Chapter 4 The Fool Has Nothing (4)

Chapter 4 The Fool's Got Nothing Left (Part 4)

For a moment, Xu Jiu's mind went completely blank.

What should he do? Should he run away immediately? Should he scream while running? Or should he take the risk and try to catch this escaped creature himself...

His thoughts raced chaotically for an instant, but the toxic blob on the ground seemed to have already sensed his intentions. It trembled urgently and emitted—

Xu Jiu stumbled back in panic.

—a tiny, pitiful mewl, like that of a kitten.

Xu Jiu: "?"

The kitten-like sound vanished, replaced by the helpless whimpers of a puppy, then the chirping of a hungry baby bird, the tender bleating of a lamb resembling a human infant, the squeaks of a fox cub... Finally, it even mimicked the cries of a human child, tearfully calling out "Mama" to Xu Jiu.

Xu Jiu: "..."

The dozen or so sounds it cycled through in an instant made one thing painfully clear: this little monster was going all out to evoke his pity.

Faced with such an absurd sight, Xu Jiu should have been horrified. Yet, at this moment, all he felt was equal parts amused and exasperated.

Maybe he really was too lonely. He slowly crouched down, extending his injured left hand—along with the barely-there bandages—toward the slime and said softly, "You still have the nerve to act pitiful in front of me? Look at what you've done to me!"

The blob—or more accurately, the remnant of a giant jellyfish—wriggled on the ground. Though it had no eyes, Xu Jiu couldn't shake the illusion that it was sizing him up.

"Who's there?!" A flashlight beam suddenly pierced the dark from afar. The commotion must have caught the attention of the night patrol.

Xu Jiu startled. Without a second thought, acting purely on instinct, he channeled his cafeteria food-rushing skills and scooped up the blob in his hand, shoving it into his shirt with practiced ease. Only then did he put on a panicked act, standing up and turning to face the guard.

His heart pounded wildly. It wasn't until he'd smoothly completed the entire motion that he remembered the creature was supposed to be toxic.

Strangely enough, though, the little jellyfish's body was soft and slippery—less like jelly and more like mercury that held its shape. And now, despite touching it with his bare hands, nothing happened.

Before he could ponder further, the guard was practically in his face.

"You! What are you doing here?!"

"I, I..." Xu Jiu hastily raised his hands, looking guilty as sin as he stammered, "Sorry, really sorry... I-I was just so hungry..."

The three guards shone their flashlights at him, then at the huge dumpster behind him, immediately understanding the implication of his words. They fell silent for a moment before breaking into uproarious laughter.

"HAHAHAHAHA! Oh my God—did you hear what this guy just said? 'So hungry'! So hungry he's digging through trash in the middle of the night!"

The trio howled with laughter. Xu Jiu let out a relieved breath, knowing they'd bought his excuse and likely wouldn't give him too much trouble.

Once their laughter died down, the three glanced at Xu Jiu with a mix of mockery, disdain, and a hint of sympathy. One of them swept the flashlight beam over Xu Jiu's face and suddenly said, "Hey, aren't you that guy who escaped last? The one from the lab building?"

He turned to explain to his colleagues, "This guy was the last one to get out of the lab building before the explosion. He's the one who warned everyone to evacuate. Sure enough, right after we pulled back, the whole plaza blew..."

The others nodded in understanding. The guard looked at Xu Jiu with a trace of pity and, in a rare moment of generosity, pulled two protein bars from his pocket and tossed them to him.

"Here, take these. Go fill your stomach and get back to your dorm. No more wandering around at night, got it?!"

Xu Jiu laid on the gratitude thick before heading back to his room, feeling like he was still dreaming.

An odd rustling noise came from his pocket. Xu Jiu looked down to find the little jellyfish had already crawled from his chest into his pants pocket and was now noisily working at the crinkly plastic wrapper of the protein bars, trying to cram the whole thing in.

Jesus...

Xu Jiu hastily snatched the protein bar away from it. Deprived of food, the little jellyfish instantly flew into a rage, splaying its underdeveloped oral arms wide like a menacing, angular sea star, ready to pounce on Xu Jiu.

"Alright, alright!" Xu Jiu quickly pressed the protein bar against its head... or wherever that was. "Dumb little thing, why the hurry? This isn't how you eat it!"

The little jellyfish seemed to understand him, slowly retracting its tentacles and puffing up defensively as it settled on the table, facing Xu Jiu directly.

With one hand unusable and unwilling to bite the part the jellyfish had sucked on, Xu Jiu endured the sharp pain, forming a crab-claw grip with his left hand to hold the protein bar and prevent it from slipping. Then, with his right hand, he tore open the wrapper bit by bit.

Though it had no eyes, Xu Jiu felt the little creature staring unblinkingly at him. As soon as the protein bar hit the air, the jellyfish couldn’t resist bouncing slightly, itching to lunge.

*Just like a dog...*

Xu Jiu muttered to himself, breaking the protein bar into small squares and intending to place them on the table. Wherever his hand moved, the jellyfish's center of gravity followed, giving Xu Jiu the creeps. He quickly dumped the handful of protein bar pieces onto the table, then opened one for himself and sat down to eat.

The little jellyfish scuttled onto the pile, oozing like liquid mercury to envelop the fragments. Through its translucent body, Xu Jiu could clearly see the protein bars dissolving like sand in water, vanishing into the gelatinous bell.

