Chapter 13: System Mama, Male, Female, Wife

Wen Chu didn’t know what a “blooming crispy sausage” was, but his intuition told him it definitely wasn’t a good description.

His lifespan on the panel was dropping at a rapid rate, and this was no time to argue about whether he was a crispy sausage. Wen Chu pushed himself forward with his tentacles.

He had intended to quickly escape this school of fish, but on second thought, he swiftly wrapped his tentacles around the lead fish, who hadn’t had time to escape.

It was also the most brightly colored fish in the school.

The panicked school of fish instantly froze.

Wen Chu knew he had caught the right one. He held the fish in his tentacles and threatened with a cold expression, “None of you are to tell Xiu what just happened, or I’ll kill her.”

Xiu liked good-looking things.

He absolutely could not let Xiu see him in his current state.

“Okay, okay.”
The other fish were extremely nervous, agreeing in a jumble of voices.
“We won’t tell Lord Siren.”
“Wife! Don’t grab her, grab me!!”
“Please don’t hurt her! Our leader only just became female not long ago.”

Wen Chu’s expression went blank for a moment.

“Huh…? Became female?”

Is that something you can just change?

His understanding of gender was still stuck on the simple concept of male and female. A male turning into a female was a bit too difficult for a jellyfish to comprehend.

But that wasn’t the point. Wen Chu, still holding his fish hostage, swam nonstop in the direction Xiu had last disappeared.

Enlarged countless times and propelled by his massive tentacles, Wen Chu moved quickly. Yet, these small fish, flapping their tails for dear life, miraculously managed to keep up with him.

One fish wailed beside him, “Yes, that’s our leader. You can’t hurt her.”

Another fish cried particularly pitifully, “Otherwise, I’ll be the next female! I’ll protect your wife to the death!”

Wen Chu: “…Wait.”

He looked at the wailing fish. Since fish don’t have tear ducts, it was just crying dryly, but its voice sounded distinctly male.

“Aren’t you male?” Wen Chu was completely dizzy. “How can you become female?”

Fish should be divided into male and female. Xiu had told him before that only females could be mothers.

The fish he pointed at replied matter-of-factly, “That’s right. When there are no females, a male will become female.”

Wen Chu: ?

He was about to ask more when, at that moment, a golden figure suddenly appeared before him.

It was Xiu.

In an instant, Wen Chu forgot all about males, females, and wives. He quickly had the system switch him back to jellyfish form.

In his jellyfish form, he wasn’t much bigger than these fish. Wen Chu used a third of his tentacles to keep a death grip on his fish hostage, causing him to lose his balance and scramble clumsily towards Xiu.

Xiu had clearly noticed him too. After pausing for half a second, he rushed towards Wen Chu, his tail practically shattering the water’s surface.

He looked murderous. Wen Chu wondered if his disappearance had made Xiu even angrier.

Wen Chu shrank his bell and swam faster, still clutching the hostage.

So what if he’s angrier? The worst that can happen is a scolding from Xiu. I’m not going to be separated from him.

The distance between them was so great that Wen Chu couldn’t see the trace of joy and relief on Xiu’s face.

The merman looked at the jellyfish, who was surrounded by clownfish, and the heart that had been suspended in mid-air since Wen Chu’s disappearance finally settled.

He clenched his fists to keep his fingers from trembling so obviously.

Thank goodness, Wen Chu is alive.

He had almost thought he’d really lost Wen Chu.

---

As the system predicted, Xiu had only wanted to teach the untrustworthy jellyfish a light lesson. Although he acted like he was shaking Wen Chu off, he had been paying close attention to the currents behind him.

The very second Wen Chu’s presence vanished, Xiu stopped.

At first, he thought Wen Chu just couldn’t keep up. But after waiting for half a minute and seeing no sign of the jellyfish, he quickly realized something was wrong.

Wen Chu was lost.

Without any hesitation, Xiu immediately turned back to search.

But as far as the eye could see, there was only the boundless, deep blue sea and jagged reefs.

The ocean was too vast, and there were too many places a jellyfish could hide. Even retracing his steps and searching inch by inch was a massive undertaking.

Moreover, Wen Chu was so weak and so clumsy. Just a few days ago, he didn’t even know how to eat, let alone tell east from west. He might have just taken a wrong turn along the way.

