They all call me an Outer God.

Chapter 124 Schwarz

As she spoke, Ria removed the bird-beak mask, revealing a face in a state of utter disarray, almost shocking and "hideous."

Imagine using the front of a skull as soil, where cells re-evolv and divide to form new muscle bodies. To ensure rapid growth, spiderweb-like black tendrils cover the surface, with golden eyes densely distributed within.

Lia's original gray-blue eyes were still there, intact, and now that the eyelids were gone, everyone could see half of them.

Anyone would describe it as a horrifying scene, but the people present didn't react much. Rather, they had seen far more terrifying things and were already used to it.

Such a scene was not enough to affect people's appetite.

Bruna looked at Ria: "Your face is recovering rather slowly, probably because of the contaminated consciousness."

"It's okay, it will get better on its own after a few days of rest."

Lia nonchalantly put the bloody meat into her mouth and chewed it, experiencing no major problems except for pain in her facial muscles and mouth.

Now that I've reached Meme 8, I should tell my doctor about it.

So Ria put down her knife and fork, let little Swarth spit out the pen and paper, and began to write a letter herself.

The letter read—

To Dr. James, the attending physician:

I'm already a meme eight. Where are you? Are you still being treated like a football? ...Excuse me, are you still your football player?

Dr. Bruner is far more competent than you, so I think it's time to send a complaint to the Guardians' headquarters accusing you of dereliction of duty.

If you're not available right now, I've decided to choose the next meme myself, and we'll share all the consequences. I'm not likely to die, but you're likely to be dismissed.

If you don't receive a salary for a year, it might actually help you lose weight and stop eating those unregulated products that cause obesity. Thinking about it that way, it might actually help you lose weight, so it's a good thing.

So you're welcome, it's all I should do.

The letter was signed at the end: Guess.

As he finished writing the last punctuation mark, Ria's mood improved considerably. He found a match, lit the letter, and then stuffed the burning letter into the mythical creature's mouth.

James once said that if you want to contact him, just do it.

As for why the letter was written the way it was, it only shows that Ria didn't consider the other party an outsider.

"Ow."

Little Swarth swallowed the burning letter in one gulp, closed his mouth, and a wisp of smoke leaked out from the gap in his mouth and slowly rose.

It blinked twice, then suddenly burped, and smoke rings rose into the air from its throat once again.

Ria poured the black tea from the table into its mouth, and Little Swarth drank it all in one gulp, and no more steam rose from its mouth.

"Awooo!" It shook its wings, mimicking a fledgling begging for food.

The others stared at it with curiosity.

Ilint's eyes were still half-closed, as if eye discharge had stuck them together again, but she was just too tired.

"You two seem to have a good relationship."

"This is such a rare opportunity to observe mythical creatures up close."

Bruna continued stuffing a piece of meat into the mask: "Speaking of which, do you know how this guy was born, or why he's called a 'mythical creature'?"

As someone on the same side, I feel it's necessary to remind you that seeing it is not a good thing, and you absolutely cannot let your guard down when facing it. "Ria stared at Little Swarth for a moment, then roughly recounted what had happened in Winstown, though he still glossed over some things about himself.

The youth caused the extraordinary creatures to devour each other, and the one that remained eventually became a mythical creature.

Of course, there is a key factor in this—

red moon.

The image of the moon, which obscured a quarter of the sky, remains in Ria's memory to this day, adding to the grotesqueness of what she saw at the time.

"...Have you ever considered why there were so many extraordinary creatures that night?" Bruner asked earnestly.

"Is it the influence of the Red Moon?"

"Yes."

"For us, the red moon is a rather special phenomenon. Don't think of it as some precious natural spectacle. There are rumors that the red moon is the shadow of the far side of the moon."

Of course, that's just a rumor, and we all treat it as a joke. Nobody knows what's on the other side of the moon, but a more reliable rumor is...

Those are the eyes of some kind of being; under its gaze, life will be corrupted, and the number of extraordinary beings will increase dramatically.

"So, you're saying that Swarth's appearance was noticed by the Red Moon?"

"You call this bird-like creature Shwar? That really fits the naming style of black market merchants."

Bruna leaned back, picked up the knife, and drew a circle on the table. The pink blood on the tip of the knife was the perfect dye.

"How do you describe mythical creatures? We all know about the mutations caused by pollution. Humans, animals, plants, and even inanimate objects can mutate into extraordinary creatures. Then, if they are further exposed to pollution, they might be worshipped as gods by some ignorant people."

The reason we, the keepers of this secret, do not believe in any gods is that I have always believed that those gods are merely contaminants beyond the imagination of ordinary people, and that kind of contaminant we call—mythical beings.”

Suddenly, the entire room became eerily quiet, except for a certain mythical creature that continued to gnaw on the plate without realizing it.

Ria snatched the plate away: "You mean, this creature is a god?"

"It only has potential. Compared to those ordinary supernatural beings, it has the potential to continue to mutate. To put it simply, it's like cancer cells appearing in a group of cells, while those so-called gods are cancerous tissue. Do you understand this analogy?"

"Everyone has a different understanding of the definition of God. Those are just things that are beyond the imagination of ordinary people. There is no need to imagine them as so terrible."

"You sound like you're quite good at comforting people."

Ilint smiled and said, "Insignificant things like to talk about unimaginable things to make themselves seem knowledgeable, just like children talking about the universe."

"If that's how you think, Hord, there's nothing I can do about it."

Bruna maintained his opinion, while Ria watched helplessly as little Swarth gnawed on things; it had now started chewing on the table.

The young man patted the table, and the feathers on Little Swarth's head immediately stood up.

It swiftly extended a tentacle, attempting to shake hands with its host, but instead, taking advantage of his inattention, it slipped the tentacle into his fingernail, nearly piercing it—

Ria quickly moved her hand away.

The faith power he initially absorbed would make him feel nauseous, but this problem was solved after the mythical creature parasitized him.

Perhaps it consumed some of the faith that people offered, and Ria felt it wouldn't matter if she gave it some too.

(End of this chapter)