“Old man, how do you know I’m a girl? Everyone else thinks I’m a mouse,” Lily asked curiously, looking up at the old man who handed her the doll.

  This question intrigued not only Lily but also Charles. How could he be so sure that Lily was a transformed human and not a mouse with human memories?

  “Do you know how to turn me back?” Lily asked nervously.

  But Tuba seemed to ignore her question, shoving the doll straight into a pile of rats and quickly rummaging through it.

  “Here, this is for you,” Tuba said, pulling out a half-torn, tattered book and handing it to Fairbach.

  However, the ever-cautious green-haired youth reacted like a mouse seeing a cat, darting out the door in an instant.

  “Throw that thing away! Now!” Fairbach’s eyes widened in terror, his lips drained of color.

  “What’s wrong?” Charles noticed the book’s cover was missing and caught a glimpse of its contents.

  The recipe for three servings of mushroom soup: one hard ham, 200 grams of white mushrooms, 5 grams of condensed milk, 25 grams of kelp, 5 milliliters of cooking oil, chicken powder…

  Charles took the book and flipped through it. Dirty illustrations of food appeared before him. “It’s just a cookbook. Why are you so worried?”

  Fairbach forced a smile, his face twisted in discomfort. “Heh, my mistake. I thought he was holding something else…”

  He trailed off, leaving an uneasy silence.

  Seeing Charles take the cookbook, Tuba assumed he was trying to snatch it. “Don’t rush! Don’t take his gift! I have something for you too… wait, where did it go?”

  “Stop rummaging for a moment,” Charles grabbed him and straightened him up. “Who are you? Why do those pirates fear you?”

  “They’re not afraid. I turned invisible, so they couldn’t see us,” Tuba proudly gestured with the cross again.

  Charles dismissed this as nonsense. Those many eyes had been fixed on him just moments ago; there was no way he was invisible.

  Realizing that the old man was not making sense, Charles didn’t have time to continue the questioning.

  “Regardless, thank you. I owe you one. I’ll repay you next time we meet.”

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  With that, Charles turned to leave. He had no time to chat with a crazy old man, no matter how intriguing he seemed. He had already alerted the pirates and needed to find the fuel storage on this island before they reacted.

  “Are you looking for something on the island? I can help! I’ve been here a long time,” Tuba said, grinning widely, revealing his few remaining teeth.

  Charles, surprised, turned back. “You know where the fuel is? Don’t joke with me.”

  “Really! The fuel is what the ship eats, right? I know where it comes from, and I can tell you, but you have to pay me first.”

  Hearing about payment, Charles felt a sense of relief; as long as he could get information, any cost was worth it. “How much do you want?”

  Tuba waved his hands, shaking his head. “No, no, I don’t want money. I want a story! You must tell me a story I’ve never heard before.”

  A story? What a strange request! Charles felt puzzled.

  At that moment, Richard seized control of their body. “Let me handle this! I’m good at dealing with crazies.”

  “What kind of story do you want? Have you heard the tale of Little Red Riding Hood?” Richard said in a tone meant to amuse a child.

  “Once upon a time, there was a beautiful girl. On her birthday, her grandmother gave her a little red velvet hood…”

  Richard quickly finished the brief bedtime story, and Lily listened with rapt attention. But Tuba, sitting among the trash, shook his head in disappointment.

  “No, that’s not the story I want! I’ve heard that one before. You shouldn’t tell that story; you should tell me something else.”

  “What do you want to hear, then? Aren’t you supposed to be able to predict the future? If you knew we were coming, you should know what story I’m going to tell. Just predict it, and I’ll repeat it!” Richard said, scratching his head in frustration.

  “I don’t know! I just know you have to tell me a story, and it has to be interesting. I want to laugh when I’m done!”

  “Hey, this old man…” Richard glared at Tuba, weighing the chances of using force to extract the fuel location from him. But thinking back to how Tuba had just intimidated the pirates, he couldn’t tell if the old man was genuinely crazy or if he had some hidden strength.

  “I have a story right here.” Charles took back control and took a deep breath, beginning to speak calmly.

  “Once there was a man living in his own world. He was an ordinary person leading an ordinary life until one day, a disaster struck. The sea swallowed his classmates, but he was taken to a strange world where everything was water, and there was no light…”

  Charles spoke in a steady voice, devoid of emotion, but Tuba listened intently, utterly captivated.

  Meanwhile, Fairbach had unknowingly entered the room, listening to the story with a thoughtful expression as he watched Charles’s back.

  “For nine long years, he struggled and finally found his way home. But now, his ship had run out of fuel, and he needed it. There was an old man who knew where the fuel was. Whether he could return home depended on whether the old man would help him.”

  “This story is good! This story is great!” Tuba exclaimed excitedly, clapping his hands and bouncing around like a monkey.

  “No way! Such a good story! I need to write it down, or I’ll forget it again!”

  Tuba rummaged through the trash and pulled out a yellowing notebook, quickly scribbling with a black stone.

  It was clear that Tuba didn’t know how to write; he drew chaotic lines on the page, and in moments, the paper was completely covered in black.

  “Done! Let’s go! I’ll take you to find the fuel, and then you can go home!” Tuba said, tucking the notebook into his clothes and heading for the door.

  Seeing Lily and Fairbach looking at him with questioning expressions, Charles said nothing, waved his hand, and followed Tuba out.