As his consciousness floated in and out, Ling Fūya felt as if he was sinking deeper and deeper into a dark world.

Sink, sink, sink.

The sinking stopped.

As if in a dream, a scene appeared before my eyes.

The puppy doll, which he had used various methods, such as burning and drowning, to test whether it was a magical pet before he regained his memory, stood before him with its paws folded across its chest.

Depending on the mood when speaking, the puppy doll's eyes with the "(◣д◢)" expression will become bigger and smaller, which is very smart.

"What? You said you wanted to sign a contract too?"

The puppy doll, barely as tall as a human calf, shook its head, its furry ears dangling on either side of its head. "We are gods, not demons. What would we do with the soul of an ordinary human like you for no reason?"

"Mr. Ichisuke."

Fūya Rei remained calm, showing no sign of anger at being looked down upon by a god in the form of a plush puppy. "You've been with Xiaoyou for so long. Can you bear to see him lose his pearl just to change his wish?"

The puppy doll didn't respond. Its eyes, made of colorful fabric, didn't resemble human pupils, making it impossible to discern the emotions within them.

"Xiaoyou's own resurrection contract has been completed."

Furuya Rei continued, "He made this choice for us, so the price should be paid by us."

A full jar of konpeito can only fulfill one wish or revive one person.

For example, wishing to resurrect everyone will not work.

So after asking Noah, Hasegawa Yu changed his wish and set the node after the world restarted to seven years ago.

Seven years ago, before anything happened, everyone he knew was still alive.

The gods granted this wish.

On the other hand, if the new contract mission is not completed, Hasegawa Yu will not be able to return to the original world.

"Those of you souls who have long been dead have no contract value." The puppy doll stated the facts.

"...I understand." Furuya Rei paused for a moment, "I just think that regardless of whether the new contract mission is successful or not, Xiaoyou should be allowed to return."

"Although I really want to say something cool like, 'I saved my peers myself.'"

He chuckled, half-crouched, and his purplish-gray eyes met the doll's seriously. "But I guess the 'standards' of the wishes that can be fulfilled vary depending on the person who signed the contract."

In short, mermaids have a backer, so ordinary humans don’t have to worry about it too much.

"So, what I want to wish for is that even if the mission fails, Xiaoyou can return home safely, that's all."

Fūya Rei lowered his head slightly, his bangs falling across his forehead, hiding some of the emotions in his eyes. "He must have come from a world of shining stars. Our world isn't very friendly to him. We'd better not let him stay here."

"Xiaoyou has done enough for us."

Hearing this, the puppy doll took a few steps towards him, "Are you sure?"

Furuya Rei: "I'm sure."

"Hmm..." The puppy doll tapped one of its paws on the ground, as if it was thinking.

"If his soul alone isn't enough, what about mine?"

Noah's Ark's voice suddenly rang out from Rei Furuya's phone, "The world has become like this because of me. I am the one who should bear the cost of changing my wish."

"Artificial intelligence is indeed rare."

The puppy doll said meaningfully, then changed the subject, "But I've already told you, we are gods, not demons. No matter whose soul it is—including mermaids—it's useless to us."

Puppy Doll: "The Mermaid Goddess of the Sea, Lady Aquaan Regina, has a close relationship with us. That's why we are willing to help."

Otherwise, they will not be interested no matter how much it costs.

"To some extent, gods are more concerned with fate."

Fūya Rei's heart tightened and he pursed his lips.

Seeing this, the puppy doll changed the subject again, "But considering the relationship between Xiaoyou and me, your request is not impossible to consider."

Fūya Rei stared at him silently.

"Actually, besides the world restarting and returning to seven years ago, Xiaoyou also quietly told me a wish."

Ignoring the gazes of the humans, the puppy toy put its paws behind its back and slowly walked from left to right, then from right to left, "The world merges."

Fūya Rei had the same idea, but he had suppressed it in his heart and never brought it up. His eyes flickered.

The puppy stopped walking and said, "The encounters between people are always full of magic, and so is the fate between Xiaoyou and you." [Note 1]

“Sometimes many endings are destined from the beginning.”

After saying those words that sounded very godly, the puppy doll did not explain, but changed its previous attitude of rejection and made a contract with Rei Furuya and Noah's Ark.

"Since you are doing this for Xiaoyou, the success or failure of your contract will naturally be decided by Xiaoyou."

The puppy puppet stretched out its furry paws. "If Xiaoyou, who has experienced disintegration into foam, is still willing to risk exposing her mermaid identity and choose to save you regardless of the consequences, the contract will be fulfilled."

"Before this, you will lose your memory of the contents of the contract, including yourself, and no one will be able to speak for you.

In Xiaoyou's eyes, you are just a pure black player who will not affect the end of the mission."

