I Don't Want To Fall In Love With The Heroine [Quick Wear] - Chapter 30: End of World 2

Bai Qian was utterly speechless. This rule had never been mentioned in the original plot.

In the original story, the female lead died in the scumbag’s laboratory. Forget avenging her parents; she never even had the chance to return to the ocean. There was no room for descriptions of a coronation or a Consort-naming ceremony.

After her explanation, Yu Shaoling reached out to take her hand again. Bai Qian ruthlessly dodged, her expression a mix of emotions. “I am not proposing to you. And besides, do you really think it will be that simple?”

“What do you mean?”

“The Black Octopus has lurked in the shadows for years to find an opportunity to seize the throne. When he hunted you down, he fully intended to end your life. You were saved by me by accident; though he’s frustrated, he’s undoubtedly still planning to kill you to eliminate any future threats. If you rush back blindly, even with your current psychic power, how can you guarantee you can defeat him when he’s prepared?”

After speaking, Bai Qian led the girl—whose logic had momentarily vanished in her excitement—back into the room. She pulled out her tablet and turned the screen toward her. “I’ve researched relevant data and found some information on the Black Octopus’s weaknesses. Until we have a foolproof plan, you are not allowed to rush back to the seabed for revenge. Do you understand?”

In reality, the human world had no data on mermaids, and naturally, no information on a “Black Octopus.” Bai Qian’s source was her “Guardian” system privileges.

After waiting in silence for a while, Bai Qian realized that although Yu Shaoling was staring at the tablet, her eyes were clearly glazed over. Her furrowed brow made her lack of focus obvious.

“What is it?” Bai Qian called out, bringing her drifting thoughts back.

“So, when can you propose to me? If you don’t want to, it’s no problem for me to propose to you instead.”

“…” Bai Qian unceremoniously delivered a flick to the girl’s forehead. “I am discussing the Black Octopus with you! Can you please be serious!”

Yu Shaoling rubbed the spot where she was hit, her voice turning into a soft whine. “The matter of marrying you is also very important to me. If you won’t give me an answer, I won’t be able to focus on making octopus sashimi for you.”

Bai Qian: “…We will discuss these things after you’ve taken your revenge and ascended the throne. Until then, please focus your attention on reclaiming your power, rather than discussing this inappropriately like some ‘love-brain.’ Got it?”

The “love-brain” fish looked confused. “What’s a love-brain? I’m a mermaid; I only have a mermaid brain. Not a love-brain.”

“You don’t need to know! Now, focus on the tablet and look at the data I’ve organized.”

Yu Shaoling obediently lowered her head to browse the tablet on her lap. After a quick skim, she asked curiously, “I didn’t even know about this information. How did you find it?”

Bai Qian felt her teeth ache from frustration. Did you not hear a single word I just said?! “I found it at the library!”

Yu Shaoling nodded. “The Sea Mentor was right. While we are studying you humans, you humans are also studying us creatures of the deep.”

Bai Qian: No, they aren’t!

The girl’s attention drifted again. She tilted her head, looking at Bai Qian with intense expectation. “So, how do you humans describe us mermaids?”

Bai Qian’s face darkened. She pressed down on the girl’s restless head, forcing it back toward the screen. She hissed through gritted teeth, “Can you please finish the important business before discussing these pointless things?!”

Yu Shaoling reached up to tug at her sleeve, signaling for her to let go of her head. Her little expression was perfectly innocent. “But… this data you gave me is useless.”

Bai Qian: ?

“In the Mermaid Kingdom, the subjects only support the holder of the Crown as the King. In reality, the Black Octopus doesn’t even have the qualifications to be King.” She explained: “When he killed my father, he stole the Crown and used sorcery to replace my father’s aura with his own. Because of that, the Crown recognizes him as its master. Our people recognize the Crown, not the person. That is the only reason he can stay in that position for now.”

“Then why did you need to find your tail? Since you’re the legitimate heir, couldn’t you just go back and make the Crown recognize you?”

Yu Shaoling: “Think of it this way—it’s like how humans need tools to go into space. The Mermaid Kingdom is in the deepest part of the ocean. If I want to return, I need my tail to survive the pressure. Does that analogy make sense?”

“Then why did you want to take me back if I don’t have a tail?”

Yu Shaoling reached for Bai Qian’s neck, pulling the miniature sea conch from her collar. She said softly, “You have this. it allows you to cross the ocean like a mermaid and enter that mysterious kingdom with me.”

