Chapter 3

Lance took a nap.

He didn’t know if it was because he had just “been born,” but besides feeling hungry, Lance was also particularly sleepy.

Thinking about it, Lance felt like a little pitiful creature.

No one was feeding him, no one was taking care of him, and the “octopus” above him was just watching him.

And who knows, that “octopus” might even see him as a reserve food supply.

Lance felt a bit anxious, to the point that in his dreams, he was escaping from prison and regretting not having watched the American drama “Prison Break” properly.

After waking up, Lance secretly poked his head out from the sea anemone and looked around—

That peeled meat tentacle was still lying there, and there were no other tentacles around. It seemed like Lance was the only one inside the coral bone.

Lance let out a sigh of relief, swam out from the sea anemone, and swam over to that meat tentacle. He then seriously crawled around it once.

Don’t question why Lance was crawling; the reason was simple—he still couldn’t swim.

This chunk of meat tentacle was about a meter long, but it was also about a meter high, and Lance suddenly thought of a plan.

In “The Shawshank Redemption,” the protagonist used a poster to cover a wall and then dug a tunnel behind it.

So he could do that too!

With that thought, Lance pushed the meat tentacle with all his might, rolling it to the edge of the coral bone. Then he found a position and seriously analyzed whether the “octopus” would notice his little movements.

As it turned out, the “octopus” wasn’t monitoring Lance all the time; as long as Lance didn’t make a big noise, the “octopus” wouldn’t take action.

Out of caution, Lance swam around the coral bone once, confirming that he didn’t see the “octopus” nearby before he went back, hiding behind the meat tentacle and scratching the coral bone with a “crunch crunch.”

Since he had gotten too into it last time and didn’t notice that the “octopus” had returned, this time he learned his lesson. After digging for a while, Lance would pop out to check if the “octopus” was around. Not seeing it, he would go back and continue his escape plan.

At the same time, Lance kept in mind some of the protagonist’s actions from “The Shawshank Redemption.” Every time he dug out some bone powder and broke off pieces of coral bone, he would evenly scatter them around to avoid leaving any traces.

“Gurgle.”

His stomach started to rumble again.

After going back and forth a few times, Lance was basically out of strength. He had no choice but to crawl out from the little hole he had dug and then block it with the meat tentacle.

After doing all this, Lance was so tired that he just lay down on the meat tentacle.

So tired, so hungry.

From the time he “was born” until now, Lance hadn’t eaten anything.

Without any energy intake, Lance was weak and fragile; he would fall over with just a touch.

Lance lay on that peeled meat tentacle for a while, and finally sniffed the smell. He found that this meat tentacle… had a soft, fresh texture, without the bloody smell he had imagined.

After holding back for a long time, Lance couldn’t resist anymore and bit into it.

Then, Lance’s eyes sparkled.

The texture of this meat tentacle was very similar to takoyaki, bouncy and not sticky at all, and with one bite, it was all meat, making it particularly satisfying to eat.

Without hesitation, Lance took a second bite, and while chewing, he happily wagged his tail.

But when he was about to take a third bite, Lance stopped.

He stared at the meat tentacle for a long time, and in the end, he had no choice but to nibble a little on the other edge.

Hmm, what if he finished it and the meat tentacle became smaller?

While feeling worried, Lance thought about how to eat it without changing the size of the meat tentacle while still filling his belly.

…

After eating and drinking enough, Lance lay on the sandy sea floor, looking up at the deep blue ocean, his thoughts drifting far away.

The ocean is divided into four layers based on the intensity of sunlight: the illuminated layer, the dim light layer, the deep sea layer, and the abyss layer.

The dim light layer is where sunlight and darkness intersect; going further down, it gets cold and dark again.

Based on his limited knowledge of the ocean, Lance guessed that the place he was in should be at the boundary between the deep sea layer and the abyss layer.

However, this also indicated that mermaids really have strong physiques; Lance didn’t feel cold at all.

Just as Lance was lost in thought, he suddenly felt the area around him darken significantly. Sure enough, a tentacle dropped down from the entrance above the coral bone.

Lance: “…”

He stared as the tentacle got closer and closer to him, and when it was about a meter away, he quickly scrambled up and dove back into the sea anemone.

The tentacle stiffened for a moment.

It shook a bit but didn’t insist on making contact with Lance; instead, it turned around and headed toward the meat tentacle it had previously fed.

Lance, who was peeking from inside the sea anemone, felt a tightness in his chest and was startled—

Was this “octopus” a neat freak too?

That meat tentacle hadn’t been finished yet; why was it going to clean up so soon?

“ai——ka——”

Lance panicked. As long as that chunk of meat tentacle was cleaned up, the “octopus” would definitely discover that he was secretly digging a tunnel again.

