Surviving as the Captain of a Mad Cthulhu Deep Sea - Chapter 14

chapter 14

Lab 3

Chapter 14: Laboratory 3

“Follow me quickly! Once we find the treasure for the uncles, we can go home. Hurry, hurry!”

Lily leaped from Charles’s hand and darted toward the cave entrance, followed by a swarm of dark brown rats.

Emerging from the cave, Lily led Charles’s group through the rocky terrain.

Occasionally, the red glow of Flying Leeches could be seen in the distance. Each time, Lily the White Rat would send one of her own to draw the monsters’ attention.

The group ran anxiously for about thirty minutes. The irregular rocks gradually thinned, and suddenly a flat rock face appeared before Charles. It was too dark for him to see what was above, so he couldn’t tell if it was a mountain or a colossal wall.

After walking along the wall for a few more minutes, a futuristic-looking iron door suddenly appeared before them.

Before Charles could ask, the rats quickly piled on top of each other, forming a “Rat Ladder” that strained to pull the door handle. With a click, the door swung open.

When Charles rushed into the room after the rats, he was stunned. It was a wide, straight corridor. Though thick dust lay everywhere and the surroundings were cluttered, the minimalist style of the environment gave him the illusion that he had briefly returned to a hospital on the surface.

This architectural style wasn’t built by outsiders, Charles immediately concluded.

“Lili, are you sure that thing is really here?” Charles didn’t think this structure could be a masterpiece of the Flying Leech, and he sensed that the rat’s mission wouldn’t be simple.

Lily the White Rat didn’t answer. Instead, she looked around, then darted into a room and dragged out a large sheet of paper. When Charles touched it, it felt stiff and plastic-like. A simple map was drawn on it, with various areas like the surveillance room, lounge, and mess hall marked in Sea of Knowledge Script.

Lily leaped onto the map, stomped on the eastern corner, and then stepped on the forbidden zone marker in the west.

“We’re here. The item is this way. Hurry and get it.”

Looking at the map, Charles had a vague suspicion about what might be here, but now wasn’t the time to dwell on it. This place didn’t feel safe. It was best to quickly find the item and leave.

Screech!

Suddenly, a human shadow appeared at the end of the corridor, and Dip, who was charging ahead, let out a loud cry. Charles quickly pressed down on his gun.

“It’s okay, just a corpse.”

Everyone gathered around the corpse, and the torchlight illuminated the figure. The desiccated corpse was frozen in a kneeling position, its mouth stretched wide as if screaming something.

Charles noticed several details on the corpse. A metal name tag was attached to the right breast of his suit-like clothing. He crouched down, picked it up, and read: “Dr. Dot, Assistant Director of Laboratory No. 3.”

Charles’s pupils constricted as something clicked in his mind. He immediately pulled out the paper with the Clown Mask on it.

“Containment Rating: Level 3 Containment. Currently isolated in Laboratory 3.”

So this was indeed Laboratory 3! The rats had stolen the mask from here. Who had built Laboratory 3? Who were they? One question answered only spawned more.

Lily clung to Charles’s trouser leg, urging him to hurry forward.

“Let’s go! Once we help them, we can go home.”

Charles had anticipated many dangers on his way, but Lily the White Rat’s words proved true. Inside, apart from the chaotic environment and the occasional corpse, there were no real threats.

They slowly approached their destination.

“Look, we’re here! Right here!”

Lily stopped in front of a steel door and hopped up and down beside it.

“There’s a small square panel next to the door. If you touch it, the door will open!”

Seeing the familiar object above the door, Charles felt a sense of foreboding.

When he touched it, the door, as expected, didn’t open. The power wasn’t even on, and his fingerprints didn’t match. How could it possibly open? This was clearly a door with a fingerprint scanner!

“Huh? Why isn’t it opening? Uncle Wang swore it would open the moment anyone touched it.”

Lily tilted her head, her face filled with bewilderment.

No matter how smart a mouse might be, it was still a mouse. She’d clearly seen some people open doors with their fingerprints before, and had mistakenly assumed it would work the same way. But reality proved entirely different.

Charles knocked on the door with his hand, confirming it wasn’t particularly thick. He then pulled out explosives, lit the fuse, and tossed them in front of the door before retreating to a safe distance.

BOOM!!

A deafening explosion shook the air, tearing a massive hole in the door.

Charles stepped through the opening and spotted a single black liquor bottle sitting quietly in the center of the table.

“This is it! We can go home now!”

Lily’s fluffy face was radiant with joy.

Charles didn’t hesitate. Grabbing the liquor bottle, he bolted outside. The recent explosion had been so loud, he feared it might have attracted something.

Unfortunately, his worst fears came true. Halfway down the corridor, a Flying Leech materialized from around the corner, its massive body blocking their path.

“Kiiiiiiaaaah!!”

The Flying Leech shrieked and charged at them.

Knowing they couldn’t escape, Charles immediately raised his revolver and began firing relentlessly.

“Shoot!”

The bullets struck the Flying Leech’s body, the impact echoing as they tore through its skin and sent it flying backward.

