Shrouded Seascape

Chapter 817: Heart

Anna squatted down next to Charles, who was sitting on the ground. She cast a gentle gaze at him and said, "Don't worry, leave this to me. You go do your thing. What you're doing right now is far more important than cleaning up those monsters."

Charles swallowed a mouthful of his own rust-tasting saliva before nodding. "All right, but be careful."

The twelve elders and the Deep Dwellers had been sacrificed, so Fhtagn Covenant's overall strength was bound to plummet drastically. Anna could definitely eliminate the weakened Fhtagn Covenant.

Anna's eyes revealed a hint of heartache as she stared at the man in front of her whose entire body was covered in scars. She pressed her hand on his chest, which was covered in rivets and sutures.

"Charles, you can't keep involving your human body in affairs concerning the gods. Your human body is too fragile before them. At this rate, your body will crumble. Why don't I look for a new body for you?"

Charles reached into his pocket and took out the iron-gray mechanical heart. "Forget it. Even if my body is weak, at least it's still my own body. Besides, I promised 005 that any part of me that I'd end up losing would belong to her.

"I don't have any idea what she's planning on doing with my body parts, but I have no plans of giving her more body parts than what she had asked for."

Disappointment flashed across Anna's face, but she remained silent. Just like that, she helped Charles up with Sparkle and headed toward Hope Island.

There were many casualties and unexpected events during this expedition, but Charles' goal was still achieved.

The basement of Hope Island's Governor's Mansion was supposed to be Charles' training grounds, but it was now filled with a pool of blood.

The pungent smell of blood permeating the room made Linda gulp involuntarily as her eyes shimmed in a faint crimson light.

The mages waiting nearby seemed a bit nervous. They saw the vampire fangs protruding from Linda's mouth.

In the end, Linda failed to withstand the urge and walked to the edge of the pool. She crouched down to scoop a handful of the fresh blood inside when a completely naked Charles emerged from the pool.

The viscous blood from the pool cascaded down his form, and the sight of the pristine Charles told everyone that he had completely recovered from his injuries.

A maid nearby dared not meet Charles' eye as she extended a towel toward him. Charles accepted the towel and wiped away the blood on him. He sprawled out on the operating table without bothering to put on any clothes.

"I've completely recovered from my injuries, so let's begin."

Linda stopped drinking blood and stood up. She turned to look at the glass box on the table beside her. A heart made out of metal was suspended in a yellowish-brown liquid that resembled engine oil.

"The technology of the Albion Isles was truly special. I wonder how they managed to replicate such a unique organ."

"They're dead, so no use being curious about that. Hurry up and get to work," Charles urged.

The mages from a certain prosthetics company on Hope Island began drawing the necessary magic arrays around the operating table.

Linda reached out into the glass box and fished the mechanical heart out of the box. She filled one of the heart's arteries with some unknown liquid before walking toward Charles.

Thanks to Linda's special ability, the surgery was not bloody at all, and Charles' heart was replaced without having to cut into his skin. However, the surgery was far from over. The heart hadn't been activated yet.

Bottles full of blue souls were opened by the mages, and the mages chanted an inscrutable incantation that sucked in the wailing souls into the magic array beneath the operating table.

The ordeal lasted for about five minutes until Charles flew violently into the air before falling back down.

As the mechanical heart began pumping blood throughout him, Charles' pale and bluish face eventually returned to its previous color.

Charles put a hand on his chest and found no difference whatsoever. However, he seemed unable to accept the fact that his entire heart had just been replaced with a new one, and the new heart was beating inside his chest right now.

"Captain, here's your previous heart. Do you want us to take the relic out of it?" Linda asked, holding up a crystallized heart that looked like a work of art.

Charles reached out and grabbed it before saying, "No, let's just leave it like this. The relic will making sure that it won't decay."

005 had specifically mentioned that she wanted everything that he had lost, regardless of their condition.

After getting dressed, Charles took the crystallized heart to his office.

He then put it in a glass jar and placed it next to his eyes.

Charles swept his gaze across his organs on the shelf and fell into contemplation.

After a while, he walked to a table nearby and picked up the telephone. He then dialed the Colossal Hole Fortress's number.

"Hello? It's me. Have you found what I asked you to find? Sure, sure. Just leave it there. I'll send someone to pick it up right away."

When the call ended, a hint of joy glimmered in Charles' one eye. It seemed that happiness truly came in pairs. The ear that was devoured by one of the Kings of Sottom was finally located!

There was a flash of white light as Sparkle appeared in front of Charles. She was frowning with an iron bucket in her hand. There was a puddle of what looked like brown patties inside the bucket—the green centipede-like monster's excrement.

Charles' ear was somewhere inside them.

Charles poked around the brown patties with his steel finger and eventually found a piece of cartilage that didn't get digested. However, Charles wasn't entirely sure whether it was a part of his ear or not.

After all, who'd know for sure what that monster had eaten before devouring Charles' ear?

Regardless, Charles fished it out and placed it into a glass jar next to his stomach.

His heart, stomach, eyes, and ear had been located and retrieved.

Charles swept his gaze across the organs and thought, I've collected four, so there are only two left. I just have to find the last two, and I can make my wish come true. By then—

"Dad," Sparkle said, picking up the jar containing Charles' heart and shaking it gently. "What's your next target? Your skull and scalp or your left arm?"

After a few seconds of contemplation, Charles replied, "The next target is the skull and scalp in SITE 6. 004 went to the Albion Isles, so the foundation's site should be safe by now.

"However, I want you to send a few recon-type submarines just in case."

Sparkle nodded. Instead of leaving, however, she stared at her father and smiled.

"What's wrong?" Charles asked.

Sparkle took out a tiny box and handed it over to him.

"Is this for me?" Charles accepted it and opened it right away to find a quartz watch that resembled a mechanical watch.

The watch's color theme was blue and black. The dial was surrounded by a white stainless steel casing, which emphasized the blue and black colors of the watch. In its entirety, the watch gave off a calm feel.

There were four blue buttons on both sides of the watch, and one could use them to adjust the watch. The strap was delicate, smooth, and comfortable to the touch.

Sparkle took out the watch from the inside the box and put it on Charles' wrist.

"I remember how you gave your pocket watch to that vendor to pay for those pastries on Lighthouse Island, so I thought you must be finding it inconvenient to check the time without a pocket watch.

"Mommy had taken your phone away as well, so I decided to buy this watch as a gift for you. What do you think about it, Daddy? Do you like it?"