Shrouded Seascape

The others gathered and stared at Charles talking to T with gazes full of indescribable emotions.

T remained silent and didn't express her opinion on Charles' remark.

"Since my man here is the good cop, then I'll be the bad cop. Hello, T, it's nice to meet you. I have a very unique ability—I can rewrite your consciousness and steal information from your mind. I'm also capable of altering your personality, transforming you into an extremely loyal slave."

T lifted her eyeless, deformed head and "looked" at Anna. "You don't have to threaten me. Go ahead and try. Even 1189-1 couldn't grasp my memories and consciousness, so I believe that you can't do so, either.

"And I can tell you that every Foundation member with a Level 3 or above nondisclosure agreement has traps in their sea of consciousness. Make even the slightest mistake, and not only will my consciousness be destroyed instantly, but 'deadly' emotions will also spread to the intruder."

Anna's lips curved upward at T's words, and her face revealed a hint of excitement as she said, "Oh? That sounds interesting. It's a good thing that you've mentioned it.

"Unfortunately, your words have piqued my competitive spirit instead of serving as a deterrent. I really want to know the depths of the Foundation's research on the mental field."

Charles raised his hand, interrupting the two. "T, I'm telling you this once again—we're not enemies. We have the same goal, and I am sincere with my offer to work with you."

Stumbling upon a Foundation member was incredibly rare, and the fact that the two of them had worked together to overcome a life-and-death hardship was even rarer.

T's green figure remained motionless, and she seemed to be pondering over something. A few minutes later, she raised her sharp, slender fingers and began writing once again.

T wasn't writing texts, but she was drawing what looked like a nautical chart. It was a nautical chart unlike Charles had ever seen; the islands weren't fixed in one position but were moving slowly, indicated by the dotted lines that T had drawn.

"We're here right now," T said, and then she pointed at one of the islands before moving her finger upward, passing by two islands to point at the third island from their current location.

"Leave an airship for me here, and then send someone here in two months. I'll go back and submit a proposal to amend our plans to the GK Council. If they're willing to work with you, then they'll send people to talk to you."

It turned out that T had drawn a nautical chart of the floating islands. Shockingly, the space above them was far bigger than they had imagined.

"If they end up not sending anyone, then there's nothing I can do about that. I don't have any authority in the Foundation, and as I said, I'm just a researcher. At most, I can only make suggestions."

Since T was willing to help, Charles allowed her to leave. He had already decided to gamble on the possibility that the Foundation might work together with them, so there was no need to strain the rapport that he had built with T.

After all, T had been with them through an incredibly tough hardship. Once she was back at the Foundation, it could then be considered that they had established a connection with the Foundation itself.

Beneath T's gaze, Charles left the bizarre floating island with the injured explorers.

The Narwhale could barely move, and it was the only thing it could do. In the end, they had to leave the Narwhale on the island with plans to pick it up on their next visit.

Charles and the others had to use the other three airships to leave. Since they left an airship for T, they only had two airships left. Fortunately, two airships were more than enough to ferry them back to safety.

Charles and Anna were alone in the Captain's Quarters. The two were staring at each other in silence until Charles shattered the ice by asking, "You must've read T's memories. What do you think of her?"

Anna was taken aback. "Oh my, how did you know?"

"You wouldn't be Anna otherwise. Anyway, how was she? Was there anything strange in her memories?"

"She wasn't lying when she said that her sea of consciousness is under protection," Anna said, shaking her head. "There wasn't enough time for me to analyze it completely, so I have yet to find a loophole."

"That's great. The fact that her sea of consciousness is being protected by a special power means that T has a certain status in the Foundation. With her persuasion, there's a high chance that the Foundation will help us."

Charles' urgent need for the Foundation's help was a part of his plans. The Foundation had existed for over a thousand years at the very least, and they had yet to disband despite the long passage of time.

In addition, they possessed a ton of advanced technology from the modern world, so Charles reckoned that it wouldn't be too hard for them to find a way to make the surface world more habitable on the off chance that the darkness couldn't be retrieved and the Subterranean Sea was submerged.

Charles was confident of it. After all, they were the makers of Dawn One. Of course, he didn't really have any other choice but to put his eggs inside multiple baskets.

Truth be told, he also felt suffocated beneath the pressure of the fact that they'd end up drowning if the darkness wasn't retrieved. He was simply hiding his fears, as he was the captain.

Anna walked up to Charles and embraced him. "Don't worry, we'll find a solution."

"Anna, you don't need to comfort me. I know the success rate isn't high, but I've long gotten used to thinking of the worst-case scenario. Anyway, we just have to give it our all."

Just then, Anna recalled something and asked, "Charles, do you really love me?"

Charles looked away and replied, "Sparkle is already so big, and you're still asking if I love you? Don't you think it's too cheesy?"

"Answer me. It's very important to me," Anna said. For the first time in a while, Anna's face appeared a bit solemn.

Charles sighed and said, "Do I love you? Of course, I love you. You do know exactly how I feel, don't you?"

"What do you love about me? Do you love me because of those false memories, or do you love me because I'm your companion from home in a foreign world? Even if I'm a fake?"

Charles let go of Anna and looked into her eyes, saying, "Don't overthink it. We've gone through so much that we're practically inseparable at this point. It's true that those memories were fake, but it doesn't matter.

"Once this crisis is over, we'll find some time for a honeymoon. By then, it will no longer be fake."

"Okay. Don't forget what you said, and don't forget the diamond ring that you promised, too."

"When did I—all right. I won't forget what I said and that diamond ring."

Anna let out a peal of joyful chuckle. She spread her arms and pounced on Charles, pushing him to the ground before saying, "It's time for you to fulfill your obligation…"

***

Left all alone, T stood in front of the massive spider with a mountain of brains on its back instead of a bulging silk sac. She thrust her green arm into the spider, seemingly searching for something within the spider.

The next moment, she tugged fiercely, extracting a few writhing black nerves.

T meticulously picked one black nerve and discarded the rest before thrusting her hand into the spider once again to extract more black nerves.

After painstakingly selecting six black nerves, she used her sharp fingers to cut open her own scalp, exposing her skull. T spent a long time opening her skull before attaching the writhing black nerves to a spot below her hindbrain.

As soon as the writhing black nerves were attached to her brain, T's green, centipede-like figure collapsed to the ground like mud. Moments later, the spider's eight massive legs twitched, and the twitching became more and more violent until the spider's tattered figure stood up.

Its colossal figure swayed, and the spider parted its menacing mandibles wide before saying, "Being in your own body is still the best…"