Shrouded Seascape

Chapter 582: Search

The torment lasted for several minutes before the elevator arrived at the floor that the woman had selected. The door opened, revealing nothing but darkness outside.

The woman walked out slowly and disappeared into the darkness under everyone's wary gazes. Then, the elevator door closed, allowing everyone to sigh in relief at the same time.

The woman's true identity no longer mattered, as she was no longer here. The elevator started moving once again, and a few seconds later, Audric finally shared his findings with Charles. "Captain, that woman had no blood inside of her. I couldn't get even a hint of a bloody smell from her."

Charles glanced at Audric and wiped away the blood on his face. "How about the animal-headed people outside? Do they have blood?"

"Yeah, they all have human blood, even though they have animal heads," Audric replied.

Charles stuck his bloody finger into his mouth and sucked. The rich, metallic taste of blood instantly filled his mouth, and he nodded. Indeed, the blood on his finger was human blood.

"Captain, this place is really great. If Dark Crystal Island had something like this, we'd never have to worry about running out of blood ever again," Sniffler joked with a grin. However, no one paid him any attention. Feeling a bit awkward, Sniffler chuckled sheepishly.

He was one of Charles' old crew members, but the fact that he had sworn allegiance to Lilith of Dark Crystal Island had created a gap between them.

After all, they were not comrades who had experienced multiple life-and-death ordeals together.

Time ticked by, and the number on the elevator screen next to them decreased until they finally arrived at their destination.

Everyone's hearts were in their throats as the elevator door opened. However, a desolate scene appeared before them in contrast to the warm welcome of the task force members during their first visit here.

The plaza in the distance was desolate as well, and the lights along the corridors were not turned on, leaving them pitch black. Charles had no idea whether this was a good thing or a bad thing, but he was determined to find any clues here.

Charles wasted no time and walked down the corridors using his memories as a guide to find his way to that computer.

At first, everyone was nervous; their nerves were stretched taut, but they eventually became convinced that the shelter was indeed empty.

Where did all the people here go? Are they dead? No way. They're supposed to respawn infinitely as long as 068 itself is still alive, Charles thought. Full of doubts, he soon found his way in front of that door.

The door to the computer room was ajar, and the light from the computer's screen was leaking outside through the door. Charles opened the door carefully, and the sight within the room made him freeze.

The computer, which was supposed to have been yellowed from years of neglect, was covered in lumps of flesh and blood in a variety of sizes. It wasn't just the central processing unit, as even the screen seemed to have become flesh and blood. To make matters worse, the icons on the screen were made out of bones and flesh.

As Charles stared at the screen, he felt like he could reach out and pry the three-dimensional "My Computer" icon off of the screen.

What exactly happened to 068? I can still… use this, right? Charles thought, walking over to the computer with his mind full of doubts. Yellow notification boxes were popping up in the lower left corner of the screen, and they were all warnings about data loss and malware findings.

Charles knew that he had no time to waste. He stretched out his prosthetic hand and grabbed the mouse, which felt warm to the touch. It seemed to be as warm as the normal body temperature.

When Charles moved the mouse, the cursor made out of flesh and blood moved.

However, 068 had become extremely laggy and was no longer as snappy as the first time Charles had used it. However, Charles couldn't be bothered about that at all. He clicked on "My Computer" and used the search bar to look for any videos.

Charles pressed enter and saw many search results.

Charles clicked on the first one and saw himself in it. It was a surveillance video from Charles' first visit. The special task force of 068 seemed to be analyzing him, but this video was useless, as it contained no information about the darkness' specific location.

Charles closed the window and skimmed through the folder names for any related keywords.

While Charles was staring without blinking at the screen made out of flesh and blood to search for any useful information, the crew members stood guard outside the door.

Their role was to protect Charles from any attacks from the outside, even though the place was empty.

Sniffler glanced surreptitiously at Charles inside the room and turned to Audric beside him, asking, "The captain seems to have used that strange item before. He looks very skilled at it."

Audric didn't respond to Sniffler's words.

Dipp standing next to Sniffler said, "Man, can you stop talking? It's been so long since we saw each other, so how come you're still a chatterbox like before, especially when you're nervous?"

Sniffler stared at Dipp and grinned. "Boss, I really am curious about one thing: what happened to you that you took on such a scary look? If the others hadn't vouched for you, saying that you're Dipp, I would have never thought that you're Dipp."

Dipp scratched the gills on his neck with a helpless look. "Ah, it's a long story. Anyway, it wasn't a good experience at all. What about you? How did you end up like that after getting kidnapped on Dark Crystal Island?"

"They sent me to a breeding farm. Honestly, life on Dark Crystal Island wasn't so bad, and if I were to nitpick, I'd say the con is the blood extraction. Aside from that, life on that island was much better than life as a crew member of an exploration ship.

"They even gave me women to play with every day. Of course, you can't refuse. They would force you to sleep with them even if you don't want to do so…"

"No way, that can't be true, you punk. That's too good to be true, so you must be lying to me. I've been kidnapped by vampires before as well," Dipp said with a face full of disbelief.

Sniffler shook his head and said, "The ones who kidnapped you were different from my kidnappers. Your kidnappers were the vampires living in the harbor district who thrive by eating filthy black blood, so of course, you couldn't have had the same treatment as me. They're not the kidnappers from the breeding farms, after all.

"Anyway, it was really awesome. Imagine this: I 'cared' for so many women that if they gave birth, those children could later—"

"Quiet..." Bandages interrupted.

Sniffler and Dipp did not say anything upon seeing Bandages' serious look.

Meanwhile, Charles had finally found a clue, and it was within a resident's memory. The footage was shaky, and Charles could hear heavy panting. The owner of the memory seemed to be terrified of something.

He clung tightly to a utility pole and looked up to see the colossal Light God.

The Light God was standing on a massive semi-desert biome, and His figure swayed slightly a few times before falling to the ground with a deafening boom. His radiant head slammed lifelessly to the ground.

The darkness of the Subterranean Sea was still draped over the Light God's back, but the footage ended abruptly as the owner of the memory was crushed to death by a collapsing building.

Fortunately, the single clue had made the search become much easier for Charles. It took him just a few minutes to find related footage from a surveillance camera.

The footage depicted a crazed Pope charging toward 068, and the members of 068's special task force rushed to meet the Pope in rows, and they also died in rows.

In the end, the Pope, who seemed to have gone mad from the slaughter, left 068 while dragging the Light God's colossal form using several colossal chains. As the Pope dragged the Light God step by step toward the door that led to the Subterranean Sea, a purple square appeared in the hazy purple mist.

Then, two colossal hands, which seemed to be made out of mist and were as large as 068 itself, stretched out from the purple square. It had to be known that 068 was as big as an entire city, and if the entity's hand was as large as 068, one could only imagine just how massive the entity's form was.

To make matters worse, Charles was just staring at the entity's hands, but his head was already starting to ache. The two colossal hands reached out toward the Light God and grabbed Him carefully before retracting into the hazy purple mist.

Just as the Light God was about to disappear into the hazy purple mist, a radiant light abruptly erupted from Him, and the two colossal hands dissipated. The Light God crashed to the ground, and He appeared dimmer than earlier.

The next moment, another pair of colossal hands stretched out from inside the hazy purple mist. This time, however, they dared not touch the Light God. One of the colossal hands made a beeline for 068 while the other reached for the Light God's black cape.