TTAETSC Chapter 14: Need Water

Translator: Deyonna

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Yuan Ye had never expected this kind of sudden attack, and the little jellyfish moved so fast that he couldn't react in time.

Yuan Ye had been absorbed in enduring the pain and weakness, so when he turned and left, holding onto his dignity with what willpower he had left, the little guy slipped into his shirt through the gap between the buttons.

The creature's soft, slippery limbs, combined with the faint pull of its small suction cups, made the nerves all over the youth's body feel as if countless tiny electric currents were brushing against them.

If Yuan Ye hadn't reacted quickly just now, he might have fallen flat on his face in front of everyone.

If that had really happened, it would have been quite humiliating*.

*Lose face

Fortunately, years of combat instinct let the indifferent, handsome senior commander keep a last trace of dignity, although his retreating figure looked somewhat hurried.

After that thrilling, embarrassing episode, Yuan Ye's pale face finally regained some color from anger, making him look much more spirited.

He immediately raised his hand to reach into his shirt and grab the mischievous little guy scurrying around inside. But at that moment, he heard a familiar shout from behind.

"Wait! Wait!"

Old Man Xu was the first to come to his senses. Looking deeply worried, like a cat on a hot tin roof, he hurried after him.

Yuan Ye's arms stiffened instantly, and he gripped his long knife with both hands, crossing them over his chest to shield his suddenly "plump" chest.

There were many people here: civilians from the supply station, sentinels, and several support investigation teams heading this way.

Yuan Ye hadn't paid much attention when he arrived, but as he left, he noticed many investigation team members in black combat uniforms gathering toward the clinic.

Perhaps they were afraid some stragglers had slipped through the net? Or did they think a clinic with so many wounded wasn't very safe, and so had sent people over to provide security?

Yuan Ye didn't think much of it, since this was normal after an invasion by otherworldly creatures.

The young man looked very cool walking with his arms crossed, and together with his arrogant, cold demeanor from earlier, it made a strangely harmonious picture.

Slap!

At this moment, the little octopus was truly flattened into a pancake, spread flat against Yuan Ye's chest.

Ye Yunfan felt lucky that he had no bones, or he might have been flattened to death.

[Too crammed, too crammed!]

[Flattened, why are we flattened?]

The little tentacles, a bit uncomfortable, wriggled instinctively, leaving shallow marks on the youth's skin.

Pressed so tightly against him, Ye Yunfan could clearly hear Yuan Ye's heartbeat.

Thump, thump, thump!

Yuan Ye's heartbeat accelerated.

Ye Yunfan was surprised, then quickly realized Yuan Ye might be nervous.

Nervous about what?

About the old doctor?

Ye Yunfan found Old Man Xu's attitude toward Yuan Ye very interesting. They seemed to have known each other for a long time.

Since it was tied to his own future, Ye Yunfan badly wanted to know everything about Yuan Ye. Just then, Old Man Xu finally caught up with Yuan Ye, panting heavily. He didn't notice the young man's sudden change of posture and went on earnestly urging him.

"Xiaoyuan! Xiaoyuan! Listen to this old man. This wound can't be delayed any longer."

Ye Yunfan couldn't help nodding along. The wound on Yuan Ye's chest had reopened, so he could only keep acting as a pink band-aid.

But the little octopus was also self-aware. Although his mucus had a hemostatic effect on Yuan Ye, it only treated the symptoms, not the root cause. An injury this serious still needed a professional.

But the injured man himself flatly refused.

"Mind your own business. I can handle it myself."

Yuan Ye's tone was as cold as ever, the kind that repelled people. He didn't even look at Old Man Xu, and kept walking ahead, quick and urgent, because all he wanted right now was to catch the little jellyfish inside his shirt.

Yuan Ye had rarely had any physical contact with others, and when he did, his illness immediately triggered a response that made him want to cut the other person in half.

