Shrouded Seascape

Charles fell into contemplation as he stared at the Foundation Member, whom he was meeting for the first time. Moments later, he asked, "Does that mean that you're going to open up my skull? That must be very risky."

"Correct. It is a bit wasteful, but we have no choice. We don't have the luxury of time, as Plan Three has already started," Ilena replied.

The information Ilena had just revealed was so shocking that Charles seemed to have forgotten that he was in danger. "What did you just say? Plan Three has already started? The plan to exterminate all humans of the Subterranean Sea has already begun?!"

"Mmhm, Plan Three was officially started just an hour ago," Ilena replied.

Just then, an Apostle hanging upside down from the ceiling jumped down. It opened its protruding sucker and gently engulfed Charles' head as if it were a wet, fleshy shower cap.

It rotated gently, instantly shaving off Charles' black hair. Then, it spat Charles' hair before engulfing his head once more and rotating once again.

Charles' scalp instantly went numb; he couldn't see it, but he could feel it—his scalp was no longer there.

Ilena's bloated figure swayed gently as it moved behind Charles and used an unknown tool to cut his skull open.

Charles suppressed the worries in his heart and tried his best to pretend that he was calm before asking, "What exactly is Plan Three?"

Before Charles could open his mouth to ask once more, Ilena's alluring voice echoed behind him. "Eww! What are these things in your brain?! They're so disgusting!!"

Hearing that, Charles hurriedly asked, "It should be okay to satisfy the curiosity of a dying man, right?"

He still hadn't given up on obtaining as many pieces of information as he could while he could still do so.

"Don't bother asking and just shut up. From what I can see here, I don't even want to talk to you," Ilena replied.

Then, Charles felt like something was being inserted into his brain and was stirring it all up. The next second, Charles' thinking became exceptionally slow, and he felt like something had squeezed its way into his memories. The feeling that it gave him was beyond human comprehension.

Just then, strange scenes appeared in Charles' mind. He seemed to be standing in a hazy and monochrome world. Anna was staring at him from behind what looked like a mirror.

What is that place? As soon as the thought came to his mind, he saw a ghastly white figure flickering around him.

He snapped back to reality just then, only to find that everything around him was disappearing, including Ilena and the Apostles on the ceiling.

Charles' eyes flashed in a bewildered light. "This is weird… where did N8 and the Apostles go? Why did they leave me here alone?"

Charles wasn't the only one bewildered, as even the incredibly intelligent AI, which the Foundation had created to keep tabs on everyone on behalf of an actual human, was bewildered as well as it stared at the operating room through the surveillance cameras.

Moments later, several lines of text appeared on the AI's three-dimensional screen.

[Initiating search: Operating Room 2-1, Target: N8, Result: Search failed.]

[Initiating search: Operating Room 2-1, Target: N8, Result: Search failed.]

[Initiating search: Operating Room 2-1, Target: N8, Result: Search failed.]

[Validating video feed prior to timestamp 12:13:33, Target: N8, Result: Video feed missing.]

[Validating video feed prior to timestamp 12:13:33, Target: N8, Result: Video feed missing.]

[Alert. Alert. Deviations detected in the current situation. Initiating self-diagnosis tests and deductions.]

[Deduction 1: AI PD91's databank was hacked, video files were deleted, and AI PD91's logic model was modified. Possibility: 2%.]

[Deduction 2: Project 9354 within N8 has run rampant, causing a temporal shift from the current timeline. Possibility 13%.]

[Deduction 3: A reality distortion occurred when Project 9354 within N8 made contact with Project 3-1 inside Test Subject 3. Possibility 81%.]

[Data transmission initiated…]

[Transmitting experimental data to the central computer…]

[Transmission paused. Project 9354 has been detected. Project 9354's current location overlaps with Subject 3. Assessment: Coupling detected between Project 9354 and Project 3-1 within Test Subject 3.]

[Alert. Alert. Project coupling detected. Initiating Level 1 alarm throughout Site 6.]

[Alert. Alert. Project coupling detected. Initiating Level 1 alarm throughout Site 6.]

Before Charles could figure out what was going on, a dark red started flashing throughout the entire operating room. A few pipes then burst out of the walls, and a viscous, cement-like liquid was poured into the room.

Charles had no idea what exactly had happened, but he knew that he couldn't just sit idly by and wait for his demise. He trembled desperately like an aspen tree in an effort to break free.

However, his limbs were bound too tightly for him to make any significant movements.

Seeing that the cement-like liquid was about to submerge the operating table, Charles gnashed his teeth and twisted forcefully. A grotesque tearing noise echoed, and Charles' prosthetic limb was left abandoned on the operating table.

Without the prosthetic limb, Charles' range of motion had increased. He turned and stretched his neck. Then, he used his tongue to drag the prosthetic limb over, and he used his teeth to pull out a black spike hidden in the prosthetic limb.

By the time he had cut off his restraints using the black spike, the viscous, cement-like liquid had already submerged his head. Charles gnashed his teeth and reached out to his nape to remove what was embedded in his nape.

Finally, Charles' special abilities and power were no longer under suppression.

Boom!

