Captain – Chapter 478 – This is Frans Island, Sir

The fierce countenance of the “old pirate” gradually disappeared in that intense yet heatless golden flame. The old photograph blackened, curled, and finally turned to ashes and scattered.

But contrary to Roy’s expectations, what appeared beneath the burnt photograph was not the old watch face with its rusted, immobile hands, but another…

Old photograph.

It was similarly slightly wrinkled with yellowish edges. The image it captured had severely faded, giving the impression that it had weathered thousands of years of storms and passed through countless eras.

But in the young woman’s eyes, this abruptly appearing old photograph had no connection to time.

Instead, it came from the other end of fate.

Gently caressing the face of the person in the photograph, Roy looked at his stern countenance, his sea-blue eyes still discernible despite the severe fading, and his imposing deep blue pirate attire that she had no recollection of. Her lips moved slightly, forming a forced smile.

So this is what you look like.

As she had deduced, the pocket watch indeed contained clues about that person. She should have been happy, yet her heart couldn’t stir the slightest ripple. Even smiling had somehow become a burden.

Can I… see you again?

“Listen, child, what sound is that?”

The devil’s voice appeared inappropriately, disturbing the young woman’s thoughts.

From this moment on, the silent street resumed its clamor, but despite how annoying those sounds were, Roy still followed the devil’s guidance and heard that faint yet incredibly clear ticking.

“Tick, tock, tick, tock…”

It was the sound of a second hand moving softly, as if the frozen time began to flow again the instant the pocket watch was opened.

“What is this?”

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The hand holding the pocket watch trembled slightly. No, to be precise, the young woman’s entire body was shaking subtly.

Since the pocket watch began ticking again, the great power hidden within her, previously docile like a hibernating beast, began circulating at an astonishing speed, no longer content to be suppressed deep in her bloodline.

Even if she closed the watch cover now, that “tick-tock” sound would still linger around her ears like a ghost, soundlessly.

Like a clock toll from hell.

“It’s a countdown, child, about…”

After disappearing for a moment, the devil’s voice sounded again, but this time it became serious and earnest: “About when you will awaken.”

No, it’s about when I’ll completely succumb to the dream, isn’t it?

“Old liar.”

Putting away the pocket watch, Roy cursed through gritted teeth. Then, no longer in the mood to pay attention to that reckless laughter falling from the sky, with a flash of her brilliant eyes, she vanished from the bustling street.

Using the surging magical power, she went to another page of the storybook, as if rewriting the progress of time.

She could no longer proceed slowly…

Time was running out.

Under the impact of the waves, the raft swayed back and forth as it moved forward, seeming like it might fall apart at any moment.

“This won’t work. At this rate, we’ll never reach our destination.”

Setting the wooden oar aside casually, Caine wiped the sweat from his forehead and said after calculating the time, “The ball will be held in at most two days. If the captain wants to find clues, she will definitely attend. But at this speed, we won’t get there even if we row until next year.”

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“Meow.”

The cat lay at the front of the raft, sunbathing, while lazily calling out.

It said to be optimistic, that they could still arrive by rowing until next year. Besides, in the current space-time they occupied, Roy might not even exist, so even if they arrived, they might find nothing.

Suffering from the cat’s series of discouraging remarks, the first mate sighed helplessly, pinched his sore wrists, then picked up the wooden oar again, intending to make some optimistic yet futile efforts.

But before he could row a few strokes, he heard the cat’s urgent call.

“Meow!”

Short and sharp, even slightly breaking, expressing nothing but pure panic.

The young man couldn’t imagine what kind of emergency could cause such a dramatic change in the tone of this creature who was too lazy to even meow properly. So he stopped his actions and looked ahead.

It would have been better not to look. When he did, he almost threw the oar into the sea from shock.

The sight before him was too bizarre.

The originally clear sky was forcibly split in two by dark clouds.

Apart from the dark sea of clouds that surged out of nowhere like a boundary line, the sky on both sides remained azure, without even a thick cloud in sight.

More eerie was the massive wave beneath those storm clouds, like a towering black wall, rolling and roaring as it approached, sweeping away everything in its path.

The absurdity of this phenomenon truly resembled the approach of doomsday.

There was definitely no way to escape it. Since they were in a dream, Caine wasn’t concerned about safety issues. He just sat like a wooden puppet, feeling the gentle breeze that still lazily blew before the giant wave.

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He wondered if it would wash him back to the lonely island.

“Meow.”

Suddenly, as if sensing something, the Siamese cat sitting at the bow slowly stood up straight, gazing into the distance. Its eyes seemed to penetrate through the bizarre giant wave and the vast sea, landing on the still-bustling street on Frans Island, now devoid of a certain person’s figure.

Then, it sighed softly, turned around, and looked at the young man preparing to receive the wave’s baptism. It meowed with a sound full of pity and apology, as if protesting the unfairness of fate.

“Wait, what did you say…”

Blinking, Caine reacted and instinctively reached out to grab the cat that was slightly moving backward, but it was already too late. All he caught were splashes of water and floating cat hair.

The cat had vanished into thin air.

Didn’t you say you couldn’t…

Before the young man could figure out the cause of the bizarre scene ahead or the fact that the cat could teleport, he and the raft were swept up by the oncoming giant wave and then heavily plunged into the sea.

Before his vision completely darkened, when even the foam became indistinguishable, Caine at least understood one thing.

The meaning of the cat’s last meow was “take care.”

What a “heartless” creature.

Feeling himself sinking endlessly, his body growing heavier and heavier, his eyelids too heavy to keep open, the first mate didn’t feel like he was choking on water. He just felt increasingly drowsy, barely able to maintain consciousness.

Finally, the sound of water disappeared, leaving only silent darkness.

No, not completely silent. He could faintly hear an extremely faint “tick-tock” sound, somewhat like the operational sound of an old spring pocket watch when its second hand moved.

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As if it were… counting down.

It seemed like just an instant, yet also like countless days and nights had passed. Consciousness recongealed in the darkness. Fresh air rushed eagerly into his chest and abdomen. Then his hearing returned, followed by all other senses. Caine suddenly opened his eyes, breathing violently as if awakening from a nightmare.

He saw a cloudless blue sky, just like the one he had seen when opening his eyes on the lonely island.

Could he be so unlucky?

After a while, the first mate’s breathing gradually calmed. Clutching his aching head, he struggled to sit up. What came into view was the familiar dark beach, the familiar rudimentary port…

Everything was so familiar, just as he had seen in his childhood.

Frowning slightly, Caine waved at the youth who had been peeping at him from not far away since earlier, obviously looking for work at the port, or… another kind of “occupation,” gesturing for him to come closer.

Coincidentally, as the youth approached, the first mate discovered that he was actually a familiar face he saw day and night.

“Daniel?”

Hearing his own name from the mouth of this young man who had seemed to be drowning a moment ago but now appeared full of vigor, the youth was terrified, feeling like he had definitely encountered a ghost today.

Without explaining how he knew him, Caine stood up, looking at the increasingly familiar surroundings, and asked very naturally, as if addressing his own child, “Where am I now?”

Although the guess in his heart was almost bursting forth, the first mate still wanted to confirm.

Pinching the edge of his tattered shirt, the youth, though somewhat afraid, answered honestly.

“This, this is Frans Island, sir.”