Otherworldly Companions: Every Handsome Man is Extraordinary

This was a place completely different from the world she had come from; in Jiang Yu's view, it was even absurd.

In the backward world of the Empire, women are scarce, resulting in a severe gender imbalance. The Empire has devised a unique mate selection mechanism to balance the social conflicts arising from this imbalance—that is, mate selection opportunities arranged by the Empire.

Every woman faces her first choice of a partner after reaching adulthood, and this time she needs to choose at least two partners.

After waking up, Jiang Yu discovered that she was also called Jiang Yu in this world. She was the daughter of the Jiang family of the Ocean Empire. Her father, Jiang Ren, was a general in the Ocean Empire and the strongest and only one of her mother's five partners to bear female offspring.

The empire's tacit rule is that might makes right. Even in a polyandrous system, the family name still follows the male's surname, presumably to prevent power struggles within the family from arising if the female's surname were used. Therefore, the strongest of the female partners is allowed to take the family name.

But in Jiang Yu's view, this was just an empty promise of honor. Because you are strong, your surname is preserved, but it has no practical significance. Although the children of your wife's other partners have your surname, not to mention that they are not your bloodline, there is no guarantee that when they become someone else's husband, they will still be the strongest one who can preserve the surname. Therefore, very few families can be glorious for many generations, except for certain families with special abilities.

Jiang Yu felt that this was a rule deliberately set by the empire to prevent the emergence of powerful families. It simply took advantage of the scarcity of women to effectively carry out its intentions, supporting only families that were useful to it to survive. The rise and fall of other families were within the empire's expectations, since the empire also intervened in the matching of partners.

The mate selection gathering is held in major cities of the three empires. Women are randomly assigned to any of the venues for their safety. The women are secretly sent to the empires just before the gathering. The extreme imbalance in the male-to-female ratio has led to some social problems. Some men have become particularly radical and have broken away from the empire's control and social rules. The empire has to be wary of these dangerous individuals and prevent extremists from harming the precious women.

Because of the large number of participants, many sub-venues were set up in advance, and the areas were divided and the participants were assigned in batches at different times.

Jiang Yu's father held a high position and was personally escorted by him in his carriage. The general's carriage resembled a magnificent horse-drawn carriage, except that it was pulled by four griffins instead of horses, so the carriage could run on the ground or fly in the sky.

Not every family will have female offspring. Although women are required to have five partners, they actually only have three chances to conceive.

Only once was a woman allowed to choose the father of her child based on her own preference. In the other two instances, the Empire determined which of the remaining four partners was eligible to have offspring. This was a measure the Empire had to take in order to ensure the continuation of superior genes.

In this world, people cannot reproduce naturally. Men must consume fertility fruits distributed by the empire to have offspring, while women can only have three fertility cycles.

No matter how much Jiang Yu didn't understand the rules of this world, she was already in it and had no choice but to compromise. This wasn't even a democratic world; it was still in the barbaric era of cold weapons, where terrible methods like burning at the stake and slow slicing still existed. Rashly resisting would only bring her death.

Before she set off, her father and mother had given her a lot of advice and taught her a lot of so-called "experienced people" advice. They even highlighted certain people she should pay attention to.

Jiang Yu had already obediently looked at the profiles of all the men she could choose from. To be honest, after the first layer of selection by the empire and the second layer by her parents, all the men selected were outstanding candidates who were well-matched in terms of social status and talent. She only needed to make a third selection based on her own preferences.

What's remarkable is that these men not only have perfect looks, but also outstanding family backgrounds and exceptional personal talents and abilities.

Jiang Yu was assigned to a luxurious grand hall, located in the very center of Triton Square in the capital of the Ocean Empire. It was the highest-level venue in Triton Square.

The dozen or so women inside all came from prestigious families. Jiang Yu's family background was outstanding, but it wasn't the best among them. However, few could match Jiang Yu's beauty.

The auditorium was packed with men they had chosen. Jiang Yu found it both frustrating and ridiculous; it felt like a large job fair.

Family members were not allowed to enter the venue, so her father left after dropping her off at the square outside the auditorium. Even so, Jiang Yu's arrival still caused a sensation.

The prestigious title of "daughter of an Imperial General" was already very eye-catching, not to mention Jiang Yu's beautiful face. Even when wearing the same white dress as other women, her slender waist and extraordinary demeanor made her look like a fairy.

Jiang Yu's information quickly became a hot topic as soon as it was released at the beginning of the year, with countless men submitting their own information to the Empire, hoping to get the opportunity to meet Jiang Yu.