Shrouded Seascape

Charles was sitting on the sofa, quietly waiting for something.

The eyes of his human shell were unfocused, as his gaze was connected to the offsprings he had sent over to the Core. What exactly had happened on the core, and how much time he had left? He had to know the answer to these questions.

The bizarre light coming from above would transform humans into strange entities.

To make matters worse, Hope Island's Navy couldn't provide much help.

He had to use his main body to plug the hole leading to the Core. The only ones capable of taking on the task of exploring the Core were his offspring, who had devoured his flesh and blood.

Having devoured Charles' flesh and blood, their appearances became even more bizarre, but they had become even stronger. They had become so strong that they could withstand the influence of that light.

Just then, there was a snap, and Charles lost connection to all of his offspring. It was true that the strength of his offspring had increased drastically, but it was only true when they were compared to the humans of the Subterranean Sea.

The conditions on the Core had become extremely unpredictable, and the children's chance of making it out alive was practically zero.

When Charles raised his head, Sparkle turned toward him and worriedly asked, "Daddy, how did it go this time?"

Charles tapped the armrest with his finger, and a deformed monster with three heads was teleported in front of him.

It had a nearly spherical torso, six limbs ending in crab-like pincers, and three heads, each with three fish-like eyes arranged in a triangular pattern. It also had a two-meter-long soft and flexible tongue.

Compared to the current Charles, it looked even more bizarre. The three-headed monster was one of Charles' offspring, but he had completely forgotten its existence until now.

Charles hadn't expected that the defective products created by the Foundation back then would actually come in handy one day.

Eyeballs sprouted all over the three-headed monster, and then it quietly started crawling toward the tunnel that led to the Core.

Sparkle's face was complicated as she looked at her departing brother.

"Daddy, he's probably going to die as well."

"Oh," Charles responded, sounding neither sad nor happy. Of course, they would die. They were going to die in exchange for some information about what was happening on the Core.

"But they're your children, Daddy. You'd better be careful. Your humanity is eroding a bit too quickly," Sparkle said with a hint of worry on her face.

Charles cast a surprised gaze at her. "You're right, but I think their deaths have nothing to do with my humanity. I've never considered them my children, after all.

"In fact, their creation was a mistake in itself. The fact that they can provide even a bit of value means that their birth hadn't been in vain."

Sparkle's mouth fluttered open, seemingly wanting to say something, but Charles had already shifted his attention to the three-headed spherical monster.

When the three-headed spherical monster made its way to the Core, it faced a storm raging outside the colossal hole that led to the Core. The flickering purple light in the sky and the raging storm made the Core look like it was in the middle of an apocalypse.

The Colossal Hole Fortress was supposed to be right next to the colossal hole. Hope Island once stationed quite a few of its troops here, but now, the fortress was nowhere to be seen. There wasn't anything except for a forest made of soil, concrete, steel, and flesh.

The forest of soil, concrete, steel, and flesh seemed to be connected, and they would sometimes tremble for some reason. Judging from the clothes embedded in the "tree" trunks, it was easy to deduce how the forest was made.

The three-headed spherical monster soon looked away. It was under Charles' control, and Charles made it float toward the purple light in the sky.

Not long after, there was a whoosh, and a tree root spanning hundreds of kilometers crashed heavily to the ground.

However, the terrifying sight couldn't faze Charles at all. He had long gotten used to such scenes. The Core was going through immense changes, and bizarre entities as strong as Divinities were dying in large numbers.

The identity of their murderer as well as if the power they wielded could help Charles were still unanswered questions. Of course, Charles himself had to find the answers to those questions.

Charles observed the surroundings for a while before leaving behind a hypnotic suggestion to continue searching for the target. Charles then relinquished control over the three-headed spherical monster's body.

It wasn't that he didn't want to monitor the whole process; Charles simply felt that someone was looking for him. While leaning on the sofa, Charles began talking to himself, saying, "I haven't made any progress on my end. How about you?"

"Humans won't do. They can't last more than three seconds once exposed to that aura. Trust me, I tried."

"Mmhm, all right. I'll be right over."

Charles told Sparkle to stay in the house and be obedient before manifesting inside one of his human shells. Soon, he arrived at their gathering place—a strange place where planes intersect.

Charles wasn't the first one to arrive here, as quite a few Charleses had already arrived before him. Compared to the previous meeting, a few old faces were missing, and a few new faces appeared.

Those absent had most likely lost control and had truly become a god. As time went on, more and more Charleses would inevitably become a god, and perhaps he was the next one to become a god.

When the long table was packed with Charleses, Charles tapped the long table with his finger and said, "Let's all report on our progress."

Charles wasn't the only one investigating the Core. It was just that each of them had their own plans when it came to investigating it.

Charles wanted to make use of the numbers advantage to figure out what exactly happened to the Core and where that strange aura, capable of mutating just about anything, was coming from.

The idea was good, but the reality was cruel. No one managed to find even the slightest clue, including Charles, who had been using his children to explore the Core for any clues.

Fhtagn was powerful, but at least He could be seen.

What exactly happened to 002? No one had any idea—absolutely no one.

The air in the room became a bit oppressive. Everyone's face was expressionless, quietly expressing that they had made practically no progress at all.

"I'll have to let you guys know that I'm running out of time. I can hold out for five days at most. On the sixth day, I'll become a god, and you'll have one less person to use," said an old Charles with a bed of white hair.

Charles swept his gaze across the Charleses. "Then I'll keep this brief. The contingency plans are almost ready. Our time frame could be as short as a few days or as long as a year or two.

"With that in mind, I think we can try a more radical approach."

Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Charles explained, "I believe the reason we haven't made any progress isn't that there's some unknown variable; it is simply because we are too weak.

"However, a massive amount of power and knowledge is poison to us; it can instantly turn us into gods.

"If we want to break this stalemate, then we must think of a way to become even stronger without eroding our humanity."

"Can you say something useful? My time is precious," a young Charles said with a hint of impatience on his face.

"The idea came to me some time ago while I was looking out at the sea. Anyway, have all of you heard about the so-called giant hat jellyfish in the Western Seas?"