Chapter 20 The Fool Has Nothing (20)

Chapter 20: Fools Possess Nothing (20)

Xu Jiu couldn’t form words—in fact, he was unable to speak at all.

Tears mixed with saliva, soaking the fabric over his chest. He twitched slightly for a while before his shattered thoughts and awareness slowly pieced themselves back together, bit by bit.

What just happened?

…Am I dreaming?

Am I dreaming?!

Shi Yesheng, however, was thoroughly pleased, though it didn’t know where this emotion came from or why it had arisen.

All it knew was that the moment it deeply invaded the human’s body, buried itself in his soft throat, and poured an energy-rich fluid into him, its own brain had trembled. A tingling current rippled through it, traveling to every neuron—it was overwhelmed by pure happiness and a satisfaction it had never experienced before.

Humans, it hummed softly in its mind, humans… strange, marvelous humans.

“You…” Xu Jiu finally regained his ability to speak, though his voice remained slurred, “What are you doing…?”

“Humans absorb energy too inefficiently,” Shi Yesheng first replied smoothly, then caught its mistake and hurriedly corrected itself, “My way relieves hunger more efficiently.”

Xu Jiu, still dazed and disoriented, didn’t notice the slip-up at all. He yelled in fury, “That doesn’t mean you should do that!”

His voice echoed loudly in the silent night. Before long, a loud bang echoed from the next room as a warning. Only then did Xu Jiu finally realize and quickly lower his voice, “That doesn’t mean you should do that, shouldn’t, shouldn’t…”

Shouldn’t what?

Shouldn’t pin me to the bed? Shouldn’t shove that tube from your mouth straight into my stomach? Shouldn’t feed me like that? Or all three?

Right now, his head was a jumbled fog, and his tongue felt tied. Shi Yesheng watched as his cheeks flushed red, eyes brimming with unshed tears, looking like he was about to burst into tears. Its chest thumped wildly, as if something had struck it hard.

Cute, the thought vaguely surfaced in its mind, that word fit perfectly… cute.

“But, quicker than eating,” it argued, fidgeting impatiently, “Lets me stay near you. Mm, good.”

Humans were small and soft, fitting perfectly into its body. Plus, they ate little, took up no space, and smelled nice…

Thinking this, Shi Yesheng suddenly felt regret.

How much joy had its Homoform experienced here! The more Shi Yesheng pondered, the more it believed humans were rare treasures—one in ten thousand.

Number Six had far better luck—it had secretly claimed the most special human and established an intimate bond with him. Compared to the fragments still lurking silently in buildings, minds fixated solely on hunting and eating, Number Six was undoubtedly more advanced.

At first, it had been consumed by thoughts of "how to kill the human." Now, it had personally dismissed those thoughts entirely, retaining only one: "must find a way to get the human for myself."

But for some reason, the human seemed even angrier upon hearing its words, gritting his teeth and throwing a flurry of punches and kicks.

The human’s strength was barely enough to tickle. Shi Yesheng gazed at him absently, indulging him as he vented his anger.

Xu Jiu frantically beat the jellyfish for over ten minutes before exhausting himself, collapsing onto the jellyfish and gasping for breath. His eyelids were too heavy to lift, and before he could say another word, he passed out.

The next day, Xu Jiu woke up groggy, still convinced last night had been a dream. But his full stomach, the abundant energy coursing through his body, and the lingering feeling of intrusion in his throat all cruelly revealed the truth—what happened last night was real!

He climbed out of bed scowling, washed up scowling, and changed clothes scowling. As he moved about, the jellyfish floated quietly behind him, looking meek and obedient. But when he prepared to leave with that same scowl—and made no move to give the jellyfish a forehead kiss—it finally grabbed him.

“What?” Xu Jiu snapped.

The jellyfish extended a tentacle toward him, tapping its own forehead.

It didn’t know why it was doing this, but its instincts warned it that failing to do so would mean missing out on rewards.

"No kisses for you today!" Xu Jiu snapped. "You’ll get kisses only when you’ve reflected on your mistakes!"

He had never spoken to Number Six in such a harsh tone before. Seeing the jellyfish flinch, Xu Jiu immediately felt a pang of regret.

Then again, what did a jellyfish even understand? They were wild creatures, driven by instinct, utterly unlike humans. Sure, Number Six went too far last night, but why expect it to follow human rules?

Human faces were so expressive, making their eyes sparkle… So beautiful!

Shi Yesheng was so stimulated that its tentacles swelled, almost pouncing on him. Then, it heard the human sigh softly before pulling one of its tentacles and planting a kiss on its forehead.

"Don’t do that again," Xu Jiu muttered. "Don’t treat me like that again! Understood?"

