Chapter 304: What If An Had Been the One Who Married Ulysses (End): Let Him Shed the Shadows of the Past and Walk Toward a New Life

After coming completely clean, An Ruo actually felt as though a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

He had never wanted to hide it from Ulysses. It was just that if he had to bring up something like this on his own, he wouldn't have known where to begin.

His relationship with Ulysses hadn't exactly been harmonious at first, either. They might have been married, but Ulysses had no emotional foundation with him and might not have believed him.

Now that Ulysses had been the one to ask, it gave him the perfect opportunity, so An Ruo spilled everything like beans pouring out of a bamboo tube.

——That's right, I'm your Male Lord from the future. We got married in the future, and we're married now too!

Such was the confidence bestowed by two marriage certificates.

Ulysses believed everything he said—or at least acted as though he did—completely eliminating all the questioning and explaining An Ruo had imagined he would have to endure.

An Ruo scratched his head in confusion. Everything seemed to return to normal, except Ulysses' emotions were visibly more stable and cheerful.

Ulysses began getting off work earlier and earlier, coming home every single day.

An Ruo also got a job as a Psychic Soothing Specialist in the Military Region. They went to work together every day, but An Ruo's working hours were shorter. He only worked three star-hours, so he would return home before Ulysses and could spend the rest of his time writing novels.

If time allowed, though, he would have lunch with Ulysses at the Military Region cafeteria before heading back, and Ulysses would usually make time to see him off as well.

Going back and forth like this was too troublesome. Later, An Ruo discovered that if both spouses worked in the Military Region, they could apply for shared accommodations, even if one of them was only a Psychic Soothing Specialist. And so, he and Ulysses ended up with a huge officer's villa inside the Military Region.

Apparently, it had already belonged to Ulysses. He simply hadn't expected An Ruo to be willing to live in the Military Region. Male Zergs were rarely willing to live there. Life outside was much more convenient and offered far more entertainment. To a Male Zerg, living in the Military Region was practically no different from ascetic cultivation.

But An Ruo didn't care about any of that. Just being able to live with Ulysses made him happy enough. The abundant entertainment available outside wasn't particularly attractive to a homebody anyway. His greatest form of entertainment was writing novels, so he would much rather save himself the commuting time.

Even ascetic cultivation was fine. Especially when he got stuck while serializing a new novel—then he desperately needed a place like this to "cultivate in seclusion."

With the two of them eating lunch together at the cafeteria and even living together, there was no longer any way to conceal the fact that General Ulysses was married. The news spread rapidly throughout the Military Region. Almost every military Female Zerg soon knew that the General had a very beautiful Male Lord who was also a specially appointed Psychic Soothing Specialist for the Military Region.

However, due to the confidentiality surrounding information within the Military Region, the outside world still knew very little about it.

An Ruo once again settled into the blissful routine of performing Psychic Soothing for three star-hours in the morning, eating lunch and resting at noon, writing in the afternoon, and spending the night with Ulysses before going to sleep. His schedule was extraordinarily regular, and his updates were steady. Other than no longer living in prison, his circumstances weren't all that different from before.

Oh, there was still one difference. Back when he lived in the Military Region Prison, he hadn't been able to see Ulysses nearly this often.

Ulysses had also developed a few new habits. For example, he would ask whether the Female Zerg in the painting hanging on the wall was him. He would ask An Ruo to teach him how to kiss, just as An Ruo had taught his future self. Then he would ask which of them did it better, him or his future self. Whenever they tried something new, he would also ask whether they had ever done it before...

Every day, An Ruo bounced back and forth between questions that handed him free points and questions that could get him killed. In the end, he simply collapsed into a flattened duck pancake and let Ulysses knead, squeeze, and torment him however he pleased.

After throwing several deadly questions at him, Ulysses' mood only improved day by day. He pulled the sulking An Ruo, who had turned his back on him, into his arms to coax him, a smile still lingering at the corners of his lips.

An Ruo wasn't sure whether it was just his imagination, but General Ulysses seemed to have had a slightly nastier personality when he was younger.

