Transmigrated Into a Scummy Alpha Who Stole the Male Lead's Mermaid Fiancée - Chapter 67

The royal palace of Panda Planet lay a thousand meters beneath the ocean’s surface. While the aquatic inhabitants could move freely in these depths, Yu Ke could neither breathe underwater nor withstand the immense pressure with her physical body. She was confined to a transparent submersible capsule. Her current audience with the royal family of Panda Planet was merely a gesture of courtesy, a condescending opportunity granted by the monarchy.

Suppressing her fury, Yu Ke addressed King Peter with forced calm: “Perhaps there has been a misunderstanding in our communication. To my knowledge, your princess is quite adept at finding substitutes and executing strategic disappearances. The Princess Lan Xing I’m inquiring about isn’t the one sent to Ferrari, but your true bloodline. Have you hidden her away?”

King Peter chuckled. Around him, the princes and princesses exchanged amused glances, murmuring among themselves with curious smiles.

“I’m rather confused,” King Peter remarked. “The more you explain, the less clear it becomes. Which one are you actually seeking?”

Their feigned ignorance only stoked Yu Ke’s anger. “Stop pretending! From the very beginning, you never had any genuine intention for this alliance. This was all an elaborate scheme, a calculated plan to use Xing’er as a sacrificial pawn. Why maintain this facade of righteousness now? Acting all noble while secretly shielding your own daughter!”

The king’s smile vanished. He studied Yu Ke intently, his gaze shifting so dramatically from its previous benevolence that it sent an involuntary chill down her spine.

Locking eyes with him felt like staring up at a mountain. She couldn’t guess his true age, but his solemn dignity reminded her of an ancient patriarch centuries old, radiating overwhelming psychological pressure.

“Alien,” King Peter’s voice deepened, his scales glimmering ominously in the dark abyss. “Do you realize where you are standing?”

Yu Ke drew a sharp breath. Clenching her teeth, she summoned every ounce of courage she possessed and replied with feigned composure: “If you kill me, my nation’s military will reach this planet within three days. Your world will become space debris! This very spot where you stand will be the first to explode, reduced to stardust! Just like Green Water Planet! You won’t even have time for regrets!”

Her thundering declaration immediately stirred up commotion throughout the palace. The king pressed his lips tightly together, while the surrounding princes and princesses reacted with mixed expressions, some furious, others fearful, chattering excitedly in their native tongue.

Cold sweat drenched Yu Ke’s back. She realized that bluffing required serious skill, not only mental fortitude against psychological pressure, but also physical control to avoid revealing any tells.

She needed to extract information about Lan Xing from King Peter, and intimidating him seemed the only way forward!

After all, she feared no death, having already died once. With Lan Xing’s fate hanging by a thread, she had nothing left to lose.

Yu Ke’s words ultimately subdued King Peter. He scrutinized her and asked, “Who exactly are you?”

When she arrived, Yu Ke had merely introduced herself as an explorer from the Lingjiu system. But after hearing her startling declaration, King Peter immediately realized he had been deceived.

Yu Ke was in no hurry to reveal her identity. Standing upright in the spherical underwater capsule, her posture resolute and her gaze firm, she sneered and said, “Who I am isn’t that important. What matters is the power behind me. If anything happens to me on your planet, my nation and my allies will stop at nothing to avenge me. In contrast, Your Majesty, your recent inhumane actions have already tarnished your reputation across the stars. If I were to die here, you would find yourself isolated and universally condemned.”

King Peter’s lips twitched as he blew on his grayish beard. After a moment of contemplation, he let out a sigh, his shoulders slumping slightly. Though visibly irritated, he remained largely composed. In a low voice, he said, “Alien, your words nearly frightened me.”

In the grand hall, the tense atmosphere instantly dissipated. The serious-faced attendees relaxed, breaking into smiles and murmuring among themselves. Prince Oyster, his shell wide open, grinned at Yu Ke and said, “Don’t take it so seriously! Father was just trying to scare you. We’re usually very welcoming to aliens here. If you’d like to stay, my pearl babies will be yours from now on!”

Yu Ke: “…”

The meeting with King Peter that day yielded no substantial progress. After it concluded, Yu Ke followed the green-tailed mermaid to another palace to rest.

The green-tailed mermaid was named Shasha. She accompanied Yu Ke the entire way, swimming up and down through the water. No matter what questions Yu Ke asked, Shasha answered without hesitation, freely discussing topics from one end of the universe to the other. Her candid and sincere demeanor took Yu Ke by surprise.

