When the tentacles disappeared, the various strange phenomena that had occurred before gradually returned to normal.
As the sunlight gradually faded, the nearly collapsing airship could no longer support its own weight and quickly fell into the darkness with all the people on board.
At the same time, a huge deformed bat flew out of the darkness and quickly came to the unrecognizable airship.
The half of the deck that should have been flat was twisted and wrinkled, as if the airship had been turned into paper, rubbed hard and then smoothed out again.
The ship was in this state, and so were the people. Grace, with half of her body oozing with blood, fell to the ground and trembled slightly. Her stomach was ruptured, and her bloody internal organs fell out onto the deck.
However, she was not the one Charles was looking for. Charles quickly searched the deck, but could not find Lily and Pope Ledger!
Charles grabbed the wounded Grace from the deck, looked at her bloody face and asked, "Where is Lily? Where are Lily and the Pope?"
Grace, however, looked like she was dead, with her eyes closed and not moving.
The deformed airship was still plummeting, and Charles glanced at Swan, who was almost turned into minced meat on the deck.
He spread his wings, grabbed half of Swan's flesh with one foot and half of his machine with the other, and then left here with Grace in his arms.
Soon after Charles left, the damaged airship gradually began to disintegrate, gradually forming a "whale fall" unique to the dark deep space.
Two hours later, outside the Narwhal's medical room, Charles thought quickly, Lily was missing, and it was most likely that the Pope had taken her away.
Judging from the fact that Grace didn't die, Lily's ability accidentally protected everyone. But this is not a good thing, those who should be protected and those who shouldn't be protected all survived.
"Click" the door next to him suddenly opened, and Charles stood up and rushed in.
"The right side of the child's body looked like it was torn apart and then pieced back together, including bones, internal organs, skin and flesh. I used many kinds of banned drugs and finally saved her life."
Looking at the girl wrapped in white gauze in front of him, Charles' heart softened slightly, but then hardened again.
"As long as she's alive, can you please wake her up now? I need to ask some questions."
Linda picked up a metal syringe from the side, quickly adjusted some medicine, and injected it directly into Grace's body.
Grace slowly opened her eyes, but her right eye, which should have been full of innocence and purity, was broken like glass. "Captain, how did I do? Did I complete the mission?"
Charles nodded, a forced smile on his face. "Mission accomplished, well done."
Grace's eyes curved slightly as if she was smiling, but now she was wrapped like a mummy and her expression could not be seen.
Seeing that she was conscious, Charles couldn't wait to ask his questions.
"Let me ask you, when you were on the boat just now, did you see Lily and that handsome boy? How did they end up?"
Grace tried to shake her head, but Linda held her in place with both hands. "I don't know, my stomach seemed to explode and I passed out from the pain."
Charles showed a trace of disappointment on his face. It seemed that he could not get any clues from her.
"How is Swan's treatment going?" Charles asked Linda.
Linda let go of Grace's head and pulled away the white cloth beside it.
"To be honest, I haven't treated it. I don't see any normal human organs on it. It just has some...some...I'm sorry, I don't know how to describe it."
The ship's doctor said as he moved aside the body. In a large iron plate, a mass of rotten flesh piled up against each other was climbing up a pile of scrap metal. It was indeed a bit difficult for her to treat such a thing.
The flesh twisted, and a deep, vague voice came from inside. "Get out..."
Charles turned and left the medical room. It seemed that the Chosen One of the Revelers would not die so easily. It would be necessary to wait until he recovered for a while before asking about the specific situation.
As soon as he came out, Charles saw the other crew members standing outside. "Captain, what should we do next?"
"Return home," Charles said calmly.
"Captain, are you okay? Lily is missing, we will find her one day." Dipper asked carefully.
Charles thought about it and shook his head slightly. "There are no clues now. Blindly looking for Lily is just a waste of time. Let's go back and make plans first."
"Huh?" The crew members were stunned.
"The Pope won't hurt Lily. He obviously thinks Lily is the God of Light. We can tell what he's going to do. He'll go to Earthsea and set a trap in the Pit Fortress."
After Charles finished speaking, he turned around, walked through the crowd and returned to the captain's room. His calm expression gradually turned into pain.
Charles pulled out a bottle of wine from the bottom of the drawer, tilted his head back and took a big gulp. The disappeared Lily and the broken Grace in his mind faded a little.
"Is it worth it? If I had returned to Earthsea and taken control of the situation, would all this have happened? Now that we have the cooperation of the Foundation, other explorers might be able to do just as well without me. Why should I take my family with me to die?"
In the darkness, Charles was examining what he had done before.
Lily's disappearance made him feel as if he had returned to the time when Lily died. He was reflecting on whether he had become his former self again.
At this moment, Swan's previous words about Anna resurfaced in his mind.
"Gudong~!" Charles tilted his head back and took another big gulp.
Before he knew it, the bottle of wine was empty. Charles didn't know when he fell asleep. When he opened his eyes again, it was already the next day.
Charles, with bloodshot eyes, came back to the medical room. As soon as he entered, he heard the sound of gears turning.
He saw that Swan, who was a lump of meat yesterday, had become a little more human. The half-flesh Swan was now holding a wrench, repairing the half-mechanical Swan.
At this moment, the ship's doctor in a white coat walked up to him and said, "Captain, Grace's condition is very poor. Even if she can be cured, at best she can only walk normally. I suggest that she retire."
As if afraid that Charles would disagree, Linda added, "And she has completely completed her mission."
Charles looked at the mummy lying on the boat next to him. "Okay, let her go back to Earthsea and treat her like a fallen exploration crew member."
Linda heaved a sigh of relief when she heard this, but Grace spoke up herself, her voice weak but her tone firm.
"Captain, I don't agree. I want to stay on the Narwhal!"
(End of this chapter)