"What is your wish? To occupy an island with fresh water? Then let me tell you, in the Land of Light, fresh water flows as fast as sea water. People there even use fresh water to bathe."
"Just... just like the people on the island?" Krona asked with longing in his eyes.
"That's right. As long as we reach the land of light, we won't have to fight on this crazy sea anymore. We can all live the life of the islanders."
Charles' tempting words diluted the fear of death, and everyone began to discuss excitedly.
People who make a living on the sea have always been open-minded about life and death, and those who are afraid of death cannot board the exploration ship.
But not everyone is blindly optimistic. The captain of the amphibious exploration ship in black uniform said to Charles calmly: "Captain Charles, even if it is as beautiful as you say, how can we get up there?"
Yes, how to get up there? This was also a problem that troubled Charles. As far as he knew, Dihai didn't seem to have many skill points for flying in the air.
"Who among your crew has the ability to fly?" Charles asked them.
The captains looked at each other, and finally turned their eyes back to Charles. "Mr. Charles, don't you have a relic that can turn into a giant bat?"
Charles took out the Bat Mirror, thought about it, and put it back. "I'm afraid this thing won't work. Its last owner was a vampire, and vampires' things are probably more afraid of sunlight."
"How do you know if you don't try? Mr. Charles, let me do it!" A young man with a white prosthetic eye stepped out from the crowd eager to try.
After looking at him, Charles said nothing and threw the Bat Mirror to him.
The result was disappointing. The giant bat turned into a fireball as soon as it flew into the sky, and soon turned into ashes and drifted away with the wind.
Charles, with a frown on his face, picked up the mirror that was shining in the sand. He thought he could get out once he found the exit, but he didn't expect that the exit would be in the air.
"Yeah, how can we go up in such a scorching sun? What if it's Africa and it never gets cloudy? Then we will never be able to go up, right?"
Listening to Richard's complaints, Charles' eyes lit up, and he suddenly realized that he had fallen into a blind spot in knowledge.
Charles had stayed in the underground sea for so long that he forgot for a moment that the sun on the surface was not always there.
Richard immediately understood Charles' idea. "Dude, you're really smart. You actually remembered that there is no sun at night. This way, we can get back to the surface in just twelve hours at most!"
Charles nodded, looking at the Bat Mirror in his hand with a hint of excitement on his face.
This was good news, and Charles immediately told everyone the good news.
Upon hearing this exciting news, everyone's face showed joy, which meant that they would soon be able to reach the legendary land.
No one could remain calm in the face of such news. The crew had never experienced such ups and downs in this day, and it was a serious challenge to the muscles on their faces.
Among the crew members who were whistling in celebration, the first mate Bandage secretly spat a mouthful of blood into the sea.
Charles noticed this sharply, walked over and asked, "What's wrong? Are you hurt?"
Bandage shook his head, opened his mouth to Charles, and found some blood and flesh inside his mouth.
"Nothing... I ate too much fish... My mouth is a bit sore..."
Considering what the ship's doctor said before, I'm afraid it's not just him. Other crew members may have this problem, but the symptoms may be of different severity.
Charles looked at the bright tropical island in the distance, thought for a moment, and then patted his first mate on the shoulder. "Wait for me."
Charles returned to the island again and began to search in the dense woods. The woods were very dense and there were many kinds of plants. Soon Charles found some familiar fruits.
Among them are bananas that are nearly dozens of centimeters long, as well as some fist-sized pineapples.
Most fruits contain vitamin C, and these tropical fruits can easily solve this problem. As for testing whether these things are toxic, Lily's mice can complete this task well.
Charles continued to collect various fruits, but as he collected, he found that the distribution of fruits on the island was too dense, and it did not look like an ordinary forest at all.
When he jumped onto a tree trunk and saw a ruin almost covered by plants in the dense jungle in the distance, he finally knew who brought the fruits.
Charles walked over and found that although most of the buildings were dilapidated and decayed, the simple style of the foundation could still be seen.
Charles was not surprised that the Foundation's building appeared here. With their style of taking advantage of every available space, it would be strange if they did not notice the surface exit point.
A group of long glass buildings in the ruins caught Charles' attention. Broken glass pieces were scattered all over the ground, and a rectangular steel frame without a trace of rust drilled into the lush woods like the skeleton of a giant insect.
"Greenhouse?" Charles rejected this answer when he saw a steel house inside.
"This foundation is awesome. They can even build an elevator at such a high altitude." Richard said as he looked up at the gap in the dome.
The steel house is the elevator room, and those steel supports are the elevators that connected the foundation's previous building directly to the gap in the air.
Charles didn't know if there were other exits, but he guessed that this place must be one of the Foundation's main exits to the surface.
"Let's go back." Charles grabbed the various fruits entangled by vines in his hands, jumped quickly among the branches, and rushed to the beach.
Most of the fruits Charles brought back didn't taste very good. The small green pineapples felt numb and astringent in his mouth.
The bananas look big, but the flesh inside is not sweet at all, and the banana seeds are also very large.
Among all the fruits, only coconut flakes are barely acceptable.
But no matter what, the supplementation of vitamin C has been achieved.
Fruits are very watery and heavy. Charles was very tired after running several times, but there was nothing he could do about it. Now he was the only one who could move around under the sun.
Wearing the sunglasses he stole from the vampire, Charles lay on the beach drinking coconut juice and basking in the sun.
After finally seeing the sun again, he was somewhat reluctant to go back into the darkness.
"Squeak~" The sound of mice came from the left side of Charles. Charles looked up in confusion, only to see Lily and her mouse friends gnawing on the coconuts they had picked.
(End of this chapter)