Shrouded Seascape - Chapter 479: City

Charles had seen many cities before, but it was his first time seeing such a strange city. The city’s buildings seemed to be constructed entirely of green stones too large to have come from Earth.

There were majestic statues, towering monoliths, and ornate stone reliefs. Most importantly, these edifices at the bottom of the Dark Abyssal Trench were distorted at a dimensional level, making anyone feel nauseous just by looking at them.

The stones themselves also appeared convex at first glance, but they would appear to be concave at second glance.

Overall, the entire city exuded an impure aura.

The edges of the stones seemed bizarre and distorted as well, and the confused mixture of distortion seemed to conceal sinister intent and agitation.

The bizarre city seemed endless, stretching endlessly into the distant darkness. For some reason, Charles felt as if the city was alive with a consciousness and was watching him.

Charles realized just then that the occasional gaze that he would feel on him had come from it—it was from the bizarre city before him.

Just then, Charles’ heart beat wildly against his chest. However, it wasn’t because he was excited to find the city. It was all because he had spotted a glimmer from deep within the city.

The cold metallic gleam was unmistakably similar to the glimmer of the key from his memories!

Unfortunately, Charles couldn’t truly say for sure as even the beams of the searchlights appeared distorted under refraction. A strong urge overwhelmed Charles’ heart just then. He wanted to rush over and take a look at the bizarre city.

There was a high chance that the colossal key that he had been looking for was in that bizarre city.

However, Charles quickly suppressed the urge. He couldn’t do something like that, as the city was just too bizarre. Even a child could deduce that they’d encounter extreme danger in the city.

Fortunately, there were some locals that Charles could question for more information.

Soon, Charles and Linda returned to the deck. The pale-white ghosts floated over as well, following closely behind Linda. They appeared extremely calm, devoid of the ferocity they had shown earlier.

The crew members appeared quite nervous as they stared at the pale-white entities capable of passing through walls. They soon calmed down at Charles’s order to lower their weapons.

“Captain, actually. I—” Linda started.

However, Charles cut her off, saying, “I don’t want to hear that. I want you to ask these entities for me about what dangers lie within that bizarre city and whether that cold metallic gleam is coming from the key or not.”

Linda was surprised to hear Charles’ words. “What gleam are you talking about, Captain?”

“Huh?” Charles was astounded. Soon, he excitedly pulled Linda over to the thick, glass windows around the deck and pointed at the bizarre, eerie city in the distance, particularly at the light coming from its depths.

“Do you not see something so glaring?” Charles asked.

Linda shook her head, but she wasn’t alone. The crew members holding their weapons just in case the pale-white ghosts decided to attack them shook their heads as well.

“Captain, I can only see a strange city emitting a dark green light. I do not see any cold, metallic glow,” Dipp said.

“I’m the only one who can see it?” Charles muttered, stunned. He felt that there had to be a reason why he was the only one who could see the cold, metallic glow.

Just then, a terrifying roar emerged from Anna’s gaping maw. She appeared to be in great agony. Her writhing tentacles, which were covered in some kind of semi-elastic black scales, abruptly stood on end.

Then, her entire figure seemed to emit a nauseating, impure aura.

Charles rushed over and caressed Anna’s tentacles with a worried look, asking, “Anna, what’s going on?”

Anna sounded in pain as she exclaimed, “No matter what you’re about to do, you better hurry up! The mental contamination is coming from that city, and it’s getting stronger and stronger as we approach it!”

Charles wasted no time at the remark. He snatched the glowing triangle token from Linda’s hand and turned to the nearby pale-white ghosts. “Answer me. What’s in that city? Which of you have been there before?”

The pale-white ghosts glanced at the glowing triangle token before responding…

“I went inside the city in search of something under the Pope’s order, but I found nothing there. I ate some fish from the city, and they tasted pretty good.”

“I saw someone planting black rye grass inside the city. They invited me to come in, but I didn’t go in. My fleshly body has rotted away, so there’s no need for me to eat.

“I’ve been to the very bottom of the city, and I found a city beneath it. Also, the city looks like a flat pancake, but it’s actually a very large cube.”

The pale-white ghosts’ words made no sense at all, but it was better than no information. Every single one of their words could be summarized in a single sentence—the city wasn’t very dangerous, as they had all been there, after all.

Charles and his crew were also under the effect of a special anomaly; they were currently undying. The fact made Charles feel that the risk was worth taking. They were immortal, so why would they be afraid?

“Move forward, Narwhale!” Charles exclaimed.

The Narwhale’s propellers spun rapidly as the ship headed toward the city.

Charles decided to take advantage of the downtime by turning to Linda and waving the glowing triangle token in his hand.

“I’m not going to ask whether these fellows are part of the Pope’s contingency plan. However, I have to ask just one thing. Can I use this item to command these ghosts?”

Linda nodded and said, “Yes, they’re the most devout followers of the Light God. They’ve become deranged, but they’re still our brethren.”

“Great,” Charles replied and stuffed the glowing triangle token into his pocket before staring at the bizarre city before him.

Time passed by slowly as the Narwhale got closer and closer to the light. Charles pressed his face against the glass, and he felt like he could already make out its silhouette, which was indeed like a key.

Charles’ heart beat wildly against his chest. Just a bit more…. Just a little bit closer. Our mission in this voyage is considered done as soon as we’ve confirmed that the key is here!

All of a sudden, Anna wailed. Her massive, swollen figure collapsed to the ground, and she started spasming.

“Anna!” Charles roared and rushed over anxiously. His words had yet to finish echoing in the air when black, viscous blood flowed out of Anna’s tentacles. Her yellow, cross-shaped pupils, which were as large as grapefruits, became bloodshot.

The abnormal changes further intensified the terrifying appearance of the Dioite.

Charles could see that Anna was in great pain. He gnashed his teeth and glanced at the cold, metallic sheen in the distance. They were so close to it, and the Narwhale was getting closer to it as the seconds went on.

However, Charles whipped around and stared at Bandages standing at the helm, roaring, “Turn back! Turn back now!”

A tentacle landed on Charles just then.

Charles turned and saw that the yellow eyeballs on the tentacles were filled with deep fear as they stared at him.

“Gao Zhiming, run! Run as fast as you can! Something is coming, and it is definitely not something that you can handle!”

When Anna’s words fell, the sailors standing in front of the glass windows inexplicably collapsed to the ground as if they were puppets that had their strings cut.

Charles looked out the glass window and saw a colossal, semi-transparent hand rising slowly from the bizarre city. The strange, metallic light was shrouded by the hand as the latter passed through the former.

A sinister palm print was projected on Charles’ horrified face.

Charles had seen this hand before—it was the hand of a Divinity.