Chapter 23: Diligent and Good Jellyfish Touching Scales for the Merfolk

“Cough cough… cough.” The jellyfish was choked and retreated repeatedly.

He guessed this might be some very smelly and dirty garbage, so he decided to make it quick—identify the direction on the surface, then come back and wash himself clean before seeing Xiu.

Wen Chu concentrated, nimbly shuttling through layers of obstacles, and ascended rapidly.

“Strange…”

Wen Chu voiced his confusion while ascending.

Because of ocean pollution, all the water bodies were black. But the upper layer of seawater here, rather than being black, was filled with black flocculent matter. Like coffee grounds, it filled the entire water body with a pungent smell.

Splash——

Wen Chu surfaced.

Above the water was the noon sun. The end of the earth didn’t affect the sun rising as usual. Under the bright sunlight, the surface seawater seemed covered by a layer of oil film, shimmering with a strange iridescence.

Because he floated up, his body was also coated with a layer of dark, sticky oil film.

The pungent smell became even stronger.

Wen Chu felt a bit dizzy from the smell.

[What are you doing? Why did your Lifespan suddenly——]

The system’s voice sounded, then stopped abruptly.

Subsequently, the system spoke urgently: [Go! Leave here quickly! Where is Xiu? Let him take you away!]

Wen Chu subconsciously listened to the system and swam back, but the light oil film on his body now acted like glue, sticking his umbrella cap and tentacles together.

Jellyfish swim mainly by contracting their umbrella caps. Now that contraction was hindered, Wen Chu staggered and almost overturned directly in the seawater.

Fortunately, Xiu had systematically taught him how to swim before. Wen Chu adjusted quickly, sinking back into the sea while asking: [What’s wrong? Xiu is at the bottom; I came up to check directions.]

Before the system could answer, the Lifespan panel jumped to red rapidly.

[Warning: Due to long-term exposure to polluted water sources and second contact with heavily polluted water sources, Lifespan points are about to decrease at an accelerated rate.]

[Remaining Lifespan: 33 Days 8 Hours 21 Minutes]
[Remaining Lifespan: 33 Days 7 Hours 21 Minutes]
[Remaining Lifespan: 33 Days 6 Hours 21 Minutes]

Lifespan points were dropping at a speed of one hour per second. Wen Chu was startled and swam faster, dragging the sticky oil on his body.

The system explained rapidly: [Oil leaked somewhere. You got oil on you. If you don’t clean it up quickly, your statocysts will rot within two days, and you will die of poisoning. I’ll pull you into the system space now——]

[Wait.] Wen Chu spoke up.

He saw a golden figure rushing over from the distance, interrupting the system.

[I won’t enter the system space.]

Wen Chu struggled to turn around with his stuck-together tentacles, swimming towards Xiu.

[Otherwise, Xiu will be worried.]

He didn’t want to see those transparent blue eyes revealing such emotions ever again.

The Siren of the ocean, the golden-haired sea god, shouldn’t show such a state because of him.

[Remaining Lifespan: 32 Days 8 Hours 20 Minutes]

…

On the other side.

Initially, Xiu only followed from a distance of about five hundred meters, worried about being discovered by Wen Chu.

It wasn’t until Wen Chu surfaced and Xiu reached the upper layer of seawater, seeing the scattered black sticky lumps falling in the water and smelling the pungent oil, that he realized something was wrong.

——The continuous storms of the past few days had caused a leak in the oil rig behind them.

The moment he realized this, Xiu’s heart tightened violently.

Memories of the jellyfish fainting time and again, falling into his arms lifelessly, surged into his mind. Xiu couldn’t care less about how Wen Chu would view his stalking behavior and immediately sped up towards Wen Chu.

Just then, the jellyfish in the distance seemed to realize something was wrong too. Covered in black crude oil, dragging stuck-together tentacles, he stumbled back through the sea.

“Wen Chu!”

Xiu quickly reached the struggling jellyfish, carefully reaching out to support the other’s umbrella cap, taking him away rapidly.

“Wen Chu, are you okay? I’m taking you to clean off the oil now. Don’t be scared, don’t sleep… it’ll be fine soon. I’m taking you away now.”

Wen Chu had just rejected the system’s help.

Looking at his rapidly dropping Lifespan panel, he agreed obediently: “Okay, I won’t sleep.”

Being held by Xiu, he habitually wanted to burrow into Xiu’s arms, but stopped upon seeing the black oil stain he smeared on Xiu’s arm.

Oh, no.

I’m dirty right now. I can’t make Xiu dirty.

