Chapter 8 Alone

"Found it! That's it!!"

Charles began to get excited, the thing was just left here, there was not even a guard nearby, as long as it was sent back to the Coral Islands, the mission would be completed!

Just as he was about to pick it up, he stopped abruptly. A thought flashed through his mind. Isn't it a bit too simple? Since it's so simple, why didn't those people take it away, but all disappeared?

Just when Charles was hesitating, the bandage next to him came off, and he went straight to pick up the Fortan statue.

Immediately afterwards, he returned to Charles and said in a slow tone: "Let's... go back... the high priest is waiting..."

Although Charles felt that something was wrong, since he had everything in hand, he couldn't care less about it at this time. He waved his hand and led the crew to go out quickly.

"That thing looks a bit heavy. The few of us carried it for thirty minutes."

The bandage next to him nodded at the same time as James. They continued along the path toward the sea. The weight of the golden statue is not light, and even taking turns carrying it is very tiring.

Halfway through the path, Charles stopped to rest. At this time, he couldn't wait until his physical strength was completely exhausted before resting, otherwise there would be no chance to react if something happened.

By the campfire, Charles, who was sitting on the ground, watched the surrounding darkness warily.

If there is no danger in the forward time, then it proves that the danger only comes from the way back, and I can't relax my vigilance.

After resting for more than ten minutes, Charles turned his head to the bandage beside him and said, "We can't stop for the next section of the road, we must go all the way to the end."

The bandage on the side nodded and paused for a few seconds, looked around and said, "I... I seem to have forgotten something..."

"As long as you get the statue, it doesn't matter if you have other things, hurry up." Charles, who was a bit impatient, grabbed the statue and continued to move forward.

Bandage didn't say anything anymore, and followed silently.

The grotesque forest appeared and disappeared under the light of the fire, and there was no sound except for the panting and footsteps of the two in the silence.

When Charles returned to the beach to look at the Mouse in the distance, there was a gleam of joy on his sweaty face.

"This adventure is successful. As long as I go back and give this thing to the Fortan Church, I can buy an exploration ship and recruit crew members to find my way home."

Just as he was stepping on the sand and running towards the Mouse in the distance, he stopped, the smile on his face slowly disappeared, and a question appeared in his mind.

"I drove this big steamboat all by myself??"

An unknown fear suddenly enveloped Charles' whole body. He thought about how he came here.

"I was invited by the Fortan Cult to search for their holy relics. I drove the Mouse alone. I went to the kitchen to prepare food. I added fuel to the turbine. I cleaned the deck. I... I was alone. Patrol the deck, I... alone at the helm?"

Charles wandered back and forth on the beach holding the golden statue.

"I used to have a crew. I sailed with the first mate John and the boatswain Dim, but before Dim was skinned by underwater things, John also disembarked in the Coral Islands. After that, the Mouse I’m alone, that’s right!!”

There was a painful expression on Charles's face. Although the memory was very clear, what was displayed was contrary to reality, which was not logical at all.

"It's impossible! I'm not a superman, how can I do so many things alone! There must be something wrong!!"

When Charles glanced over the footprints on the ground inadvertently, he was shocked.

I saw a total of seven people, big and small, with very clear imprints on the ground, proving that these were left only recently.

Charles quickly dropped the statue in his hand, took off his boots, and compared it with a shoe print on the ground.

"Texture, size, curvature, these are my footprints! I didn't come here alone, the memory in my mind has been rewritten!"

Frightened into a cold sweat, he looked towards the empty boats next to the Mouse, and now he knew why there were no people on board.

Charles took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down, "The information now shows that I am not alone, I have a crew, they disappeared, not only in reality, but also in my mind, they must be found , You can’t go back alone.”

But a new problem is before Charles, how should he find six people who he doesn't know and don't exist, and who are they? What's your name? Is it male or female?

At this time, a figure slowly walked into the light of the torch.

The moment Charles saw the man's appearance, his pupils shrank instantly, and he pulled out a pistol and pointed it at the thing's head.

It was a figure wrapped in old yellow bandages, and the bandages on his body were cut torn, exposing the dark skin underneath.

"Stop!! Say your name!!"

"I... I'm called Bandage, no, I'm not... I'm not called Bandage, who are you? I seem to know you... Do you know me?"

Taking a quick glance at the mummy's bandaged feet, Charles searched among the seven pairs of footprints.

The pattern of the bandage was clearly printed on the sand. Although it was a bit unbelievable, this guy was indeed his crew member.

Charles put down the revolver in his hand, and quickly explained what happened to the bandage.

"Is...is that so? I can't remember, who am I? Do you know who I am?" The bandage hesitated.

"I'll talk about these things later. Where did you escape from? Is there anyone else there?" Charles asked quickly.

"The tree...in the tree...the tree doesn't like me...the tree let me go, there are other people there."

Charles couldn't make out what the bandaged man was saying, but he seemed to know where the others were.

"Take me there quickly, we're going to rescue them."

After Charles deeply imprinted the remaining five pairs of shoe prints in his mind, he returned to the weird forest with bandages on.

The misty forest was still as silent as ever, and the bandage led Charles back onto the path full of footprints.

With the previous reminder, Charles realized something was wrong. The footprints on the ground became less and less, and it was obvious that they were all gone.

Not sure if it was a psychological effect, Charles began to feel that something in the forest was looking at him.

After walking for half an hour, the dangling bandage suddenly turned and walked towards the nearby forest. Charles now knew why his bandages were torn like this.