"I think you'd better wake up."
Li Ke thought for a moment and then came to a conclusion.
At this moment, Mito Ikumi finally realized what outrageous things she had just said.
Her face turned even redder, and steam even miraculously appeared on her head.
Yes, real steam.
Li Ke was astonished, but his face remained expressionless; he simply muttered a curse inwardly.
The world of anime is truly amazing.
After all, people here eat and cook like they're drugged; steam appearing on their heads is perfectly normal, nothing to be surprised about.
Can't people even be turned into anime?!
"You've realized it now? If you have, then leave, little girl. I already have Erina in this world."
Li Ke took a step back and returned to his room, while Mito Ikumi covered her face in despair. Although a large part of what had just happened was due to her hallucination and the horrible food arousing her desires, there was no doubt that she had indeed been aroused!
This was what made Mito Ikumi extremely ashamed.
"I'm so sorry!"
Despite her glamorous attire, Mito Ikumi still politely apologized in this situation, then covered her face and ran out.
Li Ke also started clearing the dishes after she left.
Sure enough, he didn't have to wait long. Just as he turned on the computer in the house to watch some movies, Erina arrived.
Erina, arms crossed, entered the room under the protection of her bodyguard, looking at Li Ke, who was reclining in the computer chair, with an arrogant air. But the blush on her face couldn't lie.
"So, you're not going to explain anything to me?"
Pointing to the bodyguards and the house around them, Li Ke asked.
"Hmph, I have nothing to say to you."
Erina instinctively turned her face away, but then gestured for the bodyguards to leave.
After the bodyguards left, as if afraid Li Ke would know she cared about him, she spoke again.
"After all this time, who knows if you've almost become a zombie?"
She spoke with a huff, looking unusually cute.
"Well..."
Li Ke didn't say anything, simply stood up, grabbed Erina's hand, causing her to gasp, then unceremoniously pulled her into his arms and kissed those long-missed lips.
Her soft lips still carried that dreamlike taste, and the girl's response was as passionate as ever, without the slightest hesitation. The wonderful taste and the sense of security intoxicated Li Ke, so this time, unusually, he did nothing but hold Erina tightly, not letting her leave.
"I thought you were dead, you know? Why didn't you come looking for me for so long?"
Erina wanted to ask those two questions, but ultimately she didn't. She had already cried enough. Now that Li Ke was back, she wouldn't say anything more. She would only accept it and prepare for their future.
Erina, having undergone a transformation in the world of 7 Days to Die, was no longer a little girl.
Life and death, gain and loss—these are what truly make one grow.
Erina had experienced all of this; to expect her to still be a naive and innocent girl would be truly disrespectful.
But Li Ke hadn't forgotten what he needed to do.
"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."
Erina finally couldn't hold back anymore, hugging Li Ke and letting her tears flow.
After a long while, Erina stopped crying. She looked at Li Ke and told him what she had decided to do.
"Can you still go home? Can you take me back?"
Li Ke was silent for a moment. Although he could travel between different worlds now, he didn't have coordinates for his own world; he couldn't go back.
"No."
"Then stay in this world. At least learn some cooking skills. You don't need to be amazing, just at a graduation level. I'll help you. As long as you graduate, Grandpa won't make things too difficult for us. If that doesn't work, we'll elope and live in the Celestial Empire."
Erina stated her plan directly. She didn't mention marriage at all, but Li Ke knew very well that she was arranging how to marry this young lady.
As for eloping, that would be completely irresponsible. While the family isn't without other heirs, why choose a worse life when one can live a good one?
Besides, it's not that he's unwilling to give up her luxurious lifestyle.
It's just that he wants her mother and grandfather to bless him.
As for her father…
Honestly, if her father dared to appear before him now, he'd give him a little shock with the stone axe in his inventory, and then asked to bail him without charge if the police couldn't find the murder weapon.
But learning to cook is beyond Li Ke's capabilities.
"Well… let's forget about it. Although I know this is my darling's way of getting me to marry her, I have another way. I can turn Erina into Li Erina, although that would be a bit strange."
