"Found it! This is it!!"
Charles began to get excited. The thing was just there, and there was no one guarding nearby. As long as he sent it back to the Coral Islands, the mission would be accomplished!
He was about to take it when he stopped abruptly. A thought flashed through his mind: Isn't this a little too simple? If it's so simple, why didn't those people take it away before, but disappeared instead
Just as Charles hesitated, the organ next to him moved, and he walked straight over and picked up the statue of Fotan.
Then he returned to Charles and said in a slow voice: "Let's... go back... The high priest is waiting..."
Although Charles felt something was wrong, since he had already got the things, he couldn't care less at this moment. He waved his hand and walked out quickly with the crew.
"That thing looks a bit heavy. It will take us 30 minutes to carry it."
Bandage and James nodded at the same time. They continued along the path towards the sea. The weight of the golden statue was not light, and it was very tiring even if they took turns carrying it.
Halfway along the path, Charles stopped to rest. He couldn't wait until his energy was completely exhausted before resting, otherwise if something happened, he wouldn't even have a chance to react.
Sitting on the ground beside the campfire, Charles looked vigilantly at the darkness around him.
If there is no danger when moving forward, then it proves that the danger only comes from the way back, and I cannot let my guard down.
After resting for more than ten minutes, Charles turned his head and said to the bandage beside him: "We can't stop for the next section of the road. We have to go all the way to the end."
The bandage beside him nodded and paused for a few seconds, then looked around and said, "I... I seem to have forgotten something..."
"As long as we get the statue, it doesn't matter whether we have the other things or not. Let's go." Charles, who was a little impatient, grabbed the statue and continued to move forward.
Bandage said nothing more and followed in silence.
The bizarre forest appeared and disappeared in the light of the fire. In the silence, there was no other sound except for the two people's breathing and footsteps.
When Charles returned to the beach again and looked at the Mouse in the distance, a hint of joy appeared on his sweaty face.
"This adventure was a success. As long as I go back and give this thing to the Futan Cult, I can buy an exploration ship, recruit crew members, and find a way home."
Just as he was running on the sand towards the Rat in the distance, he stopped, the smile on his face slowly faded, and a question appeared in his mind.
"I drove this huge steamship all by myself?"
An unknown fear suddenly enveloped Charles' whole body as he recalled how he got here.
"I was invited by the Fotan Cult to search for their holy relics. I set out on the Mouse alone. I went to the kitchen to prepare food alone. I added fuel to the turbine alone. I cleaned the deck alone. I... I patrolled the deck alone. I... I steered the ship alone?"
Charles paced back and forth on the beach holding the golden statue.
"I used to have a crew. I sailed with the first mate, Old John, and the boatswain, Dim. But Dim was skinned by something underwater, and John also got off the ship at the Coral Islands. After that, I was the only one on the Mouse, that's right!!"
Charles showed a painful expression on his face. Although his memory was very clear, what was displayed was contrary to reality, which was totally illogical.
"This is impossible! I'm not Superman, how can I do so many things by myself! There must be something wrong!!"
When Charles' eyes accidentally swept over the footprints on the ground, he was shocked.
Charles quickly threw away the statue in his hand, took off his boots, and compared it with a shoe print on the ground.
"The lines, the size, the arc, these are my footprints! I didn't come here alone, the memory in my brain has been rewritten!"
Frightened out of his wits, he looked towards the empty ships next to the Rat. Now he understood why there were no people on those ships.
Charles took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. "The information now shows that I am not alone. I have crew members. They disappeared, not only in reality, but also in my mind. I must find them. I can't go back alone."
But a new problem lies before Charles: how can he find six people he doesn't know and who don't exist? Who are they? What are their names? Are they male or female
Just at this moment, a figure slowly walked into the light of the torch.
The moment Charles saw the man's appearance, his pupils shrank instantly, and he immediately took out a pistol and pointed it at the man's head.
It was a human figure wrapped in old yellow bandages. The bandages were cut into tatters, revealing the dark skin underneath.
"Stop! Tell me your name!"
"I... my name is Bandage. No, I'm not... my name is not Bandage. Who are you? I think I know you... Do you know me?"
With a quick glance at the mummy's bandaged feet, Charles began to search among the seven pairs of footprints.
The bandage's pattern was clearly imprinted on the sand. Although it was a little hard to believe, this guy was indeed one of his crew members.
Charles put down the revolver and quickly explained what had happened and the bandage.
"Is... is that so? I can't remember who I am? Do you know who I am?" Bandage said hesitantly.
"We'll talk about these things later. Where did you escape from? Are there other people there?" Charles asked hurriedly.
"The tree...inside the tree...the tree didn't like me...the tree let me go, there were other people there."
Charles couldn't make out what the bandaged man was saying, but he seemed to know where the others were.
"Take me there quickly, we have to rescue them."
After Charles imprinted the remaining five pairs of shoe prints deeply in his mind, he returned to the strange forest with bandages on.
The misty forest was still as quiet as ever. The bandage led Charles back to the path covered with footprints.
With the previous reminder, Charles finally discovered something was wrong. The footprints on the ground became fewer and fewer as he went forward, and it was obvious that they had all disappeared.
Charles didn’t know if it was a psychological effect, but he began to feel that something in the forest was watching him.
After walking for half an hour, the shaking bandage suddenly turned and walked towards the forest next to it. Charles now knew why the bandage on his body was torn like this.
(End of this chapter)