The Undersea Adventures of the Little Jellyfish (JELLYFISH)
"Hm?" Tang You lifted the blood-red pearl. "Do you want to see?"
Shen Jixiao: "May I? Does it involve your privacy?"
"Of course." Tang You placed the pearl into Shen Jixiao’s palm. "But are you sure you're alright? Your wounds—"
"It’s fine."
But the mermaid’s stomach let out a loud growl.
Hungry.
Both the mermaid and the jellyfish were in sorry states. Tang You didn’t even have the energy left to bind himself to Shen Jixiao with his psychic tendrils. Not that it was necessary anymore.
They gathered their belongings—Tang You collected the pearls, while Shen Jixiao wrapped the pocket watch and protective necklace around his arm—and explored the last corners of the ship before swimming back to the bow where they had started.
"Brother Anemone—!"
Among dozens of pink-white anemones, Tang You found the one that was brilliantly orange.
"Little jellyfish!" Brother Anemone waved all thirty-six of his tentacles in greeting. "You're back!"
"Yep." Tang You was quite satisfied with the journey. "Here’s a pearl for you. After this, I’ll be heading to shallower waters. The deep sea is too cold—my tentacles are freezing."
Brother Anemone coiled a tentacle around the pearl. "What a shame. I was hoping we could chat a little longer."
"Who says we won’t meet again someday?"
After bidding farewell to Brother Kui, Tang You and Shen Jixiao spent some time swimming upstream.
The descent had felt endless, and the ascent wasn’t much better.
They swam for a long time without catching even a glimpse of daylight, with only the illumination spell around them providing light.
But as they rose, Shen Jixiao’s mood was far calmer than when they had first begun. He even found himself observing the other creatures of the deep.
In the unseen depths, strange and peculiar beings swam past from time to time. In the darkness, it seemed everyone had their own unique "talents"—being bioluminescent was practically mundane. They came in all colors and bizarre shapes, adhering to the truth that if no one was watching, they might as well grow however they pleased, with no discernible pattern.
Shen Jixiao spotted a shrimp glowing blue, a sea angel with tiny fleshy wings, and an anglerfish that somewhat resembled a chimera—though far more ordinary.
Then he noticed a translucent, pouch-like creature with rainbow-hued ridges shimmering faintly along its edges. Upon closer inspection, those were its cilia—tiny, hair-like structures that propelled it forward with rapid undulations.
"What’s that?" the merman asked.
"A comb jelly."
"One of your relatives?"
Tang You: "Absolutely not. Comb jellies and jellyfish aren’t the same species—they even eat jellyfish. I’m on its menu. Let’s get out of here."
Shen Jixiao promptly fell silent.
He was, after all, a fish with no common sense.
…
Once they reached the shallower waters, they found a patch of drifting seaweed and rested nearby.
Almost immediately, Shen Jixiao pulled out the blood-red pearl, eager to glimpse the memories within.
To his disappointment, there was no trace of the person he sought.
He saw the ocean, coral reefs, and the storm that had struck the Tarlik—but no sign of any humans.
"Is this your memory?" Shen Jixiao asked. "You, a tiny jellyfish, have lived for eighteen years?"
"Not necessarily my memory!" Tang You replied. "I also record other people’s memories in pearls—like the magic scroll you wanted. Sometimes, when I come across something deeply moving or something I absolutely don’t want to forget, I’ll find a pearl to preserve it."
"Pearls are excellent magical materials, but they degrade over time, so I check on them periodically and make transcriptions."
"Though… this pearl has turned red. That’s strange. I always source pearls locally, and this area shouldn’t produce red ones."
Shen Jixiao studied the blood-red pearl, lost in thought.
Perhaps these were someone else’s memories—not necessarily the little jellyfish’s.
"Little jellyfish, how old are you?"
"I don’t know," Tang You answered honestly. "I spend most of my time sleeping—who keeps track of time? If you’re curious about the memories in these pearls, I’ve left a few in the nearby coral reefs, all from the same period."
"I’ll take a look," the merman agreed. "But I might need to go ashore first."