Li Ke chuckled at herself. Li Erina sounded odd, but Erina spoke almost instinctively.
"What's strange about that!"
Li Ke immediately looked at Erina with a half-smile, while she quickly covered her mouth, her cheeks flushing red.
"You bastard!"
Erina punched Li Ke lightly, then quietly waited for his explanation.
"Well, since I can be here, you should understand that I can travel between worlds, right? So, it's only natural that I gain some magical powers in other worlds, isn't it?"
As he spoke, a ball of flame appeared in Li Ke's hand. Erina was startled and shrank back from his arms, but quickly regained her composure, examining the flame leaping in Li Ke's hand.
She tried to detect every scent in the air, but finding nothing, she was certain that the flame in Li Ke's hand had indeed appeared out of thin air.
"There's definitely no smell of fuel. Is this your new ability? Nothing's more surprising than your inventory. It's certainly illogical."
Erina pouted, waiting for Li Ke's next explanation.
"Well, just being able to generate flames isn't very impressive, but that world has elixirs for longevity, a whole host of amazing things, and this too."
Li Ke pulled out the seasonings he'd bought, and the moment they were removed from their packaging, Erina's expression turned serious.
She quickly took the seasonings from Li Ke's hand, sniffed them briefly, and her expression became even more serious.
Because these were smells she'd never encountered before!
"This... come with me."
Pulling Li Ke out of bed, Erina, under the two bodyguards' 'I know nothing' expressions, quickly went to the kitchen, and expertly took out various ingredients from the refrigerator, beginning her experiments.
Li Ke explained to her what he knew about the flavors and applications of these seasonings, while Erina experimented with various combinations.
The kitchen quickly filled with a variety of aromas, and Li Ke suddenly realized something.
He was also being tricked!
The smells of food made Li Ke's heart race uncontrollably. The aroma of meat and seasonings immediately reminded him of the days he spent with Erina. He even saw himself coming home from work, holding Erina as she cooked, her belly noticeably swollen.
However, this heartwarming scene struck Li Ke like a thunderbolt!
"No, this isn't just a memory!"
He quickly snapped back to reality, realizing he had just entered a hallucination!
"She's getting more and more amazing."
Li Ke looked speechlessly at Erina, who was still engrossed in preparing food. Before, while he was sometimes influenced by Erina's cooking, he would at least eat a few bites. But now, he didn't need to; just the smell was enough to affect him, even causing him to hallucinate.
What he didn't know was that after seeing Li Ke engulfed in flames, Erina underwent a transformation. Her culinary skills reached a new level, directly grasping the most crucial element of this world, or rather, all worlds where cooking is paramount:
Infusing emotion into the food!
Therefore, Li Ke was now being pulled into hallucinations by the smell of her cooking.
"So, who's more unscientific here?"
Realizing this, Li Ke immediately began to resist the sensation. Therefore, although the aroma of the food continued to tempt him, it didn't pull him back into the hallucinations.
But honestly, it was quite an ordeal.
Moreover—
Looking at the two female bodyguards lying on the ground, their faces strangely flushed and writhing, Li Ke truly didn't know what to say.
Could bodyguards like these really protect people?
And the destructive power of this ability was practically that of a biological weapon, wasn't it?
Soon, a sumptuous meal appeared before Li Ke, but he didn't dare eat a single bite. Erina, however, didn't share this concern. Under Li Ke's expectant gaze, she carefully tasted the dishes she had prepared, and then…
Nothing happened.
Li Ke, who had been expecting Erina to collapse so he could take her and do *that*, was stunned.
Wasn't this what he had persevered for?!
"Hmm, the effect is much better than I expected."
Erina calmly arranged the dishes. The seasonings Li Ke brought were quite effective. If they could be mass-produced, she could indeed marry Li Ke instead of making him a son-in-law.
However, when she saw Li Ke's disappointed expression, she was a little confused.
"What's wrong with you..."
She stopped mid-sentence, her face turning red again, and then a look of displeasure appeared on her flushed face.
"You perverted old man."
Even so, she still took a bite of food, then began panting in front of Li Ke, which excited him.
She knew exactly what she was doing.