43. A Marriage Proposal

Although the Earth Lord's explanation foreshadowed an ominous future, the people on Kirini were completely unaware of it at the time.

The big screen in front of us was playing a loop of the historic moment when the referendum passed. Everyone on the screen had a smile on their face, a smile of excitement, eagerness, and exhilaration, like children looking forward to a new toy.

Pi Min reached up and touched her face, then looked down at her hands and feet. Perhaps to enhance immersion, this special instance used an alien setting, but the player was using their own body.

The celebrating crowd kept surging onto the street. As more and more people walked on the street, Pimin, who was originally standing still, began to be involuntarily swept forward by the crowd and soon arrived at the square where the celebration was taking place.

The crowd cheered, screamed, and roared, unrestrainedly venting their excitement and joy.

The sounds of countless voices mingled with the music, creating a terrifying sonic wave. The crowd was dense and bustling, and people frequently made physical contact with strangers that far exceeded the safe social distance. What was even more frightening was that it was the height of summer, and the enthusiastic crowd sweated profusely, producing a foul, sour smell that mixed with the occasional pungent perfume. Just one breath was enough to make one's stomach churn.

Having long been accustomed to living alone, Pi Min had not experienced this feeling of her hearing, touch, smell, and sight being ravaged in all aspects for a long time. She felt dizzy, nauseous, and her vision began to darken. She used all her strength to barely keep herself standing.

Just when she thought she was about to give up, the noisy crowd suddenly quieted down.

Looking up, I realized that the chief governor of Kirini Star was already standing on the podium in the central square, preparing to speak.

She was a young woman with extremely delicate features, more like a movie star on the screen than the chief governor of a planet.

Yes, she is indeed a movie star. According to the memories provided by the copy, just three years ago, this young chief governor was a movie star active on the screen. For some unknown reason, she suddenly abandoned her career to enter politics, and dramatically became the highest administrative official of Kirini.

The young chief governor beamed with an extremely bright smile and began passionately, his voice brimming with fervor: "This is a historic moment; years of hard work have finally paid off. It is an honor that, from this day forward, Kirini will become a province of the great Thetian Empire. I believe that Kirini will surely have an even brighter and more splendid future under the protection of the Thetian Empire..."

Next, she began to review the efforts she had made over the years to promote friendly relations between Kirini and the Thetian Empire, and recounted the tireless efforts the Thetian Empire had made to help Kirini gain a place in the Cosmic Alliance. Her tone showed no unease or fear of alien interference in her internal affairs, only excitement and ecstasy in embracing an advanced civilization.

What shocked Pimin even more was that the countless details that made her scalp tingle and were terrifying to think about could always draw applause from the Kirini people present. Judging from the enthusiastic and excited look of the people around her, they clearly regarded those things as evidence of friendly exchanges between the two races.

Everyone fell into a strange frenzy, blind to the risks of joining a foreign race, their minds filled only with the potential benefits of joining an advanced civilization.

Pi Min carefully observed the reactions of the people around him, feeling that they were just like gamblers who were betting their entire fortune, confident that they would make a fortune.

Just as the young chief governor began to thank her supporters and the Thetian Empire for their help, a red high-heeled shoe suddenly flew up from below the stage and hit her squarely on the forehead.

The entire arena fell into a deathly silence due to utter shock. Taking advantage of this, the girl who had made the move began to hurl insults at the people on stage: "Hamini, you stupid bastard! You damned traitor! You have no idea what you've done! You'll destroy our civilization, you'll kill everyone!"

The gambler, who had staked everything, would not allow anyone to question his decision. The surrounding crowd was even more enraged than Hamini on the stage. Before the person on stage could even speak, the angry crowd had already begun punching and kicking the girl.

Seeing the girl being beaten, Pi Min wanted to help, but unfortunately, the two were separated by a crowd and he couldn't reach her.

Fortunately, the military and police maintaining order at the scene quickly appeared, pushed through the crowd as fast as they could, and dragged the girl, who had been beaten to the point of near death, away.

According to the memories loaded from the copy, the girl is the granddaughter of a famous scientist on the planet Kirini. That scientist publicly opposed Harmini, believing that her efforts to promote the integration of Kirini with the Tetia Empire were foolish and irresponsible. He firmly believed that this would destroy the foundation of Kirini's civilization and plunge the entire civilization into utter ruin.

Just before Khameni was elected chief executive officer, this highly respected old scientist had passed away due to a sudden illness. No one expected that his granddaughter would inherit her grandfather's legacy and create such a farce at this exciting moment.

