Shrouded Seascape

Seeing that Charles had turned around to only show her his back, Anna playfully punched him on the back. With a teasing chuckle, she said, "Stop stalling and get it up. This is part of your duty as a husband."

However, Charles remained silent as though he had truly fallen asleep.

The silence went on for a long while—long enough for Charles to assume that the matter had passed over. But suddenly, he heard a soft, sweet voice from behind him.

"Gao Zhiming, how about we try something new? What do you think of my new look?"

Confused and puzzled, Charles sat up and turned to where Anna was sitting. Instead, he found a teenage girl with her cheeks flushed as she sat there shyly hugging a corner of the blanket.

He tried to sift through his hazy memories and soon recognized her to be the school beauty from his high school days. He even had a secret crush on her before.

"Not your type? Has your taste changed? How about this?" Anna's appearance then transformed into his sultry, alluring English teacher who was attached to their school for her internship.

Charles firmly grabbed the woman's shoulder, and with a solemn expression, he demanded, "Stop! I don't want anything else. I just want Anna!"

Anna stopped in the middle of a transformation, her face stuck awkwardly between two sets of features, creating a bizarre, unsettling appearance.

A moment later, her features gradually returned to her original form. Her bright eyes locked gazes with Charles and the other things reflected in his lone eye.

Suddenly, Anna's voluptuous figure split open to reveal her monstrous form. Her deformed body and writhing tentacles instantly filled up the entire bedroom. Her massive yellow cross-shaped pupil, which was larger than an average human, bore into Charles.

"What about this? What about this Anna?!"

Charles stared calmly into the pupil for a few seconds before he gently pulled one of the nearby tentacles into his embrace and lay down once more.

"Let's sleep," he commented before closing his eye.

The lights were extinguished, and the tentacle Charles held in his embrace gradually transformed back into Anna's familiar form. Sleep evaded the couple as they lay silently on the bed.

Charles tightened his embrace around Anna, pulling her closer to his chest. His voice was barely a whisper as he said, "When everything is over and it's finally safe, let's leave Hope Island to Bandages. We then can go somewhere else where no one can find us and retire there."

Anna's voice was laced with disdain. "Retire? You can go ahead by yourself. I'm not going anywhere. Which island in the Subterranean Sea is truly safe? As long as you have power, you'll be safe anywhere."

"You think the Foundation is powerful enough? How come even they are nothing when up against Fhtagn?"

"Then we kill Fhtagn and take His power for ourselves!" Anna declared in a determined tone. She didn't seem like she was joking.

Her words made Charles recall the grim fate of the previous Foundation that had tried to steal Fhtagn's power. He let out a soft sigh, commenting, "That'll get all of us killed."

"Oh? The mighty fearless Captain then is now afraid of death? I don't remember you saying such things when you were doing your explorations," Anna jabbed, her voice dripping with mockery.

"I'm not afraid of dying, but I'm afraid of losing you. The more we get involved with that thing, the more dangerous it gets. Just stop," Charles replied.

An air of heavy silence descended upon the room. After a few tense seconds, Anna suddenly sat up. She grabbed Charles' face and stared intensely into his single eye.

"Do you really think I'm doing all that for myself? In this wretched place, the winner takes it all. There's no second option! If we want our technology to catch up with the Foundation's, we have to pay the price—even if it means sacrificing everything for it!"

By this point in their conversation, it was almost clear to both parties what they were talking about.

Charles' voice remained calm. "If—I'm saying if—If there are no more threats, what kind of life do you want to live? Or is this all there is to your existence?"

Anna caught the underlying implication in Charles' words. A trace of fury crossed her visage. "What do you mean by that? Are you saying that I'm still subconsciously under control of the Dioite? Let me tell you, there's no such thing! This is who I am! I am her! I am not human; I am a monster!"

"Just stop. Let me handle everything—be it gaining power or anything else. Just leave it all of me," Charles said, his gaze unwavering as he looked into Anna's eyes.

"And what if I refuse? There are things that will not be convenient for you to do, or you're simply unwilling to do. Let me do those things in your stead!" Anna retorted. She then wriggled out of Charles' embrace and moved to the other side of the bed.

The two slept back facing each other, but insomnia got the better of them.

On that night, both of them had so many thoughts running through their minds that they only finally drifted off to sleep in the wee hours of the morning.

When Charles finally woke up, he found Anna to be in a deep slumber in a curled up position and pressing tightly against his back.

Charles turned over and quietly observed her delicate features on her petite face. He then leaned in and planted a gentle kiss on her lips.

A few minutes later, he got up from bed, dressed up, and left the bedroom.

Anna covered her eyes with a pale arm before she lazily rolled over in bed. A soft sigh, filled with complicated emotions, echoed through the room.

The Subterranean Sea Council convened once again. Charles looked at the four faces in front of him, and in a somber tone, he said, "The Foundation has already made a move on me."

"What did they do?" Jax commented as he adjusted his monocle. "Have they sent troops to attack Hope Island? According to my intel, nothing like that has happened."

A trace of menace flickered across Charles' countenance when he recalled the Foundation's actions. "To avoid provoking me, they wouldn't resort to such a direct confrontation. However, there are also plenty of ways to frustrate someone without using force. And these incidents will only increase with time, so we must strike back!"

Charles knew clearly that God Fhtagn was his final and only trump card. However, he couldn't afford to play it recklessly. To resist the Foundation, he needed to gather more cards.

"After these few days of brainstorming, have any of you found a solution?" Charles asked, scanning the faces of those present.

However, he was only met with silence. Be it Julio, Jax or Jenny, they didn't have any solutions to offer. Just as Charles' gaze landed on Octett, he found the octopus-like figure returning him a faint smile.

"Why are you smiling? Do you have a solution?" Charles' question drew everyone's attention to Octett.

"I didn't before, but your recent actions, Governor Charles, have allowed our Lord's blessings to be spread across a vast area in the Subterranean Sea. And now, there's a way.

"His blessings have been bestowed upon us, and that includes the Sea of Mist. A member of the Haikor Tribe has converted to our faith and managed to escape from within."

Charles slightly furrowed his brows. "Can you get straight to the point? I don't have time for you to beat around the bush."

"Simple," Octett began. "According to that defector, he's not the only one in the Sea of Mist who has converted to become a follower of our Lord Fhtagn. There are others, and they possibly even include people within the Foundation itself. We can use those people to create havoc and also steal intelligence from within the Foundation.

"With their presence, at least we're no longer completely blind to what's happening within the Foundation.

"Your islands probably have some of these converted believers, too. You should be well aware of how they conceal their faith in our Lord, so it's not easy to find them. I dare say with certainty that there are some within the Foundation as well."

"What a load of bullshit," Julio interjected, his tone as sharp as knives. "Just say that you want to use the newly converted lunatics inside the Foundation to stir up trouble."