Shrouded Seascape

The submarines tumbled, and everyone on the deck tumbled as well, including those that weren't bolted to the floor.

"Did we stumble upon a Divinity?" someone asked out loud, and their words echoed loudly in everyone's minds. Then, fear began to pervade their hearts.

Dipp gnashed his teeth as he clung to the smokestack. Then, he shouted with difficulty, "No! That's not a Divinity! Remember that carcass we saw earlier? That's it, but this thing is alive!"

However, Dipp's words didn't assuage their fear and worries at all. Regardless of whether it was a Divinity or a sea creature larger than an island, there was no way they could fight against something like that.

Just then, a shrill noise echoed from the Narwhale's hull. Something had scratched her, and it had torn apart a hole in her hull, making the ship take in water!

There wasn't much they could do; they had no choice but to resurface. The huge steel plates were retracted, and Dipp instinctively looked up. With his excellent night vision, he spotted a horrifying but bizarre and bloated figure above him.

Dipp couldn't quite describe it; he had no idea what words he could use to describe that thing, but there was one thing for sure—crushing Dipp and the others to death was as easy as drinking water for it.

However, what made Dipp's hands, feet, and skin feel cold and clammy was the fact that its "head," which was so high up that it almost touched the rock layer overhead, was turning slowly toward them.

Hope Island's recent inventions and technological breakthroughs had led Dipp to think that they had obtained a foothold in the vast seascape, but the creature before him gave him a grim reminder—humans weren't the protagonists of the Subterranean Sea.

Dipp was not afraid of death, but he was afraid that his impulsiveness would lead to the vain deaths of other people.

It took only a moment for Dipp to make a decision. With determination, he looked up at the creature up above. He had decided to use his special ability and stall some time for the others to escape.

Just as he was about to become mist, however, the bizarre creature's movements abruptly came to a halt.

"Go away." A soft feminine voice sounded in Dipp's ears. He turned slightly and saw a gorgeous woman. The woman looked to be in her late twenties, and she had silky smooth hair that reached her hips. She had a beauty spot beneath the corner of one of her eyes, and her figure wrapped in a thin dress was charming.

She was like a perfectly ripe peach.

Dipp wasn't particularly drawn to her exceptional features; he was unwittingly transfixed on her eyes. The woman had a pair of luminous green eyes with cross-shaped pupils, and Dipp could swear that he had only seen those features on one person.

Luminous green eyes with cross-shaped pupils were the signature features of the captain's daughter—Sparkle! However, the Sparkle whom Dipp was familiar with was a young girl; she wasn't a woman in her late twenties.

"Go away," Sparkle said, looking up at the creature that seemed colossal enough to pervade both heaven and the earth. The next second, the seawater surged, and the colossal creature in the darkness sank into the boundless sea.

With the colossal creature gone, the sea region returned to its previous calm, but except for the rapid breathing of the surviving crew members and the rumbling of the engines, there was a deafening silence hanging over the air.

The crew members had no idea what had just happened, but they knew that they had survived the encounter.

Sparkle raised her right hand and snapped her fingers. There was a flash of light as dozens of drenched people appeared on the deck. They were the crew members who had fallen into the sea amidst the chaos earlier.

After a few seconds of stunned silence, Linda finally made a move and hurriedly led the sailors on deck to help those who were unfortunate enough to fall off the ship.

While Linda was busy scooping out the seawater from their lungs with her hands, Sparkle turned to Dipp and asked, "Why are you here? This isn't the best place to be. A group of big fish like the one just now have migrated here from somewhere else."

Upon realizing that the gorgeous woman before him was indeed Sparkle, Dipp rushed toward her and attempted to grab her hand, yet he grabbed nothing but empty air.

Sparkle had evaded his hands, which were covered in fish scales, but he didn't mind it as he asked, "Where is the captain? Do you know where he went? You know where he is, right?!"

There was a tremor in Dipp's voice. He was afraid of hearing a negative answer.

Sparkle stared calmly at the Deep Dweller before her and replied, "You should go back home. He's not in the condition to receive visitors, and he doesn't want to see you, too."

Everyone present looked over as soon as Sparkle's words fell, and their gazes became heated. Sparkle's words had confirmed that Charles had stayed—he hadn't abandoned the Subterranean Sea for the surface world!