A deafening explosion echoed as the wall next to him was blasted open. Panting heavily, Charles used his tentacles to carry him outside the operating room. The fresh wounds that had been painstakingly sutured had split open, bringing him much pain.

The same viscous, cement-like murky water had submerged the corridors outside, and it seemed that the Foundation wanted to seal the entire site using that bizarre, viscous liquid.

The alarm blaring throughout the site and N8's words earlier about how Plan Three had already started told Charles that he could no longer stay here and endure until he was rescued.

He gripped the black spike tightly and swung it repeatedly until a human-shaped array was drawn on the ceiling.

Charles allowed his shadow to align perfectly with the crimson array on the ceiling, and his figure immediately became bloated. Charles had clearly gotten better at using this special ability of his.

Knowing that this would be his final chance at escaping, Charles used the black spike in his hand to draw a portrait of Sparkle on one of his swollen tentacles.

Then, there was a flash of white light as he rushed down the corridor. Charles ignored the task force members and the clones frantically running around and focused on teleporting his way upward.

He was moving without any regard for stealth, so he reckoned that the Foundation would soon notice him.

As expected, T6 was already hanging upside down on the rock layer up above.

T6 immediately chased after Charles as soon as the latter emerged from Site 6.

However, as Charles moved farther and farther away from Site 6, the distance he could cross using his teleport ability was getting farther and farther away as well.

T6 couldn't keep up with him at all.

Just then, N8's bloated and swollen figure suddenly appeared above the sea surface, standing in Charles' way. "Where did the memetic infection inside my previous clone go? Is it inside you?"

Charles didn't bother replying and simply braced himself to collide with her.

Just as he was about to collide with N8, however, the sea surface abruptly swelled, and Pede's towering figure burst out of the seawater like the legendary Poseidon.

Pede raised his massive palm and swung it toward Charles. The air itself was torn apart by the pitch-black miniature spacetime rifts that manifested around Pede's hand.

Before the gaze of the three massive black eyes, Charles turned sharply; he dared not pause for even a moment as he frantically teleported in another direction.

Unfortunately, the strange feeling of suppression had returned, and Charles found that his teleportation ability was suppressed significantly. It seemed that Pede himself was the source of the strange suppression.

"Plan Three has started, and you've rejected our request. You cannot escape," the two-headed raven figure said calmly as he hovered in midair.

Meanwhile, Charles, who had transformed into a massive lump of flesh covered in deformed organs and crab-like appendages, clearly had no intentions of replying to the two-headed raven figure.

There was a flash of white light, and Charles' deformed, swollen figure teleported a few times upward before reappearing in front of the raven-headed figure.

Then, Charles' bloated figure parted and engulfed the raven-headed figure.

Almost at the same time, the hundred-meter-tall Pede reacted and swung his hands upward. The force of gravity nearby reversed instantly, and the entire sea beneath them carried with it an unstoppable force as it surged toward Charles.

BOOM!

A massive tidal wave struck the rock layer like a hammer, and the rock layer shifted forcefully upon being struck by millions of tons of water.

Meanwhile, Charles was about to teleport out of the roaring seawater when the gravity returned to normal. The seawater above the dome immediately plummeted toward the dry seafloor down below.

As the Foundation's most powerful member, Pede's power was infinitely close to that of a real Divinity. This battle was between a Divinity's Chosen One and one of the Haikor's demigods.

Charles had barely managed to stabilize himself in midair, but he could already hear the air screeching just ahead of him. He looked up and saw a hand riddled with pitch-black holes.

The hand belonged to none other than Pede.

Just as the hand was about to slap Charles into a bloody mist, a white light flashed, and his figure disappeared.

Almost at the same time, the back of Pede's massive hand suddenly burst open, and Charles' swollen figure reappeared inside Pede's hand. He had teleported himself into Pede's flesh.

However, Pede's flesh and blood, which had been gouged out by the intruder, didn't fall to the ground. They stuck close to Charles as if they were sentient beings.

With his teleportation ability suppressed, Charles was at a great disadvantage. To make matters worse, his flesh and Pede's scorched flesh seemed to be hungry for each other as they immediately started corroding each other upon contact.

Just then, Pede's palm riddled with holes opened slightly, and a chunk of flesh the size of a cargo vessel separated cleanly from Pede's palm before floating over to Charles.

Charles soon found himself overrun with Pede's scorched flesh, which frantically corroded his own, red flesh. In no time, Charles was suppressed.

When Charles' red flesh became completely black, a deafening silence descended.

The lump of flesh, which was supposed to be Charles himself, shifted and transformed into a palm. Then, it floated slowly toward Pede's wrist stump as if telling everyone that it was all over.

But just as the pitch-black palm riddled with holes was about to make contact with Pede's wrist stump, a bright yellow eye abruptly opened in the palm, and it stared at Pede's three colossal black eyes.

It was the Eye of Edikth.

In the proverbial blink of an eye, flesh and tentacles manifested on Pede's three colossal black eyes, and it began to proliferate profusely. Soon, Pede's massive head was covered in flesh that didn't belong to him.

It seemed that things had taken a turn for the better, and the scales of victory were finally tilting toward Charles.

Pede raised his other hand to slap the eye on his palm, but his arms were quickly overrun by flesh that didn't belong to him.