Surviving as the Captain of a Mad Cthulhu Deep Sea - Chapter 19

chapter 19

The Eye in the Sky

Chapter 19: The Eye in the Sky

The next morning, Lily, curled up on her pillow, opened her eyes. She was about to greet Charles when she noticed the bed was empty.

“Hop, is Mr. Charles in the washroom?”

A brown rat poked its head through the door crack, then quickly darted back to squeak at Lily on the pillow.

“Mr. Charles left so early? He’s so busy.”

Lily stretched and sat up on the pillow.

She tilted her head, pondered for a moment, then said to the rats under the bed, “Shall we go out and play?”

When enthusiastic squeaks came from below, Lily’s furry face broke into a smile as she leaped off the bed.

Ignoring the screams erupting around her, Lily led the mice in a mad dash down the main street of Inland Island.

A lady in a silk dress, her mouth covered to stifle her screams; barking stray dogs; an old woman swinging a broom; drivers slamming on their brakes. From the mice’s perspective, everything was enormous and filled with wonder.

But as she noticed more hostile glances coming their way, Lily quickly steered the mice into a side alley.

The quiet alley had fewer people than the main street, and Lily let the mice roam at their leisure.

“Wow, look at that bread! It’s so big! I could sleep inside it. Hop, don’t go! That’s someone else’s! No meat either. If you keep this up, you’ll cause trouble for Mr. Charles!”

As Lily wandered aimlessly through the streets, she suddenly spotted someone she recognized in the distance: the burly man who worked in the Turbine Room.

Just as Lily was about to rush over and greet him, she noticed that James, usually covered in grease, was now wearing a tight-fitting suit and holding a very expensive bouquet of flowers. His face was tense, and the back of his suit was soaked with sweat.

“Let’s follow him secretly and see what he’s up to,” she whispered.

James turned down an alley, weaving through the narrow streets until he finally arrived in front of a bakery. When an elegant woman in a skirt emerged from the shop, James pulled a small box from his pocket, knelt on one knee, and the customers inside began to applaud.

“Wow! A proposal!” Lily shouted excitedly.

Seeing the woman tear up and nod, then embrace James, Lily smiled sweetly.

“How wonderful for them.”

Watching them enter the shop, Lily continued walking. Just then, her stomach rumbled.

“Mr. Charles called me a sailor, so he should pay me. Then I could buy everyone some food.”

The surrounding mice squeaked in agreement.

Looking around, she spotted a large clock tower in the distance. Lily turned to the mice beside her.

“Hey, this isn’t far from our home. After we see Mom, let’s go home and ask Mr. Charles for some food.”

Lily finished speaking and led the mice away in a flash. This time, she acted cleverly, sticking to the shadows and hidden corners, and finally managed to avoid startling anyone.

Lily brought the mice back to the front of the mansion. The mice skillfully stacked themselves into a tower, boosting the White Mouse up to the window.

Lily pressed her face against the glass, gazing blankly at a family having their meal.

“Why did Dad come home from work so early today…?”

Watching them laugh and talk inside, Lily’s eyes began to well up.

She stood at the window, watching the meal end. Only when the mother came out to take out the trash did she hastily hide.

Lily watched wistfully as her mother returned inside, then darted to the trash can to search for discarded food scraps.

She picked up a fish bone, licked off the remaining flesh, and the brown rats swarmed in, devouring the scraps in an instant.

Just then, Lily heard a young girl’s cheerful voice from outside:

“Dad, Mom, thank you for the birthday present! I love you!”

The white rat standing in the garbage shook the fish bone in her paw, holding it up for the other rats to see. Tears streamed down her face.

“You all agree, don’t you? Our mother’s sweet fish soup is truly delicious.”

“Where have you been?” Charles asked the rat, who had just entered the room while he was studying a nautical chart.

“I went out to play,” Lily replied dejectedly, her voice flat.

“Are you hungry? There’s some food on the table.”

“Give it to the other rats. I’ve already eaten.”

Feeling listless, Lily climbed onto the pillow and lay down, not moving.

Charles watched the dejected rat with puzzlement. What’s wrong with this little mouse now? Didn’t we finish all the work?

But he had no patience for such bad habits. He grabbed Lily’s tail and lifted her onto the table.

“I’ve found a few books on bag operation. Read them quickly. I’ll train you at the docks tomorrow.”

Lily instinctively recoiled at the sight of the towering stack of books, which were taller than she was.

“I don’t want to look. And I already know how to operate the cannon!”

“Don’t talk nonsense. Becoming a qualified gunner isn’t that easy. As long as you’re my crew member, I have to ensure you meet the standards. The sea is full of all sorts of anomalies, and even your smallest mistake could get everyone killed.”

Charles opened a book and placed the rat on top of it.

Under the captain’s overbearing attitude, Lily was forced to read books inappropriate for her age. Yet in this oppressive environment, she had no time to dwell on her inner gloom and sorrow. The cheerful Lily she once was returned, and she spent the day relentlessly complaining to Charles.

Even the usually taciturn Charles became talkative in response to the rat’s grumbling, and for the first time, a hint of warmth filled the apartment room.

The fortnight passed swiftly, and Lily’s basic training was complete. Charles, having completed the refit of The Narwhal, set sail on a new mission.

