SGT CH176

Tianjia: Little Tentacle Monster Mu Si 3

◎”Because you are my Female Master.” Mu Si looked innocent, stating it as a matter of course.◎

Mu Si discovered that this Tianjia military officer was quite a good keeper.

He would provide him with abundant food, share everything in the room with him, and allow him to build a nest at will.

Aside from confining him in a glass bottle on the first day, the Tianjia was no longer obsessed with locking him up afterward, and was even willing to bring him out of the room.

Mu Si occasionally burrowed into the Tianjia’s pocket, heading outside with him.

During outings, the Tianjia did not permit him to wander too far away, requiring him to move only within sight.

Once he exceeded the distance, the Tianjia would extend black “tentacles” to snatch him back.

Yes, this Tianjia also had limbs resembling tentacles.

They would unfurl from the Tianjia’s back, shaped like tentacles, long whips, or skeletal segments.

Different from Mu Si’s translucent jelly-like tentacles, these “tentacles” were pitch-black, lusterless, and exceptionally hard.

In Mu Si’s eyes, the Tianjia was simply a super-strong black tentacle monster.

Between tentacle monsters, there were also distinct ranks.

The weak yielded to the strong.

After attempting to brawl with the Tianjia’s large black tentacles a few times and failing to scratch the Tianjia in the slightest, Mu Si chose to yield, staying obediently by the Tianjia’s side.

When thoroughly bored, he would crawl around all over the Tianjia’s body.

When he first started crawling, the Tianjia’s expression changed, plucking him out from the collar.

And stuffing him back into the pocket.

A juvenile tentacle monster was right at the peak of vigorous curiosity.

How could Mu Si stay still peacefully?

Having stayed in the pocket for merely a few seconds, as soon as the Tianjia began handling military affairs, Mu Si peeked out again and wriggled out of the pocket.

Crawling around, burrowing here and there.

Curious, probing.

Crawling sunnily, crawling cheerfully.

Initially, the Tianjia plucked him out several times a minute.

Later, the Tianjia seemed to realize this was entirely useless, as he would persistently continue burrowing, so the Tianjia gradually gave up, plucking him out far less frequently.

Mu Si deliberately and thoroughly explored every nook and cranny.

Well… not quite that thoroughly.

When Mu Si approached certain locations, the Tianjia would instantly pluck him out and give him a stern lecture.

If Mu Si continued burrowing, he would be pinned onto the table by the Tianjia, capped under an inverted glass bottle, and locked in confinement.

After being confined a few times, Mu Si behaved himself.

For the time being, he gave up exploring those areas, moving only within the zones where the Tianjia didn’t react so strongly.

Among these areas designated by him as “safe zones,” Mu Si liked the section before the Tianjia’s chest best.

Warm, soft, and bouncy, like a comfortable cradle, perfectly suited for peaceful sleep.

The valley between the peaks happened to provide just enough room for his body to slip into, fitting seamlessly against him.

Perhaps adding a little tentacle monster in front made the already heavy chest feel even more burdened.

When no one was around, the Tianjia would reach up to rub him to relieve the heaviness on his chest, while also waking him up.

Newly awakened, Mu Si rolled over, stretching out his tentacles in a lazy stretch.

The extended tentacles covered the entire mountain. When the tip of a certain tentacle touched an obstacle blocking the path, the fabric covering him was torn open, and bright light abruptly pierced in.

It was the Tianjia tearing his shirt open, not hesitating to pop several buttons off, and snatching him out.

The glass jar clamped down inverted.

Mu Si once again happily earned half a day of confinement.

Mu Si: “???”

Ah? Wait, what? This was clearly a “safe zone,” something you permitted me to touch before!

Mu Si waved his tentacles in protest.

But this was useless; the Tianjia got up and went to the washroom to change clothes, leaving him confined alone on the desk.

Hateful tyrant, dictator.

Mu Si muttered curses.

“Children are not allowed to use foul language.”

A deep voice came from overhead. Frightened, Mu Si covered his mouth… covered part of his mouth.

Looking up, he saw the Tianjia had returned at some point, dressed neatly and formally once again, looking stern and upright.

Wait, something wasn’t right.

The Tianjia didn’t understand his language, so how did he know he was cursing?

When tentacle monsters were mentally active, they emitted extremely low-frequency sound waves, which served as their language.

The Tianjia had keen senses, so hearing the sound waves he emitted was not surprising, but he shouldn’t be able to comprehend them.

Mu Si tested it several times and finally discovered that the Tianjia judged his emotions through the frequencies of his mental fluctuations and sound waves, deducing the content of his words based on that.

In addition to this, Mu Si discovered an even worse matter.

The Tianjia was searching for materials on tentacle monsters during his spare time and attempting to learn the language of tentacle monsters.

That is to say, the Tianjia had been guessing the content of his speech earlier, but later on, he might truly be able to understand his words.

Oh no…

He could no longer rampantly roast the Tianjia, complain about the Tianjia, or curse him as a tyrant.

This was simply a bolt out of the blue.

