Chapter 3 The Fool Has Nothing (3)

Chapter 3 Fools Have Nothing (Part 3)

Number 13 was rendered speechless by Xu Jiu’s retort, his frustration having no outlet but to glare fiercely at him.

By evening, Xu Jiu first drank a bowl of beet soup in the cafeteria, then grabbed thick slices of rye bread, piling them high with cold cuts of smoked sausage. The dry bread, as thick as an adult’s palm and three fingers wide, was downed three pieces in quick succession, followed by another large bowl of beet soup.

After a few days of adjustment, the newcomers had more or less figured out that the cafeteria's offerings rotated based on the preferences of the doctors above. On Chinese food days, they got steamed buns, dumplings, and stir-fries. If it was German cuisine tomorrow, they’d get currywurst, meatloaf, and roasted potatoes.

Xu Jiu ate like a starving man, while the others clearly lacked his appetite. A few glanced at the way he ate and exchanged looks of disdain.

He paid no mind. After finishing, he wiped his mouth, made the most of his time, and grabbed his tooth cup and towel to wash up in the shared bathroom. The polar region wasn’t short on water, but running water was only available at certain times.

Yet, by midnight, Xu Jiu lay in bed, still unable to sleep.

His thoughts were in turmoil—thinking about the day’s events, the pile of corpses reduced to dumpling-filling mush, their bones blackened by something unknown, their features indistinguishable in death. He thought about the disdainful looks from others, the hushed whispers when they gathered behind him. And he thought about that enormous jellyfish, so beautiful it defied description, utterly beyond words.

He shifted uncomfortably, his wrist searing at the merest contact. The wound resembled a festering ulcer, agonizing even when untouched.

Before bed, Xu Jiu had bandaged it, but the injury showed no sign of improvement. He even had an indescribable feeling—as if this coin-sized wound was rotting deeper into his flesh, his bones, even his soul. Yet he was powerless, too terrified to report his symptoms.

What exactly was the polar station researching? That giant jellyfish?

Avoiding the wound, Xu Jiu turned irritably in his narrow bed.

How much longer can I live? he wondered. When I die, will I end up like those people from today—alone, with nowhere to rest?

As a child, Xu Jiu had once thought about finding his parents. But once Mobius took him into their affiliated orphanage, how could a child possibly run away? Soon, Xu Jiu became a "special case," reduced to scrapping with older kids over meager rations. If he lost, he starved. If he won, it was only scraps—barely enough to quiet his growling stomach. When survival was a struggle, who had the energy for anything else?

After enduring hunger for so long, he had no choice but to perform—throwing himself into chores, buttering up the staff, showing off his ability to read and write. Every bit of cunning went toward ensuring he didn’t starve.

When he grew older, he finally earned a recommendation from his evaluator to attend a school funded by Mobius. Three meals a day were guaranteed, but new problems quickly followed.

He had no talent for academics.

The organization took in hordes of orphans and funded their education—not out of charity. On his first day, the teacher’s opening words were: *"I don’t care what you were before. Here, if you’re smart, you can do anything—even crap on my desk!"*

The young students laughed at the teacher’s crude bluntness, Xu Jiu included. But as time passed, he came to understand the cruelty behind those words.

Mobius’s true goal was to identify research prodigies.

Privately, teachers referred to mediocre students as "scrap." If they found one brilliant student, even a "scrap rate" of one in a hundred—or five hundred—was worth it.

The elite geniuses had everything. They ran the school, enjoyed all privileges, and after graduation, went straight to headquarters for advanced training, assigned to various stations as mid-to-high-level personnel.

Here, academic hierarchy replaced all other forms of power. Xu Jiu and students like him might vaguely understand terms like "mayor," "prime minister," or "chancellor," but they couldn’t truly grasp how the powerful wielded their authority in the outside world. What they *did* know was that "Class C Researcher" might be the highest they’d ever reach, while "Doctor" was a position of immense power—marshaling forces and holding life-and-death authority over many.

By middle school, a saying had spread among the students: *"The world is a giant amusement park. Some are the protagonists, others are NPCs for their entertainment."*

Xu Jiu agreed wholeheartedly. He had struggled, fought, but talent—or the lack of it—was undeniable. It couldn’t be faked, couldn’t be cultivated. It was the most brutally straightforward truth.

Once, he studied until he collapsed with a high fever in his dorm. Yet, when the year-end exams came, someone else would still produce a perfect score and near-flawless lab grades, earning thunderous applause from the teachers.

