The clown mask rolled into the woods, and three seconds later, the entire camp exploded.
"Oh, Lady, the Captain's mask is actually alive!"
"Should... should we pull back..."
"Mr. Charles, can I crawl into your pocket? I'm a bit scared."
"SILENCE!!" Charles's voice overpowered everything; he watched his crew with furrowed brows, "What's the fuss about? It's just a mask that moves. After so many adventures, you get scared by such a small matter??"
Seeing the chatter come to a halt, the cold-faced Charles checked his watch and said to them, "Break's over! Let's move out now!"
The quieted crew no longer objected, following their Captain to continue forward. Although they said nothing, the looks on their faces were clearly tense, their grip on their weapons tighter.
Meanwhile, standing at the forefront of the crowd, Charles pondered the same question as his crew, why the 096 had suddenly come to life.
That thing had been beside him for some time, and he had worn it on his face who knows how many times without it showing any signs of life.
"Could it be because of this island? Does it have some connection to this island?" Thinking this, Charles looked towards the darkness between the tree gaps, but couldn't discern any information.
"If you ask me, this is a good thing," Richard interjected in his mind. "The weirder the place, the greater the benefits. On the contrary, places without danger offer no gains at all."
Charles did not respond, but turned to speak to the Doctor, who was being supported by Deep and Frey, "How are you doing, Doctor? Your wound's not too serious, is it?"
"Hmph, if you really cared about me, you'd have let me stay on board. When we made the pact, there was no mention of exploring islands," said the Doctor as he pulled out a metal flask and took a large gulp.
Seeing his confidence, Charles figured the injury couldn't be too serious for him.
As the crowd slowly moved forward, the surrounding environment began to change. The trees that needed to be cleared became shorter, and beyond the woods lay a large area of overgrown weeds and machinery ruins.
The ruins were vast, equivalent in size to a small town. The remnants of walls covered in vines appeared particularly desolate.
The crew only saw a portion of the ruins illuminated by the firelight, but Charles, with his night vision, saw much more. In the darkness, the collapsed structures looked like prowling spiders, watching everyone.
Regardless of how glorious they might have been, signs of humanity could only slowly be covered by weeds and trees.
Charles paused for a moment, then continued onward. Whoever the owners of these ruins might have been, time had taken everything away.
"Sounds like water; do you hear it?" Charles suddenly asked, but upon seeing the puzzled faces of his crew, he said nothing more and continued walking.
"Mr. Charles! There really is water! Me and my friend can smell it!" Lily ran up to Charles's shoulder, sniffing with her small nose. "And it's fresh water!"
Upon hearing 'fresh water,' all the crew became excited, understanding what this information meant.
Charles followed the increasingly louder sound of water and soon came upon a pile of ancient machinery overgrown with red embroidery in the center of the ruins. The sound of water was coming from beneath that machinery.
"Give me the explosives."
With a "boom," the corroded machinery burst open from the blast, and everyone peered into the hole revealed beneath it. A rolling underground river appeared before them as the torches rolled into the hole, illuminating it.
When Deep eagerly drank the fetched water, his expression extraordinarily excited, he said, "Captain! It's fresh water! This island is a habitable Living Island!"
Hearing this news, the crew erupted into cheers of excitement, their fiery passion almost scattering the surrounding darkness.
They didn't want a stable life; they had joined the Exploration Ship, risking their lives for this day.
A newly discovered island meant the Captain could become the Governor, and each crew member would gain a status elevation. They would no longer have to go to sea but become people of high status, like the nobility living at the center of the island.
However, Charles was not as excited; his goals differed from those of his crew. Finding the Living Island was just incidental for him.
Seeing them so ecstatic, Charles decided to rest and let them calm down before continuing their journey.
Although high morale was good, overly excited crew members could cause more harm than good.
In a corner between two barely intact walls, a bonfire was lit.
The thrilled crew couldn't sleep, all indulged in dreams of a better life ahead. Eventually, Charles had the Doctor drug their drinks to put the watch-keeping crew to sleep.
Charles himself was not a great sleeper; after having some of the Doctor's medicine, he too fell into a deep sleep.
He didn't know how much time had passed when an odd noise startled him awake, "Hiss..." It was like the sound of gas escaping from a canister.
"Hiss..." The same noise sounded again.
Charles's brain snapped into full alert; he tensed, recognizing the noise as that of a human windpipe being cut open.
Charles sprang to his feet and immediately saw a gaunt figure raising a rusted blade towards James.
The figure turned sharply at the noise, and in the flickering firelight, 096's pale face with its red nose appeared before Charles.
Almost reflexively, Charles raised his firearm and fired, the magazine's bullets pouring into the body hosting 096.
The slight figure staggered back under the gunfire, but when the shooting stopped, it dropped to all fours and sprinted away like a cheetah.
"Deep! Get the Doctor to help!" Charles kicked the groggy sailor chief scratching his neck and charged out with Black Blade.
Watching the retreating figure, Charles's expression was grave. No matter the reason for 096's life, it clearly bore a grudge against them. It had to be eliminated, or it would surely return.
Among the ruins overgrown with weeds, two figures dashed swiftly, treating the unstable ground as if it were flat. To an onlooker, it would be a thrilling parkour performance.
"Richard, whose body is 096 using now? Why can it run so fast after getting shot in the chest?"
"Don't ask me; that old man's medicine knocked me out too."
Both were equally fast, neither able to outrun the other. Without hesitation, 096 charged to the edge of the woods and darted in.
Charles gritted his teeth and followed in an instant.