The research station's protein bars were infamously hard. While Xu Jiu was still gnawing at it and softening it with saliva, the little jellyfish had already digested an entire bar and was now gathering the remaining crumbs on the table, using its short oral arms to shovel them into its maw.

The sight amused Xu Jiu, but his smile didn’t last long. After licking the table clean, the jellyfish scuttled over to him, plopping down heavily in front of him like a demanding little blob.

Xu Jiu: "…………"

With a sigh, Xu Jiu broke off another half and fed it to the jellyfish with his fingers.

"That's all," Xu Jiu said. "How can something so small eat so much...?"

The jellyfish glooped, elongating its body to snatch the piece of protein bar. Xu Jiu hurriedly tossed the last remaining bit into his own mouth to keep the little thief from eyeing it.

Staring at the little monster on the table, Xu Jiu gradually spaced out.

*Seriously, what am I even thinking?*

According to what he'd heard earlier, that giant jellyfish should have been reduced to confetti. Xu Jiu had no doubt about Mobius's methods and arrangements—if they said the jellyfish's remains had been thoroughly disposed of, then what was this thing in front of him?

The thought sent goosebumps prickling his arms.

*If it really has such freakish resilience—if even after being blown to bits, it can regenerate into a new individual and escape the research station's airtight containment procedures—then what about the rest of the scattered remains?*

Xu Jiu shuddered, not daring to dwell on it further.

*So... what exactly is it?*

In all his life, he'd never heard of such a creature. Enormous size, extreme toxicity, possessing unnatural toughness and aggression beyond ordinary comprehension—clearly, it had a degree of intelligence, even capable of mimicking over a dozen animal sounds. *Was it a natural creation? Or... something extraterrestrial?*

At twenty years old, Xu Jiu felt like he'd teleported from reality into a B-movie, leaving him dizzy and speechless.

*Why did I even bring it back? Why did I hide its existence from the guards?*

He knew full well that if this were discovered—if he were caught sheltering a lethal lab reject—the consequences would be a fate worse than death.

...Wait a second.

Xu Jiu stared at the little jellyfish, suddenly leaning in and lifting it up. His fear faded in the face of curiosity as he manhandled it, kneading the jellyfish until it let out indignant glops.

*It grew.*

Xu Jiu stared in astonishment.

*No mistake—it’s actually larger!*

After consuming one and a half protein bars, the little jellyfish had noticeably grown larger. Xu Jiu's hands were coated with its slick moisture, and only when the tiny creature flared its tentacles threateningly did he reluctantly let go.

...It actually felt pretty nice.

But how could it grow so fast?

Xu Jiu's mind raced, and a lightbulb went off above his head with a *ding*.

I know what to do with it!

Suddenly, he found a purpose to strive for in life, feeling completely energized.

—I can raise it until it's big enough to devour me whole!

The more he thought about it, the more feasible the plan seemed.

After all, there was no way he could escape Mobius' clutches in this lifetime. If he couldn’t control how he lived, shouldn’t he at least decide how he died? He’d witnessed the giant jellyfish’s power firsthand—it could turn a living person into a puddle of lifeless mush in the blink of an eye.

Here, Xu Jiu had seen every kind of death imaginable. Execution by gunshot was considered a rare kindness. In the lab’s value system, life was property, currency, and above all, free, high-grade lab material. Low-level employees who made grave mistakes were usually fought over by various project teams, only to meet inventively horrible deaths.

What was worse, the "expendables'" deaths could be dragged out horrifyingly over months—even years.

Sometimes, Xu Jiu wondered if it was because he’d seen too much of this that he was so terrified of a life without control, to the point of dreaming of a quick, painless death.

"Hey," he grinned, crouching down to eye level with the little jellyfish, "Let’s strike a deal, okay?"

Little jellyfish: "?"

Xu Jiu said earnestly, "Let me raise you."

The little jellyfish tilted its head.

"You grow fast, so I’ll raise you. In exchange, when you’re big enough, you’ll devour me whole. Deal?"

The little jellyfish smacked its... whatever passed for a mouth. Facing it, Xu Jiu sensed a hint of confusion.

But screw it—Xu Jiu counted that as a yes.

"Then it’s settled!" He stood up, breaking into his first real, beaming smile in a long time.

Life finally had meaning! Just thinking about it filled him with joy.

Grinning at the little creature before him, he suddenly remembered something and crouched back down.

"Oh right, you don’t have a name yet," Xu Jiu frowned, studying the creature. "Calling you 'hey' all the time won't do..."

After a moment’s thought, his eyes lit up. "Got it!"

Xu Jiu held up his ID badge and said seriously to the little jellyfish, "I didn’t even finish high school, so I’m not educated enough to give you a fancy name."

He smiled sheepishly. "So, I’ll share my ID number with you! Number Six. From today on, that’s your name—just like mine."

The little jellyfish—or rather, Number Six—lay on the table like a puffy little frog. After a long pause, it blew a bubble toward Xu Jiu.

Author's Note:

Xu Jiu: *Swings a mop, trying to slap eighteen more people in the face, but fails because everyone avoids the area* What! My life without freedom—is there really no way to end it all?! *cries*

Little jellyfish: *Secretly eats all the protein bars and rapidly expands like rising dough*

Xu Jiu: *Discovers a new world, stops crying* Ah, this is exactly what I need! Eat lots and grow as big as a house, then fly me out of here!