Chapter 56 Richard

Listening to the other's nonchalant tone, Charles had to suppress the irritation in his heart with great difficulty. Too lazy to continue talking, he directly picked up the revolver and fired a shot through the window.

"What are you doing?"

"Calling the Doctor over to see if he has a solution for this situation."

Upon hearing this, the second personality immediately became tense, "Let me tell you, don't even think about erasing me. I share the same memories as you do! If you want to play tricks, we might as well both be finished."

Charles's hand holding the gun suddenly pressed against his own chin. At that moment, the Doctor opened the door and walked in.

Faced with a captain contemplating suicide, the Doctor was very indifferent. "If you want to kill yourself, go ahead, but tell me what you promised first before you die."

"We'll talk about that later, I've run into some trouble here." Charles explained in detail to him about the extra personality that had appeared inside his body.

"So there's a relic that can split personalities, interesting indeed." The Doctor scrutinized Charles on the bed with the gaze one would use to examine a test subject.

"Do you have a solution?"

"Doctor, I think this is quite fine, you can leave now."

The two personalities were saying different things.

A few seconds later, the Doctor, who seemed rather excited, took a clown mask from his coat, "Is this it?"

Seeing Charles nod, the Doctor didn't say anything and turned around to walk out with the mask.

Listening to the sound of the door closing, the inner personality commented, "Forget it, that old man doesn't seem reliable. It's no use."

Charles took a deep breath. Since things had come to this, there was no use saying anything else. Unable to rid himself of the extra presence for now, they could only negotiate with each other.

"First of all, our goal is the same, to return to Earth's surface. When it's critical, follow my lead and don't hold us back."

"Why should I follow your lead? I am Gao Zhiming too."

"Because you're too impulsive. Last time, at the Third Laboratory, we almost didn't make it back because of you."

"What are you talking about? If it wasn't for me grabbing so many relics, would our power have increased so quickly? This is all my credit!!"

"You were created by 096! I am the original personality!"

"Nonsense! I have all the memories you do. At most you're just a twin who appeared a few seconds earlier!!"

The two personalities started arguing again, and eventually, it even came to blows. But the matter had to be resolved. After a lengthy negotiation, they finally reached an agreement to live together peacefully.

Not only were the times when they controlled the body distinctly divided, but they also set rules regarding other matters. This was to ensure that they wouldn't fall into crisis due to disagreement at a critical moment.

Looking at the dense list of rules in the diary, Charles, controlled by the inner personality, pursed his lips.

"All this useless stuff is written here, yet the most important point is missing. What happens if Anna comes around one day and comes back? Should she also wear a mask and have another one made? Can she even wear a mask with that ghostly face of hers?"

"Stop talking about her, she's not coming back." Charles closed the diary and began unwrapping the bandage from his face.

"Tsk, why put on an act with yourself."

"It's my turn now, shut up."

"Wait a minute, we haven't decided on names yet. We can't both be called Charles, can we? Let's get something straight, I'm not going by 'number two'."

"I'm number one, you're number two."

"How lame. Wait, let me pick a cool name for myself... Hmm... How about I go by Richard?"

Charles did not respond further; he picked up the diary and flung it toward the nearby table, where, to his amazement, it landed upright.

Charles looked at his hands in surprise. How had he done that?

Suddenly, Charles thought of something. He plucked a rivet from his skin and flicked it at the wall, striking a small insect precisely.

When he quickly turned off the oil lamp on the table, he found that he could see everything clearly in the pitch-black environment. The situation was crystal clear to him.

Charles didn't know whether this was good or bad. Because of his personality split, he was now able to maintain the physical abilities associated with 096 around the clock.

"Damn right, this is great news, mate! We're so badass now."

Hearing the voice in his mind again, Charles felt that, given the choice, he would rather not have this "good" thing.

"Bang!" The door was pushed open, and the Doctor, who had not been gone long, returned. He removed the partially empty IV bag and replaced it with a new one. "Lie down, time for your medication."

"Where's my relic?"

"Don't rush. Let me experiment for a while. Psychology is a complex field; maybe I'll find a solution."

"When will my injuries fully heal?"

"Two months."

"Can it be faster?"

"No! Do you have any idea how serious your injuries were? Two months is already ambitious. Just so you know, I used some strong medicine to save your life, but due to the side effects, you might not live past 40."

Hearing this shocking news, Richard swiftly took over the conversation. "Are you insane? You took half my lifespan just for treating a few injuries?"

"Half a lifespan? If I hadn't saved you, would you even have half a lifespan left? With any other Doctor, you'd already be dead!!"

Charles accepted this news more readily than he had the additional personality.

He took over from Richard, "Doctor, how long have we been away from Sodoma?"

"Over ten days now. They're planning a detour back to Coral Island to avoid pirates," said the Doctor, turning to leave.

Feeling the aches of his wounds all over his body, Charles knew he needed rest, but there was still something unresolved in his heart.

He shakily got out of bed, opened the diary, and looked at the sea chart he had drawn. He took out a previous sea chart for comparison.

"This point is England, this is He Fang. The angle between the two islands leads to that sunny sea area. Comparing them, the song passed down in Earth Sea is wrong. The Land of Light isn't in the north; it's actually in the south." Charles's voice was filled with conviction.

He had completed the dark sea area to the south on the sea chart, and accurately placed a pin representing the island there.

Within the newly revealed sea area, islands were scattered like stars in the sky, with vast distances separating them.

"Man, this is tricky. Look at the distance of the farthest islands from the human settlements of Earth Sea. Unicorne wouldn't even make it halfway with its fuel capacity," the voice in Charles's head commented.

"If the pirates of Sodoma can go there, so can we. There must be resupply points between these islands. Once we find them, we can explore further."

"Nice, we can finally go back. When I get out, I'll write a book about it. I've already got the title—'Twenty Thousand Leagues of Earth Sea.' It's bound to be a hit."

Charles lay back in bed, and simply moving a little caused his bandages to start bleeding again.

"None of that matters. I just want to go home."

"Yeah, home. It's been 8 years. I bet our little sister has grown up now."

Amidst Richard's incessant chatter, Charles slowly closed his eyes.