"Captain... where... did this rat... come from...?"
Hearing what his first mate said, Charles had a question mark in his mind. "She is Lily, our gunner, don't you remember her?"
Bandage stood there in a daze, covering his head with his hands, as if he was trying to remember something.
"Really? Sorry, my memory is not very good. I seem to be forgetting things again..."
"Forgot? How is that possible?" Charles stood up with a nervous look on his face and walked towards him.
The bandage is his right-hand man, and it would be a big problem if he lost all his previous memories.
"Let's go find the ship's doctor." Charles walked out the door holding the bandage.
With a bang, the cabin door closed, and Lily was alone in the captain's cabin.
Lily, whose eyes were red from crying, said sullenly, "Tiaotiao, why do you think Charles is more worried about Mr. Bandage than me?"
After a while, there was no response from the surroundings. Panicked, Lily ran to the edge of the table and looked into the dark corners around her. "Tiaotiao?"
———————
"You said he lost his memory? Isn't this guy's brain always like this?"
Faced with Charles's narration, the doctor showed no intention of standing up.
He slowly poured out a glass of wine, sniffed his sweaty armpit, then raised the glass and drank it.
"The situation is different this time. You should show it to him immediately. At the very least, you should prevent his memory from fading in the future."
The doctor muttered something under his breath, stood up very reluctantly, and began to apply bandage treatment.
As all kinds of horrifying steel needles pierced the bandaged head, a painful expression appeared on the bandaged face.
The other crew members rushed over when they heard the news. They stood at the door and looked inside with some concern.
"Whatever you are looking at, go back to your posts!" The stern Charles drove them away.
"Here's the medicine. Remember to drink one cup a day, and maybe you'll feel better." The doctor stuffed a large jar of black water into the bandaged man's arms, and then continued his work of serving wine under his armpits.
"The bandage is our companion, please be serious." Charles said to the doctor.
The doctor snorted disdainfully, "Do you think I haven't seen him all these years? I know his condition much better than you do. This is all I can do now. I'm just a doctor, not a god."
Charles turned around, looked at the bandage carefully, and asked in a low voice: "Can you really not remember any information about Lily?"
Seeing Bandage shaking his head, Charles patted Bandage's shoulder, turned and left the medical room.
Bandage sat silently on the operating table, trying hard to remember something, but in the end he could not remember anything.
He pulled out the bottle cap with his hand and prepared to drink the medicine.
The doctor's old voice suddenly came from the side. "Who is Lily? Your lover?"
Charles, with a calm face, walked slowly to the captain's room, opened the door and walked in.
The moment the door closed, his expression suddenly became extremely ugly.
Lily, who was beside him with tears in her eyes, jumped over. "Mr. Charles, Hoppy and Fluffy don't—"
Without waiting for her to finish, Charles grabbed her and stuffed her into his pocket, then rushed to the table and quickly opened his diary.
Turning the pages, he found his goal.
"Travel through 8 years on August 24
The island is home to various intelligent rats and giant leeches that can float in the air.
Although the process was extremely difficult, the harvest was still good. Only a few sailors died and Dipper's arm was slightly injured.
"I firmly believe that the road home is getting closer and closer. I can almost feel it."
"I got a mask from this island. Its effect is powerful and dangerous..."
Charles turned the diary page over and over again, and his nervous movements revealed his anxious mood.
"Shh!" Charles threw down the book, walked quickly to the door, opened a crack and looked outside.
After seeing that there was no one in the corridor outside, Charles quickly closed the door with an uncertain expression on his face.
"Mr. Charles, what's wrong with you?"
Charles held the mouse in his hands and stared at her nervously.
"Lily, we are in trouble. This is not our ship, and these are not our companions outside. Those guys are 1344-1! We are inside DE1344 now!"
He had been wondering what 1344 was. His imagination was constrained by his previous experience. He thought DE1344 was some kind of relic that could replicate humans.
But now it seems that DE1344 is not any solid relic from the past, it is a completely different world! This is why the Foundation has to use an island surrounded by dangers to contain it.
The anomaly of the bandage not recognizing Lily was explained at this moment. Charles in this world had never met Lily.
Lily's eyes widened. "How could this happen? We clearly came down from the mountains."
Charles quickly reviewed the previous situation in his mind. "It must be that I and my other self went in the wrong direction when fighting with the sun. That guy should be in our world."
"Then... then Mr. Charles, what should we do now?"
Charles forced himself to suppress the shock in his heart. He knew that since the situation had arisen, he had to find a solution. Fortunately, the current situation was not too bad for him.
"Shh, stay in your pocket now and try not to make any noise. I will take us back to our original world."
After Charles stuffed Lily into his pocket, he took a deep breath, pushed the door open and walked out.
"Dipper, how long are we away from the island now?" Charles asked as he pushed open the cockpit door.
Dipper, who was at the helm, looked at the various instruments and returned to the ship. "Not far, probably only a few dozen nautical miles. After all, we have only been sailing for two hours."
Charles felt relieved. The situation was not too bad. "Turn the rudder first. Let's go back to the island we just came from."
Dipper's eyes widened. "Captain, why? There's nothing in that damn place, only those replicas."
"This is an order! Carry it out quickly!" As Charles' voice became higher, Dipper obeyed.
The Narwhal quickly turned around and headed towards the Foundation's V12 containment site.
The streamlined iron ship is speeding on the sea like a speedboat.
Glancing at Dipper next to him, Charles discovered that the gold earring that should have been hanging on his ear was gone. This world was roughly the same as his, but there were subtle differences.
He didn't say anything, but looked silently at the dark sea ahead. The air in the cockpit was a little depressing.
"Hiss, hiss, hiss~" The noise of the movement inside the brain suddenly became louder, and Charles' head began to ache, and it became more and more severe.
(End of this chapter)