"Because the smell on you is a bit strange." Sajyou Manaka frowned, but quickly, a sweet smile bloomed on her face again. "Maybe it's because you haven't taken a bath in too long."
"No way, I take at least one shower a day!" Lan Ze said loudly.
He felt that Manaka's reaction today was very strange, but he couldn't put his finger on why.
Could it be that I really have a strange smell on me?
Lan Ze lowered his head to sniff his arm, but didn't smell any scent at all.
Whatever, I'll just take a shower in a bit.
After finishing his meal, Lan Ze put his bowl and chopsticks into the dish rack.
"Don't forget to wash the dishes later!" Sajyou Manaka shouted from behind him.
"I know, I'll wash them later," Lan Ze replied lazily, waving his hand as he turned around to head back to his room.
I wonder if Mother of All will notice anything if I drag this out too long; if possible, it's better to return to the game as soon as possible.
Yet the moment Lan Ze turned around, his chest bumped into Sajyou Manaka's forehead, causing the young girl to clutch her head with tears welling up in her eyes from the pain.
"Sorry, sorry, you should say something when you stand behind me, I didn't notice at all," Lan Ze apologized in a rush.
"I called out to you several times already, you just didn't hear it yourself." Sajyou Manaka clutched her slightly red forehead and stared gloomily at Lan Ze.
"I'll go get an ice towel for you to compress it."
"No need, go do whatever you want to do, this little bit of swelling will recover in a moment," Sajyou Manaka said in her crisp voice; although her tone was gloomy, she wasn't actually angry.
Lan Ze could only nod. "Just call me if you need anything."
"Mhm, go ahead."
The young girl smiled faintly, and only when Lan Ze's figure stepped into the room did that smile fade a little.
She clutched her forehead, her gaze flickering, her face full of puzzlement.
"...How did even the protective magecraft previously cast on him disappear?"
If Lan Ze hadn't been running around everywhere today, then it should be that... someone sneaked into this room?
Yet she didn't sense any sign of anyone trespassing either...
And that fragrance on his body truly refused to let one's mind rest easy.
Sajyou Manaka furrowed her brow inadvertently.
Just what was going on...
The young girl raised her head to look at the sky outside the window, murmuring softly in her heart.
Three days later.
In this world where only a boundless ocean could be seen as far as the eye could reach, Lan Ze left Mother of All's embrace for the first time with her tacit consent.
Three days, a full three days!
This was the first time Lan Ze could freely sit on the beach and feel the sea breeze.
If this were any other game making him stay in the same place for three days, staring blankly at unchanging scenery, Lan Ze would have already quit the game, snapped the disc in half, and thrown it into the trash can.
Yet this game was an exception.
The reason actually wasn't hard to understand either. On one hand, it was because Mother of All was truly too cute, and on the other hand, it was because Mother of All was truly too cute.
Being able to sleep in the "cradle" woven by Mother of All and listen to wonderful singing, why wouldn't one be happy to do so?
"Aaaa~~"
Standing in the distance, Tiamat's small mouth parted slightly, her wonderful singing seeming to pierce straight through the eardrums into the depths of the heart.
Lan Ze stood up and turned to walk toward Tiamat.
The singing just now was Mother of All calling her little cub back to sleep.
Lan Ze arrived before Tiamat, finding her sitting sideways on the edge of the beach with her smooth, cyan hair draped down naturally, staring unblinkingly at Lan Ze.
In actual fact, this was also the first time Lan Ze truly saw a woman's appearance in the truest sense.
His gaze ranged from Tiamat's flawless-looking cheeks no matter how one looked at them, to the cherry lips he had kissed just a few days ago, to that enormous human heart... that scale was probably difficult for seven or eight Sajyou Manaka combined with Ereshkigal and Ishtar to rival.
In a sense, Tiamat had achieved a suppressing effect in both human hearts and strength.
"Aaaa~" Tiamat opened her hands and pressed Lan Ze's face into that mass of softness, making his breathing somewhat uncomfortable.
"Too enthusiastic, loosen up just a little bit..." Lan Ze said indistinctly.
Clearly they had already spent more than three days together, yet Tiamat was still so enthusiastic, enthusiastic enough to make Lan Ze nearly suffocate.
Tiamat also seemed to realize that her child's breathing had become somewhat rapid, so she loosened her grip slightly, granting Lan Ze a certain amount of room to move.
Only, she still had no intention of letting go, simply as if she were terrified that Lan Ze would escape from her side.
After the enthusiastic show of affection, she hugged Lan Ze like a body pillow in her embrace, quietly looking at the sea.
"Mother, can I ask you something?" Lan Ze spoke up suddenly.
He felt it was time to probe Mother of All's thoughts. If the plot continued to push forward, the final ending would once again be Humanry Order defeating the Beasts, and then Tiamat, who symbolized the principle of "return," would vanish from this world.
He didn't want such an outcome, and wanted to rewrite all of this.
Seeing Tiamat nod gently, Lan Ze asked tentatively, "What do you think of those people in the outside world...?"
"I mean, the residents living in Mesopotamia, how do you view them?"
Tiamat looked at the sea, as if deep in thought, or simply spacing out.
After a moment passed, she leaned down by Lan Ze's ear and whispered a small "Aaaa."
Tiamat's voice was extremely small, and when that wonderful singing entered Lan Ze's ears, he immediately understood this "Mother's" meaning.
She said: They are all, aliens.
