Chapter 46: Do You Think You Know Everything About This World?

The three of them followed his finger, their eyes sweeping over those ancient murals.

On the walls were scenes of him and them being torn apart. In an instant, their expressions shifted.

Alicia’s body swayed slightly, Vivian gripped her sword hilt tighter, and a flash of violence crossed Lilith’s eyes.

“This is the ‘fate’ of this ruin,” Lynn continued, his voice not loud, but clear enough for everyone to hear.

“Or rather, it is a ‘preview’ given to all intruders by the ‘existence’ sealed here.”

“That ‘Original Chaos’ told me that we have all been struck by its ‘curse’.”

Lynn lowered his voice, conveying a sense of helplessness.

“This curse causes everyone connected to it, and to us ‘Tamperers’, to become… abnormal.”

He paused and emphasized, “It is not the kind of abnormal you are thinking of. It is that it will cause your ’emotions’ toward me to become increasingly extreme until…”

He pointed to the depiction of himself on the mural, his body torn to pieces.

Vivian’s pupils contracted, and a trace of struggle appeared in the way she looked at Lynn.

Alicia’s lips moved as if she wanted to say something, but no sound came out.

Lilith’s nails dug deep into her palms.

“If this curse is not lifted, none of us will escape in the end.”

Lynn’s words carried a clear sense of “panic,” but deep in his eyes was a precise calculation of his rhetoric.

He knew this would hit their weak spot.

They wanted a whole version of him, not the broken, fragmented “him” on the mural.

“It is lying,” Lilith’s voice was raspy, but it carried an unquestionable firmness.

“Brother is mine. No one can take him away. It is impossible for anything in this world to exist that can take Brother away.”

Lynn glanced at Lilith.

The Blackening Value in the depths of her eyes remained stable at 90%.

**[Blackening Value: 90%]**

“Whether it is lying or not, we must verify it.”

Lynn turned his gaze to Alicia and Vivian.

“You have seen it as well; the power here restricts all of yours.”

Vivian looked down at the sword in her hand.

The tremors from her earlier confrontation with the Rock Golem still lingered in her palm.

Alicia clenched her fists; her S-rank Holy Light had failed to shake those stone statues in the slightest.

“This curse will twist our souls and erode our sanity. Eventually, you will become like the figures on the murals. For the sake of so-called ‘exclusive possession’, you will not hesitate to destroy everything, including me.”

Lynn’s tone became serious.

“And I will become the ‘Sacrificial Offering’ devoured by you. This is exactly what it wants.”

“And the solution?”

Vivian asked, her voice laced with wariness.

She was not someone easily deceived, but the impact of the murals forced her to take the matter seriously.

“It said that to break the curse, we need to find certain ‘Holy Artifacts’,” Lynn replied, fabricating this part of the story.

“These Holy Artifacts are scattered across the world. Only by gathering them can we suppress the ‘Original Chaos’ and lift the curse upon us.”

“Holy Artifacts?”

Alicia knit her brows.

“I have never heard of such a thing.”

“Saintess, the world holds many secrets,” Lynn countered, his tone carrying a hint of mockery.

“Do you think you know everything about this world?”

Alicia was silenced by his retort, her expression turning somewhat unsightly.

“So, our choice is simple.”

Lynn spread his hands, scanning the three of them.

“Either we continue our internal strife here, letting it watch us kill one another until we reach the conclusion on that mural.”

He pointed to the puppet kneeling on the ground and then to the standing puppets.

“I can control these puppets. Here, I am the temporary ‘Highest Authority’.”

“Or,” Lynn’s tone shifted, softening slightly.

“We reach a temporary agreement. Everyone follows my arrangements, and we search for these ‘Holy Artifacts’ together. Before the curse is lifted, no one is allowed to act on their own, and more importantly…”

His gaze swept over them, his tone heavy with emphasis.

“No hurting each other, and no attempting to imprison me. We must act as a single unit to oppose the ‘Hidden Malice of the World’.”

“Why should you be the one to make the arrangements?”

Vivian stared straight at Lynn. She had the pride of a Knight in her bones and would not easily take orders from others.

“Because I just activated the ‘Authority’ here.”

Lynn pointed to his left hand, the spot that had pressed against the puppet’s Core Rune.

“You saw it yourselves; these ‘Order Puppets’ all obey me. If you do not listen to me, I cannot guarantee these puppets won’t treat you as ‘intruders’ and eliminate you.”

He was not lying. He could indeed control these puppets.

Although he did not know how long it would last, his current deterrent power was very real.

Alicia’s gaze lingered on the Rock Golems before falling back onto Lynn.

She knew Lynn was stating a fact. Her Holy Light from earlier had been completely ineffective.

Lilith remained silent, but her gaze grew more focused, as if she were trying to see through Lynn’s soul.

She was likely weighing how much truth was in Lynn’s words.

“I know you all have your own ideas,” Lynn continued, his voice softening even more.

“I did not want it to be like this either. But I am trapped here, and you have chased me to this place. The warning on the murals is our future. We must cooperate.”

He emphasized the word “cooperate.”

“Currently, we are all in the same boat. The boat is sinking. Do we choose to push each other and drown together, or do we work together to fix the boat first?”

“I can guarantee that once the curse is lifted and we return to normal, whatever you want to do to me… I will let you have your way.”

Lynn felt a shiver go through him.

Saying those words nearly cost him half his life, but he knew this was the grand vision he had to paint for them—the greatest “freedom” he could bargain for.

A flash of hesitation crossed Vivian’s face.

Alicia’s gaze became complex.

The corner of Lilith’s mouth curved into an imperceptible arc.

They were all calculating.

If what Lynn said was true, then internal conflict and imprisonment would only accelerate their path toward the ending shown on the murals.

And that was an ending they could not accept under any circumstances.

Possessing a complete, healthy Lynn was their shared desire.

For the sake of that desire, they could temporarily set aside their mutual hostility.

“The ‘Holy Artifacts’ you mentioned—do you have any clues?”

Alicia asked, her voice no longer so cold, carrying a hint of inquiry.

“I do.”

Lynn nodded, feeling a secret sense of relief.

This was the only way he could survive.

“I made contact with the ‘core’ of this ruin just now, and there were some vague directions within it. We need to explore them together.”

“So, what is your decision?”

Lynn scanned them once more, a faint trace of anticipation hidden in his eyes.