Delicate, Yet Shamelessly Freeloading [Quick Transmigration] Chapter 45

Chapter 45: The Blind Widower in the Infinite Game (12)

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Towering waves surged—the kind of force never seen in the shallows before. The wooden boat, like a rootless lotus leaf, was easily capsized, tossed and tumbled across the boundless sea. Not a trace of the red bridal color remained amid the ink-dark waves.

 

The thick rope tied to the stern of the boat quietly loosened its knot.

 

Without the rope’s anchor, Yuan Yu suddenly lost his balance and fell backward onto the beach. The beans and flower petals were swept back by the waves and landed at his feet.

 

His pupils shrank. He didn’t even have time to take off his cumbersome shirt. Kicking off his shoes, he charged straight into the sea toward the small boat.

 

People on the shore were still in an uproar. In the blink of an eye, Yuan Yu was already gone from sight. Another shout exploded from the crowd: “Yizhou!”

 

The tall young man leaped off the fishing dock in one powerful dive.

 

A black, dripping head emerged dozens of meters away from the shore. Yuan Yu surfaced for air, wiped the seawater from his eyes, spotted the direction of the overturned boat, and plunged back under.

 

The old priest trembled, voice hoarse and weak: “Come back—! Hurry, get them back! This is the Sea God’s will… it must not be defied… must not be challenged…”

 

He seemed close to fainting from lack of oxygen.

 

The uncle who had been helping the old priest rushed to support him, pressing a finger to the priest’s philtrum while shouting to the others, “Quick! Whose fishing boat is docked nearby? The waves are too strong—if this goes on, none of them will make it back!”

 

“What the hell happened?” The crowd surged, and Atticus squeezed his way forward, grabbing someone he recognized.

 

Their group had been investigating the shrine. After shaking off the patrolling high school boys, they had found a hidden chamber beneath the main hall. Only just now had they resurfaced, only to see that the second “Bride on the Boat” quest had already been completed—

 

One member of their party was missing. It was obvious who the bride had been.

 

Shen Xue was pale with panic. “Shui Que… Brother Shui Que was on the small boat! The sea turned so dark just now—the boat, the boat flipped over!”

 

“Shit, someone help!” Li Jianshan shouted, panicked, as he began to tear off his backpack.

 

Chu Jingting’s expression instantly turned like he’d just lost his wife — part human, mostly ghost.

 

His voice was icy and sharp, cloaked in chill: “Too far. Start the boat.”

 

The overturned little wooden boat was already several hundred meters offshore.

 

“Yes! Yes!” Shen Xue nodded rapidly. “My family’s fishing boat is docked right over here — come with me!”

 

＊

 

When the little boat started rocking, Shui Que had been gripping the edge, trying to stand up. But before he could even get halfway up, the whole thing flipped over.

 

Did a sea monster just trigger a tsunami?!

 

Shui Que plunged into the sea, completely caught off guard, gulping down a mouthful of saltwater.

 

The pressure of the water closed in around him — heavy ocean pressing from all sides. His ears buzzed with a muffled ringing. He shut his eyes tight to keep the seawater out, held his breath, cheeks puffed out.

 

Everything was pitch black.

 

By contrast, it could see his little mate clearly.

 

The soaked bridal robe clung tightly to Shui Que’s body. He instinctively grabbed the beaded necklace at his chest. Black hair spread out through the clear water, and the rouge at the corners of his eyes melted away.

 

His thin eyelids quivered endlessly. With the makeup washed clean, his face looked especially pale — pure and untouched.

 

He looked like a little prince shipwrecked in a fairy tale.


But there were no mermaids in the sea—only a monstrous creature coveting the little prince with malicious intent.


It stared blankly, its crimson eyes from the deep sea fixed on him.


“You stupid octopus, are you trying to drown him?” Since Xie Qian wasn’t the dominant mind, he couldn’t take control of the body. All he could do was rage helplessly, shouting in frustration.


Yuan Zhou shouted sternly, “Wubao, humans can’t breathe underwater!”


The tentacle shivered slightly, then waved, wrapping the pale, suffocating human in a large, round air bubble.


