Shrouded Seascape

"This… It's the… captain's… doing…He's still on the ship… We have to… find him…" Bandages spoke calmly to the others as he looked at the turbine before them that was finally functioning normally.

"Then what are we waiting for? We should find him asap and drive this black spike through his head." The rash Dipp turned around, preparing to leave.

However, Bandages quickly blocked his path. "No… he's the strongest… also… he's hiding in the shadows…while we're out in the open… don't end up isolated."

"Then what do we do now? We can't just wait around indefinitely, can we? We've got to do something," Dipp complained. Traces of madness flickered across his face as he tightened his grip on the black spike.

"That won't do as well, so I've thought of a plan." An elegant and soft voice suddenly sounded from the engine room's entrance.

Everyone turned their heads toward the door and realized it was Nico. A confident glint glimmered in his eyes as though he had the perfect strategy to catch Charles.

Without saying a word, Bandages walked over to Nico and stared at the latter with an icy gaze. Even though he said nothing, his expression and eyes clearly conveyed his skepticism of Nico's words.

"It's simple. Didn't you guys say that you managed to capture Charles using a particular method back on some island? We just need to redo what we did then," Nico said.

Bandages knew exactly what Nico was referring to. He was talking about their experience on the island with 010. It was there that his previous self had turned into his current self. It was also on that same island where a future Charles used a rubber sphere to capture the past version of himself for a few minutes.

"Don't worry, I have a plan. He's a man of multiple abilities, but we know his weaknesses too. Everything will go according to the plan. Just follow my instructions, and it'll turn out fine," said Nico with a confident smile playing on his lips. Then, he added, "Firstly, Charles needs visual contact to use his tentacles. If he can't see, he won't be able to trigger that ability. But simply turning off the lights won't work because he has night vision. So, the Narwhale needs to become an environment where it would be impossible for him to see anything. It just so happens that someone on this ship has the right relic for the job."

Nico fished out a small bottle filled with a translucent brown liquid. He gave it a gentle shake and swept his gaze across everyone.

"Continue…this alone… won't be enough… to catch him…" Bandages retorted.

"True. It's not enough. Our captain is so powerful that even in those circumstances, he still won't be an easy target. However, we don't need to capture him; we just need to kill him. Let me explain my plan."

With that, Nico leaned in close to Bandages' ear with a smile and whispered softly.

At the end of it, Bandages nodded and instructed, "Everyone… assemble… on deck…"

Just as everyone was about to leave, Nico stopped them. "Hey, wait a moment. We need to leave some people behind to guard the turbines. Otherwise, he might try to create chaos in this place again."

Bandages cast a calm gaze at Nico before turning his head and randomly pointed at Audric, Lily, Linda, and Dipp. They were to stay behind and guard the turbines.

"Alright, you guys stay here. The people on the deck are sufficient for me to carry out my plan. It won't be easy for Charles to ambush me and Bandages anyway," Nico said and led Bandages to the deck to execute the plan to capture Charles.

In the engine room, the crew stood back-to-back as they diligently carried out the first mate's orders and watched the door with high vigilance.

"Be careful of his invisibility," Linda said as she shoveled some furnace ash toward the door.

"Linda, did the second mate get injured earlier? Why does he smell so strongly of blood?" Audric asked with a trace of confusion in his voice. As a vampire, he was always sensitive to the scent of blood.

Traces of hesitation crossed Linda's face as she turned to glance at Audric. She froze for a moment before her pupils shrank to pinpoints as she exclaimed, "This is bad! The first mate is in danger! When Charles turned strange, he emitted a strong scent of blood as well! Nico must have been converted too!"

The others widened their eyes in alarm. They rushed out of the door and dashed through the narrow doorway to arrive at the deck. However, there was no sign of Nico or Bandages.

It would be challenging for Charles to handle Nico and Bandages together. However, if Nico and Charles teamed up against Bandages, it would be much easier.

Meanwhile, at the lowest deck of the Narwhale, Charles, Nico, and Bandages, who was clutching his broken hand, sat together.

"You… shouldn't have… only targeted me… You should have… captured… a few more…" Bandages said in a low and slow tone after regaining his senses.

"We've no choice. Any bigger commotion would alert the others. We need to proceed slowly," Charles responded. Seeing that his former companion had regained his consciousness had slightly eased the anxiety in Charles' heart.

"Captain, what's our next move? Should we continue to capture them and wake everyone up one by one?" Nico asked. He then fished out the bottle he had been carrying and tossed it to the side. Truth be told, he didn't have any relics at all; it was merely a bottle of sesame oil he had taken from the galley.

"We can't… We don't have enough black spikes… Don't forget… There's another ship…" Bandages reminded.

Despite waking Bandages up from the brainwashing influence, their situation remained dire. Most importantly, their enemies were also their fellow crew mates. They couldn't just attack their crew mates recklessly.

"Captain, I'll bring Bandages up right now and try to bring a few more people down here." Nico gritted his teeth and twisted the black spike embedded in his forearm before standing up shakily.

"Be careful. This time, try to isolate Dipp. If he returns to normal, his unique ability would be of great assistance in our follow-up plan," Charles replied.

Charles planned to bring them one person at a time. Using the black spikes, they would restore consciousness to a small portion of the crew.

Once they had the combat advantage, they would then be able to overpower and control the rest of the crew.

Nico and Bandages soon left, and Charles waited patiently for their return. However, only mere minutes had passed when the sound of gunfire echoed from above. His heart instantly sank.

As the cacophony of noises drew closer, Nico suddenly appeared in sight and dragged Bandages along with him. The latter now had a gaping wound in his chest.

Nico's face twisted in frustration as he shouted, "Captain! Be careful! They've found us out!"

Despite being brainwashed, the crew's intelligence had not been impacted. They had already realized that Nico and Bandages were acting differently.

Before Charles could speak a word, a grenade landed at his feet.

Seeing the sizzling from the grenade, Charles' heart raced so fast that he felt like it was going to leap out of his throat. If the grenade exploded, the three of them were doomed!

Charles lunged at the grenade. He picked it up and vanished from the spot.

Boom!

An explosion detonated outside the ship. Charles had teleported outside of the ship and disposed of the grenade before reappearing inside the ship.