The island was getting closer and closer, and the thick fog on the island and the silhouettes in the fog became clearer and clearer. Lawrence stood on the bow deck of the White Oak, holding the railing in front of him tightly with both hands, and his knuckles looked a little white due to the force.

Everyone would be nervous, even the old captain who had drifted on the vast sea for most of his life - what would be on that island? What was the shadow in the thick fog? Why did that island appear around the White Oak as if it had consciousness? And most importantly... where exactly was this sea area shrouded in strange phenomena?

Lawrence took a deep breath, the cold air penetrating into his lungs, forcing his agitated mind to calm down. He tried not to think about other unusual things, such as Martha appearing before him, and the strange fact that other people besides himself could also see Martha - he knew he had to cut off thoughts in this regard, because all this was obviously related to his deteriorating mental state. If he continued to think about it, Martha might really be more than just an illusion.

He no longer had any potion left, and even if he did, it had clearly lost its effect.

The steam core was running smoothly, and the White Oak was gradually approaching the small island with a winding coastline. The beautiful white ship sailed across the sea, leaving a long wake at the stern. In the rippling and spreading waves of the wake, a faint green flashed by.

However, no one noticed the situation at the stern - everyone on the ship's attention was now focused on the strange island.

The edge of the island was steep and rocky, with no suitable place to dock. The experienced helmsman did not rashly let the ship approach directly, but instead steered the White Oak to sail around the island.

When the ship was about one-third of the way around the ship, the sailor on the lookout suddenly made a discovery.

"There's a port!" the sailor shouted from the platform.

A moment later, a small dock appeared in Lawrence's field of vision. The facilities deep in the dock were shrouded in fog and could not be seen clearly, but the part extending into the sea could still be seen clearly - that part was structurally intact and showed no signs of damage.

The complete dock facilities mean that the White Oak can be docked as a whole without having to use a small boat to land on the island, which undoubtedly improves the safety of exploring the island - in addition to the convenience of supply and retreat, the several small-caliber escort guns on the White Oak can also provide cover for exploration operations along the coast.

Lawrence returned to the bridge, and under his command, the White Oak began to cautiously approach the deserted dock. Because there was no assistance from shore guides, the entire docking process was extremely slow, but it was ultimately completed safely.

Lawrence looked across the dock and saw that the island was shrouded in fog. Even the dock facilities in the close distance looked hazy due to the fog. He didn't know if it was an illusion, but he felt that the fog on the island was even thicker than what he had observed before.

“No one is in sight,” the first mate said as he came to Lawrence’s side and observed the situation on the island, “but we can vaguely see some lights…it seems to be coming from the harbor buildings.”

"Any response from the radio?"

"No, after we got close to the island, we couldn't even receive the frost signal that we had been receiving," the first mate shook his head, "and we didn't receive a response to the light signal either."

Lawrence hesitated for a moment and said, "Pick twelve smart and cautious sailors, bring guns, and go to the island with me to explore."

"You want to go to the island yourself?" The first mate was immediately surprised. "This island looks very strange. If you do this, I'm afraid there will be..."

"Risk? The risk of staying on the ship is probably the same," Lawrence shook his head. "It's not this island that's weird, it's this entire sea area. We are trapped by a large anomaly. Danger is everywhere within the anomaly. Going to the island to explore may at least give us some useful information."

The first mate opened his mouth, but he had to admit that the captain's experience and judgment were useful.

"Okay, I'll get ready."

After a while, the first mate selected twelve qualified sailors from the crew - all of them were old seamen with many years of experience, and they were people with strong wills and devout faith. Together with the first mate himself, there were a total of thirteen people, ready to go to the island with Lawrence.

The remaining affairs on the White Oak were temporarily handed over to the second mate.

A rope ladder extended to the pier, and Lawrence and his small exploration team set foot on the mysterious island shrouded in fog.

The feeling of being grounded somewhat reduced the uneasiness in the explorers' hearts. Lawrence stood on the dock, stepped hard on the ground, turned around and muttered, "At least this concrete floor is real."