Or maybe he had fainted from hunger, or been injured by a falling rock, or there had been a deep-sea predator that he hadn’t noticed.

There were just too many things that could harm a jellyfish.

Lost in the vast ocean, Wen Chu’s chances of survival were almost nil.

An immense panic washed over Xiu. For the first time, he felt the emotion of “regret.”

He regretted giving the stupid jellyfish the cold shoulder for three days.

He regretted his decision to bring Wen Chu out this morning.

He regretted, even more, just leaving Wen Chu behind like that.

The search area was too large. Xiu could only retrace his path first, hoping he could find Wen Chu along the original route.

The shell necklace on his chest was tossed up by the current as he moved, then fell back down. Xiu glanced down at the crudely made necklace.

The image of the little jellyfish clumsily making a heart shape for him appeared before his eyes again.

Xiu remembered his own cold scoff at the time.

He thought he wouldn’t care about this jellyfish who babbled about “lovers” without even understanding what love was.

After coldly witnessing so much life and death, he should have long been devoid of any excess emotional fluctuations.

But the truth was, he cared a lot. So much so that now, recalling that moment, Xiu could still perfectly remember the jellyfish’s cheerful voice and its disappointment after being rejected.

Why did I have to treat Wen Chu like that?

He was just a jellyfish, a little jellyfish who was who-knows-how-many-years younger than him, a jellyfish who didn’t even know what a mother was.

He could have been more patient.

With this thought, Xiu crossed another small ridge.

Just then, a translucent jellyfish, clutching a clownfish, came tumbling towards him, chaotically and miserably, looking just like the first time they met.

“Xiu!!” Wen Chu’s voice was tinged with tears.

Afraid that Xiu would be angry with him, he simply crashed straight into Xiu’s embrace, hugging his chest and preemptively tattling with a wronged tone.

“A fish was bullying me! Don’t leave me behind again. I almost couldn’t find you by myself.”

“What happened? Who bullied you?”

Xiu hastily caught Wen Chu, too concerned at that moment to care if Wen Chu’s actions were too forward. He looked the jellyfish up and down, and only after confirming Wen Chu was fine did he turn his gaze to the clownfish held by Wen Chu.

The fish had already been spun into a daze by Wen Chu.

The jellyfish’s swimming skills were so terrible that it was the first time in her life she’d been seasick.

Wen Chu clearly noticed this too. He guiltily released his tentacles and continued to cling tightly to the hard-won Xiu. “It was them! They bullied me! They tried to chase me away, and I almost got lost.”

This wasn’t the first time Wen Chu had been chased by fish. Although Xiu was puzzled, he didn’t really suspect this was another one of Wen Chu’s pitiful acts. His clear blue eyes swept over the clownfish school that had caught up, a chill already creeping into them.

“Oh? I wasn’t aware that jellyfish were on the clownfish menu.”

The clownfish school: …

The system, who had witnessed Wen Chu’s entire face-changing act: …

Wen Chu shivered and pressed closer to Xiu’s chest.

Sob, sob, I’m really pitiful this time. I need a hug from Xiu to feel better.

The clownfish school hurriedly caught their dizzy leader. The fish who had wailed the loudest earlier cautiously swam out, and under Xiu’s glare, said tremblingly, “Lord Siren, we can explain… there’s been a misunderstanding.”

Xiu sneered. “Fine. Explain. I’m listening.”

The clownfish, supporting their leader, said carefully, “Can we leave this area first? Lord Siren, the nuclear power plant is just ten kilometers ahead. The water pollution will get progressively worse and might cause…”

The clownfish looked at the soft jellyfish clinging to the Siren’s chest and, against its conscience, said, “…irreversible damage to this little jellyfish.”

Nuclear power plant? Nuclear wastewater? Is that the thing Xiu mentioned before?

Unlike Wen Chu’s confusion, Xiu’s expression suddenly became grave.

Before the clownfish could speak again, he shielded the still-oblivious jellyfish in his arms and swam rapidly in the opposite direction.

At the same time, the system panel popped up in front of Wen Chu again.

【Warning: Due to long-term exposure to polluted water and re-contact with heavily polluted water, your lifespan is about to drop rapidly.】

And the system’s lazy voice: [I told you to listen to what they had to say. Wouldn’t it have been better to be obediently stopped by that school of clownfish and wait for Xiu to find you?]