The system was anxious beside him: [Your Lifespan is going to bottom out!! This accelerated drop only happens in heavily polluted waters. Enter the system space first! It doesn’t matter if you explain to him after Xiu takes you out of here. Do you want to die??]

[Won’t die.] Wen Chu said slowly.

Looking at his Lifespan dropping to thirty days, he said seriously: [I can still live for twelve minutes.]

After so many days of observation, he had learned to convert time from the Lifespan panel countdown.

While speaking, another ten seconds passed, and Wen Chu’s Lifespan reached twenty-nine days.

Dropping below thirty days, his body size shrank by a circle, and the seaweed bandages on his tentacles fell off.

Xiu, holding him, only felt the weight in his palm lighten. Looking down to see the shrunk jellyfish, his nervous heart almost jumped out of his throat.

“Why did you get smaller? How much Lifespan do you have left?” For the first time in his life, Xiu hated that he swam so slowly.

Wen Chu said unhurriedly: “Twenty-nine days seventeen hours, sixteen hours, fifteen hours…”

One hour drop per second? Is this a joke?

Xiu’s mind was a mess, but he quickly calculated Wen Chu’s remaining life.

——Twelve minutes.

He was going crazy: “What’s happening? Is this damage irreversible? Is there any solution?”

The hidden guilt finally erupted like a landslide at this moment.

Xiu even regretted letting Wen Chu leave alone, regretted that he shouldn’t have always rejected Wen Chu’s requests to stick together.

If he had touched Wen Chu more often, let Wen Chu save more Lifespan points, it wouldn’t be just these fleeting twelve minutes left.

“Just leave the heavily polluted waters,” Wen Chu repeated the system’s words.

He looked at Xiu. The other couldn’t care less about appearance right now. That long golden hair, which remained neat even in monstrous waves, was scattered messily by his face during the rapid swim. Beneath the golden hair, those transparent blue eyes were filled with helplessness and fear.

Emotions more intense than last time.

Wen Chu’s heart tightened for a moment too.

He didn’t understand: “I’m not sleeping anymore; why are you still sad?”

Did he do something wrong?

In just a few sentences, Wen Chu’s Lifespan dropped all the way from thirty days to twenty-five days.

The jellyfish shrank continuously in his palm. Each shrinkage represented the loss of twenty seconds of life.

Xiu had no time to answer Wen Chu anymore. Only one thought remained in his mind:
Take Wen Chu away.

He swam extremely fast, so fast that Wen Chu even felt the seawater pressing his umbrella cap into a concave shape. But in the next second, a hand was spared to block the rushing water for him.

From shallow sea to deep sea, a distance of over ten thousand meters, Xiu took only one minute.

Wen Chu shrank once more, and finally, the rapidly dropping life stopped at twenty days, decreasing no further.

Only an extra sentence appeared on the Lifespan panel.

[Remaining Lifespan: 20 Days 8 Hours 19 Minutes]

[Notice: You have repeatedly contacted heavily polluted water sources. Therefore, Lifespan decrease speed x8. Please move to a location with good water quality quickly, otherwise Lifespan points will accelerate decrease daily.]

Eight times.

Wen Chu was dumbfounded, watching his Lifespan drop eight seconds at a time, feeling the system was black-hearted.

The system said coldly: [Starting tomorrow, your Lifespan drop speed will become sixteen times. Oil pollution causes long-term damage to you. It will double every day from now on. You’d better confess to Xiu quickly.]

Meaning starting tomorrow, living one day would cost sixteen days of Lifespan.

The day after tomorrow would be thirty-two days, the day after that sixty-four days, then one hundred twenty-eight… the jellyfish couldn’t calculate further.

But Wen Chu knew clearly that doubling like this would result in a terrifying number.

Wen Chu wanted to argue with the system, but before he could speak, he saw Xiu silently picking a large bundle of seaweed and carefully wiping the black oil off his body.

“We’re back at the bottom. Your Lifespan…”

“Stopped dropping,” Wen Chu said quickly.

Afraid Xiu would show that sad expression again, he hurriedly said: “My Lifespan isn’t dropping anymore. Xiu, don’t be sad.”

Xiu lowered his eyes, discarding a piece of seaweed covered in black oil, and scoffed coldly: “I’m not sad.”

“Oh…”

So that expression wasn’t sadness.
Then what was it?
Why did his heart feel uncomfortable seeing it too?

Anyway, it’s good if it’s not sadness. Wen Chu obediently extended a tentacle into Xiu’s hand for wiping and sighed in relief: “It’s good you’re not sad.”