In a hurry, Lance popped his head out from the sea anemone and called out a few times to the tentacle.

The tentacle that was originally preparing to clean up paused for a moment. It turned its direction and “looked” toward Lance for a few seconds.

Lance nervously “made eye contact” with it.

Perhaps because Lance’s previous rejection left an impression, the tentacle ultimately chose to go clean up the previously fed “meat tentacle.”

Damn, why was this “octopus” so stubborn?

Lance anxiously looked around and finally spotted a pearl hidden inside the sea anemone—

Wasn’t this the one that the tentacle had given him to “comfort” him last time?

Without hesitation, Lance grabbed the fist-sized pearl and threw it toward the tentacle.

“Smack.”

Lance had great aim; it hit right on target.

The tentacle was struck by the pearl, and it finally turned its attention back.

After the pearl hit the tentacle, it fell onto the sandy sea floor, emitting a shimmering white light.

Both the fish and the tentacle stared at the pearl, dazed.

Lance went all out; in order to prevent the “octopus” from cleaning up the “meat tentacle,” he swam out from the sea anemone and called out softly to the tentacle.

That voice sounded extremely pitiful, both adorable and heart-wrenching.

Clearly, this sound also tugged at the tentacle’s heartstrings. It didn’t specifically go to clean the meat tentacle anymore but turned toward Lance—if the “octopus” had a heart.

However, the tentacle clearly misunderstood Lance’s intention.

The tentacle wrapped its tail around the pearl, picked it up, and then, under Lance’s curious gaze, tossed the pearl back toward him.

Lance: “…”

The white pearl landed not far from Lance. He looked up at the tentacle in the distance and then at the pearl next to his fish tail.

Lance reluctantly picked up the pearl, smiled at the tentacle while holding it, and then threw the pearl in the opposite direction of the meat tentacle.

The tentacle was clearly very happy that Lance was willing to interact with it. It immediately went over, picked up the pearl, and then tossed it back to Lance.

Lance looked at the white pearl coming toward him, feeling a bit heartbroken.

What kind of scene was this? Was he playing “catch” with a tentacle?

This time, Lance caught the pearl expressionlessly and casually tossed it in a direction, letting the tentacle fetch it on its own.

Sure enough, the tentacle immediately scampered off to retrieve it, and this time, it even played a little trick:

After picking up the pearl, the tentacle wrapped around it and didn’t immediately throw it back to Lance. Instead, it cautiously moved toward Lance while still holding the pearl.

Lance watched the tentacle approach, wanting to scream, but thinking about the unfinished escape tunnel behind the meat tentacle, he could only hold it in and suppress the urge to flee.

He watched as the tentacle got closer and closer to him.

Finally, the tentacle stopped half a meter away from Lance and carefully handed the pearl to him.

Lance stared at the pearl being offered and the tentacle that was very close to him for a moment.

Taking a deep breath, Lance accepted the pearl from the tentacle.

This was his first time actively making contact with a tentacle, and that rough texture really left a deep impression on Lance.

In human fairy tales, octopuses are never the good guys; whether it’s an evil wizard or Cthulhu, their prototypes are all octopuses, proving how terrifying octopuses are to humans.

But… strangely, through this contact, Lance inexplicably began to feel that this “octopus” seemed a bit gentle?

Lance was startled by this thought. He shook his head, intending to shake off this idea, and then threw the pearl away.

The tentacle immediately went to fetch the pearl.

If this pearl could be brought ashore, given its large size, it should cause a huge sensation in human society;

Unfortunately, this was the deep sea, and in the eyes of Lance and the tentacle, this unique pearl might not be worth more than a ball.

After playing “you throw, I catch” for a while, the tentacle returned the pearl to Lance.

Although the tentacle had no expression, Lance was very sure that the tentacle in front of him was very happy, so happy that its color had lightened significantly.

Finally, when leaving, the tentacle reluctantly patted Lance’s head, and Lance didn’t resist.

However, just as the tentacle was about to withdraw, it prepared to go clean up the unfinished meat tentacle again.

This made Lance furious.

He had contributed to playing such a childish game; why did that stupid tentacle still want to clean up?

Lance quickly swam over before the tentacle could touch the meat tentacle. He sat on the meat tentacle and, right in front of the tentacle, placed the pearl on top of the meat tentacle.

Now it should understand!

The tentacle’s movements stopped.

It seemed to understand that for Lance, the value of this meat tentacle was the same as the pearl; both were off-limits to anyone else without his permission.

The tentacle’s tail curled a bit, looking somewhat conflicted.

In the end, the tentacle chose to respect Lance and withdrew from the coral bone.

Lance watched the tentacle leave and finally let out a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, the “escape tunnel” hadn’t been discovered.