Shrouded Seascape

Charles' expression was complex as he stared at T6 in front of him. T6's lofty ideals of abandoning everything to save one's own species had left him deeply shocked.

However, Charles found it to be quite absurd, considering their current appearance and what they had done so far. Their actions so far were completely contradictory to their words.

"You guys have been insisting that all of you are striving for mankind's survival, so how come you guys hadn't provided any help to the denizens of the Subterranean Sea when the death light was still around and was killing so many people at once?

"And our painstaking efforts to find and retrieve the darkness has finally borne fruit; the darkness has finally returned to the Subterranean Sea, so why did you guys take it away?"

Charles' words left T6 silent for a long time.

T6's two fangs shimmering with green venom trembled slightly as she said, "I'm sure you know that the Foundation does not belong to only one person. Everyone has their own point of view and opinion when it comes to saving mankind.

"But as I said, I mostly do theoretical research. I don't have much say in the Foundation. When everyone started voting on whether to proceed with Plan Three or not, I voted against proceeding with it.

"Unfortunately, the minority will always have to follow the will of the majority."

"Plan Three? What are you talking about?" Charles asked. For some reason, he felt uneasy upon hearing the words "Plan Three."

"You guys know too much. The current batch of humans in the Subterranean Sea has not only made its way to the surface world but has learned of the Foundation's existence as well.

"Too many people have become aware of the Foundation's existence that it has become impossible to cover up our existence. Even worse, the current batch of humans has developed way too quickly under your lead.

"Human curiosity is endless. Once this crisis has passed, I'm sure that you humans will hit a technological bottleneck in just a hundred years at most, just like the previous Foundation. Then, humans will give birth to an intense curiosity about the power of the gods."

"Afterward, humans will do their best to understand them and make use of them, just like what the previous Foundation had done with Divine Blood."

"The power of the gods is taboo. The previous generation of the Foundation is a cautionary tale of what's going to happen if one were to mess with a taboo. We don't want all of humanity to suffer that horrible ending, so we have no choice but to initiate Plan Three."

Hearing that, Charles finally understood what "Plan Three" meant. His feelings toward the Foundation changed instantly, and his voice trembled as he said, "So… you guys want to kill all the humans throughout the Subterranean Sea?"

"The Foundation did not want this to happen, either. We've been doing our best to make sure that the Subterranean Sea's technology will remain at a certain level."

"We destroyed the Albion Isles as soon as we noticed signs of their technology surpassing a certain level. As for your Hope Island, we wanted to sink it, too, but the darkness' disappearance disrupted our plans.

"First of all, we didn't expect that the Pope would succeed in shattering the Light God's restraints. Secondly, your sudden appearance in the Subterranean Sea caught us all off guard. You're a variable—a very special one at that," T6 explained.

Charles felt a shiver down his spine, and the cold shiver pervaded him to the core.

They were talking about a plan to exterminate all of humanity here, but T6 could actually talk about it in such a casual manner?

"This is your so-called 'for mankind's sake'?! You just told me about how the Foundation's belief is to save one's own species at the cost of everything else, so this is the meaning of all that talk? To save humanity is to exterminate them?

"I think you guys have been living for such a long time that you guys think of yourselves as gods now, am I right?!"

Charles found their hearts to be as ugly and as evil-looking as their distorted appearances.

"You don't have to worry about mankind. We have enough incubators with embryos. Once the Subterranean Sea has returned to its previous calm, the next batch of humans will appear and live in the new era.

"They'll safely proceed to live generation after generation under our care and guidance. It is a cycle that will continue as long as there are no longer any variables like you."

T6's words enraged Charles, and he glared at the giant spider before him before roaring, "This is the Foundation's belief?! The belief of abandoning everything else to save humanity?! Are you guys really working for mankind's sake, or are you working just for the concept of 'mankind'?"

T6 took half a step backward in the face of Charles' fierce questioning. "Sorry, I'm a science student. I don't really want to talk about philosophical questions. For such questions, you should go and seek O5.

