Watching the white mouse as it seemed so eager for praise, Charles was utterly astonished. "You can operate the deck gun?"
He had originally thought that it was the Chief Engineer James operating the gun, but it turned out to be the mouse, Lily.
"My friends and I operated it. How about that, are we not impressive?" Lily squeaked twice, and a large group of brown mice swarmed onto Charles's bed.
Looking at the bed full of mice, Charles felt incredibly disgusted. "Get them all off; you go back alone. Why did you bring all these mice with you?"
"I promised them I'd invite them over to my place as guests to eat the sweet fish soup my mother makes. A promise is a promise," Lily asserted confidently.
Charles soothed Lily for a few moments and then looked towards Krona, the Second Officer.
The red-haired young man seemed to know what Charles was about to ask and said, "Don't worry, Captain, we've checked; there is no one extra or missing."
"That's good, that's good..."
After the danger had passed, a powerful wave of sleepiness enveloped him, and the exhaustion from his wounds and running left his body sounding the alarms.
"Don't let your guard down, return to the safe navigation path as quickly as possible. You all can go out; I'm a bit tired."
Before the others had even left the room, Charles's eyelids drooped, and he immediately knew nothing more.
When he awoke, he had no idea how much time had passed.
"I need to buy a pocket watch."
Regaining his energy, Charles didn't get out of bed but instead leaned against the pillow with a faint, long-absent smile on his face.
He had always worried about one thing, whether he was still on Earth or not, even if he could surface, whether he could ever return home.
But the Gate of Flesh 1068 assured him of one thing: there was a sun in the outside world; thus, it must be Earth, and there was a great chance his home was still there.
Determined once again, Charles was about to get out of bed when he saw the relics extracted from the Third Laboratory piled on the cabinet.
Seeing these items, Charles's heart stirred.
Although everything in that place was his doing, at this moment, Charles felt strangely detached from his former self.
Back then, the mere thought of those relics made him itch like a cat's scratch. Instinctively stealing them, he completely overlooked how dangerous these actions were.
But looking at those relics, Charles felt fortunate that his luck was good, managing to grab so many relics for just a few injuries; this trade was undoubtedly worth it.
Charles began to examine the items he had snatched.
A rust-covered knife.
A feather pen as thick as a forearm.
A pyramid-shaped Purple Crystal.
Alongside the silver-white ring woven of tentacles on his hand, there were four kinds of relics in total.
The items seemed extraordinary, but Charles dared not try them lightly because during the skirmish with the locust-like creatures, he had lost some record books, and while jumping into the sea, more had been soaked and damaged.
Now, only two relic information booklets remained, one of which was the ring he wore on his hand.
"Project Number: 168"
"Project Name: Tentacle Ring"
"Description: 168 is a ring made of 925 silver, shaped by three tentacle-like bends, discovered by Dr. Tina during her vacation in a jewelry store in New Territory City [data deleted]."
"Appendix 1: Due to Dr. Tina detecting its anomaly and submitting it immediately, the Foundation decided to contain 168 directly. The anomaly description will be placed in Appendix 2 along with the interview record."
"Appendix 2:
"Dr. Tina, can you talk about how you discovered 168?"
"My husband took me to pick out a wedding ring, and I put it on the moment I saw it. It wasn't until I got back to my apartment that I realized something was amiss. I had begun to possess a certain special ability."
"What kind of special ability?"
"Um... My hand can turn into three invisible tentacles. It feels very strange, as if the tentacles naturally belong on my hand."
"I know what you're going to ask next; the grip of the tentacles is very strong, about the strength of two adult males, and its elasticity is impressive too, it can stretch up to 5 meters. Negatively, this ring tempts humans to unconsciously put it on, and it gets tighter over time, so it must be taken off occasionally to relax."
"That's it?"
"Yes, that's it. It's really a very simple little thing. If other projects were as well-behaved as this one... Sophie, my 1068 is manageable as long as there is enough food and it doesn't cause trouble, but 641 is really problematic."
"Oh, Tina, I've heard about that thing; it's indeed tough to deal with. If its containment fails, all the humans on the island might be assimilated by it. However, in terms of dangerousness, it still doesn't compare to my responsibility, 134—"
"Cough cough! Ladies, it's work time, save the chat for after work, please mind the setting."
"Sorry, sorry."
At 22:41, the interview ended.
"Tentacles?" Charles thought for a moment, then raised his hand; something astonishing happened— he could feel his fingers rapidly extending and thickening, but to the naked eye, his hand remained unchanged.
Suddenly, a drawer on a distant table opened and a bottle of wine floated out, hovering mid-air, creating an eerie scene.
Charles began experimenting with this new relic in his room. Various small objects fluttered around in the air.
Having familiarized himself with the relic, Charles decided to keep it for his own use. If saying in terms of offensive ability, it couldn't compare even to the clown mask or the Black Blade, but if used wisely, it could catch others by surprise.
What excited Charles more was that this little thing had the smallest side effects among all the relics he had encountered.
Touching the ring with his hand, Charles looked at another paper; it belonged to the Purple Pyramid.
"Project Number: 434"
"Project Name: Purple Pyramid"
"Description: 434 is a crystal pyramid, each side measuring 10 centimeters, transferred to the Foundation following disturbances caused by it, reported by the police department of Shadow Island."
Experiment 1: "Let subject number 13 hold on to 434 and command him to mentally repeat 'I am powerful' twice."
"Experiment result: The subject underwent a mutation, with a proportional increase in stature, reaching a height of 2.5 meters. However, his ability to articulate clearly was significantly impaired, and intelligence dropped to 80."
Experiment 2: "Let subject number 13 hold on to 434 and command in his mind 'I am powerful' three times."
"Experiment result: The subject's height increased by three meters, intelligence dropped to 60."
Experiment 3: "Let subject number 13 hold on to 434 and command him to mentally repeat 'I am powerful' four times."
"Experiment result: Height was elevated to 4 meters, intelligence dropped to 40. Since the subject's reduced intelligence rendered him unable to understand instructions, the experiment had to be terminated; the subject returned to normal 30 minutes after distancing from 434."