Shrouded Seascape

Chapter 190. Charles

Relic DE1344? Or perhaps the Foundation refers to them as Projects?

According to the inscription, the island they were on was seemingly designated to contain whatever this 1344 was. Though from the vague description, Charles could hardly fathom what DE1344 might be.

"Lily, what's on the floor above us?" Charles asked.

If there was nothing else, Charles had decided to retreat. With the place being cleared so thoroughly by the Foundation, there was no need to continue exploring the area.

Lily remained silent as she scanned her surroundings with a confused look on her face. It seemed as though she was trying to recall something.

"Lily, what's on the floor above us?" Charles iterated.

Charles' words snapped Lily back to reality. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and answered, "There's a massive iron door upstairs that's locked. My friends couldn't get in."

Charles let out a sigh of defeat. "Let's leave then. Recall the mice you positioned on the other floors for surveillance. We're heading back."

Charles hypothesized that the so-called DE1344 would be behind that door. However, his curiosity was not the least triggered.

Just as Charles and his crew entered the stairwell, he caught a flickering glint of gold from above them.

"Who's there?!" Charles instantly activated his grappling hook and aimed it at the wall diagonally above. Controlling the hook with his thoughts, the chain retracted and yanked him upward at an astonishing speed.

At the entrance to the eleventh floor, a shadowy figure stumbled toward a door. The moment the figure pushed the door open, Charles pulled the trigger with his right hand—a bullet embedded itself into the figure's leg.

Charles darted toward the figure and pinned the man down with a knee on his back. Pressing the gun barrel against the man's head, he warned, "Stay still! I'll blow your brains up if you move!"

In the face of Charles' violent threats, the figure showed no reaction. His body lay motionless on the ground like a puddle of muck.

"Hmm?" Charles rapidly flipped him over to see a gaunt man with hollowed eyes and dilated pupils—he was dead.

The other crew members swiftly caught up. Horror tainted their eyes when they spotted the body.

"Captain, look at his teeth. He's one of those pirates," Dipp remarked as he pointed at the glimmering golden tooth.

"No... something's amiss." Charles seemed to have noticed something. His expression tensed up, and his eyes quickly darted around to scan their surroundings.

It was a vast, desolate floor, and there was nothing apart from the cement walls. Right opposite them was another lonesome stairwell.

"Captain, what's wrong?" Affected by Charles' tense mood, Dipp's voice was tinged with urgency and anxiety too. He immediately drew his weapon and looked around with heightened alertness.

"Look at his face. This guy looks exactly the same as the desiccated corpse earlier!"

All gazes collectively turned onto the face of the lifeless body. The next moment, their eyes widened in disbelief, and gasps echoed in the hallway.

Indeed, the mole on the face of the body before them was identical to the one on the desiccated body.

"If my hunch is right, the skeleton we saw earlier is probably the same guy."

A look of disbelief and bewilderment surfaced on Dipp's visage. "Captain, that can't be. The skeleton had an injury on its leg. This man, he...."

Dipp's voice trailed off as his eyes landed on the bullet wound Charles had just inflicted on the body moments ago. The horror in his gaze intensified.

"Retreat immediately. We need to leave now," Charles commanded and turned to lead his crew away.

But just as he reached the bottom of the stairwell, Lily leaped off his shoulder and ran upward toward the vast, empty floor.

"Damn it!" By the time Charles arrived at the door on the eleventh floor, he saw Lily sprinting toward the staircase on the opposite side of the hallway.

Gritting his teeth, he charged after Lily, intending to grab her and make a swift retreat. However, his body suddenly froze. The cold, sharp edge of a blade was lightly pressed against the major artery in his neck.

"Go back, you shouldn't be here," a familiar, deep voice sounded from behind him.

Charles attempted a furtive glance over his shoulder but saw nothing. Whatever was threatening him was invisible.

"Captain! What's wrong? Did something happen?" Dipp and the others were about to dash in to intervene.

"Wait! I'm fine. Stay where you are!" Charles warned in a raised voice.

Hearing that the footsteps behind him had ceased, Charles whispered, "Who are you? What do you want?"

The blade pressed closer against Charles as the same familiar voice sounded once more, "Don't ask. Back off. The information you seek about the surface isn't here."

