"Mr. Charles, Little Whiskers says it's very strange inside, but there's no one and no danger." Standing on Charles's shoulder, Lily translated the explorer mouse's exact words.
Charles, his brow tightly furrowed, gripped his binoculars and stared at the steamboat stopped on the distant Gobi Beach.
From the tracks, this ship appeared to have set out about a month and a half ago. Right after acquiring the photos of 068's tracks, Charles had deliberately sent several ships ahead to scout—this was one of them.
But the metal vessel had completely changed. Its hull, which should have been streamlined, was now grotesquely twisted. It looked as if it had been a lump of clay played with by a child for half an hour. Something terrible must have happened for the ship to end up like this.
"Let's go. We'll take a look over there," Charles said, starting to walk toward the distant vessel.
