If he hid things from her now, any future discoveries would only sow seeds of doubt in her heart. Rather than that, it was better to simply tell her the truth directly.
Anyway, this goddess was a very well-behaved girl who wouldn't harbor any malicious thoughts.
After Lan Ze's explanation, Ereshkigal's eyes slowly widened in disbelief. "Eh?! Then by your meaning... I'm a character in this game?"
"Then... you're a so-called player from reality?" she continued to question.
Lan Ze thought for a moment. "I suppose that's correct."
"No wonder you suddenly disappeared back then... So that's how it was," Ereshkigal murmured to herself. Although she didn't believe it right away, the current scene no longer allowed her to doubt it.
To be honest, though, making her believe that she was merely a character gave her a truly subtle feeling.
"Then, what is your mission? To guard Uruk?" Ereshkigal asked next. "If that's the case, you've found the wrong person. I've formed a pact with the other goddesses, and I'm a bad person standing on humanity's opposite side."
"Are you talking about the League of the Three Goddesses?" At this point, Lan Ze suddenly smiled.
"What are you smiling at?" Ereshkigal's delicate brows slightly furrowed, feeling mocked.
Lan Ze chuckled. "You joined the League of the Three Goddesses purely to guide the souls of those who died into the underworld and give them a place of rest, right? In short, you're a good person."
Ereshkigal's eyes widened slightly. "Y-You, what are you talking about?! I'm the Goddess of the Underworld, you know?! The Goddess of the Underworld who specializes in forging cages to imprison souls--"
She tried her hardest to defend herself, even putting on an expression that said I'm super fierce.
"Those cages are all houses, aren't they?" Lan Ze said.
The cages Ereshkigal created were actually just houses that allowed the souls of the deceased to dwell in them.
This Goddess of the Underworld was kinder than anyone imagined.
Having her truth mercilessly exposed—perhaps feeling that her image as the Goddess of the Underworld was completely gone—Ereshkigal let out a small sob of "wuwu," burying her head with her cheeks looking slightly flushed.
Seeing this, Lan Ze couldn't help but reveal a knowing smile.
"What are you looking at?"
"Looking at you."
"Is there something on my face?"
"Mn... No."
"Then why keep staring at me... Could it be that you're--to me--"
"Rest assured, I have no interest in the Goddess of the Underworld." Lan Ze shook his head.
Ereshkigal's earlier voice abruptly stopped, followed by an annoyed expression as she let out a low hum. "I don't need you to have any interest in me either--"
"To be honest, though, I'm quite interested in Ereshkigal," Lan Ze said seriously.
Ereshkigal paused, a cute flush emerging on her exquisite face.
She hated this feeling of being "teased" by someone, yet on the other hand, she felt endlessly delighted by his sincere words. This complex emotion left the Goddess of the Underworld in an extremely tangled state.
Lan Ze looked up at the clock in midair and said, "Although it's a pity, I have to go eat lunch. Can you wait here for me for a bit?"
He had wasted too much time in the underworld earlier; after just checking the time, he discovered that the time ratio between the game and reality turned out to be 1:1.
It was already approaching noon, and if he didn't go out now, Aika would probably storm into his room.
Ereshkigal quickly snapped to her senses, crossed her arms, and snorted. "Do as you please; you don't need to specifically tell me where you want to go."
As she spoke, however, her gaze remained fixed on Lan Ze all along.
Exit game.
Accompanied by the sound of Lan Ze's voice, he then clicked the confirm button, and under Ereshkigal's incredulous gaze, Lan Ze simply vanished right before her eyes.
Was he truly a person from so-called "reality"?
Ereshkigal tilted her head slightly, her pretty red eyes filled with confusion as she recalled Lan Ze's actions just now.
Afterward, she raised her head and softly said, "Exit game."
An option actually really popped up.
"He clicked the second box just now... Is it called exit game?"
Ereshkigal raised her finger and clicked the exit game button.
Uruk, King's Hall.
Gilgraph awoke from his deep slumber and slowly opened his eyes.
Scarlet pupils, a head of blonde hair, wearing rather revealing attire—wherever his gaze passed, the king's majesty was undoubtedly revealed.
Siduri, the priestess assisting the Wise King, stood to the side, respectfully looking toward Gilgamesh as she spoke, "O King, has something happened?"
"Just some trivial matters, nothing to worry about." Gilgamesh slightly raised a hand, answering absentmindedly while his gaze carried a thoughtful look.
How incredible, someone actually managed to arrive in Uruk ahead of Chaldea?
And... they didn't belong to this "world" at all.
"How interesting indeed." Gilgamesh gazed into the distance through the hall, softly murmuring to himself.
Sajyou Manaka wore a jade-green western dress, holding chopsticks in her hands. Beneath her dress were a pair of slender legs wrapped in white silk, wearing white low-heeled shoes on her feet.
Her feet dangled above the floor, swaying back and forth.
As Lan Ze just arrived in the dining room, the girl immediately raised her eyes to look at him, complaining, "You played for way too long, you know? I was practically waiting until I starved to death."
"Since you were hungry, you should have eaten first. Aren't all these dishes made by you? What were you waiting for me for?" Lan Ze retorted.
"I really don't get why someone who can make lunch and dinner so delicious turns out to make breakfast such a failure."
Although Lan Ze was a tenant in this apartment, for the sake of convenience, Sajyou Manaka would occasionally be responsible for cooking. The food this girl made tasted quite good, but for some reason, every morning's breakfast would be an absolute failure.
"In terms of the gaming terminology you use, it's probably because morning Manaka has a debuff on her. I'll still have to trouble you with breakfast from now on, though," Aika said leisurely. "So you'd better stay up late less often, after all, you have to wake up early to make breakfast every day."
