Chapter 8: Can I Kiss You?

Just then, a very faint “help me” came from the fishing net ahead.

It came with the surging waves. If it weren’t for the dead silence all around, apart from the sound of the waves, it probably would have been inaudible.

Xiu was stunned for a moment, then let out a soft, mocking laugh.

He raised his voice slightly, “Is that the parrotfish? I am Xiu.”

The weak voice from the fishing net continued, “Lord Siren? How did you know…”

Her voice was extremely weak, and the fishing net was crammed with dead fish. As she spoke, her voice suddenly trailed off.

Xiu lowered his gaze. “This should be the fishing boat. I’ll call the narwhal over.”

As he spoke, his thin lips parted slightly, and he let out a long, drawn-out call.

This was the first time Wen Chu had heard such an ethereal voice from Xiu.

In many myths, the Siren’s song was regarded as an ominous sound that lured people into the abyss. Wen Chu didn’t know those rumors about Sirens; he just felt that Xiu’s voice made him incredibly relaxed, and he couldn’t help but slump onto Xiu’s shoulder.

Xiu casually picked him up. “There are too many parasites here. You should stay a little farther away in a bit. I’ll have the narwhal stay with you.”

Wen Chu asked, “Parasites, like the ones in the sunfish’s body? Will I be infected by parasites too?”

“Yes,” Xiu said. “After the humans left, as the marine environment deteriorated, parasites have also been constantly evolving. Generally speaking, parasites don’t target jellyfish, but it’s still better for you to stay far away.”

“The water quality here is too poor. It’s not good for you.”

Wen Chu had suddenly collapsed while talking yesterday. The memory was deeply ingrained in Xiu, who had long since labeled the jellyfish as “sickly and weak.”

Indeed, the system had also said that he could only live in a place with good water quality.

Wen Chu obediently agreed.

As they spoke, Sardine No. 3 had already drawn near.

The siren and the jellyfish looked exceptionally small in front of the iron-and-steel creation.

Xiu frowned as he looked at the seawater, which was gradually turning reddish-black. He grabbed Wen Chu and returned to the water, quickly moving away from the boat and maintaining a parallel, not-too-far, not-too-close distance.

Perhaps because it had heard Xiu’s call, the fish in the net quieted down and made no more sound.

“This kind of fishing boat uses solar energy. All the energy is stored in the energy storage unit under the boat.”

As Xiu swam, he pointed to a protrusion on the side of the boat’s bottom for Wen Chu.

“Later, I will destroy that, and then the boat will stop. Although the boat’s fishing net is tough, it’s no match for my claws. I can cut it open directly.”

He wasn’t just saying this to Wen Chu. He deliberately raised his voice so it would reach the fishing boat, to reassure the parrotfish trapped in the net.

Wen Chu listened, confused. He was only thinking about one thing. When Xiu finished speaking, he quickly asked, “What about you? Xiu, will you get infected? If you touch the water there, will you get sick?”

Xiu was also a fish. He was worried about Xiu.

Xiu was taken aback and was about to say something.

Just then, the sea surged beside them.

The narwhal had arrived quickly.

The only reason Xiu hadn’t destroyed the boat immediately was because he was worried about Wen Chu. Now that the narwhal was here, he no longer delayed and directly threw the jellyfish in his hand onto the narwhal’s head.

“Take him and swim a little farther away. I’m going to save the fish.”

After he spoke, without giving Wen Chu or the narwhal a chance to reply, he flicked his tail and left.

Wen Chu spun several three-hundred-and-sixty-degree turns in the sea. Just as he dizzily came to his senses, he looked up and only saw Xiu’s back.

He lay on the narwhal’s head, looked down at the narwhal who was taking him away, and persistently asked, “Grandma Narwhal, will Xiu get sick? Will he be affected by the parasites?”

The narwhal let out a puzzled “ah.”

Simultaneously with this single note of confusion, a violent explosion sounded. Accompanied by the shaking of the seawater, more than half of the bleached coral on the continental shelf was shattered.

When Wen Chu looked up, he saw the siren, his ten long fingers transformed into sharp claws, calmly floating in front of the iron behemoth that had been overturned and thrown onto the coral reef.

The fishing boat was still moving forward at this time. Xiu grabbed the fishing boat with one hand, and reached out with the other, touching the energy storage unit.

With just a light squeeze, the boat’s energy storage unit turned to dust.

It was an almost terrifying power.