No one noticed Xu Jiu, cared about his health or his improving grades. Only sidelong glances, whispered gossip, and mocking remarks about his overreach followed him all the way to high school.

Eventually, Xu Jiu gave up. He stopped fighting.

He accepted his mediocrity, just as he accepted his role as an NPC and his powerless future. Before even finishing high school, he was sent out to work at a research station.

Maybe this was just human nature—born small, died forgotten, coming and going without making a sound.

Time blurred together before Xu Jiu finally fell asleep, only to jolt awake soon after.

He was burning up with fever. His head heavy and dizzy, he rolled off the bed onto the floor, pressing his forehead against the cold ground for a while before staggering up and collapsing into a chair.

Xu Jiu’s wrist had swollen even more severely, the infection eating deeper, the pain now numb and barely allowing any movement. The edges of the wound oozed a bitter, foul-smelling pus, the reek so strong it made him dizzy.

Gritting his teeth on his sleeve, Xu Jiu unwound the damp, dirty bandage in slow circles and tossed it into the trash. Then, with great effort, he twisted open the bottle of iodine and dumped it straight on the wound.

"Ugh!" The cloth between his teeth choked his scream, but the sudden rush of saliva still soaked the fabric. His vision swam, he gulped air like a landed fish, and the pain sent sweat pouring down his back in an instant.

Suppressing his groans, he shakily tended to the wound. The workers' pod dorm had walls thinner than cardboard—if he made too much noise, his neighbors would report him to the supervisor immediately.

After barely managing to wipe away the excess iodine, he grabbed his tooth cup filled with cold water from the night before, tossed in some med powder, and sloshed it over the wound.

By the time he was done, Xu Jiu was drenched, as if he’d just been pulled out of water. The alarm clock on his bedside blared incessantly. Gasping for breath, he wrapped fresh bandages tightly around the wound, doing his best to hide any signs of it from others.

Shivering in waves, he glanced at himself in the mirror before leaving. The reflection showed disheveled hair clinging to his face, dark circles under his eyes, and lips pale, cracked, and dry—like death warmed over.

"Hurry up!" a crewmate barked impatiently from outside. "You’re the only one left. You trying to make us all late?"

No. 13 from the day before noticed his condition and couldn’t help but ask, "What’s wrong?"

"I…" Xu Jiu rasped, "I didn’t sleep well. Had nightmares all night."

"Oh," No. 13 chuckled knowingly. "Scared, huh? That’s more like a normal person. What was with that act yesterday? Made everyone uncomfortable…"

The group of seven headed for breakfast first. Unusually, Xu Jiu couldn’t eat. He barely touched the ration crackers and forced down only two mouthfuls of nutrient paste before shoving the bowl aside.

Luckily, whatever line No. 13 fed the others, no one paid attention to Xu Jiu’s odd state. He flipped between chills and fever sweats intermittently.

But the real problem wasn’t this. Sublevel 4 had strict health checks—workers had to be in perfect condition. Even a slightly abnormal temperature would land him in interrogation. Xu Jiu wouldn’t pass. If caught, his fate would be entirely out of his hands.

He had to stall for time. So, seizing the moment, he played his oldest trick.

Just as they were about to enter the elevator, he suddenly groaned, folding in half and clutching his stomach. The others startled, looking down at him.

"What’s wrong, No. 6?" one asked. "You sick?"

"Don’t know," Xu Jiu gasped. "Just… need the bathroom. Maybe caught a chill last night…"

He didn't even need to fake it—his face was already ghastly. No. 13 urged, "Go after the elevator! How do we explain you ditching?"

"Pin it on me," Xu Jiu wheezed. "Can’t hold it… really, not lying…"

"Hey, you—!" Before they could stop him, he'd already curled forward, stumbling toward the end of the hallway.

He ignored his teammates’ shouts and the people he bumped into along the way. Xu Jiu crashed into the john, shoved open a stall door, and leaned against the wall, panting, his heart trying to punch through his ribs.

His wrist had lost all feeling. The pain had flatlined into numbness, barely able to twitch. The only silver lining—it was his left hand, not his dominant right.

*Am I going to lose it…?*

Dazed, he rested for a while. Fortunately, it was work hours, and the restroom was empty. Only then did he dare loosen the bandage and clean the wound as best he could.

He buried his face in cold water, trying to lower his body temperature. He felt slightly clearer-headed now, but Xu Jiu didn’t know if it was a fleeting moment of clarity before the end.

