Her Tentacles 81

Chapter 81: The Flower Hat

Shu Yao didn’t want to eat.

She began to feel afraid of what was about to happen, but she could neither leave this little octopus’s body, nor could she turn back time to just now—

If only she hadn’t brought that mermaid over.

The scale hanging on her tentacle was also soaked in that thick blood. Facing the overwhelming flesh and blood that was coming at her, she frantically paddled the seawater, and in a panic, she wanted to escape the area shrouded by the [Lighthouse].

No!

She didn’t want to eat!

How could she eat a friend!

The little octopus fled all the way to the beautiful city in the distance. She plunged into the coral reefs, trying hard to banish the memory of that mermaid’s flesh and blood from her mind, and even trying hard to endure that clamorous hunger.

She didn’t want to eat, she wouldn’t eat.

The little octopus hid itself alone in the spiky coral reefs, deceiving itself by closing its eyes, and placed the scale that the mermaid had given her on the softest part of its abdomen, thus forcing itself into a deep sleep.

As long as she was asleep, she wouldn’t feel hungry.

During this time, even though the tentacles refused to sleep and wanted to go out, the hiding nest Shu Yao had chosen had a complex structure, and the intertwined coral branches were extremely sharp. Whenever the tentacles, due to their instinctive hunger, wanted to escape and tried to climb out bit by bit, they would take the wrong path because they were in a hurry, which would cause their tentacles to be scratched and forced back by the pain.

The blood that flowed out from the tentacles spread, and after the wound slowly healed, this little bit of blood would in turn nourish their hunger.

Shu Yao thought she could just sleep like this forever.

…

Until the thick smell of blood surrounded her.

When she woke up from her deep sleep, she found that her tentacles were biting something, making a crisp “crunch” sound.

She had a bad premonition in her heart. She opened her eyes and saw the already lusterless, lifeless gray scale, which had been bitten at the edge by one of her tentacles.

A huge gap had appeared.

Sensing that she was in a bad mood, the little tentacle immediately let go of this scale that it had accidentally rolled into while eating, and carefully pressed it back against its abdomen, then rolled up the piece of meat in front of it and put it in her mouthparts.

【Hungry, meat, fragrant.】

Only then did Shu Yao see her predicament from the already changed, completely red seawater.

The coral reefs that had been able to trap the tentacles from going out to hunt before she fell asleep had long since died and decayed in large areas, becoming extremely fragile. The tentacles only needed to touch them lightly, and they would break.

The cage she had found for herself could no longer hold this hungry beast.

And in front of her, a mountain of corpses and bones was piled up.

From the unique upper half of the spine, and the lower half of the spiky bones that were completely the same as those of a fish, she could tell at a glance what these corpses were.

They were all mermaids.

And in the distance, the city that should have been enveloped by a huge bubble and looked like a magnificent palace had also become like this dead coral reef.

The giant pillars had collapsed, the dome had cracked, and the mermaid-like elves that had once swam through the seawater were no longer to be seen. Only desolation and decay shrouded it, like a ruin at the bottom of the sea.

Shu Yao was completely stunned.

But her tentacles were still eating hard, as if they had been hungry for too long and were finally able to eat, and they were joyfully sending that flesh and blood into her mouth.

It was unknown from when.

Her body had already reached half the height of these piled-up flesh and blood.

How on earth… did she grow up?

These mermaids, were they all killed by her tentacles while she was asleep, when the coral reefs had died and they had slipped out?

Did she kill these mermaids?!

Shu Yao felt her thoughts collapse. She refused the feeding of another piece of flesh and blood, and even forced all her tentacles to stop eating.

They swayed gently in confusion, not understanding why she wouldn’t eat. This meat was delicious.

【Who… who did this?】 Shu Yao asked in a hoarse voice.

Hunger and pain burned her reason at the same time.

As the tentacles felt her anger, but could not understand her emotions, and could only sway at a loss, the first tentacle that could not bear the hunger quietly went toward the piece of meat.

It wanted to feed its master something delicious to cheer her up.

And then—

Shu Yao bit off this tentacle.

The azure blood spread. Her own limb was eaten, and then the next one.

In the bloody ocean, the blue blood flowing from the octopus mixed in. This octopus was frantically gnawing on its own limbs.

The tentacles were eaten, and then they slowly grew back from the broken wounds. Perhaps it was because she had once eaten the entire patch of healing seaweed at the bottom of the sea that she had an extremely strong regenerative ability.

But she did not stop at all, just crazily used her own body to fill that terrifying hunger.

