Chapter 272: Twelve Arms' Destiny

Three days later, the octopus “Twelve Arms” was running away from a Giant Octopus community.

Its mind kept replaying the memories from the past three days.

…

Three days ago, after it had regained consciousness, it had rapidly swum back to its original community with the weapon that had knocked it out in tow.

After meeting with Heracles, it had smugly said, “Look at this, I was also beaten up by that mysterious man after stealing some jars. The weapon is this here bag he threw, which had knocked me out instantly. Look at the size of the bump on my head.”

As it spoke, it lifted the black, heavy backpack with one of its limbs while it pointed to the obvious bump on its head with another…

Heracles stretched one of his limbs out and carefully touched the bump on its head.

When Heracles first spoke, he had said, “It’s right, this really is formed from the special energy that humans possess. It is easy to recognize, since I can feel the Eastern vital energy that Mr. Tom had mentioned.”

However, as he continued to inspect the bump, his mood suddenly shifted and he flipped “Twelve Arms” over single-handedly.

He then roared, “You really are a spy sent by the humans!! He had obviously restricted himself a lot when he had beaten you up. The bruise you have is completely different from the bruises he had given me when I was beat up!”

Hearing this, the octopuses stretched out their limbs and rushed to inspect the bump; they then realized that the situation of the injury really was as what their leader had said.

A normal person might find discovering something like this very difficult, but to the highly-intelligent octopuses who also had eight AIs assisting them in tasks, the injuries caused by a powerful blow and a blow that is restricted in power were extremely different. To their perception, it was as easy as distinguishing the patterns of one’s palm.

They immediately started voicing their agreements, “How wise, our leader. After it was exposed by us, Twelve Arms must have went to that human for help before it returned to seek our trust.”

“That’s right, I’m always going up on land to watch human films and I remember that something similar had happened in a movie when a great fire ravaged a great river. What was the name of this trick again?”

The octopuses all felt that they really had watched quite a familiar situation unfold. They pondered on what exactly it was as their limbs swirled around them.

“This is the trick where one inflicts injury on oneself to win somebody’s confidence!! Master Tom had purposely taught us that it was a ruse that the humans often use so that we would not fall for it!” The leader, Heracles, solved the riddle triumphantly.

“Yes, yes, that’s the one! Our leader really is the wisest and strongest octopus on earth!!” A group of slightly smaller octopuses cheered.

“Twelve Arms” continued rubbing at its head with one of its limbs as another bump arose. Its big, black eyes shifted innocently as unshed tears brimmed at its eyes.

It was originally just “a twelve-limbed octopus who didn’t steal jars” and although everyone laughed at it, it did not get hurt in any way.

Now, it had instead became “the spy sent by the humans that had wanted to rejoin the octopuses by injuring itself to win their confidence”…

What a heavy crime it was carrying.

“Dry it out in the sun until it dies!!” An octopus suddenly exclaimed.

“Dry out this spy sent by the humans!”

“Tie it to the top of the tallest ship, oh wait, we would first have to steal a ship…”

“And ships must have a lot of jars.”

“Even if it doesn’t have any jars, a large ship must have a lot of rooms, which are like jars but larger.”

The octopuses started gleefully and excitedly discussing stealing jars and seemed to have completely forgotten about disposing of the spy…

Heracles was also helpless. He contemplated things for a bit; ever since the octopus tribe was established, they have never internally decided to execute another octopus, so his prestige was not the highest.

After he had been knocked out and thrown back into the ocean, the other octopuses of his tribe had completely ignored his order for them to bide their time and had charged onto land on their own.

Once his train of thought settled on this, he spoke through gritted teeth, “Shut your traps, all of you. That uncivilized method what was those stupid humans did during the Middle Ages. We are noble and intelligent octopuses, we will not walk the road of retrogression.”

“Then what should we do?”

“Should we just let this human’s spy go like that? It must want to lurk among us so that it can thwart our plans of establishing a Giant Octopus Empire in the future.” The octopuses under his leadership started voicing their dissatisfaction.

Heracles exclaimed proudly, “We will use the clean, hygienic, and non-bloody ‘water punishment’!! So we can prove from the very beginning that the Giant Octopus Clan is far superior to the humans!”

“How brilliant, leader!!” The other octopuses immediately understood what their leader meant.

“We will still have to steal a ship, since a normal jar would be much too small. It wouldn’t hold nearly enough freshwater.” A group of octopuses were still deep in their discussion that had veered off topic.

Once it heard what had happened, Twelve Arms originally greyish-brown head turned green with fear.

An octopus like itself that lived in the ocean, once it is soaked in fresh water, it will last for a while but it would be dead sooner or later anyways.

