The tyrant's art of lying, deflecting conflict with the ultimate balancing act
Within the Negative Zone, it was so deathly silent that one could hear the faint cracking sound of the skeletal Throne.
The secret Silk connecting the two universes was quietly severed, but its aftershocks, like a boulder thrown into a deep pool, stirred up towering waves in this absolute domain created by Lynn.
The warm, radiant, and sacred Dark Gold aura in the air instantly turned sharp, scorching, and aggressive.
Jean Grey, kneeling beside Lynn, was completely tense, every muscle brimming with power enough to tear stars apart. She slowly raised her head, and the meekness and satisfaction on her exquisite face vanished, replaced by the extreme repression before a volcanic eruption.
Her eyes were no longer lakes flowing with love, but molten lava burning with jealousy and suspicion.
"Owner,"
The zither's voice was still sweet, even more tender than before, but every word seemed to be squeezed out from beneath a layer of ice, carrying a chilling coldness. "Who... was that just now?"
She didn't become hysterical, nor did she raise her voice in question.
The surging killing intent beneath this extreme calm is far more deadly than any raging fury. She is a being of the Skyfather-level, the host of the Phoenix Force; her jealousy is enough to incinerate the entire world.
Lynn's fingers, stroking her red hair, did not pause for a moment, nor did they change the pressure.
He lowered his eyes, meeting Qin's burning gaze with an almost pitying, weary look. His face showed no panic, no guilt, only annoyance at being plagued by endless troubles, and a touch of heartache for Qin's current state.
Yes, it breaks my heart.
This is the expression Lynn chose for herself in a fraction of a second.
Dealing with a possessive Yandere to the extreme is futile; any explanation or cover-up will only make her think you're lying. The only way is to place yourself in the exact same victim position as her, creating a common enemy who is even more hateful than her.
"A... greedy thief."
Lynn spoke, his voice hoarse, as if he had just gone through an invisible, mentally exhausting battle.
Instead of answering "who is it," he directly defined the other person.
Qin's brows furrowed slightly, a hint of confusion flashing in her molten lava eyes. A thief? What thief could cause such a subtle fluctuation in her master's emotions?
"What you sensed wasn't just me." Lynn's tone turned serious. He slowly withdrew his hand, interlacing his fingers and placing them in front of him, adopting the posture of a chess player overlooking the board. "Jin, you sensed it too, didn't you? Just now, a force not belonging to our world, filled with a sense of spying, tried to touch your 'core'."
He deliberately emphasized the word "core".
Jean Grey's body jolted violently.
Of course she felt it! At the same moment that unfamiliar, provocative female voice rang out, the Phoenix Force within her also generated an extremely faint but absolutely undeniable restlessness. The feeling was like an invisible mosquito coveting the flesh and blood of a sleeping dragon; tiny, yet nauseating.
At that moment, however, all her attention was drawn to the woman's voice, and she was enraged by the intense possessiveness directed at its owner, subconsciously ignoring the covetousness directed at her.
Now that Lynn has pointed it out, that previously ignored feeling of disgust has been magnified a hundredfold!
"It... is spying on the Phoenix?" Qin's voice carried a hint of disbelief and anger.
"The word 'spy' is too mild," Lynn sneered, his smile filled with disdain and murderous intent towards the "thief." "In your Mutants terms, she wanted to 'copy and replace.' To put it more bluntly—she wanted to eat you."
Boom!
It was as if an invisible bomb had exploded in Jean Grey's mind.
Dark Gold Phoenix flames erupted uncontrollably from her body, scorching and distorting the surrounding space. The temperature inside the Throne Hall soared, and even the stark white bones that made up the Throne began to turn charred black.
Eat her?
Replace her?
In this world, how could anyone dare to harbor such blasphemous and greedy thoughts toward the Phoenix Force? The Phoenix is one of the most supreme powers in the universe, a shared possession of her and her master!
"Who is she?!" Qin suddenly stood up. This time, her voice was no longer sweet, but filled with Deity majesty and rage.
"A 'predator' from another universe." Lynn's art of lying reached its pinnacle at this moment. He perfectly combined the scattered cosmic knowledge he obtained from the system with the settings in the general outline, weaving a seamless giant web.
"Qin, you must understand that our world is just one of countless Multiverse. In some barren and desolate universes, special life forms are born. Like Leech, they live by stealing the 'origin' of other universes. They are Dimension thieves, cancer cells of the universe."
