"Don't worry, I won't persuade you to give up like your parents did. Can you tell me the story of that guy named Charles? How did you two meet?"
Margaret didn't want to say it at first, but she couldn't hold it in for a long time. Once she started talking, she couldn't stop and told her everything she knew about Charles.
The girl's face showed sometimes happy and sometimes sad as she spoke, and she didn't notice the coldness in Anna's black pupils beside her.
After a long time, Margaret slowly stopped. She smiled and looked at Anna next to her and said, "Sister Anna, thank you for listening. I feel much better after talking to you. By the way, has your missing husband not been found yet?"
Anna looked away with a sad face, "He hasn't come back for so long, I guess he can't be found, alas..."
Seeing Anna's sad look, Margaret quickly supported her shoulders and said apologetically: "I'm sorry, I touched your sore spot."
Anna shook her head and wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, as if she was trying to hold back the pain in her heart and said, "It's okay, I'm used to it."
Under the black skirt, two tentacles with black roots slowly stretched out and rolled towards the white skirt of the girl next to her.
"Sister Anna, can you tell me what it feels like when your loved one leaves you? Does it hurt?"
The tentacles under the wooden chair stopped, and Anna quietly looked at the innocent look of the girl in front of her.
She suddenly looked up at the darkness in front of her. "It's hard to describe... I just feel very uncomfortable. Are you sure you really like him? Or are you just grateful that he saved you?"
Margaret, with a sad face, kept twisting the lace on her skirt with her white fingers.
"I don't know if I like Mr. Charles, I just want to see him again... I really want to. Sister Anna, you should understand this feeling, right?"
There was a hint of struggle in Anna's eyes.
Margaret didn't notice this, and was still thinking about her own things. "As soon as I come of age, my father will give me a large estate and other assets. Maybe I can give all of these to Mr. Charles, and he won't have to take risks at sea."
Anna listened to the girl's suggestion, and the corners of her mouth rose slightly. "You can write to him first and ask him if he agrees. Maybe he will agree and come to Hefang happily."
Margaret's eyebrows just raised, and then immediately dropped. "No... My father will not allow me to contact Mr. Charles again."
"It's okay. Just give me the letter and I'll give it to him for you. Mr. Peter has been unwell recently, so I'm in charge of some of his affairs. There just so happens that a cargo ship is heading to Coral Island recently."
Margaret was stunned for a moment, then she hugged him excitedly. "Sister Anna, you are so kind! I have a lot to say to Mr. Charles. By the way, I also want to send him a photo of me now. And also..."
Anna's slender arms went around the girl, patting her back gently, and the tentacles under her skirt retracted.
Charles sat on the anchor winch on the deck, silently watching the navigation mark on the water in front of him slowly move backwards.
Although it was still pitch black in front of him, he could already sense the difference in the smell in the air, and when he saw a fly land on the deck, he knew the coral island was approaching.
Suddenly, his broken arm rose up and moved, and Richard's voice rang in his mind. "Do you think we should buy a sculptor to go with it if we go back now?"
"Don't be so funny. Losing an arm has greatly reduced our strength. We must find a way to make up for it."
"It's already broken, what else can we do? The severed hand is still inside the wall. What? Should we wait for the island to float up again and then go in to pick it up?"
As the two men were talking about this, the doctor's angry curse was heard in the cabin behind, and it sounded like someone was greedy and stole his wine.
Charles stood up and walked towards the cabin door. He thought of a good idea. The doctor just happened to have what he wanted.
"What? You're asking where I got this prosthetic limb from? Do you want to get one too?"
Charles nodded. "I think you're using it pretty well."
The doctor spread out the iron hand and shook it. "It's useful, but it's expensive. Can you afford it?"
"How much?"
"I have 3 million in my hand alone."
Charles' eyes suddenly widened slightly. He didn't expect that a prosthetic limb would be so expensive. You know, he bought the Narwhal for only 3.5 million. Such a small thing is equivalent to a ship.
Richard was thinking about another question. "Wow~ Don't underestimate this old man because he looks so shabby. I didn't expect he has more money than us! A black doctor!"
"The 3 million echoes are worth the money. This is not an ordinary prosthesis. I heard from those guys that they used something on the enchanted level." The doctor said as he peeled off the outer shell of the iron hand, revealing the large and small metal gear structures underneath.
Each gear fits tightly together, and turns fast or slow with a click as the doctor opens and closes his hands.
Charles keenly noticed that when the gears turned, purple inscriptions faintly lit up.
"I don't know how those guys did it, but once you install it, except for the lack of perception, it's no different from a real hand in terms of use. If you need it, they can also add some other things to it for you."
Charles was excited. If he had this thing, his broken arm would no longer be a problem.
"Please contact them for me when you return to Hong Kong. I need one installed if possible."
The doctor nodded and said to Charles, "Sure. As long as the money is in place, they are easy to talk to. They usually operate in the western sea area, but I remember they seem to have a contact point on Coral Island."
"Try to make them hurry up, I'm in a hurry."
"In a hurry? How long do you plan to rest this time?"
"Not necessarily. It depends on the situation in Kede. If they have returned and exchanged information with each other, then we will set out to sea as soon as possible."
"If you want to survive, stay on shore longer. You're lucky to have only lost an arm this time. If you're not careful, you'll lose your life next time."
At this moment, cheers from the sailors suddenly came from the deck, and Charles followed the doctor, opened the door and walked out.
The beam of light from the coral island's lighthouse slowly swept across the sky above the Narwhal, and they returned alive again.
(End of this chapter)