“No! I’m almost back to the surface! I absolutely will not die here!” Charles, in bat form, opened his gaping mouth, emitting a piercing sound wave that rippled through the water.

  The “King” showed a hint of pain as his chubby hands reached toward Charles’s mouth.

  In that instant, Charles transformed back into human form, causing the “King’s” parasites to detach.

  But at that moment, the “King’s” belly exploded open, and various grotesque parasites surged forth, plunging Charles back into danger.

  With no other choice, Charles transformed into a bat again and unleashed another sonic attack, freezing the waterborne parasites in place.

  There was an opportunity! Charles transformed back into human form and dove down into the water, attempting to escape.

  However, as soon as he dove, a massive mouth awaited him—it was the “King,” whose mouth was grotesquely stretched wide, distorting his face into a monstrous visage.

  This time, Charles did not flee. He had lost too much blood, and his head was starting to spin. He was out of strength.

  With a swing of his legs, Charles dove straight into the “King’s” mouth, and the tentacle ring activated, propping open the gaping maw.

  “Die!” Violent bubbles erupted from Charles’s mouth. He raised the black blade in his hand and executed a slicing motion.

  The blade pierced through the greasy skin, swiftly moving along the texture, and half of the “King’s” head was severed.

  Watching the bloated body sink into the dark seabed, Charles felt darkness closing in, his body succumbing to exhaustion. He was gravely injured.

  “Whoosh!” A shadow shot out of the water—a shark! It had been drawn by the scent of blood!

  The shark opened its fearsome jaws, its three rows of serrated teeth sinking into Charles’s body, dragging him down into the depths of the sea.

  “Captain! Captain!” Seeing the sea surface stained blood-red, Deep was anxiously pacing the deck.

  But the surface of the sea remained silent. After a few seconds, some dead parasites floated to the surface. Unable to wait any longer, Deep stripped off his shirt, clutched a dagger in his mouth, and prepared to jump into the water.

  Nearby, the silent bandage stopped him. He opened a bag on the deck, revealing a dozen faces filled with confusion and terror. Their mouths were tightly bound with gauze, and regardless of gender, they were all gaunt and ragged.

  After counting the number of people, the bandage pulled out a dagger and aimed it at his chest, slowly pressing the blade in. Crimson blood soaked through his bandages.

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  The other crew members of the Unicorn stood in silence, seemingly aware of what the first mate was about to do, but no one dared to intervene.

  The ship's doctor, with his ugly face, displayed a hint of disgust, taking a swig from a metal flask before turning away.

  Suddenly, a series of knocks startled everyone. The second mate, Knona, rushed to the ship's edge, poking his head over to look down, his face lighting up with joy.

  “It’s the captain! The captain is back! Doctor, hurry! He’s badly injured!”

  As the crew members hurriedly pulled Charles from the water, the timid Lily was so frightened by the sight that she burst into tears.

  At this moment, Charles was a mess; his body was covered in gruesome wounds, his flesh washed pale by the seawater, and a gaping wound on his abdomen revealed his innards.

  Deep trembled as he tried to remove the mask from Charles’s face, but his twisted forearm blocked him. “Don’t… don’t take it off… I won’t hold on… just set sail first…”

  Excited, Knona nodded vigorously and quickly ran toward the cockpit.

  Ignoring the concerned voices of the surrounding crew, Charles turned to the sobbing Lily. “Lily… the journal…”

  By the time Lily’s rat delivered the journal to Charles, he was already lying on the ship doctor’s operating table.

  Charles took out a pen and, using the last of his strength, meticulously sketched the sea chart from memory. The moment he put down the pen, he lost consciousness.

  When Charles awoke again, he found himself wrapped like a mummy in his bed, and his previously deaf ears could faintly hear some sounds.

  Seeing the journal on the table beside him, a smile crept onto Charles’s face as he thought, “The sea chart is found. Next, I just need to find the island with the sky ladder to go home.”

  “Yes, it really wasn’t easy. I risked my life for this,” a teasing voice echoed in his mind.

  A chill ran from his tailbone to his brain, and Charles’s trembling hand reached to his face, realizing he was not wearing the mask. He fell silent, and the room was eerily quiet.

  “Why haven’t you disappeared?” Charles managed to ask.

  Then his mouth opened again, but this time the tone was entirely different. “Hey! Isn’t this a coincidence? I was wondering why too!”

  Just then, the door swung open, and the ship’s doctor entered. Charles quickly asked, “How long have I been wearing the mask?”

  “Since the surgery. It worked well; wearing it reduced your blood loss significantly.”

  A hint of pain crossed Charles’s face beneath the bandages. Despite all his precautions, he ultimately failed to prevent 096 from generating a personality in his mind. 096 was far too dangerous.

  “Buddy, you should thank me. If I hadn’t taken off the mask while you were unconscious, our minds wouldn’t just be playing mahjong—we might be playing basketball too.”

  “Is it a good thing to have another person inside my body?”

  “Look at what you’re saying! What do you mean ‘your body’? We’re just different personalities; we’re both Gao Zhiming!”

  As Charles watched himself arguing with himself, the doctor’s face showed confusion. Is this guy having a mental breakdown? He seems to only have external injuries, right?

  As their argument intensified, the doctor approached Charles with a metal syringe and injected it into his arm.

  “Old man, what’s in this?” Charles asked.

  “A sedative. First, you need to recover from your physical injuries; we’ll deal with the mental issues later.”

  The next moment, Charles rolled his eyes, and both personalities in his mind lost consciousness simultaneously.

  When he awoke again, he had no idea how much time had passed, but the wounds on his body began to itch.

  Taking a slow breath, Charles fell silent for a few seconds before speaking in his mind, “Hey, let’s have a discussion.”

  “I’m not ‘Hey’; I’m Chu Yuxuan.”

  “How long are you going to keep this up!”

  “Oh, come on, just a little joke! Why are you so anxious? You go ahead, you go ahead.”