Shrouded Seascape

In the backyard of the Governor's Mansion on Annarles Island, Charles was in the middle of painting his daughter, who was hovering in mid-air. "Sparkle, slightly raise your third tentacle on the left. Good, that's great. Now hold it... hold it. Done!"

Charles stared at his work on the drawing board with a satisfied smile. A wriggling clump of tentacles riddled with glowing eyeballs descended toward him and stared at the portrait on the drawing board.

The painting depicted a clump of tentacles riddled with green glowing eyeballs with a cross-shaped pupil in the middle of it. The background was the black tower, which was the elevator that led to the suspended monorail, and the airships heading to the surface world.

Overall, the entire painting appeared to be a coherent and harmonious integration of many contrasting elements.

"What do you think? Daddy's pretty good, right?" Charles asked without turning to look at Sparkle.

"I like it a lot. It's so beautiful. You should paint one for Mommy, too."

"Forget it. I already did that, but she's the type of person who can't remain idle. At most, she can sit still for thirty minutes before she starts clamoring about wanting to eat someone," Charles said. He took down the painting in front of him and folded it together before putting it away into his diary.

Charles took out his pocket watch and glanced at it.

"It's already so late?" Charles said, sounding surprised. "Let's go, Sparkle. Let's find something to eat."

Hope Island had a lot more people compared to Annarles Island, and the air was a bit more oppressive as well. However, Annarles Island was relatively more lively and full of life. There was no curfew here, as it was a transport hub between the Subterranean Sea and the surface world.

The father and daughter pair walked down the bustling streets, and they found the atmosphere of the market here to be drastically different compared to the other islands.

Annarles Island was indeed a transport hub; all resources to be sent to the surface would be sorted out here before they were loaded into airships and sent up batch after batch.

Charles and Sparkle saw people frantically delivering and receiving goods around the clock. Everyone was incredibly busy, so the atmosphere here was much better than on the other islands. Everyone was so busy that they barely had five minutes to eat, so it appeared like they had all forgotten about the rising sea levels.

Charles looked up at the huge hole overhead and felt a bit emotional at the sight of airships going up and down nonstop. When 010 was still here, Charles couldn't have guessed that this place would actually become such a bustling place.

While Charles was engrossed in his emotions, a suppressed sobbing entered his keen ears. It stuck out like a sore thumb amidst the cacophonous murmurs and shouts of the crowd.

Charles turned and saw a mailman delivering a black letter to a woman.

The woman seemed shaken at the sight of the black letter. She waved her hands frantically and staggered backward. The color of the letter couldn't mean anything but death—someone related to the woman had perished on the surface world.

A shadow was cast over Charles' heart when he saw the black letter. He pulled Sparkle and walked over until he could hear the mailman and the woman's conversation.

"I understand your grief, Madam, but please sign the letter. I still have quite a few letters to deliver." The mailman's words made Charles look at the bulging green bag on the back seat of his bicycle.

"No... this can't be real! He said he'd come back!! He said he'd come back, and he never lies to me!!" the flaxen-haired woman screamed hysterically and collapsed to the ground in a mental breakdown.

In the end, an eleven-year-old boy reached out and accepted the black letter. He opened the letter and carefully read the text within. The eleven-year-old boy seemed to be the woman's child.

Soon, the boy's eyes became bloodshot. He desperately held back his tears, but they still dripped onto the letter in his hands.

Charles walked over and scanned the letter.

Emma, this is the will that I've deposited at the Explorers Association. If you're reading this letter, then it means that I'm dead. There should be a contract document along with this will, and it is a contract that clearly states the compensation that you will receive upon my death.

Keep it safe. Once the darkness has been retrieved and the crisis is over, you can use that contract to claim a 200-square-meter plot of land.

Make sure to claim land that is in the heart of this island. If they give you a plot of land located in some trashy place, go to the Explorers Association and look for my captain, Captain Icke. He's the Captain of the Maiden's Love while I'm the helmsman. He will stand up for you.

However, if Captain Icke ended up dying with me, then don't make a fuss. Take whatever they give you, and don't argue with them. You can't beat them.

There are some gold bars in the second layer of the red box; the gold bars are my savings throughout the years. They should be enough for you to live on.

Emma, you must have to find a man to settle with if the world is still very chaotic in the future. You're a woman with a bunch of gold. If the news of your wealth spreads and you're alone, trouble will definitely come your way.

I suggest you look for someone working in the Governor's Mansion. Maybe a small-time gang leader or something. Anyway, I'm done. This is it. If you can afford it, then spend some money on a tutor so that Harran will learn to read and write.

There was a postscript in the letter.

Hello, Miss Emma. I'm the ship's doctor, and I'm the one who helped your illiterate husband compose this letter. I can see that he loves you very much, but he's just not that great at expressing his feelings.

I can feel that he really wants to express his love for you through this letter, but he's just too embarrassed to say anything about that because I'm writing on his behalf. Haha, he's funny, isn't he? I really hope that you'll never receive this letter, beautiful miss.

Charles had just finished reading the letter when the flaxen-haired woman on the ground abruptly up and snatched the letter away. Then, she started tearing it apart while crying out loud, "What did I tell you?! Why did you go up there to die?! You're just their cannon fodder, you bastard! Why did you not listen to me?!"

The boy went down on his knees and gathered the torn pieces of paper as tears streamed down his face. At his mother's furious words, the boy's voice was trembling as he retorted, "Daddy isn't a cannon fodder... He's a hero... He told me he's a hero!"

"Hero, my ass! He's dead!! Your dad is dead! He's never coming back! If he wasn't a cannon fodder that they sent up there to die, then what is he?!" the flaxen-haired woman yelled hysterically before leaning against the door, crying.

"My daddy is a hero..." the boy muttered as he stared at the torn pieces of paper in his hands.

Charles half-squatted and reached out to pat the boy on the shoulder; his voice was unusually firm as he said, "That's right. Your daddy is a hero —a hero who saved the Subterranean Sea."

The boy looked up and stared at the stranger in front of him.

"Keep the paper. It will be useful to you in the future," Charles said. He then stood up and turned around to leave with his daughter.

Charles and Sparkle were quiet as they walked down the street. Sparkle's head was lowered as she kicked the stones on the ground. Eventually, she shattered the ice to ask, "Daddy, do you want me to make their lives a bit better?"

Charles turned to stare at the flaxen-haired woman and her child in the distance. The flaxen-haired woman was kneeling on the ground and was crying while trying to piece together the letter that she had torn apart.

Charles fell into deep contemplation. Eventually, he emerged from his thoughts, and his expression was complex as he said, "That's not what they need. Let's go… let's go back home."