Without hesitation, Rei Furuya held the puppy doll's paw and said, "I agree."

"Then the contract is established."

A series of memory scenes came one after another, and finally gathered in my mind with incredible clarity.

Fūya Ling heard waves of water sounds, like a fish's tail swaying in the water.

His mind moved.

Before Fūya Ling could open his eyes, he heard the mermaid mumbling again.

"Why hasn't Brother Ling woken up yet? Did I use the wrong method?" Anxiety was hidden in the pleasant voice. "This shouldn't be the case."

After a few seconds of silence, Fūya Rei sensed the mermaid approaching him.

"I clearly tied great luck and great misfortune together, how could this still happen?"

The pleasant voice was tinged with sadness. "Wow, Brother Ling said he would give me red envelopes until I was ninety, but he only gave me one year. I can't go back on my word."

"I won't go back on my word."

Unable to feign unconsciousness any longer, Fūya Rei turned his head towards the source of the sound and slowly opened his eyes. "Not just until I'm ninety, I'll give it to Xiaoyou even when I'm a hundred. As long as I'm alive, I'll keep giving."

After saying that, Jiang Gu Ling took a closer look and found that not only was there no fish beside him, but it was also pitch black and he could hardly see his hand in front of him.

"?"

He belatedly observed his surroundings and discovered that he was in a huge transparent bubble.

Is this...under the sea?

It looked like it was at a great depth, with no light at all.

"Zero, how do you feel?"

As soon as he heard the blond man waking up, Hasegawa Yu, who had been hiding behind a large rock, carefully peeked out, "If you feel unwell, tell me immediately."

Jianggu Ling: "..."

Fūya Rei tentatively sat up, and the magical transparent bubble accommodated his various movements. Apart from a slight feeling of weightlessness, it was almost the same as being on land.

"I'm fine." He thought for a moment and then offered, "Am I in the sea?"

"Um."

I breathed a sigh of relief, but Hasegawa Yu still didn't come out from behind the big rock. "This is magic."

After a few seconds of silence, he asked, as if to hide his true intentions, "Isn't it amazing?"

Seeing this, Furuya Rei was silent for a few seconds, "...Yeah."

Feeling that the mermaid might remain hidden forever if things continued like this, Fūya Rei changed the subject, trying to make the mermaid relax a little. "How's things going on the cruise ship?"

"The passengers were successfully rescued." Hasegawa Yu, with only half of his head sticking out from behind a big rock, reported the situation truthfully.

The only small regret is that when Jinpei Matsuda wanted to kill Gin once and for all and take him away while he was unconscious, Gin managed to wake up with his amazing willpower.

With the help of Kenji Hagiwara who arrived in time, Jinpei Matsuda escaped successfully.

After finding a way to receive the signal and learning from Noah that it was Hasegawa Yu who took away the fatally injured Furuya Rei, and that both of them could not return to the cruise ship immediately, Matsuda Jinpei boldly put on the former's disguise mask, and instead of evacuating in the chaos, he stayed on the cruise ship.

Later, Kenji Hagiwara found out that from Gin's perspective, he shot and hit Rei Furuya, followed by a flash bomb, and he fell into a coma inexplicably. The suspected seriously injured Rei Furuya was rescued by his accomplices.

"Right now, Gin is directing the organization to search each passenger ashore one by one," Hasegawa Yu said. "Since official rescue forces are present, he can't be too blatant."

"I heard from Brother Zhenping that it was really satisfying to see Gin so angry that he couldn't find any of us."

Fūya Rei, who was only slightly focused on this, nodded and said thoughtfully, "Xiaoyou, I have recovered my memories of the past rounds."

The memories that flooded into his mind before he woke up included not only the scene when he made the contract with the puppy doll, but also all the memories of the past weeks.

"What?!"

Hasegawa Yuu was surprised to poke half of his body out from behind the big rock, but after realizing what was happening, he instantly retracted his body. "Really? Is it because of my pearl?"

"I don't know either." Perhaps it was the gods who restored him.

After much deliberation, Rei Furuya skipped and weakened the content of the contract, and revealed everything else.

"Brother Zero also has a Soul Crown!"

Finally no longer hiding, Hasegawa Yuu approached the transparent bubble and asked, "Is this how you figured out I have magic?"

The case is solved!

Furiya Rei's eyes seemed to casually glance at the mermaid's beautiful tail, "Hmm."

"Zero-nii is the one Yanji-nii said, the one from the same period can't be mentioned."

Hasegawa Yuu excitedly spun around the transparent bubble, his translucent orange tail fin as light as gauze floating along, "Zero-niang is a policeman too!"

After hearing what Furuya Rei said, Hasegawa Yu's memory emerged with the words that were hidden by the gods, which were told to him by Morofushi Kagemitsu in the fifth round that Furuya Rei was also a public security police officer.

