Shrouded Seascape

It was unknown what method the Foundation had used, but they managed to quickly bring down the sun that Lylejay had made.

Without the sun, the pervading radiant sunlight dimmed, and the seawater surged to fill in the seawater that had evaporated beneath the scorching sun. Soon, the darkness returned, and it seemed like nothing had changed at all.

Tears slid from Lily's eyes down to her furry face. She was crying. Lily kept wiping away the tears on her face with her tiny paws, but the tears just wouldn't stop.

"Mr. Charles, why am I crying? I'm not sad at all," Lily said, pouting.

Charles' expression was complex as he gently stroked Lily's fur.

Lylejay was dead.

Lylejay had killed eighty percent of the Subterranean Sea's inhabitants. Charles was supposed to be celebrating the death of such a wicked individual, but he couldn't feel any joy at all. In fact, he even found it to be a pity.

They had been both enemies and allies, so Charles had complicated feelings about Lylejay's death. Especially when Lylejay had sacrificed himself for other people, which led to his demise.

"Sparkle, let's go—let's go home."

Roughly three minutes after Charles' departure, T6 soon arrived at where Charles was last detected. She was hanging upside down from the rock layer above the dome, and she was accompanied by a raven-headed figure standing on Pede's shoulder.

"They actually managed to escape. The other Council members will surely mock us for this," T6 said. Her mandibles, which were dripping with venom, quivered as she spoke.

"It can't be said that they managed to escape. The Subterranean Sea is only so big, and Plan Three has already started. They have nowhere to go.

"The outcome has already been determined. For the sake of mankind, every variable must be eliminated," The raven-headed figure said. He seemed unaffected by Charles' escape.

"With our current strength, no one can stop us, especially little Charles. Even if he gathers all the humans in the Subterranean Sea, it won't make much difference. Our army is endless."

"We should be more worried about the gods of the Subterranean Sea rather than worry about Charles. Ushering in a new era in the Subterranean Sea is a monumental event, and I'm worried about the possibility that the gods here will react negatively toward it. We have to be careful," the raven-headed figure said.

T6's spider legs turned, and she started walking away to where she had come from. Moments later, she spoke in a voice tinged with a hint of regret. "I knew Charles would make this choice, but it truly is a pity. He would have been a big help to our research if he had chosen to join the Foundation."

"Charles only cares about a few certain individuals rather than his entire species, and he's not willing to go all-out for mankind. If the current batch of humans are allowed to develop any further, they will eventually walk down the same path as the previous generation of the Foundation.

"Does he really not understand that?" the raven-headed figure said.

"Perhaps the people who are about to be eliminated are important to him. A long time ago, I once felt the same as him… back when my husband was still alive," T6 said, and a trace of longing flickered in her dozens of crimson spider eyes.

"It no longer matters. It's over. The current batch of humans in the Subterranean Sea will be eliminated, including Charles. The central computer already has a complete grasp of his abilities, and he doesn't have anything that can pose a threat to Plan Three," the raven-headed figure replied.

***

The reception hall inside the Governor's Mansion of Hope Island was spotless as always. A maid was in the middle of cleaning the hall when she was briefly blinded by a sudden flash of white light.

The white light disappeared as quickly as it appeared, and the maid was stupefied to find three monsters right in front of her. The next moment, she screamed in terror; her piercing scream instantly pervaded the reception hall.

Anna's eyes revealed a hint of irritation at the piercing scream, and she raised her tentacle riddled with black scales before swinging it toward the screaming maid.

The air screeched as the tentacle made a beeline for the maid's head, but several invisible tentacles sprang up from the ground, deflecting Anna's tentacle.

Charles emerged from the embrace of Sparkle's tentacles and walked up to the stupefied and terrified maid. "Go find Linda and tell her that my brain is exposed to air. I need her to stitch this wound up."

The terrified maid stood in a daze as if she were a frozen statue.

Charles patiently repeated himself. He had to repeat himself three times before the maid finally responded and ran out of the door with a palm covering her mouth to stop herself from screaming.

Charles looked at Anna behind him and saw that she had yet to revert to her human form. The massive octopus monster seemed frozen in place as Charles asked, "Did you really have to kill someone over such a small matter?"

However, Anna ignored Charles and cast her huge yellow cross-shaped pupils at Swann. Sparkle had torn Swann away from Ronker, so he had reverted to his previous look, which was basically just a big-headed doll.

