Charles continued his journey. No matter what, exploring the darkness remained the top priority.
The direction to the 068 trace happened to be the direction of the canyon. The boat went along that road for more than 50 kilometers before finally reaching the end.
Including the more than ten kilometers reported by the Haike tribe, the roots that fell from the sky were 70 kilometers long and one kilometer wide.
Just one of its roots is this long, it is hard to imagine how big it is, what it is, and why it is hovering over the earth.
But no matter what it was, maybe the root would hit Charles on the head in the next second, but he still continued to explore without delay.
No matter how tough Julio's attitude is, it can only suppress the situation temporarily. As the sea level continues to rise, people's minds will become more and more shaken.
Human hearts are fragile and fickle. The sea water swallowed up not only the islands, but also the faith of all human beings in the sea to resist crises.
If there is no hope for a long time, then when the final zero point comes, the will of all the people in the Earth and Sea will collapse, and they will completely become slaves of the Futan Religion.
The only way to solve this problem is to find the darkness. Only by finding the darkness can all problems be completely solved.
The explorers could only keep moving forward because they had no other choice; retreating would mean death.
Charles always felt that time passed quickly when he was on the surface. In the blink of an eye, a month had passed and they came to the track traces of 068.
Charles flapped his wings vigorously, flying over the bumpy Gobi Desert, measuring the distance of the track marks.
After circling several times quickly, Charles fell towards the deck below. "It should be 068, the distance is the same."
The first mate in the cockpit nodded, started the boat again and moved slowly forward along the trail.
Since it is really 068, we just need to keep going and we will find these guys.
"Mr. Charles, water." Lily struggled to hold a cup of water as tall as herself and staggered over.
Charles took it and drank it all, then prepared to go to the cockpit to confirm the current position.
But when Lily saw that the other party ignored her again, she was completely scared. She cried and pushed the empty glass bottle down with all her strength, then rushed back to the cabin accompanied by the colorful mice.
Charles asked Dipper who was confused beside him, "Did you bully her again?"
"I didn't, Captain. Lily hasn't spoken to me at all these days. Besides, I'm over 20 years old. How can I play with little mice every day?" Dipper seemed very aggrieved.
"I'll go take a look. You guys stay outside and keep watch. If you see anything unusual, sound the alarm immediately."
Charles walked into the narrow corridor. Charles was very familiar with his ship. He found the rat's nest in the last grocery room on the second floor.
The small grocery room was filled with miscellaneous small things, and they were pieced together to form a three-dimensional mini city belonging to the mice, with mice of all sizes crawling back and forth in it.
"Lily? Are you in there?" Charles hunched his back and searched floor by floor.
"Go away! I don't want to see you! Since you came back, you haven't cared about me at all!" Lily's crying voice came out from the bottom.
Charles leaned over and looked at the bottom layer. The mice inside scattered, revealing Lily wrapped in wool and sponge.
The little mouse's back twitched and looked like it was crying. Charles reached out to grab her, but Lily bit him hard and ran to the deepest part.
"Lily, come out. What happened?" Charles asked while squatting next to the grocery room.
Lily did not answer immediately. It was not until more than ten minutes later that her choked voice came out from the innermost part.
"Why do you always stay away from me on purpose... I feel like our relationship is growing distant."
Charles sighed and said, "I'm not distancing myself from you, but things have been going on lately and I just can't spare the time. You know I'm really busy right now."
"You're lying! You didn't treat me like this when you were so crazy looking for Hope Island before! You must be deliberately distancing yourself from me!!"
"After seeing that I'm not going to die, you'll stop worrying about me! You're just treating me as a tool! I'm not a child, I know everything. Since you want a tool, I'll give you the mouse!!"
The rats in the grocery room became restless, and the colorful rats showed their sharp teeth to Charles from time to time.
Charles slowly turned around and sat down in the corridor. After taking a breath, he slowly said, "Lily, I really care about you. It is because I care about you that I don't want to hurt Nu. You are my crew member and my family. I have no home anymore, and you are my family."
The cold barrier was a kind of protection, especially for Lily, who was very attached to him.
The mouse's restlessness slowly disappeared, and Lily slowly walked out with a sob. Her tears wet the hair on her face, leaving two long tear lines.
She looked very aggrieved and raised her hand to look at Charles, her little paws spread out and fell on his fingers, and she said with a hint of pleading in her voice: "Mr. Charles, please don't ignore me, okay? I hate this cold feeling. I still like the old Mr. Charles."
Charles held her in his hand and gently stroked her head with his fingers. "No, you are still my little Lily, the gunner of the Narwhal."
Upon hearing this, Lily cried even harder, "I don't want a gunner, I want you to like me. What you did before I died was just a lie, right? You just wanted to fulfill my last wish before I died!"
"You must be disgusted by my rat-like appearance!!"
Charles wiped away her tears with his fingers. "Lily, I don't dislike you. I just - just -"
Charles was stuck at this point, not knowing how to express what he meant.
Lily suddenly stood up, "Then Mr. Charles, how about we make a deal?"
"What agreement?" Charles held her in front of him.
"If I have a way to turn back into a human, how about we go back to the way we were before?"
Seeing the tears in Lily's eyes, Charles thought for a moment and nodded gently. "Okay."
No matter what the future holds, I'll just agree to it first. At least it will allow Lily to calm down. Maybe she'll forget about this after she becomes a human.
Lily smiled sweetly, closed her eyes, and rubbed her furry head on his hand, looking very happy.
(End of this chapter)