“If you were sad, I would be very sad too.”

The jellyfish didn’t understand complex rhetoric or deep meanings; his words were always straightforward and simple.
The simpler they were, the greater the impact on Xiu.

Xiu’s platinum long eyelashes trembled. He continued to wipe the oil off the jellyfish with his head down. A phrase “What do you know about sadness” was on his lips but couldn’t be spoken.

After these days together, he had long regarded Wen Chu as an independent individual with thoughts and emotions.

Although Wen Chu’s thinking was always weird and his understanding of emotions shallow, just like every newborn arriving for the first time, Wen Chu was understanding the world bit by bit in his own way.
He was even growing up quickly, trying hard to get close to him.

All words and thoughts stuck in his throat, leaving him unsure how to speak.

Xiu was silent for a while, then asked: “How much Lifespan do you have left?”

“Fifteen days eight hours,” Wen Chu lied.

He had to leave some margin for the eight-times speed drop.
The situation earlier was too critical for Xiu to count seconds, so he didn’t notice the discrepancy of a few dozen seconds and nodded to show he knew.

Back to square one overnight. The jellyfish’s first time out alone not only got him covered in oil but also shrunk him by several sizes.
Xiu thought he should be used to parting, but when parting was truly placed before him, he suddenly realized—he couldn’t accept the consequence of losing Wen Chu.

Whether it was the jellyfish’s disappearance or the ocean losing hope.
Wen Chu’s noisiness, his miraculous abilities, his whimsical and messy requests, his obedience and infuriating sincerity…

“Do you want to kiss for a while to replenish Lifespan?” Xiu asked.

Wen Chu didn’t agree immediately.
He looked down at his tentacles. Only a few were wiped clean; he had over a hundred tentacles.
Not to mention the umbrella cap. He was unprepared and even ingested a small amount of oil into his stomach sac. Now the whole jellyfish was black.

“Kiss later. I’m dirty,” Wen Chu said.

Xiu frowned in disapproval: “Your Lifespan is too low. I didn’t say you were dirty.”

Saying so, he tried to grab the jellyfish to kiss. Wen Chu dragged his sticky tentacles and struggled free, extending two clean tentacles to form an “X”.

“No. I think I’m dirty. Gasoline doesn’t taste good either. I won’t kiss.”

Xiu’s fair, slender hands were covered in oil, extremely dazzling to the eye. Wen Chu couldn’t bear getting black oil on Xiu’s face or even in his mouth.

Xiu was rendered speechless by Wen Chu’s firm refusal.
Wen Chu wasn’t this principled before?
But seeing the jellyfish shrunk by several times instantly, Xiu couldn’t say any scolding words.

He sighed, finally yielding to Wen Chu.

“Fine, no kissing. You use clean tentacles to touch me. Is this acceptable now?”

Touching was banned on the first day. Later Wen Chu only dared to sneak a touch occasionally. Thus, he was stunned for a few seconds before realizing what Xiu said.

“Okay!” Wen Chu agreed cheerfully, extending clean tentacles to pa-ji cover Xiu’s chest.

The jellyfish had no shame; the merfolk turned red from neck to ears.
Especially since Lifespan points required the tentacles to move once to add one hour. For a while, sticky pa-ji sounds continued on his chest.

Xiu tried hard to ignore these highly misleading sounds, concentrating on wiping Wen Chu’s remaining tentacles.

[Lifespan +1h]
[Lifespan +1h]
[Lifespan +1h]

…

Lifespan rose at a slow speed.

Wen Chu touched diligently. Every time a tentacle was cleaned, it quickly joined the great cause of earning Lifespan, almost wrapping Xiu’s entire chest with tentacles.
He was very careful to retract the stingers on his tentacles to prevent stinging the other.
But he really needed to touch too many times. Under the suction and continuous friction of tentacles, redness and swelling were inevitable.

Especially the highest points, obviously a circle larger, looking about to break skin. Every touch by a tentacle made them tremble and deepen in red.
Wen Chu almost suspected these places would be like Xiu’s scales, needing to release something to calm down.
So he paid a few more degrees of attention here.

Under Wen Chu’s unremitting efforts, when Xiu endured the sensation of his chest being tightly wrapped and sucked, curling his tail and forcing himself to wipe Wen Chu clean, Wen Chu’s Lifespan had reached twenty-four days.

The jellyfish finally became clean again.
Wen Chu swallowed a few mouthfuls of seawater, spitting out the last bit of oil in his stomach sac. Confirming he was clean, he rubbed against Xiu with relief.