"What for?" The little jellyfish grew slightly wary.
There was a famous tragedy in mermaid lore—a mermaid princess who fell in love with a human, paid a terrible price to walk on land, and ultimately turned into sea foam.
Shen Jixiao was a fish sold ashore from a young age. Tang You initially thought he would be filled with hatred toward humans and not the type to be love-struck. However, upon getting to know him, Tang You not only sensed no hatred but also gained a whole new understanding of what it meant to be love-struck—Shen Jixiao didn’t seem like someone who could ever let go of his unattainable love.
He was genuinely worried that the merman might develop feelings for a land-dwelling creature—like finding some two-legged creature as a substitute for his unattainable love.
And fish couldn’t stay on land for long.
"I’ll leave these things ashore, then go with you to the coral reef." Shen Jixiao opened his palm, revealing three pearls engraved with magic scrolls. A chain and a pocket watch—both relics discovered in the wreck of the Tarlik—were wrapped around his arm. "I think these should be returned."
The little jellyfish agreed.
"Alright, I’ll wait here for a bit." Tang You found a shady spot where seaweed grew—a perfect resting place until the tide receded.
As Shen Jixiao stood up to leave, Tang You suddenly remembered something and asked, "In the Chimera’s illusion, we were separated. What did you see?"
Illusion magic was a peculiar kind of sorcery. Like a seed, it could lie dormant in one’s consciousness for a long time and never fading even after the caster’s death. Tang You himself had no issues, but he was a little concerned about the dim-witted merman.
Mermen generally had mediocre mental resilience and magical aptitude.
"Illusion?"
The merman paused.
"I saw an ordinary scene—just the ship sinking, that’s all."
He had seen the Tarlik breaking apart, himself falling into the sea, sinking deeper and deeper, the icy water, his limbs aching and powerless to struggle—almost like a nightmare.
Unfortunately, he had experienced such nightmares countless times since childhood and had long grown accustomed to them.
He could even predict the exact moment when that person would appear.
"The Chimera’s mastery of magic wasn’t particularly high. Even someone like me, who doesn’t specialize in mental resilience, wasn’t affected much," Shen Jixiao said lightly. "In fact, I found it somewhat amusing—gave me a bit of practical experience in dealing with illusions."
"Life-threatening danger—amusing?" Tang You’s voice turned cold, his tone rising sharply as he scolded, "You really are a dim-witted merman!"
"Yes, it was fun."
Shen Jixiao glanced back at the tiny jellyfish nestled in the shallows.
In the illusion, he had immersed himself completely, making no effort to resist, waiting for that person to appear before he sank—but nothing happened.
Then, as dawn broke, a small rift of light tore open above him, and a pink strawberry-filled gummy candy peeked out, its voice soft: "Merman?"
Such a squishy, pinchable little gummy.
The scene was so jarring, so absurdly funny, that Shen Jixiao instinctively curled his lips into a faint smile—and suddenly realized: This isn’t a nightmare or a memory. It’s the Chimera’s crude illusion.
So he began swimming upward.
The nightmare that had haunted him for years had been shattered by a strawberry gummy.
"Fine, since you dim-witted fish seem unharmed, breaking free on your own shows you’ve got some talent." Tang You muttered under his breath.
The merman's gaze always felt strange to him, and his fingers often twitched with restless energy.
Tang You had a premonition that his skull might be in danger, so he fished out a smooth, pink translucent pebble polished by the waves from the shallows and tossed it to Shen Jixiao as a substitute. Coaxingly, he said, "Be good, don’t be reluctant to leave. Go quickly and come back soon. I’ll wait for you."
Shen Jixiao: "..."
What he wanted was a soft candy, not a hard pebble.
Wait, no—he was an adult now, well past the age of being tempted by sweets and coaxing words... What was he even thinking?
"When you come back, I’ll let you touch the top of my head—just once."
The little jellyfish really treated him like a juvenile mermaid to be coddled. Shen Jixiao sighed, but as he did, the thought of that cool, soft, jelly-like texture crossed his mind, and the corner of his lips couldn’t help but curl upward: "Wait for me. One hour."
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