Surviving as the Captain of a Mad Cthulhu Deep Sea - Chapter 16

chapter 16

The Snitch

Chapter 16: The Informer

Chapter 16: The Informer

The moment they heard 1068’s hint, the three Flying Leeches, which had been spitting out rats, swiftly turned their bodies, their eighteen eyestalks converging on Charles in the corner of the wall.

“Damn it!”

Charles threw himself forward, charging toward the door. Just as he was about to burst through, he swung his left hand and drew his revolver.

Bang!

Half of 1068’s blood-splattered head flew off. Amidst 1068’s screams and curses, Charles burst out of the room and fled desperately.

This time, the leeches didn’t engage Charles in close combat. The three creatures gathered at a distance, continuously spewing corrosive fluid. Charles twisted his body, evading the “bullet hail” as he made his escape.

This was only the beginning. The leeches pursuing Charles grew in number, and for the first time in years, Laboratory No. 3, which had been quiet for so long, erupted in chaos.

Amidst the pursuit of the Flying Leeches, Charles retraced his steps.

As he burst out of the laboratory with all his might, a crimson light flared brightly behind him. Startled, he spun around and saw the entire wall glowing red as the creatures crawled out from within. They glared at Charles with furious eyes, their mouths wide open in roars.

Hundreds, then thousands, of Flying Leeches writhed and twisted before vanishing all at once.

A chill shot through Charles from his tailbone to his skull. He whirled around and sprinted toward the coastline at top speed.

“Did I steal your wives or something? Why are you chasing me like this?!”

Swoosh, swoosh.

Charles leaped onto a three-meter-high rock in just a few strides, using his exceptional agility to bound between the boulders.

Thanks to his Invisibility, Charles ran at breakneck speed, but he felt no sense of safety. He kept his senses on high alert, scanning his surroundings, ready for an Invisible Leech to spring from any direction.

In the distance, he spotted the bright searchlight of The Narwhal.

The lights are on—that means the crew is already aboard. If I can just make it back to the beach, I’ll win!

With this thought, Charles pushed himself even harder.

Whirring!

Flying Leeches materialized in the air, forming a massive crimson barrier that blocked Charles’s path. They closed in like a pouch, enveloping him in their attack.

“So this is how you treat me? Using tactics just to take down one man,” Charles said, a smirk playing on his lips as he stood on the rock, breathing heavily.

Looking at the sky ablaze with crimson light, Charles marveled. “It’s truly beautiful. Even a drone show pales in comparison. Still, I’d rather watch drones than you glowing insects.”

Clutching the few Relics he carried, Charles braced himself, then kicked off the rock with all his might, charging toward the distant Red Wall without hesitation.

Pfft!

All the Flying Leeches began spitting their venom, and the air, illuminated by a crimson glow, filled with acid rain.

Charles dove back into the rock forest below, using the boulders as cover to advance.

Above him, the stones corroded by the acidic liquid hissed, and Charles sprinted forward, utilizing the dwindling footholds. The distance to the coastline narrowed with each step.

As if anticipating his moves, the leeches erupted from the ground, their maw-like mouths lined with countless sharp teeth, lunging to bite his ankles.

With no place to land, Charles kicked off the wall with all his might, returning to the rocky peak only to be met by another downpour of acid rain.

No matter how agile he was, twisting and turning in midair to avoid the onslaught, it was ultimately futile.

The collar of Charles’s coat was corroded with countless holes, and a viscous, acidic liquid dripped onto his body, emitting a hazy smoke.

Sizzle~

As the stinging burn on his skin intensified, Charles, despairing, knew he wouldn’t last much longer.

Am I going to die?

Boom!

A massive explosion suddenly roared in the distance, and a vast void ripped through the crimson sky.

Standing on one leg in the dwindling open space, Charles’s face behind the Clown Mask twisted into a frenzied grin.

“That’s the deck cannon of The Narwhal! The sailors are helping!”

