The Eleventh Year of Making Hate with My Lover - Chapter 1

“Shen Wang, I hate you to death.”

In the darkness, someone clutched his collar, fingers trembling as they fumbled in a panic to cover the wound on his chest.

“…” Another dream.

In the dim corridor, Shen Wang braced himself and slowly stood up. He was surrounded by sabotaged defensive devices; once he passed through this corridor, the room next door would be his target location.

He hadn’t expected there to be a gas trap here. Even though he had been well-prepared, it took several minutes of dizziness before he could sit up. Shen Wang subconsciously frowned; in that short span of time, he had dreamt of that person again.

“An uninvited ghost.” Expressionless, Shen Wang tore off a piece of his clothing, bit down on one end of the fabric, and swiftly bandaged his own wound.

His target this time was to retrieve a multi-purpose combat weapon. His intention wasn’t to kill, but rather, he had taken a fancy to the weapon’s ability to soothe spiritual energy.

All the traps were located in the preceding corridors. Aside from a lock, the room itself held nothing dangerous, and Shen Wang easily slipped inside in the darkness.

Gurgle—

A series of bubbles rising to the surface echoed in the room, amplified infinitely in the dark.

He subconsciously reached for the gun at his waist, scanning the room with the thin moonlight streaming through the window. The room was vast and empty, lacking any superfluous furniture, save for a massive glass cultivation chamber placed in the very center. Inside, a strange creature floated.

The creature’s semi-transparent, gelatinous body occupied more than half of the space, its edges shimmering with a faint, blue-pink fluorescent light. Long, slender tentacles stirred in the pale blue liquid, though most were knotted and tangled a clear sign it hadn’t been well-tended.

It looked like a giant jellyfish, but what was eerie was that several pinkish-blue eyes were exposed on its umbrella-shaped head.

[Task target detected.]

The system in his spiritual sea reminded him, projecting a transparent panel onto Shen Wang’s face. A string of analytical data appeared:

[This is an alienated jellyfish mimic. Its spiritual core has a high compatibility rate with yours and can provide powerful spiritual soothing.]

[You need to remove it as soon as possible.]

Attached beneath the data was a somewhat abstract ID photo.

It looked more like a casual doodle than a photo a Q-version stick-figure sketch of a jellyfish. Comically, the jellyfish’s round, chubby head was drawn with two cute cat ears.

Shen Wang looked at the drawing, then back at the massive behemoth in the culture tank, his gaze darting between the sketch and the actual creature.

He asked the system, [This drawing isn’t right, is it?]

The system remained silent for a second before feeding back: [Perhaps it was drawn when it was young.]

Shen Wang raised an eyebrow.

Seeming to sense the rudeness of the person below, the jellyfish moved. Its tentacles swayed, and its large, unfocused eyes turned toward him simultaneously.

The blue-pink eyes initially swept over him with indifference, but when their gazes met, a look resembling shock clearly appeared in its pupils. It shook its umbrella-shaped head and swam rapidly toward the glass wall.

Shen Wang felt his throat bob. Through the glass, guided by some inexplicable impulse, he reached out his hand.

Gurgle—

The jellyfish pressed itself against the glass, right where his hand was, and suddenly became abnormally restless. It followed the rising air bubbles, but the electric grid at the top of the chamber blocked it; the area in contact was charred by the electricity, and it sank back down powerlessly.

“What are you rushing for?” Shen Wang muttered subconsciously, unsure if the creature could even understand human speech.

He stretched out his hand, and black fluid emerged between his fingers. Like threads, the fluid swiftly wrapped around the electric grid, transforming into sharp blades that sliced through it in one stroke. At the same time, an alarm sounded instantly.

The jellyfish leaped out of the cultivation chamber. It became much smaller than it had been in the tank. It drifted lightly, wanting to pounce into Shen Wang’s arms, but Shen Wang side-stepped, causing the creature to land face-first if a jellyfish could have a face.

He hadn’t forgotten that this thing had been categorized by the system as a combat weapon. Guarding against its potential aggression, he used his abilities to bind it tight, dragging it along the floor like a sack. It left a trail of cold, wet stains in its wake.

The jellyfish emitted a “Guji” sound, seemingly very dissatisfied with the way it was being treated. Its soft tentacles gently wrapped around Shen Wang’s wrist, rubbing against him in a fawning manner.

