Charles soon realized that he was staring at a corpse through the periscope. He wasn't afraid of corpses, but he was intrigued by how the corpse had gotten so close to the periscope and why it had come so close in the first place.
Three seconds later, the diving suit trembled and vanished. The periscope saw nothing but darkness once again.
Charles let go of the periscope and walked toward the door of the bridge.
"Where are you going, Captain?" Dipp asked, chasing after Charles.
"I'm going out to meet that fellow. You should come with me."
Bubbles floated as Charles and Dipp entered the pitch-black seawater. Charles shivered upon entering the water, and he reckoned that the temperature here was below freezing.
Charles' night vision seemed to be under suppression, and he couldn't see more than ten meters around him. Using his hand to push off against the hull of the Narwhale, Charles propelled himself toward the periscope where he had seen that diving suit earlier.
Soon, he found out that the diving suit hadn't vanished; it had simply drifted away from the Narwhale.
There was a swoosh as Charles shot out his grappling hook toward the drifting diving suit. The grappling hook easily pierced the diving suit, and Charles pulled it over.
Charles' prosthetic limb transformed into a chainsaw, and he swung it toward the broken helmet, splitting it open. The bones inside spilled out and drifted away under the influence of the current.
So this skeleton didn't come here by itself? Charles thought, feeling slightly disappointed. He used his hands to sweep away the bones and rummage through the diving suit. However, he found nothing but bones; the diving suit was just an ordinary diving suit as well.
Have other explorers been here? What are they doing here? Are they also looking for the key? Charles thought, sweeping his gaze across the pitch-black expanse of the chasm.
At first, he thought these underwater explorers were the Foundation members and that they had come here to recover the key. However, the old-fashioned diving suit proved that Charles' assumption was wrong.
The Foundation was capable of constructing even the sun itself, so Charles believed that there was no way they would use such a primitive diving suit. In fact, the corpse's diving suit was more outdated than Charles' diving suit.
However, it also wouldn't make sense to say that the deceased diver was a denizen of the Subterranean Sea. The denizens of the Subterranean Sea were even too afraid to visit the seafloor, much less dive into a trench.
In addition the goals of explorers were to discover habitable islands with a source of freshwater. Even fishermen daring enough to venture out to the deep sea wouldn't dive into a trench to look for fish.
"Captain, look! There's an oxygen tube on its back! It seems to be connected to something as well," Dipp said, pointing out from the side.
Charles finally noticed the oxygen tube covered in brown moss. The oxygen tube was indeed connected to the back of the diving suit. It appeared like a brown snake swaying gently in the dark.
Charles turned to the periscope next to him and gave orders using flag semaphore. "Stop dive; cruise south."
The Narwhale's rudder turned slowly, allowing her to change directions until her bow was facing the oxygen tube. Then, the Narwhale moved once more, tracing the oxygen tube.
The trench was wider and deeper than Charles initially thought. It took them three minutes to find where the oxygen tube was coming from. It turned out that the oxygen tube was connected to a spindle-shaped black submarine, which stood erect and motionless in the cold seawater.
Charles went closer and saw seven divers attached to oxygen tubes floating haphazardly around the submarine. The deceased divers swayed gently in the seawater. For some reason, Charles felt like the huge submarine was a giant octopus, and the eight divers were its tentacles.
Why does it look a bit familiar
"Captain, should we approach?" Dipp asked. He waited for a while until he realized that Charles wasn't paying any attention to him. Dipp swam up in front of Charles and waved his hand at the latter.
"Captain, are you okay?" Dipp asked.
Charles came back to his senses just then. However, he didn't respond to Dipp's question and simply raised his hand, gesturing toward the submarine in front of them.
The Narwhale's searchlights descended upon the submarine; Charles and Dipp moved together, approaching the submarine carefully. The hearts of the crew members standing on deck unconsciously tightened at the scene.
Charles was surprised to find that the submarine still had air. More precisely, there was an air pocket only in the upper half of the submarine, which Charles reckoned was the reason it was standing vertically in the deep sea.
"Captain, what happened to you earlier? Why did you suddenly freeze?" Dipp asked as he popped his head out into the air pocket.
Charles was taking off his heavy diving suit and was staring at the dusty corridor up above. "No, it's nothing much. I just felt like I'd seen this kind of submarine somewhere before. Anyway, let's go and see if we can find any clues inside."
Dipp nodded and grabbed the dusty light fixture on the corridor walls. Then, he wasted no time and started his climb.
Unfortunately, the submarine was standing upright, so the corridor became a straight, vertical shaft, which was particularly difficult to climb. However, both Charles and Dipp had been enhanced by the Clown Mask, so they had no issues climbing up the shaft.
