"My first mate was attacked by something and has been unconscious since. The situation is grim—the mere fact that he's alive is a miracle. I'm not sure if he can ever wake up."
With a snap, Charles capped the pen and slipped it back into his pocket, sighing helplessly. He rifled through his journal nonchalantly — until a particular page made his breathing quicken, and he immediately regretted seeing its contents.
He snapped the journal shut and gave a neurotic, light chuckle, shaking his head.
"Seen something amusing?" Anna asked curiously from a distance.
Charles looked at her for a few seconds, walked over, took the Black Blade from a bandage nearby, and pointed his finger towards the door, signaling Anna to come out.
"Isn't it safer to stay together? Why come out again?" Anna asked as she stepped out of the cabin.
Charles cupped her fair face and gently kissed her. Anna's eyes widened slightly, seemingly surprised.
When Charles let go, a blushing Anna tapped him lightly on the chest. "What's gotten into you all of a sudden?"
"Jiajia, we've been close friends since childhood. Have you only had feelings for me all these years?" Charles asked calmly, leaning against the ship's wall.
"What are you talking about? Of course. The moment you passed me a shovel in the kindergarten sandbox, I knew it was you," Anna replied affectionately, leaning in.
Charles held her and gazed into the distance. "Jiajia, what a perfect wife you are—beautiful, delicate, loyal."
Anna smiled and wrapped her arms around Charles's neck. "I love these cheesy lines; keep them coming, say more."
"Do you remember any brands of lipstick you have?"
"Why are you asking that? It's been so long. How could I remember?"
"Yes, of course you don't remember because I am a straight man, with no clue about such things."
Charles's lips twitched slightly, then suddenly tears streamed down his face. With his left hand, he swiftly pulled out a revolver, the black muzzle pointing at Anna's calm abdomen.
"Gao Zhiming, what are you doing?" Anna's face showed a hint of displeasure.
"Even knowing my real name, why must you be fake! Why!!" Charles's face twisted, and he violently pulled the trigger.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!" The bullets propelled Anna back repeatedly; dark green blood splattered everywhere.
The woman's eyes widened, filled with disbelief.
With a slight tremble, Anna slowly looked down, and as she saw tentacles writhing out from her abdomen, she scratched her hair frantically, unable to accept the reality.
"What is this? Why is this inside me, Gao Zhiming? Save me!"
As soon as she spoke, her delicate face collapsed like melting wax. A monster, twisted and covered in yellow-green slime, appeared on the deck of the Rat.
It resembled the species from the island—distorted and terrifying. Seven or eight tentacles whipped uncontrollably around, like a deformed octopus emerging from water.
Watching the monster, Charles, still with tears, trembled as he held the gun; everything in his mind about Anna was a lie.
The next second, the monster roared with its ferocious mouth and charged at Charles.
Charles rolled on the spot, avoiding the attack. His expression quickly hardened, and he expertly reloaded his bullets.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!" Green blood splattered continuously on the monster, but such wounds couldn't stop it. With a howl, a tentacle hit Charles's hand and sent him flying.
"Why!" Charles gritted his teeth, pulled out the Black Blade, and, in a swift motion, severed the tentacle flopping on the deck.
The monster roared and retreated. Charles, raising his blade, charged.
When one person and one monster rushed to the bow, the monster's tentacles, fine as hair, instantly spread out like a fishing net and whipped back, entangling Charles firmly.
The tentacles on its body kept tightening, and Charles could even hear the lament of his own bones.
"Crack~" His ribs began to break, one by one, and the intense pain made Charles groan.
At that critical moment, the cockpit glass suddenly shattered, and a bullet pierced the monster's yellow giant eye, which burst open like a watermelon.
The screaming monster immediately released Charles and fled toward the side of the ship.
The sound of gunfire became intense as the other people from the turbine room rushed out with their firearms.
No matter how strong the meat-strip monster was, it was ultimately made of flesh and under the attack of the guns, its strange body was shredded like a ragged bag.
Waiting for the gunfire to cease, the once invincible monster now lay in its own foul-smelling blood, trembling as it slowly moved its tentacles.
Charles, pressing his sore abdomen, walked over to it.
Just as he raised the revolver to its beastly mouth, the front end of the meat-strip monster's flesh morphed into the face of the ship doctor, Anna.
Anna gave a miserable smile, with dark green blood sliding from the corner of her eyes. "Gao Zhiming, I'm sorry… I didn't know I was fake..."
That sentence stabbed into Charles's heart like a sharp knife, and a pained expression appeared on his face. He would have preferred if the monster had cursed him instead.
The others all came up, standing heavily behind Charles.
"I can't control it, I'm just bait it created. It's stalling for time. Shoot below the eyes, that's its vulnerability."
Looking at the face of Anna, who he had spent days and nights with in his memories, Charles felt the revolver in his hand weigh a ton.
"Gao Zhiming! Hurry up!! It has strong recovery abilities!"
Seeing Charles hesitate to shoot, Anna turned her head to Deep who was beside her, "Shorty, you do it."
Just as Deep hesitated, Charles clenched his teeth and raised the gun to pull the trigger.
"Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang!!"
Seeing the bullets strike her own body, Anna's face showed a pitiful smile. "Thank you… I really wanted to go home with you..."
As her voice fell, her face began to melt and fused with the motionless meat-strip monster.
"Ha... Ha... Ha ha ha!!" Charles suddenly laughed maniacally, rushing forward to grab the monster's corpse and violently threw it toward the sea.
"Don't think you can deceive me again!! I won't be tricked anymore! You memory-altering monsters! All lies!! All fake!! Fake!!"
James looked worriedly at the somewhat abnormal Charles, cautiously saying, "Captain, are you alright?"
"It's fine, haha, what could be wrong with me, the crisis is over, the man-eating monster is dead! This is great news! Chef! Make the food good later, let's celebrate properly. Deep, take the sailors to clean this up, I'm heading to the helm!"
Throughout the next whole day, the crew of the Rat walked on eggshells, afraid of provoking their captain.
But Charles seemed perfectly normal, steering just fine, eating normally, only his behavior was not the same as usual, he was unsettlingly active.
After finishing the meal, Charles went to his quarters. In the pitch-dark cabin, he didn't turn on the light but instead bitterly took out a bottle of liquor from the bottom shelf, sat on the bed, and started chugging it.
"Anna, why did you have to eat people..."
"If you hadn't eaten my crew, I could have pretended not to know…"