Lynn stood up, slowly walked to Qin, and gently placed her hands on Qin's shoulders, which were trembling with anger.
His gaze was incredibly earnest and serious, as if he were entrusting his most trusted general with a Top Secret mission concerning the survival of the world.
"The Phoenix Force is one of the most brilliant and powerful 'sources' in our universe. It's like the brightest lighthouse in the night, constantly attracting hungry predators."
"The owner of that voice just now was one of them. A... very well-disguised hunter."
Lynn stared into Qin's eyes, his tone becoming deeper and slower, filled with a seductive power.
"She's clever; she knows that directly targeting you is too risky. So, she chose a more roundabout and insidious method—first stealing my 'coordinates,' and then influencing you to shake your resolve."
"Those provocative words she just spoke, that tone of asserting dominance, weren't meant for me at all."
Lynn's fingertips gently touched Qin's brow, where the Phoenix mark was faintly visible.
"I'm saying this for you."
"She wants you to be jealous, to be angry, to lose your composure because of me, so that she can find an opportunity to steal a spark of the Phoenix from the cracks in your soul."
These words were like a thunderclap, completely shattering all the fog in Jean Grey's mind.
So that's how it is!
It turns out that all that provocation, that nauseating tone that seemed to declare himself the "only" master, was just to provoke him and shake his facade!
The opponent's goal from the beginning was not to compete with me for the master's favor, but to completely devour me, along with the master and the Phoenix Force!
This is a million times worse than jealousy or rivalry; it's a life-or-death struggle for survival!
Having figured this out, the jealousy and suspicion in Jean Grey's eyes receded like the tide, replaced by an unprecedented, chilling killing intent.
She stopped worrying about why her master had come into contact with that "thief," because Lynn's words made her master seem like a victim as well, a "stepping stone" used in the other party's conspiracy.
Her gaze towards Lynn was once again filled with love and guilt. She felt ashamed for having doubted her master, and even more afraid of having almost fallen into the enemy's trap.
"Master... I..." Qin's voice was a little hoarse.
"No need to say anything." Lynn gently shook his head, wiping away a trace of Phoenix light that had overflowed from the corner of her eye with his fingertip, the movement as gentle as if he were polishing a rare treasure. "I have never doubted you, Qin. You are the master of the Phoenix, my blade and my Bastion. I just need you to know that our enemy is far more insidious and cunning than you imagine."
He succeeded.
A deadly crisis that could have ignited Shura Field was easily transformed by him into a test of loyalty and pre-battle mobilization against a "common enemy" using a perfect lie.
He not only did not lose Qin's trust, but made her even more devoted to him, and successfully shifted a potential internal conflict that could have rebelled at any time to the outside.
Where is she?
Jean Grey took a deep breath, and the raging Phoenix flames around her slowly subsided, condensing into a layer of close-fitting, Dark Gold armor. Her voice returned to calm, but beneath that calm lay a fury powerful enough to incinerate the Multiverse.
"I can't find her." Lynn shook his head "calmly," a perfectly timed look of frustration on his face. "She's cunning, like a mouse hiding in the cracks of Dimension; if she misses a strike, she immediately disappears. The only thing I'm certain of is that she comes from another universe, a place... codenamed ' Earth-65 '."
Lynn tossed out Gwen Stacy's cosmic coordinates as a "trophy".
"Earth-65..." Jean Grey memorized this code name, each syllable etching a deadly mark deep into her soul.
She closed her eyes, and her immense Psychic Power instantly spread out, frantically searching for this unfamiliar coordinate in the Dimension sea of dimensions.
Although they gained nothing, their relentless killing intent had already crossed the Bastion of the world and locked onto a vague direction.
Lynn looked at her, her expression determined to grind the enemy to dust, and a cold smile crept onto his lips, unnoticed by anyone.
very good.
The chess pieces have already entered their predetermined orbits, according to his script.
Now, all that's needed is to wait for the right moment for these two equally obsessive and powerful "female protagonists" to collide spectacularly on the chessboard.
All he had to do was sit on his Throne, enjoy the show, and collect the final spoils.
However, the Dark Gold killing intent that ignited in Jean Grey's eyes, almost materializing, made Lynn think.
Can Gwen Stacy Stacy, still basking in the glory of her recent "warning shot" in another universe, withstand... the real retaliation from the Dark Phoenix?