"And as I said, I voted against proceeding with the plan. They're the ones who voted in favor of it."

Charles wanted to say something when his expression abruptly changed. He suppressed his tumultuous emotions and looked around calmly.

A colossal black-glass writhing worm was drilling through the black stone tablet next to him. The writhing worm was none other than Paiper, a member of the Foundation's GK Council with the code name E4.

Charles heard a familiar voice outside. The familiar voice belonged to Pede, a powerful existence who seemed to be stronger than a Divinity. Charles realized just then that there was no way he could escape their encirclement.

He was strong, but he was no match for Pede.

"Did you contact them?" Charles asked, staring at T6 in front of him. Despite knowing that any attempts of escape were futile, he still wanted to obtain more information while he could do so.

"We've prepared two things against you, an unforeseen variable. We did our preparations many years ago, and one of them is Feuerbach," Paiper said as T6 remained silent. "The last one is your high boots..."

Charles looked down at his high boots, which allowed him to tread all kinds of surfaces. It was an extremely practical and inconspicuous pair of boots. He had saved the life of an Apostle a few years ago, and the Haikor King had invited him to the Sea of Mist, where he received this pair of boots as a gift.

Paiper's words revealed that there was something wrong with the practical gift that he had received from the Haikor King.

Charles bent down and took off the boots before throwing them right in front of T6. "So you've been tracking my every single move using these boots?"

Paiper approached Charles, and Its hideous mouthpiece rotated slightly as it spoke. "No, this is not just a tracker. In fact, it's an execution device. Once the switch is pressed, trace amounts of drugs will infiltrate your bloodstream until you die."

Just then, fine spider black spider silk descended and wrapped around Charles, who put up no resistance.

"Charles, don't thank us for not pressing that switch all this while because we pressed that switch the moment the central computer determined that your threat level was too high. We witnessed early symptoms of poisoning, which affected your rationality and state of mind, but you didn't die for some reason."

Paiper's words made Charles think about many different things, but he remained rational and didn't ask any questions.

The deformed, writhing worm rolled Charles up before saying, "Charles, you are a very special variable, and we must study you."

Just as Paiper was rolling away Charles, who was wrapped in black spider silk, T6's voice echoed in Charles' mind. "Charles, don't worry about it; they don't mean you any harm. As I said, you're very special. Just do your best and perform well. Actually, the GK Council had once considered absorbing you into the Foundation."

Charles' heart trembled at T6's remark, and he suddenly felt like he had found a way out of their current predicament. "If I join the Foundation, can I stop Plan Three?"

"No, Plan Three cannot be terminated once initiated. I know what you're trying to do, but I'm sorry… I think you're going to be the only survivor in the upcoming catastrophe."

Anna, Sparkle, Lily, Bandages, Dipp—the faces of his friends and beloved ones flashed through Charles' mind, and a glimmer of determination appeared in his eyes.

He would never compromise. His wife, daughter, crew, and his lover—they would all be eliminated under Plan Three. He had already lost his original family, and he absolutely couldn't lose his new family here in the Subterranean Sea.

However, Charles knew that escape was impossible at this point. Since they wanted to absorb him into the Foundation, then he could take advantage of that to turn the tables against them.

Perhaps it was his one and only chance.

T6 inwardly sighed as she stared at Charles being dragged away by Paiper. Soon, she walked up to the black stone tablet and raised her claws to carve something on the stone tablet.

Math formulas pervaded the stone tablet in the proverbial blink of an eye. After a while, T6 retracted her spider legs, which were as thick as telephone poles, and sat down quietly while staring at the stone tablet in front of her.

T6 fell into deep contemplation, and the mountain of brains on her back started trembling. The trembling of her brains became more and more violent as time ticked by, and as the tremors reached a crescendo, a pinkish brain exploded with a pop!

White and gray brain matter splattered everywhere, but T6 didn't even react. She seemed to have gotten used to it long ago, and she remained unmoving amidst the violent tremors, clearly immersed in the vastness of mathematics.