Shrouded Seascape

Charles' situation was so helpless that even he himself didn't expect that he'd somehow manage to escape. Someone had brought him onto an airship, allowing him to escape the island covered in purple trees.

The Foundation's encirclement was practically airtight, so no one expected that Charles could escape. Of course, Charles himself didn't expect that he'd escape the encirclement as well.

The eyeball spider turned around to orient itself before casting the eye on its back to the large-framed man sporting a crew cut standing before it. "You've been influenced by Fhtagn? You've become one of Fhtagn's followers."

The large-framed man had personally disposed of Shindy before gouging out one of his eyes and stuffing the eyeball spider into his empty eye socket.

Charles had witnessed the entire thing, and he had been pondering about the reason behind it since then. In the end, Charles reached only one conclusion—the large-framed man had become one of Fhtagn's followers.

Deya shook his head slightly. He took out a medical kit, and while taking out medical tape to dress his wounds, he replied, "I wouldn't say 'influenced.' I personally prefer to call it 'special enlightenment'."

Far away on Hope Island, the corners of Charles' mouth curled up into a sneer. What special enlightenment? In the end, he was just another lunatic under Fhtagn's influence.

However, Charles needed as many lunatics like Deya as possible. The enemy of his enemy was his friend. These lunatics were his allies as long as they were against the Foundation.

"You're Charles, right? Am I right?" Deya calmly said, "Your file in the database said that you've lost one eye and have been using a spider as an eye for quite a while now."

The spider's thin legs quivered, and silk rushed out of the spider's abdomen soon afterward. The silk formed texts on the ground, which said, "That's right. I'm Charles. What you did was tantamount to a betrayal; are you on our side now?"

"No, I didn't betray the Foundation!" Deya shook his head, his voice low and deep as he said, "I just feel that their methods are problematic! Very problematic!"

"The moment you lifted Fhtagn's seal to threaten the Foundation, I felt Fhtagn's power, and it was a power that humans simply cannot resist. It was then that I realized that God Fhtagn wasn't spreading the so-called D4 memetic infection.

"God Fhtagn's followers aren't mad—they had simply caught a glimpse of the corner of the iceberg that is God Fhtagn and were lucky enough to survive it."

"Once you feel that power!" Deya exclaimed. His voice was becoming increasingly louder and agitated as he added, "You will instantly realize that the Foundation has been clinging to the delusion of resisting God Fhtagn."

"We are nothing before Him! If humanity wants a sliver of a chance at survival on the day of His awakening, then there is nothing we can do but become His followers!!" Deya shouted. His face flushed red, and the wounds that had just been sealed by skin glue split open.

The blood seeping out of the wound drenched his clothes once again.

Charles stared calmly at Deya and eventually nodded. "Mmhm, you're right. I agree a hundred percent. Anyway, let's talk about that later. We should talk about how you can become an insider who will give us intelligence and become a headache for the Foundation."

Deya appeared to be a rational individual, but he could only be considered a rational lunatic at most. An ordinary person like Charles need not waste time arguing with a lunatic.

Charles' words brought Deya back to reality. He regained his composure in the blink of an eye, returning to his previous cold and detached demeanor as the Captain of Mobile Task Force: Behemoth.

"This airship is fast, so I'll keep it brief. The two of us alone can't do much within the Foundation. We need to find more allies.

"There are quite a few people who have been enlightened within the Foundation. Of course, the Internal Security Department has filtered and purged many of them, but there are still some who managed to go into hiding like me.

"We need to gather them so that we can help you from all sides."

"There are other followers of Fhtagn in the Foundation? What positions do they hold?" Charles asked.

"I'm not sure about the others, but Dr. A2 was definitely enlightened as well. They're a member of the GK Council, and it doesn't seem like the other higher-ups want to eliminate them. It feels like they're going to do some experiments on the enlightened Dr. A2."

Charles perked up at the news that Deya had shared with him. The Foundation was extremely powerful, and it would be exceedingly difficult to inflict damage on them from the outside. It would be great if Charles could somehow erode them from the inside, and Deya's words had just given him hope at doing that.

They were stuck in a deadlock with the Foundation, but a way out of the deadlock had suddenly appeared before Charles. The denizens of the Subterranean Sea finally had more cards to play against the Foundation!

"They're a member of the GK Council? Does that mean Dr. A2's clearance is high enough to peruse all of the Foundation's secrets?" Charles asked.

Deya nodded. "Becoming a member of the GK Council means that you automatically have the highest level of clearance."

Charles immediately clenched his fists.

He had to make contact with Dr. A2!

There was no doubt that Dr. A2 knew some of the Foundation's weaknesses, so they had to take advantage of this golden opportunity.

Whether they could turn the tables on the Foundation or not, it all depended on Charles' success or failure at taking advantage of this opportunity!

Just then, the pitch-black windows suddenly brightened up.

Deya walked up to the window and said, "We've arrived at SITE 2. A2 happens to be imprisoned here."

Charles propelled himself off of the table using his spider legs. He landed on the window but was confused to find nothing on the sea covered in white mist.

Deya pointed upward with his finger. "SITE 2 isn't on the sea surface, nor under the sea. It's above us."

Charles followed his finger and saw a prosperous modern city built on the overhead rock layer. Flying vehicles of all sizes shuttled constantly between the skyscrapers throughout the city, and objects resembling small belts were suspended between the upside-down city and the sea surface.

"Hold on tight," Deya said, reaching up to grab the handrail. Before Charles could understand what he was talking about, the jet-propelled airship accelerated in an instant, making a beeline for the rock layer above the dome.

The next second, the gravity of the entire ship was reversed—up became down, and down became up. Deya released the handrail and stood on what was the ceiling just a few moments ago.

Upon exiting the aircraft, Charles made the spider look up. A vast ink-green ocean was hanging upside down above him, and he couldn't help but marvel at the sight.

He knew the Foundation's technology was extremely advanced, but he never imagined that they were capable of controlling even gravity, which was one of the four fundamental forces of nature.

"Don't get distracted. This is SITE 2, and the central computer is here as well. We're dead as soon as our covers are blown," Deya warned.

Charles really wanted to say that even if his cover was blown, he'd lose an eye at most rather than die, but he had no way of saying that right now.

"Mobile Task Force: Behemoth, assemble!" Captain Deya exclaimed. The members of Mobile Task Force: Behemoth quickly disembarked the airship and stood neatly in a row.

Moments later, several spherical drones with neither wings nor rotor blades flew over to the group. The spherical drones scanned Shindy's contorted corpse on the stretcher before carrying it away.

Immediately afterward, a gentle voice echoed through their earpieces. "Mobile Task Force: Behemoth. You have successfully completed your mission. 29,000 points have been deposited into your accounts. You are now dismissed. New missions will be issued in two days."

The members of Mobile Task Force: Behemoth sighed in relief at the same time upon hearing the voice.

Although they were still in the middle of SITE 2's vast airport, they began removing their heavy weapons and equipment, which included conventional hot weapons and some relics.

Deya chatted briefly with his subordinates, and he politely declined their invitations for a drink. Clutching his wound, Deya headed to his residence.

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