National destiny: Starting with a coffin, building an aircraft carrier is broadcast live globally.

"octopus?!"

They finally saw the creature clinging to Klaus's face.

It was an octopus about half the size of a head, its tentacles diligently functioning as suction cups, completely sealing Klaus's face shut ヾ(×× ) ﾂ

His mind was full of question marks.

Shouldn't trolling catch predatory fish that chase the bait at high speed?

How did a limp little octopus, which should be crawling on the seabed, manage to keep up with the speed of the ghost bone boat and even get hooked on its hook?

Let alone one that's so small?

Hurry up and get it down for me! I'm suffocating!

"Mmmmmm—!!"

Klaus was going crazy; the lack of oxygen was making his vision blur.

Well, he couldn't see anything anyway, and after failing to remove the 'mask' from his face, he struggled wildly, waving his arms and legs.

"I'll chop it down for you!"

As a teammate, Ivan certainly couldn't just stand by and watch. He picked up a hand axe that was bigger than his head and brandished it at Klaus's head.

But Klaus kept swaying, making it impossible for him to find an angle to strike.

"Can you please stop moving?"

[What?! Ivan, are you a devil?!]

[One axe blow, and the octopus is fine, but Klaus is gone!]

[Ivan: Once the people are dealt with, the problem ceases to exist.]

Ren Yi quickly stopped him.

"Don't be impulsive, it's hard to sew up a split skull!"

"But he's suffocating!" Ivan scratched his head and put away his axe.

"Stop pulling, it will hurt your skin."

He patted Klaus on the shoulder, signaling him to let go. "Let me do it."

Klaus grabbed onto Renyi's arm as if it were a lifeline, finally stopping his futile struggle for the time being.

"Mmm! (╥﹏╥) Mmm mmm..."

Hurry up, boss! We need to see Grandma!

"Don't move."

He casually raised his katana, aimed it at the octopus's head, and prepared to steady it with his other hand to prevent it from being stabbed off course.

However, just as his hand touched the octopus,

[Special creature: ???]

[Not decomposable]

[Comment: Its intelligence may surpass that of a certain gentleman on board who wishes to remain anonymous. PS: Perhaps two.]

Any movement stops.

A rare creature whose name cannot be identified?

Intelligence surpasses that of the ship...

Renyi couldn't help but glance at Ivan, who was standing next to him, eager to try his hand at the axe.

Klaus felt his movements stop.

"Hmm...? (╥﹏╥)"

Boss! Let's get started!

The little creature seemed to sense his gaze; its soft body twitched, and its beady black eyes met Ren Yi's gaze directly.

Under the watchful eyes of Ivan and Ren Yi, the tentacles retracted one by one with unparalleled smoothness.

"Pfft—pfft pfft pfft—"

After a series of soft clicks, like a cork being pulled out,

The octopus nimbly crawled up any finger and onto his outstretched palm.

As soon as the restraints on his face disappeared, Klaus gasped.

"Ha ha......"

He was still on the verge of suffocating. Ivan was about to tease him when he saw Klaus rush towards the freshwater purification device with a look of terror on his face.

He plunged headfirst under the 'barrel' and turned on the switch.

"Splash—splash!"

Precious fresh water was poured over his head, and Klaus rubbed his face vigorously, as if he wanted to scrub off all the skin.

He lifted up the little guy who almost suffocated Klaus with either of his hands.

In this alien ocean where creatures often grow several times or even dozens of times larger after mutation,

It is clearly a very small variety.

It changes color; it was gray on Klaus's face a moment ago, but now it's blue.

A pair of dark, bright eyes were staring at him without blinking (or perhaps not).

When any line of sight moves around it,

Its gaze followed the movement.

After a while, Klaus finally returned, his hair wet and plastered to his head.

"Pfft—hahahahaha..."

Ivan pointed at Klaus and laughed until tears streamed down his face.

"Oh my god! Klaus, you've got a hickey makeup look on you! Hahaha..."

Klaus's sculpted face was covered with evenly distributed circular marks radiating from the center, from his forehead to his chin, making it look as if he had been cupped all over with tiny jars.

[Hahahaha! Sorry, it's awful, but I'm laughing so hard I could die!]

[Octopus kiss mark makeup?!]

[Ivan, keep your laughter down! Can't you see Klaus already wants to dismantle the ship?!]

OK......

He was not only seen by people, but it was broadcast live nationwide and even globally!

"Any..."

"We'll eat this tonight..."

I could feel the little thing in my palm tremble slightly.

Amused, he reassured Klaus, "Don't worry, it seems a little special."

"It's truly unique!"

Klaus muttered, "I almost became the first contestant to suffocate from an octopus!"

As he made his accusations, he subconsciously scrutinized the 'murderer,' then paused, stunned.

Somewhat uncertain, he extended his finger and pointed in the air—

"1, 2, 3, 4..."

"...8, 9?"

"Wait a minute," he said, puzzled, "why does this octopus have nine tentacles?"

"What?"

Ivan, forgetting his laughter, curiously peered over to take a look.

He stretched his hands out forward so that they could see him more clearly.

Sure enough, not one more, not one less; its two palm-sized bodies had nine arms and legs wrapped around any finger.

"It really is!" Ivan exclaimed in amazement.

"I've never seen a nine-legged octopus before. Is it deformed?"

[A relative of the nine-tailed fox, a nine-clawed octopus?]

[Haha, Klaus, you unlucky bastard, you got kissed by a rare species!]

[Could this thing be some kind of mythical beast?]

It seemed to understand Ivan's words about its deformity.

Or perhaps it sensed the attention people were paying to its unique "nine legs".

The little octopus, which had been leisurely changing colors and gently wiggling its tentacles in the palm of the hand, suddenly froze.

His beady eyes revealed an extremely human-like dissatisfaction.

Its color changed from blue to a deep red, like spilled red ink.

Under the stunned gazes of the three, it quickly tucked all nine claws under its body, curling itself into a small red ball.

It even twisted its body a little.

It turned its back towards Klaus, who had just been counting its legs.

Hmph ╭(╯^╰)╮, I'm not showing it to you guys!

All three of them seemed to clearly understand the meaning of those words.

Klaus was dumbfounded. In his twenty-eight years of life, this was the first time he'd ever been humiliated by an octopus!

Not just psychological, but also physical!

Even the marks on her face turned redder in an instant.

"Look what you've done!" Klaus walked around to the front of the octopus and pointed at his own face in accusation.

The little red ball twisted again, continuing to face him with its back turned.

"Alright, Klaus, let's not bother with it."

He casually smoothed things over, holding the octopus ball up to Klaus's face.

"From now on, it will be the mascot."

A mascot with extremely high intelligence, whose inner monologue is entirely arbitrary.

The red ball stared at Klaus for a while, then slowly turned blue again, extending a tentacle to gently touch Klaus's face, which was covered in marks.

Klaus: "..."

He sighed; he couldn't really argue with an octopus.

ε(┬┬﹏┬┬)3 I've resigned myself to my fate.