The Undersea Adventures of the Little Jellyfish (JELLYFISH)
Descend, keep descending.
Beyond a certain depth, everything around loses its sense of distance, swallowed by a murky darkness.
The deeper they went, the quieter it became. The sound of waves on the surface faded entirely, and the occasional shadowy figures swimming past did so in complete silence.
Perhaps such a place, where time and space seemed to blur, would terrify most. But Tang You was used to it.
He leisurely extended his psychic senses to explore the surrounding darkness, while occasionally glancing back at the mermaid trailing behind him.
Mermaids were beautiful yet fragile creatures, and he was slightly worried that this clueless fish might dive too deep too quickly and be unable to withstand the crushing pressure of the depths.
But the mermaid seemed full of vitality. A small orb of light floated before him—a basic illumination spell, invented by human mages. Sustained by magic, it emitted a soft glow even underwater, though its range was far more limited than in air.
Tang You didn’t need light, but Shen Jixiao did.
"Why are you coming along with me?"
Tang You: "I'm curious if there might be any treasures in the shipwreck. I’ve never really explored one properly before. Besides, searching for a ship shouldn’t take too long, and the pearl I’m looking for is probably down there too. Mermaid, why are you searching for a shipwreck?"
Shen Jixiao was silent for a moment. "...Looking for someone."
"In the deep sea?" Tang You thought about it. "Humans can barely dive to these depths."
The mermaid added quietly, "Looking for someone’s remains."
The little jellyfish startled. "Ah... a victim of the shipwreck?"
Shen Jixiao didn’t elaborate, only offering a brief explanation. "They once saved my life."
The abyssal waters seemed bottomless as he continued descending, while Tang You’s psychic senses spread outward like a net.
Shen Jixiao didn’t know how far the jellyfish’s psychic reach extended.
On land, few focused on cultivating their mental strength as mages preferred studying magical circuits and constructing spells, while warriors dedicated their efforts to physical training. For both, projecting one’s consciousness outward was an inefficient use of energy.
He was intrigued by the different forces at play in the deep sea. He was lost in thought, when suddenly the little jellyfish’s excited voice broke through. "Found it!"
The shipwreck lay nestled within a trench, making it appear even more unfathomably deep.
As Tang You’s psychic senses brushed over the seabed, locating the vessel, Shen Jixiao ignited a larger illumination spell.
The massive wreck slowly came into view, nearly broken in two. The canvas and nets had long since rotted away under the sea's relentless erosion, leaving only the lonely mast that was now covered in seaweed and tilting upward.
Silent, dark, and lifeless, it resembled a colossal beast from ancient times, forever slumbering in these depths.
It carried the dazzling glory of an era long past on land, yet also bore an unspeakable sorrow. No matter how magnificent and exquisite this ship had once been, it was now nothing more than a sunken relic in the trench.
Eighteen years.
Shen Jixiao stared blankly at the wreck as he recalled how two decades ago, this ship had dominated newspaper headlines.
The nobility had taken pride in boarding it—back then, their kingdom was at the peak of its power, and everyone brimmed with confidence, believing they could conquer the seas within their lifetime.
He had glimpsed that extravagant life in his childhood.
But then came natural disasters, human folly—the Tarlik sank in a once-in-a-century storm, the old king died suddenly, the new king proved incompetent, wars erupted, and the entire nation crumbled. The golden age was gone forever.
"What a huge ship!" Tang You couldn't contain his excitement. "Do you think there's treasure inside? Endless gold and pearls?"
Shen Jixiao snapped out of his thoughts. "Maybe?" He vaguely remembered there being some.
"If I take a few pearls, do you think the captain's ghost will come after me?"
They swam closer to the wreck.
Infected by the little jellyfish's enthusiasm, Shen Jixiao played along, teasing, "Ghosts don't exist. And could you even carry a pearl? Every pearl there is bigger than you. The chandeliers in the ballroom were said to be adorned with a hundred and eighty-eight pearls."
"Wow!" Tang You adored pearls. "I could definitely carry one!"
They swam toward the bow.
Shen Jixiao's tail stirred the water, brushing away some of the silt covering the ship's name, revealing the gilded, hollowed-out letters: Tarlik.
It meant "Morning Star."
...
From a distance, the wreck was a dead leviathan, steeped in desolation. But up close, it was teeming with life.
Sea anemones, starfish, kelp, sea urchins, fish that were big and small—just the deck alone was bustling with creatures. They seemed to have turned the ship into their home.
What had once been built to conquer the ocean now appeared thoroughly conquered by it.
The arrival of the little jellyfish and the merman disturbed the wreck's tranquil ecosystem.
A school of nimble gray fish darted into the ship's interior, followed by a thick moray eel as wide as a merman's arm. The anemones on the deck instantly retracted their tentacles, curling into tight balls, while the starfish and urchins remained unfazed, clinging to the wood and munching on algae.
"We scared them," Tang You said sheepishly. "This place is like a hidden paradise."