"Aliens...?" Lan Ze repeated with great puzzlement.
Tiamat nodded lightly. "Aaaa (If I don't drive them out, I will be killed)."
"Who told you?" Lan Ze asked, baffled.
Tiamat stopped speaking. She raised her head to look at the sea surface, and after a long silence, her small mouth parted slightly.
"--Aaaaa--"
That wonderful song traveled to the ends of the ocean, filled with sorrow, sadness, and anger in the singing.
Lan Ze suddenly understood what Mother of All was thinking.
To humans, Tiamat was a terrifying invader, just like those Ultraman shows he used to watch; humans would naturally feel fear upon seeing monsters.
Yet to Tiamat, humans... were likewise terrifying invaders.
The planet's ecosystem had already been established, and this Creation Mother Goddess was completely out of touch with the era. The planet no longer needed her to randomly design life.
Something that no longer had any use was naturally discarded.
For a planet, this wasn't difficult to choose. On one side was a Beast that no longer possessed any value for existence, and on the other side were numerous humans. Thus, the scales weighing value naturally tipped toward humans.
Moreover, as an anime viewer, Lan Ze still vaguely remembered what all the lifeforms created by Mother of All looked like.
Especially Lahmu... that horrifying appearance had given Lan Ze goosebumps the very first time he saw it.
It was truly mental pollution.
"Mother... since you feel humans are all aliens, why aren't you afraid of me?" Lan Ze asked in confusion.
Tiamat looked down at him, saying very, very seriously, "You are not human."
Lan Ze: "..."
It seemed Tiamat truly didn't regard him as a human, which was why she displayed such affectionate actions and didn't fear him.
"AAaaa," Tiamat said suddenly.
"You feel this place is too desolate and want to make some children?" Lan Ze understood.
Tiamat nodded, one hand embracing the back of Lan Ze's head while she raised her other hand and lightly pointed her index finger.
Under Lan Ze's incredulous gaze, the sand on the beach condensed together, and then, in merely the blink of an eye, the sand gathered into a pitch-black creature.
That creature didn't even have eyes, exposing a pair of neat, white teeth... but its appearance looked extremely terrifying.
That was precisely the creature with the highest disgust index that Lan Ze had seen in the anime before, a Lahmu.
"Aaa." Tiamat looked down at Lan Ze, her eyes glowing faintly, as if asking Lan Ze to evaluate her work, wanting someone to praise her.
"Too ugly." Lan Ze frowned straight away.
Forget about just ugly, it was practically ugly beyond the limits of the universe.
Tiamat puffed out her cheeks slightly, waved her hand to dismiss the "child" she had just created, and lowered her head to ruffle Lan Ze's hair.
"You come, make children with me." She imitated human language, speaking in a slightly raw yet crisp and pleasant voice.
Lan Ze was stunned out of his wits.
"Ma-, make children?!"
Tiamat nodded very seriously.
At this moment, several options popped up in front of Lan Ze's eyes.
[Task 1: Tell Tiamat: Making children is fine, but I want to make a child belonging to the two of us through zero-distance intimate contact] [Task 2: Reject Tiamat and tell her: You are a Beast, while I stand on the side of Humanity's Order, and I will leave this place sooner or later] [Task 3: Accept Tiamat's invitation, but do not make "children," and find a tactful way to tell her: You are my mother alone, and I don't want to share you with anyone]
Lan Ze fell silent.
These options—the first one was definitely ruled out, and the second one could basically be ruled out too...
Then the only thing left to choose was the third one...
Yet the problem was, this third choice also seemed to have a huge problem?!
Wasn't saying these words no different from a confession?!
"System, what happens if I abandon the task?"
After pondering for a long time, Lan Ze decided to first confirm the consequences of abandoning the task before considering further.
These three options were all a bit inhuman, though the first option was quite tempting. However, he knew it wasn't very realistic; if he really spoke to Mother of All according to the first option, he didn't know if she would suddenly turn dark and then say with a disappointed expression: Cub, Mama is very disappointed in you.
Then casually knead out tens of thousands of Lahmu to destroy the Humanry Order.
[Voluntarily abandon this task and accept game punishment, luck value drops to E (level where you get into a car accident the moment you step outside) within half a month. Accept/Reject]
Upon seeing the interface pop up before his eyes, Lan Ze sighed inwardly and clicked reject.
Abandoning the task really did have a punishment... and the affected luck value probably wasn't just a simple matter inside the game.
Wasn't this completely leaving him no choice?
"Aaa?"
Tiamat's singing pulled Lan Ze back to reality. Under the woman's gentle gaze, he raised his head and stared into the woman's eyes. "Mother, I am willing to make children with you."
Tiamat was in an extremely good mood and softly hummed a joyful tune.
Then, she began to lick Lan Ze's face again with her soft little tongue. That somewhat moist sensation made Lan Ze feel a bit unaccustomed to it, and he avoided it with great embarrassment.
Under Tiamat's puzzled gaze, Lan Ze explained, "It feels a bit strange this way."
Pausing slightly, he continued to ask, "By the way, why do you keep licking my face?"
"On your body, there is a very fragrant scent," Tiamat said.
On Lan Ze's body, she smelled an aura infinitely close to the Root. But that wasn't actually the Root; rather, it was magecraft. She didn't know who had cast the magecraft on her child.
Tiamat's actions prior to this were licking the magecraft off Lan Ze's body, changing the scent originally on him into one belonging to herself.
Before you continue