“No, Lord Siren is special. He is the god of the ocean,” the narwhal’s voice sounded. “As long as the ocean exists, Lord Siren will always exist.”

“God…” Wen Chu repeated the word.

This was the second time he had heard this word. The first time was when the system said Xiu was a god and could absolutely not fall in love with him.

Can’t gods fall in love?

“Yes, a god,” the narwhal said. “Every one of us fish has heard our mothers tell the story of Lord Siren. He seems to have been born on the same day as the ocean and established Atlantis at the very bottom of the Pacific.”

“All the fish could live and work there in peace. He would also regularly patrol and destroy overfishing boats, or promptly rescue oceans polluted by oil, maintaining a balance between us and humans.”

“From the moment humans could fully explore the ocean, the balance was broken. Atlantis fell, and even the Arctic…”

The narwhal was becoming more and more fond of reminiscing. As she spoke, she became immersed in her memories, her last words trailing off, lost in her own thoughts.

Atlantis. Wen Chu remembered this word. He had even thought of secretly asking the narwhal about it.

So Atlantis was a civilization that Xiu had once built.

So how exactly did it fall?

Wen Chu wanted to ask further, but he was interrupted by the sound of tearing silk.

It was Xiu tearing open the fishing net.

The originally invisible fishing net became visible with his movements, and at the same time, a large number of fish of unrecognizable species were scattered on the coral reef.

They had all been trapped and died in the fishing net.

A mist of blood spread out. Xiu did indeed seem to be special. After the blood was washed away by the waves, Wen Chu still saw a spotlessly clean Xiu.

Xiu quickly swept past the fish, one by one, and finally stopped precisely at a certain spot. He looked down and gently held up an orange fish with a sharp, beak-like mouth.

It was the parrotfish.

Wen Chu remembered Xiu feeding him yesterday. Xiu at that time seemed to be holding him with his head lowered just like this.

[System.] Wen Chu finally remembered the system he had long forgotten. [Is Xiu this good to every fish?]

System: [Probably. After all, he is the god of the ocean.]

Wen Chu: […Oh.]

He lowered his head.

The system scoffed: [What, jealous? I told you long ago, it’s impossible for Xiu to have a lover…]

Wen Chu looked up thoughtfully: [I was just thinking, if I revive the parrotfish, would Xiu be less sad—by the way, what is vinegar? Can it be eaten like green algae?]

System: […]

System: [Vinegar is a condiment. I don’t know what Xiu will do, but saving the parrotfish will cost ten hours of lifespan.]

Wen Chu was surprised: [Such a serious injury, and it only costs ten hours of lifespan?]

System: [As long as it’s healing, no matter how serious the injury, it’s ten hours of lifespan. This includes bringing someone back from the dead.]

Even Wen Chu knew how powerful the ability to “bring someone back from the dead” was. He almost jumped up on the spot.

He could be this useful?

If he could bring things back to life, could he help Xiu a lot? Would Xiu not think about abandoning him then?

The system seemed to have seen his excitement and reminded him: [You’d better not let your lifespan fall below ten days. It’s not every time that I can pull you into the system space in time.]

Wen Chu felt a little embarrassed upon hearing this: [It’s not good to always have Xiu feed me, right?]

Although he really liked being in Xiu’s arms.

The system couldn’t stand this jellyfish, whose mind was full of kissing and clinging: [Do not misinterpret my meaning.]

Wen Chu: [What does misinterpret me—]

The system said coldly: [Watch your mouth.]

Alright, if the system says to shut up, then he’ll shut up.

Wen Chu stopped talking.

With a clear goal, Wen Chu didn’t hesitate for long. He thanked the system, moved his tentacles, and while the narwhal was immersed in her memories, he sped up and swam out quickly.

By this time, the bloody water had been greatly diluted by the seawater, but he could still smell a faint scent of blood. Wen Chu quickly swam to Xiu’s side and heard Xiu’s voice from a distance.

“Your child asked me to bring you a message. He said, he misses you very much. He wants to be your little fish in his next life too.”

The parrotfish had been trapped in the fishing net for over half a month and was now at the end of her strength. She managed a nod, looked at the murky ocean, and said with a trembling voice, “I miss him very much too. I…”

“I can restore you!” Wen Chu’s clear voice rang out.

He quickly swam to her side and tried to speed up his speech, afraid he would be too late if he spoke slowly. “I can transfer my lifespan to you and restore you. When we find your child, I’ll restore him too, and you can be reunited.”

The parrotfish mother stared in astonishment at the transparent, orange-red-cored jellyfish that had suddenly appeared.