Bai Qian grew more confused. “Then couldn’t you have just taken the conch and gone back yourself?”

Yu Shaoling answered with infinite patience. “I wasn’t finished. It can take you back because its creator was a mermaid. If I don’t have a tail, then just like you, I am only a ‘human’ in the water. Do you understand now?”

“So you’re saying… avenging your parents isn’t as difficult as I imagined?”

The look of confusion on the woman’s face was so rare and adorable that Yu Shaoling couldn’t resist leaning in to steal a kiss. “Exactly. Instead of spending so much energy on that octopus, I’d rather spend my time hugging and kissing you.”

“…” Bai Qian shoved aside the girl who was trying to deepen the kiss. “Then why didn’t you say so earlier!”

Yu Shaoling hooked her finger into Bai Qian’s hand. “I liked seeing you care about me so much. I promise, just this once. I won’t keep anything from you again.”

Bai Qian: Hmph.

“So, can we go back now? I can’t wait to marry you.”

“Wait!” Bai Qian interjected. “If it’s as you say, I don’t have to worry about the coup. But what about your parents? Can you really avenge them as easily as taking back the throne?”

“He tampered with my parents’ medicine; I intend to let him taste the same medicine,” Yu Shaoling’s face turned cold. “He cut down my parents right in front of me. The Sea Mentor gave his life to save me. I have many debts to collect, and I intend to make him pay them back one by one.”

*******

Before leaving for the Mermaid Kingdom, Bai Qian went to find An Yan one last time. However, the shop was closed; the woman and her mermaid were away on their honeymoon.

The two of them left the alley and waited at a bus stop. A nearby advertisement for a “Mermaid Blind Box” meal at KFC caught the girl’s eye, and her face lit up instantly.

“Bai Qian! I want that! Buy it for me!”

The woman followed her gaze. Yu Shaoling looked like a spoiled cat, using her beauty to her full advantage as she pleaded. “Bai Qian, you’ll buy it for me, won’t you?”

No one could refuse a mermaid like this. Including Bai Qian.

The blind box meals came in three types: single, double, and family. Bai Qian had no interest in burgers or fries, and since Yu Shaoling only wanted the toy, she ordered the cheapest single meal.

Having secured her treasure, the girl was led toward the door. But when they reached it, Bai Qian found she couldn’t budge the girl. A bad feeling arose just as the girl started acting spoiled again. “Bai Qian… you’ll buy them for me, won’t you?”

Bai Qian turned stiffly and followed her gaze. At a nearby table sat a little girl with a full, unopened set of blind boxes. Yu Shaoling shook her pink-tailed mermaid toy toward Bai Qian. “My companion told me she wants her sisters to come home with us, too.”

“…”

Yu Shaoling boarded the bus happily, clutching a full set of blind boxes. Beside her, Bai Qian wore a look of pure grief. Who invented blind boxes?! 59 yuan each! Does his conscience not hurt from making this blood-money?!

“Bai Qian, this one doesn’t look like their sister. I don’t see it on the box.”

By the third box, Yu Shaoling had pulled out a mermaid with a deep-red tail, a golden crown, and a jeweled scepter. Bai Qian glanced at the box; it was the “Hidden” chase figure.

“It’s this one,” she said, pointing to the silhouette covered by a question mark on the packaging.

Yu Shaoling was surprised. “So this is the hidden one? I saw people on Little Red Book saying the hidden ones are super hard to get!”

The girl turned the figure over in her hands several times. Instead of putting it back in the box like the others, she thrust it into Bai Qian’s hand. “This is for you.”

“Hmm? I don’t need it, thanks. If you like it so much, keep it. Didn’t you say you wanted to keep her with the sisters?”

Yu Shaoling shook her head and looked at her earnestly. “Bai Qian, you are my ‘Hidden’ one.”

The woman, whose face rarely flushed, turned a bright, unprecedented red.

*****

The middle-aged man, whose eight thick octopus legs had been severed by psychic blades, was at the end of his life. Yu Shaoling watched with cold eyes as she commanded the guards to cast him out of the palace.

The fleeing Black Octopus, pursued by the guards, reached the same stretch of sea where Yu Shaoling had first met Bai Qian. When the subordinates returned to report, Yu Shaoling was currently seeking a kiss from Bai Qian.

The girl instantly wiped the warmth from her face, turning stern. “You’re saying he was rescued by a man?”

