Chapter 247. Diving Again
"Captain... the... drawing... is... alive..."
Bandages' words sent a tingle down Charles' spine. Almost instinctively. he crumpled the paper in his hand and hurled it out of the porthole.
Crack!
The porthole's glass broke under the impact of Charles' throw; the crumpled paper and the broken shards flew away, but Charles caught a fleeting glimpse of a writhing black tentacle from the crumpled mass.
"Guys, quick! We have to leave this place! Now!" Charles yelled.
With a low bellow of her horn, the Narwhale swiftly moved away.
Tobba leaned his head out of the round porthole and lamented, "Why did you throw it away? It was just about to crawl out. You are so mean to have interrupted it."
There was a hint of pity in his eyes.
Bandages stood up and pulled Tobba back from the window to stop him from looking any longer.
That was a quick sketch I did in under a minute. How could it possibly move? Charles pondered; his face was dark and with a mix of confusion and disbelief.
He couldn't comprehend what had just transpired, but it made him realize one thing. He finally understood why no libraries in any of the islands had records or illustrations of the creatures underwater.
Logically speaking, humans would normally document their encounters with enemies to warn future generations and avoid repeating the same dangers.
He had been thinking that the people in this seascape harbored some sort of superstition toward those underwater entities.
However, the truth finally dawned upon him—the bizarre nature of these creatures was beyond human comprehension, and even simple documentation could invite deadly trouble.
See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. Charles reiterated in his mind before he added one more rule to the list. Record no evil.
That night, Charles found himself suffering from insomnia. He could barely sleep. Each time he drifted off, he would be jolted awake by the sensation of being touched. In his half-sleepy state, he felt a surreptitious gaze watching him from outside the porthole.
However, the mice on the night watch reported nothing amiss.
Eventually, Charles had to seek Laesto out for some medication before he could fall asleep. Regardless, his mental state took a hit due to his inability to sleep properly.
The next morning, Charles decided to continue with the exploration underwater. He didn't have a good feeling about this place. He felt that things would become more dangerous for them the longer they stayed here. In other words, he had to act swiftly.
He had two goals for coming here. The first was to find the information about the exit to the surface, and the second was to find 319 to extract the knowledge Aaron had implanted in his brain.
While his first goal remained elusive, he felt that the second goal was rather promising. Tobba had already confirmed 319's current location. Now Charles just had to get down there and retrieve it.
With 319, he could extract that information from his mind and know what experiments the Foundation had conducted and the reason behind their disappearance. Perhaps he could also find clues about the surface world and its current state.
Despite his face being a sickly pale hue, Charles dragged himself along the desolate corridor toward the deck. Just as he was a wall away from the deck, he heard faint crying sounds from outside.
Did a creature underwater climb aboard? Charles thought as he drew his flesh revolver.
The cabin door creaked open, and Charles lowered his weapon. The crying came from a figure hunched over at the bow, and Charles easily identified him from his distinctive head of green hair.
"What's wrong?" Charles approached.
The figure slowly turned around. It was the new Second Mate, Feuerbach. He looked visibly heartbroken, and his face was covered in tears and mucus. Despite his uncontrollable sobbing, his hands didn't remain idle. He was scraping barnacles off a struggling turtle.
Feuerbach wiped off the tears and snot on his face with his sleeve. He sounded choked as he replied, "It's nothing, Captain. I'm just... grieving over Kevin..."
Charles ran through the names of the Narwhale's crew in his head; there was no one named Kevin.
"Kevin? Do you mean the shark that disappeared?"
Feuerbach nodded vigorously with bloodshot eyes. "Captain, you know... Among all the sharks, Kevin had been with me for the longest time, but now, he—"
Feuerbach broke down and bawled loudly before he could finish his sentence.
Charles was taken aback. Feuerbach had always come across to him to be indifferent toward most things, but he had just witnessed a new side to the man—he actually held such a deep attachment to his sharks.
Feuerbach didn't care whether Charles was willing to listen or not. He continued on pouring out his heart to Charles in between sobs and narrated every little detail and story he shared with his shark, Kevin.
He recounted how Kevin had protected him in the deep sea, how the shark would playfully snuggle in his arms, and how he would tenderly use a small brush to clean Kevin's throat or pick its sharp teeth.
"Enough, enough," Charles finally interjected. He got Feuerbach's underlying message now—he was reluctant to put his sharks in harm's way again.
"Get your sharks ready. There's no discussion on this."
Feuerbach was stunned into silence. After a few seconds, he could finally react and protested, "Captain, even after that, you still want my sharks to risk their lives?!"
Charles didn't even spare him a glance and turned away to make preparations for the dive. Feuerbach insisted on joining the Narwhale in the first place. Since he was here, he needed to be aware of the sacrifices he had to make.
Though reluctant, Feuerbach knew he had to obey the captain's orders. Grudgingly, he readied his sharks. At the same time, he didn't forget to hug them and complain about Charles' harshness.
Laesto handed Charles a round black herbal pill.
"You've taken this once. And since you've yet to recover, I advise you not to stay underwater for too long."
"I'll be quick. I'm just going to retrieve an item," Charles replied.
"And when you surface, remember to pause to avoid decompression sickness," Laesto reminded him once again.
"Understood." Charles' voice was muffled by his leather suit.
Laesto let out a scoff. "I've never trusted a single word you said. I think I should prepare the medication for your treatment first."
With that, he pivoted on his heel and limped toward the cabin.
"Tobba, which door is 319 in?" Charles turned to Tobba holding a bunch of colorful mice.
"Door 7. The last I saw it, it was behind Door 7."
Chewing on the bitter pill, Charles made his way to the ship's edge.
After the previous incident, the crew was evidently anxious about their captain's second dive. However, they could only silently support his endeavor since they couldn't render much assistance.
The icy waters enveloped Charles once again. He gave a thumbs-up to Lily perched on the ship's railing before diving into the ocean's depths under the guidance of the red sharks.
The sea was cold as usual, and darkness was the only color that painted Charles and Feuerbach's vision as they silently went straight down toward their destination.
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