The Undersea Adventures of the Little Jellyfish (JELLYFISH)
Tang You discreetly observed the merman’s posture.
He still suspected that the merman’s tail had some hidden ailment—it didn’t look entirely healthy. Though Shen Jixiao could manage to float in the water, his tail seemed stiff when he swam, occasionally twitching and veering in odd directions.
“Shen Jixiao, did you fall from a ship?”
“…Yes.”
“When I was little, mermaids were sometimes sold ashore,” Tang You said. “Did someone rescue you?”
“No, I escaped on my own.” Shen Jixiao simply went along with the little jellyfish’s assumption—it conveniently explained his identity. “But for some reason, the first time I entered the water, I couldn’t breathe.”
“I think I know why,” Tang You said.
“What?”
“It’s the temperature difference!”
Tang You realized this fish truly lacked basic common sense. “Most creatures can’t handle sudden temperature changes. For delicate beings like us jellyfish and coral, even slight shifts can be fatal. Fish are a bit hardier, and mermaids, with their dual respiratory systems, adapt better to temperature variations.”
“But!”
“If you’ve been baking under the hot sun for a long time without touching seawater, then suddenly plunge into the cold ocean, your body will go into shock. You might hyperventilate but fail to absorb oxygen from the water, your muscles could stiffen, and in severe cases, you might even pass out—like a fish floating belly-up.” Tang You’s tone grew slightly stern. “If Sister Stingray and I hadn’t passed by, you might have ended up as a drowned fish.”
“…” Shen Jixiao said, “I see.”
“The right way is to first wet yourself with seawater at the shore, let your body adjust to the temperature, and then swim deeper.”
Shen Jixiao nodded. “Noted.”
His mind, however, was elsewhere: The little jellyfish had been using mental energy for half a day without showing any signs of exhaustion—definitely on par with a grand mage. Yet such a being was just a fingertip-sized jellyfish in the ocean, so tiny he might overlook it if he wasn’t careful.
“You know a lot.” The merman’s eyes were a deep blue, like translucent crystal orbs, briefly clouded with bewilderment before quickly filling with anticipation and excitement. He was intrigued by unknown challenges. “Are you very familiar with mermaids?”
Tang You answered naturally, “Because I’ve had mermaid friends before.”
“And I used to live by the shore. For some reason, people would come every day to fish—not that I resent humans; I know everyone needs to eat to survive. But why, every now and then, would strange people come and throw fish back into the sea?” Tang You was puzzled. “They were still alive—for humans, that’s food, right? None of my friends would waste food like that.”
Shen Jixiao thought for a moment. “You mean… releasing them?”
“Releasing? Letting prey go?” Tang You still didn’t understand. “But some of those fish don’t even belong in these waters. Just the other day, I met an old sea turtle who said people were tossing fish while playing strange rhythms from metal boxes. Someone even threw a freshwater turtle into the ocean—maybe some kind of sacrificial ritual? He warned us to stay away.”
Shen Jixiao: “…”
"How did you cultivate your psychic energy?" Shen Jixiao asked again.
"I don't know. I often wake up to find there's more of it." The little jellyfish paddled twice in the water, its tentacles catching a few barely noticeable specks of marine debris. It then immediately retracted and stuffed the food toward its digestive gland in a clumsy, endearing manner, its voice muffled as it spoke. "What's cultivation?"
Shen Jixiao: "..."
The ocean had shocked him more times in this short while than in his entire twenty years on land.
He asked a few more basic questions, which Tang You answered one by one.
"When mermaids are underwater, they close their lung airways and open their gill slits. Although they don’t have swim bladders like other fish, they can control their buoyancy using the air stored in their lungs. Have you been sinking because you’ve been on land too long and forgotten how to use them?"
"Yes, mermaids have many settlements, but they rarely appear alone."
As they chatted, the sun gradually set, and the light piercing the sea surface turned into a magnificent orange.
Only then did Shen Jixiao realize he had spent the entire afternoon in the water.
He looked down at his hands in surprise—after transforming into a merman, new tissue had grown between his fingers, likely webbing, though not much. His fingers, which would have turned pale and wrinkled after prolonged exposure to water before, now showed no such signs. His skin and scales had become slick, secreting mucus for protection.
Such unfamiliar structures.
Tang You was a chatty little jellyfish. He asked Shen Jixiao, "Can you tell me about your experiences on land?"
The merman's gaze froze.
Tang You immediately thought he had touched a sore spot—perhaps the merman had been sold to the surface as an ornamental pet and living in terrible conditions.
After a long pause, the merman finally spoke: "After the previous king of the Eastern Enqi Kingdom passed away, the country split into four factions, with border wars raging for decades. The farmers suffered immensely, while the nobility maintained their extravagant lifestyles, and the new king's authority waned further. The northern region of Enqi was—"
The little jellyfish listened for a while but couldn’t understand.
He spun in circles while babbling incoherently—Tang You had actually wanted to hear about the customs and daily life on land.
Having spent his entire life underwater, he was deeply curious about how land animals lived.
Did birds flying in the sky feel as light as drifting in the ocean?
After a while, Tang You felt they had reached their destination. He said to the merman, "We can stop here."
Shen Jixiao: "Here?"
By now, night had fully fallen, and the sea was pitch black.
Mermaids had average night vision, so Shen Jixiao had been swimming close to the surface, relying on the faint light of the stars and moon to guide him. The seawater had also cooled to a temperature the little jellyfish could tolerate.
"Yes, right here."
Shen Jixiao was curious how a jellyfish could pinpoint its desired location. He calculated their position slightly before glancing at the distant lighthouse and the bright stars on the horizon, and suddenly froze. "This place—"
"What's wrong?"
Coincidentally, it was also the place he had been searching for, Shen Jixiao thought.
"I lost something here," the little jellyfish said. "I might need to dive to the seabed to look for it. I can go alone—no need to trouble you."
"What are you looking for?"
The mermaid's voice suddenly rose a little, and Tang You didn't understand why the fish was so excited: "A pearl, a pearl so large, bigger than my entire body—it's something very important to me."
The mermaid stared at the little jellyfish for a long moment before glancing at the pitch-black depths of the sea. "I also need to dive down there to take a look."
"Eh?" Tang You asked. "What a coincidence! What are you looking for? There used to be many reefs here, and lots of shipwreck debris has accumulated over time."
Shen Jixiao's gaze drifted distantly over the calm sea surface.
It was hard to imagine that such a tranquil and gentle ocean could also become violently destructive, capable of obliterating everything.
His memories returned to a certain night, then shifted to the simple, transparent little jellyfish before him—most small jellyfish had short lifespans, and it was nearly impossible for one to live for over a decade.
"I'm looking for a shipwreck," the mermaid said. "A ship that sank eighteen years ago."
Translator:
The author warned that some info is not true so don't base it on reality as it was purely fictional.
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