Chapter 5: Tentacles Making a Heart

Xiu grabbed the jellyfish’s tentacles, preventing it from drilling into his mouth again, and at the same time looked down.

When he saw his nipple, restored to its original state, he was stunned.

“What did you do?”

“I gave you my lifespan.” Wen Chu, with his tentacles caught, couldn’t swim away, so he simply went limp and lay in Xiu’s palm again.

“Lifespan?” Xiu frowned, repeating the unfamiliar term. He inferred its meaning from the words. “Your lifespan?”

“Mmm-hmm,” Wen Chu nodded. “I only have five days, four hours, and thirty-two minutes left. Can you kiss me again?”

One more kiss, and he would have five days and twelve hours.

Xiu was still skeptical, but after hearing the second half of Wen Chu’s sentence, he no longer believed him at all. “You only have five days to live, and you’re still thinking about nonsensical things at a time like this?”

“It’s not nonsensical,” Wen Chu said, aggrieved. “I have to kiss you, find food, and find clean water. That’s the only way I can become a big jellyfish and increase my lifespan.”

“I can give you half of my lifespan in the future to heal your injuries. I’ll die if I leave you. Can you take me to the Arctic?”

“I also want to be your lover and kiss you all the time.”

…Why does this jellyfish speak in such a jumbled way?

Xiu looked at the jellyfish in his palm, which was obviously a size smaller, and then at his own chest.

In any case, the wound on his chest had healed after the jellyfish touched it. Wen Chu must have some special ability.

As for his talk of “lifespan” and “kissing”…

Xiu remained skeptical. “How do you know your specific remaining lifespan?” he asked, getting straight to the point with his thoughtful question.

Wen Chu said matter-of-factly, “It’s the countdown displayed next to me. Right here next to me.”

Xiu looked at the empty seawater around Wen Chu, his suspicion about the truth of Wen Chu’s words growing stronger.

“If you absolutely must kiss me to increase your lifespan…” Xiu said thoughtfully, then asked pointedly, “Then how did you spend the eighteen years before you met me?”

Wen Chu was about to say that he was human before and had just turned into a jellyfish, but when he opened his mouth, he found he couldn’t speak.

[Warning: Please do not reveal information outside of this plane to the plane’s NPCs.]

Alright, he wasn’t allowed to say.

Wen Chu wilted. “I can’t say that.”

Xiu: …

So he just couldn’t make it up.

Wen Chu’s words sounded absurd at first, and upon closer inspection, they were full of holes.

He now strongly suspected that the jellyfish was not only dumb and sickly, but also had a bit of a delusional disorder.

But it was a fact that Wen Chu had healed the wound on his body. Wen Chu did indeed have a “healing-like” ability, and he was indeed a size smaller.

The jellyfish that he couldn’t hold in one hand before was now back to being palm-sized.

Seeing Xiu’s silence, Wen Chu became anxious. “If you don’t believe me, you can kiss me again. I can get bigger again.”

Xiu looked at him coldly. “You want to kiss again?”

“I can’t?” Wen Chu asked, puzzled.

“You can’t,” Xiu refused sternly.

“Oh…” Wen Chu lay in Xiu’s palm.

Just now, Xiu had used this very hand to feed him green algae with a seashell spoon.

Although Xiu was fierce, he had never really hurt him, so Wen Chu had never been afraid of him.

He could clearly feel that Xiu had no ill intentions towards him, and could even be said to be giving in step by step.

Xiu probably didn’t want to see him die.

Thinking this, Wen Chu said slowly, “Then I’ll just have to die in five days.”

Xiu: …

Wen Chu: “I really will die. I’ll get smaller and smaller, and then disappear.”

Xiu impatiently pinched his bell. “Stop acting pitiful with me.”

The system had also said he was acting pitiful.

Wen Chu was even more confused. “What exactly is acting pitiful?”

“Are you the ‘Ten Thousand Whys’?” Xiu flicked his fish tail irritably.

He looked down, glanced at the small, palm-sized jellyfish, pursed his lips, and said in a not-so-good tone, “Go ahead and kiss.”

If Wen Chu didn’t get bigger after the kiss, he would slice this lying jellyfish into a cold-dressed jellyfish salad.

