Shrouded Seascape

As the angry shouts of the Narwhale crew drew closer, Bandages pressed his hands against the stairway door.

Thick, sturdy vines rapidly wove themselves into a barrier to block the entrance.

"Captain… This can't go on… for long… We need to find… the root cause of this…" Bandages reminded.

"Of course I know that. But the issue is if I knew what was causing this, I would've fixed it by now. Also, this ability is so unusual that even Anna was subjected to its influence."

Just then, the wall of vines started heating up, and the smell of smoke filled the air. The crew outside had started a fire.

Nico couldn't help but curse out loud, "These crazy fools! How dare they set fire inside a ship? Are they tired of living!? We're too close to the weapons hold, too!"

Bandages raised his hands and pressed them against the door again to reinforce it with more vines. However, Charles knew that this was only a band-aid situation. They'd have to leave soon.

"Let's go. We can't stay here any longer." With that, Charles transformed into a massive, monstrous bat. Grabbing the two using his talons, he vanished from the lowest deck of the Narwhale and reappeared beside the Narwhale along with the two. Before the crew could react and attack them, they rushed into the darkness and used it as camouflage to hide from everoyne else.

They had escaped from the Narwhale, but they were still in a tough situation. Charles had "converted" two crew members, so the other brainwashed crew members were definitely on high alert at this point.

"It seems like our plan to turn them back one by one is not going to work anymore. Do you guys have any ideas on what to do next?"

"Captain, I think… we need to retrace… to the source… and figure out… when we first…started acting strangely… Perhaps… we can work backward… and find some clues…" Bandages suggested.

"Work backward, huh? Let me think," Charles replied before quickly sifting through his memories and recalling when they first displayed abnormal behavior.

Their brainwashed actions had started on the meteorite-like island right after their encounter with the Foundation.

That was when they began acting out of character.

According to the original plan, they were supposed to head back down to the base below, regardless of the negotiation outcome between them and the Foundation.

They followed the plan and left the island, but the Narwhale had strangely ascended instead of descending to return to base.

On top of that, Charles himself had given that order.

All signs pointed back to that island, but as Charles retraced his tracks in his mind, he couldn't find anything particularly unusual.

Just then, a sudden thought struck him. Something important briefly flashed past in his mind. It seemed to be a critical piece of information that would aid their current situation, but he was having issues recalling it for some reason.

It felt as though there was a name on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't quite voice it.

Just what is it? What's that clue in my mind? Did I overlook something crucial?

While Charles was deep in thought, the two on his back remained silent as they waited patiently, not wanting to disturb him.

After contemplating for half an hour, something suddenly clicked in Charles' mind. Overjoyed, he hurriedly reverted to his human form, reached into his coat pocket, and pulled out his diary.

He had recalled the important clue! The fleeting thought was the entries in the diary.

Back then, he was brainwashed and ignored those that the diary had generated on its own accord; he merely took a brief glance. However, it seemed like the content of those entries was related to their current predicament.

Charles tossed the diary into the air and transformed back into a bat in time. With a flap of his wings, he easily caught the diary in his mouth.

Clinging onto his back, Bandages scrambled forward. He retrieved the diary and started flipping through the pages.

"Look through it. I remember the diary writing some things on its own. But then, I was brainwashed and didn't pay much attention to those. Take a closer look to see if there's any clue in there!" Charles urged at Bandages.

Nico pulled out a lighter to provide some illumination for Bandages. After flipping through a few pages, Bandages lifted his gaze from the diary and said, "Captain… I can't understand…"

Only then did realization dawned on Charles. Even if the diary had written the entries on its own, it was still in Chinese, a language Bandages couldn't read.

"Alright, hold the journal open in front of me. I'll read it."

Following Charles' instructions, Bandage held the journal open, and Charles began to scan through the previously ignored entries.

October 1, 809

We are now heading toward the location of 005-3 to carry out a ritual there. Though it's a little crowded on the ship, we have sufficient supplies…

"Turn the page. This page is useless."

October 3, 809

The journey has been quieter than I expected. Maybe it's because the Foundation explored this route before. We haven't encountered any…

"Next!"

October 7, 809

Oh my god. I am actually under the control of 005-3. How did He manage to do it? Also, His control doesn't seem to be affected by distance. This is bad! Even Anna was influenced by it. Her current situation… I must find a way to resolve this problem.

Today was October 7, but this was the last entry in the diary. The diary had already penned a new entry for tomorrow.

October 8, 809

I died. The crew somehow managed to pinpoint my location in the air and had Lily ambush me with the deck cannon.

Severely injured, I was dragged to the middle of the magic circle and executed. As I lay there, about to take my last breath, I saw black things crawling into my body. Tiny black specks that resembled fireflies.

It was only at this moment I realized where those things had come from. They were the tiny black bugs that had crawled out of the Foundation's spacesuits. They were the ones controlling us all along.

Bugs?! Black fireflies?!

Charles quickly recalled the events leading up to this moment and instinctively glanced down at himself. It was only then that he noticed several tiny black dots camouflaged among his fur. There was no way anyone would find them unless they searched meticulously on themselves. Charles stopped flapping his wings and allowed his body to free fall. He tried to dislodge the black specks that were just barely the size of ants. However, he realized that the specks seemed to have no physical form as his fingers passed right through them.

Without any hesitation, Charles used his claws to gouge out a small piece of flesh where the specks resided. The black bugs on the removed flesh were hence separated from his body.

It works! Charles finally saw hope in overcoming their current crisis. All he had to do was to get rid of all the hidden black specks on the Narwhale, and the brainwashing crisis would end.

But before that, they still needed to do an experiment to ensure the effectiveness of this method. If they were to proceed rashly and make a mistake, things would become even more dire for them.

Charles shared his discovery with the two men on his back. Nico's face immediately lit up with hope, and he used his lighter to search for the black specks on their bodies.

The three of them carefully and meticulously removed every black dot on themselves. Once Nico could no longer see any black dot on himself, he cautiously pulled out the black spike sticking out of his forearm.