Mu Si tried to disrupt the Tianjia while he was studying.

Crawling around, burrowing here and there, leaping onto the desk, smashing the glass bottle…

Ah, wait, this was his beloved little bottle, he couldn’t smash it.

Mu Si retracted his tentacles, switched targets, and shoved the Tianjia’s water cup off the desk.

Amid a crisp clatter, the Tianjia’s cup shattered across the floor.

Mu Si was startled by the sudden loud noise. He hadn’t expected the usually lightning-fast Tianjia wouldn’t catch the cup.

No, he had no intention of catching the cup at all.

Leaning against the headboard, looking at the language materials on the virtual screen, the Tianjia hadn’t even lifted an eyelid.

But after Mu Si leaped in fright from the shattering sound, the Tianjia tilted his head to look over.

The cleaning robot in the corner had already started running automatically, approaching with a glowing red light to sweep up the shards and clean the water stains on the floor.

X stood up, walked over, reached out to scoop up the little tentacle monster on the table, and cradled it in his embrace to comfort it.

“Don’t be afraid, everything is fine. It was my fault for not catching the cup and scaring my baby.”

X thought throwing cups was a game to the little tentacle monster. Since he liked playing like that, he let him play.

He hadn’t expected the sound of the shattering cup would scare the little tentacle monster.

“It was my lack of consideration,” X said.

He ought to lay down a few layers of sound-insulating, sound-absorbing carpets on the floor.

Mu Si: “…”

He had never seen a keeper who took the blame upon himself when a pet caused trouble.

Compared to those captors who electrocuted, sliced, and tormented captured tentacle monsters in every possible way, a keeper like this Tianjia was indeed rare and hard to come by.

Mu Si softened his body, clinging flush against the Tianjia’s chest.

Whatever.

If the Tianjia wanted to learn, let him learn.

At worst, he would be well-behaved in the future and refrain from speaking ill of him in front of his face.

The Tianjia could learn his language and comprehend the meaning of his words, but constrained by the Tianjia’s own vocal organs, the Tianjia couldn’t produce such low-frequency sounds.

That meant the Tianjia could only understand his words, but couldn’t speak his language.

This was actually nothing.

Mu Si was a psychic-type tentacle monster, capable of understanding the meaning of various races’ speech through mental fluctuations, sometimes even overhearing their intense inner thoughts.

No matter what species’ language the Tianjia spoke, he could understand it.

Even if the Tianjia were mute, he could still grasp his meaning through mental communication.

This was a racial talent.

Mu Si already knew plenty about the Tianjia, so he didn’t delve deeper into the Tianjia’s inner thoughts.

But X knew far too little about his little tentacle monster.

He couldn’t resist wanting to know more.

Wanting to know what kind of food it preferred, what kind of shelter it liked, wanting to understand its words, wanting to know all its thoughts…

·

Under the Tianjia’s care, Mu Si grew bigger day by day.

Originally, he was a small jelly.

Now he had grown into a large jelly the size of a pet cat.

His habits were also like a cat’s.

Sometimes elegant and lazy, sprawling in a spot and refusing to budge.

Other times full of curiosity, brimmed with desire to explore and learn about everything.

Quite timid, often startled by the commotions he created himself.

Even when scared, he would erect his tentacles to display a super-fierce front.

…

The more time they spent together, the more X found him adorable.

His tolerance for him grew higher and higher, bordering on pampering.

Even if the little tentacle monster wriggled on his head doing calisthenics, he wouldn’t get angry.

Moreover, the grown-up little tentacle monster was even better to hold.

Previously, being so tiny, he could only be cupped gingerly in hands, terrified of damaging him.

Now he could fill an entire embrace.

The plump tentacles had a vivid presence, and holding him finally carried a bit of weight, though to X, he was still very light.

Very much like holding a cub.

With his body growing larger, Mu Si also developed some grievances.

The greatest grievance was that he could no longer lie flush and seamless against the Tianjia’s chest like before.

The Tianjia was naturally firm and well-muscled, bulging out the front of his clothing.

In the past, his size had been small, allowing him to squeeze in through bodily flexibility.

Now, it was utterly impossible.

After forcing his way inside and popping open the buttons on the front of the Tianjia’s shirt, the Tianjia had snatched him out, forbidding him from burrowing again.

Having lost his warm cradle, Mu Si was very upset.

He could only lie atop the Tianjia’s head, barely curling his body to squeeze into the Tianjia’s military cap.

Yet as his size kept increasing, the cap gradually could no longer hold him.

The Tianjia never wore a hat inside the bedroom or office, granting Mu Si more room to move around.

But when going outside, it couldn’t be like this.

Faced with a little tentacle monster that could no longer be hidden on his person, X had no choice but to harden his heart and leave him in the room.

Fearing the little tentacle monster would be bored.

He prepared many toys for the little tentacle monster and custom-ordered a terminal that could be worn on his tentacle, playing movies for him.

The little tentacle monster’s attention was successfully captured by the movies.