“Yes, Princess.” The kneeling guard raised a hand, and a Sea Mirror appeared before Yu Shaoling. The guard’s face was full of devotion. “This subordinate failed to capture him alive. I await your punishment.”

Bai Qian’s soft hand surreptitiously scratched Yu Shaoling’s palm.

“Leave for now. We will discuss the punishment later.”

“Yes!”

Once the guard left, Yu Shaoling’s stiff expression shifted instantly.

“What is it?”

“Remember Tong Shaoqing, the one I told you about?”

“Who?” Yu Shaoling toyed with her fingers. “I don’t remember.”

“…” Bai Qian sighed. “The greedy, sinister human I mentioned—that’s the Tong Shaoqing who just rescued the Black Octopus.”

Yu Shaoling paused. “You mean the Black Octopus might cooperate with him and come back for me?”

Bai Qian thought for a moment. “Can you use the Sea Mirror to see what happens next?”

Yu Shaoling’s power was immense now; such a small task should be easy. However, the girl furrowed her brow in mock distress. “Taking you back here has already drained much of my energy. As you know, the strength of my power depends on my physical condition.”

Bai Qian sensed what was coming. Sure enough, the girl spoke shamelessly: “So, if you let me ‘collect’ some energy to supplement myself, my power will return.”

As she spoke, her hand moved toward Bai Qian’s stomach. Before it could slide higher, it was unceremoniously slapped away. “With all this water around you, is it not enough to wash the perverted thoughts out of your brain?”

Yu Shaoling didn’t give up and shoved her back onto the shell-bed. Bai Qian moved to kick her, but the girl was prepared and pinned her down. She leaned in, her mouth ambiguously capturing Bai Qian’s sensitive earlobe.

A slightly raspy whisper fell against her ear, accompanied by a dizzying heat. Bai Qian’s resisting hands instantly lost their strength.

“Bai Qian… we haven’t tried it in the water yet. I want to. Please?”

The exquisite shell was submerged in the clear seawater. Its already charming, small shape appeared even more enticing when wet. The tightly closed valves slowly parted, and the beautiful pearl within began to overflow with droplets.

It did not belong to the mermaid, yet in the end, it was possessed by her.

*****

The Sea Mirror continued to play the events following the Black Octopus’s rescue. The creature, thinking he had met a kind human, followed Tong Shaoqing home. The human house was more advanced than he imagined—the sophisticated instruments and glass cylinders filled with colored liquids were things the Mermaid Kingdom lacked.

The Black Octopus smiled beneath his hood. Once he recovered and killed that mermaid, he would move all of this back to the sea.

Tong Shaoqing led him to a sealed room. To the creature’s suspicion, he explained gently that not everyone could accept a man turned into an octopus; for his own safety, he had to stay here for now. The Black Octopus’s nature was like the original protagonist’s—easily deceived by a man’s harmless exterior.

The next day, the Black Octopus woke in agony. The eight legs Yu Shaoling had severed were being forced to regenerate by drugs Tong Shaoqing had administered. Small, bloody octopus legs were growing visibly from the stumps.

Tong Shaoqing stood outside the cage, his gentle expression tinged with a bit of regret. “You’re awake? My apologies; I should have used more anesthetic.”

The Black Octopus realized the trap he had fallen into. His scarred face was full of hatred and malice. Before long, the eight legs were fully reconstructed. The man administered a special injection and waited ten minutes. Seeing the monster collapse into a pool of blood, he confidently scanned his fingerprint to unlock the cage.

The middle-aged man, who appeared to have passed out, snapped his eyes open the moment the man stepped inside. Tong Shaoqing was terrified by those deep, dark eyes and tried to retreat, but the Black Octopus’s overwhelming pressure forced him to his knees.

The next day, Tong Shaoqing, founder of the Marine Science Research Institute, was found dead in his lab. His death was gruesome—his flesh had been irregularly sliced into hundreds of pieces by an unknown weapon and scattered throughout the room. Aside from the mummified remains of a giant octopus, no other traces were found.

Amidst the cheers of the mermaid subjects, Yu Shaoling tenderly cupped Bai Qian’s face.

“My Consort… may I kiss you now?”

*******

[New world transport complete. Welcome, Guardian. Target: Change the fate of the female lead who died tragically after falling into a trap.]

******

A minimalist, mid-range coffee shop.