"Mn, next time for sure," Lan Ze said.
He picked up his chopsticks, his gaze falling upon the food on the table. He sniffed the aroma, and his eyes lit up slightly, "There's squirrel fish today. It must have taken a lot of effort."
This was a very complicated dish, and the fundamental reason was having to debone the fish, plus it consumed a lot of cooking oil. However, the ultimate reward was this appetizing dish right before his eyes.
Lan Ze began rapidly shoveling down his rice, eagerly wanting to hurry back to his room in his heart. At that moment, the cell phone beside the table suddenly emitted a text message ringtone.
Aika smiled and said, "When did you secretly save a girl's phone number? I really couldn't tell."
"I'd actually love to secretly save a few girls' phone numbers, but unfortunately, it's probably just club notifications or something," Lan Ze said.
Half a year ago, Lan Ze was admitted to university. When he first entered school, he thought about joining a club to sing praises of his youth, and it would be even better if he could smoothly talk to a pretty girlfriend along the way. At the very beginning, he indeed tried his best to show his enthusiasm.
However, enthusiasm of that sort came and went quickly. After two or three months, he lost interest in clubs.
The club he had joined previously hadn't been checked into for several months already.
For a gaming otaku like Lan Ze, socializing with people really wasn't as great as playing games at home.
Chatting idly, Lan Ze picked up his cell phone and glanced at it, then couldn't help pausing in surprise.
It actually really was an invitation text message.
Come to think of it, it seemed like a few days ago during an elective class, the female student sitting next to him dropped her pen. He then helped her pick it up, and afterward, the two exchanged a couple of words and swapped phone numbers.
He hadn't expected this girl to take the initiative to text him today.
Fairly speaking, Lan Ze's appearance certainly wasn't bad, but ever since he stepped into university, aside from showing his face in the club for those first two months, he basically had no further contact with the students in the club.
No matter how good-looking someone was, if they didn't go outside to socialize with people, it was hard to make a girlfriend.
Appearance aside, a handsome yet reserved and boring male versus an average-looking but humorous and witty male—the latter naturally had a higher probability of getting a girlfriend.
Therefore, some shut-ins weren't unhandsome; they just spoke too little and easily killed conversations.
Lan Ze had already made peace with it, but he hadn't expected such an opportunity to arise today.
"What's wrong?" Aika asked with a puzzled expression as she sat opposite him.
"You really guessed it right," Lan Ze said.
"A girl?" Aika unconcernedly fiddled with her strands of hair. "What is she looking for you for?"
"Asking me if I want to go out shopping this afternoon."
"How do you plan to answer?" Her gaze stared fixedly at Lan Ze.
"I don't know how to refuse the other person nicely," Lan Ze supported his forehead and sighed. "I want to continue experiencing that game first."
"Is it really that fun..." Aika repeated, then revealed a smile, extending a hand as she said, "Then hand the phone over to me. I'll handle it properly for you."
"Are you sure?" Lan Ze looked at the girl before him skeptically.
"Don't make the other person too disgusted, okay?"
"Of course, I know. I'm still quite good at this aspect." The girl's smile was as warm as sunshine.
"Then that's a huge help, thank you." Lan Ze very decisively handed the phone into the girl's hands.
He knew this girl was indeed very reliable and quite skilled at handling such matters.
"When asking a favor from others, if you say Please, Sister Aika... it'll be a bit cuter, you know?"
"Please, Sister Aika," Lan Ze said.
="..."
"I'm full, thanks for the meal, it was delicious." Under Aika's speechlessness-filled gaze, Lan Ze stood up.
"Are you going to continue playing games?" Aika asked in confusion. "I remember you still have class this afternoon, right?"
"The professor got sick and took leave, saying we'll see when to reschedule it later." Lan Ze sighed helplessly. "Can't he think of his own health and just skip the makeup class?"
"Every student thinks that way, but teachers have their own difficulties too." Aika shrugged. "Remember to come out and wash the dishes later; this is our agreement, right?"
"I know, I know, I'll remember." After Lan Ze finished speaking perfunctorily, he walked into his room.
"If you forget, Aika will be very angry, and the consequences are super serious, you know?" Aika looked at him with a smile.
"What consequences?"
"I'll kick you," she said seriously.
"Is this a reward?" Lan Ze said.
"Eh?"
Aika froze. The bright light in her eyes instantly lost its luster as she silently pulled out her phone, looking as though she was about to dial the police.
"I was just making a joke, you wouldn't take it seriously, right?! It really was just a joke!" Lan Ze hurriedly explained.
"Who knows? I was already getting ready to call the police." Aika wore a desolate expression as she picked up the phone in her hand.
"Spare me on this! It really was just a joke!"
"I'm just teasing you, no matter what, it wouldn't come to calling the police right now." Aika triumphantly brandished her phone with a shallow smile, her face carrying the shrewdness of a little fox.
"I hope you won't call the police in the future either." Lan Ze let out a heartfelt sigh.
"Then I'll go back to my room first."
Gazing at Lan Ze as he returned to his room, she silently picked up the phone on the table.
Alright, next let's help him deal with unnecessary spam messages.
Returning to the game login interface, Lan Ze saw the Goddess of the Underworld hugging her knees and squatting in a corner drawing circles, looking somewhat autistic.
He walked forward, and seeing Ereshkigal's dejected expression, couldn't help asking, "Why do you have such a disappointed expression? Did something happen?"
"Why can't I press this button just like you can?!" Ereshkigal pointed at the text box that popped up in front of her and asked.
Lan Ze lowered his head and glanced at the text on the box: You NPC actually want to exit the game, just dream on, bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh (#tongue)
Lan Ze: "..."
Before you continue