"We found it! This is it!" Exclaimed Charles.
Charles began to get excited. The thing they were looking for was right here, just sitting here without any guards around. All they had to do was take it back to Coral Islands, and their mission would be accomplished!
He lifted his foot to reach for the object, but hesitated and abruptly stopped. A thought flashed through his mind: "Isn't it too easy? If it's so easy, then why couldn't the others take it? Why did they all disappear?"
As Charles hesitated, Bandage who was beside him moved, walking over and picking up the statue.
He then returned to Charles and said in a slow, dragging tone, "Let's… go back... the High Priest is waiting for us."
Although Charles felt that something was off, he didn't have time to think too much about it after they obtained what they came for. He waved his hand and quickly led the crew out.
"That thing looks a bit heavy. Let's take turns carrying it," James suggested.
Bandage beside him nodded at James. They continued down the path towards the beach. The golden statue was heavy, and even taking turns carrying it was very tiring.
Halfway down the path, Charles stopped to take a break. It was important to rest before their energy was completely depleted, as they might not have a chance to react in case something happened.
Sitting on the ground beside the campfire, Charles looked around the darkness with a vigilant expression.
If there was no danger during their journey forward, it meant that the danger lay on the way back. Charles couldn't let his guard down.
After resting for about fifteen minutes, Charles turned to Bandage beside him and said, "For the next stretch, we can't stop. We have to keep going until the end."
Bandage beside him nodded, but hesitated for a few seconds before looking around from left and right and saying, "I... I think I forgot something”
"As long as we have the statue, it doesn't matter if we forgot anything else. Let's hurry up and keep going," Charles said impatiently, grabbing the statue and continuing forward.
Bandage didn't say anything more and followed in silence.
The strange and eerie forest flickered in and out of view in the light of the torches. Apart from the sound of the two men's breathing and footsteps, there was complete silence.
When Charles returned to the beach and caught sight of the Rat, a glimmer of joy appeared on his sweat-drenched face.
"This journey was a success. Once I return and deliver this statue to the Fhtagn Church, I can use the reward to buy an exploration ship and recruit new crew members to search for a way back home," Charles said with a sense of relief.
Just as Charles was running towards the Rat in the distance, he suddenly stopped in his tracks, the smile on his face slowly fading away as a question popped into his mind.
"Did I really sail this large steamship all by myself?" Charles muttered to himself, his mind racing with confusion and disbelief.
An unnamed fear suddenly engulfed Charles, as he recalled the events that led him to this place.
"I was invited by the Fhtagn Church to search for their artifact. I set out on Rat alone, prepared food in the kitchen alone, added fuel to the turbine alone, cleaned the deck alone, and... patrolled the deck alone. I... steered the ship alone?" Charles murmured in disbelief.
Charles wandered back and forth on the beach, holding a golden statue.
"I used to have a crew. I sailed with my first mate Old John and the boatswain Jim, but before this mission, Jim was stripped of his skin and killed by something underwater, and John left the ship at Coral Islands. After that, there was only me left on the Rat, that's right!"
A pained expression appeared on Charles' face. Although his memories were very clear, what was being displayed contradicted reality, which made no sense at all.
"This can't be possible! I'm not Superman, how could I have done so much by myself! There must be a problem somewhere!!"
When Charles' gaze inadvertently swept over the footprints on the ground, he shuddered all over.
He saw a total of seven footprints on the ground, large and small, with very clear imprints, indicating that they were all made recently.
Charles quickly threw the statue in his hand to the side and took off his boots. He held one of the boots and compared it to one of the footprints on the ground.
"The pattern, size, and curve, this is my footprint! I didn't come here alone, my memories have been rewritten!" Charles exclaimed as he compared the footprint to his boot.
Shaken with cold sweat, he looked towards the several empty ships next to the Rat, now realizing why there was nobody on those ships.
Charles took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. "The information now shows that I wasn't alone, I had a crew, and they disappeared; not only in reality, but also in my mind. I have to find them. I can't go back alone."
However, a new problem was now in front of Charles. How could he search for six people who he didn't know and who didn't exist? Who were they? What were their names? And what were their genders?
Just at that moment, a figure slowly walked into the light of the torche.
As soon as Charles saw the person's appearance, his pupils shrank and he immediately pulled out his revolver, aiming it at the creature's head.
The figure was a humanoid wrapped entirely in old yellow bandages. The bandages were torn and ragged, revealing the pitch-black skin underneath.
"Stop right there! State your name!" Charles demanded, his revolver still pointed at the creature's head.
"My name is Bandage, no wait,... that's not my name. Who are you? I feel like I know you... do you know me?" the creature stammered in response.
Charles quickly glanced at the mummy's wrapped feet and began to search for any matching footprints among the seven sets on the ground.
The pattern of the bandages on the mummy's feet was clearly imprinted on the sandy ground. Despite how unbelievable it seemed, this person was indeed one of his crew members.
Charles put down his revolver and quickly explained the situation to Bandage.
"Is...is that so? I don't remember, who am I? Do you know who I am?" Bandage asked in a hesitated tone.
"We'll talk about that later. Where did you escape from and are there any other people there?" Charles quickly asked
"I...I was in a tree...the tree didn't like me...it let me go, there were other people there," Bandage replied.
Charles couldn't quite make out what the Bandage was saying, but he had an inkling of an idea of where the others were.
"Hurry, take me there. We have to rescue them," Charles said urgently.
After imprinting the remaining five pairs of shoeprints deeply in his mind, Charles returned to the strange forest with Bandage.
The mist-filled forest was as silent as ever, and Bandage led Charles back to the footprint-strewn path.
With the newly bot in mind, Charles finally noticed that something was amiss. The footprints on the ground became fewer and fewer as they moved forward, and it was clear that they had all disappeared.
Whether it was just his imagination or not, Charles began to feel like there was something watching him from within the forest.
After walking for half an hour, the swaying Bandage suddenly turned and walked towards the nearby woods. Charles now understood why the bandages on his body were torn in such a way.
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