Perhaps because the little jellyfish wasn't human, Yuan Ye felt only a strange discomfort, an inexplicable itchiness, and certain... feelings he couldn't put into words himself.

But all in all, such contact cost Yuan Ye his combat effectiveness and, to a certain extent, control of his body. So all he could think of was avoiding and rejecting it.

Old Man Xu didn't notice Yuan Ye's pale face gradually turning red. After all, the old man was panting heavily just trying to keep up.

"Xiaoyuan, Xiaoyuan, don't try to be brave. Just go inside and lie down for the night…"

"Master!"

Just then, Old Man Xu's young apprentice came running, calling out anxiously.

"Master! Wait!"

Old Man Xu didn't look back and kept chasing after Yuan Ye in his straw sandals. But the young apprentice from the clinic was just as anxious, and he shouted several times in a sobbing voice.

"Master! Master, please come quickly. I can't handle it alone!"

Old Man Xu finally stopped, but Yuan Ye didn't. If anything, he walked faster.

The old man looked at Yuan Ye's retreating back, then at the waiting apprentice, so anxious that he stamped his feet several times.

"Aiya!"

He glared at the flustered young apprentice, nearly exasperated, then hurried helplessly back to the clinic.

---

Back at the clinic, Old Man Xu glanced at Chen Xinyue, who was crouching in a corner.

"What are you crouching there for?! Get the man inside!"

His tone wasn't very polite, as if he knew Chen Xinyue well.

"Oh... Oh, okay!"

Captain Chen, belatedly realizing what was happening, hurriedly hoisted Wang Yuan onto her back in a panic.

Jon froze. It was the first time he had seen Chen Xinyue so panicked. For a second, he even caught a glimpse of the captain looking almost on the verge of tears.

Jon had only joined the seventh team a week ago, so he had no deep bond with the other members.

So when those people died, he felt sorrow, but he wasn't overwhelmed by grief.

But the captain was different. She had said that every team member was like a relative to her.

Doing the math, if Wang Ge really couldn't be saved, the captain would have lost seven relatives last night.

Jon suddenly felt out of breath.

Chen Xinyue came out of the innermost ward and handed Jon the metal box from her back.

The woman's eyes were red, and she said gravely to Jon, in a slightly choked voice,

"Hurry and catch up. Deliver this to Commander Yuan Ye."

The curly-haired puppy reached out to take it and found it quite heavy. He asked,

"Captain, what is this?"

"These are medicines we found in the occupied area on our last mission. I just went back to get them. Fortunately, even though the car broke down, the medicines inside were intact."

Medicines brought back from the occupied area were very valuable and had to be stored in specially made metal medicine boxes.

Chen Xinyue wasn't a naive young girl. She knew exactly why Yuan Ye had left, and she felt both grateful and guilty.

"This is... our small token of gratitude to him. Whether or not Wang Yuan can…"

She paused, leaving the sentence unfinished.

"Anyway, Jon, listen carefully. These medicines are extremely valuable, and you must deliver them to him in person. The supply station is in chaos right now, too. Stay with him for a few days and wait for my orders."

"Yes, Captain!"

Jon nodded vigorously. He listened to the captain above anyone else, so he set off at once.

"I'm going right now!"

With that, the young man hurried out with the metal medicine box on his back.

Chen Xinyue watched Jon until he disappeared around the corner. She clenched her fists so tightly her knuckles turned white.

After a moment, she suddenly unclenched her fists and turned back to Wang Yuan's ward.

Click.

The door closed, and the noise outside almost instantly vanished.

Chen Xinyue saw the man with the severed arm lying silently inside the treatment cabin like a lifeless corpse. Beside her, Old Man Xu was giving him purification medication.

"Thank you."

Chen Xinyue suddenly spoke up.

The old man's face turned cold, a complete contrast to the warmth and kindness he had shown Yuan Ye earlier. The corner of his mouth tugged into a mocking smile.

