Shrouded Seascape

"Miss, have we met before? Did you also come here from another world? Where exactly are we now?" The boy showed apparent confusion at Anna's earlier words.

Anna let out a soft chuckle, and the corners of her lips curved up into a teasing smile. She sashayed toward the young man and said, "Don't just stand there on the rock. Come down here to big sister, and let me give you a proper hug."

Scanning Anna's alluring figure, a thought seemed to have crossed the young man's mind. His cheeks flushed a crimson red as he quickly averted his gaze, and the panic in his eyes was unmistakable as he said, "N-no, it's alright. I'm fine staying up here."

Anna turned her to Charles, and her smile returned to a playful one. "He's so much cuter than you. Maybe we should part ways. Compared to you, I now want to spend my life with him more."

Alarmed, Charles stared at the young man standing on the floating rock. Clad in denim jeans and a blue jacket, Charles was certain that that was his exact outfit when he had first arrived at the Subterranean Sea over a decade ago! This boy was a younger version of himself, the past Charles!

Clearly, the younger Charles didn't realize that the man before him was his future self.

After all, the changes in appearance were too significant.

Charles then noticed that the blue digital arrow beside him was pointing directly at the younger Charles. He immediately understood that the young man was his shadow.

His shadow had taken away all of Charles' past memories, which was why the younger man believed that he had just arrived in this world.

At this moment, realization seemed to have dawned on Feuerbach as well. He shouted at Charles, "Captain! Focus on asking the important questions! We're still inside the enemy! We need to find the darkness asap and get out of here."

With his brows tightly knitted together, Charles approached his shadow. He carefully chose his words before asking, "Are you here alone?"

"Yeah… It's just me. It's so annoying not to see a single person in sight. What kind of crappy transmigration is this? Even Robinson Crusoe had Friday as his companion," the younger Charles complained in frustration.

"Then have you seen anything like a mass of darkness here?" Charles followed up with another question.

Since the younger Charles seemed clueless and innocent, it was better for him to try to extract some information first. He knew that his younger self was rather naive.

A hint of confusion surfaced on the younger Charles' face. "Darkness? It has always been dark around here."

The younger Charles contemplated for a brief moment before he cautiously asked, "Erm… can you get me out of here? I've been stuck in this godforsaken place for years. I don't care about anything else; I just want to see humans, anyone at all."

As Anna translated the younger Charles' words, everyone present could feel their heart sinking. Even though they had found Charles' shadow through Charles, they were still unable to locate the darkness.

Both Julio and the Gods from the Haikor tribe immediately started to use their own detection methods to search for the darkness. They were determined to find it with their own means.

"Don't worry; we have a backup plan!" Feuerbach exclaimed.

Anna shot Feuerbach a disdainful look. "You bunch have lived this long and still haven't learned anything, huh? You're a disgrace to the Foundation. What makes you think you're worthy of being the Foundation?"

With that, Anna pulled out Charles' navigational journal. She flipped through the pages and stopped on the second last page.

"Sparkle," Anna called out. "This place is sealed pretty well; you shouldn't be able to sense that terrifying aura. Come help Mommy and Daddy find something."

While the others were busy utilizing their various abilities, Charles continued conversing with his younger self. Given that his shadow had been living here for so many years, there was probably no one else more knowledgeable than him about this area.

"Uncle, I swear I haven't seen any darkness. I don't even know what to do with it. Why would I hide something like that?" the younger Charles said with a look of distraught.

Then, he added, "This barren space doesn't even have a spot for me to settle down. If it hadn't been for the fact that I don't need food or water to survive for some reason, I would have starved or died from dehydration long ago."

The younger Charles then glanced at Anna's impressive figure, a hint of nervousness flickering across his eyes. "By the way, Uncle, is that beautiful lady your wife?"

Upon receiving Charles' affirmation, a hint of sadness crossed the young Charles' youthful face. However, he quickly composed himself and feigned nonchalance.

"Oh, it's nothing. I was just asking. After all, only the three of us here speak Chinese. Uncles, since we are both transmigrators, let's look out for each other in this new, foreign world," the younger Charles proposed.

Charles extended his right hand toward the young man. With a complicated expression, he replied, "Come over here first. We can figure out your situation later."

Perhaps due to the influence of 002, his shadow had taken on his younger appearance. But regardless of the current circumstances, Charles had to put his personal matters aside first. However, it seemed like this issue with his shadow wouldn't be resolved that easily.

"Thanks," the younger Charles said as he grabbed Charles' hand and jumped onto the deck of the Narwhale. As soon as he landed, he looked curiously at Charles' feet.

"Huh?" the younger Charles expressed confusion. "Uncle, why don't you have a shad—"

Before he could complete his sentence, he stiffened, and terror suffused his face. His form began to dissolve rapidly and melt into a pool of black liquid before it turned into Charles' shadow and attached itself to Charles' feet.

The moment Charles' shadow reconnected with Charles, a torrent of memories surged into his mind. The tidal wave of memories included those memories that had vanished along with his shadow, as well as his shadow's years of memories while living within this triakis octahedron.

The memories and consciousness of Charles and his shadow fused into one in an instant.

"ARGH!" A look of agony marred Charles' face as he clutched his head and fell to one knee. The sheer volume of memories infiltrating his brain was close to overwhelming his consciousness.

When Sparkle and Anna finally managed to help Charles up from the ground, he was completely drenched in sweat.

Just then, Charles' eyes suddenly shot open, and he shouted with all his might, "Wait! I know where the darkness is!"

Everyone immediately gathered, and their eyes transfixed on Charles.

"Daddy, are you really alright?" Sparkle looked concerned as she gently patted Charles' back.

"I'm fine," Charles reassured her before he continued with his explanation. "I've regained my previous lost memories. My shadow lied earlier. He has seen the darkness, but it was his first meeting with us, so he was cautious and didn't want to divulge anything."

Charles then turned toward Feuerbach and said. "Forget about the backup plan; just do as I say! We head north! The darkness is resting there. We need to move quickly!"

Feuerbach was stunned for a moment before he quickly pressed down on a button on his communication headset and spoke a few rushed words into the microphone.

Moments later, the jets began to accelerate and pulled the Narwhale ahead at full speed.

In no time, the group had arrived at the location that Charles stated.

However, all that surrounded them was still the swirling mists of chaos; there was nothing else in sight. Everyone turned their questioning gazes toward Charles.

In response, Charles stepped forward and stopped at the bow. His expression was tinged with complexity as he softly called out, "Friday! There's no need to hide. I'm Gao Zhiming! We mean no harm!"

At first, nothing happened.

But soon, the surrounding darkness began to coalesce and bulge outward, forming a massive, featureless face made of shadows.

The face was massive and stretched beyond any visible boundaries.

Meanwhile, the swirling mists of chaos seemed to be the face's body.