The Strange Marriage Contract of the Poisonous Emperor

"Click, click..." In the quiet office, the sound of Amilo casually sliding the mouse was particularly distinct. He was massaging his aching temples with one hand as his eyes felt sore from staring at the computer screen for a long time. Behind him, at the desk, Akir, who had also been looking at the computer all morning, stretched and let out a groan. "Akir looked back at Amilo and asked, "How's it going?" Amilo sighed. "Nothing yet." It had been a full half month, and the medicinal herb he was in charge of purchasing hadn't shown up on any trading platform. "What are we going to do then?" Akir swiveled his chair and moved closer to Amilo's computer. "There's really nothing we can do if it doesn't work out. It's beyond our control." Richie's voice came from the desk on the right. He also stopped what he was doing and joined the conversation. There were only three of them in the office today out of a total of six people. Amilo gave up fiddling with the mouse and slumped back in his chair, feeling completely drained. "Didn't the empire send a team to the 7th otherworld to collect it some time ago?" Akir said. "The one leading the team wasn't Leirs. It's not that easy. The 7th otherworld is currently the second most dangerous among the existing fourteen otherworlds. I heard that those people went in several times and only managed to bring back five or six plants in total." Richie put down his work and started to take a break as he spoke. "Speaking of Leirs, has he been in the 13th otherworld for a long time?" Akir asked. "It's been exactly ten years this year." Amilo looked over and said with a hint of surprise. Leirs is the emperor of their Kase Empire. It's said that he has an extremely special spiritual beast that can release toxins. That spiritual beast is so powerful that when Leirs was twelve years old, its toxins started to overflow beyond his control. By the time he was fourteen, his breath was poisonous, and by seventeen, everything within a radius of one mile around him was completely barren. This made Leirs the currently recognized strongest. And because the toxins released are so powerful and to avoid causing unnecessary casualties, Leirs chose to live alone in the 13th desolate star full of ferocious beasts ten years ago. Amilo had never met Leirs before because he only came to this world six years ago. When he first arrived, he knew nothing about this world and was in a state of chaos with no money. After struggling for a while, he spent four years learning how to summon spiritual beasts and other knowledge. It was only after that he got his current job as a purchasing clerk in the military region. This is his second year working here. "It really has been a long time." Akir said with a sense of emotion. "How many decades are there in a person's life? I'm sure I couldn't bear living alone on a desolate star like that." Richie added, "Ten years ago, he already made everything within a mile around him lifeless. After ten years, the range must have expanded even more. Maybe the entire 13th otherworld is already covered by his poison." "Ahh..." Akir let out a long sigh. To live in a place where there's nothing but oneself within a radius of several miles, being alone all the time, that kind of loneliness is not something ordinary people can endure. "But fortunately, there's him guarding the 13th otherworld. Otherwise, we don't know what this world would have become." Richie said. Akir thought of something else and asked, "By the way, have you heard about the marriage proposal?" "Again?" Amilo was taken aback. "This time, it seems that Cass is planning to propose marriage to the entire interstellar region. And if they still can't find a suitable person, they will randomly select from all eligible people. I heard that the higher-ups are almost in a panic." "Won't that cause a huge uproar?" Amilo could imagine the scene and found it hard to believe. "He wouldn't really do that, would he?" Akir looked a bit worried, and it was obvious what he was thinking. "Why? Are you afraid of being chosen?" Richie raised an eyebrow and teased. Akir's thoughts were exposed, and his face flushed instantly. "I just..." To live alone on a desolate star for ten years just to avoid harming others is undoubtedly something worthy of respect for Leirs. But this obviously means certain death for whoever goes, and not many people would be willing to take that risk. Even if he was willing, he couldn't withstand the poison of Leirs. Just look at what happened to those before. Going there would just mean losing another life. "He's just kidding." Amilo said. If they really randomly selected someone to go and die, it would definitely cause public dissatisfaction and might even lead to a riot. Akir let out a small sigh of relief. "But you can't be sure." Richie didn't like Cass. "He's never been a good person." Cass and Leirs are brothers but have different mothers. The death of Leirs' mother seems to be related to Cass and his mother, and there are all kinds of rumors outside. Amilo couldn't really refute this. He had only seen Cass in various news reports, and the other party did indeed have a bad temper. "... " Akir pursed his lips, not knowing what to say. "Knock, knock." The sudden knock on the door startled the three of them. "Amilo, the team leader wants to see you." Amilo's attention was immediately drawn back to work. He got up with a headache and walked towards the door under the sympathetic gazes of Akir and Richie. In the office at the end of the corridor. "Team leader?" When Dawson finished what he was doing and looked up, he asked, "Not a single one received?" "Nope. I didn't see it on any of the trading platforms." Amilo replied helplessly. "Check again tomorrow. Try to collect as many as you can. If it still doesn't work, I'll report to the higher-ups." Dawson nodded understandingly. The medicinal herb that Amilo was responsible for purchasing is called the Life Grass. It's the main ingredient for making a potion that can make broken limbs regrow