Chapter 253. Different Relationships
The door to the medical room swung open. However, what lay beyond was not the dimly lit corridor of the Narwhale, but a complete, impenetrable darkness, an endless void.
Instantly, a soul-shaking fear gripped everyone in the room, and involuntary tremors coursed through their bodies.
Clang!
Charles' grappling hook shot out and firmly anchored itself to the door. With a fierce jerk of his arm, the door slammed toward the frame.
But just as the door was about to close completely, it halted abruptly. With a faint creak, the door slowly reopened on its own.
At this point, Feuerbach had also realized the gravity of the situation. Panic crossed his face as he rushed to Charles' side and helped him off the operating table.
A tar-like black substance began to slowly ooze out from beyond the door. Like a living liquid, it spread and devoured everything it touched—the floor, tables, and even Laesto's jars and bottles.
First, it enveloped the items in its black, slimy substance, then, accompanied by a hissing sound of corrosion, it dissolved them, ultimately assimilating them into itself.
The chain anchored to the door snapped in two under the slightest touch of the unknown substance.
It moved extremely slowly but relentlessly. At its speed, Charles theorized it would take less than ten minutes for it to swallow the Narwhale whole.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Hisssssss!
Swoosh! Swoosh!
Charles brandished an array of weapons and attacked the encroaching entity, but to no avail. They inflicted no damage to it.
In a state of extreme anxiety, Charles glanced around and with a flick of his left wrist, the broken chain shot out and shattered the round window by the side.
"Out the window, now! Jump ship! Hurry!"
Charles knew that jumping into the open sea was tantamount to suicide, but it seemed to be his only option left in this predicament. If they didn't jump now, not even a single cell on them might remain.
As he assisted Laesto toward the window, the black substance on the ground suddenly rose up like a tidal wave and surged toward them.
The unknown goo was mere inches away from engulfing Charles and the others when something rolled out from under the operating table and stopped between them and the black mass.
It was a large, green eyeball that spanned more than fifty centimeters.
The black substance seemed to be wary of the eyeball as it hovered indecisively in mid-air, neither advancing nor retreating.
Suddenly, the eyeball stirred and floated into the air before it approached the black mass.
Under the eyeball's threat, the black substance seemed to be intimidated and started to retreat slowly into the confines of Door 3. It only left behind the devoured remnants of the floor.
Through the gaping hole in the floor, Charles could see the water tank in the storage cabin beneath.
Bang!
With a loud echo, Door 3 slammed shut from the outside, and the red light above swiftly disappeared. Only the green eyeball and the four stunned humans remained in the room.
At this moment, a strange and eerie atmosphere hung low over the cabin. Everyone was perplexed about what had just happened, what this eyeball was, and why it had helped them.
Charles instinctively reached a hand up to touch the tattoo on his neck. He wondered, could it be that God Fhtagn came to help because of this?
Hovering in mid-air, the eyeball turned around to stare at Charles. Charles's eyes widened in disbelief, and his heart tightened upon seeing the familiar cross-shaped pupil. This was the same entity from under the waters!
After what seemed like an excruciatingly long time when it had only been three seconds the eyeball seemed to have decided on altering its strategy and suddenly hurtled toward Charles.
Almost instinctively, Charles flicked his chain and wrapped it around the eyeball before hurling it out through the round porthole by the side.
Enduring the pain in his abdomen, he dashed to the bridge at his fastest speed.
"Bandages! Overload the turbines! Get out of here now!"
Bandages immediately complied with Charles' command.
"What.... happened?" Bandages asked slowly, his hands not idling for a single second.
With his face deathly pale, Charles shook his head and remained silent.
The Narwhale sped across the sea like a speedboat as her turbines were pushed to their limits. Only when they were 30 nautical miles away did the ship slow down.
Charles clutched his wound and endured the excruciating pain as he patrolled the vessel. He only managed to completely relax upon confirming that both Door 3 and the eyeball were gone.
Back at the Narwhale's previous location, a giant white skeleton slowly emerged from the water. The eyeballs and tentacles in its eye socket were still writhing.
Accompanied by a series of popping sounds, the giant skeleton disintegrated into scattered bones and sank into the sea. Then, an unknown creature emerged from the skull.
The eyeball that Charles had thrown out of the window floated by and re-entered its main body.
All of its green eyes turned simultaneously and gazed in the direction of the Narwhale.
As its tentacles writhed and twisted, a vague and chaotic voice emanated from within it.
"Dad...dy..."
***
With a mask covering her nose and mouth, Donna was bent over the fields. As she worked tirelessly in the fields, she let out a cough every so often.
Despite the sweat beading her weary face, an overwhelming sense of joy surrounded her. This season's ryegrass harvest was going to be exceptionally good.
If she sold the harvested ryegrass to the Governor's Mansion, she and her daughter would then be able to live a bit longer atop the World's Crown.
It didn't matter to Donna whether she was living atop the Crown, or underneath it. But it was a different story for her daughter. The thought of her daughter's nightly coughing fit, which robbed her of her sleep, spurred Donna to work even harder.
Atop the Crown, they wouldn't need to wear masks. Neither would they erupt into periodic coughing fits. Whenever they lived up there, her child's cough would ease.
Gratitude filled Donna's heart whenever she thought of the governor's sister, Lady Anna.
In the past, those elites above couldn't care less for people like her, let alone let farmers live atop the Crown. But ever since Lady Anna's appearance, everything had changed. As long as the farmers provided grains, not only could they live for a short duration atop the Crown, but they would also live in an excellent house at that!
Those neat, square houses were so comfortable; her daughter always hated leaving them.
As Donna's energy surged with the thoughts in her mind, she suddenly felt the ground tremble. She looked up to see a procession of towering giants marching along the road in an orderly file through the fields toward the Crown. Their immense stature inflicted awe and fear with just a glance.
They are so tall and so big-sized; I wonder how much food they consume daily... They are probably here to buy grains from the governor. Donna thought to herself.
As she watched the giants disappear from her sight, Donna bent down and resumed her work on the fields. These giants were just a mere interlude in her life.
Draped in massive white cloaks, the Haikor giants silently arrived at the base of the Crown. The moment the people by the basket saw the giants, they bowed respectfully. "Lady Anna has been waiting for you for some time."
Pulled by chains greased with whale oil, the basket carrying the Haikors slowly ascended toward the top of the Crown.
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