"John, first mate, assists the captain and organizes various work plans, responsible for preparing the cargo stowage plan, helmsman for the 12~24 shift." The fat old man was the first to speak.

Standing next to old John was a tall, strong man, his blue clothes covered in engine oil. As soon as the first mate finished, he quickly continued.

"James, chief engineer, responsible for maintaining the normal working order of the turbine; also maintains the propulsion system and auxiliary equipment, boilers, as well as lubrication, cooling, and fuel."

Next to the tall man was a skinny guy, tall and thin like a lamppost.

"Frank, cook, responsible for the crew's meals."

Following the cook was the pale-faced Dean, who was swaying a bit, still not fully recovered.

"Di...Dean, ordinary seaman, responsible for cleaning the deck, and maintaining and repairing the anchor, cables, and loading/unloading equipment."

Quickly scanning the four in front of him, Charles immediately noticed someone was missing. "Where's the boatswain?"

The four looked at each other, but no one answered.

"Ahhh!!" Suddenly, a blood-curdling scream came from below deck.

"Something's on board! Grab your weapons!" Charles led the group as they rushed over.

When they arrived at the dimly lit crew lounge, everyone immediately felt a chill shoot up their spines.

Inside the gloomy cabin, there were only two people. One was standing—it was the boatswain of the Rat, his face filled with terror.

The other was lying on the ground, his identity unrecognizable because his skin had been completely stripped off. Without the protection of skin, every time his body touched the floor, the bloody man trembled in agony.

He lay there in a blur, screaming in pain and struggling in despair, his breath growing weaker and weaker.

"Jim! Go ask who he is!" Charles quickly drew the revolver from his waist.

The boatswain, face full of fear, crawled over and leaned in to listen to the bloody, mangled head.

A few seconds later, he turned around in panic, pointing at Charles and said, "Captain... he says he's you!"

"Me?"

Hearing the panicked footsteps of the crew behind him, Charles decisively pointed his gun at the boatswain.

"Charles, captain, responsible for the safe transport, production, and administrative management of the ship, ensuring the safety of the vessel and crew to the greatest extent possible, handling emergencies decisively and prudently, helmsman for the 0~12 shift! Boatswain! Report your position now!!"

"Kill him! He's not your captain anymore!" the boatswain shouted in terror, pointing at Charles.

"Bang!" As Charles pulled the trigger, a bloody hole appeared in the boatswain's forehead, but what flowed out was not blood, but a half-coagulated dark yellow liquid.

Realizing he was exposed, the shot boatswain's body began to twist and change, his mouth splitting all the way to the back of his head, his limbs rapidly swelling, and with a strange, guttural roar, he charged at Charles.

"Bang bang bang!" Bullets poured into the boatswain's body, his skin tearing like a ragged sack, revealing a dark, rotten, toad-like twisted torso underneath.

All six bullets were spent, yet the monster still wasn't dead, spreading its limbs and lunging at the humans in front of it.

Charles seemed to have experienced this many times before; his face showed no panic. He rolled to the side, dodging the monster's attack.

Even as he dodged, his hands didn't stop—he reloaded the revolver and fired another six shots in a flash.

Under the barrage of twelve bullets, the monster's backward-bending legs buckled, and it collapsed weakly to the ground.

Panting heavily, Charles glanced at the nauseating corpse before him, then turned to look at the terrified crew behind him.

"Don't just stand there, throw this damned thing overboard." With that, Charles walked over to the now motionless bloody corpse.

Ignoring the overwhelming stench of blood, he grabbed the head and turned it upright. When he saw that one of the exposed front teeth was missing, Charles knew that this was his real boatswain—the one just now had been a sea monster in disguise.

A trace of pain flashed across Charles's face, but he quickly composed himself, reloaded his gun, and began patrolling his ship, searching for any other monsters that might have slipped through.

Dean, together with first mate John, struggled to carry the corpse.

The young man exclaimed in surprise to his companion, "The captain is actually that amazing."

"Haha, of course! Otherwise, why would he be the captain and you just a sailor? Actually, when he first came aboard, he was just like you."

"Really? What was Captain Charles like when he first joined the crew?"

"That's a long story. It's been seven or eight years now, I think. Back then, I was still a third mate on another ship, and Charles just drifted over from the sea. When we first found him, he couldn't even speak."

"Really? Then how did he become captain?"

"The old captain took pity on him and let him follow behind the ship from a distance. When we got back to port and realized he wasn't a monster, he stayed on our ship. He learned to speak while learning to be a sailor. Not long after he learned to talk, he announced he wanted his own ship to lead all of humanity back to the land of light. At the time, we all thought he was crazy."

"And then?"