The Flying Leech shrieked, its massive body twisting violently as its translucent, crimson form vanished.

“Don’t stop! All guns forward! It’s invisible! Pour everything into it!”

Bullets slammed into the distant wall, riddling it with holes like a honeycomb.

The gunfire briefly subsided, and just as Charles was about to urge them to move faster, the Leech’s colossal head materialized before him. Its gaping maw, lined with razor-sharp teeth, hovered less than ten centimeters from his face.

The sharp teeth rotated and parted, and the Leech’s maw opened, aiming to engulf Charles’ head like a blood-sucking tool.

Just as he realized he was about to be swallowed whole, a powerful force suddenly slammed into his waist, shoving him aside and barely allowing him to escape the Leech’s maw.

Charles looked down to see Dip had shoved him aside, saving his life.

The gunfire erupted again. The Leech shrieked and stumbled backward, but twisted its body and vanished once more.

Charles scrambled to his feet and, without hesitation, pulled out the Clown Mask and pressed it to his face. In that moment of crisis, there was no time to think.

As he brought his left hand to his thigh, the Black Saber materialized in his grip. Behind the mask, Charles wore an excited smile.

The moment he put on the mask, Charles felt his strength and reflexes surge dramatically. Everything around him suddenly became crystal clear, not just psychologically. He could now see perfectly even in the darkness.

“Friends, stop firing! Bullets won’t work on that thing. Instead, today… your captain will show you a real trick!”

The Black Saber danced through the air, leaving afterimages with every flick of Charles’s fingers.

James and Fred exchanged bewildered glances. They had never heard their captain speak like this before.

A tense silence fell over the dimly lit corridor. Under the threat of the Invisible Leech, the air seemed to congeal.

Suddenly, Charles’s shoulders shook as he burst into laughter. It started as a low chuckle, but quickly grew louder.

Lily cautiously poked her head out from among the rats. “Mr. Charles, what’s wrong?”

Charles turned, desperately trying to suppress his laughter. “Pfft— Rat Brother, I just thought of a joke. Want to hear it? Once upon a time, there was a—”

The moment he turned, the Flying Leech materialized on the wall behind him. Its horrific maw gaped open, lunging straight for the back of Charles’s head.

Everyone’s eyes widened in shock, but it was too late to warn him.

What happened next defied all expectations. Charles’s body folded in on itself in a bizarre, boneless contortion, evading the creature’s bite.

Charles momentarily tightened his grip on the Black Saber in his right hand, and the blade sank deep into the Flying Leech’s abdomen.

“Haha! Finally got it! This thing can even pass through walls!”

Charles sprang off the ground like a coiled spring and leaped onto the Leech’s back, furiously stabbing its translucent back with the Black Saber.

The Flying Leech thrashed violently, but Charles remained firmly balanced, as if he had an internal counterweight.

“Trying to throw me off? No chance!”

The wounded Leech quickly retracted its head and twisted around, spewing a thick, yellowish pus at its attacker.

“Oh, is that all? What a fun little game! Farewell, you big bug!”

Charles gripped the hilt of the sword embedded in the leech’s body in a reverse grip and twisted it with all his might, like turning a key. With a tearing sound, the hilt sliced through the creature’s flesh, cutting a path from its back to its belly.

The gash, spanning half its body, had nearly split the leech in two.

The leech let out a monstrous roar, its mangled body turning transparent as it tried to escape.

But as Charles tightened his grip and drove the hilt completely into the leech’s body, the massive creature, suspended in mid-air, plummeted to the ground.

The moment the leech hit the ground, Charles stomped on its skin with all his might. After rolling a few times in the air, he landed firmly and struck a heroic pose, like a triumphant warrior.

“Impressive, right? Amazing, huh? Where’s the applause?!”

Charles held the pose for a few seconds, but when he realized no one was paying attention, he turned around. The crew stared at him with wide eyes, as if they had seen a ghost.

“Ugh, you guys are so clueless. What are you waiting for? Let’s go!”

Only then did the crew snap out of it and scramble to their feet, hurrying away. Charles stayed behind, covering the rear.

As they neared the exit, the crew kept glancing back at their captain.

Dip, his legs trembling and humming a nervous tune, stole a glance at the captain and whispered to Krona, the Second Mate, beside him.

“Shouldn’t we take off the mask from the Captain’s face? It’s a bit strange.”

Charles scraped his foot, and the snow-white mask was thrust at Dip’s face.

“Hey! What the hell are you babbling about?! I can hear you perfectly! If I take off this mask, who’s going to protect you?”

Dip gritted his teeth and tried to rip the mask from the laughing face with both hands, but Charles slipped away like an eel.

He then shoved the liquor bottle into Dip’s hand and pushed him on the shoulder.

“You guys go first. Wait for me on the ship.”

Before anyone could protest, Charles tilted his body backward and vanished into the darkness.

“Captain! Captain! Come back quickly!”

“Mr. Charles, where are you going!”

Amidst the shouts of the others, Charles, wearing his Clown Mask, gradually moved further away.