Shrouded Seascape

"This is the last time. From today on, the Feaster will no longer entertain your summons." With those final words, 005's body faded away gradually before finally vanishing into thin air.

Charles remained seated on the sofa. Silently, his mind replayed every detail of his conversation with 005 and every piece of information he had obtained from her presence.

First and foremost, he had confirmed one thing—finding a way to preserve his humanity through 005 was impossible.

For one, 005's current form was pieced together. Charles couldn't exactly split himself into thousands of fragments like her. Secondly, it remained questionable if 005 even had any hints of humanity.

Three hours later, Charleses sat around the long table and started their debate and exchange of information from their respective encounters with 005.

Unfortunately, both Charles and the other Charleses couldn't glean anything from the 005 in their planes.

The only consensus they could reach was that 005 was not a unique existence. There were many versions of her.

An awkward air of silence descended upon the room. They wanted to achieve their goal, but they couldn't find any clear path forward.

"Maybe, we might not need to preserve our humanity after all," a blind Charles suggested. "Perhaps abandoning our humanity completely could help us to achieve our objective more efficiently.

"No can do," another Charles responded. "Before coming here, I specially visited a plane where its Charles had become a true god. He has completely forgotten that he was ever Charles, attacking me on sight.

"If that is what you want to become, then pretend that I never said anything."

A heavy silence descended on the room, and the tension was thick enough to cut with a knife. Each Charles furrowed their brow. The same question swirled in their minds—what should we do next?

"If 005 is a dead end, what about the other gods?" Charles asked. He lifted his gaze and scanned the faces of the different versions of himself.

Seeing that he had gained their attention, he added, "We need to gather every force that we can. If we cannot succeed on our own, we can seek allies. In the entire Subterranean Sea, there must be some gods with strong opinions against Fhtagn."

One of the Charleses scoffed. "Those lunatics? I'm doubtful if they're even capable of coherent thinking. What use is there to seek them? Who else apart from us and 005 is capable of humanlike reasoning?

"And don't forget. When we were exploring the sea during our earlier days, we made enemies out of nearly every one of these so-called gods. Are you suggesting that we seek them to have another bout?"

Charles's heart stirred as he spoke again. "No. Not them. Don't forget who chose us."

Edikth. The name instantly popped up in each and every Charles' mind.

Multiple Charleses began to offer their intelligence.

"Before I became a god, I had Hope Island's intelligence network dig for information about Him, but they brought back no leads."

"Edikth is elusive and mysterious. His believers, be it humans or other beings, are extremely rare."

"Exactly," Charles replied. "Since 005 is unable to provide us with more information, then what about Him? It might also be His doing that we ended up here in the Subterranean Sea.

"Since we are His Chosen One, then shouldn't He show up now that His chosen one has become a god?

"More importantly, since He is an elder god from the same generation as 005, perhaps He knows how to deal with Fhtagn. We might be able to get more information from Him."

One by one, the Charleses nodded in agreement. This could actually work.

With that in mind, they decided on their next goal.

"Everyone, find Edikth," Charles declared.

***

Onboard a white commercial plane, Li Lu gazed lovingly at the tiny bundle cradled in her arms. Compared to the wrinkly, premature baby with sticky lanugo and covered in amniotic fluid she had first held, the current Tobba looked much better.

His chubby face flushed a rosy hue, and his cheeks glowed like ripe apples. His arms were plump and pale like segments of fresh lotus root. Li Lu's heart swelled with more and more affection the longer she stared at her son.

"Baby, are you hungry? Do you want to eat?" Li Lu asked in a tender voice.

With his eyes still shut, Tobba responded with a couple of soft grunts and smacked his tiny lips before nuzzling against her. Burrowing his head toward her armpit, he muttered, "Not now."

With much reluctance, Li Lu turned her gaze away from Tobba's face and glanced toward her right—at the woman sitting next to the window seat.

She was none other than Anna, the High Priestess with the Anomaly ID 315. Her oversized sunglasses covered her eyes, giving the impression that she was completely asleep. However, Li Lu was painfully aware that her chance of escape was zero.

Now that we're back in our country, what are her plans here? Don't tell me that she plans to recreate the same chaos domestically? Li Lu's mind raced. But the IMF has local branches here too. If she tries to do any of that, she'll get caught for sure.

Just as Li Lu's thoughts spiraled, she suddenly felt a faint jolt under her seat. The plane's tires had touched the ground.

As the aircraft slowly taxied to a halt, everyone on the plane began their preparations to disembark.

Abruptly, Anna unbuckled her seatbelt and closed the gap between her and Li Lu. She reached down to stroke Tobba's smooth, bald head and said, "You're thinking of using this moment when we get off the plane to contact your colleagues, aren't you?"

Li Lu's heart skipped a beat, but she kept her poker face and offered no response.

"You'd better think twice. After all, your child isn't just any ordinary infant. If something like him gets found out by the IMF, I wonder what would happen to him…" Anna deliberately dragged out her words. "Have you ever considered that he would have to endure everything that I went through?"

Anna's final remark struck Li Lu like a paralyzing dart. A crack appeared in her impassive expression. Realizing that her son could get implicated, she could no longer maintain her composure.

"Oh dear," Anna exclaimed with feigned sympathy. "Those passengers that I let off the plane will probably report your son's anomalous status to the IMF. They must've caught wind of it by now."

Fury suffused Li Lu's eyes, and her gaze was as sharp as daggers as she glared at Anna. The puzzle pieces finally clicked into place. No wonder a woman as ruthless and blood-soaked as Anna had decided to spare the passengers on the plane and let all of them go.

It wasn't kindness but pure, calculated benevolence!

Upon seeing the rift in Li Lu's composure, Anna's smile became even more radiant. She leaned down and flicked a finger into Tobba's soft, bald head.

"Relax…I won't do anything to your son. As long as you help me achieve my goal, both you and your son can walk away safely. Besides… Tobba and I could be considered old acquaintances."

They disembarked the plane, and during the series of procedures that followed, Li Lu was exceptionally quiet. Not only did she make no sudden gestures or attempts to alert anyone, but she even kept her head lowered to obscure her face as they passed through airport security.

Watching the scene, Anna knew that her threat had worked. However, she couldn't let Tobba go just yet. Tobba was still valuable to her.

Holding forged documents, the two women exited the airport. They followed the signs and headed toward the taxi stand.

Anna only had one motive for returning to China—to find Charles, and she didn't want to waste even a single second.

Thud!

The heavy car door was slammed shut.

The portly taxi driver twisted around in his seat and asked, "Where to, ladies?"

"The train station," Anna replied curtly. Her voice was muffled slightly by the mask. She was also wearing sunglasses that obscured her face.

With a flick of the meter and a press on the clutch, the taxi driver prepared to set off. Like most taxi drivers, he shared a common hobby—striking up awkward small talk with passengers.

"So, Miss, are you heading home to visit family? How come your baby is so tiny? Is it a newborn?

"And where's the father? How irresponsible for him to let you handle a baby all alone. Good thing you've got your friend here to help out. This is a time when a woman really needs to be taken care of, you know?

"Sigh, my wife didn't take care of herself during her postpartum recovery, and now, she's suffering from chronic pain. She can't stand for too long every time she cooks because her back will start acting up."

Upon realizing that the two women were ignoring him, the driver's enthusiasm waned, and he went quiet. However, his silence didn't last long.

"Oh, have you heard? Beijing won the Olympic bid!"