Shrouded Seascape

They talked about a few more topics before the conference finally came to an end.

Sitting on the sofa, Charles rubbed his artificial eye with his hand.

He reached out and pulled the spider out. Then, he watched it spin in his palm.

Elizabeth towered more than two meters tall, so Charles wasn't sure whether this eyeball was custom-made for her. All he knew was that it felt unbearably tight when he stuffed it into his eye socket.

He found it strange to stare at his own two eyeballs but from a different point of view. He stared intently at his eyeball in an effort to dispel the incongruity when Sparkle suddenly appeared beside his desk.

"Daddy, what are you doing?" Sparkle asked. She reached out and grabbed the spider in Charles' palm. Then, she poked it gently with her finger.

Staring at the spider waving its fangs and claws around, a fun idea suddenly popped up in Sparkle's mind. She seemed proud of her fun idea as she instantly disappeared from Charles' sight.

Sparkle returned to the top of the World's Crown, and she hurled the large spider into the miniature world inside a large, circular tank. A smile tugged at Sparkle's lips as she stared at the flustered tiny people inside the tank.

She propped her elbow on the tank, observing the unfolding stories within the miniature world. For Sparkle, the stories here were much more interesting than the plays and dramas on TV.

Those plays and dramas were fake; they were all done to entertain an audience and were not as exciting as the stories here, which Sparkle believed were genuine.

The spider allowed Charles to see what her daughter was doing, and he chuckled helplessly at the sight. His daughter really knew how to have fun.

In the end, Charles decided to have fun as well. Under his control, the spider parted its jaw and waved its claws, charging through the miniature city. The houses built from leaves and stones collapsed promptly, and the crowd scattered and fled in the face of the spider.

"Sigh, Daddy, you're not that good at acting. You should approach this from the perspective of a monster. Think about what it wants to do. Is it hunting? Is it acting in self-defense, or does it simply find its surroundings too noisy?" Sparkle asked, tapping the spider's head with her finger.

The spider used its forelimbs to scribble some Chinese characters on the floor.

"Tell me how I should act."

Charles was happy to interact with his daughter. He was absent for the majority of her childhood, and Charles was desperate to make up for her.

Sparkle gave Charles some orders, and the latter immediately moved, scattering white spider silk everywhere. Just as he was about to wrap the tiny people with his silk and perform the climax of the act, he abruptly came to a halt.

"Sparkle, something's not right. Where are you right now?"

"I'm on the World's Crown."

"Isn't that nearly a thousand nautical miles away from Hope Island?

"How come I can still communicate with you through this spider?"

Sparkle pinched the spider and appeared in front of Charles with a puzzled face. "What's going on? Should I bring Mommy here to take a look?"

Charles stared at the spider, contemplating something. Eventually, his single eye shot wide open, and he rushed to pick up the phone on the table.

"Hello! Have those mages come over here! I need to contact the Fhtagn Covenant as soon as possible!"

Soon, Octett's figure manifested amidst a pile of fine sand. He gazed at Charles, staring at the latter with his horizontal pupils. "You better have something important to talk to me about."

"I want to participate in your spy plan as well. I will go to the Sea of Mist together with that defector!" Charles exclaimed in a hurry.

Octett furrowed his brows. "Do you not have any idea that if the Foundation ends up capturing you, it means the end of us all? If you want to throw your life away, go ahead and do it. I don't care, but you cannot drag us down with you."

"Of course, I'm not actually going to go there and join. Sparkle, send my eye to him."

Swoosh!

Sparkle vanished as soon as Charles' words fell. Moments later, another pile of fine sand condensed into Sparkle's figure, and she handed over the eyeball to Octett, who was standing next to her.

"I can control that spider, and I'm going to join that defector using this method," Charles explained. It seemed like he was no longer bothered as to why he could still control the spider from such a vast distance away.

Charles believed that with the spider in hand, he could go to the Sea of Mist together with that defector.

What exactly was the Foundation doing now, and how many Fhtagn zealots were made in the Sea of Mist? Charles became very curious about the answer to that question.

Of course, he could just ask, and the others would answer him.

However, Charles still believed that witnessing something with his own eyes was far better than just hearing it from others.