"Are you thanking me for saving your subordinate, or thanking me for helping you hide things in this small, broken clinic?"

As he spoke, Old Man Xu glanced at the metal medicine box hidden in the corner.

——It was almost exactly the same as the one Jon had taken a moment ago.

"..."

Chen Xinyue lowered her gaze, silent and unresponsive.

---

Meanwhile, Yuan Ye finally reached his cabin, moving as fast as he could in his current state.

The young man didn't live in the supply station but in a cabin halfway up the hill behind it. It was an old house of Old Man Xu's, cleaned up not long ago and lent to Yuan Ye as his residence.

Click.

The wooden door was closed and locked.

None of the windows were open, so the whole room instantly went dim.

The next second, Ye Yunfan heard a heavy thud.

—That was the sound of Yuan Ye's knife hitting the ground.

It meant the young man could no longer hold on to the knife.

Yuan Ye didn't immediately tear off the pink band-aid on his chest. Perhaps he knew the little octopus meant well, or perhaps his mind was getting fuzzy from blood loss.

At this point, Ye Yunfan had finally managed to seal the wound on the young man's chest with his mucus. It wasn't very professional, but at least the bleeding had stopped.

The little octopus poked his head out from the young man's chest and saw that the makeshift bandage of cloak fabric on Yuan Ye's arm was almost completely dyed red.

So much blood…

Ye Yunfan started to feel anxious. He hadn't studied medicine, but he had a general idea of the terrible consequences of heavy blood loss in a human body.

Back in the quiet, dim room, Yuan Ye's tense nerves finally relaxed, and he collapsed onto the floor.

Thud!

There was another muffled sound.

When the young man fell, he was facing downward at first, but he ended up landing on his side on the wooden floor, so his full weight didn't crush the little jellyfish on his chest.

Yuan Ye had endured for a long, long time. Through the desperate struggle for survival underwater and the pain from the injuries all over his body afterward, he had managed to keep some semblance of dignity.

Only now, alone in the dark, narrow cabin, could he no longer hold back, and suppressed, intermittent groans of pain escaped his throat.

Realizing how serious things were, Ye Yunfan immediately crawled out of the young man's wet shirt.

Hold on!

The shirt was wet!

After becoming a baby octopus, Ye Yunfan had grown accustomed to a cold body temperature and a moist body surface. Only now did he realize that humans shouldn't be like that.

Humans needed to stay warm, and wet clothes could give them a cold. Worse, this guy had been soaked in the sea all night with an open wound.

The seawater was so dirty. Wouldn't he get infected?

Ye Yunfan racked his brain, desperately trying to recall his limited medical knowledge. But the more he thought, the more he realized Yuan Ye was in critical condition.

The little octopus immediately scuttled out of the youth's clothes and began undoing Yuan Ye's buttons with his tentacles, trying to help him take off the wet clothes.

"Water…"

Yuan Ye suddenly mumbled incoherently, as if talking in his sleep.

The little octopus paused for a moment, then touched Yuan Ye's forehead with a tentacle.

[So hot!]

[So hot, so hot!]

The little tentacles cried out.

Ye Yunfan confirmed that Yuan Ye had a fever, but since his own body temperature was low, he couldn't tell how high it was.

"Water…"

The young man furrowed his brows, murmuring as if in pain and wronged.

Ye Yunfan sighed and resigned himself to finding water for him. Luckily, there was a cup on the table, but as a baby octopus he couldn't lift it. So how was he supposed to feed it to him?

The little octopus thought for a moment.

After a moment, the little octopus climbed onto the table and extended his tentacles into the glass of water. His heart-shaped suction cups gently expanded and contracted, drawing up the water.

The water level in the glass dropped by a third.

The little octopus scurried back down and climbed onto Yuan Ye. He cautiously touched the youth's parched lips with his small tentacles, gradually moistening them.

Then a little tentacle slightly parted the youth's lips and slipped inside—

 

☰