap. Wake me in half an hour."
"Aye," the boatswain readily agreed.
Charles then closed his eyes, rested his head against the wall and gave in to the Z monster. He slept well; when he woke up, he felt thoroughly refreshed, both mentally and physically.
Glancing to the side, Dipp was still manning the helm. The same darkness outside the glass remained unchanged as before.
As Charles was about to stretch and stand, his gaze caught the wall clock. The hour hand showed that nearly nine hours had passed.
"Dipp, didn't I tell you to wake me up in half an hour?" Charles grumbled in dissatisfaction. Though he knew Dipp probably intended for him to rest a little more, their current predicament didn't offer him the luxury of oversleeping.
Faced with Charles' question, Dipp said nothing and only chuckled lightly
Before Charles could continue the conversation, a sudden movement on the deck caught his attention. The deck cannon suddenly swiveled on its own accord and fired into the open sea.
"Something's amiss! The Narwhale must have detected something!" Charles swiftly directed the searchlight toward where the cannon projectile had landed.
Under the bright illumination, he saw a rugged black rock column crashing into the waters at an inclined angle.
Charles yanked the steam whistle hard. Grabbing his flesh revolver, he charged onto the deck.
"Dipp, halt the ship! Our previous path didn't have all this shit!"
Hearing the ship's whistle, the crew assembled on the deck in a hurried clatter. Without any need for Charles' command, Audric rapidly transformed into a bat and soared into the air to scout the perimeter.
He returned soon enough but with dreadfully bad news.
"Captain, the surrounding waters are filled with jutting black spires. We haven't returned to our charted course. We strayed further."
"Fuck!" Charles shouted as he crashed his prosthetic arm against the ship's railing with a resounding clang. His devised plan should have been flawless. How did they end up in their current location?
Just then, a twinkling of green glow underneath the waters caught Charles' attention. There was something moving in the dark waters. Unease washed over him. He had no desire to know what lurked below. His only wish was to escape this bizarre place.
"Dipp! Set sail! Now!" Charles commanded.
The anchor chain rattled and spun rapidly. With a mighty crash, the heavy anchor that weighed close to a hundred tons plunged into the water.
"Have you lost your fucking mind!" Charles roared as he advanced furiously toward Dipp. "Is this the place to anchor?"
Just then, Charles stopped in his tracks, and his eyes widened in disbelief.
"It was you?" The revelation suddenly hit him like a gust of icy wind. That explained why the Narwhale and the mice hadn't detected anything amiss. If the perpetrator was from within their ranks, it made sense they hadn't raised an alert.
Charles raised the skeletal gun and aimed it at Dipp's head. "I've checked your identity myself! Who are you?! And where is Dipp!"
"Captain, I'm not some imposter. I'm really Dipp, your boatswain," Dipp replied calmly as he brushed off his hands.
Bang!
A gunshot rang out, and a bullet pierced a bloody hole in Dipp's foot.
However, Dipp didn't retaliate. Dragging his wounded leg toward the ship's edge, he said, "Captain, I'm sorry for lying to you. But it was all for your own good."
"Who in the hell are you?! My boatswain would never betray me!"
Another gunshot echoed; Dipp staggered and fell to the ground.
Hissssssss.
An ominous hiss, similar to that of a venomous snake flicking its tongue, rose from the depths of the sea, sending instinctual shivers through everyone on the ship.
"Your boatswain would never betray you!" Dipp cried out while sprawled on the ground. "You are like a father to me. I don't want you to die. I want you to live on, to live for a longer time. Mother said she could help; she could grant you immortality."
Charles didn't want to engage in further conversation. He had to get his crew out of this wretched place immediately.
"James! Hoist the anchor. Dipp's been ensnared by something!"
Responding to Charles' command, James' physical frame enlarged. He seized the windlass and spun it rapidly. Yet, after only a few rotations, the chain grew taut and began retracting back towards the depths. It seemed as though an unseen force beneath the surface was yanking the anchor downward.
Plat!
A wet, green, webbed hand clutched the side of the ship. Charles recognized it immediately—the very hand he had previously shot and the disembodied half of it.
This was only the beginning. One after another, bizarre green hands appeared on the ship's edge.
Charles felt a sudden sensation and rapidly turned around. Perched on the ship's railing, numerous grotesque green creatures crouched motionless as if they were statues. Their skin was a muted green except for their pale underbellies. Their bodies shone with a wet sheen, and they sported scaly crests along their spines.
Their appearance bore a vague resemblance to humans, yet their heads were distinctively fish-like. They had large, bulging eyes that never closed, and the gills at the sides of their necks quivered ceaselessly.
"Everyone, don't be afraid. They won't harm you. Really," Dipp reassured.
"Who is your leader? Why did you control my crew member to deceive me here?" Charles demanded in a raised voice while he stealthily pulled out the Bat Mirror.
His adversary seemed to possess intelligence, so perhaps there was a sliver of hope that they could negotiate.
Just then, one of the creatures came closer. Extending its right hand, with a significant chunk of flesh clearly missing, it helped Dipp up.
"Captain, they didn't control me. Rather, I'm one of them."
Dipp then unwound the scarf around his neck, revealing three pairs of evenly spaced gills—the source of his incessant scratching over the years.
"I didn't believe it initially until I witnessed the changes in my body. Only then did I realize that I'm one of them. I'm a Deep Dweller. If I had remained in the North, perhaps I would have lived out my whole life as an ordinary human. But we came to the South. My Mother found me; she awakened me."
Dipp's eyes bulged out all of a sudden to resemble that of a fish. His voice also started to turn exceedingly unpleasant.
"But don't worry, Captain. This is not a curse but a gift. If you join us, not only can you live past forty, but you can also have eternal life. At that point, Mother and I will help you find the way back home."
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