Octett looked down at the spider and then stared deeply at Charles.

In the end, Octett replied, "Since you insist, then fine."

***

A skeletal ship that screamed "Haikor Tribe" was docked in the port of the Divinity's Land.

Octett, hovering in midair, looked up at the thin giant before him and said, "I'm afraid that I cannot bestow any of the Great One's blessings upon you, as they will definitely notice it.

"However, fear not, for He is always watching over those who believe in Him from the depths of the sea. If you manage to come back here, I will personally hold an initiation ceremony for you! I'll let you feel the might of the Great One!"

Shindy was thrilled, and he nodded frantically. "Please rest assured, elder! I will surely complete my mission!"

Octett fell into contemplation just then. After a while, his mouth fluttered open, seemingly struggling to say, "If… I mean, if… If something unexpected happens, you should go ahead and listen to Charles' commands."

Octett didn't want to admit it, but the enemy they hated to the bone was much more reliable than the young man.

The success rate of their mission would increase if Charles was allowed to take control of the overall situation. Their mission was of grave importance, and Octett was willing to set aside his grievances for now.

"Understood!" Shindy exclaimed. He then solemnly performed a salute that members of the Fhtagn Covenant often used. Then, he turned and boarded the skeletal ship next to him.

He grabbed the bright white whalebone in the ship and stared at the group of believers behind him. "Brothers, don't worry about me!! I will definitely defeat those false gods! All glory belongs to the Great One!!"

Octett glanced at Sparkle, who was watching the show on the side. "Send him over, but just on the outskirts of the Sea of Mist. Don't get too close to avoid, or they'll find you."

Sparkle didn't even bother to look at Octett and immediately disappeared along with Shindy's skeletal ship.

"Hmph!" Octett harrumphed, clearly dissatisfied with Sparkle's behavior.

"Elder, Charles' strength is rapidly increasing, and we must be prepared to fight him. Once we've destroyed the Foundation, he must die next," A red-robed octopus-like monster said in a low voice.

"You didn't have to remind me of something so clear and obvious. Besides, we have our own plans," Octett said. He then dove straight into the deep water beside him.

Meanwhile, Shindy was already on the outskirts of the Sea of Mist. He couldn't sail the ship by himself and could only maneuver the dozen or so red "earthworms" that were pulling the ship beneath the surface to head somewhere safe.

It seemed that the Haikor Tribe's security had tightened to the limits. Before Shindy could even approach the waters near the Shattered Heart Isles, three turtleshell ships emerged from the mist and surrounded him quietly.

Soon, several Haikors with massive spears and crossbows boarded the ship.

After a quick glance around the shop, they forced Shindy to the ground. It didn't take long before Shindy found himself tied up on the deck. A dozen giants towering at least three meters tall were staring at him as if they were tigers eyeing their prey.

A ship with only one living person was very unusual.

Shindy was from the same tribe as them, but it seemed that they couldn't trust him completely.

Shindy revealed a mournful face as he proceeded to nervously recount his scripted backstory. Apparently, their ship was attacked by a leviathan whale, and he was the only survivor of the attack.

He had lost his way, so he ended up wandering aimlessly out at sea to look for a way home.

The Haikors talked to each other for a while until some of them moved closer to Shindy and stripped him naked. They then proceeded to examine him from inside and out.

Upon discovering that Shindy was indeed their tribesman rather than a fake entity created by something in the deep sea, the Haikors finally sighed in relief.

However, they still couldn't trust Shindy completely. In the end, the skeletal ship was impounded, and Shindy was locked up in a damp prison cell.

From time to time, someone would open the window and peek inside.

Soon, it was late at night, and a deafening silence descended upon the ship. Shindy was sleeping peacefully beneath his blanket when his eyes snapped open just then.

Moments later, several long legs crawled out of his right eye. The spider was under Charles' control. To avoid garnering any suspicions that would warrant an inspection, Charles had told Shindy to gouge out one of his eyes and squeeze Charles' eye inside of the latter's eye socket.

As for the eyeball's color, it wasn't really that big of a deal in the Subterranean Sea.

Cosyjuhye's Thoughts

Charles, did you just make someone gouge an eyeball out for you??? ><