According to Shasha, the planet Panda indeed enforced the harshest interstellar laws to deal with traitors. The purpose was to prevent the mermaid population from migrating to other star systems and expanding their influence elsewhere, thereby ensuring the mermaids of Panda maintained absolute dominance over interstellar waters.

“Father probably didn’t lie to you. If Princess Lan Xing truly fled to avoid her marriage, she would not escape Panda’s punishment. Even as the most beautiful princess on the planet, she cannot betray her nation,” Shasha declared with conviction.

“But what if she found a substitute before leaving, like a cicada shedding its shell? How would you punish her then?” Yu Ke voiced her doubt.

Shasha fell silent, pondering seriously. Hugging her slender tail, she frowned deeply, a complex expression flickering across her face.

Noticing this, Yu Ke asked, “Do you know something about this?”

Shasha shook her head and replied, “Such secrets are beyond our knowledge.”

“But you’re a princess, and you’re familiar with Lan Xing. Do you know where she might go if she escaped?” Yu Ke coaxed and prodded, hoping to extract useful information.

“If… and I mean if… she really did betray the planet, she would probably go somewhere far from interstellar society, where no one could find her. Most importantly, mermaids can’t survive on land for long. Once she leaves Panda, after a while, she won’t be able to maintain her human legs anymore.”

Yu Ke couldn’t understand. She remembered that Xing’er often couldn’t transform human legs due to weakness. Back then, when she asked Xing’er about it, Xing’er said it was a secret she couldn’t reveal.

She should have pressed for answers back then. Had she known about this earlier, she would have taken Xing’er back to Panda Planet immediately! Then so many things wouldn’t have happened later!

“Why?” Yu Ke asked Shasha, “Why isn’t it possible after leaving Panda Planet?”

Shasha pointed toward some glowing coral on the seafloor. Looking closer, it wasn’t the coral that was glowing, but the stones behind it.

“See, those are Panda Crystals, the source of our energy. The reason we can transform human legs is because of these Panda Crystals. Since the planet is covered with these crystals, we can transform human legs anytime,” Shasha explained. As she spoke, she transformed in the water, her slender mermaid tail quickly shed its scales and transformed into a pair of slim, pale young girl’s legs. But she had nothing to cover herself with, completely exposed to Yu Ke’s gaze.

Yu Ke instinctively looked away. Shasha splashed happily in the water for a moment before swimming up to Yu Ke. She placed her hands on the glass cabin wall, looked at Yu Ke and said with a smile, “So? Pretty impressive, right?”

Yu Ke looked somewhat uncomfortable. Shasha laughed even more delightedly. Leaning against the cabin wall with only two shells covering her chest and nothing else, she was nearly naked like a tempting green grape, emitting the faint scent of roses. She blinked at Yu Ke and said smiling, “Can you invite me in?”

The cabin door could be opened from both inside and out. Yu Ke looked expressionlessly at Shasha, one hand lightly blocking the door, and said, “No.”

Shasha put on an innocent expression, shrugged, and transformed her legs back into a mermaid tail. “You’re so stingy!” she said.

Yu Ke asked, “Is this how all of you are here?”

“How?”

Yu Ke thought for a moment and said, “Like how you were just now.”

“Yeah, this is how we are here. Isn’t Lan Xing like this too?” Shasha crossed her arms over her chest and pouted.

Yu Ke: “…”

She swallowed and told Shasha, “Xing’er isn’t like this. She’s a very shy, introverted princess.”

“What does that have to do with being introverted?” Shasha lifted her face, twirling her hair around her finger, looking somewhat confused. “This is just how we are here. As long as we can absorb energy, we can freely transform between two forms.”

Yu Ke was speechless for a few seconds before finally realizing their conversation was completely missing each other’s points. Looking at Princess Shasha’s demeanor, she probably had no idea what it meant to be naked in front of humans.

Shasha continued talking about the crystals. “After leaving Panda Planet, if you want to transform into human form, you must carry energy crystals with you. And ordinary crystals won’t do, they have to be very scarce rare crystals. If you carry rare crystals with you, then no matter where you go, you don’t have to worry about turning back into a mermaid.”

“If Xing’er really ran away from marriage, she must have taken a rare crystal with her. Otherwise, she would be forever trapped in water, which would be too passive,” Shasha said. “If she found a substitute to take her place in the marriage alliance, she most likely took the crystal and fled far away. But even so, Panda Planet has ways to find her.”

“By simply locating the crystal she carries, we can find the whereabouts of Lan Xing.” Shasha gazed at Yu Ke and spoke softly, “That is all I know, Your Highness, the Princess.”

Yu Ke froze. She had never revealed her identity, how did Shasha know? She wanted to ask more, but Shasha swayed in the water, creating a whirlpool as she drifted away.