Chapter 9

Lance was scared out of his wits. The storm outside had formed a massive whirlpool, and the noise it made as it scraped against the coral bone was enough to make anyone’s teeth ache. He pressed tightly against Wensir, curling up into a ball; it was only when he felt Wensir’s presence that he dared to confirm he was still alive.

Wensir, on the other hand, seemed to thoroughly enjoy Lance’s dependence on him. He affectionately stroked Lance’s long hair and asked, “Do you still want to go outside?”

Lance turned his head and asked, “Why is there a storm underwater?”

This question clearly caught Wensir off guard. He fell silent for a moment before explaining, “It’s due to changes in the magnetic field caused by radiation.”

“Radiation?”

“A long time ago, a small island sank to the bottom of the sea, and there were human-made things on that island. After the island sank, the magnetic field underwater changed, and the black storm was created.”

Why did that sound so familiar?

Lance, lost in thought, leaned against Wensir and fell silent. Wensir thought Lance had come to terms with things, so he closed his eyes, leaning against Lance, and said, “The storm will last a while longer; let’s take a nap.”

Lance gave a perfunctory “mm” and closed his eyes, but in reality, he was wide awake. Just as Wensir had said, Lance waited a long time before the outside finally quieted down. During this time, he remained in a half-dreaming state.

Listening to the sound of the storm raging outside, Lance suddenly recalled some things from when he was on the cruise ship—

“I heard that someone saw a super giant octopus in this sea area,” said one of Lance’s colleagues.

Another colleague laughed and said, “If that’s the case, then isn’t the end of the world coming soon?”

The first colleague rolled his eyes. “Maybe the end of the world really is coming. After all, humans have sunk a nuclear power plant to the bottom of the sea; with such high radiation, who knows what kind of creatures are down there now?”

After discussing this, they looked at Lance, who was standing at the edge of the deck, and asked, “Do you believe the end of the world is coming?”

What was Lance’s answer back then?

He remembered that an aurora had appeared on the horizon.

A blue-green aurora danced across the sky, ethereal and ghostly, causing the tourists on the cruise ship to gasp in surprise.

“Who knows,” Lance sighed amidst the noisy background, “for humans, this is the end of the world; but for the next species to occupy the Earth, this might just be the beginning of a new era.”

In the next moment, a massive tentacle suddenly burst out of the water, making humans look as small as ants in comparison.

Lance stared blankly at the enormous tentacle until it came crashing down towards him…

“Ya—”

Lance was jolted awake.

He opened his eyes and quickly blew out a few bubbles.

Looking around, he suddenly remembered that he had turned into a mermaid.

No tentacles, no cruise ship.

Lance glanced back at Wensir and found him with his eyes closed, seemingly in a deep sleep.

He quietly slipped out of Wensir’s embrace and swam outside the sea anemone, curiously surveying the coral bone after the black storm.

Sure enough, all the little fish were gone; everything was wiped out. The coral bone had also suffered, with a layer of black debris covering its originally white surface, making the entire coral bone look gray and dull.

Lance swam around the coral bone but saw nothing.

After thinking for a moment, he gritted his teeth and swam upwards.

Maybe this black storm had caused the “master” to leave?

He had to seize this opportunity and make a run for it.

Lance decided to check things out himself first; if everything was fine, he would go back and take Wensir with him.

He swam for quite a while before reaching the very top of the coral bone. As he clung to the edge, he hadn’t even had a chance to look at the scenery outside when he suddenly saw a large, translucent spherical object blocking his view.

That thing was enormous, like a hot air balloon, with a semi-transparent surface and a bunch of thread-like substances piled inside, looking like a peach blossom.

Lance stared at it for a while before finally realizing what it was—

Goodness, a super giant jellyfish!

Lance gasped.

At the same time, the giant jellyfish spotted the mermaid perched above the coral bone, and seeing the mermaid staring at it blankly, it was instantly smitten:

[Ahhh, it’s really a mermaid! So cute!]

The jellyfish’s thoughts transmitted through the water at an extremely low frequency, and because it was too excited, it accidentally made its voice extremely sharp.

Poor Lance.

He was already close enough, and the infrasound emitted by the giant jellyfish pierced straight into his brain like a sword. He instinctively let out a shriek at the giant jellyfish:

“Ay—”

The surrounding water immediately underwent a dramatic change, a wave of water surged forth, and the once calm sea began to bubble as if boiling, making gurgling sounds. A large number of bubbles rushed towards the jellyfish, flipping it over completely.

The giant jellyfish was confused as it flipped over, its transparent tentacles scattering everywhere, and the fish it had been hiding under its skirt all darted away.

It was Lance’s first time witnessing such a scene, and he stared blankly at the fleeing fish, unsure of what to say.

[Wuwuwu, how could you lift my skirt?]

The jellyfish floated back over, extending a tentacle to try and touch Lance’s face,

[If you let me touch you, I won’t cry anymore.]

Lance looked at the transparent tentacle reaching out, his expression blank.

Was this jellyfish female?

