Shrouded Seascape

Chapter 806: Mark

Charles and his group seemed out of place amidst the tumultuous applause that sounded like ocean waves.

The one-eyed captain then turned to his young female crew. "Was that part of the script, or was it an improvisation of the heroine because something had gone wrong?"

Before the dumbfounded Grace could respond, a chubby woman in a long dress and spider silk gloves stepped up. She covered her mouth with her fan and curiously sized up Charles, who was wearing his Captain's uniform.

"That's why this opera house is so good~! No one can say for sure whether what they had seen was the real deal or a mere part of a script. And the more curious you become, the less you'll know," the chubby woman answered Charles' inquiry.

Charles seemed to ponder over the chubby woman's response before nodding and standing up. "Let's go. The show's over, so we should go out now."

"It's not over yet. That was just the first show. The next shows are definitely even more amazing than the first one," the chubby woman said.

Her words had just fallen when the curtain up ahead was lifted once again.

A black umbrella the size of a small house was on the stage. A dozen corpses were hanging upside down beneath the umbrella's canopy, and they were rotating along with the umbrella.

A narrator with a deep voice began describing the scenario.

"Mmhm, it's pretty interesting. Let's watch them all before leaving," Sparkle said with her eyes fixed on the stage.

Since his daughter had already made up her mind, Charles sat back down and calmly watched the performance on stage.

The performance was all about religion, depicting faith in the All-Seeing Eye.

As the show went on, Charles learned that the All-Seeing Eye wasn't a god of the Subterranean Sea. According to the people of the Western Seas, the All-Seeing Eye was in everyone's glabella. In other words, it was everyone's third eye.

Back when It was still alive, everyone was a part of It. On the day It died, the humans of ancient times obtained their own consciousness.

The word "All-Seeing" wasn't a title. It was the literal essence of Its existence. It was the embodiment of all knowledge. Everything that was once part of the passage of time was from the All-Seeing Eye. The endless knowledge available for humans to learn was the legacy of the All-Seeing Eye.

Humans couldn't see the "true" eye. It could only be seen in illusions and dreams, and if one wanted to obtain knowledge from it, one had to pay a price.

The faith in the All-Seeing Eye seemed to be a local belief in the Western Seas, and it was proven by how everyone, including Grace, pressed their palms together and put them in front of their glabella at the end of the show.

The faith in the All-Seeing Eye has to be an indigenous religion in the Subterranean Sea. And I have no idea how it came to be, Charles thought with his arms crossed.

In the middle of the third show, Charles felt a gaze from behind him. The gaze held no malice, but it was a piercing gaze transfixed on the back of his head.

Charles didn't react to the gaze. He had no plans of attacking others as long as he was not attacked first. After all, he was here to have fun with his daughter.

The applause in the opera house became louder and louder after each show, eventually reaching a crescendo at the climax of the fourth show.

The delighted and excited audience stood up and offered their sincere congratulations to the actors who managed to "survive" the shows.

Amidst the thunderous round of applause, Charles felt the owner of the gaze approaching him from behind.

"Governor Charles?"

Charles turned and saw a middle-aged man with a shrewd light in his eyes. The middle-aged man's high boots and shiny, curly hair made him stand out from the crowd.

The middle-aged man's confident smile and his spotless, bright white formal attire made him look even superior to Charles.

"This island is yours?" Charles asked. He patted Sparkle's head, signaling that they had to get ready to leave.

"My name is Mark Chelston. Just call me Mark. Welcome to my island, savior of the Subterranean Sea," Mark said, extending his right hand toward Charles.

Grace's eyes lit up at Mark's words, and she looked like she had questions she badly wanted answers from Mark.

Charles extended his cold prosthetic hand, shaking Mark's hand. For some reason, Charles disliked Mark as soon as he saw the latter's confident demeanor.

"Governor Charles, the show has ended. What do you think about visiting my Governor's Mansion?" Mark asked, withdrawing his hand.

"Sure," Charles replied. He then led Sparkle and Grace out of the opera house.

The opera house wasn't that far from the Governor's Mansion, so it took them no time to reach it. After alighting from the human-powered coach, a mansion with walls so white that it seemed to be glowing by itself appeared before everyone.

The corridors of the Governor's Mansion were so clean that they resembled glass, and row after row of maids and servants bowed in unison toward them as they walked down the corridors.

Mark made use of his superb conversational skills to try and figure out the reason behind Charles' visit. Charles responded readily, saying that he was here as a tourist, but Mark obviously didn't believe the former.

Mark enthusiastically introduced Charles to the bizarre islands of the Western Seas and expressed that if he were here as a tourist, he had to visit those places to see what the Western Seas had to offer.

Charles noticed that Mark was stalling for time, but Sparkle was listening with relish to him, so he didn't bother pointing it out.

The two were talking about the same topic, but they both had different thoughts in mind.

Meanwhile, Grace sitting nearby seemed a bit hesitant about something. When Mark finally stopped talking to sip on his drink, Grace stood up and said, "Governor Mark, can I ask you a question?"

Mark subconsciously looked at Charles, but the latter remained silent. Mark smiled at the disfigured young woman and replied, "Ask away. You're a guest of my Lighthouse Island, lovely lady, and as the host, I have the duty to fulfill my guest's request."

However, Grace's question caught him off guard. "Has the culprit of the tragedy under the Dolphin Bridge in the island's eastern district been found?"

Mark's gaze surreptitiously alternated between Grace and Charles. He wanted to know whether Grace's question was actually Charles' question or not. Actually, the young woman's question wasn't important.

What mattered was Charles' satisfaction; Mark had to ensure that Charles would be satisfied before leaving Lighthouse Island. As the Overlord of the Northern Seas, Charles could easily decide the fate of an entire island, after all.

Mark pondered over it for a few seconds before responding with a smile. "I remember that tragedy, but it happened a long time ago. If you don't mind, may I ask how you know about that tragedy from fifteen years ago?"

Grace bit her lower lip, and her eyes reddened as she replied. "My parents were one of the casualties of that tragedy. I know that there haven't been any clues since forever and that finding the culprit is extremely unlikely, but… I just want to ask, just in case…"

"I'm sorry, Miss," Mark said with a regretful face. "I've poured in a ton of manpower to find the culprit behind that tragedy, and all we came up with is that the culprit is most likely bandits moving from island to island. We've put wanted posters everywhere, but we still have no clues even today."

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