The tentacle held the bubble like it was cradling a pearl.


Suddenly, Shui Que felt his body separated from the seawater, enveloped in warm air.


He cautiously opened his eyes. There was no crushing weight of water, but with limited vision, he had no idea what was going on.


The blind little bride sat soaked in the transparent bubble. The surface was smooth, and sunlight filtered through the shallow water, casting rainbow-like glimmers.


“Big sea monster…?” he raised a hand and pressed his palm to the bubble’s inner wall. It was a soft and elastic membrane, but he couldn’t break through it.


Though the name didn’t sound very nice, Shui Que couldn’t bring himself to associate the strange tentacles that had entangled him several times with the so-called “Wubao” mentioned by the islanders.

 

Someone was coming.


Alert, the tentacle sank with the bubble into the depths.


The black ink dissolved, and on the sea surface, only an overturned boat remained.

 

The bubble jolted around for an unknown amount of time. Shui Que was tired and sleepy, but after the fright, his nerves stayed taut.


If he could see, he would’ve noticed himself being whisked away by tentacles at a speed no human boat could match, carried to a secluded nest the creature had prepared.

 

It was a sea cave, formed over thousands of years by waves pounding against porous volcanic rock.


Far from human reach, it stood alone on a sea cliff. Seaweed grew at the bottom, white droppings of cormorants and seagulls streaked the rocky top, and only a single cave lay nestled into the center of the cliff face.


Trapped alone, there was almost no chance of escape.

 

The tentacle gently placed him deep inside the nest.


To its true body, the cave was far too small. It had to shrink again and again to fit inside. The nest, even smaller, barely registered to it—but it was just right for its mate.

 

There was a thick pile of hay underneath, dried in the sun outside. On top, the creature had stacked velvet blankets scavenged from shipwrecks while out hunting in the sea. Drying those took considerable effort, but once dry, they were incredibly soft.


Shui Que almost sank right into them.


His clothes were soaked through—he could wring seawater from them easily—and now the wet fabric was making the blankets damp too.

 

The tentacle seemed to notice.


Shui Que heard rustling sounds as two of the appendages clumsily tried to mimic humans using tools.


It pulled out thin twigs stacked in a corner, and with the tip of one tentacle clumsily pinching a flint, tried to strike a spark.


Its skin was wet and slippery, coated in some sticky mucus, so it couldn’t grip the flint well. It dropped it with a plop, picked it up again, and repeated the effort several times before finally managing to light a fire.

 

“Bo—bo—” it nudged the curled-up human.


Shui Que was gently pushed closer to the fire.


Sitting beside the flames, he hugged his knees a bit nervously.


His fingers were pale and pruney, his feet bare and already dirtied by the ground.

 

A tentacle dug out the shoes it had previously hidden in a corner—the ones it had taken from him near the shore.


Returning them to their rightful owner, it gently slipped them onto his feet.


Shui Que pressed his lips together and whispered, “You put them on the wrong feet.”


It didn’t understand.

 

All it knew was that humans were fragile all over, even their feet needed strange coverings, or they’d get hurt on rocks and gravel.


When there was no response, Shui Que corrected the slippers himself.


It watched curiously, its crimson eyes hidden deep in the cave never blinking.

 

The tentacles extended again, and another one brought dry clothes over and placed them next to him.


Ever since discovering it had a human mate, it frequently searched the open sea for shipwrecks. Because those people were the same species as its little partner, it never harmed them.


But once they sank to the sea floor—they were abandoned, right?


The ocean was its territory. Whatever fell in belonged to it.

 

Things no one wanted, it could take and sort through, guessing which ones the little mate might use and bring them back to the nest.


Just like birds collecting twigs and grass to build nests in hopes of finding a mate, it had no concept of aesthetics—only comfort and warmth mattered when determining if a nest was acceptable.


It had collected a lot of possibly useful items.

 

Shui Que fumbled around and found a chiffon shirt and a pair of shorts. The fabric was clearly more refined than the coarse linen commonly found on the island.


He hesitated, then told it, “Big sea monster, close your eyes. You’re not allowed to open them until I say so.”