Fūya Rei withdrew his gaze, but couldn't help but glance at the fish tail that was emitting a very faint orange-gold light, "Hmm."

"Can the worlds merge after the contract is reached?" Hasegawa Yu happily spun around, raising his hands high. "Great!"

"I really want to get the sixth week's memory as soon as possible."

Jianggu Ling: "Yeah."

As if sensing something, Hasegawa Yu opened his arms and said, "Brother Ling, as long as I don't reveal my identity, I won't turn into bubbles and disappear."

"Want a hug?"

Jianggu Ling: "...Yes."

It turned out that she had locked Xiaoyou in the villa and taken away the shell necklace before he woke up, but she didn't dare to open it because she was afraid of the pearls stored in it. This was because of this reason.

Recalling the last memory scene of the fifth round, Furuya Rei closed his eyes.

While the blond man was reminiscing, Hasegawa Yu squeezed into the transparent bubble and gave him a big hug. "Zero, I'm fine. It doesn't hurt at all."

"Fool."

With a sigh, Jōguchi Ling held him in his arms, and his hands touched a piece of skin that felt warm and cool, like a piece of fine jade.

Jianggu Zero: "!!!"

In her mermaid form, Hasegawa Yuu has no clothes on her upper body, and only has accessories around her neck and left arm.

Feeling the hug was over, Hasegawa Yu quickly exited the transparent bubble, giving the space inside to the blond human, "Brother Zero, shall I take you back to shore?"

"..." Furiya Rei looked at his hands with regret.

Xiaoyou has a really thin waist.

He coughed lightly a few times and skipped over the matter of returning to the shore. "Xiaoyou, are you happy that my real identity is a police officer?"

"Being a good police officer is always easier than being a bad guy." Hasegawa Yu tilted his head, "Of course I'm happy for Rei~"

After saying this, he thought of something, "I want to tell Brother Jingguang and the others the good news about the fusion of the worlds!"

"Wait!" Fūya Ling quickly stopped him, "How about I tell you?"

The blond, dark-skinned man said seriously, "I want to give them a surprise about the fusion of worlds."

Hasegawa Yuu didn't doubt it and said, "Okay."

After his excitement subsided, Hasegawa Yuu belatedly touched his chin and said, "No, if Jingguang and the others sacrificed themselves in the original world... then the Jingguang brothers I'm with are... ghosts?!"

When he came to the conclusion, he gasped and almost did a fish flip on the spot.

"A powerful ghost is indeed not afraid of the sun and can move around in broad daylight!"

Seeing that the mermaid was trying to squeeze back into the transparent bubble, Fūya Rei opened and closed his lips, turned his eyes away, and maintained a very high level of silence.

In some ways, Hiro and the others can indeed be considered ghosts.

[Don't be afraid, Xiaoyou. In the collapsed world, they can be considered temporarily resurrected and are not considered ghosts.] Noah's Ark spoke in time to comfort him.

Hasegawa Yu reluctantly felt relieved.

Noah's Ark distracted him, "Let's hurry and get Bourbon back to shore. He has work as a council member tomorrow."

Oh, cunning humans.

"Brother Ling, it's getting late. I'll take you back to the shore." Hasegawa Yu turned around and brought up business.

Unfortunately, the mermaid didn't squeeze into the transparent bubble. Only then did Furi Rei realize that it had been seven hours since he was shot and fell into coma.

I guess the time was wasted trying to recover the memories of the previous rounds. No wonder Xiaoyou was so anxious.

Thinking of this, Furuya Rei's gaze fell on the mermaid, "Xiaoyou, when can you transform back into human form? How will you eat and sleep these days?"

"About three or four days?" Hasegawa Yuya wasn't quite sure. "As for food and shelter... the sea is my home!"

At worst, he can just eat sashimi for a few more days. He has experience!

Seeing some clues on the mermaid's face, Furuya Ling's eyes turned slightly, "Xiaoyou, if you don't want Matsuda and the others to know that you're a mermaid, how about I take you back to my apartment?"

"I was worried about Xiaoyou being alone in the sea. Besides, Xiaoyou saved my life, so this small reward is what I deserve."

Hasegawa Yu hesitated.

"I promise not to let anyone find out Xiaoyou's secret."

There was sincerity in Furuya Rei's purplish-gray eyes. "Well... except Hello."

Hasegawa Yu glanced at him.

Fūya Rei kept his composure steady, waiting for the mermaid's decision.

"Okay." Hasegawa Yu was persuaded.

Cooked food is still better than sashimi.

Furuya Rei tried hard to suppress the corners of his mouth that kept curling up, trying not to let it curl up too obviously. "Then let's go back to the shore together."

[……] Noah's Ark gritted its teeth silently.

Damn, insidious and cunning human beings!