"DE1344? A relic? Or is it the project mentioned by the Foundation?"
Judging from the written records, this island was obviously used to accommodate this thing called 1344. Judging from the description alone, it is difficult to imagine what DE1344 is.
"Lily, what's on top of this?" Charles asked.
If there was nothing going on, Charles decided to retreat. The Foundation had cleaned up the place so well that there was no need to search further.
Lily didn't answer. She looked around with a confused look on her face, as if she was recalling something.
"Lily, what's on top of this floor?"
Facing Charles's repeated questioning, Lily finally reacted and shook her head. "There's a big iron door upstairs that's locked from the inside. Rats can't get in at all."
Charles sighed. "Come on, call back the rats on guard on the other floors, and we'll go back."
Presumably, the so-called DE1344 was behind that door, but Charles was not curious.
Just as Charles and the others reached the stairwell, suddenly a flash of gold appeared above the stairs.
"Who's there!" Charles' anchor hook was activated instantly and shot at the wall diagonally above. With an idea in his mind, the chain contracted, pulling his body and flying up instantly.
At the upper staircase, a figure staggered towards a door.
The moment he pushed open the door, Charles pulled the trigger with his right hand and the other person was shot in the leg.
Charles rushed in, put his knee on his back, and put the muzzle of the gun directly on his forehead. "Don't move! If you dare to move, I will jump you!!"
However, facing Charles' threat, this guy did not react at all, and his body fell to the ground like a puddle of mud.
"Huh?" Charles quickly turned him over, and a skinny man appeared in front of him. His pupils, which were almost bulging, had dilated. He was dead.
The rest of the Narwhal crew quickly followed, staring in amazement at the corpse before them.
"Captain, look at his teeth, he's one of those pirates too." Dipper said, pointing at the gold teeth in his mouth.
"No, something is wrong." Charles' face changed as if he had discovered something, and he looked around extremely nervously.
This is an empty floor with nothing on the concrete walls and the staircase opposite standing there alone.
"Captain, what's wrong?" Driven by Charles' tense atmosphere, Dipper immediately took out his weapon and looked around vigilantly.
"Look at his face. This guy is the same person as that mummy!"
Everyone present looked at the corpse's face. In the next second, everyone's eyes widened.
The mole on this corpse's face is exactly the same as that on the mummy's.
"If I'm not mistaken, the skeleton we saw before also belongs to this guy."
Dipper showed an expression of disbelief on his face. "Captain, this is impossible. The skeleton has a wound on its leg. Look at this person—"
Seeing the gunshot wound on the corpse's leg that had just been shot by Charles, the fear in his eyes grew deeper and deeper.
"Retreat, retreat quickly, let's leave here quickly." Charles led the crew to leave.
But just as he walked back to the stairs, Lily jumped off his shoulders and rushed towards the empty floor.
"Damn it!" When Charles returned to the original door, he saw Lily running quickly towards the stairs in front.
He gritted his teeth, rushed in quickly, grabbed Lily and prepared to retreat, but suddenly his body froze, and a sharp blade gently touched his aorta.
"Go back, this is not the place you should be." A familiar low voice came from behind him.
Charles glanced slightly behind him, but saw nothing. The thing threatening him was invisible.
"Captain! What's wrong? What happened?" Dipper and others were about to rush over.
"Wait!! I'm fine, just stand there and don't move!" Charles warned loudly.
Hearing the footsteps behind him stop, he whispered, "Who are you? What do you want to do?"
The blade approached Charles' neck again, and the voice sounded again, "Don't ask so many questions, go back, the surface information you want is not here."
James nodded slightly and quietly took out the two mirror boxes. The vampire sailor beside him retreated towards the stairs with horror on his face.
The moment Charles reached the middle of the empty floor, a blinding light instantly enveloped the entire room.
The moment the surroundings lit up, Charles suddenly pushed his body back and grabbed the transparent blade on his neck with his prosthetic left hand.
After being slightly out of danger, Charles quickly threw Lily into his pocket while his hand reached for the holster on his waist.
Following the direction he remembered, Charles kept pulling the trigger in that direction.
When he heard the sound of the bullet hitting the wall, Charles knew that his attack had missed.
A whistling sound suddenly rang out in his left ear, and Charles quickly drew out the black blade and rushed forward.
"Ding ding ding~!" Three metal collision sounds were heard, and the two men raised their right legs at the same time and kicked at the opposite side.
The blinding light from the mirror box disappeared, and Charles stood firmly.
When he saw the man in front of him clearly, Charles' pupils shrank to a very small size in an instant.
That was himself, not just him, Dipper, James, the doctor, and his companions behind him except Lily were all on the opposite side.
"Captain, what is going on? Why are there two of you?" Dipper, who was standing next to Charles, looked incredulous.
"The people across the street are all 1344-1s that came out of DE1344."
"The people across the street are all 1344-1s that came out of DE1344."
The two Charles spoke at the same time and frowned at the same time. Both of them were very dissatisfied with each other's description.
Charles considered his words and said to himself, "Is it okay for us to leave this island at the same time?"
Charles did not answer. With a serious expression, he led the crew behind him and slowly retreated towards the stairs.
"Go, go quickly." The nervous Charles led the crew to the stairs and retreated quickly downwards.
The commander's flashlight swept upwards from time to time, fearing that the opponent would run down from above. Fortunately, the situation did not change.
When Charles rushed out of the melted iron gate and saw the dried corpse on the ground, he suddenly understood.
This guy and the one above were both copied from 1344. No wonder the same person appears three times in different places.
"What exactly is 1344 that can replicate living things? Why can't I see it? Could it be..." Thinking of this, Charles turned his head and wanted to look at the huge mountain. "Could this thing be DE1344?"
Even after returning to the ship and sitting in the captain's room, Charles' heart could not calm down for a long time.
Although he didn't know what the DE in front of DE1344 stood for, he had a new understanding of the weirdness of the relics.
"Mr. Charles... I'm sorry, I was wrong." Lily in the pocket said aggrievedly.
Charles grabbed her out and looked at her calmly, "Why did you suddenly run over there? God knows what's over there, and you may never come back if you go there!"
"I don't know... I seem to have been there... I seemed to feel something on the other side." Lily lowered her ears.
"Next time if something happens, tell me clearly first. If you act rashly like this, you will kill your other companions." After Charles said this, he took out his navigation diary and began to write.
Lily sat on the table and cried silently, but Charles ignored her.
As a member of the exploration ship, this was a major mistake and she must learn from it.
As time passed, Lily's tears turned into sobs.
"Knock knock knock" there was a knock on the door, and as Charles shouted "Come in", the bandage came in.
"What's wrong? What happened?"
Facing Charles' question, Bandage slowly raised his hand and pointed at the fluorescent green Lily on the table. "Captain... where... did this rat... come from...?"
(End of this chapter)