The merman was lost in thought.
Tang You noticed that ever since arriving, Shen Jixiao had been spacing out every few moments—perhaps the person who had once saved him truly meant a great deal. The wreck must have stirred deep memories.
Instead of rushing to explore the interior, they lingered on the deck and along the ship's outer edges first.
The sunken ship appeared quiet, but who knew what dangers lurked inside? From what could be seen, half of its interior had likely collapsed, littered with jagged shards of steel and rotting wooden structures, maintaining a fragile balance with the creatures within. As outsiders suddenly entering, they would undoubtedly disrupt this equilibrium.
If it collapsed, or if they couldn't find an exit inside, things could get troublesome.
The little jellyfish was small enough to squeeze through any gap, but he was worried that the mermaid's larger size would make navigating the wreck hazardous.
"Little jellyfish!"
Tang You suddenly heard a familiar voice.
He looked left and right, but it seemed like he was the only jellyfish around.
"Over here, here!"
Tang You turned in a circle and finally spotted the source of the voice beneath the bow of the ship. It was an orange sea anemone, stretching out its pale tentacles to catch food in the seawater.
"You are…" Tang You didn’t recall knowing such a sea anemone.
"Have you forgotten?" The anemone waved its tentacles. "We grew up together on the same rock. Back then, we were both still transparent and tiny. I thought you were a pink anemone and chatted with you every day. Then one day, you suddenly floated away! Turns out you were a jellyfish all along."
Tang You: "You’re… Brother Kui? You look different now."
In his memory, the anemone next to him had been tiny, about the same size as him. Every day, they would cling to the rock together while waiting for food to drift their way.
But the anemone before him now was dozens of times larger and its body a beautiful orange with white tentacles.
"Long time no see," the anemone replied cheerfully. "You were so small when you floated away, and you’re still just as tiny now."
"I’ve definitely grown a little!" Tang You felt he had changed quite a bit. "Brother Kui, more importantly, how did you end up moving here?"
"It’s quiet here, and there’s plenty of food. After growing up, I didn’t feel like sunbathing much anymore. Staying at the bottom of the sea is fine, though it does get boring—no other anemones to chat with." The orange anemone curled its tentacles slightly.
There were actually quite a few anemones around, but the others were all white or pink. Brother Kui was the only orange one, and his appearance was different too—his tentacles were long and incredibly beautiful when fully extended, like a bright flower blooming beneath the ship’s bow, standing out starkly against the cold, dark seabed.
"Little jellyfish, tell me what you’ve seen since you floated away. You know us anemones—we’re not exactly fond of moving around."
"I…" Tang You was about to start chatting when he suddenly spotted the approaching merman. "Look, I’ve made a merman friend. We’re planning to explore the shipwreck."
"So that’s your friend!" Brother Kui nearly recoiled into a ball at the sight of the merman. "I thought that monster had come out again…"
"Monster?" Shen Jixiao, who had just swum over, caught the word.
"Yes, a monster." Just thinking about it made Brother Kui’s thirty-six tentacles go weak. "You’re going inside the shipwreck? Don’t… It’s dangerous in there. A monster lives inside—it eats everything, especially fish. Even sharks get dragged in."
"Little jellyfish, you might not even be enough to fill its teeth, but your merman friend here will definitely get eaten."
Tang You: "Are you sure the monster isn’t just some kind of fish?"
He vaguely remembered Brother Kui being quite timid. Fish in the deep sea often looked bizarre—maybe he’d just been scared by a strange one.
"No, no, no. We wouldn’t mistake it. That thing is definitely not a fish." The anemone shuddered. "Little jellyfish, you two shouldn’t go in."
Tang You thought for a moment, then asked the merman, "I’m barely a mouthful, so I probably won’t get eaten. But what about you? You can’t even swim properly."
Shen Jixiao: "…" It seemed his failure as a merman was never going to be forgotten.
"I'll go in," the mermaid said with determination.
Tang You puffed up in frustration, transforming into a plump, pink strawberry gummy: "I know you're set on doing this. What I mean is, if there's any danger, you have to run away immediately. Don't worry about me. I'll tether my psychic energy to you. If you get lost, you can follow it back to me."
Shen Jixiao listened as the little jellyfish spoke slower and slower, the round jellyfish candy drifting over and extending a tentacle to cling to his hair: "I swim really slowly, but the upside is that I won’t get eaten. If a monster comes after us, I... I’ll definitely be scared stiff and won’t dare move at all."
"Shen Jixiao, you... you have to follow the psychic energy and pick me back up..."
Shen Jixiao: "..."
"If you're... so scared, why come in with me?" he asked, puzzled. "You could wait outside."
"For pearls and treasure," Tang You shrank into a ball. "And... I’m worried about you. I won’t get eaten, but you might. Even if you’re not scared, you could still be eaten. So what if I’m scared?!"
Brother Kuai chimed in loudly: "Exactly! We mollusks don’t have guts—what’s wrong with being scared?!"
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