Shen Wang ignored its little gestures. With footsteps approaching from outside, he quickly dragged the ball of jellyfish into the ventilation duct.

“Getting in was easy; getting out is a bit difficult,” Shen Wang murmured, listening to the movement outside and tugging at his soaked collar with a sense of melancholy.

Half a month ago, he was a dead man. Perhaps his dissipated spirit had synchronized with the original owner of this body, and he had unexpectedly been reborn. Opening his eyes, he had revived in this body.

Being alive was fine, but the regret was that he had lost most of his memories, and a useless system had appeared in his spiritual sea.

The system said it was now New Calendar Year 318. The world was severely divided, filled with supernatural entities and sources of pollution, and “you, my friend, are an ace Spirit-Awakening Master ranked second in the Alliance, having slain countless entities.”

Shen Wang stared blankly at the Alliance badge he pulled from his pocket: [What are the Alliance and Spirit-Awakening Masters?]

The system explained: [Spirit-Awakening Masters are, simply put, a special group of people who have evolved spiritual cores. Such individuals usually possess supernatural abilities.]

[The Alliance was founded by Spirit-Awakening Masters from the three major families, with the goal of organized eradication of the world’s supernatural entities.]

It sounded impressive. He asked curiously: [Then who is number one?]

The system paused for a moment: [Your ex-wife.]

That’s just great. Shen Wang’s mouth twitched. In his past life, he hadn’t even had a partner; in this life, he had already fast-forwarded to divorce. However, he had no interest in his ex-wife’s identity.

However, just as he accepted reality and crawled out of the ruins, he hadn’t taken two steps before his vision went black. It felt like needles were piercing his brain, and he had to lean against the rubble to keep from collapsing.

Shen Wang clutched his forehead, cold sweat breaking out: [Is the second-ranked Spirit-Awakening Master’s body this frail?]

The system paused for another second before saying, [Host, it is detected that your body has lost half of its spiritual core. Not only is your ability greatly diminished, but your spiritual energy will also riot. The mild symptom is a headache; the severe symptom… a vegetative state.]

Shen Wang: […Is there a way to solve this?]

The system: [You must retrieve your lost spiritual core, or, in the Wu family, there is a multi-purpose combat weapon that has the ability to soothe spiritual energy…] It hadn’t even finished speaking when it suddenly “beeped” again: [Host, a program has been detected initiating in your brain.]

Shen Wang snapped: [Speak.]

The system began to flicker urgently: [A self-destruct program has been initiated. Please complete the designated task to prevent spiritual erasure.]

?

Wait, what? What program?

The system said the program could only be deactivated by completing a designated task and as luck would have it, the task was to escort that combat weapon to a specified location. It sounded like a conspiracy, but he had no other choice.

…

The sticky, rubbing sound in the ventilation duct interrupted his melancholy. Shen Wang turned his head to see the jellyfish stuck at a corner of the duct. Its transparent, cold-glowing tentacles were clawing at the metal wall in vain; it looked like a crushed piece of jelly.

“Tsk.” Shen Wang poked its bouncy umbrella-shaped surface: “Can you make yourself smaller?”

The jellyfish made a “Guji” sound, seemingly protesting. Several pinkish-blue eyes on the top of its head turned toward him in unison, and Shen Wang felt his scalp tingle under that gaze.

The little jellyfish extended a tentacle and pointed toward its base beneath the transparent surface, it seemed to be wrapped around a small ring.

Shen Wang: “You want me to help you take it out?”

The jellyfish made another “Guji” sound, its tentacles hooking onto Shen Wang’s fingertip and shaking.

“Is it a suppressor?” He extended his finger, reaching into the base of the jellyfish; the soft sensation felt exactly like a lump of jelly.

As his second finger entered, the jellyfish shivered slightly. With his fingertip, Shen Wang slowly pulled out the ring.

Shen Wang squinted at it. He recognized this type of ring suppressor, though they were usually used to suppress the unstable abilities of Spirit-Awakening Masters.

Placed inside its body what was it suppressing?

The jellyfish felt a sense of relief, shook its tentacles, and under Shen Wang’s inquisitive gaze, shrank into a mini-version the size of a tennis ball.

“…Eh.” He had expected it to turn into a person or something; he felt a faint sense of disappointment.

