Being lewd, always trying to touch him.
Sang Ning said, lips curving into a smile, a slight arc rising in his cheeks, soft as fluffy snow, not looking the least bit angry.
He was rarely in the mood to joke around like this. A few tentacles, growing bolder, coiled around the damp folk-style shirt he’d taken off, along with his slender waist.
With a gentle tug, Sang Ning tumbled into the bell, laughing to himself.
“Ya Ya, throwing a tantrum out of embarrassment now.”
Wrapped inside the bell, he reached out and poked at the soft flesh of its “cheek.”
The soft texture felt like touching a slime, very pleasant. Sang Ning cupped his hands together, kneading the little ball of “jellyfish” like a stress toy.
Physalia trembled, “shy and bashful,” drawing the edge of its bell tighter, wrapping Sang Ning up even more securely.
Jellyfish drift by relying on water currents, having little strength of their own.
That well-known fact seemed to hold no power over Physalia at all, it swallowed the young man whole, inch by inch, from his arms to his shoulders, his head, his hips…
Until Sang Ning’s feet left the ground entirely, and he toppled backward into the soft folds of the “jellyfish” skirt, his legs kicking sensitively, until soft tentacles wrapped around his calves and lifted him, drawing him fully into its body.
The folk-style clothes he’d just changed into still carried a lingering dampness, probably just an outfit the owner kept for renting out to guests for photos, hanging loosely on the young man’s frame, his pale skin faintly visible through the indigo fabric.
He tried to struggle, only smearing the hem of his shirt further up his waist, pressed even more tightly against the monster.
By the time he was “spat” back out, his damp clothes had gone dry, the water wicked away, leaving only a faint, indistinct fragrance behind.
Sang Ning paid no mind to the elusive scent, assuming it was some kind of complimentary fragrance from the guesthouse.
He patted Physalia’s bell and wound its tentacle around his own wrist.
“Alright, time to get to work.”
Sang Ning’s tone was like someone coaxing a pet at home.
The guesthouse had no water or electricity, but there was an iron hand-pump well in the back courtyard, still intact though caked in mud.
Sang Ning forced the long handle up and down, the iron mechanism inside creaked and groaned with each stroke.
Using a tattered plastic bag, he carried several loads of water up from where the flood had receded, ten steps below the guesthouse, and poured it over the pump, washing away the mud to reveal the blue-green rust of the metal underneath.
He poured one bag of water into the pump and worked the handle rapidly several times, a trickle of water gradually flowed out from the spout.
Overjoyed, Sang Ning waited for the initial murky water to run clean, and the moment clear water emerged, he cupped his hands and gulped some straight into his mouth.
The water carried a faint metallic taste, he held it in his mouth for a moment, then hesitated and spat it out.
He didn’t dare drink water that hadn’t been boiled.
After floods and earthquakes, disease outbreaks were common, drinking unclean water and getting diarrhea, with no doctor around, could easily be fatal.
But now he had a stable water source and a place to stay!
Still delighted, Sang Ning filled a bag with water and thoughtfully poured some over the giant jellyfish.
“Ya Ya, soak up plenty of water, if you dry out, you’ll turn into a dried jellyfish snack,” he muttered to himself, laughing at his own joke.
Physalia stayed perfectly still, droplets rolling off its body in a shimmering, crystalline silver, it hovered in the air, pressing itself against Sang Ning’s hand.
Sang Ning’s lips curved as he remembered the little jellyfish he used to keep, how the water current would bump them right into his hand.
Jellyfish had short lifespans, the secret to keeping them well was changing the water every three days and the jellyfish itself every five.
If you wanted to touch them, all you had to do was put your hand in the tank and wait for them to bump into you on their own.
—Physalia probably had no idea what kind of jellyfish killer this bright-eyed beauty in front of it actually was.
With the water problem solved, Sang Ning led Physalia by the tentacle and toured the rest of the guesthouse.
The building had three floors in total: on the first floor, past the main hall and a courtyard well, was the kitchen, with a wing room on each side, up the stairs beside the main hall were two guest rooms, and the third floor was an attic space divided into a single suite.
The whole guesthouse had five suites in total, one kitchen, and each suite came with its own bathroom.
But the only livable one was a suite on the second floor, the others all bore signs of the flood’s damage to varying degrees, while this one on the second floor, with its doors and windows shut tight and close to the neighboring building, had barely let in any water at all.
Sang Ning quickly made up his mind to stay in this room.
He gathered up a few sets of the modified folk-style clothes clearly meant for rental, planning to wash and change into them, and pulled the bedding together to wash and dry as well.
Opening a storage cabinet, he was delighted to find it stacked full of white sheets and pillowcases, several boxes of water-soaked toiletries, and unopened packets of disposable towels…
Sang Ning yanked down a half-hanging curtain and, bracing it against a rock, tore it into strips of cloth.
He scrubbed and rinsed on both sides, working himself breathless, until he’d finally tidied up the room enough to relax and sink himself into the bathtub.
Clear water filled the tub, rippling and spilling slightly over the edge with the added presence of another body, drops falling softly onto the tile.
