Nobody knows how to be a villain better than me.

Why is it that her city of protection is the most prosperous Uruk, while I am just Kusa?

(Wait, is this another important reason why you hollowed out Uruk?)

These are the reasons why Ai Lei has been so indignant.

Therefore, even though she harbored goodwill towards humanity, she was never willing to admit it.

The ancient snake chuckled dismissively at this stubborn refusal.

After a moment, Lin Xian swam out, gently touched the back of the mistress's hand to soothe her emotions, and then raised the mud tablet, the handwriting showing deep confusion and bewilderment.

"Hey, Lady Ereshkigal, since you like both living humans and their souls after death, why do you join 'them' and bring terror to Mesopotamia?"

"I don't understand..."

"Mingming, I've always believed that Lady Ereshkigal is the kindest and most adorable goddess! You would never take a life without a reason!"

Ai Lei's gaze fell upon the hint of disappointment on the ancient snake's face. She bit her lower lip tightly, her brow furrowing and relaxing.

After a difficult struggle, the owner hesitated and slowly spoke.

"This is Mesopotamia's destiny, and also humanity's destiny..."

"No one can change the outcome..."

She considered rebelling and standing on the side of humanity, but ultimately gave up due to some kind of fear.

Although the ancient snake understood the hidden meaning in its owner's ambiguous words, it feigned a blank expression in order to elicit more secret information.

Even the most skilled villain, the glint in his eyes as he looked at his owner, grew increasingly dim.

Unable to bear the disappointment, Ai Lei gritted her teeth and immediately bent her fingers to grasp the temple from afar, and the light-shaped spear gradually condensed into shape.

As the spearhead struck the ground, red and black ripples surged outwards, and spearheads rose from the ground one after another, with dense wedge-shaped divine patterns dancing and flashing.

The mistress's power to alter the terrain and control the underworld transformed the surrounding area into a top-secret, enclosed barrier.

"Remember what I told you?"

"what?"

Lin Xian looked confused, unable to recall for a moment which point Ai Lei was referring to.

"Human beings need to go through four great ages—Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Iron—before they can fully emerge from their cradle."

"And now, Uruk is at the end of the Silver Age..."

The goddess of the underworld gently bit her lower lip, deliberately emphasizing the last two syllables of her voice.

The Silver Age... near its end?

The ancient snake frowned, pondering the implications, when suddenly a flash of lightning struck its mind, and it realized something.

What signifies the end of an era?

A catastrophe large enough to engulf the entire world is taking shape and is about to strike!

Civilization will be overthrown! Heritage will be severed!

It's like burning weeds in a field to make room and provide nutrients for the next season's rice.

The most effective and brutal way to achieve this goal is undoubtedly to exterminate the Mesopotamian city-states such as Uruk, which are the carriers of Sumerian culture!

This is destiny!

So even without Tiamat's return and the Three Goddesses Alliance, there is still a new Third Storm!

Catastrophe, inevitable!

The ancient snake seemed to have inadvertently torn open a corner of the dark curtain, and unconsciously shivered. It turned its head and cautiously approached its owner's ear, somewhat incredulous.

"But you are the god of the underworld, and you are almost invincible here!"

The goddess remained silent for a moment, recalling her fruitless longing for the ground. She raised her fingertips and gently stroked the ancient snake's small head, whispering softly.

"Gods are not as free as you think; they are also subject to many restrictions..."

"Those who possess divinely granted authority naturally have a destiny ordained by Heaven..."

Some things were destined from the beginning…

The ancient serpent sensed a deep sense of powerlessness and flicked its tongue, revealing messy characters that seemed to have sunk deep into the mud.

"Lady Ereshkigal, is it really true that even you cannot defy this destiny?"

"cannot!"

The owner responded with his eyes closed, and then the soft hand that was caressing the ancient snake's head paused slightly, and a faint, almost silent murmur reached Lin Xian's ears.

"But I'm already doing it..."

The Sumerian culture was wiped out, the surface of the Mesopotamian world was basically washed away, human souls were decomposed and bodies were used – this was the original destiny!

The ever-popular unlimited bounty—come and torment me to your heart's content! (laughs)

Before it goes on sale, I'll update three times a day and offer a bounty. (My integrity is alright; I owed over 50 updates from my last book over the Lunar New Year, but I've made up for them all.)

200 monthly votes + 1 chapter (Please give me more votes, I want to climb the rankings, thank you guys.)

100 blades + 1 more

10000 Rewards +1 Update

I'll add another chapter if I get 3000 recommendations (this is a higher limit). I'll squeeze it out if I can. I'm committed to my integrity, and I can test my limits.

So, what kind of pose am I going to strike? Come on, show off your talents, and don't you dare deny it! (Funny)

1. Pigeon soup

2. Snake Soup

3. Diligent typing machine

4. The production team's donkey

5. Gokou Loli

Chapter Twenty-Six: Reform Yourself and Start anew (First Update)

At dawn, a faint red light emanated from the main body of the Temple of Meslamthea, the Temple of Heat, and projected across the entire underworld, slightly dispelling the chill of the earth.

A cold wind swept across the cliff, and beneath the red cloak, an ancient snake, curled up in a ball, shivered, crawled out, poked its head out, and habitually surveyed its surroundings.

He actually spent the night with Ai Lei on the cliff?

Moreover, the owner, who had been constantly delaying his wake-up time, unusually went to Uruk to dig a burrow before dawn.

As is customary, this round trip will probably take a whole day.

It seems that last night's pressure on her was too much, causing Ai Lei to have even more worries on her mind.