The mini-version of the little jellyfish was finally clear enough to see, and it did indeed look exactly like the portrait in the attachment.

It looked like a cross between a manta ray and a mini-jellyfish. It was completely transparent and glowing, with the edges of its umbrella slightly curled, and two pointy, beast-ear-like protrusions on top. Its long, slender tentacles were intertwined with ruff-like frills; it was a tiny little thing floating in mid-air.

It was, indeed, very cute.

Shen Wang grabbed it and stuffed it into his pocket.

After discovering that something important had been stolen, all the doors and windows of the Wu residence were sealed off; not even a fly could get out. However, the map the system provided him showed a secret passage leading to the back mountain.

By the time people chased them out, Shen Wang had already slipped into the dense forest with the jellyfish. The forest under the moonlight was pitch-black, and a light rain was falling, blurring everyone’s vision.

This should have been a smooth escape, but as luck would have it, his spiritual energy began to riot at this very moment. A flash of electrical static seemed to strike inside his brain. Shen Wang felt a splitting headache and slowly sat down, clutching the tree trunk.

After feeling slightly better, he pulled the little jellyfish from his chest pocket and rubbed it twice.

The system said this thing could soothe spiritual energy. It wouldn’t be lying to me, would it?

“How do I soothe my spiritual energy?” As the jellyfish was rubbed out of shape in his hand, he leaned in and said: “Take a bite?” Can this thing be eaten? No, no, it might be poisonous.

After hearing this, the jellyfish’s little eyes blinked in unison, and it extended a flat tentacle to press against his face.

“…” It seems to understand human speech. His head was throbbing so hard he was starting to feel dizzy; he was actually able to detect an expression of shame on a jellyfish’s face.

The jellyfish seemed to understand his distress; it crawled out of his hand, floated in the air, and finally sat on Shen Wang’s head. Its tiny tentacles pressed against Shen Wang’s temples, one on each side, transmitting a cooling energy that eased his agitation.

But this delay was enough for the Wu family to catch up. Several lasers flashed past him. Shen Wang quickly dodged behind a tree, but his shoulder was still slashed, blood mixing with the rainwater and dripping down.

The pursuers saw the black-haired youth standing alone, paused for a moment, and then shouted: “Catch him!”

They hadn’t expected someone to dare come here alone to snatch the Wu family’s heir.

In the dense gunfire, black liquid spilled from between Shen Wang’s fingers, instantly condensing into fine threads. The threads acted like spider silk, devouring the bullets while simultaneously wrapping tightly around the front row of people and throwing them backward.

The little jellyfish at his side seemed to be in good spirits, its tentacles nimbly snatching up the incoming light blades and returning them exactly where they came from targeting the backside of a Spirit-Awakening Master.

They seemed evenly matched, but Shen Wang had already been forced away from his original path and pushed to the edge of the cliff; escape wasn’t going to be easy.

Shen Wang let out a soft “Tsk.”

“Mr. Shen.” The elderly man at the lead walked forward, leaning on a cane, his expression peaceful: “We made it very clear half a month ago you cannot take it away.”

Shen Wang frowned slightly. This isn’t good. I came to rob them, and I’ve ended up robbing someone I know.

This useless system.

He stuffed the jellyfish, which was enthusiastically throwing light blades, back into his pocket and spread his clean palms with a gentle smile, showing no trace of embarrassment: “Take what away?”

Someone in the crowd shouted: “It’s hidden right in your pocket.”

Shen Wang flipped through his pants pockets.

That person cursed: “Stop pretending! The pocket on your chest!”

The old man didn’t speak; he simply raised his hand. The supernatural users beside him threw light blades that pierced the ground. Where the light blades connected, barriers began to rise one by one; it seemed they intended to trap him inside.

Shen Wang rolled to dodge one, but watching the barriers rise all around him, forming a circular prison, Shen Wang’s eyelashes drooped in thought. Suddenly, he let out a scoff and reached out to pull out the jellyfish.

“You want this, right?”

“Guji?” The little jellyfish lay on his palm, soft and tiny, its pointed ears twitching.

In the next second, he was flung out by Shen Wang through a gap in the barrier that hadn’t yet closed, heading straight for the cliff behind him.

“Off you go—”

“?”

