Chapter 2

Lance lay on the sea anemone for quite a while, not hearing any sounds from outside.

After a moment, he couldn’t help but take a deep breath and slowly poked his body out from the sea anemone.

Lance took a deep breath, and underwater, it turned into a gulp of seawater. The salty, bitter, and fishy taste flooded his senses all at once.

Lance was quite disgusted; he couldn’t help but blow out several bubbles to forget that strange feeling.

Outside, there were no giant tentacles, and the circle formed by the coral bones was empty except for him—not even a small fish that had wandered in.

Lance flicked his tail and swam out with somewhat clumsy movements.

He felt hungry and wanted to eat something, but after looking around, Lance found that it was particularly clean here. Besides the white sand beneath his feet, there was no food at all.

Instinct drove Lance to search for food, but he was still a bit shaken—

Lance swam to the edge of the coral bone, pressed his five fingers against it, and tried to see the surroundings through the gaps.

Then, through the gaps, he saw the abyss…

The abyss, this name, whether in mythological stories or in real scientific discussions, contained the chill of death, dark and gloomy.

Powerful hydraulic pressure oppressed all living creatures, and the rocks on the seabed were covered with clay that wrapped various corpses, lifeless and dreary.

It was too quiet and empty here.

So, that giant octopus lived in the deep sea?

Lance couldn’t help but frown.

After thinking for a while, Lance decided he wanted to escape!

So, without hesitation, Lance tried to pry at the coral bone, hoping to find a passage through the gaps that would let him out.

The sharp nails of the mermaid played a significant role; the hard coral bone broke easily under the mermaid’s nails, like a cookie, with a “crack” sound, which greatly encouraged Lance.

However, imagination was rich, while reality was stark.

The pitch-black seabed had made Lance lose track of time; he overestimated his own strength and underestimated the intelligence of the “tentacles.”

Lance discovered that the further he went out, the harder and larger the coral bones became. In the end, he touched a perfect white bone that he couldn’t move at all, let alone find a gap.

Was it really necessary?

Seeing that “prison break” was fruitless, Lance angrily began to scratch the wall, really scratching the wall, making a “grating” and piercing sound.

What giant octopus, what food reserves, he didn’t care about any of it; he was almost starving to death.

While cursing the giant octopus and scratching the wall, Lance suddenly felt something tugging at his tail.

Lance immediately stopped moving.

He wasn’t stupid; he naturally knew what was pulling at his tail.

What else was here besides that tentacle?

In a moment of impulse, Lance darkened his face and hugged the nearby coral bone. He wanted to see what the octopus outside would do if he didn’t come out.

The “octopus” outside indeed couldn’t do anything to him.

The huge tentacle tugged at Lance a few times but couldn’t pull him out; it was forced to let go of his tail and retreated.

Feeling the pulling force on his tail disappear, Lance sneered and coiled his tail up.

Even if he starved to death, he wouldn’t go out.

Then, the next second, Lance felt something gently tapping on his shoulder.

In an instant, Lance felt a chill run down his spine.

The hole here was so small; how did the tentacle from outside get in?

When Lance turned around, he saw a tiny tentacle that had somehow come in from behind him and was resting on his shoulder.

At that moment, Lance wanted to scream.

“Boom!”

At the same time, the huge coral bone wall that had been blocking Lance’s view was pulled open by something, and then a tentacle came in from the front.

Lance was stunned, staring blankly at the tentacle in front of him.

The tentacle flicked its tiny end, as if comforting a mischievous child, and nudged Lance’s forehead.

Feeling the gentle pressure on his forehead, Lance tightly hugged the nearby coral bone, flicked his tail, and instinctively let out a faint sound.

Then, the huge tentacle in front of him changed direction and, right in front of Lance, broke the coral bone he was holding, pushing both the coral fragments and Lance out.

Lance: “……”

Lance, who was pushed out, looked completely bewildered. He looked down at the white coral bone he was holding, speechless.

When the tentacle caught Lance trying to “escape,” it wasn’t angry at all. Several tentacles dropped down from above the coral bone and began to work:

One wrapped around Lance’s waist and put him back inside the sea anemone, while another took away the coral fragments Lance was holding.

After the white coral fragments were taken away, Lance let out an anxious hiss;

The tentacle, after discarding the bone, heard the hiss and quickly turned back, as if to comfort him, and somehow produced a fist-sized pearl, stuffing it into Lance’s arms.

Lance: “……”

The remaining tentacles busily repaired the hole Lance had dug out. They didn’t know where they got the rocks from, but they used large stones to restore the hole Lance had made.