"Alright, I'll back off," Charles said, and he slowly withdrew toward his crew. Just as he retreated, his gaze was fixated on James' backpack.

Catching Charles' gaze, James subtly nodded in understanding and stealthily took out two Mirrorboxes. Upon seeing the boxes, a pure look of terror appeared on Audric's face, and he quickly retreated into the safety of the stairwell's shadows.

Just as Charles reached the midpoint of the vast floor, a blinding light filled the room.

As the surroundings lit up, Charles abruptly lurched backward. His prosthetic left hand shot up to grab hold of the invisible blade at his throat.

Having narrowly escaped imminent danger, Charles tossed Lily into his coat pocket while his other hand reached for the revolver holstered at his waist.

Guided by memory rather than sight, Charles fired in rapid succession toward a particular direction. However, the metallic echo of bullets striking the walls indicated that he had missed the target.

A sudden gust of wind rang in his left ear. Instinctively, Charles drew his Dark Blade to face the invisible enemy.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Their metallic blades clashed thrice. Then, simultaneously, they both lifted their right leg to send a fierce kick in each other's direction.

When the blinding light from the Mirrorbox finally faded, Charles managed to steady himself. However, when his gaze landed on the man before him, his pupils shrank to the size of a needlepoint.

It was a mirror image of himself. Not only that, behind "himself," he saw a double of Dipp, James, and Laesto. There was a duplicate of every crew member, except for Lily, standing opposite them.

"Captain, what in the world is going on? Why are there two of you?" Dipp exclaimed in disbelief as he stood next to Charles.

"Those opposite are termed 1344-1, entities that came out from DE1344."

"Those opposite are termed 1344-1, entities that came out from DE1344."

Both Charles spoke in unison as though they had rehearsed their lines beforehand. A hint of annoyance marked their brows as they frowned at each other's descriptions of themselves.

Carefully choosing his words, Charles addressed his doppelganger, "Let's leave this island at the same time, alright?"

The other Charles remained silent. With a grave expression, he signaled the crew behind him to follow as they slowly retreated toward the distant staircase and disappeared into its darkness.

"Move, quick!" A tense Charles led his crew toward the staircase and rushed to descend.

Every so often, he would flash his torchlight overhead in fear that the other him would suddenly change his mind to pursue them. Thankfully, nothing of that sort happened.

When he finally emerged from the corroded iron door at the ground level and spotted the dried-up corpse, realization dawned upon him.

This corpse and the one above were replicas made by 1344. It all made sense how the same person could appear dead thrice in different places.

What exactly is this 1344 that can clone living beings? Why didn't I see it? Or could it be..." At this thought, Charles turned his head and allowed his gaze to settle on the towering mountain. Could it be that that entire thing is DE1344?

Even after returning to the Narwhale and settling into the chair in the captain's quarters, Charles remained restless and couldn't find his inner peace for a long time.

Though he might not know what DE stood for in DE1344, he had gained a new understanding of the enigmatic nature of relics.

"Mr. Charles... I'm sorry. I was wrong," Lily's remorseful voice resonated from Charles' pocket.

Taking Lily out and placing her on the desk, Charles lowered himself to her eye level. With his stern gaze on her, he questioned, "Why did you suddenly run like that? Who knows what's on the other side? You could have failed to return!"

Lily's tiny ears drooped as a forlorn look painted her face. "I don't know... I felt like I had been there before... I feel like something was calling out to me on the other side."

"If there's anything next time, discuss it with me first. Such reckless acts could risk the lives of everyone."

With that, Charles pulled out his diary and started to pen down the recent events.

Sitting atop the desk, Lily silently wept as tears trickled down her cheeks.

However, Charles didn't spare her a glance. As a member of an exploration ship, her action was a grave error—this was a lesson she had to sear into her memory.

As minutes ticked by, Lily's silent tears evolved into choked sobs.

A sequence of harsh knocks resounded in the room.

"Come in," Charles instructed.

The door creaked open, and Bandages entered the room.

"What's the matter? Did something happen?" Charles looked up from the diary pages to meet Bandages' gaze.

Bandages slowly lifted a languid hand and pointed at the fluorescent green figure of Lily on the table.

"Captain... where did... that mouse... come from?"

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