The ancient serpent stood on the precipice, silently looking down at the clusters of crystal flowers scattered on the ground, sighed slightly, and felt a pang of guilt.

In that world, everyone had to wear various masks, sometimes to deceive others, and sometimes to deceive themselves.

In the magical age of gods, where dangers abound and survival is so difficult, he would need all sorts of masks and lies to conceal his grand ambitions.

However, the ancient serpent always had a principle in its heart.

Fraud is a means, not an end.

If he doesn't even understand this, he will either die from his arrogance and conceit in fooling living beings, or his humanity will be eroded, and he will become a demon who will stop at nothing to achieve his goals.

Therefore, when Lin Xian commits deception, he often tries to compensate in another way.

That is, after doing something bad, one might want to do something good, thus canceling each other out in order to feel at ease.

Call him hypocritical or boring if you will.

But in this way, he will not forget that he was once a human being.

Snapped!

The snake's tail lashed out, striking Lin Xian's head with a crisp sound, waking him from his reverie and inexplicable emotions.

Alright, time is of the essence, we can't linger here any longer.

The ancient snake slid down from the cliff and meandered through the crystal flower bushes that had consumed most of his efforts over the past six months.

Just as he was about to climb out of the deep valley, Lin Xuan hesitated and turned back, then picked up the clay tablet in the center that was marked "200-day anniversary of Lady Ereshkigal and Samael".

Then, the snake's scales slightly opened, and a dense burst of etheric energy shot out, forming a wispy ring around its body, pushing Lin Xian's speed to the limit and creating a black lightning bolt that sped away.

Originally, he wanted to stay with his owner for a few more days to say a subtle goodbye.

But he couldn't resist wanting to change the mind and stance of this goddess of the underworld, yet his words touched upon too many secrets.

Since his final efforts have also come to nothing, they can only make their own choices and see whose answer is more worth upholding.

Within minutes, the shadowy figure, familiar with the place, stealthily slipped into the temple, curled its tail, and hooked out a metal woven object resembling a birdcage from an unguarded compartment.

Seeing that he had obtained this important tool, the ancient snake slowly breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, within the Underworld's territory, its owner had no use for this item, so it could only be left to gather dust in the shelf.

In addition, given the snake's attributes as a tool, while weaving gun cages, it's inevitable that some ghosts will be captured, so I also have some understanding of how to operate this thing.

Otherwise, he really wouldn't be confident in bringing another comrade who had boarded the pirate ship from the underworld.

After calming himself down briefly, the ancient serpent carefully placed the commemorative clay tablet in the most prominent position on the temple table.

After a brief pause, Lin Xian absorbed the gray-black death energy around him, transformed into a black shadow, and quietly slipped away.

Snakes are naturally adept at lurking and camouflaging, and Lin Xian, having lived in the underworld for a long time and being familiar with the terrain, easily made his way to his treasure trove.

The dark figure, winding its way along the cracks in the rocks, confirmed that the wedge-shaped runes at the entrance of the secluded valley, which served as both concealment and warning, had not been destroyed. Only then did it cautiously crawl inside, making its way to the deepest part of the valley. With a sigh of relief, it lay sprawled on the ground, surrounded by gold and silver ornaments and scattered mud slabs.

It looked like a giant dragon possessing a treasure.

Phew! Let's begin!

Time was of the essence. After a brief rest, the ancient serpent closed its eyes and began to resonate with the anchor line that connected it to Tima.

The pure black beastly power that was wrapped around the anchor line was painstakingly extracted, then torn apart and crushed bit by bit, and integrated into its own soul.

This act of forcibly inserting a foreign object into one's consciousness brought about extraordinary pain and a feeling of distension.

As the last fragment was completely absorbed by the humanoid soul, a solemn, majestic, and ancient rhythm spread throughout the snake's body in the blink of an eye, following the command of consciousness.

Instantly, a red and black blood mist surged and billowed, and different parts of the ancient snake's body underwent vastly different changes, either swelling and bulging or contracting and sinking inward.

Furthermore, the deformed and extended bones popped and crackled like popping beans, running through the flesh and blood, transforming into a framework that supported another body.

"Chichi!"

As the body twisted and rubbed strangely, scales were lifted, splattering with scarlet flesh and blood, accompanied by muffled groans that echoed through the cave.

Stab it!

After an unknown amount of time, accompanied by the eerie sound of tearing cloth, a fair arm emerged from the red and black blood mist.

Immediately, red and black mist surged, and a handsome man, completely naked, with loose black hair, Western-style three-dimensional features, and lines that combined a touch of femininity and mystery, staggered out, leaning against the stone wall.

The man's skin was as delicate as a newborn's, with slightly red marks and traces of mucus and blood.

In the darkness, the eyes that opened and closed revealed peculiar, serpentine vertical pupils, as red as jewels, both mesmerizing and alarming.

The aura of a mysterious person is like a poison wrapped in honey, a mixture of deliciousness and danger.

I finally had the chance to be a human being again.

The man muttered to himself, observing the world around him from a new height and perspective, while reaching out to touch his own cheeks and body.

The joy of finding something lost naturally arises.

Fortunately, this face sculpting was done according to the model in my mind, and the result was very smooth.

In his excitement, the man staggered to his feet, and his left leg, still shrouded in the red and black mist, felt a pulling sensation against his skin.

Turning around, the thing that was slightly connected to the skin was a black snake skin.

It's time to say goodbye to the past.

The man grabbed at the snake's shed skin, bent down and tore it off from his body, the last link between them. He leaned against the stone wall and staggered as he tried to walk, hoping to quickly reawaken the instinct to control his human body.