Charles hurriedly threw down the statue in his hand, took off his own boot, and compared it to a footprint on the ground.

“The pattern, the size, the curve—this is my footprint! I didn’t come here alone, my memories have been rewritten!”

Drenched in cold sweat, he looked toward several empty ships beside the Mouse, now understanding why there was no one on those vessels.

Charles took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. “The information now shows I wasn’t alone. I had crew members. They’ve disappeared—not only in reality, but also from my mind. I must find them. I can’t get back alone.”

But a new problem confronted Charles: how was he supposed to search for six people he didn’t know and who didn’t exist? Who were they? What were their names? Were they male or female?

Just then, a figure slowly walked into the torchlight.

The moment Charles saw the person’s appearance, his pupils shrank instantly, and he drew his pistol, aiming it at the figure’s head.

It was a humanoid figure wrapped entirely in old yellow bandages, the bandages tattered and torn, exposing the pitch-black skin beneath.

“Stop!! State your name!!”

“I... I’m called Bandage—no, that’s not right, I’m not... I’m not called Bandage. Who are you? I feel like I know you... Do you know me?”

Glancing quickly at the mummy’s bandaged feet, Charles searched among the seven pairs of footprints.

Bandage’s tread was clearly imprinted in the sand. As unbelievable as it seemed, this guy was indeed one of his crew.

Charles lowered his revolver and quickly explained the situation to Bandage.

“Is... is that so? I can’t remember. Who am I? Do you know who I am?” Bandage asked hesitantly.

“We’ll talk about that later. Where did you escape from? Are there others there?” Charles pressed urgently.

“The tree... inside the tree... the tree doesn’t like me... the tree let me go. There are others there.”

Charles couldn’t make sense of what Bandage was saying, but it seemed he knew where the others were.

“Take me there, quickly. We need to rescue them.”

After memorizing the appearance of the remaining five pairs of footprints, Charles led Bandage back to that strange forest.

The misty forest was as silent as ever. Bandage led Charles back onto the path full of footprints.

With the earlier warning in mind, Charles finally noticed something odd: the further they went, the fewer footprints there were. Clearly, those people had vanished as well.

Perhaps it was just his imagination, but Charles began to feel as if something in the forest was watching him.

After walking for about half an hour, the swaying Bandage suddenly turned and headed into the forest. Now Charles understood why his bandages were so torn.

Chapter 9: The Tree Came Alive

Charles grabbed Bandage, pulled out the black knife stuck in his leg to use as a machete, and began hacking at the bandage-draped branches ahead.

The thorny branches were easily chopped off, but the cut ends were hollow and empty.

The two of them pushed deeper into the forest, and soon Charles saw the others Bandage had mentioned. The scene before him left him stunned.

Before them stood a bizarre, stunted tree. Its spiny trunk was wrapped around the bodies of several youths, suspending the unconscious humans in midair like slabs of cured meat, swaying gently as if they were the tree’s fruit.

There was more than one “fruit”—the strange tree was laden with them.

“Get them down!” Charles gripped the black knife and rushed forward.

A youth fell to the ground with a groan, slowly regaining consciousness. He looked at Charles, who was frantically hacking at the trunk, and seemed dazed. “Who are you? Have you seen my captain?”

Charles had no time to explain. He slashed at the branches, rescuing everyone. But this time, the hollow branches contained something: a cluster of short, trembling pink tentacles fell out from the cross-section.

“Crack, crack, crack...” Suddenly, the trunk of the stunted tree moved. Everyone turned their gaze to the tree.

The rust-red trunk slowly split open, and several tangible gazes shot out from the cracks, sweeping over Charles.

A thought flashed through Charles’s mind: “Is this thing alive?”

The tree’s movements grew more intense, until Charles could see the twisted flesh and the yellow-brown eyeball within the cracks, and the raging fury burning in that eye.

“Run!!” The living people bolted instantly. Even if they didn’t understand what was happening, human instinct drove them to flee for their lives.

They had barely taken a few steps when, with a loud bang, the stunted tree exploded. Twisted, fleshy creatures crawled out.

At first glance, they looked like starfish covered in black hair, but on closer inspection, the “hair” was actually dense, dark, elongated tentacles. In the center of their bodies was a single orange-yellow eye and a gaping, fang-filled mouth.

The monster opened its maw, tentacles writhing as it frantically chased after its fleeing prey.

Fortunately, Charles had already cleared a path, and the distance between them continued to widen.