The two soon found their first bulkhead door, and they seemed to have found their way into what looked like a bedroom.
As the submarine was standing upright, the floor had become the wall, and the wall had become the floor. The tables, chairs, and pieces of furniture had been bolted down to ensure that they wouldn't move amidst the waves, which meant that they were now on the wall rather than on the floor.
Dipp pulled open a drawer and rummaged through it to find anything with texts. "Cough, cough, cough! Why is there so much dust? How long has it been since this thing sank here?"
Charles scraped the dust on the wall with his fingers and said, "It hasn't been that long since they sank. Otherwise, the hull would have already succumbed to the pressure outside, and we wouldn't have been able to come here."
Charles looked around, examining the layout of the room as well as imagining the room's position in the submarine. Charles realized something just thenhe had indeed seen this kind of submarine before!
He had consulted the ship designers of the Albion Isles to construct a submarine, and those ship designers had eventually taken out submarine blueprints for him to see.
At the time, he had asked them to build him a submarine, but it was later postponed due to some unforeseen events.
So this submarine was built by the Albion Isles? Why did the Governor of the Albion Isles send people here? What are they looking for here? Charles pondered deeply. Wait, since they built this submarine, the Captain's Quarters should be
Charles rushed back to the vertical shaft and climbed up. "Dipp! Follow me!"
Charles soon stumbled upon a variety of compartments, and he compared their positions to the submarine blueprints in his head. Charles climbed past the ballast tanks, the storage compartment, and the galley until he finally found the Captain's Quarters.
Charles pried open the bulkhead door with all his strength, and as soon as the door was pried open, a figure inside pounced on Charles.
Charles reacted quickly and lashed out with his right foot, kicking the figure away toward the wall. A dull noise echoed as the figure slammed hard against the wall and fell to the ground.
However, the figure wasn't some dangerous monster but a skeleton that had perished while leaning against the bulkhead door. It hadn't "pounced" on Charles; it had fallen toward the latter as soon as the door was opened.
The skeleton's clothes confirmed its identity; he was the captain of this submarine.
Charles looked around the Captain's Quarters, and he eventually walked inside the room upon confirming that there wasn't anything dangerous inside.
So he committed suicide, Charles thought upon seeing the gun in the skeleton's hand and the hole in its temple.
Charles soon realized that he was staring at a corpse through the periscope. He wasn't afraid of corpses, but he was intrigued by how the corpse had gotten so close to the periscope and why it had come so close in the first place.
Three seconds later, the diving suit trembled and vanished. The periscope saw nothing but darkness once again.
Charles let go of the periscope and walked toward the door of the bridge.
"Where are you going, Captain?" Dipp asked, chasing after Charles.
"I'm going out to meet that fellow. You should come with me."
Bubbles floated as Charles and Dipp entered the pitch-black seawater. Charles shivered upon entering the water, and he reckoned that the temperature here was below freezing.
Charles' night vision seemed to be under suppression, and he couldn't see more than ten meters around him. Using his hand to push off against the hull of the Narwhale, Charles propelled himself toward the periscope where he had seen that diving suit earlier.
Soon, he found out that the diving suit hadn't vanished; it had simply drifted away from the Narwhale.
There was a swoosh as Charles shot out his grappling hook toward the drifting diving suit. The grappling hook easily pierced the diving suit, and Charles pulled it over.
Charles' prosthetic limb transformed into a chainsaw, and he swung it toward the broken helmet, splitting it open. The bones inside spilled out and drifted away under the influence of the current.
So this skeleton didn't come here by itself? Charles thought, feeling slightly disappointed. He used his hands to sweep away the bones and rummage through the diving suit. However, he found nothing but bones; the diving suit was just an ordinary diving suit as well.
Have other explorers been here? What are they doing here? Are they also looking for the key? Charles thought, sweeping his gaze across the pitch-black expanse of the chasm.
At first, he thought these underwater explorers were the Foundation members and that they had come here to recover the key. However, the old-fashioned diving suit proved that Charles' assumption was wrong.
The Foundation was capable of constructing even the sun itself, so Charles believed that there was no way they would use such a primitive diving suit. In fact, the corpse's diving suit was more outdated than Charles' diving suit.
However, it also wouldn't make sense to say that the deceased diver was a denizen of the Subterranean Sea. The denizens of the Subterranean Sea were even too afraid to visit the seafloor, much less dive into a trench.
In addition the goals of explorers were to discover habitable islands with a source of freshwater. Even fishermen daring enough to venture out to the deep sea wouldn't dive into a trench to look for fish.
