"Why don't you give me this time? You have nothing to do, but I have a lot of things to do." Suddenly Richard's voice sounded in his mind.
After thinking for a moment, Charles readily gave up control of his body. He also wanted to know what his other self would do in this situation.
Charles' confused expression was immediately replaced by exaggerated ecstasy. He kicked off the ground with his feet, flew into the air, and then used the shoulder of a worker next to him to gain leverage and jumped directly onto the roof.
Richard quickly climbed over several streets on the rooftops and rushed into a neon-lit bar, the largest bar in the port area, "Carnival Night"
He danced to the bar, took out his black blade and tapped a small metal bell on it. "Ding~!"
Everyone in the bar raised their heads and looked towards the bar curiously. Everyone who was drinking knew what the sound meant.
"Guys, I'm paying for everyone's drinks today!! Let's have fun!"
The cheers of all the crew members in the bar almost blew the roof off.
Richard laughed out loud, he put his arm around a scantily clad waitress, took the wine from her tray and drank it.
Compared with the cold Charles, the cheerful Richard seems to be very good at making friends.
Even though they had just met, after a while he had become familiar with almost everyone in the bar.
The jokes he told made everyone present laugh.
The little coin magic he performed amazed the people around him.
In order to show off, he even casually handed various relics to other drinkers to play with. The atmosphere of the entire bar was stirred up by him, and everyone centered around him.
Charles controlled his left eye and calmly looked at his own laughing reflection in the wine glass.
In the reflection of the wine glass, the distorted smiling face looked more like crying. In an instant, Charles and Richard resonated with each other for the first time. After all, they all wanted to go home like Gao Zhiming, but their reactions were different.
"Hahahaha!!!" Charles seemed to think of something happy. He slapped his thigh and laughed wildly. He laughed so hard that tears came out.
The distorted reflection of Charles in the wine glass was lifted and poured into the dark mouth.
As he drank glass after glass of wine, Charles' consciousness gradually disappeared under the influence of alcohol.
After an unknown amount of time, Charles woke up again with a splitting headache. The scenery in front of him was still a little dizzy. He knocked on the left side of his head and his vision finally returned to normal.
Only then did he realize that he was lying on a rope, below which were drunkards and crooked chairs.
Charles put his hands on the rope, stepped on the crew members on the ground, and walked out of the bar.
Charles pursed his dry mouth and asked in his heart: "How is it? Is this useful?"
"Don't talk nonsense, I'm tired, I need to have a good rest!"
It seems that this guy's method doesn't work very well. Charles raised the corners of his mouth slightly, raised his feet and blended into the crowd, his thoughts in his mind constantly diverging.
"How did I rest on the surface before? Playing on my phone? Playing video games? Arguing with my sister?"
"When I first arrived in Earthsea, I remember that I often went to the bar with other sailors to drink and chat. At that time, I was curious about everything here. When did I become so impatient?"
"It seems that when I realized that I was not the chosen one, that I could die here at any time, and that my hope of returning home was becoming increasingly lost, that inner torment made me more and more anxious."
"But now it's okay. I finally found the way home. I just don't know if the outside world is still my world."
Charles quickly shook his head to get rid of the problems in his mind. He came out to relax and didn't want to think about these things today.
When Charles came to his senses again, he found himself leaving the port area with the crowd and coming to the bustling island.
Seeing the bonfires on the street, Charles remembered that today was the Coral Island Landing Festival. Every island would celebrate the day of occupying the island as a major festival, and today happened to be the day for the Coral Island.
This is a joyous festival. The islanders wear their best clothes to celebrate. The joyful mood infects everyone. Everyone is happy in their hearts and walks briskly.
Musicians on the roadside played violins, trumpets and drums, and the islanders gathered around them. Those who could dance danced, and those who couldn't dance admired the dancers with extraordinary enthusiasm.
Charles walked slowly along with the crowd, and seeing the festive atmosphere of laughter and joy, he seemed to be infected by them.
This kind of festival reminded him inexplicably of the Spring Festival, except without the firecrackers and the color red.
"Gurgle, gurgle~" The growling of his stomach brought Charles back to his senses. He drank too much last night and was a little hungry now.
Charles walked to a roadside stand, took out his wallet and bought a spider crab leg. He opened the shell with his hands and started eating.
The roasted crab meat is very chewy. When you bite the snow-white crab meat, your mouth is filled with the fresh fragrance of crab meat.
There wasn't much meat on a crab leg, but it opened Charles' stomach. His eyes looked around, looking for the next target.
Soon the aroma of milk in the air caught his attention. Charles followed the smell to a small stall, where a fat old man with a white beard was quickly stirring fresh milk and oysters on an iron plate with two iron shovels.
Looking at the familiar face, Charles said, "Give me one."
"Okay, please wait, I'll be there soon." Old John's hands moved quickly. After a few seconds, he suddenly felt that the voice sounded familiar. He looked up and an excited smile appeared on his face. "Ha! Captain! Long time no see!"
Looking at the former first mate, Charles pointed to the small stall in front of him and said, "Aren't you going ashore to retire?"
"Well, you know my character. I spent all the money in the casino and in the beds of the girls before it even got warm in my hands. But don't underestimate my small business. I calculated that I made more money than going out to sea!!"
Charles glanced at the patch on his trouser leg and nodded as if he hadn't noticed it. "That's good. At least there's no danger to your life."
Old John put his hands on his hips and laughed twice before continuing, "I heard that you really bought an exploration ship? Are you still short of crew members on board? It's not that I'm short of money, but I think it's more interesting to be on the sea. It's really boring to stay on this island. When people on the island heard that I've been out to sea, they all looked down on me. Damn it, I went to sea to be a crew member, not a pirate!"
Charles paused for a second and shook his head, "Sorry, the ship is full."
He didn't want old John to take any risks. He might be poorer on the island, but at least he could live to death.
Old John showed disappointment on his face, but then he immediately calmed down and said nonchalantly, "That's fine, I'm just asking casually. Wait a minute, your portion of milk oysters will be ready soon."
(End of this chapter)