Shrouded Seascape

Chapter 579: City

"Mr. Charles, Tiny Furry says it's strange inside. There's no one and no danger," Lily said, translating the reconnaissance mouse's words as she remained perched on Charles' shoulder.

Charles' brows furrowed slightly as he lifted the binoculars, his gaze peering through it and fixed on the motionless steamship in the semi-desert in the distance.

Judging from the tracks, that ship had probably set out about a month and a half ago. Right after he had received the photos that captured 068's tracks, Charles had dispatched several vessels for preliminary exploration, and this was one of them.

However, the metal ship had assumed a completely different appearance. Its original sleek hull had become extremely distorted and twisted. It seemed as though it had been turned into modeling clay and was left in the hands of a child for half an hour. Something had to have happened to the ship for it to experience such a drastic change.

"Let's go and have a closer look," Charles said and stepped forward toward the distant ship.

As they closed the distance, Charles managed to pick up more unsettling details. Not only was the ship's metal body bizarrely twisted, but even the cockpit glass had suffered a similar fate.

The originally fragile glass had been twisted into a mirror with an uneven surface. These alterations were definitely the product of some extraordinarily peculiar force. However, Charles couldn't fathom what it was, as the surface world seemed even more bizarre and illogical than the Subterranean Sea.

Craaaackkk!

Charles forcefully tore off the twisted hatch door. His right eye jumped out of its socket and rapidly crawled deeper to investigate.

The spider moved speedily. It scuttled through the undulating corridors and took in every detail of its surroundings. The interior mirrored the ship's twisted outward appearance. With its own distinctive black and red streaked patterns, the spider seemed starkly out of place in the ship.

Soon, Charles directed it into the kitchen, where it stopped. Surveying the kitchen through the spider, Charles noted that the pots, pans, and even the pickled vegetables in the glass jars were distorted.

The spider hopped onto a chopping board and injected its digestive fluid into a piece of dried meat.

"The food's still in good condition and edible," Charles muttered to himself on the deck as the spider continued its exploration.

"The fresh water tank is filled with pale ale, and it has not been poisoned. The fuel reserves are also sufficient. Apart from its missing crew, the ship lacks nothing…"

After making a complete search of the ship, the spider scurried out of the cabins, scaled up Charles' pant leg, and settled down in his right eye socket once more.

"Bandages, do we have enough supplies on the ship?" Charles turned to his first mate.

"Water is sufficient… but the others… are nearly… half depleted… we need to reserve… some for the return journey," Bandages answered.

Charles pondered for a moment before instructing his crew to salvage whatever they could from the strange ship. Since they had come this far, they needed to ensure they had enough supplies to continue their exploration.

As for what had happened to the people on this ship, Charles decided not to dwell on it anymore—they were most likely dead.

Twisted barrels of fuel and food were being carried out and loaded onto Charles' ship.

Everyone reboarded the ship, and they continued their journey, following the tracks left behind by 068. Charles had expected it to be another long and tedious stretch of travel. However, on the third day since encountering the twisted ship, a new landscape—a series of house ruins—appeared before Charles.

Initially, there were just one or two piles, but soon, more and more of them appeared until an entire city presented itself before them. The city had been eroded by time. Some skyscrapers lay collapsed while others stood in solemnity. Under the rays of the overarching purple light, the city looked hauntingly desolate.

"Mr. Charles, did you use to live in a place like this?" Lily moved closer to Charles' ear and whispered. Her voice was so soft, as if afraid of awakening some unidentified entity in the city, even though it appeared deserted.

The tracks from 068 cut straight through the city, bulldozing a path through the rubble and creating two distinct trails.

Following the trails, Charles' ship navigated deeper into the city.

Standing on the deck, Charles wrecked his brain hard, trying to discern which city this might be, to conclude if he was in Asia or Europe.

However, the weathering from the sandstorm had eroded the city's details. It was challenging for him to discern any landmark buildings that could give away the city's identity.

However, as time passed, Charles felt a sense of unease stirring within him. The urban landscape was extremely peculiar—it was packed tightly with exclusively skyscrapers. That was distinctly abnormal, as no city would be planned in such a manner.

The uniform height and width of these weathered buildings appeared bizarre; their utilitarian style reminded him of the Foundation.

That can't be… Why would the Foundation build a city here? The surface is filled with dangers all around. It's pointless for them to do so… But if this city is a remnant from my time…that seems far-fetched too. It has been a thousand years; how could there be any traces left?

Just as Charles wondered to himself, a vertical slit-like eye suddenly flashed by between two high-rise buildings on the right. Charles' alertness was sent into overdrive, and he immediately ordered his crew to ready themselves for combat.

The ship's deck guns swiveled their dark muzzle starboard. At the same time, the owner of the eye emerged from between the buildings.

It was a massive insect, spanning hundreds of meters long. Made out of black interlocking segments, it resembled a giant, elongated jigsaw puzzle. It appeared to float in the air as it slowly moved toward Charles and his crew.

Seeing the massive creature advancing in their direction, tensions reached a peak among the crew. They all turned their gazes onto Charles, waiting for him to give the command to attack.

However, Charles didn't speak a single word. His gaze was fixated on the ground beneath the insect—the creature cast no shadow.

"Captain! Do we fight or flee?!" Anxiety painted Dipp's face, but Charles remained unresponsive. His gaze was still locked intently on the approaching insect.

As the insect drew closer and closer, everyone noticed a detail that they had missed earlier. The creature wasn't hovering in the air; it had countless fine, needle-like legs holding it up.

"Captain! Do something! It's coming!!"

"Hush! Don't move. Everyone stay put!" Charles commanded as his special eyes detected a strange glow emanating from deep beneath the ground.

While it seemed incomprehensible, Charles could effortlessly see the light buried deep beneath the surface.

Under the watchful gazes of the crew, the insect positioned itself directly above the deck. Its fine, needle-like legs descended swiftly, piercing through everyone's skull and into the deck.

The next second, the needles withdrew as the insect continued forward.

The translucent needle-like legs were like raindrops, repeatedly descending upon everyone on board and then vanishing the next moment.

Lily cautiously extended a tiny paw to touch one of the falling needles, but her paw passed right through it.

The insect was not solid, or rather it existed on a different plane from Charles and his crew.