Exhausted, he headed back to the elevator. Sure enough, as soon as he reached Sublevel 4 and approached the security checkpoint, before he could even step inside, a couple hard-faced guards snapped at him to stop.

"Halt! Show your ID badge!"

Xu Jiu froze in place, put down his tools, and pulled out his ID badge to be scanned.

"Sorry, sorry," Xu Jiu apologized profusely, "I caught a chill last night, had diarrhea, and couldn't help but visit the restroom..."

"Diarrhea?" The towering guard, built like two Xu Jius put together, frowned. "You—hey? Lift your head. What's wrong with your face?"

At his words, the others moved in closer. Xu Jiu’s heart pounded faster. "Probably a bit dehydrated..." he hurriedly said.

As he spoke, he was forced to raise his head slowly. In his vision, the towering blue glacier reappeared, along with the giant jellyfish frozen inside for thousands of years...

Wait.

Xu Jiu suddenly froze, involuntarily squinting.

Was the fever making him see things? Why did the scaffolding around the glacier seem to sway?

"...Hey, I’m talking to you! Go get your temperature measured! Need us to escort you?"

Coming to his senses, Xu Jiu opened his mouth. "That... behind..."

"Huh?"

"The scaffolding—it's moving," he muttered blankly. "The scaffolding behind is moving."

Hearing this, the guard instinctively turned. "What the hell are you talking about? Where’s the scaffolding moving—"

As he spoke, under everyone’s gaze, the scaffolding near the glacier swayed again—slowly, yet with terrifying intensity!

The guard: "..."

Level Negative Four exploded into chaos. The guard grabbed his radio and shouted, "Emergency! Emergency!"

Then, drawing his baton, he sprinted toward the scaffolding. Xu Jiu stood burning up and disoriented, unsure what to do. But the next second—like the twang of a broken guqin string—sharp, brittle cracking sounds erupted in rapid succession. The eternal ice, as if crushed by some immense force, splintered into a spiderweb of cracks.

"Control room calling Alpha Squad!" A young man’s voice echoed through the underground space from the control panel. "Control room calling Alpha Squad! Immediate backup required—the situation below is going to hell!"

No sooner had the words left his mouth than the towering scaffolding collapsed with a thunderous crash. The ground shook violently—some ran toward the glacier, others made a mad dash for the exits. Chaos ensued.

Then, Xu Jiu heard it.

The sound defied description, unrepeatable—not something any natural creature could produce. If forced to put it into words, it was like a specter drowning in blood, sinking while its bones squeezed out endless, bursting bubbles.

—The ice slowly peeled away, like a chick hatching from its egg. The jellyfish’s massive body gradually emerged into the air. The first things people saw were its silky, drifting tentacles and its iridescent, rainbow-colored feeding arms.

It was beautiful, like a dream.

The air filled with a haunting, sweet scent. A deathly silence enveloped the space. People seemed to forget their purpose entirely, stopping in their tracks, craning their necks, straining to take in the creature’s full form with their naked eyes.

And then—there was no "then."

—The dream ended abruptly. Those silken, ethereal tentacles, as elusive as ghosts, were just as terrifying. The moment they touched the air, they keenly detected the scent of living beings and began their first hunt in millennia.

Screams and shrieks erupted instantly. Against the monster, even the toughest protective suits were as flimsy as old paper, easily pierced and torn. Bodies were skewered like kebabs on razor wires, then leisurely wrapped by the feeding arms.

But in the blink of an eye, the screams vanished. People disappeared into the creature’s epidermis, like drops vanishing in the ocean—only the brief burst of steam marking where a living person had once been.

The feeding arms curled in ecstasy as the monster gorged on its victims' blood.

In this crisis, Xu Jiu suddenly had an epiphany—finally realizing the origin of his strange wound.

That mucus...! The people at the polar station must have extracted it from this monster's surface for experiments. That's why, despite the barriers of time and space, he was still being consumed inch by inch by this creature!

Xu Jiu wanted to run, but he had no strength left. He could only be shoved around by the chaotic crowd, barely hanging onto the doorframe.

The giant jellyfish had already squeezed out a third of its mass. Its bioluminescent bell floated in the air like a large, soft bubble, rippling hypnotically without any wind. Beneath the bell, its transparent, fleshy tentacles unfurled like some exotic bloom, spiraling layer by layer in a deadly dance.

