Shrouded Seascape

Chapter 842: Conclusion

Charles' face remained blank in the face of James' words. He walked to the collapsed wall next to him and quietly pushed it aside. Then, he bent over and picked up the jars containing his organs.

The smiles tugging at the crew members' faces faded at the sight. Clearly, their captain didn't share the same sentiment as them.

Bandages took Lily off his shoulder and placed her on the ground. He then nudged her gently with his finger.

Lily flew in front of Charles; her ears were drooping as she asked softly, "Mr. Charles, are you reluctant to part with that monster sister?"

Charles shook his head and looked down at the jar in his hand. It had cracked open, so he turned to his ship's doctor and said, "Linda, get me some more jars and preservative liquid. This jar is broken."

Linda nodded and whispered a few words into the ear of her husband, Audric. She then walked into a wall and phased through it. Just as half of her body had phased through the tilted wall, Linda turned to look at Charles and said, "Captain, you must understand that your feelings for her are fake—they were fabricated.

"And you saw her annihilate the memories between you two. Now, you're nothing but food in her eyes. I don't think I even have to tell you about what she had done on the island. The truth is that she's been using your feelings to become stronger."

"No, you're wrong," Charles immediately refuted Linda's words, replying, "She did not delete her memories between us. If she had done that, then I would have lost all of my memories about her as well. She was just pretending earlier."

The crew members exchanged glances.

The well-dressed James sporting a beer belly stepped forward and said, "Captain, I know you're upset right now, but you should pull yourself together.

"The biggest threat to Hope Island is gone, but we can't say for sure whether we've truly rounded up all of her people on the island. Moreover, our Navy fleet is still in the Eastern Seas! We have to bring them back as soon as possible."

Charles sighed and turned to look at James. "Talk to Bandages on how to handle that. To be honest, I'm not really good at it,"

With that, Charles left with broken jars in his arms.

Lily hovering in midair glanced at the crew before chasing after Charles.

A group of people stood in the ruins of the Governor's Mansion, and the atmosphere was oddly calm, which was drastically different from what they had imagined.

"Ahem~" Julio coughed lightly, shattering the ice. "We're outsiders, and we do not want to get involved in this private affair of Hope Island. However, that monster is gone, so don't you think we should talk about the distribution of land that the Fhtagn Covenant has once occupied?

"If your governor doesn't step up, then who's going to talk to us?"

"When the Captain... is absent... the First Mate will take over..." Bandages said, stepping out from the crowd.

Anna had left Hope Island with great fanfare, sweeping across the entire island in her colossal, terrifying true form. Those unlucky enough to clap their eyes on Anna's true form in broad daylight suffered; those with weak minds even lost their minds.

The number of lunatics on Hope Island increased sharply in just one day.

On the afternoon of the same day, the media outlets on Hope Island published their speculations about the terrifying sight. The islanders were panicking, worried that they were about to face another doomsday scenario.

However, the Governor of Hope Island soon issued a decree. All news related to the incident was taken down from all media outlets, and an official statement from the Governor's Mansion was released.

Apparently, a deep sea monster had decided to ambush the Esteemed Governor, but the valiant Governor Charles sent those terrifying monsters packing with his monstrous strength.

The majority of the islanders didn't believe the official statement at all, and quite a few people on the island also became aware of Anna's true identity through certain channels.

However, it didn't matter whether they believed it or not. The Governor's Mansion had already released an official statement, so those wanting to keep living on Hope Island had to keep their mouths shut.

Minister of Administration Leonardo was inside one of the cells of Hope Islands prison. There were deep, dark circles beneath his eyes as he stared straight at James before him, asking, "Where's my Mistress? What have you done to her?"

James looked at his colleague with pity. "You've got to snap out of it, man! Your memories have been altered by her, and she's not your mistress—she has never been your mistress at all!"

"No way this is real! Don't even think about lying to me! Do you really think that capturing me is going to do anything? I absolutely will not betray her!" Leonardo roared, smashing the table in front of him with his arms wrapped in chains.

"Have you already forgotten who you are? You're a swindler—a swindler who even attempted to take over Hope Island!

"You're not even loyal to the captain, so can you really believe yourself by declaring that you are absolutely loyal to Anna? Look here; this is the evidence that we've collected so far. Take a good look at them.

Photos and documents were then thrown in front of Leonardo.

"No, this isn't real! These are all fake! You're lying to me!!" Leonardo became more agitated upon seeing the evidence.

James could only turn around and leave in disappointment.

Anna's memory alteration had become far stronger than he had imagined.

Back when they were still on that island, those affected by her memory alteration could recover upon being made aware of the contradictions in reality. However, Leonardo was still adamant about being loyal to Anna despite showing him concrete evidence of the fact that Anna had altered his memories.

Leonardo was not alone; many other people had been influenced by Anna, and they were howling in disbelief in their cells. James glanced at them and felt a bit relieved as he muttered to himself, "It's a good thing we drove Anna away. The consequences would have been unimaginable otherwise."

Just then, Linda emerged from the wall next to him. "She wasn't driven away. She left on her own. Her strength is far greater than we had imagined. If Anna had fallen out with the captain and had decided to attack us, things wouldn't have ended so peacefully."

James took out a cigarette from his pocket and placed it between his lips. "I guess so. Anyway, her ability is really terrifying. If she were allowed to stay on the island, we wouldn't be able to sleep soundly at all."

"Wait," James noticed something and turned to look at Linda. "What are you doing in the prison?"

"I'm here to conduct some experiments. I'm trying to see if cutting off a portion of their memories will return them to normal."

"Is that effective?"

"It is. The memories altered by Anna are restored to their original states, but the patients will experience side effects such as limb paralysis and violent tempers. I need more experimental subjects to perform more controlled experiments."

"Just what exactly are you trying to do by doing that? Are you trying to save them or harm them?

"Anyway, just give me some time. I contacted the Isle of Whereto. The mages of the Gunther Family excel at altering memories as well. I'll have them come and see if they can find a way to restore those people to normal," James said.

"All right. Where's the captain? Is he stewing in his own thoughts on the canopy?"

"No, he's in the Captain's Quarters of the Narwhale. Don't go looking for him for now. Let him stay alone for a while. He's been through so many hardships and has overcome them. I believe he'll overcome this one as well."

The incident concluded just like that; the island was purged, and Hope Island was under Charles' control once more.

As for Anna and Sparkle, no one knew where they went. The only thing they knew was that the floating island anchored above the Divinity's Land had disappeared upon their departure.

The strict control of public opinion allowed the islanders to forget about the incident. Everyone's attention turned to the brand-new channel available for everyone with a television to watch.

They lost all interest in the incident so quickly that Anna's departure seemed to be just a trivial matter.