After two whirlpool crises, Charles did not dare to be careless at all. He not only asked bats to observe from the sky at all times, but also asked sailors to test the speed of the ship at all times.
Even though Charles was so vigilant, the Narwhal still encountered danger several times.
This sea area is full of mysterious whirlpools, and no one knows the pattern of their appearance or when they will pop up.
Fortunately, they were not far from the island.
Charles was sleeping, his eyeballs moving rapidly under his tightly closed eyelids. He was dreaming, and judging from his frowning expression, this dream was not a good one.
Suddenly, there was a cry of surprise. Charles opened his eyes instantly. He quickly jumped off the hammock and rushed to Dipper who was steering the ship. "What happened? Is there another whirlpool?"
"Captain, I can't see it clearly. Is that an island?"
Charles narrowed his eyes and looked towards the farthest part of the searchlight over there.
It doesn't look like an island, but more like a giant lotus leaf stuck in the water. "It looks like a man-made structure..."
Charles turned his head to look at the nautical chart next to him and found that he was almost reaching his target island.
After letting the bats patrol and make sure there was no danger, Charles slowly approached in the Narwhal.
Charles discovered that this thing seemed to be made of concrete. It was not clear from a distance, but when he looked closer, he found that it was hundreds of meters high. The Narwhal sailed past it and felt a strong sense of oppression.
Creating something this huge would probably not be much easier than building an island.
"Captain, there's another one over there." Hearing Dipper's voice, Charles looked in the direction of his finger.
Charles' night vision ability allowed him to see that there was also a huge concrete building on the sea on the left. If he guessed correctly, there were similar buildings in other places.
"Are these things used to prevent those whirlpools?" A thought flashed through Charles' mind.
Under Charles's doubts, the Narwhal left these things and continued to move forward.
With the reminders of the previous things, Charles was not too surprised when he saw a new island appear under the searchlight.
As the Narwhal circled the islands, Charles gained preliminary information about them.
This is a round island with no plants or animals on it, and the ground seems to have been maintained and is very flat.
Apart from some buildings, there is only a lonely towering mountain left.
There are few mountains on the island, and such towering mountains are even rarer.
After throwing fish and meat without any response, let the bats and rats explore the way and everything is still normal. Next it's time to get off the boat.
Looking at the crew members who were ready, Charles said to them, "Before you get off the ship, let me tell you one thing. If you find any written records on the island, you are not allowed to open them. You must wait until I have read them before making a decision. This matter is extremely important. Everyone must remember this."
The crew members looked at each other, wondering why the captain announced this rule.
"Is it... related to... the Pope..." Bandage asked slowly.
Charles looked at him with a complicated expression without saying anything. He waved his hand, and the sailors next to him began to lower the wooden boat.
The crew members, who were ready to go, slowly approached the shore. Facing the strange island, everyone held their breath and vigilantly shone flashlights around.
The first thing they explored was the complex of buildings located on the coast. Compared to buildings on other islands, the builders here preferred to use reinforced concrete. Although this was very strong, it was more like a fortress than a house.
"Lily, spread out the rats to keep watch. If they encounter any situation, have them give warning as soon as possible."
"Yeah." Lily nodded. She tilted her head back and squeaked twice, and the mice surrounding her quickly flew away.
Charles was the first to rush into a fortress, but he came out quickly and found it was so empty that there was not even a corpse.
Charles searched house after house but found nothing. This place was different from the chaos in other places. The people here seemed to have packed their luggage and left calmly.
They cleaned it up so cleanly that the probability of there being clues here is very low, but it also proves that there should be no danger on this island.
The building complex was very large, and Charles and his crew spent most of the day searching completely, without encountering any danger or any living creatures.
Charles ordered the crew to rest where they were and continue their search after they had rested enough.
The bonfire was lit, and a short fat man was roasting cans diligently.
He was the Narwhal's new cook, hired to fill in for Frey's departure.
"Chief Dipper, this is for you." He squinted his almost invisible eyes and handed the opened and heated can of meat to Dipper.
"Are you blind? Can't you see the captain is over here?" Dipper hit him on the head with his hand.
The chef nodded repeatedly and handed the can back to Charles.
Instead of taking his can, Charles thrust his prosthetic limb directly into the fire, pulled out a box of dark cans, cracked them open with a black blade and started eating.
"Other people have long hands, so you don't need to use them. There is no director or minister of agriculture here. Just do your own thing."
"Yes, yes, yes." The chef nodded awkwardly.
Seeing his timid appearance, Charles suddenly missed the skinny Frey. Sometimes companions are not just about words, but a tacit understanding between each other. Unfortunately, a lot has changed in three years.
There were sounds of swallowing and chewing around the campfire. When Charles was halfway through eating, he stopped, tapped his forehead with his hand, and continued eating.
"What's wrong? Are you hearing auditory hallucinations again?" the doctor asked without any context.
Feeling the squirming sensation in his brain, Charles answered, "Just a little bit, I can still bear it."
"Have you ever seen another doctor without telling me? With your condition, you should have died in three years."
"Her method is very special. I heard that it can't last too long and there will be follow-up treatment."
"Interesting. Introduce her to me when you have time. I'd really like to know how she did it."
"Hmm." Charles picked up a piece of bread and sucked out the last bit of gravy from the can.
"Squeak-squeak!!" The scream of a mouse suddenly sounded from the left. Charles threw down the can and stood up immediately.
Lily, who was chewing a dried banana next to her, swallowed the food in her cheek and said, "Mr. Charles, it's okay. They just found a body."
"Corpse? Let's go and take a look." Charles rushed towards the direction of the sound.
Soon the corpse that Lily had been talking about appeared in front of Charles. It would be more accurate to describe it as a skeleton, as most of the body was buried in the soil.
Picking up the bones and quickly examining them, Charles found that there was nothing unusual about the entire skeleton except for his large golden front teeth.
"People from the Foundation? Do people from the Foundation have gold teeth?"
"Captain, look at this guy's pelvis, he's a man. And his leg was broken before." Dipper said while squatting on the ground.
Charles looked at him in surprise, "You can still see these?"
Dipper smiled sheepishly. "In this position, if you don't want to be fooled by others, you have to learn some mistakes."
"Let's go, it's just a corpse, let's move on." As the light of the flashlights in Charles and others faded, the area around the corpse fell into darkness again.
An hour later, Charles' body suddenly appeared next to it. He took off the transparent ring from his finger and reached into his clothes to scratch it. "It didn't move. It looks like it's just an ordinary corpse."
(End of this chapter)