No matter how numerous the Flying Leeches were, they were still mere flesh and blood, no match for cannon fire—no more than paper against a shell.

Boom!

The crimson curtain in the sky tore open once more, and the leeches, seemingly panicked, were torn between fleeing and continuing to block Charles.

With the pressure easing, Charles sprinted through the rocky forest at breakneck speed, finally reaching the beach before the leeches could regroup. He threw himself into the sea, the icy water soothing the burning heat that coursed through his body as his limbs churned toward The Narwhal.

The moment he clambered onto the deck via the rope ladder, his first words were to order the ship to set sail immediately. The Narwhal, already prepared, swiftly departed the island at full speed.

Lying exhausted on the deck, Charles spotted several damp Relics nearby. A wild laugh erupted from him as his eyes lit up with excitement.

“Hahaha! Snot Worms, you saw that! I stole your stuff! And I got away! This time, I won!”

Dip, standing nearby, rushed over with a worried expression and helped Charles up. “Captain, take off that mask quickly.”

Charles was startled inwardly.

How long have I been wearing this mask?

The moment this thought surfaced, a strange voice suddenly burst into his mind:

I don’t know either, but it feels like at least an hour or two.

Charles ripped off the mask on his face as fast as he could. The instant it came off, everything around him instantly grew several shades darker, and the pain throughout his body multiplied several times over.

But at that moment, Charles was focusing all his attention on his mind, relentlessly questioning who that voice belonged to.

Seeing the Captain standing there in a daze, Dip waved his hand in front of him.

“Captain, what’s wrong? Are you alright?”

Charles ignored him, sitting down on the ground as if waiting for something. Only after removing the mask and confirming that the voice in his head had fallen silent did he let out a deep sigh.

A chilling sensation gripped his chest.

Thank goodness. If I’d stayed masked a few more minutes, I would have been fighting with my other personality for control of my body.

I need to be more careful with this mask from now on. Its advantages are undeniable, but its disadvantages are astonishing. While the masked me doesn’t refuse to take it off, my personality becomes dangerously impulsive.

Seeing the Captain return to his senses, the other crew members simultaneously let out a sigh of relief. They hurried to help Charles up and rushed him to the Captain’s Cabin.

After the commotion, Charles’s acid-corroded wounds were all wrapped in bandages. At that moment, Charles looked more like a mummy than a man wrapped in bandages.

Weakened, he sat up in bed and looked around at the surrounding crew members.

“Who fired the cannon earlier?”

If the deck cannon hadn’t intervened, Charles would surely have been lost.

“Me! It was me!”

Lily the White Rat scrambled up Charles’s body, using the bedsheets as a ladder, and perched in front of him.

Seeing the White Mouse’s expression, as if begging for praise, Charles was utterly perplexed.

“You can operate the deck cannon?”

He had assumed Chief Engineer James had handled the cannon, but it turned out to be Lily the mouse.

“What’s the big deal? My dad’s study has every book imaginable. I operated it with my friends. Pretty impressive, right?”

As Lily squeaked, a swarm of brown rats surged onto Charles’s bed.

Charles was deeply displeased by the sight of the bed overflowing with rats.

“Get these rats off here! You could have handled it alone. Why did you bring them all?”

“I promised my friends I’d invite them over and treat them to Mom’s sweet fish soup. You can’t break a promise.”

Lily spoke with an air of righteous justification.

Charles reassured her with a few words and turned to Krona, the Second Mate, standing beside him.

The red-haired youth seemed to know what Charles was about to ask and spoke first. “Rest assured, Captain. We’ve checked everything, and the headcount hasn’t changed.”

“Good, good…”

With the danger averted, a wave of intense fatigue washed over Charles. His body, battered by injuries and the aftermath of the sprint, sent warning signals.

“Stay alert and get us back to safe waters as quickly as possible. Everyone out. I’m exhausted.”

Before the others could even leave the room, Charles’s eyelids drooped, and he fell asleep instantly.

