Shrouded Seascape

Chapter 836: Dreamland

The Foundation's backup and restore plan had failed, but Charles's affairs in the Southern Seas were far from over.

The Foundation's nautical charts were proving handy.

The colossal ship-cum-island Sottom was like Death's steed as it jumped across the Sea of Mist. At each stop, warships from Sottom would descend into the sea and surround the Foundation's site like a pack of sharks.

Valuable technological data, intact mechanical equipment, and useful resources from these sites were confiscated. Of course, the sites contained not only good things but bad things as well—the deformed clones of Foundation members.

Like Feuerbach, many clones survived 004's influence. They all appeared weak, but they had to be eliminated now lest they reared their ugly heads later on.

The clones could barely move their weakened figures, but they all seemed determined to counterattack using the fighter jets of the Foundation. Unfortunately, they were quickly disposed of by Charles' men.

Clearing the entire Sea of Mist of the Foundation's clones would take a considerable amount of time, but Charles was not in a hurry. His arm was under the fingernail of a god, and there hadn't been any traces of that god, so the best thing that he could do was wait.

A Foundation site was in the middle of being cleared out of clones in the dim seawater. Sottom was docked next to the island, allowing the expedition team to carry out their job of eliminating the clones and looting the Foundation site.

Charles wasn't on the site. He was their leader, so his subordinates were the ones handling the real work. Besides, it was already evening, and he needed to rest. He was a governor rather than a ship captain, so there was no need for him to stay up late.

134's residence was smack right in the middle of the ship-cum-island Sottom, and Charles had decided to take it as his temporary residence. At this moment, Charles was sleeping inside 134's simple-looking bedroom.

He was taking deep and steady breaths; clearly, he was fast asleep.

In the corridor outside, Anna clad in a purple dress was walking barefoot on the soft carpet, skipping her way toward Charles' bedroom.

Clearly, she was in a great mood, and it was evidenced by the fact that she was humming a tune with a bright face. Sometimes, she'd even burst out into a chuckle for no apparent reason.

Anna stopped in front of Charles' bedroom. Rather than opening the door, she raised her hand, and the wall—adorned with a peel-and-stick wallpaper—split open as if it were a curtain.

Anna slipped in gracefully, and the wall closed up again as if it had never inexplicably split open in the first place.

Charles' eyes moved rapidly as if he was going to wake up at any moment now. At the sight, Anna stepped forward and cupped Charles' face with her fair hands.

In an instant, Charles' tense figure settled down.

"It's been so many days since we saw each other, my man. Did you miss me?" Anna asked, gently pressing her face against Charles' face.

Charles' arms unconsciously wrapped around Anna, but he was still in his dreamland.

"Why are you still asleep?" Anna asked, sounding a bit surprised. "What sweet dream are you having right now?"

The corners of Anna's mouth curled up slightly, and her gorgeous figure split open.

A tentacle riddled with the same black scales extended from inside Anna and intertwined with the tentacles on Charles' head.

A connection was made, but it was severed the next moment.

The tentacles riddled with black scales had vanished into thin air as well.

Anna frowned, and her voice tinged with a hint of defiance as she said, "I've become so much stronger, so I don't believe that I can't handle what's inside your head!"

The tentacles intertwined once again, and Anna's eyes lit up. She was inside Charles' sea of consciousness.

Charles' sea of consciousness was in the form of a chaotic red sea. Anna looked around and saw an inflamed sac filled with mucus. It had occupied the core of Charles' sea of consciousness.

Anna was familiar with it. It had inexplicably appeared when the "Inexistence" within Charles had disappeared, and it had taken root in the core of Charles' sea of consciousness, where Charles' consciousness and memories were located.

Its location was the reason Anna hadn't been able to read Charles' thoughts.

Even Anna couldn't quite understand it. She had personally asked Charles about it, and she had also secretly perused the Foundation's files. Still, she hadn't been able to figure out what exactly was the inflamed sac filled with mucus.

However, one thing was for sure—the inflamed sac contained the power of "Inexistence," and it was extremely dangerous.

Having suffered a setback last time, Anna dared not approach it rashly. After several probing attempts, Anna finally found a way to infiltrate it.

She took to the sky and hovered in Charles' sea of consciousness. Raising her hand gently, a part of her head split open, allowing some of the content inside to float over to the sac.

A gray substance that resembled mist moved slowly toward the sac. Upon sensing the gray substance, the sac cracked open and moved to try and wrap itself around the gray substance.

Just as the sac was engrossed in wrapping itself around the gray substance, Anna moved quickly and dove into the sac. The sac reacted rapidly and tried to stop her, but it was too late.

Anna was already inside it.

Rather than a grotesque scene, Anna was greeted by a white, hazy world of mist.

She was inside Charles' sea of consciousness. Anna looked around briefly before bending her knees and jumping into the air, diving into the mist down below. The mist churned, and in just a brief three seconds, they condensed into a television, sofa, and dining table made out of glass.

The mist had transformed into Charles' former home.

The white mist also condensed into his family members—his sister, his parents, and of course, a teenager Gao Zhiming. The teenager Gao Zhiming looked so innocent, and it was a side of Charles that Anna had never seen before.

The family were having breakfast, and the two siblings were arguing over who'd eat the slightly burnt fried egg.

"My dear brother, did you know that eating a burnt egg can increase your chance of getting cancer? With that in mind, just let me have it."

"Don't bother trying that nonsense with me. I let you have the egg last week, so this egg is mine today!"

Their mother was drinking porridge on the side, and she looked like she was having a headache as she chimed in, "You two are already so old now, so why are you acting like children?

"Are you two going to get sick if you don't argue about anything or something? There are still more eggs on the plate, and aren't they the same egg?"

"No, they're not the same! This egg is a bit more burnt, so it tastes better!"

Eventually, the farce concluded with the fried egg getting split in half. It was a hearty breakfast overall, and once they were done, the two picked up their things and walked toward the door.

The two siblings were no longer arguing; they were busy looking down at the phone in their hands. Soon, they exited their residential block, but they were still quiet. Despite the silence, however, the two continued on following each other.

The white mist condensed more sights as they proceeded down the street, while the residential block behind the two siblings transformed into a white mist.

Anna circled around the periphery of the scene, staring quietly at the handsome young man inside of it. Anna looked amused as if she were watching a play.

Gao Zhiming and Gao Suling soon made their way to the bus stop, and they patiently waited for the bus while playing with their phones.

Just then, a student living nearby approached them.

The student was a freckle-faced bespectacled young man, and he punched Gao Zhiming on the shoulder, exclaiming, "Damn it, Old Gao! You actually stood me up, you punk! I waited for you all night at the internet cafe so that we could play games together, but you never showed up."

Gao Zhiming put down the phone in his hand and replied, "What the hell are you talking about? Didn't I text you? I told you that I'm going to be busy in the evening. Did you not receive my text?"

"Receive, my ass! Did you forget that the teacher confiscated my phone two days ago? I still don't know what to do about that."