"Captain, look! There's an oxygen tube on its back! It seems to be connected to something as well," Dipp said, pointing out from the side.
Charles finally noticed the oxygen tube covered in brown moss. The oxygen tube was indeed connected to the back of the diving suit. It appeared like a brown snake swaying gently in the dark.
Charles turned to the periscope next to him and gave orders using flag semaphore. "Stop dive; cruise south."
The Narwhale's rudder turned slowly, allowing her to change directions until her bow was facing the oxygen tube. Then, the Narwhale moved once more, tracing the oxygen tube.
The trench was wider and deeper than Charles initially thought. It took them three minutes to find where the oxygen tube was coming from. It turned out that the oxygen tube was connected to a spindle-shaped black submarine, which stood erect and motionless in the cold seawater.
Charles went closer and saw seven divers attached to oxygen tubes floating haphazardly around the submarine. The deceased divers swayed gently in the seawater. For some reason, Charles felt like the huge submarine was a giant octopus, and the eight divers were its tentacles.
Why does it look a bit familiar
"Captain, should we approach?" Dipp asked. He waited for a while until he realized that Charles wasn't paying any attention to him. Dipp swam up in front of Charles and waved his hand at the latter.
"Captain, are you okay?" Dipp asked.
Charles came back to his senses just then. However, he didn't respond to Dipp's question and simply raised his hand, gesturing toward the submarine in front of them.
The Narwhale's searchlights descended upon the submarine; Charles and Dipp moved together, approaching the submarine carefully. The hearts of the crew members standing on deck unconsciously tightened at the scene.
Charles was surprised to find that the submarine still had air. More precisely, there was an air pocket only in the upper half of the submarine, which Charles reckoned was the reason it was standing vertically in the deep sea.
"Captain, what happened to you earlier? Why did you suddenly freeze?" Dipp asked as he popped his head out into the air pocket.
Charles was taking off his heavy diving suit and was staring at the dusty corridor up above. "No, it's nothing much. I just felt like I'd seen this kind of submarine somewhere before. Anyway, let's go and see if we can find any clues inside."
Dipp nodded and grabbed the dusty light fixture on the corridor walls. Then, he wasted no time and started his climb.
Unfortunately, the submarine was standing upright, so the corridor became a straight, vertical shaft, which was particularly difficult to climb. However, both Charles and Dipp had been enhanced by the Clown Mask, so they had no issues climbing up the shaft.
The two soon found their first bulkhead door, and they seemed to have found their way into what looked like a bedroom.
As the submarine was standing upright, the floor had become the wall, and the wall had become the floor. The tables, chairs, and pieces of furniture had been bolted down to ensure that they wouldn't move amidst the waves, which meant that they were now on the wall rather than on the floor.
Dipp pulled open a drawer and rummaged through it to find anything with texts. "Cough, cough, cough! Why is there so much dust? How long has it been since this thing sank here?"
Charles scraped the dust on the wall with his fingers and said, "It hasn't been that long since they sank. Otherwise, the hull would have already succumbed to the pressure outside, and we wouldn't have been able to come here."
Charles looked around, examining the layout of the room as well as imagining the room's position in the submarine. Charles realized something just thenhe had indeed seen this kind of submarine before!
He had consulted the ship designers of the Albion Isles to construct a submarine, and those ship designers had eventually taken out submarine blueprints for him to see.
At the time, he had asked them to build him a submarine, but it was later postponed due to some unforeseen events.
So this submarine was built by the Albion Isles? Why did the Governor of the Albion Isles send people here? What are they looking for here? Charles pondered deeply. Wait, since they built this submarine, the Captain's Quarters should be
Charles rushed back to the vertical shaft and climbed up. "Dipp! Follow me!"
Charles soon stumbled upon a variety of compartments, and he compared their positions to the submarine blueprints in his head. Charles climbed past the ballast tanks, the storage compartment, and the galley until he finally found the Captain's Quarters.
Charles pried open the bulkhead door with all his strength, and as soon as the door was pried open, a figure inside pounced on Charles.
Charles reacted quickly and lashed out with his right foot, kicking the figure away toward the wall. A dull noise echoed as the figure slammed hard against the wall and fell to the ground.
However, the figure wasn't some dangerous monster but a skeleton that had perished while leaning against the bulkhead door. It hadn't "pounced" on Charles; it had fallen toward the latter as soon as the door was opened.
The skeleton's clothes confirmed its identity; he was the captain of this submarine.
Charles looked around the Captain's Quarters, and he eventually walked inside the room upon confirming that there wasn't anything dangerous inside.
So he committed suicide, Charles thought upon seeing the gun in the skeleton's hand and the hole in its temple.
