Shrouded Seascape

There was a click, and the red locked door was unlocked by the old lady. "What kind of question is that? Of course, this is my apartment. I saved up the money to buy this myself."

Just then, Tobba's cries grew louder. His performance was so realistic that there was even beaded sweat forming on his forehead.

"Hey, hey, hey, what's wrong with you, girl? Is he even your child? He's crying so much, so why are you not comforting him at all?" the old lady chided. She didn't even wait for Anna's reply before reaching out and taking Tobba away from her.

The old lady hummed an unknown lullaby while rocking the baby. Her tightly knitted brows relaxed as Tobba's cries softened in her arms.

When Tobba finally stopped crying, the old lady walked slowly into her apartment. "You said you just fed him, but he's clearly hungry. Young people nowadays truly are useless; they don't even know how to take care of their children.

"Do you have baby formula with you? I have hot water here."

Anna followed the old lady into the apartment, and the apartment's interior astonished her. The apartment was clearly different from the brightly lit and tidy home in Charles' memories.

The old-fashioned decorations and rustic clothes hanging on the balcony rack told Anna that this was indeed the old lady's home.

Anna keenly felt that something was amiss. According to Tobba's conjecture, Charles was supposed to be living here, as he had yet to fall into the Subterranean Sea.

However, there was a huge discrepancy between the reality and Tobba's conjecture. There was only one explanation for this—there was something wrong with either the reality before Anna or Tobba's conjecture.

"When did you buy this apartment? Was there really no child living here named Gao Zhiming? He's a member of a family of four," Anna asked urgently.

"My goodness, what's wrong with you? I told you he's not here, and he really is not here! And did I not tell you that I bought this apartment with my own money? I bought this using the money that I saved up for my retirement, and no one else has lived here except for me!"

The old lady froze just then and added, "Are you sure you're not in the wrong building, girl? Why don't you go ask around in the other buildings?"

Anna knew that she couldn't be mistaken, as she had lived in the neighborhood that she had replicated atop the World's Crown for a long time. She could be mistaken when it came to the other details, but she definitely couldn't be mistaken when it came to Charles' home itself.

Anna did not bother replying. She reached out, snatched Tobba from the old lady's arms, and turned around before rushing out the door. Instead of going downstairs, Anna went straight to the rooftop.

Then, she held Tobba's leg with one hand and dangled him off the edge of the building, exclaiming, "What kind of nonsense were you spouting?! What the hell is going on? You better give me a satisfactory explanation or else…!"

"You're putting me on the spot here. What explanation can I even offer you? And my conjecture was based on what you said to me," Tobba replied. He seemed unafraid, and he flailed around as if he were swimming.

"What are you hiding from me?! Why did you approach me? Why are you doing this? And where is the real Charles?" Anna asked.

"I'm really not hiding anything from you. Back then, I had the ability of foresight, but I'm just a newborn right now. How would I know the answer to your questions?

"And my conjecture is definitely correct. Your man is using a smartphone, but people around the world are still using dumb phones. Think about it; can I even lie to you? Can iron-clad facts deceive you?"

"What about him? Where is he right now?" Anna asked.

Just then, the window to the adjacent apartment was pushed open. A disheveled woman screamed in terror upon seeing a baby dangling off of the edge of the building.

Anna frowned, realizing that she had attracted attention to herself. She pulled Tobba up by the leg and descended the building.

Two hours later, Anna finally returned to the hotel with Tobba, and she was carrying something else in her hand. It was a very heavy laptop, and Anna had purchased it from a computer store.

"Baby, are you okay?" Li Lu rushed to pick up Tobba, whom Anna had casually thrown onto the sofa. Li Lu held him carefully in her arms and stared at him with worried eyes.

"Haaa, let's not talk about it. I'm just unlucky." Tobba turned and burrowed into her mother's bosom.

Anna had to wait for more than a minute before the computer booted into Windows XP. Once the computer had booted up, Anna opened the browser and searched the Internet for the information that she needed to know.

More specifically, Anna wanted to know when that neighborhood was constructed, the name of the city where it was constructed, and when the neighborhood was turned over.

Anna browsed through the Internet for a while before falling into deep contemplation. Everything was correct—the name of the neighborhood, the city, and even the address of the specific building in the neighborhood was accurate.

Everything was there except for Charles and his family.

How am I going to go back without Gao Zhiming?

Just as Anna was pondering over the issue, Tobba wobbled over to her and remarked, "So my conjecture is correct, isn't it?

"Since I'm correct, then you must be wrong. Think about it. Are you sure you're remembering it right? You know that you're human now, right? It's not strange for you to misremember things."

Anna emerged from her train of thought and cast an unhappy gaze at Tobba. "I have the entire memory chain, so how can I misremember anything? Charles definitely lived in that neighborhood according to his memories."

Tobba shrugged helplessly and asked, "Then figure out your next steps by yourself. I have no idea what to do at this point."

Anna crossed her arms in front of her chest and leaned back into her seat. In no time, she fell into contemplation, and the cogs in her mind turned as she tried to come up with a way to move forward.

At first, Anna thought that she was sufficiently familiar with this world, but things had always developed in ways beyond her expectations. If Gao Zhiming didn't exist here, then was she trapped somewhere that wasn't the former's world?

Am I in a parallel world? Did I get transported to the parallel world of the surface world? Was it 005? But why would she do that to me? What are her motives?

Anna sat quietly before making up her mind the next morning. Gao Zhiming has to be here; he couldn't have just disappeared. He has to exist here, and I must find him so that I can return to the Subterranean Sea.

Tobba was holding the remote control of the TV with a big back, and his gaze was transfixed on it until he turned to Anna and asked, "What are you going to do next?"

Anna's eyes narrowed into slits. "I need a helper. I need someone capable of launching a nationwide search for Charles."

Li Lu had been dozing off on the side, but she perked up the moment she heard that. "Are you going to lure people into joining your cult again?! No way—you absolutely can't do that!

"The IMF's influence is deeper than you think. If you do that, they'll find you in no time."

Anna cast a contemptuous gaze at Li Lu. "Hmph, do you really think that I'm as stupid as you? I've already set my eyes on a target, and he's the right person for the job."

***

A gloomy middle-aged man was in the middle of a phone call inside the Chairman's Office of Wang Construction Group. "How can there be no clues at all?! It's such a big ship! It can't just disappear into thin air!

"Double the rewards and keep searching for him! It doesn't matter whether he's alive or dead; I just want to see my son!"

The middle-aged man had deeply etched lines on his face, and his features bore a resemblance to Wang Sheng. Obviously, he was Wang Sheng's father. The sudden loss of contact with his son had been making him feel very uneasy, thus his gloomy face.

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