Why was there a jellyfish here?

Lord Siren, who had been expressionless just a moment ago, finally showed a trace of vivid emotion on his face upon seeing the jellyfish. It was half helpless, half annoyed. He grabbed the darting jellyfish. “Didn’t I tell you to stay put?”

“But you were sad.”

Wen Chu, having been caught, simply took the opportunity to wrap himself around Xiu’s fingers and wrist, completely encasing the hand that Xiu had turned into sharp claws.

The claws that could tear apart a ship, at this moment, within the jellyfish’s soft tentacles, did not scratch the jellyfish in the slightest.

Wen Chu rubbed against Xiu’s hand. “I’ll revive her, revive everyone. Will that make you a little happier?”

Xiu’s expression was very complicated. He looked at Wen Chu in astonishment, wanting to say that Wen Chu was spouting nonsense again, but the words wouldn’t come out.

It was the parrotfish mother who let out a soft laugh.

“How cute. How old are you this year?”

“I’m eighteen,” Wen Chu said, using eighteen of his tentacles to gesture from Xiu’s hand.

The parrotfish mother clearly didn’t believe him and laughed even more cheerfully.

“Lord Siren, you have a very interesting little friend by your side.”

Xiu glanced at Wen Chu and shook him. “Not that interesting. He’s a troublemaker.”

Wen Chu: QAQ?

The parrotfish mother was still laughing, a hint of nostalgia in her cloudy eyes. After a long while, she said, “Thank you, little jellyfish, but even if I could really be restored, I don’t need it anymore.”

“Why? Don’t you want to live?” Wen Chu, who was about to extend his hand to heal the parrotfish regardless, stopped his tentacles in confusion.

“Even if I live, so what?” the parrotfish asked back.

She seemed to have regained a little strength. She swayed and moved her pectoral fins, swimming up from Xiu’s hand and looking around.

The fishing boat, which had been dragged down by Xiu, was not far away. All around were scattered fish, all silent. Underneath the layers of fish carcasses were the white corals that had been shattered by the waves just now.

“You are probably still young and haven’t seen the ocean of the past. It wasn’t like this before.”

The parrotfish mother said slowly, “There used to be corals of various colors here. Humans had high-rise buildings, and the coral reefs were our underwater cities. We also worked at sunrise and rested at sunset. During rush hour, we would also get stuck in traffic among the corals.”

“At that time, you could see moray eels and groupers hunting together in the coral reefs. You could also see clownfish carefully tending to sea anemones. I would take my child to gnaw on the algae on the corals. Even the newborn terns would learn to fly here.”

“At night, the corals bloomed. Humans say corals are the corpses of polyps, but for us, they are a breathing city.”

As she spoke, she chose a piece of bleached coral that was free of fish and slowly landed on it.

“They are just like you, little jellyfish. As long as the environment is suitable, you can theoretically live forever.”

Eternal life.

Wen Chu repeated this word in his mind.

He thought, even if he wasn’t a jellyfish, he should also be able to live forever. The doctors had told him most often that he could live for a very long time, that he was a miracle of eternal life.

He just didn’t know why, when he woke up, the system said he was dead.

The parrotfish nostalgically touched the white coral. “It was so lively back then. If I’m the only one left alive, I’ll eventually starve to death one day, right?”

She looked at Wen Chu and Xiu. “Lord Siren, my wish is to be buried in the coral. I’m so sorry to have troubled you to make this trip.”

“It’s alright,” Xiu softened his voice. “This is what I should do.”

“Do you have to be buried in the coral?” Wen Chu asked in a small voice. “Why?”

The parrotfish answered good-naturedly, “Because this is my home. I love it here, just as I love my child and my mother.”

“Love…?”

Wen Chu looked at Xiu in confusion, then at the parrotfish.

Didn’t love mean lover? Were the parrotfish and the coral lovers?

Wen Chu didn’t understand, but Grandma Narwhal had taught him by example not to discriminate against any interspecies romance, so Wen Chu chose to respect it.

The parrotfish loved the coral very much, so she was willing to die for the coral.

Wen Chu reasoned this out for himself.

He swam forward, to the parrotfish’s side, and decided to help her fulfill her final wish.

The jellyfish’s transparent, soft tentacles touched the white, bone-like coral beside the parrotfish.

[System, help me transfer my lifespan to the coral here.]

[Lifespan -10h]
[Remaining Lifespan: 10 days, 12 hours, 09 minutes]

The moment the jellyfish’s tentacles touched the coral, a green bud sprouted from the bleached coral.