When Charles woke up, he had no idea how much time had passed.

I should buy a pocket watch.

With his mind clear, Charles remained in bed, leaning against the pillow and a faint smile playing on his lips. He had been haunted by one nagging worry: was he already gone from Earth? Even if he reached the surface, would he be able to return?

But the words of 1068 at the Flesh Gate had confirmed one thing: there was a sun in the outside world. If there was a sun, it must be Earth, and everyone there was waiting for him to return.

Charles’s resolve hardened. He would find the Surface Exit.

With his purpose renewed, he was about to get out of bed when he noticed the relics he had brought from Laboratory No. 3 piled up on the cabinet.

Looking at these items, Charles felt his heart stir.

Though he had been the one to cause everything that happened at the site, the current Charles felt a strange disconnect from his past self. Back then, he had been as restless as a cat seeing a toy, his mind buzzing with the thought of so many relics, and he had unconsciously tried to steal them without regard for the danger.

But now, gazing at the relics, Charles felt relieved that he had been lucky. Having sustained only injuries and still managed to steal so many relics, this trade had clearly been worthwhile.

He began examining the items he had brought back in detail.

A heavily rusted sword.

A quill as thick as his forearm.

A pyramid-shaped amethyst.

Adding the silver tentacle ring on his finger, there were four relics in total.

The relics all seemed extraordinary, but Charles didn’t dare experiment with them easily. Some of his previous research notes had been lost during his battles with the leeches, and others had been damaged by seawater when he jumped into the sea.

Now, only two relic information booklets remained, one of which was the ring he was wearing on his finger.

Project Number: 168, Tentacle Ring.

168 is a ring made of 925 silver, its design resembling three coiled octopus tentacles. Dr. Tina discovered it at a jewelry store in Shinjie City during her vacation.

The project’s anomalous phenomena are documented in Appendix 2, in the form of an interview record.

Appendix 2: “Dr. Tina, could you tell us how you discovered 168?”

“When my husband took me to choose our wedding rings, I put this one on the moment I saw it. It wasn’t until we got back to the apartment that I realized something was wrong. I started developing some kind of special ability.”

“What kind of special ability?”

“Well… my hands can transform into three tentacles that others can’t see. It feels very strange, yet it’s so natural, as if the tentacles had always been part of my hands.”

“I know what the next question is. The tentacles have incredible crushing strength, equivalent to that of two adult men, and their elasticity is remarkable—they can stretch up to five meters when fully extended. The negative side effect is that the ring unconsciously tempts people to wear it, and it gradually tightens, forcing me to remove it periodically.”

“Is that all?”

“Yes, that’s all. It’s a really simple little object. I wish the other projects were as quiet. Sophie, 1068, which I’m in charge of, is fine as long as we have enough food, but 641 is a real headache.”

“Oh, Tina, I’ve heard of that one too. It’s difficult to handle. If it were released from containment, it could assimilate the entire population of Human Island. But in terms of toxicity, it doesn’t compare to 134, which I’m responsible for—”

“Ahem! Ladies, it’s work hours. Save your chatter for after your shift and be mindful of your surroundings.”

“Sorry, sorry.”

22:41, Interview concluded.

Turns into tentacles?

After a moment’s thought, Charles raised his hand. A strange phenomenon occurred. He felt his fingers rapidly elongating and thickening, yet to the naked eye, his hand remained unchanged.

Suddenly, a drawer on a distant table slid open, and a bottle of liquor floated out, hovering in mid-air. The scene was bizarre.

Charles began experimenting with this new relic in the room. Small objects flew up and down in the air as he tested its capabilities.

Having grown accustomed to the relic, Charles decided to keep it for his own use. While it lacked the direct offensive power of the Clown Mask or the Black Saber, he realized that with clever application, it could serve unexpected purposes.

What drew him most to this small object was that it had the fewest side effects of any relic he had ever encountered.