Of course, it was also possible that Marshal Ulysses had simply become better at pretending and knew how to hide it more effectively.

An Ruo turned around and hugged Ulysses, burying his face against his collarbone before giving him a light bite.

If Ulysses could feel a little less restrained around him, that was a good thing too.

But someone like Ulysses knew exactly where to draw the line even when he was being wicked. He would never make anyone genuinely dislike him. He always stopped firmly within the boundaries of flirting, only making An Ruo like him more—and ache for him more.

An Ruo felt as though Ulysses had completely caught him in the palm of his enormous hand.

But he had no desire to struggle.

Wherever Ulysses caught him, that was where he would lie down.

After all, Ulysses' hand was very comfortable.

...

The transition of the Marshal's position proceeded as scheduled.

Things didn't unfold according to the original plan, nor did anyone use marriage and a Male Zerg to boost public favorability, but the one who ultimately assumed the position of Marshal was still Ulysses.

There was no questioning Ulysses' strength or ability.

The only thing he lacked compared to Cyril was seniority.

After careful consideration, the old Marshal still chose Ulysses as his successor.

The Tianjia Empire was growing stronger by the day, while Ares, an SS-rank general with Imperial blood, was gaining tremendous prestige within its military. The situation could change dramatically in the near future, and preparations had to be made well in advance.

In peacetime, either Ulysses or Cyril would have made an excellent commander. In fact, Cyril's greater seniority made him even more suitable to inherit the position.

But these were not peaceful times.

With an external enemy looming nearby, the Zerg needed a commander who was stronger, tougher, and capable of remaining securely in power for a much longer period.

If Cyril succeeded to the position, then after several years, when Ulysses became even stronger and accumulated even greater prestige, what would Cyril do?

Would he step down, or wouldn't he?

Whichever choice he made, instability would emerge within the military, and that instability would subsequently affect the entire external situation.

But if Ulysses took the position now, then as long as they successfully weathered the initial chaos of the transfer of power, every day afterward would only see them moving upward. Under his leadership, the Zerg would climb to even greater heights.

In the long run, Ulysses was more suited to that position.

At the level of a Military Region General, everyone actually understood these principles.

What mattered more was whether they themselves could come to terms with them.

In the end, Ulysses succeeded to the position of Marshal, while Cyril willingly took a step back and supported Ulysses from the side.

An Ruo also attended Ulysses' Marshal investiture ceremony.

Both as a specially appointed Psychic Soothing Specialist of the Military Region and as the Marshal's spouse.

The beautiful Male Zerg with long platinum-blond hair stood out brilliantly amid the endless ranks of military Female Zerg officers.

Only then did the citizens watching the livestream discover that the Marshal was already married!

And to such a beautiful Male Zerg lord!

——Marshal! You've been eating this well and didn't tell us?!

——So you're keeping secrets from your family now, huh?!

The entire StarNet exploded.

The whole population erupted in excitement. The livestream was flooded with viewers, and for the first time ever, the official livestream began lagging and freezing.

Then everyone discovered that the Marshal's Male Lord was none other than the wildly popular novelist An-shen, and StarNet exploded all over again.

Male Zerg and sub-female book fans who ordinarily paid little attention to military affairs came flooding in as well, causing the freshly repaired servers to lag for a second time.

An Ruo knew nothing about what was happening on StarNet.

He personally witnessed the historic moment when Ulysses assumed the position of Marshal, sharing the joy of that moment together with him.

Of course it was Ulysses.

Of course Ulysses would become Marshal.

No matter how many times everything happened again, the result would never change.

Just as Ulysses believed in An Ruo's abilities even more than An Ruo himself did, An Ruo also possessed an almost blind faith in him.

Ulysses is the bestest!

...

They spent many, many years together...

With love in his life, Ulysses was confident and at ease, always filled with hope for the future.

Their sweet little world of two lasted for so long that it wasn't until many years later that Ulysses suddenly realized they still didn't have an egg.

He wasn't particularly anxious about it.

The Male Zerg's love and their many years of happiness had given him more than enough confidence and security. He liked hatchlings, but even without one, a life shared by just the two of them was wonderful. It meant they could devote more time to each other.