In the furthest corner sat a balding, middle-aged man with a protruding belly. His face, thick with fat, was full of impatience. He shook his leg for a long time before the middle-aged woman finally arrived.

The makeup on the woman’s face was bizarre—the powder was uneven, making her pale face look like a crude woodblock print scribbled on by a child. It was hideous. The man gave her a contemptuous glance and looked away in disgust. He picked up his coffee with a hairy hand and downed a large gulp, growling, “What took you so long? Don’t you know every minute of mine is worth millions?”

Li Lanzhao let out a fawning smile, her bright red lips stretching to reveal two buckteeth—white with a hint of yellow. “Boss Zhao, wasn’t I busy booking the hotel? After all, it’s our Siwan’s first time. As her mother, I have to put some heart into it, right?”

At the name “Siwan,” the man’s murky, triangular eyes—filthy from a life of debauchery—shone with a nauseating light. “Fine. In that case, I won’t blame you. Siwan finishes class at 5:30, right? No need to pick her up; I drove. I’ll take her there myself.”

The woman hurried to send him the relevant information on her phone. “I’ve prepared everything needed in the room. Boss Zhao… regarding the deposit?”

The man let out a disdainful sneer. “Look at you, pathetic. It’s just a hundred thousand yuan; do you think I’d stiff you?” His fat hand tapped the screen a few times. The woman received a ten-thousand-yuan deposit, and her smile stretched so wide it was almost grotesque.

“Thank you, Boss Zhao! Thank you! I’ve already lectured her well; she’ll serve you perfectly. I won’t disturb you any longer. If you need anything else, just let me know.”

The man glanced at her. “I’m only willing to spend this much to help celebrate her birthday because I pity her. In the future, the most I’ll pay is five thousand a session.”

Li Lanzhao tried to haggle. “Our Siwan is the ‘School Beauty’! And she just turned eighteen today. We’ve never let her do a day of hard work; her skin is so tender. Boss Zhao, five thousand is a bit insulting to her, don’t you think?”

The bald man spat on the floor. “After today, she’s just a pair of ‘broken shoes’ I’ve played with. At a club, she’d be worth a thousand a night at most. Five thousand is me giving you face. If you think it’s too little, find someone else. It’s not like I don’t have money; there are plenty of women to play with.”

Realizing she had crossed a line, the woman apologized repeatedly until he was pacified. Once she secured a promise of “future cooperation,” she sighed with relief and stood up to leave.

A fresh scent of rose perfume filled the air. A tall, cold-looking woman with long hair hurried over, clicking her heels. She stopped at their table and raised a hand, blocking the middle-aged woman who was about to go squander her earnings.

With a slender, pale finger, she pushed up the gold-rimmed glasses resting on the bridge of her nose. Bai Qian’s beautiful fox-like eyes scanned the pair from behind the lenses. Her voice was as cold as a winter spring flowing from a mountain crevice.

“Excuse me. Are you Ms. Li Lanzhao?”

Likely the first time she had ever encountered an elite professional so clearly above her social class, the woman was stunned by the polite “Ms.” She nodded instinctively. “I am Li Lanzhao. And you are?”

“I’d like to discuss the matter of your daughter, Fu Siwan. If it’s convenient, could you give me a few minutes? I’ll buy you a coffee.”

The bald man was staring lecherously at the sudden arrival—she hit his fetishes perfectly. But at the name “Fu Siwan,” his mind snapped back to reality. “Who are you?”

Bai Qian looked down at him with a gaze that held a hidden, sharp edge. For a moment, it felt as if an invisible pressure struck him. The man broke into a cold sweat under her simple glance and didn’t dare speak again.

Li Lanzhao was intimidated, but once the matter involved her only cash cow, her fear vanished. “What about our Siwan?”

Bai Qian saw the guard in her eyes. Realizing the female lead would be out of class soon, she didn’t insist on a more formal setting. “I understand that you have ‘sold’ Siwan’s birthday night to him for a hundred thousand yuan. Correct?”

She didn’t specify what “birthday night” meant, but they both knew.

“How do you know that?” Li Lanzhao’s face hardened. “This is family business. It has nothing to do with you, Miss.”

“I don’t intend to scold you. You’re right; this is ‘family business.’ I have no reason to interfere.”

“Then what do you want?”

Bai Qian shot a mocking glance at the bald man before looking back at Li Lanzhao.

“If you’re going to sell her to him, you might as well sell her to me.”

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