The Ancient Snake's Whisper

"Old... Sister Shamhat, cough, cough, don't look at me like that, I'm scared..."

The Ancient Snake coiled in the rock crevice coughed dryly, ponderously raising its head, in a stance like a reptile facing danger, ready to strike.

"Call me Teacher!"

The sacred prostitute, who was staking out the cave entrance, demanded with utmost seriousness.

"Oh, Teacher Shamhat..."

Facing this inscrutable woman, Lin Xian felt a toothache.

However, upon hearing the Ancient Snake's response, Shamhat at the cave entrance revealed a brilliant and pure smile, and repeatedly echoed the student's previous words.

"To those who harbor hatred, show no understanding."

"To those who harbor joy, show no agreement."

"To those who harbor pain, show no admiration!"

"She has her choices, and I have my answers!"

Lin Xian thought this teacher had lost her mind again, for some unknown reason.

These profound words, according to established history, were actually spoken by "Ziusudra," an extremely long-lived individual who survived the Great Flood in the Golden Age.

Or, perhaps, it was the King of Assassins, who descended upon the Mesopotamian world through the heavenly orifice, using Ziusudra as a vessel, to help humanity overcome the crisis.

His strength was not to be underestimated.

Moreover, this assassin, who enjoyed going on rampages, being at the pinnacle of human heroes, could more easily see through the relationship between humans and gods.

Therefore, his three pieces of advice, though sounding a bit harsh, were truly words of wisdom.

To put it simply, it meant giving up any unnecessary illusions about the Three Goddesses.

Only by displaying the unyielding resolve of humanity would they lower their proud heads and look at the insignificant beings on the ground, establishing a basis for mutual understanding.

The Ancient Snake naturally did not want to miss out on such a powerful asset from a friendly faction.

He was counting on clinging to the coattails of this King of Assassins and barging straight to the Three Goddesses, to have tea with them and discuss life's ideals.

Even if, as a final resort, the real Ziusudra was not a rampaging assassin of the King of Assassins class, his identity as a human who experienced Enlil's Great Flood and the Golden Age alone made him worth winning over.

Therefore, Lin Xian had planned to find this mysterious old man. Even if he couldn't learn assassination techniques for rampaging, he at least wanted to build a good relationship in case of unforeseen circumstances.

However, even with Ereshkigal's divine aura, he had scurried everywhere, searched the Underworld far and wide, and even taken a detour through the underground of Kush, but he never encountered this mysterious old grandpa.

It was also during this period, while investigating Enkidu's tomb, that Lin Xian accidentally encountered the sacred prostitute Shamhat, and could only reluctantly pull her onto his ship.

At this moment, as his thoughts returned, the Ancient Snake saw the gradual dawning of understanding and emotion in Shamhat's eyes and wisely remained silent.

"Good!"

"Very good!"

"Really very good!"

"In unequal circumstances, to discuss humanity with deities, how pathetic! How foolish!"

"To realize this makes you stronger than me!"

"You possess wisdom far beyond this era. In terms of worldly affairs, there's nothing more I can teach you."

At this moment, Shamhat, with a somewhat excited expression, gently stroked the Ancient Snake's head with her fingers in a reserved and gentle manner, bestowing extremely high praise upon her disciple.

Then, the sacred prostitute murmured to herself with self-deprecation.

"I've always wondered, what did I do wrong?"

"Whether it's the Wedge of Heaven or the Chain of Heaven, they are all holy artifacts bestowed by the gods upon the Mesopotamian world to guide humanity."

"Give him love, let him feel love, learn to love."

"Then, loving humanity, loving the country, loving this world, will make everything better."

"Indeed, Gilgamesh, with the help of Enkidu, transformed from a tyrant into a wise king."

"To protect his people, he guided Gilgamesh in slaying the divine beast Humbaba in the cedar forest."

"To eliminate beastly disasters and drought, the two of them together dismembered the Bull of Heaven Gugalanna and restrained the goddess's actions."

"But in the end, the children who saved Uruk, and even all of Mesopotamia, could not save themselves, and were cursed to death by the gods!"

"We praise his benevolence, we are grateful for his achievements, yet we accelerated his path to ruin."

Lin Xian heard the hatred hidden deep within Shamhat's emotions from her calm words, sighed, and began to speak.

"Because that's how you wanted it, not how the gods wanted it."

Touched by the Ancient Snake, the sacred prostitute, who had opened her heart at this moment, gave a mocking laugh.

"Yes, just as humans are too lazy to reason with ants, gods disdain to listen to human pleas."

"Do you know? When our king witnessed his dearest friend die in his arms, he held the child's corpse in the pouring rain for seven days and seven nights."

"Afterward, the king began to frantically try to revive Enkidu, emptying his treasury and making several grand sacrifices to the gods."

"Once, how arrogant the king was, yet he was willing to kneel in the temple for his dearest friend, begging and repenting to the gods."

"Even Nash, Kush, Eridu, the city of Babylon... all the Sumerians in Mesopotamia, in gratitude for that child's sacrifice, continuously offered gold, silver, cattle, sheep, slaves, and monstrous beasts to the gods, hoping that those lofty beings would show mercy and spare this child."

"But not a single god responded; they all watched with cold indifference."

"The King, in despair, placed the body of his dearest friend in the underworld, hoping he would find peace in death."

"Yet, even so..."

Shamhat looked up at the violently blasted crater, a trace of sorrow in her eyes.

"We don't reason with ants because we can't communicate, and empathy is difficult."

"But gods and humans are so similar; there's no communication barrier between you."

"It's not that they don't understand; it's that they aren't listening at all! And they don't deign to listen!"

The Ancient Snake flicked its tongue, responding coldly, then slithered out of the cave and onto Shamhat's lap, its expression serious.

"Teacher, if you truly made a mistake, it was only in not being strong enough!"

"At least, you weren't strong enough for the gods to ignore you."

At this moment, Lin Xian thought of a past dark joke, a hint of mockery appearing in his eyes.

"What Enkidu lost was merely his life, but what the gods lost was face, which concerns their authority!"

Such a biting taunt caused Shamhat's eyes to cloud over.

Humbaba devoured travelers and caused plants to wither, and none of you cared.

Gugalanna ravaged the land, causing seven years of drought, and countless people starved to death, and you remained silent.

But when our hero rose up to eliminate the disaster, everything became a sin!

After a long silence, Shamhat's lightly furrowed brows relaxed, and a smile spread across her face.

"Little Samael, come here before you go."

"Certainly!"

The two figures, one large and one small, nodded with unspoken understanding.

One sought to give the deceased peace and bid farewell to his powerless past self; the other wished to force his patron to confront the root of the problem through action, lest he live with lifelong regret.

Furthermore, dismantling the Triple Goddess Alliance and rewriting the destiny of the Mesopotamian world was also a common goal for both parties.

Since their interests aligned, they were on the same boat.

Shamhat's thoughts touched upon this word, her expression odd as she examined the slender figure.

Lin Xian's skin began to crawl under her gaze again, and the Holy Harlot finally spoke with suspicion.

"I say, Little Samael, I always feel like you have another reason for dismantling the Triple Goddess Alliance and standing with humanity."

Lin Xian grinned, squinting as he spoke.

"I am, by King Gilgamesh's own admission, a free citizen of Uruk. Can't I stand with my own country?"

"But you're a snake; your bloodline is closer to monsters..."

"Can't I be human in spirit?"

Shamhat examined the slender figure before her, unmoved.

"You? You're fooling someone else!"