Wen Chu was stunned for a moment before realizing that Xiu had agreed. He let out a small cheer, then quickly swam up from Xiu’s palm, flew to Xiu’s lips, and touched his closed lips.

Xiu didn’t open his mouth immediately. He looked around, found a patch of reef, and took the sticky Wen Chu to hide among the rocks.

…He had the strange illusion of having a tryst out in the open.

“Alright, you mmmph—”

Almost the instant Xiu opened his mouth, Wen Chu eagerly drilled in.

First were the hundreds of thin, soft tentacles. Upon touching the heat of Xiu’s mouth again, Wen Chu shivered and couldn’t help but bury himself deeper.

Xiu made a muffled sound. Hearing it, Wen Chu felt both nervous and wanted to drill in further.

He had just learned how to eat. In the end, in his nervous confusion, he forgot how to control his tentacles and instead began to eat the tip of Xiu’s tongue.

The moment he started eating, the siren twitched violently. He looked like he wanted to pull him out, but in the end, his hand gripped the rock tightly.

[Lifespan +12h]

How much did it add??

Wen Chu looked at the pop-up screen, almost doubting his eyes.

He suddenly grew a whole size larger, almost filling every crevice in Xiu’s mouth. The other’s throat began to contract, a gag reflex from being invaded too much.

Wen Chu tried to pull back a little, but if he pulled back, he wouldn’t be able to eat the tip of Xiu’s tongue. So he sent out some tentacles, wrapping them around Xiu’s tongue layer by layer like he was hunting, and finally pulled it towards his mouth.

He ate Xiu very seriously.

[Lifespan +12h]
[Lifespan +12h]
[Lifespan +12h]
…

The jellyfish ate his tongue tip urgently and quickly, growing rapidly. Xiu’s mouth could no longer contain his tentacles. Wen Chu had to move a large portion of his tentacles out, wrapping them tightly around Xiu’s neck, all the way to behind Xiu’s ears.

He had become a jellyfish about the size of Xiu’s head.

The slippery bell of the jellyfish rubbed back and forth on his face. Xiu almost felt like he was going to be suffocated by being deep-throated.

At first, he was worried about hurting the jellyfish, so even though he couldn’t help but swing his tail, he held onto the rock wall tightly.

But when he had crushed the rock wall into dust and the jellyfish was wrapped around his entire head, Xiu finally realized something was wrong.

—If he continued to indulge him like this, he might even be eaten whole by the infinitely growing jellyfish.

After realizing this danger, Xiu quickly reached out. This time, he used thirty percent of his strength to pull the jellyfish that was plastered all over his face off.

Wen Chu was working hard to earn lifespan when he was suddenly pulled off. He looked at the silver thread connecting the tip of his tentacle to Xiu’s mouth and asked carefully, “Can I kiss again?”

Not only did it increase his lifespan, but Xiu’s mouth was so comfortable, and Xiu’s voice was so nice to listen to.

He liked kissing Xiu.

Xiu’s chest heaved slightly. His face was covered with red marks left by the jellyfish’s tentacles, and his neck was the hardest-hit area. His golden hair was messy, and he looked particularly disheveled.

“No.” Xiu’s voice, which had just recovered a little, was hoarse again. He curled his fish tail uncomfortably. “You need to know when to stop.”

“What do you want me to give you?” Wen Chu asked, puzzled.

Xiu gritted his teeth. “I’m telling you to stop. Don’t take a mile when I give you an inch.”

Xiu really wanted to punch this stupid jellyfish. But then he remembered that he had agreed to all of this, so he actually had no reason to strike.

Wen Chu was still cheerfully sharing his discovery. “I just found out that if I eat you while we kiss, I can gain a lot of lifespan. I suddenly got so big.”

“Eating green algae before didn’t increase my lifespan. Can I eat you in the future?”

“No,” Xiu said coldly, reaching out to block the jellyfish that was trying to stick to his face again.

Blocked by him, the jellyfish took the opportunity to start rubbing against his palm.

Just like a little puppy.

Thinking this, Xiu lifted the jellyfish that had been rubbing against him.

Unlike the light little ball he had first met, lifting Wen Chu now clearly required more effort. Xiu couldn’t help but ask, “What’s the biggest you can grow?”

This was clearly not the size of a normal jellyfish.

Wen Chu repeated the system’s words: “When I’ve saved up my lifespan to ninety-nine years, my tentacles can be as thick as an arm.”