"Get out NOW—!"

On the control platform, the young man's voice turned borderline hysterical. Several massive oral arms streaked through the air, shearing through metal, crushing stone pillars, and splitting the sturdy control platform in half!

The command was abruptly cut off, dissolving into a sharp screech over the broadcast before even that sound faded into silence.

No one dared to stay. The most fervent researchers, those most obsessed with their studies, had already been reduced to chunky slurry, sucked into the giant jellyfish's gullet.

Suddenly, the lights went out. A deafening mechanical howl erupted from the third basement level, shaking the ceiling of the fourth basement violently. With a thunderous crash, Alpha Squad dropped in like hell’s cavalry! The Maxim heavy machine guns spun rapidly, spitting blue fire. Before they even landed, a volley of seven rocket salvos streaked through the air, erupting into twenty-eight blinding explosions in rapid succession.

The glacier shrieked like a dying beast, the hollow, rhythmic sound growing louder. Xu Jiu, curled under a table, finally realized—it wasn’t some "ghost blowing bubbles," but the friction between the giant jellyfish's gelatinous layers, producing that eerie noise.

The jellyfish was almost free, with only a fraction of its body still encased in ice. Enraged by its prey, its tentacles splayed like a living snare, hovering impossibly in the air as if buoyed by invisible seawater.

This defying physics, nightmare-like posture didn’t make Alpha Squad retreat even a step. Two of its oral arms already bore blistering burns—it wasn’t invincible.

"Switch to missiles!" a squad member roared. "Rockets are just pissing it off! Blast it to pieces!"

"That’ll kill us too!" another shouted back. "Dr. Shi is still in the control room!"

"Dr. Shi’s gone," someone muttered darkly. "That thing ate him. Not even a toothpick left of him."

Another forty-nine rocket salvos lit the underground like a barbecue pit. The sound of falling metal shards resembled the death rattle of a gutted animal.

The squad leader assessed the prehistoric monster’s injuries with a grim expression. In an instant, he made his decision.

"...Missiles won’t be enough. Before it fully breaks free, initiate the lab’s self-destruct protocol."

"That’s a mini-nuke’s payload! All research data will be lost!" someone protested urgently. "HQ’ll have our heads for this!"

"If we don’t, the entire polar substation will be destroyed!" the leader snapped. "No debate. Initiate now!"

What were they planning?

Xu Jiu froze. Though he couldn’t understand their military jargon, their tone was clear—something big was about to happen.

What now? Lie here and wait to die, or crawl out and deal with the rest later?

...Forget it.

Head spinning, he hauled himself upright and began crawling out.

If death came quick, he’d count it as a win. But judging by the flames, he’d be fried to a crisp. Not even a clean death. Why stay?

The elevator was long gone. Dragging his nearly useless arm, Xu Jiu climbed the half-collapsed stairs, leaving the explosions behind.

The giant jellyfish didn’t notice him. Neither did Alpha Squad—or maybe they just didn’t care. He was a weed, the cockroach kind that could peek through cracks even after being trampled a thousand times.

When he finally crawled out, Xu Jiu collapsed, too exhausted for tears. Outside was chaos. A few guards, seeing someone emerge, risked their lives to rush over.

"What’s happening inside? Did Alpha Squad contain it?"

"This place is toast—MOVE!" Xu Jiu gasped, gripping a sleeve with his last strength.

After saying this, he could no longer hold on and suddenly blacked out.

·

As for what happened afterward, Xu Jiu had no idea.

His final warning saved many lives, so the guards didn’t bite the hand that fed them. Instead, they dragged him onto a vehicle together and transported him to safety. However, Xu Jiu’s status was merely that of the lowliest janitor, so no one cared about his physical condition or injuries. They just tossed him aside, gave him an IV drip, and left it at that.

He was unconscious for a full day and night. When he gradually regained awareness, Xu Jiu found himself squeezed into a crowded infirmary, the IV drip in his right hand still dripping steadily.

As it turned out, his intuition had been dead right. The entire underground research base had been ruthlessly blown up by Alpha Squad. The survivors had evacuated to a temporary shelter three kilometers from the incident site, waiting for the decontamination procedures to complete before they could return.

As for that colossal jellyfish monster—

“Chunks of gore raining down!” a chatty onlooker excitedly recounted the words they’d heard. “They say they had to dispatch over a dozen bulldozers, and even hazmat crews in full gear still lost several people to the poison…”

—Alpha Squad had buried it forever in the depths of the polar region, losing half their team in the process.

