Looking at the white rat’s face, which clearly expected praise, Charles was quite surprised. “You can operate the deck gun?”


    He had originally thought it was the engineer James who operated the cannon, but it turned out to be the rat Lili.


    “I did it with my friends. Aren’t we awesome?” Lili squeaked twice, and a large group of brown rats surged onto Charles’s bed.


    Seeing the bed full of rats, Charles felt very uncomfortable. “Make them all get down. You come back alone. Why did you bring all these rats?”


    “I promised them I would invite them to my home for my mother’s sweet fish soup. You can’t go back on a promise.” Lili argued convincingly.


    Charles comforted Lili for a few moments and then looked at the second mate, Knona.


    The red-haired youth seemed to know what Charles was going to ask and spoke up, “Don’t worry, Captain. We’ve compared. No one is missing.”


    “That’s good, that’s good…”


    Once the danger was over, a strong sense of fatigue overwhelmed him. The wounds on his body and the exhaustion from the sprint sent warning signals to Charles.


    “Don’t relax your guard. Get back to the safe route as soon as possible. You can all leave. I’m tired.”


    Before the others could leave the room, Charles’s eyelids closed, and he immediately knew nothing.


    When he woke up, he had no idea how much time had passed.


    “I should buy a pocket watch.”


    The rejuvenated Charles didn’t get out of bed. He leaned back on the pillow, a rare smile gracing his face.


    He had been worried about one thing: whether he was still on Earth. Even if he went to the surface, would he be able to return? But the words of the flesh door 1068 confirmed one thing: there was a sun outside, and where there was a sun, it had to be Earth. There was a high probability that his home was still there.


    Charles, once again firm in his goal, was about to get out of bed when he saw the relics taken from the third laboratory piled up on the cabinet.


    Seeing these things, Charles’s heart fluttered.


    Although everything in that place was done by him, he now felt strangely unfamiliar with his former self.


    At that time, the thought of so many relics made his heart itch like a cat’s paw. He instinctively stole them without considering the danger.


    But looking at the relics, Charles was grateful for his luck. He had managed to grab so many relics at the cost of only a few injuries. The trade was undoubtedly worth it.


    Charles began to carefully examine the items he had stolen.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    A rusty sword covered in rust.


    A feather pen as thick as a forearm.


    A pyramid-shaped amethyst.


    And the silver ring intertwined with tentacles on his hand. There were a total of four relics.


    The items all looked extraordinary, but Charles didn’t dare to try them lightly. Some of the record books were lost during the fight with the leeches, and others were ruined by the seawater when he jumped into the sea.


    Now, only two information booklets remained, one of which was about the ring on his hand.


    “Project Number: 168”


    “Project Name: Tentacle Ring”


    “Description: 168 is a ring made of 925 silver, with an appearance formed by the bending of three octopus-like tentacles. It was discovered by Dr. Tina during her vacation at a jewelry store in New Realm City [data deleted].”


    “Appendix 1: Due to Dr. Tina’s detection of its abnormality and immediate submission, the Foundation decided to directly contain 168. The description of the project’s abnormality will be placed in Appendix 2 in the form of an interview record.”


    Appendix 2:


    “Dr. Tina, can you tell us how you discovered 168?”


    “My husband took me to pick out a wedding ring, and I put it on as soon as I saw it. It wasn’t until I got back to my apartment that I realized something was wrong. I started to have some special abilities.”


    “What kind of special abilities?”


    “Well… my hand can turn into three invisible tentacles. It’s a very peculiar feeling, as if the tentacles were a natural part of my hand.”


    “I know what you’re going to ask next. The tentacles have a strong grip, about the strength of two adult men, and they are also very elastic, able to stretch up to 5 meters when fully extended. As for negative effects, the ring tempts people to put it on subconsciously, and it gets tighter and tighter, so you have to take it off occasionally to relax.”


    “That’s it?”


    “Yes, that’s it. It’s a very simple little thing. If only other projects were as well-behaved as this one. Sophie, my 1068 is quite manageable as long as there’s enough food, but 641 is a real headache.”


    “Oh, Tina, I’ve heard of that one. It’s indeed difficult to handle. If its containment fails, the entire island’s population might be assimilated. But when it comes to harmfulness, it’s not as bad as the 134 I’m in charge of—”


    “Cough cough! Ladies, it’s work time. Let’s chat after work. Please pay attention to the occasion.”


    “Sorry, sorry.”


    The interview ended at 22:41.


    “Turn into tentacles?” Charles thought for a moment and then raised his hand. Miraculously, he could feel his fingers rapidly lengthening and thickening, but to the naked eye, his hand still looked like a hand, unchanged.


    Suddenly, a drawer on a distant table opened, and a bottle of wine floated out, suspended in the air, creating a very eerie scene.


    Charles began to experiment with the new relic in the room. Various small objects flew through the air.


    After familiarizing himself with the relic, Charles decided to keep it for his own use. While it wasn’t as powerful in direct combat as the clown mask or even the black sword, it had the potential for unexpected uses if utilized properly.


    What appealed to Charles even more was that this was the relic with the smallest side effects he had ever seen.


    Running his hand over the ring, Charles looked at another piece of paper, which contained the records of the purple pyramid.


    “Project Number: 434”


    “Project Name: Purple Pyramid”


    “Description: 434 is a crystal pyramid measuring 10 centimeters in length, height, and width. Due to the unrest it caused, it was reported by the Shadow Island Police Department and transferred to the Foundation.”


    Experiment 1: “Have test subject 13 hold 434 and mentally repeat ‘I am powerful’ twice.”


    “Result: The test subject’s body mutates, with a proportional increase in size, reaching a height of 2.5 meters. However, narrative ability is significantly reduced, and intelligence drops to 80.”


    Experiment 2: “Have test subject 13 hold 434 and mentally repeat ‘I am powerful’ three times.”


    “Result: The test subject’s height increases by three meters, and intelligence drops to 60.”


    Experiment 3: “Have test subject 13 hold 434 and mentally repeat ‘I am powerful’ four times.”


    “Result: Height increases to 4 meters, intelligence drops to 40. The experiment is forced to terminate due to the test subject’s low intelligence making it impossible to understand instructions. The test subject returns to normal 30 minutes after being removed from 434.”