Since the previously explored Grade 5 island had been on the edge of the map, this time Charles was tasked with exploring the northernmost waters.

Simple sea exploration was generally safer than island exploration, but who could truly know the ways of the Subterranean Sea?

The other crew members were surprised by Lily the White Rat’s return, but thanks to Charles’s subtle hints, no one pressed her for details. They only knew that The Narwhal now had a rat catcher.

Black smoke billowed from The Narwhal’s chimney once more, and the ship gradually disappeared from the dockworkers’ sight.

For others, this time might have seemed too short for a refit, but for Charles, it felt far too long.

The information Charles had obtained from 1068 made him even more desperate to find an exit to the surface. Having already risked his life, nothing else mattered.

Life at sea remained as peaceful as ever, with any unknown creatures that crawled onto the deck being swiftly dealt with.

They entered a Sea Mark-less region for the second time, but unlike before, the crew remained much calmer. Perhaps it was because no one had been lost on the previous mission, which made them highly enthusiastic about this new assignment.

Even though they had only rested for half the night, confidence radiated from everyone’s faces. Second Mate Krona even wanted to bring her Rat Brother aboard to get rich together. The crew subtly speculated about how quickly they could explore the new island and rise through the ranks under the Captain’s guidance.

On the tenth day, Charles sat in the cockpit, pen in hand, calculating the ship’s current position on the nautical chart based on its speed and direction.

This was normally the navigator’s duty, but he handled it himself. A slight error in the coordinates could lead to a vast difference in their actual location, so he couldn’t afford to be careless.

After double-checking the day’s coordinates, Charles turned to head to the Captain’s Cabin to write the logbook.

But as he reached the door, he felt an inexplicable awkwardness.

He stopped in front of the door and scanned the entire cockpit. The Narwhal’s cockpit was much larger than the Old Rat’s, about half the size of a classroom.

At that moment, Boatswain Dip was at the helm, with First Mate Bandages standing beside him, overseeing the navigation. The two were engaged in conversation.

“Bandaged Navigator, did you know? James secretly got married! How could he not invite us to his wedding? That’s so heartless!”

“Port helm fifteen… increase speed to five knots…”

Bandages gave the orders blankly, seemingly oblivious to the Boatswain’s complaint.

Charles, who had been scanning the cockpit, finally pinpointed the source of the awkwardness. He strode over to Bandages and tore away the bandages from his severed leg.

A new leg was growing from his thigh, the same one Anna had eaten earlier. The dark, tattooed skin contrasted sharply with the pale, newly formed flesh.

Dip, clearly noticing this astonishing sight, widened his eyes and exclaimed dramatically.

“Good heavens, your leg was severed, and now it’s growing back? Are you some kind of sea octopus?”

“Don’t look away when I’m steering!”

Charles’s sharp rebuke made the curious Dip quickly shrink back.

Charles pointed a finger at the severed leg and asked Bandages, “Can you explain what’s happening here? I’ve never heard of Cannonball Believers having the ability to regenerate limbs.”

“I… I don’t know… My memories are so jumbled… I’ve been to so many places… and experienced so many things… but my memories keep fading…”

Bandages clutched his head, a pained expression crossing his face.

“I don’t think my name is Bandages… but I’m not sure…”

This one has quite a story.

Charles sighed inwardly. He reached out and patted the man on the shoulder.

“It’s alright. Don’t force yourself to remember what happened if you can’t. All you need to remember right now is that you’re the First Mate of The Narwhal.”

Bandages, who had been sitting in the chair, lifted his head, his lips stretching into a grotesque smile.

“Thank you… Captain.”

After speaking, he skillfully inserted a long black needle into his regrown thigh, and tiny letters appeared on his leg:

Captain Charles is trustworthy.

“First Mate, you really don’t need to—”

“Captain! Something’s wrong! Look out the window!”

Hearing Dip’s panicked voice, Charles immediately turned his gaze to the window.

Bright yellow fragments were swirling and falling. To Charles, the sight resembled the eye of Earth, but how could the Subterranean Sea, which had no sky at all, possess eyes?

Faced with this anomaly, Captain Charles immediately took decisive action.

“Everyone back to the cabins! Full speed ahead, get us out of this area!”

The bright yellow “eyes” piled up on the deck, and tension began to rise aboard The Narwhal.

As The Narwhal let out a dull roar, thick black smoke billowed from its chimney.

Charles, his mind on high alert, stared intently at the pitch-black sea surface, not even blinking.

Whoosh~ Whoosh~

A whistling sound echoed through the cabin as waves began to ripple across the sea surface.

“Is… is this wind? Wind in the Subterranean Sea? Have we neared the surface entrance?”

An absurd thought flashed through his mind.

Suddenly, as if struck by a realization, Charles’s eyes narrowed to pinpricks. He yanked the red lever with all his might, and the searchlight on the ceiling, which had been shining horizontally towards the sea surface, swiftly swiveled upward, illuminating the sky.

Charles burst out of the cabin and looked up. In an instant, an inexplicable tremor wracked his entire body. Unprecedented terror enveloped him.

Directly above The Narwhal, a colossal eye, covering half the sky, stared down at him.