A violent and scorching voice rang out in his consciousness: “I found you, thief.”
Then, in Lynch's eyes, a burning planet rose into the sky like a ball of fire.
It was not actual vision, but an illusion rising in his consciousness.
Lynch remembered seeing this sight. When he had first looked directly at the ring, The Passion of the Blazing Lady, he had seen this very scene.
A man covered in fire knelt beneath this planet, enduring the passion from the flames.
Seeing this massive fireball again now, it was residing deep within Judy's soul, staring at Lynch through Judy's hazy eyes, turning into an endless pressure that weighed heavily on Lynch's heart.
The evil god, the Lady of Fire, was peering at Lynch.
A trace of the supreme will filled his depleted soul once more, but at the same time, panic, palpitations, despair, and anger—familiar negative emotions—also welled up in his chest. It was the soul's natural reaction when facing mysterious filth. His resilient will, soaked in moonlight for thousands of years, instantly turned into the sturdiest shield, stubbornly resisting the natural erosion of the filth.
Damn it, is this the Lady of Fire?
Is she coming to cause trouble for me because of the ring?
As his will struggled to fend off the spontaneous erosion of the evil god's will, the flames on the burning planet suddenly flared up.
Lynch only felt his vision blur, and then his entire consciousness plunged into a sea of fire. He felt as though he had become a part of the flames, merging into this planet of fire.
And a fiery figure just like him was churning in the flames opposite him.
“I am Cthu... Judy's normal consciousness, an apostle of the Lady of Fire. My soul cannot bear the forbidden knowledge I accidentally obtained, so I can only use this method of severing to temporarily keep myself alive. You are one of us, so your mind won't be damaged by this. That is why I borrowed the Lady's power to temporarily pull you in. This time rift cannot be maintained for long, so I will keep it simple.”
How am I one of you? But realizing that the evil god and her apostle seemed to harbor no ill intent, Lynch put his mind at ease and sent his thoughts back through his mind: “Fine. The simpler, the better.”
“Help me.”
???
Girl, this is a bit too simple.
“A reason?”
“Rent, or a usage fee for the power, or whatever you want to call it. That mystery relic belongs to a cultist, and you are borrowing the Lady's power.”
Damn it, she's actually got me cornered. I guess using other people's things really does make you beholden to them.
Thinking about it, although this ring was only a low-level fear grade mystery relic, it had saved his life more than once. Though he could argue that the relic had no owner, he had indeed used their power to save himself multiple times. A debt of gratitude was a debt of gratitude; Lynch was not the type of person to go back on his word.
“First, tell me what you need me to do.”
“The Lady and the Lurking Chaos are mortal enemies. We must disrupt whatever event his avatar, the Swelling Daughter, wants to participate in at all costs. Just now, when I saw a follower of the Swelling Daughter suddenly appear in the mortal world, I wanted to secretly expel you, but I only realized it was you when I got close.”
She knows me? How did she distinguish me? Hiding these thoughts, Lynch sent out the question in his mind: “So?”
“Help me ruin the Swelling Daughter's plans. Stop their cooperation with her. We must never let any of that lunatic's ideas come to fruition.”
But the problem was that he had also received quite a few benefits from them. Lynch explained with a bit of distress: “The ritual must proceed, otherwise we can't put the mastermind to death, and we can't guard against them forever. But I can guarantee that the ritual will ultimately fail. I have tampered with it.”
“Really? I don't believe you.”
“It doesn't matter. I will go in with you. If we find that something is wrong, we can team up to destroy the ritual at any time.” After a brief thought, Lynch came up with an idea. “But you have to help me find the mole—the one who would leak inside information to the church, and the one who shares a stance with Howard. It's not you, is it?”
“It's not me. But they rarely disguise themselves in front of me, so I know that all five of them are hiding something. Among them, Jack Adams should be related to the authorities, and he can still contact the outside. He just brought in a few things from outside a few days ago. Salin's actions are also very strange, but I'm not sure if he has a connection with Howard. If you need, I can also help you look into it further, as a thank-you for agreeing to help.”