Either kind of life would be good.

After discussing it with his Male Zerg and receiving his agreement, the two of them finally began preparing for a pregnancy together.

It wasn't long before they had their first egg.

The egg appeared just as the Zerg Federation and Tianjia Empire were establishing diplomatic relations. Around that time, the name "Axel (Peace)" was extremely fashionable.

Ulysses knew his Male Lord's personality well, so he deliberately brought up the name and asked An Ruo what he thought.

Upon hearing it, An Ruo waved his hands in horror and firmly rejected the name.

He didn't like writing the same novel twice. Once he had written something, he wouldn't write it again. Otherwise, it wouldn't be "writing" anymore, but "copying," and that would take away much of the fun.

Therefore, in this world, the novel <Tianjia Male> did not exist.

And yet the name "Axel" still became popular as history followed its course, just as General Enzo was still taking care of a Male Zerg named Axel.

Even without his story, all of this was still happening.

This time, An Ruo was merely an observer.

He liked that possibility.

As for their hatchling, he wanted to name him...

Uromia.

...

This dream had been exceptionally long.

When An Ruo awakened from it, it felt as though an entire lifetime had passed.

Ulysses lay beside him, still deep asleep. It seemed that this experience had taken a great toll on him as well.

During the later stages of the dream, An Ruo had sensed that Ulysses had already regained the portion of his memories belonging to the "future." He simply hadn't deliberately brought it up with An Ruo.

An Ruo raised his hand and brushed it across Ulysses' face, tracing the handsome, youthful lines of his brows and eyes.

They had spent what felt like an entire lifetime together in that world. By the end, Ulysses had grown very old, yet his appearance had barely changed. He was still exceptionally handsome, only with the added charm of maturity. Time seemed extraordinarily merciful to him.

Or perhaps this was simply an ability that came from an SSS-rank Zerg surpassing the physical limits of his species.

An Ruo tried to remember more, only to discover that a haze was gradually spreading across those memories. The important parts remained clear, but he could no longer recall many of the details.

Perhaps this was a form of self-protection.

An Ruo had the psychic power of a Male Zerg, so he was fine, but a Female Zerg like Ulysses would need this kind of protection for his memories even more.

An Ruo quietly sent his Psychic Power into Ulysses' mind, performing Psychic Soothing while searching for something.

He soon discovered that a new memory planet shrouded in mist had appeared within Ulysses' mind. It carried the memories of everything they had experienced this time, with countless familiar scenes flickering across it.

An Ruo relaxed.

He didn't pry.

He simply withdrew.

Ulysses still hadn't awakened, so An Ruo got out of bed first, washed up, and checked the time while he was at it.

There were still two weeks until their wedding.

They had spent an entire lifetime together in the dream world, but there was actually one thing missing from it.

A wedding.

They had married so hastily that they hadn't even met each other beforehand. Later, they had both been too busy, and everything was already settled, so in accordance with Zerg tradition, they simply never held a wedding, just like most Zerg couples.

Thinking about it now, that really was a pity.

Fortunately, they still had another chance.

Once the detailed memories of the dream world faded away, his recent memories became vivid again.

An Ruo thought back over everything that had happened lately, mentally putting together the guest list for their wedding and deciding to write the invitations himself.

While his thoughts were still wandering all over the place, someone suddenly embraced him from behind.

Ulysses.

An Ruo looked at the tall figure reflected in the mirror and turned around with a smile.

He was immediately kissed.

"Male Lord..."

Ulysses lowered his head and called to him softly, their breaths tangling together.

An Ruo saw the turbulent love in Ulysses' eyes, no longer hidden, along with the passion surging within them.

There was laughter in his eyes.

There was longing and attachment.

There was love, open and unguarded.

What had happened along another timeline had not altered the original course of this world, but everything they had experienced had faithfully left its mark upon Ulysses, reshaping him little by little.

From the orphanage, to the followers of the Evil God, to General Ulysses' marriage...

It allowed him to shed the shadows of his past and walk toward a new life.

How wonderful.