Chapter 246. Tobba's Knowledge [Bonus Image]
Seeing that Bandages had understood him, Charles lay on the ground and continued gasping for air. An excruciating discomfort pressed down heavily on his chest, and with each breath he took, he spat out blood mixed with pink bubbles. Emerging from n0v@lbin☆, this material harbors clandestine details.
"Mr. Charles, what happened? Are you alright?" Lily was the first to rush over. Her furry face was tainted with worry, and her voice was laced with concern.
"Everyone, back off. Give him space! He surfaced too quickly again and got decompression sickness. Can't you stop halfway for just a few seconds? Is suffering once not enough that you want to experience the same thing again?" Laesto grumbled as he took a swig from his tin flask before barking orders to the onlooking sailors. "You, you, and you. Carry him to the medical room."
The sailors lifted Charles and slowly moved him toward the cabin designated as Laesto's medical room. Just as he was being lifted up, Charles managed to catch a glimpse of the inky dark waters and could finally relax when he realized that he couldn't see any tentacles emerging from the water's surface.
It took Laesto five hours to treat Charles.
Some color had returned to his face as he lay on the hospital bed and reflected on what he had seen underwater. The creature was not large, but Charles felt an almost divine presence emanating from it.
The fear it stirred deep within his soul was overwhelming; it was far beyond the sensations any ordinary sea creature could instill in him. Charles felt that if he had stared at the eyeball for even just another split second, his mind would have broken down on the spot.
"So. How did it go? Did you find what you were looking for underwater?" Laesto asked as he grabbed a nearby stool and sat on it before accepting his tin flask from Linda.
Charles shook his head. "No, but I found a map of the underwater island. I need to study it carefully before attempting another dive. The success rate will increase that way."
"What?! You're planning on going down again? Are you not afraid of encountering something else?" Laesto exclaimed. Both he and Linda were shocked by Charles' declaration.
A trace of hesitation appeared on Charles' countenance, but he eventually nodded and said, "Yes. I have to go there again. There's definitely something down there."
The first dive was done, and he would be able to avoid the mistakes he had made in his first dive during his second dive. The previous dive had been perilous, but none of them got injured; the situation underwater wasn't completely hopeless either.
"Sure. You're the captain; you call the shots. I'll prepare the herbs for your dive. Just don't get decompression sickness again. If you do, you might as well just dig your lungs out and discard them," Laesto commented.
"Watch me. I'll draw it for you," Tobba said and snatched Charles' pen out of his hand before he started drawing haphazardly in the journal.
"The place you've drawn has changed. 319 has been moved to a different location. They had many meetings back then to decide on the relocation. In fact, 319 is here," Tobba said as he marked an X on the map. "You need to go this way, then here, and then dive in here to reach it."
Staring at the totally unrecognizable map on the journal page, Charles regarded Tobba with a hint of confusion in his gaze. "How do you know I'm looking for 319? And how do you know its location?"
"Aren't you looking for 319? I know because you are looking for it. I lived in that area for a long time, and 319 is my good friend," Tobba replied.
"A good friend? 319 is a living thing?!" Charles' voice rose in surprise.
"No. It's a printer. But who said humans can't be friends with things?" Tobba retorted as if it were the most natural and logical thing in the world.
A corner of Charles' lips twitched in response to Tobba's mad ramblings. "Sorry. You sounded so normal for a second that I almost forgot you are insane."
Tobba chuckled as though he had just received a compliment. Suddenly, his expression turned serious. He leaned closer to Charles and whispered, "When you get down there, don't go to Door 3. There seems to be something terrible locked inside of it."
An imaginary vice grip tightened around Charles' heart. "Are there many dangerous relics on the main island?"
"Hmm..." Tobba tilted his head to the side and sank into deep thoughts. "I won't say they're dangerous. The relics there can't move or talk. But if you play with them, bad things will happen to you. For example, someone else's head might grow on your body.
"Ah, right! Once you get down there, help me check up on 372 behind Door 15. It still owes me money from the last time we played poker. Of course, 246 owes me money, too!"
Charles scrutinized Tobba as he pondered over the background of the eccentric man before him. He realized that Tobba seemed to know a lot about the main island of the Foundation. Perhaps he could gain more clues from this living relic.
He swiftly snatched the pen away from Tobba and started drawing on a fresh new page. It didn't take long for him to complete the sketch of the indescribable clump he had seen within the skeleton.
"Do you recognize this? Is this some relic on the main island? What are its weaknesses, if any?"
Tobba studied the drawing of the tentacled eyeball on the page, and a hint of confusion flickered across his face. "It seems...familiar. I think I've seen it somewhere before."
Meanwhile, Bandages had been silently listening to the conversation from the side with an expressionless face. His gaze fleeted across the sketch, and a shudder coursed through him. "Captain....it's... alive..."