“Deal. Finally, can you tell me how you recognized me?”
“You don't know? Well, I can't tell you; the Lady won't allow it. I've reached my limit. If there is anything in the future, just speak directly to my body. We share information.”
Before she could finish her sentence, the fiery figure suddenly rushed at Lynch. Lynch's mind jolted, and he immediately found himself back to normal, having escaped his previous state. Only an instant had passed, and everything that had happened in the flames felt like nothing but a dream.
What was going on?
Only now did Lynch have the chance to think carefully about everything that had just happened.
The bad news is, my identity was seen through?
The good news is, the one who saw through me might be an evil god?
How the hell is that good news?
And she actually didn't tell me how she saw through my disguise, and why did she act like she knew me and treated me as one of her own?
It's very strange. Neighbor, do you know the reason? Can you say?
【You have been remembered by her, Lynch.】
‘??? What do you mean?’
【Think about what happened the first time you used the ring.】
The memory of that time flashed through his mind in an instant. Lynch clearly remembered transforming into a wall of fire, scaring away countless monsters, and then taking off the ring in time.
Wait, in time?
Right. At the time, the Neighbor said to end the usage within ten seconds, otherwise there would be unpredictable consequences. Could it be... I actually went over the time limit?
【Reality is not as fortunate as those plays of yours, Lynch. There are not so many last-second coincidences. You indeed exceeded the limit. And being noticed by her is actually one of the milder possibilities among the unpredictable consequences. It just hasn't manifested until now.】
‘So she has actually been eyeing me since a month ago?’
【Mainly, she has her eyes on the ring. Whenever you put it on, she can sense you. She harbors no malice for now, but your soul has been tainted with her aura, making her apostles naturally close to you.】
Fuck, so she recognized me the moment we met? And here I thought this girl would be easier to fool. But it's also lucky she recognized me, otherwise she probably would have planned to kill me.
The communication in his mind lasted only for a brief moment before his vision refocused. The four discussing, along with the spying bartender, had already noticed the anomaly here and were gathering around. Meanwhile, Judy rubbed her eyes, looking sleepy and dazed, then skillfully got up and stood to the side, swaying slightly.
“This burden is sleepy earlier than usual today.” The bearded Jack curled his lip, standing up impatiently. “I'll take her back. You guys carry on.”
Karl Jones also stretched. “Forget it, let's call it a day. We don't set off until the night after tomorrow anyway, so we still have a day and a half. We can continue the discussion tomorrow.”
Watching this group of people yawn as they began to pack up, Lynch suddenly had an idea.
It was now basically certain that these six people each had their own purposes and could all be considered moles. As for who exactly leaked the news about Lynch, it was not really important at this point. What was important instead was the mole sent by Howard, which would heavily impact Lynch's plan. However, if he could convince Howard to let him go in as well, perhaps he could pry the identity of this mole out of him.
As for how to convince him... Lynch stared thoughtfully at the dazed Judy, nodded slightly, and then maintained his self-centered demeanor, ignoring the others as he went straight to the study where Mayor Howard was.
Mayor Howard had not retired for the night yet and was still in a secret discussion with Walker. He appeared quite surprised by Ms. Selene's sudden visit. Especially since the face behind her folding fan looked rather gloomy, and even the mysterious smile that always hung on the corner of her lips had vanished.
“Mayor Howard,” Lynch said in a cold tone. “I thought your cooperation with us was very sincere.”
The two were a bit stunned. They exchanged a look and said in confusion, “We are indeed full of sincerity.”
“Is that so?” Lynch sneered. “You are colluding with Eldest Sister's mortal enemy. I suspect you have other motives. This baseless betrayal has already made Eldest Sister start considering whether to cancel this cooperation.”
With the word “cancel,” both of their faces changed.
Rate on N.U.