“Xiu,” Wen Chu called softly. “I’m done. I’ll help you treat your chest.”

Xiu looked down at his swollen chest, fell silent for a moment, then still rejected: “Keep your Lifespan for yourself. You are too small now.”

Compared to the large jellyfish just now, he was truly too small.
Like all parents who felt their children weren’t tall or fat enough, Xiu looked at Wen Chu critically and commented: “Already not smart, now thin and tiny, looking pitiful.”

Wen Chu, who was actually terrifyingly large compared to normal jellyfish: …
Fine, Xiu had a point. Compared to before, he was indeed a bit small.

Just as Wen Chu was thinking of finding an excuse to beg Xiu to let him stick for a while, he saw the merfolk opposite lower his eyelids slightly.
Xiu smoothed his long hair, ensuring his ears were covered, before saying: “Wiped you clean. Don’t feel dirty now, right? Still want to kiss?”

A very stiff tone, issuing a kissing invitation to Wen Chu again.

Wen Chu swam up instantly.
“Kiss!”

He was about to pounce on Xiu, but before he did, Wen Chu smelled the pungent oil on himself.
Although the oil was wiped off, the residual smell couldn’t dissipate immediately.
Wen Chu slammed the brakes.

“Wait——No!”

Xiu was ready, but being rejected again, his gaze towards Wen Chu carried annoyance and embarrassment: “What are you dissatisfied with now?”
He was thin-skinned to begin with. Asking him to proactively invite a third time was challenging his psychological baseline.

Wen Chu let out a aggrieved ji: “I smell bad. Must taste bad.”
Kissing with Xiu meant not only him eating Xiu, but Xiu eating him too.

Xiu gritted his teeth: “I don’t mind…”

Wen Chu: “I mind.”

Xiu was completely defeated by this pretentious creature. All pity turned into annoyance and helplessness. He pushed Wen Chu away: “If you don’t want to kiss, then forget it.”

Wen Chu was pushed away blankly.
Before when he kissed Xiu, Xiu got angry. Now he didn’t kiss Xiu, Xiu still got angry.
Xiu was so hard to understand.

But he really needed to earn Lifespan points.
Wen Chu swam back: “We won’t kiss. Can we continue touching?”

Xiu kept a cold face until Wen Chu rubbed against him repeatedly like a spoiled child, then barely gave an “Mn.”

He looked down at his red nipples.
Just as he was wondering if continuing would break the skin, he suddenly felt a coolness under his waist and abdomen near his tail.

The jellyfish, taking advantage of being smaller with tentacles over a finger wide, let the fine, soft tentacles drill directly into his tail through the curled gaps.

“That place is going to break from touching,” Wen Chu stated a fact. “Can I touch your scales? Touching your scales down can add twenty-four hours of Lifespan.”

Xiu: “…”

He should have known as early as when Wen Chu refused the kiss that something worse was waiting for him.

The shrunk jellyfish repeated in a pitiful tone: “Can I?”

Xiu: “…Yes.”

Just touching his scales was ultimately serving him. There was no need to keep rejec… Hm?

Xiu shuddered violently: “Stop! You can’t put tentacles there!”

Answering him was Wen Chu’s confused voice: “Why? But there’s a hole here too.”

Xiu couldn’t speak anymore, afraid his voice would be overly shameful if he opened his mouth.

Wen Chu answered himself: “Oh, seems like it has to come out from here, or your scales won’t go down.”

“Then I’m pulling out.”

!

Xiu’s pupils lost focus for a moment.
It wasn’t a place meant to accommodate tentacles. Being invaded by a tentacle off guard, then having it withdraw suddenly, Xiu lost control and his scales softened instantly.

[Lifespan +36h]

Lifespan returned to twenty-five days. The jellyfish grew a size larger.

Wen Chu didn’t intend to let Xiu go. Tentacles continued to entangle Xiu’s scales. Before long, Xiu’s scales reacted again.

“I’ll help you solve it one more time,” Wen Chu’s tone was soft and harmless.

Xiu opened his mouth, wanting to bite something under the jellyfish’s excessive actions, but finally could only bite his own lower lip.

Truly… crazy.
He was crazy too, to agree to Wen Chu’s request.

Meanwhile, because Wen Chu grew a size larger and couldn’t use tentacles opportunistically anymore, he touched Xiu’s scales properly and explained seriously to the system.

[See, just twice won’t make Xiu die of O-exhaustion.]
[Xiu is very strong and powerful.]