"Sparkle, is that true?" Lily with slightly reddened eyes was the first one to rush toward Sparkle as she hurriedly asked, "So Mr. Charles really didn't leave us?! Then how come he hasn't come back yet? I've been… I've been missing him a lot."

At first, Sparkle didn't want to answer, but she couldn't withstand Lily's yearning gaze. "Daddy wasted a precious wish to turn you back into a human being. You should cherish that wish and return to your own plane. You don't belong here."

"Please! Let me see Mr. Charles one last time! I'll leave after seeing him one last time! Just one last time."

The others crowded around as well, and their eyes were filled with the same longing as Lily's.

Second Mate Nico was the third person to speak up, asking, "Since he did not return to his own world, why not return to Hope Island? And why did he decide to keep us in the dark?"

A hint of irritation appeared on Sparkle's beautiful face; she seemed annoyed by their questions as she replied, "What's the point of telling you people? This is not something you can get involved in. Go back… go back to your island and live your peaceful lives."

A white light pervaded Sparkle's figure, and it seemed that she was about to teleport away.

"Go!" Dipp exclaimed. He rushed forward, looking agitated as he shouted, "You can leave us here, but someday we'll eventually find him! Until we've confirmed that he's safe, we are never going to give up!"

The white light vanished, and Sparkle stared deeply at the people before her. She really wanted to delete their memories of Charles, as it would be really inconvenient if they kept on tracking down their traces.

Unfortunately, Sparkle couldn't really do that.

Lily stepped up and grabbed Sparkle's hand. Then, she stared with a sincere gaze at Sparkle, saying, "Sparkle, please. Help us. I just want to see him one last time. Please."

Beneath Lily's fervent and sincere gaze, Sparkle sighed helplessly and replied, "I've been telling you to go back for your own good, but you won't listen to me. You will definitely regret this."

With that being said, Sparkle raised her right hand and snapped her fingers. It was just a snap of her fingers, but the scenery around everyone peeled away. The next moment, they were astounded to see a pitch-black island on the port side of their ships.

The searchlights were turned on, allowing everyone to see a cluster of mountains in the middle of the island. The island's vegetation looked bizarre, with its plants growing in strange shapes. They seemed to be plants, but they looked more like the claws and teeth of monsters.

"Where is this? Why are you guys on this strange island?" Dipp asked hesitantly.

Sparkle remained silent. Then, she noticed a hybrid creature running out from the Narwhale's stern. She raised her hand and clenched it; the massive hybrid creature was then suspended in mid-air.

Sparkle tugged lightly at it, and the hybrid creature was split into three creatures in no time. Sparkle then hurled them into the nearby forest. The arrival of the three colossal creatures caused a commotion in the forest.

"Let's go. This way," Sparkle said. She then took to the air and flew toward the forest next to them.

At this point, they were already feeling impatient. After leaving some crew members on the ship, the Narwhale's crew went ashore one after another, following behind Sparkle.

The forest had no trails, but Sparkle was making one in real-time, allowing Dipp and the others to traverse the forest. There were curious gazes from the forest, but the gazes assuaged their worries rather than strike fear in their hearts.

"Sparkle, did you bring all those children to this island?" Lily asked.

However, Sparkle remained silent and simply moved forward. The island was massive, and it seemed to be several times larger than Hope Island. They walked in the forest for more than an hour before they finally arrived at their destination.

Their destination was a house built in the architectural style of the Subterranean Sea and the surface world. The combination wasn't exactly strange per se, but it was a jarring sight.

"Daddy, your crew members have come to find you. You'd better do a good job explaining what's going on to them, or they're not going to give up," Sparkle said as she opened the door and walked into the house.

The others eagerly stepped forward, but Second Mate Nico raised his hand, stopping them.

There was a hint of hesitation on Nico's face as he said, "I feel like something's not quite right. You guys be on your guard once we're inside. Maybe this Sparkle and the captain in this house are something else in disguise.

"There's no shortage of bizarre creatures at sea, after all."

Dipp was stunned, but he immediately snapped back to his senses and retorted, "No way they can be something else. Did you not see her wield Sparkle's special ability earlier? Is there really anyone capable of teleporting ten ships except for Sparkle?"

With that, Dipp took the lead and walked into the house.

The remaining crew members followed closely behind him.

Dipp instantly saw his captain as soon as he walked into the house. Charles' appearance hadn't changed at all, and he was leaning against the sofa with his eyes closed, seemingly in the middle of resting.