Bandage looked down at Lily on the ground, bent down and picked her up. "First... wait... let me try again... try again..."
Just as everyone was preparing supplies and weapons for the exploration, Bandage was whispering to Charles.
But whether it was about the crew's memories or various questions, he answered them fluently.
In the end, Charles even felt that the bandages were a little bit abnormal today, and looked at him with doubt. "Are you really okay? Do you want Linda to take a look at you?"
Seeing Bandage shaking his head and retreating, Charles looked at Lily standing on his shoulder in confusion, then turned around and began to direct others.
For this exploration mission, except for the two teams that had left earlier, nearly a hundred people on the four ships were making intensive preparations. He had no time to pay attention to his first mate's strange behavior.
Looking at Charles running around busily in the distance, checking the fresh water and the relics, Lily's round mouse ears swayed left and right as she shook her head.
"Mr. Bandage, we are probably overthinking it. Mr. Charles has just arrived on the island, and there is nothing that can affect him."
Bandage nodded, put her on the deck, and walked back to the cabin. "Maybe... I really am overthinking... But I still... need to be... prepared..."
Everyone's battle preparations were soon over, and they walked towards the vast expanse of white, led by Charles, with the Narwhal floating above them, acting as a fortress and also to prevent the others' belongings from becoming relics.
"Watch your feet, there are living things in that white stuff." Charles, standing on the deck, kindly reminded others under the boat.
"Captain, I always feel that it is a bit risky to send out all the personnel. How about leaving a small number of them to go back and report the news? What do you think?" Second Mate Nico analyzed rationally.
"I'm the captain, are you the captain?" Charles looked at him indifferently.
Nico frowned slightly, "I am only performing my duties as the second officer. This plan is too risky."
Charles shook his head. "Locke and his team have already explored the road. There is no danger on this road. What's more, the Foundation's stuff is just ahead. Do you have enough ropes? We'll use the Narwhal to tow it back later."
Seeing the other party say this, Nico didn't intend to say anything. He shrugged his shoulders and turned away.
Charles looked at his back, then glanced at the bandage near the chimney, then quietly called Dipper over.
"Boy, I have a mission for you. Take your sailors to guard against our people. I felt something was wrong when they arrived on the island."
Dipper's eyes widened, looking very surprised. He followed Charles and looked at the other crew members. "No way? Everyone seems normal."
"Do as I say. My keen intuition from so many explorations tells me that something must be wrong. Did you bring the black thorn I gave you earlier?"
"I brought them. The things you gave me are all here." Dipper said, and turned his webbed palms inside his sleeves, revealing half of three black thorns lined up side by side.
Charles got a lot of this stuff at the beginning, so he distributed the extra ones to his crew members. As a relic whose only side effect is amplified pain, it is very convenient.
"And it's not just the black thorns, I also have that red robe with me, it can pull out any soul easily." Dipper added.
Charles nodded with satisfaction and patted him on the shoulder. "Very good, prepare all these. If something unexpected happens later, and I tell you to kill someone, you just do it and attack them."
"Don't worry, Captain, I promise to complete the mission." Dipper nodded firmly. As Charles' most loyal subordinate, he would unconditionally support Charles' orders.
However, most people felt relieved when they saw Charles standing on the bow above. He was the governor of Hope Island and could almost be said to be the most powerful explorer.
As long as he is here, the probability of failure of this mission is definitely very low.
Lily came back to Charles' shoulder and looked around cautiously.
"Lily, have all the rats gone away?" Charles asked.
"Well, they are all exploring the path underneath these white things, but because of the obstruction, they can only notice if there is anything else underneath."
Listening to Lily's answer, Charles turned his head to look at her golden body, his brows furrowed as if he was thinking about something.
After a second, he reached out and held Lily in front of him, and said patiently: "It might be very messy later, I will put you in my pocket, you stay in there peacefully, and you must wait until I say you can come out before you come out."
"Yeah!" Lily nodded heavily. She seemed very happy about Charles' concern.
"So good, this is my good Lily." Charles put his mouth close to her and kissed her furry head.
Feeling the soft lips, Lily's heart started beating fast. She covered her face with her two little paws, feeling very shy.
Just as the smiling Charles was about to say something, a sharp rat cry suddenly came from the right side of the crowd.
The Narwhal's huge searchlight suddenly shone over there, revealing a three-meter-tall, green monster with a centipede-like body.
It was stunned at first, then quickly pulled down two branches with its hands and gestured quickly to the crowd. As explorers, everyone immediately recognized that it was a flag signal.
But before everyone could see clearly what those things meant, Charles suddenly waved his hand and shouted loudly: "Attack! Attack immediately!! Everyone, don't look at its actions, it will confuse your will! ”
As soon as Charles finished speaking, gunshots rang out, and the green centipede's body was quickly cut by bullets, and its flag signal was forced to stop.
After being attacked, the thing fled backwards in fear, but Charles showed a sneer of contempt on his face. He gently pinched the steel prosthesis, and the transparent tentacles with white electric arcs instantly wrapped it.
The next second, white light exploded and "hissing" sounds continued to ring out.
When the bright light disappeared, all that was left was a twisted, charred corpse emitting black smoke.
Charles stood on the bow, looking down at the others below, like a king looking at his people.
"Everyone listen up, you must not approach them, and you must not try to understand what they mean. Just treat them as monsters in the sea!!"
"If you understand what they are trying to say, then it means that you have been bewitched by them!"
(End of this chapter)