Shrouded Seascape

After a brief moment of pondering, Charles summoned the first mate and the second mate to his quarters so that they could discuss their next move.

They were not in danger at the moment, but they were in a dilemma. It was hard to guarantee where the white sphere would appear next if they were to leave it alone. What if it engulfed the entire Narwhale the next time it appeared?

The three soon reached a decision—they had to explore the white sphere, and this time, they'd send real people rather than mice. They believed that since the mice managed to return unharmed, humans would remain unharmed as well.

The candidates were quickly selected, as the Narwhale only had a few crew members capable of flight. Ultimately, the two vampire crew of the Narwhale were selected to do the task.

"Take a good look and see whether there's something noteworthy inside of it or not," Charles said to Audric.

Audric nodded and said, "Don't worry, Captain. We'll definitely help you figure out what that thing is."

And just like that, the two bats made their way swiftly toward the distant white sphere…

Staring at their distant figures, Charles pondered briefly over something before saying, "Move us a bit closer to them, and make sure the turbines are at full power so we can move away as soon as possible."

As the Narwhale moved closer and closer to the white "ping-pong sphere," it steadily grew in size until it became as huge as four moons combined.

Soon, the Narwhale was close enough to the white sphere that Charles could clearly see the holes of varying sizes in it. From this angle, the interconnected holes eerily resembled a howling skull.

Linda nervously gulped a mouthful of her saliva. Her clenched hands were trembling slightly; she was clearly worried about her husband.

Grace was standing next to Linda, and this was her first time in such a nerve-wracking situation, so she couldn't help but feel anxious as she glanced alternatingly between the white sphere and the faces of the crew members.

Meanwhile, the crew members seemed unfazed. They had long grown accustomed to something like this. Thirty minutes went by in a flash, and there was still no sign of the two vampires.

Everyone was waiting quietly for the two vampires' return, but the sphere seemed to have run out of patience as it began transforming. At first, Charles thought that his eyes were playing tricks on him, but he quickly realized that the sphere was becoming larger in his eyes, so he immediately ordered a swift retreat.

Fortunately, the Narwhale wasn't that close to the white sphere, so they had ample time to avoid it. The white sphere also wasn't chasing after the Narwhale.

The Narwhale easily avoided a head-on collision with the enlarged white sphere, but the two vampire crew never emerged from it.

Everyone could only watch helplessly as the white sphere transformed from a sphere into a hemisphere and then into a round white disk before vanishing into the darkness.

Charles was unwittingly transfixed on the sphere as it slowly disappeared, and he saw quite a few brand-new details.

When the white sphere containing her husband finally disappeared into the darkness, a tear rolled down Linda's expressionless face, and it formed a droplet before falling to the floor.

"Don't worry! It's not certain yet!" Charles exclaimed. A grave look took over his face as he whipped out his diary. Finding no new content on the furthest page, he pulled out a pencil and started drawing on it.

He drew cross-sections of the white sphere as it disappeared frame by frame, focusing on the areas that had vanished.

Recalling the recent scene and staring at his rough sketches, Charles took out an eraser and erased chunks of the white sphere on the paper before drawing it again. He repeated this process several times to the confusion of the crew.

"Have you... discovered... something?" First Mate Bandages crouched down and joined Charles in examining the hemispheres that the latter had drawn in his diary.

"Hmm... There's something strange with its disappearance. It also seems familiar to me," Charles replied. The white sphere's disappearance was awfully similar to how the "chalkboard erasers" erased that colossal worm.

When he thought about how the white sphere seemed capable of manifesting out of thin air and disappearing again, Charles became a bit more confident in his assumption.

"Let's wait here. I think that thing will come back. It doesn't seem to be a living creature. There's a cycle to its appearances and disappearances; it's moving like an elevator," Charles replied.

His words had just fallen when Lily's resonant voice echoed from nearby. "Mr. Charles, look! There's another white dot over there!!"

Charles turned and saw a white sphere on the upper right of the Narwhale's starboard side. He wasted no time and ordered the Narwhale to move closer to it.

As they drew closer, the gentle moonlight from the white sphere's surface illuminated everyone's faces.

Charles took a closer look at the white sphere using a monoscope and was immediately delighted. He saw his two vampire crew stumbling out of one of the white sphere's holes—they were still alive!

Just as the corners of Charles' lips curled up into a smile, he saw the two clutching their heads and collapsing to the ground.

"Fly! Fly up and come back here, you two!!" the crew members shouted, but Audric and Sniffler showed no response. It seemed that they had fainted on the white sphere's surface.

"Keep an eye on the ship! I'll go and bring them back!" Charles exclaimed and kicked off of the gunwale with his right foot. His figure morphed into a bat monster in mid-air, and then he made a beeline for the two.

Seeing the winding and twisted cracks in the white sphere's surface as well as its slightly yellowed color beneath its moonlight, Charles finally understood why the mice had taken a bite of it. The entire thing truly looked like a bone.

A massive invisible tentacle burst out of the white sphere's surface and wrapped around the two men before tossing them in Charles's direction. Charles caught them with his talons and returned to the Narwhale.

The two vampires sprawled out on the Narwhale's deck with faces twisted in pain.

The crew members converged on them with worried looks.

"Don't touch them! Stand back! Let me handle this!" Linda exclaimed. She was wearing a pair of gloves, and she immediately crouched down to examine them.

"Dipp, don't just stand there and move us away from here! We can't stay here for too long! We have to leave this place as soon as possible!!" Charles shouted. He then crouched down and watched as Linda examined the two men.

The two men had taken on bizarre and pained faces. Saliva was dripping constantly from their mouths, and their eyeballs were jumping around as if they were electrified. To make matters worse, they looked absolutely terrified.

"What's wrong with them?!" Charles asked.

"I don't know! They have no external injuries!" Linda exclaimed. She then shoved her hand into the two men and skillfully felt their organs. "There's no problem with their insides as well. This seems to be a psychological issue."

"Audric, it's me!! Respond to me if you can hear me!" Linda exclaimed.

And that was when Audric gasped; his jumping eyeballs returned to their normal positions. He had come to his senses, but his expression still depicted abject fear as he exclaimed, "Captain! There are too many of them! I-I don't want it! B-but… they wouldn't stop shoving more of it in! I-I just can't take it anymore!!"

Audric opened his mouth and bit his own arm. His sharp fangs reduced his arm into a bloody mess in just a few moments.

Charles moved quickly and restrained Audric with his invisible tentacles.

"Calm down!" Charles raised his prosthetic hand and slapped Audric in the face. "What exactly did you see back there?!"

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