"The light is in that direction," the first mate said, holding a large-caliber rifle in his hand and looking up into the distance. "It can still be seen here, but there is still no sign of human activity."

"Don't scatter, don't touch unfamiliar objects at will, and if you hear a voice talking to you, don't answer until you confirm the source of the voice and the location of your teammates," Lawrence ordered seriously. "If you see anything suspicious in the fog, warn everyone immediately. Don't shoot on your own or leave the team to explore."

He paused here and looked around at the team he brought.

Twelve sailors, a first mate, and himself.

"Finally, remember, there are only fourteen of us - we can have fewer people before returning to the ship, but never more."

The sailors immediately responded: "Yes, Captain!"

Lawrence nodded and led the team towards the thick fog.

They crossed the dock pier and came to an open area, which looked like a storage area for temporary distribution of goods. Some remaining storage facilities and a small lifting mechanism could be seen, but apart from these facilities, there were still no "people" to be seen.

"This place doesn't look like it's been abandoned for a long time," the first mate muttered as he observed the surroundings, "It looks like it was a busy dock just a few days ago."

Lawrence said nothing. He carefully observed the nearby port facilities. Suddenly, his eyes fell on a nameplate.

"Supplies at Dagger Island Port."

Dagger Island is the name of this island.

"Is this Dagger Island?" The first mate came over and looked at the words on the nameplate with some surprise in his eyes. "I've heard of this place... It's a small island near the Frost City-State. It used to produce boiling gold, but it was said to have been converted into a military facility many years ago... Is this really Dagger Island?"

"Nothing here is believable. We just briefly docked at a place that looked a lot like Frostbite," Lawrence shook his head. "Let's keep going. The place with the remaining light just now might be the port office. There might be something there that can answer our questions."

The exploration team left the dock stack area and began to walk along an upward ramp towards the light that was lit in the fog. Everyone was nervous and paid attention to the movements in the fog.

A very light wind was blowing disorderly on the island, causing the gray fog to slowly roll. The strange silhouettes vaguely visible in the distance seemed to move with it, shaking their bodies slightly like some living things. In this dark and chaotic fog, the light became more and more obvious, and gradually approached everyone's sight.

The first mate, who was walking in front of the team, suddenly stopped.

"What is this?" The first mate lowered his head and frowned as he observed a pile of strange things on the side of the road.

Lawrence, revolver in one hand and lantern in the other, approached the first mate and saw the pile.

It looked like a pile of gray-black mud - it had dried up and had cracks on the edges, but you could still see it surging at the last moment.

It was like a ball of boiling mud that was bubbling one second ago, and all the moisture was drained away the next moment.

"Mud?" Lawrence frowned and didn't touch the strange thing rashly. "Why is there mud here?"

"I think we saw some similar black mud at the dock before," a sailor in the team suddenly said uncertainly, "but it was mixed with a bunch of debris at the time, so I thought it was just garbage..."

Lawrence nodded, and then another sailor suddenly shouted, "There are a bunch of them here, too!"

Lawrence looked in the direction of the sound and saw a pile of black mud on the ground on the other side of the road.

This thing is everywhere on this island?

A feeling of uneasiness filled his heart, but no one could answer what the mud was. Lawrence carefully gathered the team, asked everyone to avoid contact with the strange "mud", and then continued to walk into the depths of the fog.

After a while, they finally arrived at the end of the ramp, just as Lawrence had previously judged - this was where the port office was located.

A small building made of reinforced concrete stood here. Slightly yellowish light spilled out from the windows, but no sound could be heard from inside.

The main entrance of the building was slightly open, and there was a nameplate nailed on the door with the words "Port General Office" inscribed on it.

Lawrence came to the door, listened carefully to confirm the movement inside, and then prepared to push the door open.

But suddenly, his movements stopped.

On the wall beside the gate, a line of scratches that looked as if hastily carved with a dagger caught his eye. It was a sentence:

〖Humans have only two eyes!〗