Shrouded Seascape

Chapter 685: Exploration

"Captain, are they related to each other? Maybe they're the same?" Dipp asked nervously as he stared at the two dots on the map.

"I have no idea, but I hope that what's attacking us right now isn't the same thing as that thing that we saw first," Charles replied, staring at the map before him with a solemn expression.

Unfortunately, they couldn't return to the first dot's location to see whether what they had encountered just now was the same as that white sphere. If they were the same, then they were in big trouble

It meant that the white sphere was targeting the Narwhale. They weren't exactly sure of what it was, but its sheer size alone meant that even a light collision from it would obliterate them.

After narrowly avoiding a collision with the giant white sphere, the Narwhale continued advancing in the darkness. The crew members were on high alert, and the ship entered a state that would allow them to respond to threats at the fastest speed possible.

The atmosphere was so tense that the sailors keeping watch on the deck weren't even allowed to go down for meals. The ship's cook and his assistant had to ask the other sailors to deliver food to those on sentry duty.

As the minutes ticked by, everyone realized that being a bit more cautious would always never hurt, as another colossal white sphere appeared in the darkness. This time, the colossal white sphere was about ten kilometers portside of the Narwhale.

The sailors on sentry watch reported that the colossal white sphere had appeared out of thin air. They swore that the colossal white sphere wasn't there a moment ago, but it appeared in the next.

Fortunately, the colossal white sphere that they had encountered this time stayed motionless as if it were dead.

"How long before we reached the borders of the region that the Foundation has explored?!" Charles shouted at the bridge. He was standing on the deck and was keeping watch like the other sailors.

"At our current speed, it will still take us half a day!"

Charles furrowed his brows at the report and stared at a distant white dot. The colossal white sphere was so far that it looked like a grain of rice in the distance. They were now in the most troublesome part of any expedition—handling the unknown.

Charles was not afraid of the white sphere's raw strength; he was more afraid of the fact that the white sphere had a bizarre, unknown ability.

The vessels of the Haikor Tribe had stumbled upon the white sphere as well and had even passed through one of its holes. The Haikor Tribe suffered no losses except for their freshwater, which had been contaminated for some reason after their passage.

It was pretty uneventful overall, but Charles hadn't forgotten about how the second exploration vessel to have encountered the white sphere was torn apart, with its debris falling down upon the Narwhale.

The same white sphere seemed to have produced two completely different outcomes, which made it really hard for Charles to figure out what exactly would happen if they ended up facing the white sphere.

"Should we... send someone... over to take a look?" A slow drawn-out voice echoed from next to Charles' ear, startling him. He turned and cast a surprised look at his first mate.

"Are you crazy? Who knows what that thing is?! Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"It... has been following... us... And what if… those three spheres are the same thing...? Rather than running away... I think… it's better to... just… face it."

Charles' brows knitted as he stared at the white dot in the distance. He pondered briefly before saying, "Let's give it a few minutes. Let's move forward and see what's going to happen. It would be great if we could just avoid it."

The captain's order was quickly relayed to the entire ship, and the Narwhale advanced deeper into the darkness. The tiny white dot portside of the Narwhale gradually disappeared from everyone's line of sight.

And just like that, they continued on their journey. Half a day later, they reached the end of the region that the Foundation had already explored. In other words, the information that the Foundation had gathered would be useless from now on.

What lay ahead was the unknown, and their survival would depend on their capabilities. Fortunately, the white sphere was no longer tailing them, making them feel a bit better. Everyone signed in relief, feeling like the crisis had passed.

However, it seemed that reality had a penchant for playing tricks on anyone—tricks that anyone couldn't have predicted. On the third day of their journey across the unexplored region of the darkness, a round white disk abruptly appeared ahead of the Narwhale.

The round white disk was so close that Charles could clearly see the holes of a variety of sizes in it.

"Starboard full rudder!! Dodge it!" Charles roared.

The frightened Nico frantically turned the wheel, and his efforts paid off, as the Narwhale narrowly avoided a head-on collision.

The round white disk emitted a gentle moonlight that coated everyone's ugly faces with a layer of silver—no, it was no longer a disk. It was a disk just a few moments ago, but it became a white sphere in the blink of an eye.

"Someone check if the water in our tanks has been contaminated!" Charles exclaimed.

Hearing the unusual nervousness coming from Charles' tone of voice, Bandages flicked his hand, and a green vine shot out of his bandages and made a beeline for the cabin door.

They were so close to the round white sphere that Charles felt nervous about the Narwhale getting torn apart and suffering the same horrible fate as the exploration vessel that they had encountered earlier.

The few seconds of waiting felt like years to Charles. In the end, Bandages finally nodded at him, allowing him to sigh in relief. The Narwhale hurriedly retreated, and the ship only slowed down when the colossal white sphere had become the size of a ping-pong ball in the distance.

Charles knitted his brows as he stared at the distant ping-pong ball. He knew that they couldn't wait any longer. There was something strange about the white sphere, and they had to figure it out, or it could keep following them indefinitely.

"Lily, tell your mice friends to go over there and take a look!" Charles instructed.

Soon, a helicopter that looked like a toy and was only half as tall as a human being was dragged onto the deck by the sailors. A few colorful mice squeaked as they climbed into the helicopter, and one of the mice was carrying a bottle of fresh water.

The rotor blades rotated rapidly, kicking up gusts of wind that rustled Charles' bangs nonstop. Under everyone's gaze, the small helicopter rushed toward the distant white sphere.

"See? What did I tell you? I told you they're smart and that they'll have no issues piloting that thing! And you didn't want to believe me!" Lily exclaimed, lifting her chin proudly to stare at Charles.

I'd love a drone camera more than a helicopter for mice. Charles thought, stroking Lily's furry head. As Charles stared at the mice's departing figures, he prepared himself for the possibility that the mice could fail to return.

Surprisingly, the colorful mice actually returned safe and sound. It was always better to err on the side of caution, so Charles didn't allow the mice to return to the ship immediately.

He made them stay about three meters away while Lily was busy interpreting for them.

"Squeeak, squeak, squeeeaak!"

"Apparently, there's nothing inside except for a maze with many winding paths. The air smelled like rattan balls. The white stuff is tasteless and hard; biting into it feels like biting into a bone."

"Ah, right, the bottle of water that they had taken with them was polluted for some reason."

The colorful mice brought back answers that were more or less the same as what the Haikor Tribe had told him. However, this wasn't an explanation as to why the white sphere had been following Charles.

Was he the only one with such a plight, or had those explorers faced the same plight as well?

"Wait, open that bottle of polluted water, and let me see what's going on with it."

The mice immediately responded to Charles' order. The stopper was promptly removed, and the sweet, fishy, and pungent smell of decay pervaded everyone's nose in the proverbial blink of an eye.

Charles hurriedly covered his mouth and nose before ordering the mice to throw the polluted water overboard. Staring at the falling water bottle, Charles suddenly found himself in a dilemma. What should I do next?