“Actually, this makes a lot more sense now that I think about it more rationally.” 

I let out a sigh of relief as Chameleon sat down across from me again, asking: “What do you mean?”

“Well, think of it this way. Let’s call your original Earth ‘World-1’ for simplicity’s sake. It was the first, chronologically, that you experienced and you’re the oldest Eve left on the island right now… That we know about at least.” I took a deep breath and then continued, “You’ve experienced ‘at least’ six Worlds, including this one. I won’t call them all Earths, because this place might not even be a version of Earth. Now there might be an infinite number of parallel universes and other Worlds out there, but no matter what Infinity’s name might imply, I refuse to believe that they’re actually spread out across that many planets. The reason for that is the fact that they basically pulled out all their important resources except us as soon as they realized the storm was coming.”

“That is true. But it also means that there must be at least more than one Earth out there, so you think that this island actually cycles through a limited number of Worlds?” She frowned at first, before smiling gently and telling me: “I think that’s probably true too. So, eventually, you should be able to meet your family again.”

“Well, it also means that time doesn’t pass at the same rate in all the Worlds. For all I know, it’s possible that some of these Worlds could be the same planet, but just in the far-off future or distant past. There are just too many unknowns. But for the time being, I’ll just assume that I’m from World-5. And this is World-6. There could also be a connection between the rifts on the island and the various different Worlds, but I’d rather not take any risks like that in the near future. For the time being, I just wanna have a baby with you. Or I guess, two babies. We’re gonna be mothers, and I’m also gonna be a father with Gemini… I have way too much on my plate already to worry about existential and extra-dimensional nonsense.”

“I agree.” Chameleon chuckled and asked, “So do you still want to help me build a fence around the yard? It’s going to be a lot of work. And you’ll definitely need to take a shower afterwards.”

“I mean, sure, but why do you say it like we’re gonna be able to finish the whole thing tonight?” I snickered and then stretched my body a bit as I stood up.

“I’m asking because I don’t think you understand how much work this is going to be.” She chuckled and then led me down to the basement, “Alternatively… We could avoid the trouble of setting up a fence and start planting in our houses.”

“Ah, like in my sunroom? I mean, sure, but I thought you were like afraid of my house or something.” I snickered and casually jumped onto Chameleon’s back as she reached the bottom of the stairs.

“What are you doing?” She looked back at me as I kissed her on the left cheek, “Watch your head.”

The giantess had no trouble at all carrying me around on her back, and even seemed to be enjoying it as she ducked down a bit so that I wouldn’t smack my face into the doorframe. As she was walking down the hallway, I asked: “How many more pots should I add to my sunroom? And what kinda stuff should I plant? If I move my piles of ammunition and the guns somewhere else, I’ll have much more room near the windows on the first floor… And the second floor has a lot of windows too, so I could probably add a few more there. But like I said, I don’t know what kinda stuff I should be growing. And I only have the basics, like tomatoes, potatoes, squash, onions and some herbs like garlic, basil and oregano. I bought more seeds, but honestly, I’m not much of a gardener. I barely have any idea what I’m doing.”

“It’s okay, I’ll teach you. For pots, it’s better to go with tomatoes and other bushes or vines, because you have more control. While it’s much easier to plant carrots, lettuce, cabbage, garlic and other similar plants in soil… Like my second floor. In order to make the best use of the space, I think we should do it that way. You can always put your guns and ammo in your basement, right?” Chameleon said that as she reached the end of the hallway, then flicked on a light to the storage room. It was essentially an underground tool shed, filled with various gardening and maintenance supplies. It was also where she kept her fishing gear and the collapsible kiddie pool, the buckets and also mops or other stuff for cleaning.

I got down off her back as she said, “We’re going to need to go pick up supplies from Gemini and EMP soon. Their properties are the largest, so they usually act as the stockpiles. If you want to practice marksmanship you should go over to Demoness’ house instead, since she has an underground shooting range in her basement… By the way, her basement is massive. It’s the reason she picked that place. Angel’s second floor is practically a jungle. Although I told her many times that she should only focus on growing ‘food’, she refused and now she has a ton of flowers, decorative trees and other useless but beautiful plants. She also hoards ‘cats’. By cats I mean, well, any kind of feline really… On this island, that covers a wide variety of creatures.”

“You’re talking about people, right? Holy shit, how many cat-girls has she hoarded so far?!” In my imagination, there was a cute little golden-skinned Angel surrounded by dozens of tiger-people and brats with tiger-ears or tails.

“Umm, not as many as you’re probably imagining.” Chameleon snickered and explained, “There aren’t actually that many cat-related Chimera Rejects left. Most of them are descendants of my sisters, with very low intelligence or physical disabilities. Taking care of them is an unnecessary burden, but Angel is a lot like EMP… They’re far too soft-hearted to survive in this cruel reality without Gemini and I taking care of them. Demoness also keeps some Rejects around that she calls ‘Minions’, but I’m sure you can imagine what she does with them.”

“Yeah, I can imagine. But I’m hoping my imagination is more fucked up than reality to be honest.” I let out a sigh and shrugged my shoulders, “So what you’re saying is that although we’re technically… Umm, hold on… One, two, three, do I count as two people or one? Okay, well, let’s say I’m two people. Then there’s…”

“Ten Ana. The number is ten.” She was looking at me like I was an idiot again.

“So what you’re saying is that although we’re technically only ten people, but we actually have a much larger population if you include the various Rejects that Angel and Demoness are raising. Oh wait, EMP also has Scylla now. But the problem is that the Rejects are more like pets that drain resources but don’t produce anything except enjoyment?”

Chameleon chuckled and nodded her bald head, “Once we start having children, things are going to get even more difficult for a while… But I suppose in the long run it will actually get much easier as the kids grow up and start helping out with chores.”

“Well, that’s basically how societies were originally formed, right?” I snickered and added, “There’s also the little, or maybe major factor where some of those children are actually part of my Hivemind. Hence they can skip all the early-stage development and jump ahead to immediately being able to talk or whatever. At least that’s my hope. The worst case scenario is actually even more severe than just having to raise some kids.”

She sighed and muttered, “You mean that they might be in comas for several years before you’re able to ‘wake up’?”

“Yeah… Hopefully that doesn’t happen though.” I smirked, “Since we started doing our silly Yin-Yang Cultivation bullshit, I’ve actually gotten much better at using my power. I think that if we keep going at this rate, I might be able to take control of them for long periods of time even if they’re just vegetables until maturity. For the time being though, let’s go plant some… Umm, plants!”