This kind of death that slowly arrived was no better than drying out to death under the sun; all that was better was that there would be no blood, and it would be cleaner and more hygienic too…

It immediately decided to escape. It had no choice; no matter how stupid it was, it knew that if it did not run now, it would be as good as dead.

And so serious internal conflict sparked amongst the octopuses…

It had twelve limbs and it was bigger than their leader, Heracles, and stronger too. If it weren’t for the extra four limbs it had, it would have been the leader instead, and deciding the fate of another octopus would have been up to it…

A battle started going down as groups upon groups of octopuses took turns throwing themselves at it to stop it from escaping to its freedom.

Twelve Arms ran around in panic and utter confusion, yet it could not see a way through as its strength started giving out.

At this moment, it suddenly realized that a bright golden thing flew out from the black backpack that one of its limbs was holding. That item proceeded to knock out one of the octopuses that was beating it up.

It did not dare be cruel at first, since it only wanted to disperse the octopuses blocking its path. It could not make a break for it, since none of the octopuses were scared of it.

That was until before the bright golden thing had attacked and knocked out the octopuses one by one. As its opponents dropped one by one, more and more grew afraid of it. They started rapidly swimming backwards, which gave it the chance to make a break for it and escape from its tight corner.

It of course had no idea that right before the final bullet, the game book did not require worshipping or the chanting of spells…

It did not need to wait for an order from its owner for something like this; it had already been taught by precept and example by the System and it was an instinct that had settled deep into itself.

However, with what had just unfolded, Twelve Arms’ accusation of being the humans’ spy was more than solidified.

“How despicable, even using a human’s treasure to beat up us octopuses, it really is a spy sent by the humans,” Heracles had completely lost his authority and had flown into a rage out of humiliation. It immediately notified the Giant Octopus communities in all corners of the ocean of this news.

Due to the fact that it was a plain code telegram, Twelve Arms itself also received the telegram and knew that it had nowhere else to go. It could only become a wandering octopus that would spent the rest of its life drifting in the ocean.

…

At this moment, it felt like it had been wronged and various thoughts formed in its head…

‘Why, why is not trust at all within octopuses?’

‘Why, why is everyone second-guessing each other? Just because I have four extra limbs, do I have to suffer from discrimination?’

‘I didn’t steal any jar and I didn’t get beat up, so that doesn’t make me an octopus?’

‘I stole lots of jars and got beaten up, and then I’m accused of injuring myself to gain their confidence?’

‘What kind of dark octopus world do I live in?’

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It subconsciously converted these thoughts into Morse Code, to which it is then transmitted to all corners of the ocean…

…

Twelve Arms had no idea that right above it in midair, the Vigilante A that had beaten it up previously was currently watching it with an expressionless face.

Fang Ning was in the System Space listening to Anderson translating everything in real-time. He could not help praising, “Never thought that an octopus would be able to form such profound thoughts on philosophical issues. How commendable…”

The System groaned, “How boring… If it’s so good at imagining things, why won’t it channel that energy into catching a couple of fishes to nourish its body. At least then that stupid book could sneak some experience points.”

Fang Ning was speechless, “You’re really terrible at looking at the big picture, you only know how to focus on the things in front of you. If it is able to walk onto a new path after crossing this hurdle, then I won’t have to worry about my precious game book’s experience points.”

The System, “I don’t understand, but I’m sure you do, Big Billionaire Host. Why not go teach it some tricks then?”

Fang Ning laughed proudly, “The time isn’t right.”

“I don’t understand. Mind being clearer with your explanation?”

Fang Ning let out a bark of a laugh and said, “There’s no need for you to understand, just do as I say.”

…

As it pondered on the profound philosophical issues, Twelve Arms floated along the waves, drifting to nowhere in particular.

Not long after, it saw two large dolphins fighting in the distance.

One of the dolphins was 8 meters long and was completely black in color; the other one was nine meters long and completely white in color.

None of them were lacking in size as compared to Twelve Arms, but they were both much more superior in terms of developed muscles and strength.

The pair of black and white dolphins were using their heads to strike the other dolphin, and they were both unwilling to give in. It was an extremely heated fight, and it seemed like their heads would expose from the force.

After all, it was merely a mollusk, while the dolphins were vertebrates with bones; so it would of course have an inherent disadvantage strength-wise.

“I saw this stupid octopus first, so I get to eat it first.”

“I was the one that saw it first, so I should eat it first.”

If it were the old Twelve Arms, it would have run away as far as possible as soon as it spotted its natural enemy. However, it was currently feeling depressed and lonely.

