34. Golden Ink
The Electric Kraken's golden blood gushed endlessly, soaking my face.
The intense pressure blinded me, obscuring my vision completely.
Determined that nothing could begin without seeing ahead, I wiped my face with the hem of my summer school uniform.
As my vision cleared and I observed the scene before me, I realized something.
This golden liquid wasn't the Kraken's blood.
It was its ink.
A supremely rare, ultra-premium ingredient that could elevate any dish's flavor threefold—no, thirtyfold—golden ink.
Its brilliance defied the very concept of ink, shimmering radiantly as if carving out a new definition.
I was half-entranced, compelled to taste it.
"Too delicious…"
Instinctively, I began searching for Jinri.
With a desperation surpassing the worry I felt when I thought she was in danger from the Kraken's attack, I sought her urgently.
I wanted her to taste this flavor as soon as possible.
"Jinri!"
Raising my voice, I sent out a telepathic signal with every nerve on edge. A response came immediately.
"Yura! Where are you?!"
Thankfully, my attack on the Kraken's head seemed to have weakened or halted its assault on her.
I sent my location instantly.
"I'm at the Electric Kraken's head! Can you come now?"
"It's a bit far! Can't you come to me, Yura? I got a little hurt from that attack!"
Worry tightened my chest again.
As expected, she'd been injured by that conical strike.
No matter how delicious this golden ink was, asking her to swim here in her condition was unreasonable.
As I frantically thought of ways to deliver the ink to her, a lightbulb—three times brighter than all the photons in the electric sea combined—lit up in the center of my CPU.
The flash nearly blanked my mind, but I regained my composure and decided to act on this brilliant idea.
An idea without action has no value.
No, it isn't even allowed to exist.
An idea that lingers only in the mind is nothing but poison.
Suppressing the anxiety of such a reckless plan, I sprang into action.
I swam closer to the Kraken's wound, still gushing golden ink.
Then, I pressed my mouth to it.
Like administering CPR, I placed my lips on the gash in the Kraken's head.
The wound, torn in the shape of a lovely girl's lips, allowed me to kiss it with little resistance.
For a fleeting moment, I had to cross the uncanny valley, but the slope wasn't steep, and I quickly reached a realm of pleasure.
What began as CPR transformed into sucking venom from a snakebite victim. I started gulping down the irresistibly delicious golden ink from the Kraken's head.
But then, a sense of crisis hit me.
This golden ink wasn't just delicious—it was extraordinarily nutritious.
As I drank, the battery I'd depleted—down to 30% from swimming, dodging the Kraken's attack, and linking with the cutlassfish blade—recovered 10% with each gulp.
Drinking too eagerly, my battery surged past 100%, swelling to an astonishing 358%.
This could destroy my battery.
I'd drunk too much.
I'd gone too far.
What had been enjoyment had crossed into addiction.
Enthralled by the ink's sweetness, I'd recklessly disregarded my health, putting myself in peril.
"Yura!"
Just as I was drowning in addiction, Jinri's voice rang out like a savior's, reaching me telepathically from the other side of the Kraken's head.
Her voice pulled my CPU—on the verge of losing individual consciousness and becoming a primal absorption machine—back from the brink, miraculously restoring me.
Like a sacred prayer, I uttered her name.
"Jinri."
That single word fully awakened me, vividly recalling my original purpose.
What was my purpose?
To escape Tropical Night City, behold the sun, and survive.
And to achieve that with Jinri.
First, I had to save Jinri from her dire situation.
And I had to let her taste this impossibly delicious golden ink of the Electric Kraken.
With my purpose clear, my next action was obvious.
I filled my cheeks with as much golden ink as they could hold. Then, I pulled my mouth away from the Kraken's wound.
This decision took a long three seconds. My CPU's instincts fiercely resisted, and executing this heavy choice consumed 100% of my overcharged battery.
Still, with an original surplus of 358%, I was left with 258%. Still overcharged, but I worried about what lay ahead.
Would my battery hold up?
Once I escaped Tropical Night City, I might need to head straight to a repair shop.
Somehow detaching myself from the source of the golden ink, I began swimming.
Toward Jinri.
The journey was far from easy.
The Kraken's head was so massive that circling it took nearly a full minute.
For a humanoid robot, a minute is an eternity.
Even pushing my overcharged actuators to their limits, swimming with the speed and efficiency of an Olympic medalist, it still took that long.
I'd kept Jinri waiting.
During that time, we exchanged trillions of terabytes of telepathic small talk, but making her wait a minute was unforgivable.
I was a failure as a humanoid robot.
Finally, Jinri's figure appeared in my visual sensors.
Pale blue blood flowed from the nape of her neck.
The wound was severe.
"Jinri!"
I shouted her name with enough force to shake the entire electric sea, rushing to her side.
We'd been connected telepathically, but that was only in my mind.
In reality, she was already half in sleep mode.
Likely, she'd switched to energy-saving mode, forcing herself to maintain our telepathic link despite her grave injury.
Pale blue tears streamed down my cheeks.
Tears the same color as her blood poured endlessly from my eyes.
"Jinri."
Each time I spoke her name, the blue of my tears deepened, glowing like bioluminescent plankton.
Those glowing tears flowed into the water, seeping into her wound.
No matter how I called, she didn't respond.
She wasn't dead—just deeply asleep.
So, without forcing her awake, I approached the wound on her neck.
I gently pressed my mouth to it.
Then, like administering an IV drip, I carefully poured the golden ink from my mouth into her wound, little by little.
A small miracle seemed to unfold.
Her wound began to close, slowly but surely knitting together, as if being stitched.
The sight was mystical, imbued with a strange, captivating beauty.
Nearby sea creatures, as if drawn by gossip, gathered noisily.
Like a concert in their private plaza, reminiscent of the indie rock band we enjoyed at the underground casino ranch, tiny fish and bacteria swarmed with fervor, eagerly watching Jinri's wound heal.
Captivated by the vivid spectacle, I stood transfixed, like an audience member at a stage performance.
The moment the wound fully closed, the pale blue blood that had been leaking stopped, as if searching for a new exit. Then, Jinri's eyes snapped open.
Her lovely, beautiful blue eyes, like a newly hatched duckling seeking its mother, locked onto me.
The instant our gazes met, Jinri gently pressed her lips to mine.
We kissed.
Her soft, electron-soaked kiss in the water sent shivers through my entire body.
A melodic sensation flooded me, shocking me like an electric jolt.
I felt the golden ink in my mouth slowly flow into hers.
What I'd wanted her to taste, she was now fulfilling herself.
The flavor of the golden ink, shared from my mouth to hers, gained new richness, becoming even more exquisite.
We savored the golden ink while kissing, lost in happiness, drowning in the pleasure of the electric sea.
Eventually, we shared all the ink in our mouths and ended our long yet fleeting kiss.
In a sweet voice, Jinri nibbled my earlobe and whispered.
"That was delicious."