Shrouded Seascape

After a short rest amidst the white forest, Luke and his crew continued their exploration of the bizarre floating island.

Time ticked by, and when they found themselves in one of the island's depressions, Luke's expression turned solemn. He whipped around abruptly and looked intently behind him. "Wait, someone is watching us."

Charles also felt like someone was staring at them, and the gaze was coming from behind a distant hill.

"Third Mate, send a bug out there to check if someone is indeed watching us from afar. If that's the case, then I want to see what they look like," Luke said.

A small bee-like insect flew up from the black-robed man, and it wobbled as it flew toward the hill.

"Captain, I can see a hole in the hill, and it's very dark inside. Do you want me to take a look inside?"

Hearing that, Luke decisively gestured with his hands, signaling that he'd lead them to that hole in the hill.

"Grab your weapons, just in case. The members of the Foundation are probably hostile toward us. If that's the case, then just listen to my commands. When I say fire, open fire."

Luke pushed aside the white blanket of dandelion fluff, and they soon arrived before a ten-meter-high triangular hill. A hole with a diameter of two meters was on the hill. The walls within the hole were smooth—smooth enough for everyone to deduce that someone had smoothened out the walls.

The hole was pitch-black, and it was impossible to see the bottom of it from the outside. One of the crew dropped a bullet into the hole from the outside, and they only heard the bullet impacting the ground three seconds later.

It seems that there's a massive space just below this island, and it must be filled with many tunnels like this hole. This place doesn't feel like it's an island; it looks more like a beehive. Charles thought while staring at the hole through his spider eye.

A tiny glint of light flashed from the inside, and it told everyone that a living being was inside the hole.

Luke reached out with his right hand just then and grabbed one of his crew members by the neck before throwing the latter into the pitch-black hole.

The crew member screamed in terror, but his screams faded away quickly as he vanished into the abyss. After about thirty seconds, Luke bent over and looked down into the depths, shouting, "Boatswain! How's it going down there?! Are you still alive?! Is it safe down there?!"

"Luke! You son of a whore, how dare you use me as cannon fodder!" the boatswain roared, and his fierce voice reverberated from the bottom of the hole.

"Thanks for the reminder. My mother is actually a whore. Go to the harbor district of Redwood Island, and you might still be able to do some business with her," Luke replied, and then he turned to look at the others. "Take out the ropes. It seems to be safe inside. We can go down."

The way Luke interacted with his crew made the observing Charles feel quite surprised. He had no idea how Luke was still alive. A captain with that attitude out at sea would quickly get stuffed into a sack while they were asleep by their crew before being thrown out into the sea.

The other crew members glanced at each other before rummaging in their backpacks for the ropes and throwing those ropes down the hole.

Witnessing their descent, Charles decisively followed them. Luke and his crew were taking on a tremendous risk by being around here, so why would he be afraid when he'd lose an eyeball at most if things went south?

"What's with that long face, kid?" Luke asked, grinning at the boatswain, whom he had thrown into the abyss just now.

"Stay away from me, and don't touch me! I'm quitting as soon as we're out of here! I'm done working with you on your ship!" The boatswain exclaimed, glaring at Luke with a gaze full of loathing.

"Was it really that big of a deal? Anyway, how about this? I'll lend you my woman for two days as compensation. That should be enough, yes?" Luke asked.

Hearing this, the man subconsciously glanced at the only woman in their exploration party. His eyes revealed the light of lust as his gaze fell on her alluring figure, but he quickly restrained himself.

"I'm telling you this isn't over," the man said, looking away with a cold face. He then took out a flashlight to survey the surroundings.

Luke revealed a contemptuous look before turning on his flashlight as well.

The beam from their flashlights wept across the smoothened-out walls in the spacious hole, which was about the size of a soccer field. They were in a dark enclosed space that made Luke and his crew's voices echo.

Luke and his crew scanned the surroundings with their flashlights, and one of them soon found a small object on the ground to the east of the hole. Luke and the crew stood around it, pointing at it and guessing its identity.

They didn't recognize it, but Charles had recognized it instantly—the tiny object was a palm-sized drone. Charles deduced that the Foundation had to have used the drone for exploration purposes.

In other words, they had explored this bizarre island before.

Luke and his crew talked for a while, but they couldn't quite reach a unanimous answer. In the end, Luke took out a camera and snapped a few photos of the palm-sized drone before moving forward with the crew behind him.

The tunnels connected to the hole seemed to be segmented, and walking down one of the tunnels would make one feel as if they were in the stomach of some kind of insect.

Charles controlled the spider and made it hang upside down from the ceiling. Then, he followed Luke and his crew, observing their every move.

Click, click, click!

Faint noises abruptly reverberated throughout the tunnel. Everyone tensed up, fearful of what was to come, but nothing happened.

Just as they were about to continue walking down the tunnel, the same indescribable noises echoed once again, and they sounded a little closer than before.

Whatever that thing is, it's trying to lure Luke and the others, Charles thought.

Luke reached the same conclusion as Charles, but he showed no hesitation and led his crew toward where the sound had come from with a cigarette between his lips.

The indescribable noises would echo from time to time.

As they walked closer and closer to the noises, the surroundings narrowed, slowly transitioning from what seemed like an open plaza to a narrow tunnel. If enemies attacked from both behind and in front, they'd surely struggle to escape.

Just then, Luke and his crew suddenly stumbled upon the signature white spacesuits of the Foundation as well as the clothes of previous explorers.

The clothes were being propped up by tree branches and were "standing" upright. They were even swaying slightly, which made them resemble paper figures.

The bizarre sight made everyone press their backs against each other as they looked around vigilantly for any signs of enemies.

Charles was away from the group and was hanging upside down from the ceiling, so he saw that there wasn't anything around Luke and his crew earlier until the clothes had appeared out of thin air.

All of a sudden, Charles felt an inexplicable tingling on his scalp. He realized something and controlled the spider to turn around slowly.

A group of green humanoid monsters were perched behind him. They were also hanging upside down from the ceiling and were "staring" at Charles with their eyeless and distorted heads.

They were humanoid, but their limbs resembled bamboo poles—thin and long. Two pairs of arms were protruding from their torso as well, making them resemble a centipede, and their faces had no features aside from their terrifying maw.

Charles had seen one of them before. "King" had one of them, and it had even torn off one of Charles' right ear. However, the elongated creatures before him seemed a bit different from the one he had seen before.

However, Charles reacted quickly and made the spider's hairy legs push against the ceiling, making it leap toward Luke down below. He wanted to warn Luke and his crew about the presence of enemies on the ceiling.

Unfortunately, dozens of elongated, emaciated hands grabbed the spider, snatching it out of mid-air.

Just as Charles thought that the spider would be torn apart in the blink of an eye, one of the green elongated creatures stuffed the spider into their terrifying maw that resembled a bloody basin. It gently chewed on the spider a few times before spitting it out.

Then, one of the elongated creatures pointed at the spider with its index finger before pointing at its noseless and eyeless face.

It's communicating with me? Does it know that this spider is connected to my vision?

Realizing Charles' confusion, the elongated creature used its finger to scratch the smooth ceiling, seemingly writing something.

Governor Charles...have you encountered them? Be careful… they are very dangerous...