Chapter 62: Survived

As the spotlight of the Unicorne swept over, an island filled with greenery appeared in front of all the crew members.

This piece of good news dissipated the recent thrill and, excited, Charles took out the sea chart to recheck the coordinates.

Once they had found the coordinates of the first island, it would be much easier to determine the coordinates of the other islands in the chain, and it directly proved that the sea chart was real.

The Unicorne began to circle the island for preliminary observation. After a round, Charles found that the island was not very large, probably only half the size of Coral Island.

He guessed that there was a very small chance there was an entrance on the Earth's surface here, but no matter how small, he still wanted to go up and see.

Charles proceeded as before, first throwing some fish onto the island and, seeing no creatures emerge, he sent the first batch of crew members onto the island, just in case something wiped them out. The closer they got to home, the more cautious he became.

Two hours later, the first group of crew members emerged from the forest and stood on the beach signaling with flags.

"There's no threat," Charles discerned from the flag signals.

"Drop anchor! Turn off the engines!" Two wooden boats were lowered, and all crew members moved closer to the island.

Deep, who was among the first to set foot on the island, said excitedly, "Captain, come quick, I've found a dilapidated house here."

Without a word, Charles followed him into the forest and, passing through a path carved with knife blades, he saw a three-story cottage enveloped in vines.

The cottage was so dilapidated that Charles wondered if the cracked structure was only standing thanks to the vines crawling over its walls.

"Captain, there's no one inside, no bodies either."

Charles led his group cautiously into the building, everything inside was covered in dust, as if forgotten by history.

"Everyone, search around, let me know if you find any textual information." Hearing the Captain's order, the crew started searching inside the building, dust rose up, and the sound of coughing filled the air.

Charles grabbed a cup made of some material, but it shattered instantly when he barely touched it.

"Ah! Bang, bang, bang!" Screams of terror and gunshots pulled Charles back to reality, and he quickly rushed towards the source of the noise.

When he burst into the room where the sounds had come from, he saw four sailors huddled together, guns nervously sweeping around.

"What did you see? Why did you fire just now?"

"Captain, over there! We just saw something small scurry past!" a sailor said, pointing with his gun towards the farthest side of the cluttered room.

Charles drew out his Black Blade and rushed over, tossing aside various disordered items, but found no signs of any living creature.

His gaze fell upon a corner of the wall where a crack had formed, and there were small footprints on the ground.

He crouched down, looking through the crack, and caught a glimpse of a blue-eyed human eye that flickered past. "There's something inside!"

Charles immediately stood up and rushed to the next room, but by the time he got there, he couldn't find any trace of the eye's owner.

He returned to the original room and began to carefully examine the footprints on the ground, which were only half a centimeter wide, pitifully small. Charles estimated its owner could be no more than 5 centimeters tall.

"Islanders' natives?" Charles immediately remembered the little person who had emerged from a skull.

But he immediately dismissed the thought; the eyes he had just seen inside were clearly of normal human size. A contradiction arose: how could a normal human pass through a crack only as wide as a finger?

"Captain! What happened? I heard a gunshot!"

"What happened?"

"What just happened here?"

The other crew members of the Unicorne had hurried over, bombarding with questions.

Charles stood up and recounted what had just occurred. "There's something alive on this island, everyone be careful."

Seeing slight tension on everyone's faces, Charles said, "But don't worry too much. Whatever that thing is, right now it's hiding from us, not us hiding from them."

Then, Charles asked them, "Did you find any clues in the other rooms?"

Seeing everyone shake their heads, a hint of disappointment flashed across Charles's face, but he felt it was expected, as his luck was never that good; it was impossible to find a way back home on the first island.

Led by Charles, the group left the building and continued exploring deeper into the island.

The path through the forest was not easy; everywhere there were vines and branches that had to be cleared with knives.

After walking for two hours, Charles estimated they had not even covered half a mile. Seeing the breathless crew, he ordered a rest.

"Doctor, do you recognize any of these plants on the island?" Charles asked the old man gnawing on bread.

"Do you think I'm omniscient? How could I possibly know the plants of a deserted island—I can only guess that these plants probably don't eat people."

Richard interjected, "Buddy, there are so many trees here, which means the soil must be good. We can definitely farm here. If we can find fresh water, people could live on this island!"

"It's not that simple. This place has only plants, no animals."

While the two were discussing, the Doctor suddenly collapsed onto the ground in agony. Charles rushed over to help him up. "Doctor, what's wrong! Speak!"

With a ferocious expression, the Doctor stretched out his metallic hand and frantically scratched at his own chest. "Damn it! Something's biting me! Quickly, help me pull it off!"

Charles lifted the doctor's coat and saw a round, flat object moving rapidly beneath the blood-stained shirt.

Not daring to delay, he instantly raised the Black Blade in his hand and sliced from the top of the object, picking it out. Accompanied by the Doctor's groan of pain, the object wrapped in fabric was flung tens of meters away.

Charles looked down at the Doctor's chest, startled by the fierce wound. A large piece of skin on the left side of the Doctor's abdomen was missing, revealing his chilling ribs.

"My God, what did you put inside your clothes!"

"I didn't put anything there!! What was inside the clothes was your mask!" the Doctor said in pain, and then took out a handful of powder trembling and poured it on the wound.

"096?" Charles turned his head to look at the ground and saw a pale clown with a mask of flesh and blood moving out from under the torn fabric.

"The mask is alive?" Everyone stared wide-eyed at the absurd scene before them.

Without waiting for others to react, the 096 revealed a horrifying smirk to the crowd, then rolled into the forest like a wheel.