The CEO on stage, embarrassed by the interruption and the humiliation, was forcing a smile as he tried to continue his speech.

Just then, a beam of light suddenly descended from the sky and landed beside her.

Within the dazzling pillar of light, a human figure began to slowly solidify.

As the beam of light faded, a young man appeared beside the young chief governor. The man was handsome, elegant, and dressed in a magnificent royal military uniform. Just by standing there, he made the originally simple stage appear even more luxurious.

Upon recognizing the man on the stage, the crowd instantly erupted in cheers.

"It's His Highness the Crown Prince! It's Crown Prince Ryan of the Thetia Empire!"

Long live the Empire of Thetia!

"Long live Prince Ryan!"

...

The crowd screamed and cheered, their fervor surpassing even the most obsessive fans. The sudden surge in volume finally became unbearable for Pi Min, who cautiously reached out to cover her ears.

"Don't cover it! If you don't want to be dragged out by the military and police as an anti-imperial person, then don't cover it!"

A male voice sounded in her ear, and before she could even look up to see who was speaking, she was already in a warm embrace. The man who was hugging her from behind used the embrace to cover her ears.

When the tidal wave of noise subsided to a level that the human body could tolerate, her confused features gradually returned to normal.

The taste, the height difference...

Her eyes widened in disbelief.

Before she could even ask the man behind her why he was there, the Crown Prince of the Empire on the stage had already gestured for the crowd to stop.

The noisy crowd fell silent instantly. Just as everyone held their breath, waiting for His Highness the Crown Prince to speak, the man on the stage suddenly stepped forward, knelt on one knee in front of the young CEO, and solemnly took out a ring.

"My dearest Hamini, will you marry me and become my wife?"

"I do!"

The celebration of Kirini becoming a province of the Thetian Empire concluded with the chief governor accepting the marriage proposal of the Thetian Empire's crown prince.

With double happiness upon them, the entire planet instantly became a sea of ​​joy.

Of course, the joyful atmosphere had nothing to do with the players.

Outside the window, fireworks continued to bloom. Pi Min, who had returned home following the memories of the dungeon, looked at the alien man sitting in front of her with a complicated expression.

Last time, although he wore women's clothing, he was still human. This time, he actually gave himself an alien identity.

“You…” Pi Min frowned as she looked at the man in front of her, hesitating to speak.

According to the memories in the instance, the Thetian insectoid race possesses extremely powerful mimicry abilities, but apart from the insect queen's flawless mimicry, the other members all have some kind of flaw. The man in front of them has a pair of golden vertical pupils, clearly not a normal person.

The man grinned and gave her a bright smile: "This instance will cause great harm to the participants' physical and mental health. I don't want to open it unless absolutely necessary. But since it's already open, I can't control what others do, but I have to protect my own wife."

Pimin quickly understood his purpose in using this alien identity.

Shortly after Harmini accepted Crown Prince Ryan's marriage proposal, the Empire passed a law allowing the Tethys insectoids to marry the Kirini aliens.

Then, the Tethys garrison, which was the first to arrive on Kirini, began to look at the pedestrians on the street with the eyes of predators.

Those gazes were cold and sticky, sending chills down one's spine. Pi Min would always flee as fast as she could whenever she encountered them.

Unfortunately, in the game, she is a 9-to-5 office worker who can't stay home all the time. Even if she feels unwell, she has no choice but to endure the nausea and go out.

She thought that ignoring it would solve the problem, but she never expected that the insects' methods were even more vile than she had imagined. Before long, the Tethys began to parachute into all walks of life on Kirini, targeting and intercepting young men and women.

With the precedent of Harmini and Crown Prince Ryan, everyone considered it an honor to find a Thetian spouse, and for a time, rejecting the advances of a Thetian seemed like an unforgivable sin.

"Young lady, you really don't know what's good for you. This is a Tethys alien. It's your good fortune that he's taken a liking to you!"

"Young man, since you're getting married anyway, why not choose a Tethys who has a higher social status?"

"How could you refuse? You're undermining the unity of the empire!"

...

Everywhere you look, people are using the excuse of "thinking it's for your own good" to persuade the men and women being pursued to accept marriage proposals from alien suitors.

There is only one way to end this harassment: accept one of their marriage proposals.

It was only then that Pimin learned that the Thetian insectoids secreted a special pheromone to mark their mates. This was precisely why, during this period of chaos outside, even middle-aged men and women occasionally encountered groping, she alone had not been harassed.

Because of that man's existence, she was already considered a married woman by the other Tethys.