"How dare you stab us in the back! Just you wait! I'm going to torture you until you start begging me for the mercy of death!" Anna growled.

However, Swann wasn't afraid at all. He sprawled out on the ground and held his belly while laughing maniacally. "Hahahaha! The Pope is dead! He's dead! Hahahaha!"

A tentacle struck Swann, sending him into the wall.

Anna then turned to Charles and said, "You're the one who should stop worrying about trivial matters. Did you not see the strength that the Foundation has just shown to us?

"If we resist them by ourselves, we're all going to die for sure! Even Sparkle couldn't do much against them!"

Charles walked over to the nearby table and picked up the vase on it. He removed the flowers and chugged the water inside the vase. The intense heat earlier had made him incredibly thirsty.

A dull thud echoed as Charles slammed the vase on the table. He then wiped his mouth clean and said in a low voice, "We can definitely find a way to fight them."

Despite saying that, Charles had no confidence at all.

The strength that the Foundation had shown them earlier was just too incredible. The disparity in strength between them was too great.

They were even strong enough to defeat Lylejay, who had briefly become the incarnation of the Light God.

To make matters worse, there was a possibility that the Foundation possessed more than just seven Pedes. Since they could make seven clones, who could say for sure that they couldn't make more than just seven?

Perhaps they had an entire army of Pedes.

Just then, Anna's figure contracted, and she struggled a bit, but she eventually returned to her gorgeous figure. Afterward, she walked up to Charles and leaned gently against his back before saying, "Actually, I have a way, but I'm not sure whether you want to use it or not."

Charles quickly turned around and stared straight at Anna. "What way?"

Anna's scarlet, soft lips gently leaned forward as she muttered, "We can sacrifice humans to the Divinities. If... we sacrifice every single human being on every single island throughout the Northern Seas, we'll surely obtain a power equivalent to a Divinity. I'm sure we'd have a chance of beating them by then."

Charles' eyes widened, and his pupils shrank to pinpoints. A few seconds later, he gulped a mouthful of his own saliva and muttered, "Just like what Swann had done to his island?"

"That's right, just like what Swann had done to his island. Of course, we don't necessarily have to dedicate the sacrifice to the Feaster. We should be able to find another Divinity out there."

"No! Do you have any idea how many people are living throughout the Northern Seas?! If we're going to sacrifice them all, then I should have just joined the Foundation!" Charles exclaimed, firmly rejecting the suggestion.

A trace of helplessness suffused Anna's face, but she knew that he wouldn't agree to her suggestion.

"Then, you decide. If we don't make any sacrifices, then the Foundation is going to murder everyone. I'm willing to die and go down with you, but what about your Sparkle? What about your other lovers?" Anna asked.

"The issue here is that your suggestion isn't even a guarantee. Are you sure that sacrificing the entire human population of the Northern Seas is enough for us to defeat the Foundation? And can you say for sure that there are no side effects with obtaining that kind of power through a sacrificial ritual?"

"We're in an extremely dire situation, and you're still worried about something like that? Come up with a way, then. Except for a sacrificial ritual, what else can we do against the Foundation?"

Charles went silent and pursed his lips. Anna was right. They were indeed in an extremely dire situation.

"If we're going to perform the sacrificial ritual, then we have to do it as soon as possible. The Foundation might notice what we're trying to do if we dillydally. I've had people draw the sacrificial array on Hope Island under the guise of repairing the suspended monorail."

Charles remained silent. Moments later, he raised his right foot and walked out to the sunny balcony of his room in the Governor's Mansion. He swept his gaze across the lively and peaceful Hope Island.

The islanders were busy with their own lives, completely unaware of their imminent doom.

Is there really no other way? Charles mused as he stood quietly on the balcony. He stood on the balcony for a long time as if he had forgotten the passage of time.

Soon, Linda arrived, but Anna stood in her way. Knowing that Charles was in the middle of making the most difficult decision of his life, Anna didn't want him to be disturbed at all.

Time ticked by ruthlessly, and the hole in the canopy above Hope Island was eventually blocked, allowing darkness to embrace Hope Island.

Anna walked up to Charles' side with her arms crossed. "Decide. If we want to stop the Foundation, then we need to be stronger than them. Strength is everything."

Charles' pupils were quivering; he seemed to be in the middle of wrestling against himself in an internal conflict, but soon, his eyes slowly became filled with light.

"No, we don't necessarily have to do a sacrificial ritual. There's a third way that we can take!"