Now that it had finally met sapient sea creatures that could speak, it immediately swam over to make conversation.

It used spiritual sense to send a telepathic message to the pair of dolphins, “Mr. Dolphins, what are you both fighting about?”

The nine-meter white dolphin turned to glance at it and replied telepathically, “Oh, we were arguing who should eat you first… According to the rules of our clan, the first one that discovered prey gets the rights to eat first. We both insist we saw you first, so we don’t want to admit that we saw you second.”

“Oh, I see. Then wouldn’t being honest solve things? Why do you both have to lie just for one catch? One out of the both of you must have seen me first,” explained Twelve Arms while its head bobbed along to the currents before its expression took one of confusion. “Wait, the octopus that you both want to eat, could it be me?”

“Of course, why are you so shocked about it? A dolphin eating an octopus is natural behavior, isn’t it? Besides, you’re the idiot here; not only did you not run away, you swam right up to us. I’ve never seen prey like you, and if only everyone was like you,” exclaimed the eight-meter black dolphin.

Twelve Arms was on the verge of crying. It said carefully, “However, I heard from the humans that once you’ve gained sapience, you aren’t allowed to eat animals that can talk anymore.”

The white dolphin asked in uncertainty, “Is that so? You didn’t just make that up to trick us, right?”

“I never lie, and that is the truth. I can swear to God.” Twelve Arms raised all twelve of its limbs in a swearing motion.

“Huh, it has twelve limbs. It doesn’t seem to be any ordinary octopus.” The black dolphin had finally picked up on the abnormal outlook of the octopus.

“Oh, now that I think of it, I saved a ship’s crew member and he had told me that the humans really don’t allow speaking animals to be eaten. It is probably telling the truth, we should let it go…” said the white dolphin to the black dolphin.

The black dolphin and nodded its head, “You’re probably right. It doesn’t seem to be very smart, so I don’t think it would know how to lie.”

Their exchange provided Twelve Arms with an immense sense of relief.

It was exhausted, so it would never be able to go against a pair of its natural enemies. The most that would happen was that it would probably have to go down with at least one of them.

“Thank you both so much, I never thought that you both would believe me when my own clan members didn’t.”

The white dolphin lilted, “That’s because we are dolphins, and we represent love and peace…”

…

Vigilante A was watching everything unfold from up in mid-air.

Fang Ning announced confidently, “The time has arrived.”

Thus, Twelve Arms and the two dolphins that believed it decided to traverse the ocean together to look for fish farms. They also decided to delegate the work amongst the three of them.

As midnight fell, its companions went to sleep first. Due to having twelve limbs, Twelve Arms felt that it would be able to carry out its duty properly, so it offered to shoulder the responsibility of standing guard and watching over its companions.

Currently, it was vigilantly scanning its surroundings while it fell into a reverie.

Its twelve limbs had the ability to work involuntarily, so it did not need to constantly control its limbs, which gave it ample time to ponder.

‘Why did my natural enemies believe me, but my own clan members didn’t?’

‘Why is that so?’

Once again, these thoughts got converted into Morse Code again. From within the black backpack that one of its limbs was holding, the bright golden item appeared once more.

It looked at the thing in confusion. A while later, it finally recognized that the bright golden item looked extremely similar to the books of the humans.

A thought suddenly popped into its head and it immediately spoke, “Thank you, golden book. You saved my life, I wouldn’t have been able to escape otherwise.”

It was communicating in Morse Code once more.

The book suddenly flapped its pages, letting out puffing sounds, as if in reply to Twelve Arms.

After listening for a while, it went wild with delight.

It could understand what the book was communicating perfect, since it was also using a type of Morse Code.

“Oh teenaged twelve-limbed octopus, the gears of your destiny are finally in motion. Forget about the prejudice your clan had towards you and move towards building an honest oceanic world where those that resort to slander because of jealousy have nowhere to go and where your descendants will not go through what you suffered…”

As it listened to the book, its originally confused and perplexed gaze shifted into one of determination.

‘The book is right, this is why I was born with four extra limbs. The heavens have chosen me and have made me different from the rest…

‘Those clan members of mine have always been jealous of my strength since I had more limbs than they did.

‘When we grew up, they would slander and exclude me every chance they got.

‘Whatever I said, even if it were the truth, they still wouldn’t believe me.

‘However, the number of limbs don’t matter to that pair of dolphins. All they care about is whether or not my I’m telling the truth, and they would never misinterpret what I mean.

‘I will let all the creatures in this ocean understand that slandering and jealousy will not make you stronger.

‘I will build an honest oceanic world. This is the destiny of I, Twelve Arms.’