Hearing 1068's warning, the three-headed flying leeches quickly turned, their eighteen eyes fixing on Charles in the corner.

  “You bastard!!”

  With a leap, Charles charged toward the door, just as he was about to exit. He pulled out his revolver with his left hand.

  “Bang!” The grotesque head of 1068 exploded, half of its bloody mass blown away. Amidst its screams and curses, Charles dashed out of the door, sprinting for his life.

  This time, the leeches didn’t engage him in close combat; instead, they gathered at a distance, continuously spewing corrosive liquid. Charles twisted his body, swiftly retreating through the "rain of bullets."

  This was just the beginning. More and more leeches followed behind him, and the long-silent Third Laboratory came alive for the first time in years.

  As Charles fled, he found the path he had taken earlier. When he finally burst out of the laboratory, a bright red light shone behind him. He turned in horror to see the entire wall illuminated, with leeches roaring as they emerged from the walls, their eyes blazing with fury.

  Hundreds, if not thousands, of flying leeches twisted their bodies, disappearing from sight.

  A chill ran from Charles's tailbone straight to his brain as he turned and sprinted toward the coast at top speed.

  “Am I stealing your wives or something? Why are you chasing me like this!”

  With a few quick steps, Charles leaped onto a three-meter-high rock, using his excellent agility to jump between the stones.

  Thanks to his dark vision, he was running fast, but he felt no sense of safety, his expression tense as he scanned the surroundings, wary of invisible leeches emerging from any direction.

  In the distance, he spotted the bright searchlight of the *Unicorn Whale* on the sea.

  “The lights are on, which means the crew is already on board! If I can just make it back to the shore, I’ve won!” With this thought, Charles quickened his pace.

  “Buzz, buzz, buzz!” The flying leeches revealed themselves in the air, a vast expanse of red light blocking Charles's path. They formed a pocket formation, closing in on him.

  “Wow, you really think highly of me, huh? You’re using tactics just to deal with one person,” Charles gasped, standing atop a rock.

  Looking at the sky filled with red light, he remarked, “So beautiful! A drone show pales in comparison to this.”

  “But you know, compared to you glowing bugs, I’d rather see some drones right now.” Clutching the few remaining artifacts tightly, Charles pushed off the ground and charged toward the distant red wall without hesitation.

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  “Puff, puff, puff!” All the flying leeches began to spit saliva, and the air illuminated by the red light suddenly rained down with acid.

  Charles dove back into the rocky forest, using the stones for cover as he continued forward.

  The sound of the acid corroding the stones above him crackled continuously. Charles sprinted on the few remaining safe spots, getting closer to the coastline.

  It seemed the leeches had anticipated Charles's every move; countless sharp-toothed mouths emerged from the ground, biting fiercely at his feet.

  With no leverage, Charles pushed off the wall and returned to the top of the rock, only to be met by another wave of acid rain.

  No matter how agile his body was, twisting and turning in mid-air ultimately proved futile.

  Charles’s collar was corroded with holes of various sizes, thick, phlegm-like acid dripping onto him, producing plumes of white smoke.

  “Hiss~” The burning sensation on his body intensified, and realizing he was in a dire situation, Charles knew he couldn’t hold on much longer.

  “Am I going to die?”

  Suddenly, a loud explosion echoed from afar, creating a large opening in the sea of red light.

  Standing on one of the few remaining patches of ground, Charles's face behind the mask broke into wild joy. “That’s the deck cannon of the *Unicorn Whale*! My crew is helping me!”

  No matter how many flying leeches there were, they were still flesh and blood, and against cannonballs, they were no different from paper.

  “Boom!” Another large segment of the red curtain was torn away, and the leeches seemed to panic, unsure whether to flee or continue intercepting Charles.

  With the pressure lifted, Charles sprinted at full speed, finally reaching the shoreline.

  As he leaped into the icy sea, the cold water alleviated the burning sensation all over his body. His limbs flailed wildly as he swam toward the *Unicorn Whale*.

  As he climbed the soft ladder onto the deck, his first words were to get the ship moving.

  The *Unicorn Whale* was already prepared, powering up and quickly leaving the island.

  Lying exhausted on the deck, Charles spotted several damp artifacts nearby and immediately burst into laughter. “Ha ha ha! You snot worms, see this? I stole your stuff! And I made it out alive! I win!”

  Nearby, Deep rushed over anxiously, helping Charles sit up. “Captain, you need to take off that mask right now.”

  Charles’s heart sank. “How long have I been wearing this mask?”

  As this thought crossed his mind, a strange voice suddenly exploded in his head.

  “I don’t know, but it’s probably been one or two hours at least.”

  Charles quickly yanked the mask off his face. The moment he removed it, everything around him darkened several shades, and the pain throughout his body surged to new heights.

  But at that moment, Charles focused all his attention on the voice in his head, repeatedly asking who it was.

  Seeing his captain frozen in place, Deep waved his hand in front of Charles. “Captain, what’s wrong? Are you okay?”

  Ignoring him, Charles sat on the ground as if waiting for something. When he realized the voice had stopped after he removed the mask, he let out a heavy sigh.

  Then, a wave of dread washed over him. “Thank goodness! If I had worn it for a few more minutes, I might have had to fight my other personality for control of my body.”

  “It seems I need to be cautious about wearing this mask in the future. The benefits are indeed significant, but the drawbacks are equally shocking. The me who wore the mask might not resist taking it off, but my personality becomes extremely impulsive.”

  As the captain returned to normal, the other crew members breathed a sigh of relief, rushing to carry Charles toward the captain's cabin.

  After a flurry of activity, Charles’s acid-corroded wounds were bandaged. At that moment, he resembled a mummy more than someone wrapped in bandages.

  Weak, he sat up and looked at the crew surrounding him. “Who fired the cannon just now?”

  If it hadn’t been for the help of the deck cannon, Charles knew he wouldn’t have made it back.

  “It was me! It was me!” Lily the white mouse climbed up the bedsheet to Charles’s side.