"Can you tell me everything about this thing now?" the doctor said in a low voice.
Charles nodded and stepped aside to let him in. "Come in."
Facing the doctor, Charles slowly told him everything about the mobile phone.
The doctor listened in silence, his good hand rubbing the surface of the phone.
"This thing can be used for communication, entertainment, and work. On the surface, I can't survive a day without it..."
As he spoke, Charles seemed to have returned to that peaceful environment. He didn't realize it before, but when he came to this chaotic land, he realized how wonderful his previous life was.
"So, this thing is a tool for communication, right? Like a telegraph?"
“You can understand it that way.”
The doctor paused for a moment and then said, "Actually, I had one like this too."
This unexpected news almost choked Charles who was drinking water. He actually guessed correctly before that this guy actually had a mobile phone!
The doctor lifted up his white robe, which was so dirty that the color could hardly be seen, and took out a square object wrapped in cloth.
When Charles saw what was inside, he stood up in shock. It was a black device that looked like a tablet.
The back cover of this thing has been opened, and the green circuit board is exposed nakedly.
Seeing that this thing didn't look like something from Earthsea at all, he quickly asked, "Is this yours? Are you from the surface too?! What year was it when you came down here?"
Charles' first reaction was that the guy in front of him fell down just like him.
"This is not mine, it's my great-grandfather's." The doctor looked at the tablet, a look of reminiscence appearing on his ugly face.
"I don't know anything about him. My great-grandfather died very early, and this is the only thing he left for me."
"My father told me to keep it safe. But he never told me what it was. It has always been a mystery in my mind. I asked many people, but no one knew."
"Could it be that his great-grandfather and I came from another time?" Charles immediately discarded this idea. The doctor was so old, so his great-grandfather could only be even older. Tablets and mobile phones were invented at almost the same time, so it was impossible for him to have traveled through time with him.
Charles thought about this, took the tablet and looked at it carefully, and soon he found the difference. Compared with the modern smooth and light ones, the tablet in his hand was obviously more bulky and rough.
Just from the two-pound weight, Charles could tell that this thing was definitely not a product from the earth. Any manufacturer who really wanted to make this tablet would lose money in minutes.
"Can you fix this? I don't think I'll have any next generation, and I don't want to pass this thing down. I just want to know what my great-grandfather asked his descendants to keep." The doctor's eyes were fixed on the tablet.
"I'm sorry, I can't help you with that." Charles really couldn't help with the repair of electronic equipment.
"You said before that as long as there is electricity, this black mirror will be bright again. Does that mean that if we give it electricity, it will be bright again?"
"Although I don't know what voltage Coral Island uses now, it is definitely not compatible with your tablet. It's easy to damage it if you try rashly."
Charles was thinking more at this time. If this thing was not from the surface, then it was obviously made by the humans in Earthsea. Since their previous technology could make tablets, why is Earthsea's technology still at the level of the 18th to 19th century? This is completely illogical.
Thinking of this, Charles instinctively recalled the island with the third laboratory.
If we were to ask who among all the humans in the Earthsea is most likely to have created the tablet, the humans in the third laboratory would be the most likely, after all, they even use fingerprint recognition.
Could the doctor’s great-grandfather have been a staff member in the original laboratory
But then the same question was put in front of Charles: those humans had powerful technology and so many powerful relics, so where were they now? Charles had more mysteries in his mind.
"Anyway, thank you. I finally know what my great-grandfather left behind. I will try to make it light up. Our agreement is still in effect." The doctor took the tablet and walked towards the door.
When the doctor opened the door, Margaret, who was eavesdropping, was startled. She quickly ran behind Charles and looked out timidly.
The doctor turned around and looked at Charles. "Do you want her to forget everything she just heard? I have a way."
"Never mind. It doesn't matter."
Charles had told everyone he met about his coming to the surface, but everyone thought he was a lunatic and no one believed him.
When he saw that the Sun God Cult actually imagined the sun to be a triangle, he completely understood that if the facts were not placed in front of them, they would not believe it. Human beings are sometimes really ignorant. They only believe what they believe.
The doctor turned and limped across the corridor toward the dim stairs.
Margaret said a little uneasily: "I'm sorry, I didn't say I intentionally eavesdropped, I thought it was my father who came over."
"Not so fast. I asked someone to deliver your things and your letter. It will take at least half a month for them to arrive."
Margaret hesitated for a while, lowered her head, and tapped the floor with her toes. "Sir, can I stay in this room? It's so dark in that room, I'm a little scared..."
"Whatever, keep quiet." Charles took out his diary and began to write his sailing diary.
Staring at the young man who was writing with his head down, Margaret's face gradually turned red.
Compared to the days back on the island, Charles prefers life on the sea. Although life on the sea is dangerous and difficult, he always feels that he is on the way to his goal. When he stays on the island, he feels that he is wasting his time.
Charles now has the nautical chart and the ship, but he cannot leave yet. First of all, his injuries have not healed yet, and secondly, Sonny's head and the 5 million have not arrived yet.
In the following days, Margaret spent a short time with Charles. Margaret lived next door, and any attempt of escape would be reported promptly by the mouse.
But the girl did not escape. On the contrary, as time passed, she began to enjoy this kind of life and wanted to stay with Charles consciously or unconsciously.
However, these peaceful days did not last long. Early in the morning, when Charles saw the Governor of Coral Island's cruiser driving away fishing boats on the sea, he knew something was going to happen today.
The gates between the port area and the inner city were rarely opened, and a magnificent convoy drove out.
Charles' excellent eyesight allowed him to see clearly the man with extremely seductive and heavy makeup in the car window. He had seen the man's appearance in the newspaper. It was Nico, the governor of Coral Island.
(End of this chapter)