After Encountering My Deceased Wife, I Became the Male Lead's Love Rival - Chapter 69

Chapter 69: End of the Third World

“Any news?” General Shang asked over the comms.

The search and rescue team leader shook his head. “None yet.”

The military-led rescue operation had reached its seven-hundredth attempt. Despite seven hundred searches, they hadn’t even found the entrance to Planet Ruize. A few days after Ling Qiu brought the unconscious Fang Ziyue back to the planet, the slumbering planetary consciousness had suddenly awakened. A thin membrane of water now shrouded the planet; unless one used a star-class weapon, it was impossible to force entry.

All star-class weapons belonging to the Merchants and the Imperial family were now under strict military control. The era of the tripartite standoff was over.

“Search again. We must not give up,” the General ordered.

Fang Ziyue was too important. In just a few years, she had single-handedly upended the entire Star Alliance. Without her miraculous seeds and nutrient formulas, such a feat would have been impossible. For those reasons alone, she was a high-priority protected individual.

General Shang sighed as he reviewed the latest data on the public’s spiritual stability. Without the mass-produced solutions and the abundance of vegetables and fruits, the three powers wouldn’t be arguing over access—they would be carving up Ruize like a carcass.

“I must admit, her vision is far-reaching,” General Shang remarked, tapping his chair. “And her motive was clear from the start: to save the mermaids.”

The woman sitting beside him was the Director of the First Military Research Institute, specializing in nutrient solution formulation. She finally looked up from her documents and huffed. “If you want to praise the girl, just do it. Don’t be so cryptic.”

The Director, desperate for such a talent, would have led the search herself if the soldiers hadn’t held her back. She adjusted her silver-rimmed glasses and glared at the General.

“Ahem…” General Shang, losing face in front of his wife, quickly changed the subject. “Do you think she’ll just stay on Ruize and never come back?”

“Impossible,” the Director countered immediately. “Ruize is covered in water. There is no space for a human to survive.”

The General disagreed. He recalled a passage from an ancient text: ‘If blessed by the Mermaid Emperor, a human can breathe and live underwater.’ If the vegetables from those legends had appeared, a few more miracles wouldn’t be so far-fetched, right?

The Director fell silent, considering the possibility. Given Fang Ziyue’s actions, she had effectively secured a future for the mermaid race. Whether she stayed or not, her legacy was cemented.

In the eastern part of Planet Ruize, there was a vast forest of golden coral. Glowing shells were tied to the branches, lighting the seafloor like a garden of lanterns. Inside a shell-house at the center of the forest, a commotion was underway.

“Hey, hey! The ‘groom’ isn’t allowed out yet! This is a wedding day—as you humans say, it’s a matter of etiquette!” A silver-tailed mermaid blocked the door, preventing Fang Ziyue from leaving.

After Fang Ziyue woke up, her spiritual influence had caused the slumbering mermaids to awaken simultaneously. Drawing on ancestral memories, they quickly restored order, appointing a new Emperor and Elders. Ling Qiu had been offered an Elder position but refused; she only wanted to stay by Fang Ziyue’s side.

However, the new Mermaid Emperor was young and mischievous. He insisted on a traditional mermaid wedding and was determined to make things difficult for Fang Ziyue. He flicked his silver tail, thinking smugly: How can a beautiful mermaid from our clan be married off so easily to a fragile human? Even if this human is impressive, in the eyes of the in-laws, the pig that steals the cabbage is never a ‘good’ pig!

“Achoo!” Inside the room, Fang Ziyue sneezed while using her spiritual tentacles to dig a tunnel. She smirked. That little silver brat is definitely bad-mouthing me.

She dug with ferocity. Once she got out, she was kidnapping Ling Qiu and leaving. She couldn’t stand these “in-laws” for another second!

Thinking Fang Ziyue had been suppressed into submission, the little Emperor lifted his chin proudly. Hmph. Human, if you want to marry our clansman, you’ll have to pass eighty-one trials!

Inside the room, Fang Ziyue finished her tunnel, gave the door a middle-finger gesture, and shook her head with a sneer. Bye-bye, suckers!

The “tunnel” was actually a space forced open by spiritual tentacles. Once she retracted them, the silt would collapse back into place, leaving no trace of her escape. She wondered if the silver mermaid would cry pearls in frustration when he found her gone.

As she sped through the darkness, she nearly collided with someone at a turn. Ling Qiu, who had whipped herself around a coral pillar to avoid the crash, was caught just in time by Fang Ziyue.

“How did you get out?”

“Run!”

The two spoke simultaneously. Wrapped in Fang Ziyue’s arms as they swam forward, Ling Qiu dazed for a moment before smiling sweetly and hugging her back. She had woken up to find her house surrounded by clansmen who wouldn’t let her leave until Fang Ziyue “rescued” her.

Ling Qiu knew they were being difficult on purpose. While she had looked forward to being “won” by Fang Ziyue, the thought of the young Emperor’s “trials”—like kissing eighty mermaids’ tail fins or catching a sea monster with one’s feet as a gift—made her shiver. That wasn’t a wedding; that was a public execution of her dignity!

She buried her face in Fang Ziyue’s neck, unhappily blowing bubbles. Marriage should have been a beautiful ceremony; now they were runaway brides.

“We’re almost out of the vortex. Hold tight,” Fang Ziyue whispered, her warm fingers pressing against the mermaid’s waist.

With the help of Ruize’s planetary consciousness, they slipped past the military’s search fleet like ghosts.

“A thousand searches, and still nothing,” the Research Director sighed at the military headquarters. She planned to petition for a direct link with the planetary consciousness in ten days.

“If we truly can’t find them, we’ll proceed with that,” the generals agreed, though General Shang worried about the strain such a link would put on his wife’s mind.

Beep—

An emergency transmission cut through the silence. General Shang opened it, and the room gasped. It was a treasure trove of data from Fang Ziyue: advanced cultivation methods for various plants, multiple nutrient formulas, and even breakthrough research on starship construction and weapon systems.

The data was vast and precise. General Shang realized Fang Ziyue didn’t want to be found. She had provided the bait—this data—as a deal: the military would get more “To Be Continued” research results only if they successfully managed the peace between humans and mermaids.

He shook his head and laughed. No power could hold her. She went where her heart desired.

On Planet K83, orchards and vegetable patches stretched as far as the eye could see. The administrator was a retired general who had survived a spiritual riot thanks to Fang Ziyue’s formulas.

A vintage horse-drawn carriage rolled slowly down a shaded path. The elegant woman driving it saw two young women sitting on a stone bench. One was a rare beauty with black hair and black eyes.

The carriage stopped. “Need a lift?” the administrator asked warmly.

The tall, black-haired woman stood up, pulling the person beside her along. “Thank you,” she said with a nod.

Seeing their unshielded intimacy, the administrator asked curiously, “Are you two a couple?”

“No,” the black-haired woman replied. She smiled brilliantly in the dappled sunlight. “We are legal spouses.”

An existence far more intimate than mere lovers.

(End of World 3)

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