“My first mate was attacked by something and is unconscious. The situation is not optimistic. The wounds all over his body make it a miracle that he’s still alive. I’m not sure if he’ll ever wake up.”

Click. Charles capped the pen, put it back in his pocket, and sighed helplessly. He flipped through his diary nonchalantly until he reached a certain page, causing his breathing to quicken. He suddenly regretted seeing the contents of that page.

He closed the diary and shook his head with a nervous laugh.

“See something happy?” Anna asked curiously from a distance.

Charles stared at her for a few seconds, then walked over to Bandage and took the black knife from his hand, gesturing for Anna to come outside.

“Isn’t it supposed to be safer to stay together? Why are we going out?” Anna asked as she stepped out of the cabin.

Charles cupped her pale face and kissed her gently. Anna’s eyes widened slightly, surprised.

When Charles released her, Anna, her cheeks slightly red, playfully hit him on the chest. “What’s gotten into you?”

“Jia Jia, we’ve known each other since we were kids. Have you only ever liked me?” Charles asked, his expression calm as he leaned against the ship’s wall.

“Of course, I did. I knew you were the one when you handed me a shovel in the sandbox at kindergarten.” Anna replied, snuggling up to him.

Charles held her lightly, looking into the distant darkness. “Jia Jia, you would make the perfect wife—beautiful, delicate, loyal.”

Smiling, Anna put her hands around Charles’ neck. “I love hearing these sweet words. Don’t stop, say more.”

“Do you remember the brands of lipstick you used to have?”

“Why do you ask that? It’s been so long, how would I remember?”

“Yes, you wouldn’t remember because I’m a straight guy, and I don’t keep things like that in my mind.”

Charles’mouth twitched, and suddenly tears streamed down his face. His left hand moved, and a revolver appeared, its dark barrel pointing at Anna’s abdomen.

“Zhao Zhi Ming, what are you doing?” Anna’s face showed a hint of displeasure.

“You even know my real name. Why are you the only one who is fake? Why?!” Charles’ face contorted as he pulled the trigger.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!” The recoil from the successive shots sent Anna stumbling backward, her ink-green blood splattering everywhere.

The woman’s eyes widened in disbelief.

Anna, trembling slightly, slowly looked down. When she saw the tentacles wriggling out of her abdomen, she collapsed, clawing at her hair as if she couldn’t accept the reality.

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“What is this? Why is there something in my stomach? Zhao Zhi Ming, save me!”

As soon as she finished speaking, her delicate face began to collapse like melting wax. A twisted, monstrous creature with yellow-green slime covering its body appeared on the deck of the Rat.

It was like the ones on the island—twisted, terrifying, with seven or eight tentacles flailing uncontrollably, like a deformed octopus emerging from the water.

Looking at the monster, Charles, with tears in his eyes, trembled as he held the gun. Everything in his mind about Anna was a lie.

The next second, the monster opened its hideous mouth and roared as it charged at Charles.

Charles rolled out of the way, his eyes quickly firming up as he reloaded the gun with practiced hands.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!” Green blood blossomed on the monster’s body, but the injuries were not enough to stop it. With a whoosh, a tentacle covered in feelers struck Charles’ hand, sending him flying.

“Why?!” Charles, biting his teeth, instantly drew the black knife and slashed, severing the tentacle which writhed on the deck.

The monster roared and retreated, but Charles charged forward with the knife.

As they reached the bow of the ship, the monster’s tentacles, like fine black hairs, suddenly spread out, and the creature, like a net, enveloped Charles, trapping him tightly.

The tentacles around him continued to tighten, and Charles could hear the lament of his own bones.

“Crack—” Charles’ ribs began to break, one, two, the intense pain causing him to grunt in agony.

Just as everything seemed hopeless, the glass of the cockpit suddenly shattered, and a bullet pierced the monster’s yellow eye, which exploded like a watermelon.

The screaming monster immediately released Charles and fled towards the edge of the ship.

Gunshots intensified as the others from the turbine room rushed out with firearms.

No matter how powerful the flesh-strip monster was, it was still made of flesh and blood. Under the barrage of bullets, its bizarre body was turned into a shredded sack.

As the gunfire ceased, the once-mighty monster lay in its own stinking blood, its tentacles trembling and moving slowly.

Charles, holding his aching abdomen, walked towards it.

As he raised his revolver to the creature’s mouth, the flesh at the front of the monster coalesced into the face of Anna, the ship’s doctor.

Anna smiled miserably, ink-green blood sliding from the corners of her eyes. “Zhao Zhi Ming, I’m sorry… I didn’t know I was fake…”

Those words stabbed into Charles’ heart like a dagger. He preferred the monster to curse him instead.

The others approached, their expressions heavy, standing behind Charles.

“I can’t control it. I’m just bait it created. It was stalling for time. Aim below the eye, that’s its weak spot.”

Looking at the memory of his partner, with whom he had spent every day, Charles felt the revolver in his hand weigh a thousand pounds.

“Zhao Zhi Ming! Hurry up!! It has a strong regenerative ability!”

Seeing Charles hesitate, Anna turned to look at Di Pu beside her. “Shorty, you do it.”

As Di Pu hesitated, Charles gritted his teeth, raised his gun, and pulled the trigger.

“Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!”

As the bullets hit her, Anna’s face showed a tragic smile. “Thank you… I really wanted to go home with you…”

As soon as she finished speaking, her face began to melt, merging with the now-motionless flesh-strip monster.

“Ha… ha… hahaha!!” Charles suddenly laughed maniacally. He rushed forward, grabbed the monster’s corpse, and with all his might, threw it into the sea.

“Don’t try to deceive me again!! I won’t be fooled! You memory-altering monsters! It’s all a lie!! All fake! Fake!!”

James looked at the somewhat abnormal Charles with concern. “Captain, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, hahaha, what could happen to me? The crisis is over, the man-eating monster is dead! This is great news! Cook! Make the food good later, let’s celebrate. Di Pu, take the sailors and clean this up, I’m going to steer!”

For the rest of the day, the crew of the Rat were cautious, afraid of provoking their captain.

But Charles seemed perfectly normal, steering the ship, eating, just his actions were completely different from usual, excessively active.

After eating, Charles went to his quarters. In the dark cabin, he didn’t turn on the light, took out a bottle of liquor from the bottom shelf with a bitter expression, sat on the bed, and drank it down gulp by gulp.

“Anna, why did you have to eat people…”

“If you hadn’t eaten my crew, I could have pretended not to know…”