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Chapter 191. DE1344-1

"Captain... where did... this mouse... come from?"

A question mark popped up above Charles\' head upon hearing Bandages\' words.

"She\'s Lily, our gunner. Don\'t you remember her?" Charles asked.

Bandages stood motionless and slowly lifted a hand to clutch his head as if trying to sift through his memories.

"Is...that so? I\'m sorry... My memory seems to be failing...I think... I\'m starting to... forget things again."

"Memory loss? How can that be?" Charles rose to his feet with a worried expression. Bandages was his right-hand man and most trusted aide. It would be catastrophic if Bandage lost all his previous memories.

Charles approached Bandages and grabbed him by the arm. "Let\'s go. We need to go see Doctor." He then pulled Bandages toward the door.

With a soft thud, the cabin door closed behind the two men, and Lily was left alone in the captain\'s cabin.

With her eyes red and swollen from crying, Lily lamented with overflowing sadness, "Jumpy, why does Mr. Charles seem to care more about Mr. Bandages than me?"

Only a haunting silence answered Lily. A wave of panic washed over Lily as she scurried to the edge of the table and peered into the shadowy corners of the room.

"Jumpy?"

***

"You are saying that he lost his memory? Hasn\'t he always been a little.... scatterbrained?"

Despite Charles\' explanation of the situation, Laesto leaned back into his chair and displayed no intention to get up.

He leisurely poured himself a cup of alcohol, took a whiff under his sweat-streaked armpit, and then downed the glass in one go.

"It\'s different this time. Take a quick examination now. At the very least, we need to ensure that he doesn\'t lose any more memories," Charles pressed on.

Laesto mumbled under his breath. With a heavy sigh, he reluctantly got out of his chair and began treating Bandages. With each intimidating steel needle inserted into Bandages\'s head, the visible expression of anguish on his face deepened.

Word spread quickly, and soon enough, the other crew members flocked to the infirmary and peered inside with a look of concern.

"There\'s nothing to see here! Return to your posts!" Charles shooed them away with his authoritative aura.

"Take this medicine, one dose a day. It might help," Laesto instructed and pushed a large jar of black liquid into Bandages\' arms. He then resumed his strange antic of pairing liquor with his own musk.

"Bandages is our comrade. Please take this more seriously," Charles intoned gravely.

Laesto let out a disdainful snort. "You think I haven\'t treated him all these years? I know his condition far better than you do. There\'s only so much I can do. I\'m a doctor, not some god."

Charles turned around and looked at Bandages with a concerned gaze.

"Are you still unable to recall anything about Lily at all?"

Bandages shook his head in response. Charles gave the First Mate a reassuring pat on the shoulder before he turned to exit the infirmary.

Bandages sat on the operating table in silence. His brows furrowed together as he tried to recall who Lily was, but nothing surfaced.

He removed the lid of the medicine bottle and was about to tilt the contents into his mouth when Laesto\'s aged voice sounded from the side and halted his actions.

"Who is Lily? Your old flame?"

Meanwhile, with a forced calm expression, Charles returned to his quarters and pushed the door open.

Upon entering and closing the door behind him, his countenance crumbled into deep distress.

From the side, Lily scampered toward him with tears pooling in her eyes. "Mr. Charles, Jumpy and Furry, they\'re not—"

Before Lily could complete her sentence, Charles scooped her up and placed her into his pocket. He then darted toward his desk and frantically flipped through his navigational diary.

Finally, he landed on the entry he was looking for.

August 24, 8th Year of Crossing Over

My first exploration mission has concluded successfully. An uncharted island is perilous indeed. The land was inhabited by unusually intelligent mice and giant locusts that hovered in mid-air.

Though it was a challenging journey, the gains were worth the effort. We lost only a handful of sailors, and Dipp sustained a minor arm injury.

I believe that we are nearing home. I can almost feel it.

On the island, I acquired a mask. It was powerful yet dangerous...

Charles flipped the pages of that particular entry back and forth and scrutinized the written contents. His actions betrayed his rising anxiety.

"Shhhhh!" Dropping the journal, Charles hurried toward the door, opened it slightly, and peered through the narrow crack. After confirming that the hallway was vacant, he swiftly closed the door as a mix of emotions surfaced on his countenance.

"Mr. Charles, what\'s the matter?"

Charles retrieved Lily from his pocket to place her on his palm and lifted her to meet his urgent gaze.

"Lily, we are in deep trouble. This isn\'t our ship. Those outside aren\'t our comrades either! They are all 1344-1! We are now trapped in DE1344!"

Until now, Charles had been perplexed about the identity of 1344. His imagination had been limited by his past experiences, leading him to believe that DE1344 was some sort of relic that could clone humans.

It was only now that he realized that DE1344 wasn\'t another tangible relic like those he had encountered. It was an entirely different world! This could then explain why the Foundation had to contain it on an island surrounded by dangerous whirlpools.

It finally dawned on him why Bandages wouldn\'t recognize Lily.

Charles had never encountered Lily in this world.

Lily\'s eyes widened in disbelief. "How is this possible? We clearly descended from that large mountain."

Charles swiftly retraced the events in his mind. "It should be when we clashed under the sunlight. Me and my counterpart from this world switched places unknowingly during that fight. That guy\'s probably in our world at the moment."

"Then... Mr. Charles, what should we do now?" Lily asked in a trembling voice.

Suppressing the panic in his heart, Charles knew he had to find a resolution to his current predicament. Fortunately, the situation didn\'t seem too pessimistic at this point.

"Shh~ Stay quiet in my pocket and don\'t make a sound. I\'ll bring us back to our original world."

Placing Lily into his coat pocket, Charles took a deep breath before he pushed open the door and stepped out into the hallway.

"Dipp, how far are we from the island we have just left?" Charles asked as he entered the pilothouse.

With his hands on the helm, Dipp glanced at the various navigation instruments and replied, "Not too far. Probably just a few dozen nautical miles. After all, we\'ve only been sailing for two hours."

A slight sense of relief coursed through Charles; the situation was not considered terrible. "Change course. We head back to the previous island."

Dipp\'s eyes bulged in surprise at the instructions. "Captain, why? That cursed place has nothing but those replicas!"

"This is an order! Do it now!" Charles\' tone grew sharper, and Dipp could only comply obediently.

The Narwhale swiftly made a U-turn and advanced toward the Foundation\'s V12 Containment Site. The streamlined metal ship sped through the waters like a speedboat.

In his peripheral vision, Charles noticed that the golden earring that usually adorned Dipp\'s ear was missing. Though this world was bizarrely similar to his own, there were still subtle differences.

He remained silent as his gaze was fixated on the inky black expanse ahead. A tense, oppressive atmosphere blanketed the pilothouse.

Hissssssss~

Suddenly, the writhing sensation in Charles\' head intensified, and his head pounded with escalating pain.