Chapter 346. Mudling
Charles rushed out of the tree and found that his crew was holding at gunpoint the reason behind the mice's urgent cries. The figure wasn't made out of brown jute rope but seemed to be made out of mud. It stood frozen at only a hundred and forty centimeters tall, and a dark honey mushroom the size of a basketball was in its arms.
"Captain, there's a living person inside that mud. I can smell their blood circulating through their veins," Audric said. He bared his fangs and licked them with his crimson tongue.
"A living person?" Charles approached the figure and scraped the pitch-black mud off the figure with his Dark Blade. Sure enough, a fair skin appeared underneath.
"Are you the one living in that hollowed-out tree?" Charles said.
The Mudling ignored Charles as they stood rooted.
Charles snatched away the mushroom in the Mudling's arms and tossed it toward the nearby mice.
"Taste it and see if it's edible," he instructed.
At Charles' order, two mice rushed over and began nibbling away at the mushroom. However, they started writhing and vomiting on the ground merely seconds later after tasting the mushroom.
"What's going on with them, Lily? Was that thing poisonous?" Charles asked.
"No, the big mushroom isn't poisonous. But they're complaining that it's so bitter that their tongues went numb upon tasting it," Lily replied.
Even rats found the mushroom revolting; one could only imagine just how foul the mushroom tasted. Regardless, the fact that it wasn't poisonous meant that it could be consumed once desperate.
Audric was right. The Mudling was a living human being, and they had gone out to forage for food.
Charles stepped forward, and his Dark Blade drew multiple cold arcs as it shaved off the mud on the Mudling's face. The mud peeled away, revealing the exquisite features of the individual underneath.
The long lush eyelashes before the individual's amber eyes drew more than one smitten glance from the crew, but Charles seemed indifferent to the individual's perfect facial features. He held the Dark Blade before the individual's throat.
"Just what the hell are you?! Speak!" Charles urged with a roar.
Just then, Tobba rushed over and said, "Captain, let me do it. I can handle this."
Tobba grabbed the Mudling's hand and stood next to it as if imitating an art sculpture of the theme: Friendship.
The crew stared bemused while Dipp approached Charles and asked, "Captain, does he know how to read minds? Is he a telepath?"
Charles frowned slightly, but he didn't respond. Tobba's abilities weren't clear to even himself, so it wouldn't be a surprise if the living relic suddenly pulled out new abilities from out of nowhere. Charles could still remember Tobba's uncanny sixth sense during that time on Skywater Island.
Three minutes later, Tobba remained frozen next to the Mudling.
The perplexed Charles could no longer hold it in and decided to ask, "Tobba, do you have any idea of its thoughts yet?"
Tobba turned to Charles, looking as baffled as the latter as he asked, "I'm waiting for it to speak! How would I know its thoughts? It still hasn't said anything, so I wouldn't know its thoughts at all!"
Dipp scratched the green scales on his head, both speechless and exasperated. "Are you an idiot? If this thing could talk, you wouldn't have been needed to step in!"
"He's not an idiot, but he's a madman," Charles dragged Tobba away from the Mudling with clear impatience on his face.
"No, no, no, I'm really awesome, I'm telling you! You just have to believe me! I didn't hear it say anything in its head, and it has yet to speak as well!" Tobba roared in protest.
Charles simply decided to ignore Tobba. They didn't have the luxury of time to take things slowly. The Mudling wasn't willing to speak, so Charles had no choice but to resort to extreme measures.
Buzz!
The buzzing of the chainsaw pervaded the air, and the chainsaw sliced through the hardened mud as if it were slicing through tofu. Just as the chainsaw approached the Mudling's fingers, the quiet Bandages made a move.
Bandages placed his hand on Charles' prosthetic arm and said, "Wait... Captain. I can sense that...it's not like it's unwilling...to speak...it's just imitating..."
"Imitating? What is it imitating?"
"It's...imitating...those...creatures made from jute rope."
The spinning chainsaw wound down, and Charles directed a frown at the Mudling. After a while, he emerged from his contemplation and ordered. "On my signal, I want everyone to shut their eyes for exactly one second."
The crew and mice nodded and closed their eyes on Charles' signal. Exactly one second later, they were stupefied to find that the motionless Mudling had turned around and was in a fleeing pose.
So, it can only move while unobserved. Charles was quite astonished by the discovery. Charles ordered the crew to blink rapidly, allowing the Mudling to take a few more steps away.
Upon confirming his theory, Charles dragged the Mudling toward the hollowed-out tree.
"I want all of you to stand guard here outside. I'm going to have a private conversation with our friend right here," he said.
"Aye aye, Captain!" the crew responded.
The hollowed-out tree was pitch-black inside, but the Mudling remained frozen, even though Charles wasn't technically observing it. For some reason, the Mudling could sense Charles' gaze on it despite the darkness.
Blink!
Charles blinked once, and it whipped around toward the exit.
Of course, Charles wouldn't let it escape. Finding a living human being on an unexplored island was exceedingly rare, so Charles was planning on extracting every single piece of information the Mudling had in its brain.
He grabbed the Mudling and made it stand upright. Then, he stared at the Mudling's perfect visage and made sure to enunciate each word slowly as he said, "I want you to answer my questions. Are there buildings on this island? Where are the rest of your crew?"
Charles blinked rapidly, hoping to provoke a response from the Mudling.
However, the Mudling ignored Charles and started making its way to the exit step by step with Charles' every blink.
Bang!
A loud noise echoed as a white bone bullet grazed the Mudling's cheek, leaving a bloody gash on its flawless face.
Startled, the crew members outside stuck their fire torches and heads into the hollowed-out tree, but they swiftly withdrew upon seeing that their Captain was safe and sound.
"Answer me, or I'm going to make you beg for mercy," Charles said and pressed the barrel of his gun against the Mudling's head.
However, the Mudling still showed no intention of responding despite being held at gunpoint, and it continued making its way toward the exit with Charles' every blink.
"Perhaps it simply cannot speak, Captain." An aloof feminine voice echoed from outside.
Charles turned and found the Narwhale's doctor, Linda. The bald Linda walked up to the Mudling and stared intently into its eyes. "See how its eyes show no reaction at all to our conversation? It means only one thing: it does not understand us at all."
Charles frowned and was about to start pondering over how to communicate with the Mudling when Linda spoke once more and offered, "May I try, Captain? I'm still a doctor, after all."
Charles pondered briefly before nodding. "Fine, but be careful. For all we know, it might just be faking it."
Charles tossed his flesh revolver over to Linda and exited the hollowed-out tree.
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