While everyone was stunned and too distracted to continue surrounding Shen Wang, they all rushed to the edge of the cliff. To their surprise, black threads like a spider web wrapped around the jellyfish.

Shen Wang broke out of the crowd, reaching out from afar to release his threads. If he could reel it back in from this distance, he could run straight down the mountain.

However, the jellyfish in mid-air expanded rapidly, its blue-pink eyes turning eerily. The tentacles grabbed Shen Wang’s threads and pulled, dragging him swiftly up to the cliff, hanging him in mid-air by his wrists.

The jellyfish’s tentacles wrapped around his waist, pulling him toward it.

“…Actually, I don’t want to die for love with a jellyfish.” With his feet dangling in the air, Shen Wang’s eyelids twitched violently.

The jellyfish seemed angry because of his actions just now; one tentacle lashed out at Shen Wang’s back, while another gestured to block his mouth.

“……”

The Spirit-Awakening Master’s energy bullets whistled past his ears. The jellyfish plummeted rapidly, and Shen Wang quickly activated his supernatural powers to envelop himself. The intense sensation of weightlessness forced him to close his eyes.

However, there was no collision as expected, only the salty taste of seawater washing over his nose and mouth.

Shen Wang felt himself wrapped in a warm embrace. When he struggled to surface, he found himself lying on a reef.

The rain was still falling, the waves surged, and the fragmented moonlight on the sea surface looked like stars fallen into the water. The thing that should have been a jellyfish was gone, and standing beside the reef was a man, barefoot.

Shen Wang was slightly stunned.

The man was wrapped in his coat, the collar loosely open. His soaked, snow-white hair clung to his cheeks, and water droplets trickled down his cold, fair chin.

He had a pair of very special blue eyes; in the icy blue, there was a touch of gentle pink. The man’s eyes were slightly upturned, but the depths of his gaze held a cool weariness.

Although he couldn’t see the man’s entire face clearly under the moonlight, Shen Wang felt inexplicably familiar with him.

“You…” He said in a raspy voice, his gaze trailing from the hair on top of the man’s head down to his bare ankles. It was hard to imagine the tall man before him was the tiny jellyfish from a moment ago.

The man stepped onto his chest, rainwater rolling down his cheeks, and he spoke slowly. His voice was a little faint and a little cold: “Long time no see, ex-husband.”

Author’s Note:

Stay tuned for the pre-release novel:

“On How the Deposed Crown Prince Plots to Take the Beauty and the Empire”

[Gloomy, Ambitious Deposed Crown Prince × Noble, Cold, Arrogant Feudatory King] 1v1 HE

Pei Zhuo was a crown prince not far from being deposed. The entire imperial court spoke of him as gentle and cowardly, incapable of shouldering heavy responsibilities.

He hadn’t lived in the Eastern Palace for more than a few months when enemy nations invaded, and the Emperor hastily sent him off as a hostage.

In the fifth year of his time as a hostage, the flames of war between the two nations ignited once again.

The most dazzling Feudatory King of the Daqing Empire, Han Yi, personally fished this unlucky Crown Prince out of the prison.

Seeing this young noble, renowned for his military exploits and feared even by his own father, Pei Zhuo felt desires other than seizing power for the first time in his heart.

He’s too spicy, Pei Zhuo thought.

Such a beautiful, noble person, yet as sharp as a blade he deserved to have his wings clipped and be made to willingly submit.

In the 25th year of Qingli, the seemingly honest and dim-witted deposed Crown Prince rebelled.

He seized the throne, killed his brothers and father, and imprisoned the man feared by the former emperor in the palace, forcing him to submit to his desires…

Han Yi spent seven years winning the empire for Daqing. He should have been a virtuous minister; his name recorded in history.

Alas, the bird is cast aside once the bow is gone. The emperor he had once confided in now suspected and feared him, demoting him again and again.

The most dazzling star of the war era had his brilliance obscured in times of peace. That battle was his final loyalty to the emperor, and the result was saving an incompetent prince.

The prince bowed low to him, his posture extremely submissive: “This student is dim-witted; I beg the Ning Prince to humble himself to the position of Imperial Tutor and show me a path.”

A useless little wretch, Han Yi thought.

The result was that five years later, this very little wretch rebelled.

He seized the throne, killed his brothers and father.

He imprisoned him in the palace, stripped off his clothes, and pinned him to the dragon bed…