It was unknown how much time had passed.

It was unknown which tentacle had regrown, but it was too slender compared to her huge body. It bent and touched her eye socket.

【Don’t—don’t cry. Eat. Eat me.】

Shu Yao stopped her action.

The other newly grown tentacles also came to the side of her mouthparts and offered themselves.

【Me, delicious.】

【I’m fragrant! Eat me!】

They sensed the immense pain transmitted from the main brain. The newborn nerve cells had not inherited the memories and could not figure out the reason, but they could feel the hunger, so the newly grown tentacles would all think that this kind of hunger could only be stopped by pain.

However, until this moment.

Tears kept pouring from the octopus’s eyes, merging with the flowing seawater, and were diluted by the blood. Only her tentacles knew that she was crying.

She finally stopped this crazy self-cannibalism.

Because she knew.

It wasn’t their fault.

If she hadn’t, because of that mermaid’s death, deceived herself into a deep sleep, and let her body fall into a terrifying hunger, the tentacles would not have gone out to hunt after the coral reefs had died.

It was all her fault. It was she who had not fed them well, it was she who had not managed them well, and it was she who had caused the mermaid’s death.

She looked at the fallen scale again. The huge gap on it seemed to have also appeared in her heart.

Deep in her heart, there was a place, like that dimmed city of Atlantis, that had collapsed.

…

Just then.

A beautiful jellyfish, like a colorful hat, swam toward her.

The colors on her body were very bright, red, blue, and light yellow. Her stinging tentacles were like short paper ribbons, decorating the area near her bell.

Inside the semi-transparent bell, there were also fine stinging threads of these colors, which were extremely beautiful.

【Huh? Why aren’t you eating?】

She breathed in and out, swimming around Shu Yao, and asked with concern, 【Is it because the pieces aren’t cut small enough after they’re killed? I specially had the box jellyfish help cut them. You have to eat more to grow up faster.】

As she said this, she circled the octopus a few more times. 【Why are you a circle smaller than before? It took me so much effort to raise you!】

Shu Yao stared at this flower-hat-like jellyfish.

Perhaps it was because her eyesight was not very good, but the other did not see the realization and anger in her eyes. She continued to chatter, 【I’m sorry. I didn’t know when you were born. It should have been my turn to take you, but I ran too far—】

【The ‘Lighthouse’ told me about you, that you accidentally mistook those foods for friends. It’s all my fault. I didn’t tell you in time not to get close to that city. That was the food that the ‘Lighthouse’ had dragged over, and in the end, it was all to be eaten by us…】

She stopped halfway through her sentence.

Because the little octopus had flown up and landed on her bell, opened its mouthparts, and without hesitation, bit down on her edge.

“Gulp.”

It took a bite of a few shredded stinging tentacles, and it was still numb.

A moment later, the little octopus closed its eyes and fainted from the numbness.

The jellyfish: !

By the time Shu Yao woke up again, it wasn’t just that colorful jellyfish surrounding her, but also all sorts of other jellyfish.

Some were slender, with a deep blue body. The stinging tentacles under their bells were as if they had been intricately woven, and then they hung down long, like a young girl with a beautiful hairstyle.

Some were all pink, their stinging tentacles long and wide, with the edges curved in the arc of a sea wave, and they were particularly gentle when they floated.

Shu Yao had never seen so many jellyfish in this sea area before.

They had all gathered around.

【You’re the newborn ‘Glutton’? I heard you were so hungry you gnawed on ‘Flower Hat,’ but then you were numbed by her. Is that right?】

【Oh my, your color is so cool, and your tentacles are so cute.】

【I know, I know. She’s the little one who accidentally mistook the city that the Lighthouse dragged over for her home. ‘Flower Hat,’ that’s your fault. You clearly knew a new sister was born. Why did you run so far away?】

Being pointed at by the other jellyfish, the Flower Hat jellyfish, which had been gnawed on a small edge by the octopus before, swam over again and honestly apologized to Shu Yao.

【I’m sorry. It’s all my fault.】

Shu Yao thought of that city, and then of those unfamiliar mermaids who seemed to have been dragged by this jellyfish to be cut into pieces by other jellyfish. She expressionlessly chased after her and gnawed on her again.

She was going to eat this hateful jellyfish.

【Hey, hey, hey—】

The other jellyfish all came over to stop her. 【Don’t bite her anymore. You’ll make her ugly if you keep gnawing on her. Besides, do you want to be numbed again? She’s not delicious either.】

Shu Yao treated everyone equally and gnawed on all the jellyfish that were trying to stop her.