Shrouded Seascape

Chapter 175. Tentacles

Staring at the protruding tentacle on the rocky wall, Charles hesitated for a brief moment before he reached out a hand to touch it.

Swoosh!

Instantly, the tentacle squirmed to life and extended out of the wall. It curled itself around Charles and forcefully tugged him toward the hole it came out of.

"Someone help! Quick!" Charles cried out desperately. But his companions in the distance couldn’t recognize his predicament. They were still engaged in animated conversations and were dividing the loot among themselves.

Charles mustered all the strength he could and struggled against the tentacle's grasp to no avail. It didn't take long for half of his body to be dragged into the hole that had turned into the size of a cave.

Crash!

In his frantic struggle, Charles tore off his VR headset and threw it against the wall. He was still trembling uncontrollably from the tentacle encounter as he stared at the shattered lenses on the ground.

Just then, a chill traveled down his spine. His peripheral vision had caught the tentacle in the painting twitching for a fraction of a second.

"No, something's amiss. I don't like this. Go away!" Charles shut his eyes and clutched his head in anguish.

When he finally opened his eyes once again, he found himself back in his cozy bedroom.

His younger sister, Gao Suling, lounged on the couch. Her hands were busy with a mobile game while her gaze alternated between her phone's screen and the television.

"Are you watching TV or playing your mobile game?" Charles asked as he sank into the sofa. He picked up the remote control and flipped through the channel.

The familiar surroundings around him calmed Charles' racing heart. He swiftly switched between the channels to find something that was entertaining.

Soon, a scene from a first-person view appeared on the screen. It was his tenth birthday. He and Suling were smearing whipped cream on each other's faces.

Suling lifted her gaze from her mobile phone and toward the TV screen.

Charles leaned back against the couch and silently watched the scene play out.

But as he watched, he caught something wriggling in the corner of the scene. It seemed like a squirming tentacle.

With his annoyance gradually building up, Charles quickly pressed the remote to change the channel.

"Why did you change the channel? Wasn't that show just now pretty nice?" Suling complained and turned her attention back onto her mobile phone.

As the images rapidly transitioned from one to another, a cacophony of noises blared from the speakers as well.

"Welcome to news at 12:30—"

"Sir, regarding this—"

"Mom, I want to take this—"

"The spring is—"

As Charles switched through the channels at an increasing rate, the sounds blended into a jarring, discordant noise, eventually forming a sonic tapestry of chaos that threatened to engulf him.

Throwing the remote control aside in frustration, Charles stood up and walked toward the balcony.

Modernized, towering buildings filled his sight. The picturesque view was nothing short of breathtaking. As he soaked in the beautiful cityscape before him, Charles felt the tempest raging within him subsided just a little.

Just then, a tentacle burst through the rooftop of a distant building. Dancing in the air, it headed toward Charles' direction.

"What the hell is going on? Where are those things coming from?" Charles tensed up as he felt an oppressive dread washing over him.

Hearing her brother's shout from within the living room, Gao Suling came out with her phone in hand.

"Brother, what's wrong?"

Charles clutched his head in apparent pain. Just as he was about to reply, the terrifying sight before him stole his words away. A tentacle identical to the one he had just seen was growing out of his sister's face.

"No! Noooooo! This shouldn't be it!" Charles lunged at her and tried to tear the tentacle off her face.

However, his actions proved to be useless. The more he tugged, the more the tentacles multiplied. And soon, the tentacles engulfed Gao Suling completely before turning into a ball of writhing flesh.

Horror filled Charles' gaze as he clutched the mass of flesh and shook it violently. "This is not it! Turn back to before! Quick!"

However, reality was cruel. His surroundings started changing, but in a way that he disliked. Every household item and piece of furniture decayed like rotting corpses. The previous tranquil atmosphere had vanished, and a nightmarish hellscape took its place.

Piercing headaches assaulted Charles. It felt as though someone was continuously stabbing rods into his head and stirring the brain juices within.

"AAAAHHH!" Charles clenched his head and let out a primal roar.

"Gao Zhi... Quick... wake up..."

"Gao Zhiming! Wake up!"

As a familiar voice echoed in his ear, it grew increasingly clearer with every call of his name. The accompanying pain intensified as well.

"Go away! Get lost! Just let me be by myself!" Charles cried out as he wrapped his arms around his head and curled into a fetal position. Suddenly, his surroundings shattered like fragile glass, and an endless void of darkness churned rapidly around him.

However, a pair of delicate arms cradled him amidst the darkness.

The owner of the delicate arms hummed a soft tune.

It was a lullaby in the deepest corners of his memories. It was a song that he had long forgotten, a song from his infancy.

Charles slowly opened his eyes to stare into Anna's alluring visage.

He extended his arms. Receiving the silent message, Anna let out a light chuckle and leaned in, their bodies tightly pressed against each other.

Charles hugged Anna with a fierce intensity, as though he was trying to meld their two forms into one.

"It's okay now... It's all over," Anna offered words of consolation as she gently caressed Charles' back. Her tone was as soothing as how one would comfort a crying baby.

The turbulent waves around them seemed to freeze at this moment. They were suspended mid-motion like transparent sculptures made of glass.

After what felt like an eternity, Anna tenderly stroked Charles' hair and leaned her red lips close against his ear. "Gao Zhiming, it's really time to wake up. You know it deep down as well. Everything here isn't real," she whispered.

Charles' eyes fluttered open.

A mix of raw emotion and confusion fleeted across his eyes.

"Your condition is too complicated. I can't help much. It already took a great deal of effort for me to reach you here. If we want to solve this, we have to work together. Quick. I hate men with avoidance issues."

As Charles stared at the chaos that surrounded them, the painful memories flooded back into his mind. The despair and distraught he felt then shattered the haze that had clouded his senses.

He stood rooted to the spot.

He lowered his head and buried it into Anna's embrace.

Tilting his head up to force him to meet her gaze, Anna’s gaze was piercing as she asked, "Gao Zhiming, look at me. Do you really want to stay here forever?"

A bitter smile surfaced on Charles' visage. After much hesitation, he replied, "Perhaps that's not a bad option. At least I have everything I want here..."

Their surroundings morphed rapidly.

The shattered pieces of reality pieced themselves together, and they were once again in the familiar living room. Gao Suling kneeled on the couch, and she stared curiously at the two engaged in conversation.

"But everything here is just an illusion."

"What's real? What's not? Is that so important? Even you are not real," Charles retorted.

A letter then appeared in Anna's hand. With a mix of frustration and passion, she slapped it onto Charles' chest.

"You wrote this. What did you tell me back then? Where did that Captain Charles go?"

A hint of struggle emerged in Charles' eyes. As his thoughts raced, the room mirrored his mind and alternated between calm and chaos.

A piercing pain overwhelmed him. Clutching his head in agony, he sank to his knees. "Why do I have to return to that hopeless world? Maybe there's no surface world above us. Maybe it's not even our world."

Anna crouched down next to him. Watching him with a calm gaze, she softly whispered, "Regardless of whether it's Earth or not above us, you've still got me."