Shrouded Seascape

"Captain…?" Bandages called out with a grave expression. At some point, he had approached Charles and was standing behind the latter.

Charles took Lily out of his coat pocket and placed her in his palm. "Gather the others; we have a situation."

As the crew groggily woke up, Charles fought to keep his unease in check as he scrutinized the mysterious diary entry that had appeared in his journal.

June 9, Year 808

Apart from an extra page of a diary entry, there hasn't been any other anomaly. I'm contemplating whether I should discard or even burn this abnormal journal.

It records many of my past memories. But if it's the trigger behind that issue, then its risk outweighs its value.

I think the current problem we're facing is not a small matter. I've decided to send all the mice out to explore the entire island.

It's risky and bound to attract some trouble soon. Also, I'm not sure if Lily has enough mice to handle the task. But we're running out of time as well.

The handwriting of the mysterious diary entry undeniably belonged to Charles. Even the tone of it matched Charles'. It was as if the entry had been penned by himself.

Just as Charles finished reading the last sentence of the diary entry, the crew had already gathered around him.

The journal, with its brown cover, was flipped open and laid out on the ground. The crew formed a circle around it and stared at it with wary gazes.

"Captain, what language is this written in? Is it a cipher from the Western Seas? I've heard that their script is different from the other sea regions," Second Mate Nico asked with a curious expression.

Only Charles knew how to write Chinese characters. Moreover, the journal had never left his side; the text had just mysteriously appeared on the page out of thin air.

A plausible explanation would have been Anna had written the entry and then erased her own memory. However, Charles quickly dismissed that idea. First, Anna wouldn't indulge in such a pointless act. Secondly, even she couldn't mimic his handwriting perfectly.

"Forget about the script for now. The real question is how did the diary entry appear out of nowhere. Let me summarize the contents for you," Charles said. He then quickly explained the mysterious diary entry to the crew.

As Charles' explanation came to an end, Nico gently tucked a loose strand of hair behind his ear and commented softly, "Captain, there's something off about this diary entry."

"What did you notice?" Charles turned his gaze onto Nico.

"The timing doesn't add up," Nico began. "It's written from your perspective, but the content is your thoughts upon discovering this sudden diary entry.

"And that's where the problem manifests itself. This diary entry records events after they have supposedly appeared. It's a paradox."

Charles' expression froze as he immediately grasped the implication of Nico's words. Regardless of who penned the entry, its existence was predicting the subsequent events that would happen after it came into existence.

Is someone trying to communicate with me through the diary? But why? And who is it?

Silence engulfed them. Every crew member had their brows furrowed as they stared at the diary, trying to figure out the origin of this mysterious text.

However, they had no leads, as the only thing they had now was a mysterious journal entry that had appeared out of nowhere.

After sorting out his thoughts, Charles cleared his throat to draw everyone's attention.

"This might be the prelude to some bigger problem. We'll need to change our strategy, speed up our exploration, and leave here as soon as possible. Lily, how many mice do you have left?"

No matter what was the mysterious entity behind everything, Charles had no intention to let it disrupt his plan. Their goal for coming to this island remained the same: to find the Foundation.

"Erm… We still have sixty-three left. Sorry, I didn't bring many this time," Lily said, her golden fur shimmering as she tilted her head apologetically.

"Send all of them out. Have them quickly explore all the unexplored areas," Charles instructed. He then picked up the diary and turned to the page where he had drawn a rudimentary sketch of the island much earlier.

However, as soon as he saw the map, his expression hardened. Three new lines had appeared, and those were the exact routes he had intended for the mice to explore.

"Mr. Charles, what's wrong? Why did you stop?" Lily asked as she awaited further instructions.

Charles glanced at her briefly before placing the diary on the ground. He then commanded the mice to start their exploration along the marked routes.

While waiting for the mice to return, Charles didn't allow the crew to have a brief respite in the case of any sudden danger. If the mice returned with news that they didn't find any traces of any Foundation's personnel, they would pull out immediately.

Although this was a hasty strategy, and there might still be some things left undiscovered, Charles felt it was better to leave as soon as possible, as his sense of unease was growing.

Charles' right eye crawled out of its socket and leaped onto the diary. The eye on its back was fixed on the page with an intense gaze, just in case it displayed any unusual activity.

Time slowly crawled by; traces of weariness from the prolonged lack of sleep started to appear on the crew's faces.

"Linda, do you have any meds?" Charles asked, turning toward Linda. "We just need to hold on for a little longer. If nothing goes wrong, we'll be out of here soon."

The bald woman nodded affirmatively and opened her medical kit. Soon, she fished out several test tubes containing a purple liquid and distributed them among the crew.

Receiving his dose, Charles tilted his head back and downed the contents in a single gulp. Immediately, a foul taste hit his throat, and he couldn't help but gag.

The others mirrored his reaction, but the nauseous sensation disappeared as soon as it came. When Charles looked at his crew again, he could no longer see the fatigue on their faces; the medication worked.

They waited anxiously as the minutes ticked by. Soon, the mice started returning one after another. Unfortunately, they had nothing special to report. All they found were rocks and a few crashed aircraft belonging to the Foundation.

When all the mice had returned, Charles studied the map again as he felt that something was amiss.

We've searched the entire island, but we didn't find any of the monsters that fought with the Foundation. The number of crashed aircraft from the Foundation here doesn't match up either. According to the intel from the Feuerbachs, there should be more.

Just then, Dipp interrupted Charles' train of thought.

"Captain! I think I know what's going on! This isn't the primary crime scene!" The fishman exclaimed with palpable excitement.

"What are you talking about?" Charles eyed him with a puzzled look.

"Erm… I mean, not a crime scene, but rather the battleground. We have been assuming that the Foundation fought those monsters on this island and that the monster has come from here.

"But that's not correct. I've been studying the traces for days. Apart from those planes and us, there aren't any signs of other human activity or movement on this island."

"If what you say is true, that means…" Charles slowly lifted his head and stared into the pitch-black sky above.

"...the Foundation fought those monsters up in the air before crashing down to the island's ground from above. The battle didn't happen on this floating island. There must be many more things up there."

Hearing Charles' conclusion, the other crew members collectively turned their gazes upward at the sky.

"My goddess gracious. Just how many of these floating islands are there?" Nico exclaimed in astonishment.

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