Lance sat in the sea anemone, watching this scene. He put down the pearl in his arms and couldn’t help but swim down from the sea anemone.

He raised his head and glared at the tentacle, hissing in dissatisfaction.

The huge, rough tentacle extended upward. After staring at the tentacle for a while, Lance followed the direction of the tentacle and slowly looked up, only to see that the tentacle had come in from outside the coral bone.

He couldn’t see the owner of the tentacle, or rather, the owner of the tentacle was so large that it exceeded Lance’s line of sight.

Perhaps the little fish’s dazed appearance was too cute; the giant tentacle paused for a moment while retracting, lifted its tiny end, and gently patted Lance’s head.

Feeling the gentle pat on his head, Lance snapped back to reality and swam away like a flash, diving into the giant sea anemone, trying to hide his body among the drifting tentacles.

After Lance escaped into the sea anemone, the tentacle still hadn’t left. It seemed a bit reluctant, floating above the sea anemone, wanting to reach down and touch Lance, but afraid of making him angry.

Lance hid inside the sea anemone, looking up at the tentacle above, unable to help but swallow hard.

He realized that the tentacle outside, or more accurately, the “owner,” seemed to be treating him like a pet—

He had even tried to escape, yet the “owner” wasn’t angry but wanted to pet him.

This “humble” appearance was quite similar to some people in modern society who keep cats.

Moreover, the tiny tentacle that kept shaking above the sea anemone really made him itch to take a bite.

In the dynamic vision of the mermaid, the tentacle’s movements weren’t particularly fast; it was more like it was teasing him, wanting Lance to come out of the sea anemone.

So now the question was, should he go out?

“Gurgle.”

A sound of emptiness came from his stomach, and the feeling of hunger surged up, making Lance unable to help but bare his teeth.

He was really hungry.

The tentacles of the sea anemone were orange, and under the bright orange light, the tentacles swaying above the sea anemone seemed to change in Lance’s eyes—

The outer layer of orange light looked like a golden-brown color after being roasted, with a layer of cumin powder on top… it was squid legs!

Lance leaped out of the sea anemone, grabbed the tentacle, and viciously bit off the tiny end of it. Then he clutched the little tail in his mouth and swiftly dove back into the sea anemone.

The tentacle that had been shaking and teasing Lance suddenly froze.

Its end was torn open, and a faint purple liquid oozed from the wound, eventually disappearing into the seawater.

After Lance squatted back into the sea anemone, he felt the little tail in his mouth. When he realized that the little tail was still twitching, he was so scared that he spat it out with a “pfft.”

The little tail, which Lance found extremely disgusting, twitched and floated out from the sea anemone.

Then, right in front of its owner, the little tail continued to float and twitch in the seawater, swaying and drifting with the current, stubbornly catching Lance’s attention.

The entire coral bone was eerily quiet.

Lance hid inside the sea anemone, secretly observing the tentacle outside through the gaps in the sea anemone’s tentacles.

The tentacle that had been bitten seemed to still be in shock from Lance’s sudden ferocity; it remained stiff for a while before slowly retracting from the coral bone.

Then, another slightly smaller tentacle came in, picked up the little tail that was still twitching in defiance, and took it away.

After both tentacles left, Lance dared to come out from the sea anemone. He did his best to look up, feeling a bit anxious.

His earlier action could be considered an offense in some ways.

In the real world, that action would be seen as harming the “owner”;

Now, what Lance was particularly afraid of was that the tentacle would do something to him in retaliation.

That tentacle was agile and flexible, with both thick and thin tentacles. He was very afraid that at any moment, that tentacle would take advantage of his inattention and harm him.

If the tentacle really wanted to hurt him, he wouldn’t even be able to dodge.

Lance swam anxiously around the coral bone, thinking of other ways to “escape.”

“Thud.”

A light sound suddenly came from above Lance.

Lance was taken aback and immediately darted into the sea anemone, peeking through the gaps in the sea anemone’s tentacles to see what was happening.

When the huge figure above landed, Lance couldn’t help but twitch his mouth—

A one-meter-long severed tentacle was thrown down.

That tentacle had clearly been processed; the rough outer skin had been scraped off, leaving only the tender white flesh inside.

Now, this processed meat tentacle landed on the sandy seabed not far from the sea anemone.

Lance remained silent for a moment. He turned his body, lay on the sea anemone, and forced himself to forget about the meat tentacle outside.

Was the octopus outside stupid?

Just because he bit off the tentacle’s tail didn’t mean he wanted to eat its tentacle.