Shrouded Seascape

Donna tried her best to make the dinner as sumptuous as possible, but she still couldn't cover up the fact that ingredients had become scarce. After all, Hope Island was in the middle of rationing, so one could only buy a certain amount of food, regardless of how much they were willing to pay for it.

Donna and Nene changed into their best clothes to show respect to their guests before serving a variety of dishes at the dining table.

Charles looked down at his tattered coat and realized that he looked like a beggar compared to them.

The dinner went swimmingly. For Sparkle's sake, Charles tried his best to act like an ordinary father visiting the house of his daughter's friend. The dinner was a pleasant one for both the host and the guest.

After dinner, Charles sat in their house for a while and chatted enthusiastically with the two before finally leaving with Sparkle.

When the door closed, Donna and Nene both breathed a sigh of relief and expressed their impression of Charles.

"Sparkle's daddy is so fierce… he looks just like a villain."

"The governor looks really scary, and I was really surprised when he revealed that one of his eyes is a living spider!"

When the father and daughter pair emerged from Donna's house, the holes in Hope Island's overhead canopy were already covered, allowing night to fall over Hope Island.

They walked down the empty streets, which were empty due to the curfew.

Sparkle grabbed Charles' prosthetic hand and intertwined her fingers with his before gently swinging her hand. Then, Sparkle asked Charles to guess how much strength she'd need to exert to crush Charles' prosthetic hand.

"I won't guess. No matter what I say, you'll definitely say that I'm wrong," Charles replied with a smile. He could already deduce that his daughter wasn't going to play fair against him.

"I'm not going to play any tricks. Just guess."

"Sparkle, please spare my arm, all right? Installing prosthetics is actually a very painful process," Charles said. He put his hand on Sparkle's shoulder and kept her close as they walked down the streets.

"Can you even feel pain? Mommy said that you're a masochist who's not afraid of death," Sparkle said jokingly.

Charles' expression became a bit complicated at Sparkle's remark.

"Well, I'm not a superhuman. I'm afraid of pain and death, like every other human out there. The only difference between me and them is that I know that there is something more terrifying than death and pain.

"I have no choice but to do certain things to avoid such a horrible fate," Charles said.

Then, he noticed that the atmosphere had become a bit heavy, so he quickly changed the subject, asking, "What do you want me to do with you tomorrow? Anything is fine. Just tell me, and I'll be with you."

"Anything is fine?! That's what you said! No take-backsies! Hmm, let me think about it…" Sparkle muttered as a mischievous smile tugged at her lips.

"So, what do you want me to do? I have quite a bit of authority throughout the Subterranean Sea, so—hey, don't go too far—" Charles abruptly whipped around to look at the trash cans in the corner behind him. "Who's there?! Get out!"

The good-natured father instantly transformed into the Captain of the Narwhale.

The nearby trash cans trembled, and a chubby woman emerged while trembling uncontrollably. The chubby woman was none other than Donna's neighbor, Jasmine.

Charles willed, and hundreds of invisible tentacles sprang up between him and Jasmine. The tentacles wrapped around Jasmine before moving like a tidal wave to deliver the chubby Jasmine in front of him.

"Why have you been following me? Who ordered you to follow me?!"

After overcoming countless life-and-death situations over the years, Charles' aura had become something that anyone couldn't easily resist. Charles was particularly scary whenever he was serious, and Jasmine was so scared of him that tears almost spilled out of her eyes.

However, Jasmine recalled that young man's striking blue eyes and suppressed her fear to ask, "You're the governor, right? There's a certain young man who is being tortured in the Relic Research Institute, but he's innocent!

"His arrest was a mistake! And he even saved my life! Please save him!!"

Jasmine's words sounded like a bunch of nonsense to Charles. Fortunately, Sparkle was there. She tapped Jasmine's head and tapped Charles' temple. Scenes popped up in Charles' mind, and they told him everything he needed to know.

A few months ago, the chubby woman had rescued an experimental subject, who somehow managed to escape from the Relic Research Institute.

He was eventually taken away by Hope Island's District 3, but the chubby woman hadn't been able to forget the young man. She had fallen in love with him at first sight, and she had been trying every means to save that young man since then.

Tonight, Donna had "borrowed" food from her house, saying that the Governor of Hope Island was in her house.

Jasmine came up with an idea—she decided to plead with Charles to save the innocent young man's life!

Upon learning of the reason behind why the chubby woman had been following him, Charles relaxed.

He thought that some clandestine organization had infiltrated his island, but it turned out that the chubby woman had followed him for such a trivial matter. Yes, the young man's innocence or guilt was a trivial matter to Charles.

Charles stared at Jasmine for a few moments before walking away with his daughter next to him, "Let's go, Sparkle. Let's go back to the mansion. By the way, do you still remember the two tiny people I gave you long ago? Are they still around?"

"They escaped when the death light appeared, but I captured them. I caught more of their kind, too. I'll take you to see them later. They are quite interesting," Sparkle replied.

Realizing that Charles had no plans of entertaining her plea, Jasmine broke down and collapsed to the ground. She wailed miserably as she cried out, "Governor! He really is innocent!!"

For the following days, Charles didn't return to Annarles Island and stayed on Hope Island every day to spend time with Sparkle, seemingly wanting to make up for the time that he hadn't been able to spend with Sparkle.

Sometimes, Sparkle had to leave to help her mother, and whenever that happened, Charles would always feel like one of those lonely old men being shown in old charity advertisements on TV.

It hadn't been that long since he returned to Hope Island, but it seemed like he had already gotten used to this kind of lifestyle.

Soon, it was another morning. Before anything else, Charles checked the documents on the bedside table. They contained reports about the ongoing events on the surface world and throughout the Subterranean Sea.

Afterward, he stood up and had breakfast. During the meal, Sparkle didn't appear to startle him as usual, and it told Charles that Sparkle was occupied with other matters.

It's been so long since that argument. Anna is no longer angry with me, right? If she's still angry with me, then it's only right for me to coax her. However, why does the thought of coaxing her make me cringe?

Ah! That woman is driving me crazy! We're facing a world-ending crisis here, but she actually still has the luxury to prioritize her feelings? Can't she just wait until the crisis is resolved before throwing a tantrum?

While Charles was cutting the bacon on his plate with a knife and fork, the chubby woman's voice from that night echoed in his mind.

"Governor! He really is innocent!!"

Chewing on the salty and smokey bacon, Charles pondered, I'm free right now, so why don't I go and investigate it myself?

Charles just had to say a word, and his subordinates would immediately handle anything for him. However, Charles had no intention of doing that. He wanted to go there and investigate it personally.