Though he said that, he figured it probably didn’t understand human language. It only seemed to know the word “baby,” and no one knew where it had learned that.

 

Since they weren’t the same species, it probably didn’t share human concepts of shame.


So even if it didn’t close its eyes and ended up seeing something, it didn’t really matter.


He tried to comfort himself with that thought.

 

Shui Que was a rather modest boy. Back when he lived in a single dorm room, he wasn’t like other carefree guys who left the bathroom door open—he often locked it from the inside and always dressed fully before coming out.


He stripped off the soaked wedding robe, dripping wet, and piled it to the side. Ideally, he should’ve dried himself by the fire first, but Shui Que felt uncomfortable. He immediately reached for the stack of dry clothes.

 

A tentacle came over to take the wet garments, intending to hang them up outside the cave to dry.


The human before it was nothing like itself.


It was momentarily stunned.


The tentacle paused its movement. Not until the chiffon shirt covered the small body did it remember what it was doing.
It rolled up the damp clothing from the ground and spread them all out, hanging them on small branches growing from cracks in the cliff wall outside the cave.

 

Shui Que had also taken off his undergarments—they were soaked and unwearable.


For now, he slipped on the knee-length shorts and sat by the fire, drying the rest.

 

【Seriously, he’s just changing pants—what could our noble 18+ livestream viewers possibly not handle?】


【Why the pixelation?! Why?! How am I supposed to know if hubby’s… you know… is pink or not?】


【Fine, blur the pants change, but why blur the clothes in his hands too? Who wouldn’t guess they’re Shui Shui’s cute little undies?】


【I’m literally bursting into flames and jumping three feet high! Baby, come warm yourself by my fire!】

 

The tentacle seemed eager to help. It had already hung up all the other clothes to dry—only the piece in Shui Que’s hand remained.


It hadn’t prepared such clothing.


So, humans wore extra garments under their main clothes?


If he was drying it by the fire, it must mean he urgently needed it.


The fire was burning stronger—it could burn him.

 

Realizing that, the tentacle slithered over, determined to assist its little mate with every daily task.


This was part of its courtship ritual: demonstrating its ability to care for its mate.


It reached out, trying to take the small piece of clothing from Shui Que’s hands.

 

“What are you doing?”


Shui Que frowned and grabbed a stone from the ground, throwing it at the pushy tentacle.


“Stupid sea monster, go away!”

 

The tentacle didn’t understand what made him angry and curled up in grievance.


Shui Que pressed his lips together tightly, feeling confused.


He’d initially suspected this big sea monster might be the boss of the game’s instance level. But now it didn’t seem like it.


What kind of boss had a temper this good?


Even after being hit, it didn’t get mad.

 

If this were a typical instance boss, it would’ve gone berserk after being attacked and triggered a full-on slaughter event.

 

The mass of tentacles in the nest curled up together, retreating into the shadows. Reflected by the firelight, their massive shadow stretched all the way to the ceiling of the cave.

 

Even though it was an enormous creature capable of easily destroying thousand-ton cargo ships, it now shrank into a corner, looking aggrieved and wronged, giving up most of the space for the human who seemed to be angry.

 

Because it was born with immense power, it never needed tools, and due to the mutual hostility and killing among its own kind, it lived in solitude and had no need for complex language communication.

 

Even though it had recently been trying to learn the customs and rules of human society, it still couldn’t understand why the human before it would be angry.

 

“Bo—bo—”

 

It curled up in the corner, calling out anxiously and restlessly.

 

Shui Que tidied himself up and sighed.

 

He slipped on his shoes and slowly walked to the corner, crouching down with knees hugged.

 

“Come here—” Shui Que opened his palm, “Shake hands.”

 

The corners of his mouth lifted slightly, and a soft dimple appeared on his face.

 

Xie Qian saw this scene just as he came out.

 

He looked like a patient kindergarten teacher, or maybe more like he was training a dog.

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Huge shoutout to @candycorns2 on Discord for commissioning this! The chapter will be posted regularly, show your support for Ciacia at Kofi.

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