[You saw him yourself, Xiu was coming back for you.]

[Now look. You wasted half an hour of life turning into a human, and in a moment, your lifespan is going to plummet again. How many times can the little lifespan you’ve scraped together by acting cute and coquettish afford this kind of extravagance?]

Wen Chu said earnestly: [No, this isn’t about lifespan. I was the one who got lost, and I was the one who made Xiu angry. I should be the one to find him. I can’t cause him any more trouble.]

What kind of person just waits around? He was going to be Xiu’s lover. He had to take the initiative.

The system was silent for a moment. When it spoke again, its previous detached tone was gone, replaced by a hint of helplessness: […Sometimes I can’t tell if you’re genuinely obedient or just pretending to be.]

Pretending to be obedient?

Wen Chu repeated the system’s words in his mind, learning a new term after “playing pitiful.”

Before he could ask, the system cut him off: [Don’t ask me what ‘pretending to be obedient’ is.]

Wen Chu: [Oh…]

He looked at the system panel.

The panel displaying his lifespan had turned red and was dropping at an alarming rate. In a blink of an eye, it had already fallen to twenty days.

If it dropped below twenty days, he would shrink again.

It was the system that, seeing him stare at the panel without speaking, couldn’t help but ask: [Regretting it now?]

Wen Chu said slowly: [No, I was just thinking, shrinking again isn’t so bad. That way, I can perch on Xiu’s shoulder again.]

He was a bit too big now and couldn’t even sit securely on Xiu’s shoulder.

System: […Are you even going to save up your lifespan anymore?]

Wen Chu suddenly remembered: [Oh, right. I also promised to help Xiu revive the ocean.]

System: […]

In the human world, Wen Chu would definitely be classified as “love-brained.”

Yet this jellyfish had no concept of romance whatsoever. His tone was matter-of-fact, as if he saw nothing wrong with his actions.

The system sighed: [Say something nice, and I might consider letting you into the system space. Your lifespan freezes in there.]

Wen Chu was happy: [Really? Thank you.]

He didn’t immediately beg the system. Instead, he released his claws from Xiu’s chest and swam to his shoulder.

Wen Chu struggled to hang half his body on Xiu’s shoulder, swaying precariously.

He leaned close to Xiu’s ear and said softly, “Xiu, I might have to sleep for a bit. Don’t worry, just wake me up when we get to a safe place.”

Xiu’s clear blue pupils widened slightly as he looked at the limp jellyfish draped over his shoulder.

“Wait, Wen Chu, don’t sleep yet—”

But he was a step too late.

After speaking to Xiu, Wen Chu brought two tentacles together and said to the system panel: [Let me into the system space. Please, Mama.]

System: [???]

His vision gradually went dark, accompanied by the system’s shocked and annoyed voice: [Who taught you to use such a ridiculous form of address?]

Was it the wrong thing to call it?

The clownfish said males could become females. Xiu said a “mama” is the fish that gave birth to him. He became a jellyfish because of the system. Couldn’t he call the system “Mama”?

Wen Chu completely lost consciousness.

At the same time, the jellyfish on the golden-haired merman’s shoulder finally lost all its strength.

He had only been barely hanging onto Xiu’s shoulder. Now, he lost his balance and, like a withered flower, floated gently down.

Xiu reached out to catch Wen Chu, barely able to control the trembling in his wrist.

Under the astonished gazes of the clownfish, the golden-haired god gathered the jellyfish with an almost gentle motion, holding the translucent creature in his arms.

A huge wave of emotion surged in those normally calm, clear blue eyes.

He carefully stroked the jellyfish’s bell.

There was no life fluctuation at his fingertips, not even the faintest pulse. It was exactly the same as the last time Wen Chu had fallen unconscious.

He had only been lost for a short while, and the previously lively jellyfish was once again silent.

…It’s okay. He must just be unconscious.

Wen Chu had said it himself. He just wanted to sleep for a while.

He would take him to a safe place and wait for him to wake up.

---

Author’s Note:
The clownfish whose brother is his wife.
The system who became a mom.
The jellyfish who turns into a puppy in pursuit of love.
The merman in a tragic drama.
— “Everyone Plays Their Own Part in this Underwater World”