With Wen Chu as the center, first a crisp green shoot emerged, like a tender blade of grass, and then a third and fourth small green tip appeared—this was an elkhorn coral, growing rapidly before the astonished eyes of Xiu and the parrotfish.

And then came more corals, red, yellow, blue, and even swaying seaweed and sea anemones that swayed with the waves.

Within a ten-meter radius, there was a burst of life.

“You…” Xiu was speechless for a moment.

“How beautiful,” the parrotfish mother murmured softly.

She thought she was watching the flashbacks of her life before death.

“The last time I saw so many corals was the night before the nuclear wastewater was dumped.”

Before the nuclear wastewater was dumped, global warming was already an irreversible trend. The coral reefs produced fluorescence as a chemical sunscreen to protect themselves from high temperatures.

That was when the corals were at their most vibrant, and also their final splendor before death.

They approached the end of their lives in a grand manner.

And then, the nuclear wastewater came. The corals disappeared overnight, and a quarter of the ocean’s creatures lost their homes.

Among the corals, the parrotfish mother finally fell silent.

“Is she dead?” Wen Chu asked.

“Yes,” Xiu said faintly. “Fish don’t have eyelids. They can’t close their eyes even in death.”

I see. So this is death. The fish that was just talking a moment ago suddenly stopped moving.

And then, worms will start to grow on its body.

Wen Chu left the parrotfish. Before turning around, he said softly, “You can sleep for now. When I get to the Arctic and have saved up enough lifespan, I will definitely revive all of you.”

Xiu looked at the jellyfish, which had been slow to swim back, and swam over impatiently. “What’s wrong with you now? You revived so many corals at once. How much lifespan did you use? Are you hungry? Did you get smaller again? Are you feeling dizzy?”

Wen Chu looked down at himself. He was still the same size, not smaller at all.

He guessed it was like growing bigger. When his lifespan reached five days and ten days, he grew a size larger each time. He probably wouldn’t get smaller until his lifespan dropped below ten days.

So Wen Chu shook his head. “I’m fine.”

He quickly swam to Xiu’s side and buried his head in the crook of Xiu’s neck, rubbing against him. “When you die, I want to die with you.”

He was imitating the parrotfish, trying to confess his love to Xiu.

Xiu, however, frowned.

Why was this jellyfish suddenly talking about life and death? Could he have been affected by the parrotfish’s death?

The sticky and vaguely constricting sensation of the tentacles on his neck made him flinch. But he also felt that Wen Chu’s mood was off, so he temporarily suppressed the thought of pulling Wen Chu away.

Xiu answered stiffly, “Don’t worry. I will definitely live longer than you. You don’t need to commit suicide for me.”

The narwhal, who had just noticed Wen Chu was missing, also arrived at this time. Looking at this patch of coral, she was as shocked into silence as Xiu.

And this patch of coral was still growing rapidly, stacking up higher and higher, then gradually dimming, as if rapidly going through its entire life cycle. The sea anemone’s body slowly withered, the seagrass grew rapidly, flowered, seeded, and then decayed.

After just ten minutes, all life returned to silence.

“What… what’s going on?”

Amidst the narwhal’s confused voice, Wen Chu released Xiu’s neck.

He swam to the coral, picked up a small yellow flower with his tentacles. It was a flower that had fallen when the seagrass had bloomed and seeded just now.

A yellow flower, the color of Xiu’s hair.

The jellyfish gently tucked the small flower into Xiu’s small braid.

He had seen humans do this before.

“Then Xiu must live on. I can revive them. Take me to the Arctic. Let me save up more lifespan. I want to make you happy.”

He only needed ninety-nine years. The rest could all be given to the ocean and to Xiu.

The jellyfish’s words were still jumbled.

Xiu pursed his lips, about to say something, when he saw the little jellyfish take the opportunity to lean close to his ear and whisper in a volume the narwhal couldn’t hear:

“Xiu, does this count as love? Can you kiss me tomorrow?”

Xiu: …

Wen Chu hugged his neck. “I also want to sleep with you.”

Xiu: …

This jellyfish’s mouth really couldn’t produce any ivory.

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Author’s Note:

What did the jellyfish do wrong? The jellyfish just wants to cuddle.
Wen Chu, ‘Chu’ means initial/beginning.
Xiu is not the shou’s full name (that’s why there’s a question mark on the character card), everyone can try to guess what the shou’s name is based on this hhh.