Shrouded Seascape

Chapter 793: Tobba

"Guys! Don't just drink! Let's all dance together as well! If you don't know how to dance, then follow my lead and the rhythm! First, you've got to put your right hand on your shoulder, and then..."

The cemetery became livelier and livelier under Tobba's lead; the excitement reached a crescendo when Tobba invited a large group of children passing by to come in to eat and drink as much as they wanted.

The funeral full of buffoonery and horseplay lasted until morning.

Tobba within the screen was sweating profusely from the exertion, and he was sitting on the ground. Sweeping his gaze across the mess in the cemetery, Tobba laughed boisterously. "Hahaha! Awesome! That was great!"

Everyone smiled at the sight, excluding 134, who walked over and sat on Tobba's coffin. She placed the tablet on her legs and quietly stroked Tobba's face with her hands.

A gentle light flashed in Tobba's eyes upon seeing the little girl whom he would meet in the distant future. "Little Mithila, don't cry. Things are going to get better for you."

Things would have been fine if he hadn't said anything, but Tobba just had to say something, reducing 134 to a tear-stricken mess.

134 hugged the tablet and wailed. The gray shadow, the chubby man seated in a wheelchair, and a green, centipede-like creature quietly gathered around 134 to give her a hug.

Charles stared quietly at the scene while sitting on the old ship doctor's tombstone. At this moment, they weren't the "Kings" of Sottom but family members depending on each other for life.

Tobba coaxed 134 for a long time until she finally bit her lip and raised her hand slightly. Tobba's coffin beside her took to the air and landed gently in the grave.

The three monsters walked over to the grave and grabbed a handful of the soil, sprinkling it all over the coffin down below. They repeated that over and over again until a tiny mound of soil appeared before everyone.

Clap, clap, clap!

Tobba clapped and exclaimed, "Great! The funeral is over, and it was perfect! If not for the fact that they are closing in on me and are about to capture me, I'd have you guys dig up the coffin, so we can hold the funeral again."

Since the funeral was over, the crew members bade goodbye to Tobba one by one and left the cemetery with complicated emotions in their hearts. Tobba seemed like he was still alive, but the Tobba before them was just a recording he had left behind a thousand years ago.

The real Tobba was dead, and the dead would never come back to life.

"Heh, that madman." Anna shook her head with a helpless look on her face. "It's over, so I'm going back now. I'm still busy over there."

"What have you been up to these days?" Charles asked, staring at Anna's retreating figure.

"The Fhtagn Covenant immediately severed all contact with us after the Foundation's demise. What else could I have been doing these days except for ensuring that those cultists aren't going to blindside us?

"You're like a hands-off boss, so I have no choice but to do it myself," Anna said before finally walking out of the cemetery.

Upon Anna's departure, 134 turned to Charles, looking awkward. The next moment, she hurled the tablet toward Charles' chest and turned around to leave with the other Kings of Sottom.

"Captain, Little Mithila, Gomma, and Medeas, I'll leave them in your care. I'm not asking you to do anything specifically. I just don't want you to settle your old scores with them."

"All right." Charles nodded. "As long as they stay put, I won't make things difficult for them."

"Thank you, Captain!" Tobba exclaimed. He placed one hand on his shoulder and saluted Charles.

Charles' gaze became complex as he stared at Tobba in front of him. "Since you know that all these were going to happen in the future, why did you not do anything to change any of them?"

Tobba smiled bitterly and replied, "Captain, let's not talk about those gods for now. Have you heard of Schrödinger's cat?"

Charles was caught off guard by Tobba's question. He pondered over it for a long time before realizing that he had indeed heard of the term when he was still a student long ago. "I've heard of it, but I don't really remember it anymore."

"Schrödinger's cat is a thought experiment that extrapolates quantum behavior in the microscopic world to the macroscopic domain."

"The formulation is like this—a cat and a small amount of radioactive source is placed in a sealed box. There is a fifty percent chance that the radioactive source might decay, releasing toxic gas to kill the cat. However, there's also a fifty percent chance that the radioactive source might not decay, allowing the cat to survive."

"Once the box is closed and sealed, the system enters a condition of indeterminacy; the cat then exists in a superposition state; that is, the cat is both alive and dead."

Tobba's words forced Charles' memories as a student to surface from the deepest recesses of his mind.

"Why are you telling me this?" Charles asked.

"You think that just because I can foresee the future, surely I can change it, right? Actually, that is not the case at all. The future is mutable, and I guess you can say it's like Schrödinger's cat. The future that I can see is in a superposition state. I'm staring at a myriad of futures superimposed on each other.

"Once the choice that affects a certain future is made, the future ceases to exist in a superposition state and collapses into its own, unique line. That is why I can't change the future, as doing so will only make it deviate further and further away from the 'choice' that will affect it.

"In other words, making the right choice is more important than changing the future itself."

Charles' head throbbed in pain as he listened to Tobba's words that sounded familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. His invisible tentacles pushed against the tombstone, helping him down to the ground.

"You could have just said that you can't casually change the future. Why speak so much? Except for taking care of 134, do you have anything else to entrust to me? I'll do my best to help you."

Tobba was already dead and wouldn't be able to do anything by himself. Thus, Charles wanted to help Tobba as much as he could as long as he was capable of doing it.

The young man on the screen shook his head and said, "Captain, I have no more unfinished business, but you do. You can no longer run away from it. It's time for you to make a decision."

"What?"

"I'm talking about the two wishes that 005 gave you. The choice is yours to make, and it's a choice that will determine the direction of the future," Tobba said.

Charles went silent, seemingly falling into deep contemplation. After a while, he replied, "I don't trust 005, and I don't want her wishes at all. Nothing good has ever come out of dealing with a god."

"Captain, you really have to understand that Tawil, as a god, has no reason to deceive you at all. If She really wants to harm us, then there would be no reason for Her to go about it in such a complicated way.

"Anyway, Her wishes are harmless, so go ahead and make those wishes with peace of mind."

For some unknown reason, Charles had faith in Tobba's words. His keen instincts were telling him that Tobba wasn't lying to him.

"Two wishes… Haha." Charles chuckled. "Tobba, you know what? I really want to live out the rest of my days in peace and quiet. I no longer want to experience so many hardships. I'm just an ordinary person, after all."

"No, you're not just an ordinary person," Tobba said, shaking his head. "You are Edikth's Chosen One. Chosen ones are never ordinary, just like me."

"Then, give me some advice. What should I do here?" Charles asked, kicking the ball back to Tobba.

For the first time all this while, Tobba's expression became solemn as he replied, "The first-generation Foundation did not hesitate to deceive and slaughter their colleagues to conceal the secrets about the surface world, while the second-generation Foundation had done everything they could to protect it.

"And now, the secret is yours to handle…"

"What? You want me to become the third-generation Foundation?"

"The choice is yours. I can't make that choice, and I will not tell you what choice to make," Tobba replied, throwing the ball back at Charles.

Charles looked down and stared quietly at the ground. "Tobba, can you tell me what the surface world is like right now? Has it changed? If so, how much has it changed since I found myself here?"

"It hasn't changed at all. It's still the familiar world where you once lived in."

Charles' heart trembled slightly at Tobba's words. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his diary. The diary opened, and a family portrait appeared in front of Charles. It was a portrait of his family and home back on the surface world.

"Really? There are no changes at all?"

"Of course, there are some changes due to the passing of time, but it's not a big deal at all."