Xu Jiu flexed his fingers, feeling as though a lifetime had passed.

Whether by sheer luck or something else, his left hand still had some sensation, though every inch of his skin was prickling with raw numbness. It reminded him of being bullied as a child, forced to eat a mouthful of mouth-numbing Sichuan peppercorns.

Maybe the intense movement had improved blood circulation? Maybe the jellyfish’s toxins had been flushed out or weakened? He didn’t want to dwell on the reasons—he couldn’t even if he tried.

Slowly, he moved his arm, carefully pinching his left hand’s purplish thumb and forefinger together to pull out the IV needle from his right hand, then sat up on the bed.

Looking back now, would it have been better to die in the explosion than to continue drifting through this hellhole?

There was no time for him to ponder. Just two days later, news came from the ruins of the lab building: the radiation decontamination procedures were complete, and "loyal Mobius employees were needed for reconstruction work." And so, Xu Jiu had no choice but to drag his ailing body back to that place by vehicle.

After such a catastrophe, the polar station had completely lost its former precise and rigid order. Researchers and guards mingled together, loudly discussing reconstruction plans, while a dozen or so stressed-out higher-ups hurried back and forth, trying to figure out how to report to headquarters. He even spotted a few members of Alpha Squad, standing like hulking shadows beside some mysterious scholars—no one dared approach them.

“Huh…? Number 6?” Amid the chaos, someone suddenly called out his employee number. “Isn’t that Number 6?!”

Xu Jiu turned and saw the unmistakable bloated face of the supervisor. Ever since Xu Jiu’s team had been assigned to the lab, the supervisor had no authority over their whereabouts.

“Damn it, what are you doing wandering around here? Get over here and work!” The supervisor cursed as he shoved through the crowd, trying to drag Xu Jiu away. “Who do you think you are, acting all high and mighty…”

Xu Jiu stared at him blankly for a moment, then raised his bruised, bloated hand. “Sorry, supervisor. I got injured down there.”

The supervisor took one look at his hand, assumed he’d been hit on the arm, and hesitated.

“Fine, fine, get lost! Don’t let me see you again, you good-for-nothing waste…”

The man turned and left. Xu Jiu found a dusty patch of ground and slumped down, staring vacantly at the bustling scene before him, his mind empty.

It was true—he was useless. No education, no skills. Even if he somehow escaped the institute’s control, he’d probably end up scrubbing floors for someone else, and they might even complain he wasn’t as thorough as the cleaning ladies. Now that his hand was like this, whether it needed amputation—or whether he even qualified for amputation—was anyone’s guess…

Before, he’d had no future. Now, he’d lost the present too. Xu Jiu’s expression was blank, like a hollow shell. As the chaotic day dragged on and the remaining buildings gradually turned off their lights, he remained sitting on the cold ground, adrift in the dark.

Suddenly, his ears twitched slightly at an unusual sound.

Because it was located at the outermost edge, the low-level employees’ dormitory building had miraculously survived intact. Next to the dormitory stood a massive garbage sorting bin, where daily trash was dumped before being hauled away for centralized disposal. Right now, there was a scuttling noise near the bin, like something digging.

But this was underground—where would wind come from?

Xu Jiu remained seated, unwilling to move, but the noise grew increasingly brazen, sending plastic bags crackling. Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore. He forced himself to lurch forward, intending to kick whatever was making the noise farther away.

When he reached it, Xu Jiu’s eyes widened abruptly, his entire body trembling violently as the weariness of near-death shattered in an instant.

—One, a single piece, or perhaps a lump? A see-through blob of jelly was wobbling at the side of the trash bin, kept poking out little feelers to hook onto the mostly rotten vegetable leaves inside the bag.

The distant light was dim, so it emitted a faint blue shimmer. The moment Xu Jiu noticed it, it froze stiff as well.

And so, on an utterly ordinary night, at an utterly ordinary moment, a guy barely scraping by, used to plastering on hollow grins, discovered another ragged little weirdo.

Author's Note:

Xu Jiu: *Gloomily swings a mop, accidentally hitting eighteen people in the face* My life is already over. I’ll be trapped in the hell of hunger forever, until the end of the world!

Little jellyfish: *Skulks by the trash bin, lets out sketchy squeaks, trembles in panic, and suspiciously looks like a very tasty jelly*

Xu Jiu: *Eyes it with sketchy hunger*