Xiu’s expression went blank for a moment.

To be fair, whether it was the palm-sized Wen Chu from before or the slightly larger Wen Chu now, neither was particularly big to him. He just looked like a soft, harmless little pet.

But if he grew to the size Wen Chu described… that would be truly terrifying.

Even the cutest thing probably wouldn’t be cute anymore if it became a behemoth.

Yet Wen Chu was still happily imagining, “When I become a big jellyfish, I can live for a very long time. Can you be my lover then? I can find food for you, I can swim with you, and I can also…”

The words “be resurrected and become human” were censored by the system.

But it wasn’t a big problem. The intended meaning was conveyed. Wen Chu was held even further away by Xiu.

“No. You can’t grow that big,” Xiu said expressionlessly.

His mind was a bit chaotic now. Whether it was the healing ability or the infinitely growing jellyfish, Wen Chu had clearly exceeded his scope of understanding. Therefore, Xiu’s speaking speed also slowed down.

“I can take you with me,” he said, choosing his words carefully. “But I’m very busy. You have to be good. Don’t touch me randomly anymore. Only then can I let you kiss.”

Wen Chu was special. Although he didn’t know how much of what the other said was believable, the healing ability and the growth were real. For whatever reason, he couldn’t just let Wen Chu go like this.

But he also couldn’t raise Wen Chu to be too big. If he grew to a size he couldn’t control…

Xiu curled his tail uncomfortably again.

From the beginning, his fish tail had been in a curled state. To hide the unnaturalness under his scales, he hadn’t changed his position for a long time.

Right now, it was just kissing.

If Wen Chu got too big and started exploring from his upper body to his lower body, Xiu was very worried that more unpleasant things would happen.

This was a jellyfish.

No matter what, being this intimate with a jellyfish was a bit too much.

Xiu pursed his lips and, as if emphasizing to himself or to Wen Chu, said, “But we can’t possibly be in a lover’s relationship. Understand?”

“Understood.”

They couldn’t be lovers now, but if he spent more time with Xiu as he said, they could be later.

Wen Chu’s logic was very smooth, and therefore he agreed extremely readily.

Seeing Wen Chu agree, Xiu breathed a sigh of relief and started to head back, carrying the jellyfish.

Having just fainted once, Wen Chu didn’t dare to forget his mission this time. He looked up at the golden-haired siren and asked, “Then can you take me to the Arctic? This is my wish.”

“We’ll see,” Xiu averted his gaze. “We’ve delayed long enough. We should go back. My priority now is to find the parrotfish.”

This time it wasn’t a clear refusal, but a “we’ll see,” which meant Xiu was already considering it.

Wen Chu was so happy he was about to bubble over.

As expected, Xiu was only angry before because he had hurt him and because he was too useless. Now that he had healed Xiu and was useful to him, Xiu wouldn’t abandon him.

Xiu was a great person.

No, a great fish.

Wen Chu happily followed Xiu back to find the narwhal. He suddenly remembered what the narwhal had said at the beginning and asked, “By the way, what is Atlantis?”

Xiu paused again, his voice still cold. “You’d better shut up and ask fewer annoying questions.”

“Oh…” Wen Chu shut his mouth and secretly made a mental note of it.

Xiu found him annoying, so he would find a chance to ask the narwhal.

Being suddenly reminded of “Atlantis” by Wen Chu, the earlier restlessness subsided. Xiu continued to swim back, carrying the silly little jellyfish.

Even with his mouth shut, Wen Chu wasn’t idle. His tentacles wriggled for a long time, fiddling with something.

Just as Xiu’s patience was running out and he was about to warn Wen Chu to behave, he heard the jellyfish’s soft call, “Xiu.”

This was the first time Wen Chu had called his name. Xiu paused, then gave a faint “mm.”

His coldness did not dampen Wen Chu’s enthusiasm. Wen Chu said, “Look at me, look at me.”

Xiu lowered his gaze.

He saw the jellyfish clumsily using two tentacles to form the shape of a heart.

“This is a heart,” Wen Chu explained. “It’s on the greeting cards humans give to their lovers.”

“I won’t talk anymore. I’ll make a heart for you. I love you~”

__

Author’s Note:

Jellyfish making a heart.