Without waiting for Shi Yesheng’s response, he turned and walked out the door, as if running away.

Those two little pecks left Shi Yesheng tingling and weak, its skin quivering. How could it possibly hear what he was saying? So while it obediently apologized with its words, its heart remained utterly unrepentant.

Today’s workload was heavy—Xu Jiu had been assigned to clean lab equipment.

Not only did he have to wear bulky protective gear, but the test tubes and distillation flasks were coated in a tar-like black substance that even strong cleaning agents couldn’t handle. After three rounds of soaking, sweat dotted his forehead, yet the greasy film stubbornly clung to the glass.

This job was inhuman, he sighed.

Xu Jiu didn’t feel particularly tired, thanks to being force-fed last night—his energy and stamina were still high. Others weren’t so lucky, gasping, their visors fogged from breath and sweat, which they couldn’t wipe, leaving them stiff and sore from standing and scrubbing.

Just as he was fretting, the jellyfish quietly drifted close to his ear and whispered in a voice only he could hear: "I can help."

"No way," Xu Jiu said. "That won’t work."

Number Six was terrifyingly strong—fragile glassware would turn to dust at the slightest touch.

But the jellyfish didn’t give up. The protective suit covered him head to toe, seamless and whole, yet somehow it found a gap and slipped a tentacle inside, playfully flicking his earlobe.

"I told you no…" It tickled, and Xu Jiu lifted his shoulder, trying to shoo away the mischievous tentacle. "You’ll wreck them, and it’s coming out of my paycheck—"

"I won’t," the jellyfish insisted. "Look."

The brush in his hand oozed a translucent, gelatinous substance, like tough soft jelly, slowly flowing to the bristles and encasing them.

Soon, he was holding a highly flexible brush now basically a jellyfish limb.

Xu Jiu: "?"

He quickly submerged it in water and glanced around warily. "Dude! If anyone sees this—?!"

"Impossible," Shi Yesheng said before urging, "I can help."

Skeptical, Xu Jiu waved the brush handle—the tentacle trembled and wobbled in his grip.

…It felt like some kind of bizarrely shaped magic wand. Weird.

But with no other options, he carefully swirled it inside the distillation flask.

It worked like magic! Whatever strange properties the jellyfish’s mucus had, it effortlessly dissolved the stubborn tar. A rinse with fresh water left the glass sparkling clean, gleaming like new.

Xu Jiu's eyes lit up with excitement.

He treated it like a treasure, as if he had obtained some novel toy, haphazardly scrubbing through a pile of intricately shaped glassware to test the little brush's capabilities. Shi Yesheng gazed at him with quiet pleasure, its many appendages swaying gently like seaweed.

Noticing that no one was paying attention to them, Xu Jiu even began bending the tentacle into various shapes, dipping it in cleaning solution, and secretly waving it in the air to create whimsical bubble shapes. Shi Yesheng indulged him, warping the light with precision around him, making it impossible for surveillance or human eyes to observe the true situation there.

This was just a trivial, insignificant thing, yet the human could draw such secret little thrill from it, giggling like a child.

Shi Yesheng suddenly realized a truth—it began to feel that the human could ask anything of it. Any wish uttered from his lips would bring it immense joy to fulfill and make real.

Maybe it had grown softer-hearted than before, but if the human did not obtain everything he desired, it would be a disgrace—irrefutable proof of its complete failure to properly nurture such a precious, perfect being.

—That would be undeniable evidence of its utter incompetence.

Shi Yesheng devoured Xu Jiu with its gaze. The more intently it looked, the more obvious the impulse in its heart became. It wanted to charge out right now, unleashing a blood-soaked orgy of consumption and slaughter in this enemy-filled place, roaring challenges at all opponents to display its strength and might. Afterward, it would stand as the sole, unshaken ruler. Then, it would present this victory to the human and personally feed him the richest, most bountiful spoils.

...Or perhaps abandon this plan! No destruction, no ruin—just focus on breeding a warm, intimate nest, taking the human there, far from all noise and danger. In this vast world, that was all it needed.

These two extreme thoughts clashed and surged in its mind, each vying for dominance. One moment, the former prevailed, making its body restless and secreting multiple times the usual venom. The next, the latter took over, causing its ovipositors to throb near to bursting. Beneath its oral cavity, its crop swelled with biomatter for nest-building—ready to gush forth like a flood if it opened its valves, drowning the room, the corridors, every place the human stood.

Amid such conflicting, intense desires, Shi Yesheng experienced for the first time a strange cocktail of awe and terror.

It could barely muster a shred of rationality to ponder the bizarre situation at hand.

...What exactly is happening? Why have I become like this?