However, as a psychic-type tentacle monster, Mu Si’s viewing speed was extremely fast.

16x speed, 32x speed… even 128x speed.

He could watch movies at the maximum speed allowed by the video player.

Thus, in less than a month, he finished watching every movie on the interstellar film and television platform.

Of course, this was primarily because X had turned on youth mode for him.

Further content remained inaccessible to him.

Nevertheless, through the movies, he learned how to surf the internet and play games.

Mu Si downloaded a popular star-war game that had appeared numerous times in movies.

After entering the game, he chose a fringe planet at start and began farming and infrastructure construction.

Farming, chopping trees, building houses, constructing a base…

This was not the typical gameplay of a star-war game, but the instincts and racial talents in a tentacle monster’s genes compelled Mu Si to do so.

Juvenile tentacle monsters were exceedingly fragile; they preferred lying low and developing in obscure, inconspicuous corners.

Once adult and possessing certain power, they would reach their tentacles outward, capture gestators, propagate offspring, and expand outward with rapid speed.

By the time they were observed by other factions, tentacle monsters had often already occupied most of a planet and established their own reproductive breeding grounds.

The situation would spiral completely out of hand.

Immense costs had to be paid to eradicate them.

Therefore, the best time to kill a tentacle monster was during its juvenile stage.

Once they grew up, the difficulty of eradicating them escalated drastically.

A tentacle monster that had already seized an entire star system was entirely a cosmic cancer.

Completely eliminating it cost too much, beyond what even the Alliance of Universe Nations could afford. They could only quarantine that star system, giving the tentacle monster no further chance to expand outward.

And star systems like that would be marked on galactic star charts, classified as cosmic forbidden zones…

Mu Si was building infrastructure and farming in the game with fiery enthusiasm until he was kicked offline by the youth health protection system.

Mu Si: “??!”

Staring at the blackened screen, Mu Si was angry enough to tear the quilt.

He would soon have finished the initial framework of his base, how could they force him offline?!

That evening when X returned, Mu Si lunged forward and coiled around him, demanding that the youth mode restrictions be lifted.

“No.”

X peeled the tentacle monster clinging to his face off and refused coldly.

“Information on the star network is far too complicated. You are still a baby, you will be harmed by complicated information.”

Mu Si didn’t believe mere data across space could harm him.

Even if it were a psychic attack, his mental power was very formidable.

“I’m not a cub anymore! I am… am… a sub-adult! Virtually identical to an adult!”

Mu Si raised all his tentacles, trying to show he was already very big.

Amused by him, X squeezed his little tentacles, thinking in his heart that he was indeed bigger, feeling substantial to grip.

“Still no. Wait until you have truly grown up.”

Even if the little tentacle monster truly reached adulthood, X would still only provide him with filtered information.

In his eyes, his little tentacle monster would forever be a cub in need of protection.

Having no choice, Mu Si crawled all over him in frustration.

And he altered the form of his tentacles from completely smooth to sprouting suction cups, nibbling him with the suction cups on his tentacles.

Reasonably speaking, with his attack power, doing this was no different from scratching an itch for an SSS-grade Tianjia.

Yet the Tianjia’s expression abruptly shifted.

He swiftly peeled him off his body, forbidding him from clinging further.

Mu Si was startled by his sudden shift in demeanor.

Coiling aggrievedly around X’s wrist, he indignantly accused him:

“You don’t love me anymore!”

Looking at the red marks left on his abdominal muscles and flanks by the little tentacle monster, X’s muscles rose and fell as he strove to suppress the stirrings of desire provoked within his body, his emotions complicated beyond words.

At this moment, hearing the little tentacle monster’s words, he was instantly exasperated into laughter.

“Where did you learn those words from?” X asked.

He was already able to understand most of the little tentacle monster’s speech.

The word “love” had never existed in a tentacle monster’s lexicon.

“A movie!”

Mu Si answered, “Domineering Female Master and Her Delicate Little Male Monarch!”

His memory was quite excellent.

Mu Si was proud.

Hearing that absurd title, X was completely dumbfounded and speechless.

“Why would such a thing appear in the youth movie database?”

Truly, the filtering capabilities of intelligent systems could not be trusted; he had to screen them personally.

Thinking this, X rubbed the little tentacle monster and asked:

“Why did it occur to you to say this to me?”

In the language of tentacle monsters, there was no “love,” just like the Tianjia thousands of years ago.

He was very puzzled why the little tentacle monster would bring this up, and how he understood this word.

“Because you are my Female Master.”

Mu Si said, looking innocent and treating it as completely natural.

“Wh-what? Wh-what on earth are you talking about?”

X was so shocked his tongue tied in knots.

“You said it yourself.”

Mu Si didn’t understand his reaction, looking somewhat dazed.

Recalling, he said:

“You said… you are my master. In the Tianjia language, ‘master’ and ‘Female Master’ are the exact same word.”

Although X had spoken in Interstellar Common at the time rather than the Tianjia language.

But X was a Tianjia.

Mu Si believed that what he said ought to be understood in connection with Tianjia culture.