[Come on, let me touch it.]

The jellyfish sounded like it was teasing a cat, [It won’t hurt; this is my softest tentacle, it has no stingers… Come into my skirt.]

Lance, expressionless, grabbed the tentacle that the jellyfish extended and bit down on it.

Hmm, it tasted like jellyfish skin.

The jellyfish froze for three seconds, then abandoned its tentacle and began rolling in front of Lance, crying out:

[Owwww, there’s really a mermaid, the mermaid bit me!]

A wave of infrasound was sent out, followed by another wave of infrasound:

[Really? Really? Wuwuwu, I also want to be bitten by a mermaid.]

Lance sat on the coral bone, munching on the jellyfish tentacle in his hand while watching the jellyfish rolling in the water, looking particularly joyful.

At some point, Wensir woke up. After realizing Lance was missing, he became quite angry.

When he swam outside the sea anemone and saw Lance at the very top of the coral bone, clearly ready to go out, he felt a tightness in his chest and immediately swam up.

“Lance, what are you doing?”

Wensir swam to Lance’s side, intending to scold him, but before he could say anything, Lance cut him off.

Lance immediately pointed outside and said to Wensir, “Wensir, look!”

Wensir raised an eyebrow and followed Lance’s gaze. When he saw the super giant jellyfish, he fell silent.

“I can hear their group chat.”

Lance leaned closer to Wensir and whispered, “Can you?”

Wensir twitched the corner of his mouth and nodded, “I can.”

“There seem to be a lot of sea monsters in this sea.”

Lance looked at the jellyfish spinning and jumping in front of him, sighing, “I hope they’re all as silly and cute as this jellyfish.”

Wensir: “…”

The sea monsters had no idea that a mermaid was eavesdropping; they were having a great time chatting.

A lively youthful voice asked:
[Really? What does a mermaid look like?]

The jellyfish disdainfully replied:
[You don’t even know that… The cuteness of the little cutie cannot be described; I want to stuff him into my skirt.]

[So, where is the mermaid?]

The jellyfish replied:
[In the Tethys Trench. How strange, such a small mermaid has built such a high nest.]

Lance turned back and asked Wensir, “Is this the Tethys Trench? Do you know about the Mariana Trench?”

Wensir nodded, “I do.”

At that moment, another sharp infrasound pierced through:
[What’s so cute about a mermaid? The upper body is a disgusting human, and the lower body is a fish; how strange, ew.]

The jellyfish flipped over and rolled towards Lance:
[Shut up, you stupid squid.]

Lance, munching on the tentacle in his hand, was still enjoying the strange group chat when he asked Wensir, “I really want to join… Wensir, can you chat in this group?”

Wensir twitched the corner of his mouth:
“I can. But that’s not the point; you need to come back with me.”

“No.”

Lance shook his head, leaning closer to Wensir, asking, “Can you teach me how to make sounds in there?”

Wensir firmly shook his head:
“No.”

“Why not?”

“…You would drive them crazy.”

Wensir rubbed his temples; Lance would understand these things later.

Lance’s eyes rolled around, just about to say something else when the jellyfish suddenly extended a tentacle, and with a “swish,” it wrapped around Lance’s neck.

Lance: ???

Wensir reacted first; he grabbed the jellyfish’s tentacle, and his sharp nails pierced into it, causing the entire tentacle to visibly turn purple.

The purple color quickly crawled up the tentacle.

Seeing the purple about to invade its round body, the jellyfish decisively severed the tentacle and then floated back a few steps, quietly hovering in the water.

“Ahem.”

Lance blew out a few bubbles, curiously touching the severed tentacle around his neck.

“It’s poisonous.”

Wensir came over, casually pulled down the tentacle, and tossed it outside.

Hearing this, Lance looked at Wensir in surprise, then curiously glanced down at his own nails.

Could he also be poisonous?

“Gurgle gurgle.”

The giant jellyfish on the opposite side shook its round, transparent body.

Lance looked over; although he couldn’t understand what the jellyfish was saying, he could see its confusion.

It seemed the jellyfish had just noticed Wensir’s presence, asking in the group of sea monsters:
[How strange, why is there a weird thing next to the mermaid?]

A weird thing?

Lance looked at Wensir beside him in confusion.

Was the “weird thing” the jellyfish was referring to Wensir?

Under Lance’s puzzled gaze, Wensir fell silent for a moment before educating Lance:
“Did you see? Outside the coral bone, besides tentacles, there are also sea monsters with ill intentions towards you.”

He was referring to the jellyfish.

Lance was taken aback; he didn’t take it to heart at all. Instead, he excitedly said to Wensir:
“Isn’t that great? It looks way dumber than the tentacles; we can use it to escape from the abyss!”

Wensir twitched the corner of his eye, sighing as he rubbed his forehead.

In the next moment, as if sensing something, several giant tentacles suddenly burst out from beneath the coral bone, wrapping around the super giant jellyfish and dragging it away with a “swish.”

Jellyfish: [Ahhhhhh—]

Lance: “…”