His pale body hidden beneath the water, rippling waves seeming almost to dissolve him, faint ripples spreading with each stir of his pale fingers.
Sang Ning surfaced comfortably, his eyes damp, lashes hanging heavy and wet, his glistening gaze slowly stirring up a pool of spring warmth.
His fingertips flushed red, he leaned lazily against the side of the tub, wrapping his arms around his shoulders, resting his chin on his knees, letting out a slow breath.
The well water was a little cold, but with no tools to make a fire, he shivered until a soft touch settled over his shoulder.
His body seemed to adjust, and the cold no longer bothered him.
The silent, giant jellyfish loosely enveloped him with its tentacles, Sang Ning glanced up, pouting slightly.
“So hungry…”
All his chestnuts were gone.
Sang Ning dipped his finger in water and traced half a tally mark on the wall.
He’d been stranded for three days and two nights now, the droplets trailing crookedly down from where he’d drawn, smudging the half-finished mark.
Three days, and he’d only eaten one meal of chestnuts, yet he still had energy, hadn’t even dehydrated.
“How long until someone comes to rescue me?” Would he really be able to survive?
Sang Ning murmured to himself, brows furrowing without meaning to.
He hadn’t run into a single other person this whole way, did that mean those people had all…
Sang Ning’s mind went suddenly blank, until a tentacle brushed against the corner of his lips.
Confused, he opened his mouth, then his eyes went wide, letting out a strangled sound: “Mmph!”
A tentacle pushed firmly into his mouth, he grabbed the edge of the tub, tilting his head back, pushing against it with his tongue over and over, but the soft tentacle kept pressing steadily inward.
Sang Ning thrashed with hands and feet, struggling wildly in the water.
Water splashed everywhere, his feet slipping helplessly against the edge of the tub, toes curling with the effort.
The moment the tentacle finally withdrew from his throat, Sang Ning gasped for air as if he’d just been rescued, his throat stinging so badly that even swallowing hurt.
He looked thoroughly messy, wet hair plastered messily to his face, an air of scattered helplessness about him, a tear trembling at the corner of his eye about to fall, blurring as it blinked away.
The “jellyfish” suddenly seemed at a loss.
【Feed wife… feed wife…】
It made to try again, Sang Ning quickly covered his mouth and shook his head rapidly.
His tear-filled amber eyes, damp and glistening, made him look thoroughly bullied and fragile.
【Aww, wife doesn’t like eating “jellyfish”】
Physalia shrank into itself, and didn’t try to feed its wife again.
Sang Ning scrambled out of the tub, trembling as he hurriedly dried himself off.
His supple body wrapped in the indigo clothing, he didn’t dare look at Physalia again.
The instant he shut the bathroom door, Sang Ning thought he caught the “jellyfish’s” gaze through the gap in the door.
It was a bare eyeball, staring out at him, gone the moment he blinked.
Was it a hallucination?
That wolf-like creature was a monster, was the giant jellyfish really any different?
For the first time, Sang Ning clearly recognized that, in terms of danger, Physalia was no different at all from that other monster.
—Both could take his life with ease.
His throat still ached faintly, Sang Ning bit his finger anxiously, pacing back and forth restlessly in the empty hall.
He habitually bit down on his own bent knuckle, watching the teeth marks form on his whitened finger, numbly moving on to bite the next joint.
From index finger to pinky, every finger bore the marks.
Those faint, shallow marks would fade soon enough, as a public figure, Sang Ning wasn’t allowed to show visible damage on his exposed skin.
To this day, he could no longer even remember how he’d felt signing his entertainment contract, he’d only needed to escape the orphanage, and at that age, signing that contract had been his only option.
Sang Ning’s mind went blank for a moment.
He thought, actually, it wasn’t so terrible.
Everyone had to die eventually.
But compared to death, Sang Ning thought further, being alone here without Physalia…
…would be far more terrifying.
…far, far more terrifying.
So terrifying, so terrifying, so terrifying, so terrifying, so terrifying…
Tears spilled from his eyes without warning, dripping onto his fingers.
Sang Ning loosened his bite, looking at the marks on his finger, tucking his hand away into his sleeve as if to hide it.
He rubbed his cheeks, trying to force a smile.
Suddenly, something round bumped against his foot.
Sang Ning looked down, it was a chestnut.
He quickly looked up, his gaze darting around, rings of faint blue rippled through the air, drifting this way and that, impossible to hide entirely.
The “jellyfish” descended from above, moving with that same unhurried, old-car pace, blown haphazardly about by the wind.
It curled its tentacles, struggling to cradle its cargo, chestnuts still tumbling continuously out of Physalia’s body, rolling toward Sang Ning one after another.
Physalia had brought back the chestnuts Sang Ning had lost, along with the useless plastic water bottles, the stones that wouldn’t spark, and the half-broken porcelain bowl.
Coaxingly, comfortingly, it brushed gently across his brow.
【Wife, don’t be sad, don’t be scared】
Sang Ning had no idea what he was feeling in that moment, only that his expression froze, his heart suddenly lurching, pounding hard in his chest.