Charles' heart tightened immediately, and he quickly grabbed Lily, turned over and used his body to block the sunlight. "Are you going to die?"
"Don't worry, Mr. Charles. I'm fine. The sunlight doesn't seem to hurt mice."
"how do you know??"
"It's true. Maomao and the others just secretly followed you into the woods."
Charles breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that none of the mice that were happily gnawing on the food nearby had died.
I don’t know if it’s because mice and Earthsea humans have a different structure, but it seems that sunlight does no harm to these rodents.
"Sure enough, rats and cockroaches are the most adaptable creatures in the world." Charles found the most likely answer.
Lily scratched the wounds all over Charles' body. "Really? Rats are so powerful."
"Yes, Lily is amazing." Charles felt a little sleepy lying on the warm beach, and he closed his eyes in a daze. "Lily, I'm going to sleep for a while."
He slept very well and didn't have any nightmares. When he woke up, Charles felt his mind was clear.
He found himself buried in the sand. There were a few crooked little houses standing on the sand. There were clear mouse tracks on the rooms. It was obvious that they were Lily's masterpiece.
"Sure enough, he's still a naughty kid." Charles sat up from the sand and soon found the owner of the sand sculpture not far from his body.
In the distance, Lily was directing the mice to bury the bodies, and a half branch was thoughtfully inserted on each tombstone.
"Mr. Charles, can you preside over a funeral for them?" Lily, who was lying on the sand, looked up and asked Charles who was walking towards her.
"I can't." Charles said and took out his pocket watch from his pocket.
"Come on, just say a few words. It's easy to host a funeral. People often die in my father's hospital. You are standing in front of their graves..."
Lily's voice gradually became quieter. She saw Charles, who had just had a relaxed expression, had a ferocious look on his face. "Mr. Charles, what's wrong with you?"
"Lily, how long have I slept?" Charles' hand holding the pocket watch trembled slightly.
"It's been almost ten hours, Mr. Charles. Is your pocket watch broken? Can't it tell the time?"
"Shh!" The pocket watch fell suddenly into the sand, scaring Lily so much that she immediately hid back beside her companions.
Looking at Charles in front of him cursing hysterically in a language he had heard before, White Mouse's eyes were filled with worry.
"Tiaotiao, do you think Mr. Charles is crazy?" Lily said sadly in a low voice.
The brown mouse next to her squeaked twice, and Lily stretched out her paw and hit it. "Don't say that about Mr. Charles. How could Charles have always been crazy?"
Soon Charles' movements went from extremely active to extremely quiet. He lay on the sand, breathing heavily.
Lily looked at the steamer in the dark with embarrassment and approached it cautiously. "Mr. Charles, what's wrong with you?"
"Swish!" Charles pounced over with his hands leaving afterimages, and instantly grabbed Lily, staring at her with his bloodshot eyes.
"Why hasn't the sun set yet? It's been thirteen hours and it's not dark yet. Do you know what this means?"
"Mr. Charles, you hurt me." Painful Lily pulled Charles' fingers with her claws.
"This means the earth has fucking stopped rotating! This means something big must have happened on the surface! This means everything up there has changed! This means even if I can get up there, my home will no longer be there!!!" Charles unconsciously increased the strength in his hands.
Charles dropped the mouse in his hand and stood there frozen like a statue.
Lily fell into the sand and burst into tears, not only because of the pain, but also because she was scared by Charles' strange behavior.
With squeaking sounds, the mice carried the crying Lily and swam towards the Narwhal on the sea.
When the other crew members on the ship asked Lily what happened, Lily choked up and complained to them.
After listening to what happened and looking at the captain lying motionless on the beach in the distance, Second Mate Krona asked the doctor with some concern: "Ship's doctor, is the captain ill?"
The doctor shook his head. He raised his head and took a sip of wine before saying, "I don't know. Being driven crazy by the sound of the Earthsea should not be a symptom of this. Let's see how he behaves next."
"Are you really capable of this? Is there anyone as good as you as a doctor?"
The doctor glared at him. "That's a murderous light all over there! What do you want me to do? Rush over there and die? I may be old, but I haven't lived enough!"
As time passed, people on the Narwhal began to feel uneasy, with uneasiness on everyone's face.
Bandage, standing in the corner, looked at Charles in the distance and walked silently towards the deck gun.
"Boom!!" The shell directly created a big hole on the beach.
Charles on the beach was awakened by the sound of cannonballs. He looked toward the Narwhal, walked down to the sea and swam over.
When Charles climbed up the ladder to the deck, for some reason, the crew members became more worried when they saw Charles' calm face.
"Dipper, go get the other captains. I have something to announce."
Dipper nodded a little uncomfortably, walked into the cockpit and began to sound the horn to warn.
"Hey, Charles, what happened just now?" The doctor came over and looked at Charles' face carefully.
"it's okay no problem."
Charles walked over to Lily and knelt on one knee. "Lily, I'm so sorry. I hurt you just now. I apologize."
Lily, with tears on her furry face, did not answer. She shrank her entire body into the brown mouse, leaving only her tail outside.
"I'm really sorry. I just noticed a huge disaster happened in the outside world and my emotions got a little out of control. Please forgive me."
Hearing this, Lily quickly poked her head out of the brown rat and asked worriedly, "What about your home, Mr. Charles? Can you still go home?"
Charles reached out and took Lily, gently touching her little head with his hand.
"Yes, I may not be able to go home. But no matter what happens up there, I want to go up there and take a look. If my family is still there, I will do everything I can to find them and save them. If..."
Charles paused for a moment.
"If my family and my home are gone, then I will rebuild my new home in its place!"
(End of this chapter)