in a short time. It once sold for a sky-high price of ten million per leaf and has always been in short supply. Although it was obviously a difficult task for the military region's higher-ups to suddenly demand five of them at once, they had to follow the orders. "Okay." Amilo felt a little relieved. This job was his first job in this world and one that he quite liked. Most of the time, the work was relatively easy, the atmosphere among colleagues was good, and most importantly, the team leader, Dawson, was reasonable. After leaving Dawson's office and returning to his seat, Akir and Richie immediately came over to ask what the team leader had said. Amilo didn't hide anything and told them. "Just do our best. If it really doesn't work out, there's nothing we can do." "Yeah, that stuff isn't something you can get just by wanting it." Half an hour later, it was lunch break. "Want to go eat together?" As soon as it was time to get off work, Akir became energetic. Richie looked at Amilo, indicating that he would go if Amilo did. "No, thanks. I'm going home to eat." Amilo refused. Akir subconsciously swallowed his saliva. Amilo was always good at cooking. "I want to go too." "Not today." Amilo declined again. Akir was too lively, and after eating, he still wanted to take a nap. "Oh..." Amilo packed up his things, put on his coat, and left the office under Akir's extremely reluctant gaze. They got off work at eleven o'clock, and there weren't many people on the street. Amilo chose to take a quieter route. His residence was not far from here, in an old residential building. Fortunately, the neighbors were not noisy, so it was quite comfortable to live there. After climbing to the top floor in one breath, Amilo took out his keys, opened the door, threw his coat on the sofa, and then headed to the rooftop. When he opened the door to the rooftop, he was greeted by a lush green patch that was in stark contrast to the old building. Amilo rolled up his sleeves and summoned his own spiritual beast - a little hamster that could curl up and sleep in the palm of his hand. He placed it on a self-made water purifier nearby. The rooftop wasn't very wide, but he had planted more than ten kinds of vegetables there, and each one was growing exceptionally well. The lush and vibrant scene was extremely soothing. After watering the vegetables, Amilo pulled out a cabbage, held it in one hand, picked up the little hamster that was still sound asleep no matter how he held it, and went back downstairs. Back inside, Amilo shook the sleeping little hamster, but seeing that it still didn't wake up, he placed it on the sofa and went into the kitchen. He cut off the muddy roots of the cabbage, peeled off the leaves one by one, rinsed them with water, quickly blanched them in boiling water, added some minced garlic and chili peppers for seasoning, and reheated the leftover rice from noon. Then, he put everything on the table. Sitting at the table, Amilo took out his phone and started browsing while eating. The exploration teams had brought back some strange new things, there were new names appearing on the Top 100 list, and some companies had released new research and development achievements related to the otherworld... Most people in this world admire martial power and dream of joining the exploration teams to become famous in one battle. So, every day is bustling with activity, but none of this really had much to do with him. Amilo switched to the communication software. There was only an additional notice about military region security maintenance in the software, and there was no other change. He clicked on the chat box with the note "Zevier" and looked at it. The messages were still the same as the last time they chatted. Zevier was his deskmate during his school days. After graduation, he joined the exploration team and frequently went in and out of the otherworlds. In just two years, he had already made a name for himself on the Top 100 list, and even his former classmates, teachers, and the school had benefited from his fame. Amilo had thought that he and Zevier would gradually drift apart since they were in completely different worlds. But Zevier would always contact him as soon as he came out of the otherworld, and this had remained the same for two years. Looking at Zevier's profile picture, Amilo always had a feeling of having a surreal dream. When he first crossed over, he also had such dreams. After all, it's not uncommon for time-travelers to shine brightly in a different world in those novels he read before. But this dream had already woken up when he learned how to summon spiritual beasts. Amilo looked back at the little furry ball sleeping on the sofa with all four legs in the air and didn't even have the energy to sigh. Other people's spiritual beasts were either ferocious beasts or at least capable of catching and biting, but he had summoned a hamster that was soft and fluffy, without any attack power and slept most of the time as if it were dead. Fortunately, he was adaptable. After trying various methods and finding no special abilities in it, he quickly turned to clerical work, which saved him from starving on the streets. Amilo put down his phone and focused on eating. After eating his fill and taking a nap, he picked up the little hamster that was still in the same sleeping position by his pillow and returned to the company. In the afternoon, the sun was scorching, making people feel drowsy. When Amilo entered the office, Akir and Richie were huddled together discussing something. Amilo didn't interrupt them. He sat down, moved the mouse, and the computer screen that had been blacked out lit up immediately, showing the homepage that was still the same as when he left in the morning. Amilo yawned and started refreshing the web page. Just as he finished yawning and the page refreshed, a pop-up advertisement suddenly appeared. Before Amilo could react, his mouse had already clicked on it. For a moment, he thought he saw the words "Leirs", but when he looked again, the pop-up had already disappeared.