Help Me

A voice, blending brutality and scorching heat, echoed within my consciousness: "Found you, thief."

Then, in Lynch's vision, a burning planet rose into the sky like a ball of fire.

This was not a true visual, but a phantasm rising within his consciousness.

Lynch remembered seeing this sight; it was exactly what he had witnessed when he first stared directly at the ring, The Passion of the Blazing Lady.

A man entirely engulfed in flames had knelt beneath this planet, enduring the passion emanating from the fire.

Seeing this great fireball again, it now lurked deep within Judy's soul, gazing at Lynch through her dazed eyes, transforming into endless pressure that crashed heavily upon his heart.

The evil god, the Blazing Lady, was spying on Lynch.

A sliver of supreme will once again filled his depleted soul, but simultaneously, panic, palpitations, despair, and anger—familiar negative emotions—surged in his chest. These were the soul's natural reactions when facing mysterious filth. The resilient will, soaked in moonlight for ten million years, immediately transformed into the firmest shield, stubbornly resisting the natural erosion of the filth.

Damn it, this is the Blazing Lady?

Is she coming to trouble me because of the ring?

As his will struggled against the spontaneous erosion of the evil god's intent, the flames on the burning planet suddenly grew more intense.

Lynch felt his vision blur, and then his entire consciousness plunged into a sea of fire. He felt as if he had become a part of the flame, merging into this planet composed of fire.

And a humanoid figure of flame, identical to his own, was churning in the fire opposite him.

"I am Keth... the normal consciousness of Judy, the apostle of the Blazing Lady. My soul cannot bear the forbidden knowledge I inadvertently acquired, so I must use this method of fragmentation to temporarily ensure I do not die. You are one of us and will not suffer mental damage from this, so I borrowed the Lady's power to pull you in temporarily. This time fissure cannot be maintained for long, so I will speak briefly."

How am I one of you? However, Lynch realized the evil god and her apostle seemed to have no malicious intent, so he eased his mind and sent his thoughts via his will: "Fine, the simpler, the better."

"Help me."

???

Miss, that is a bit too simple.

"The reason?"

"Rent, or a usage fee for the power, or whatever you want to call it. That mystery relic is an item of the faithful, and it borrowed the Lady's power."

Damn it, I actually got cornered. It really is true that you become short-handed when you take from others.

Thinking carefully, although this ring is the lowest fear grade mystery relic, it has saved him more than once. While he could argue that the mystery relic had no owner, he had indeed relied on its power to save himself multiple times. A debt of gratitude is a debt, and Lynch could not bring himself to deny it.

"Tell me first what you need me to do?"

"The Lady and the Lurking Chaos are mortal enemies. We must spare no effort to disrupt the event his avatar, the Swelling Daughter, wants to participate in. I just saw the followers of the Swelling Daughter suddenly appear in the real world. I intended to drive them out secretly, but upon getting closer, I realized it was you."

She knows me? How did she distinguish me? Lynch hid these thoughts and sent his inner question: "So?"

"Help me destroy the Swelling Daughter's plan, prevent them from cooperating with her, and never let any of that lunatic's ideas be realized."

The problem is, I have also taken quite a few benefits from them. Lynch explained with some distress: "The ritual must proceed; otherwise, we cannot put the mastermind to death, and we cannot spend our whole lives guarding against them. But I can guarantee that the ritual will inevitably fail; I have already tampered with it."

"Really? I don't believe you."

"It doesn't matter. I will go in with you. If I find the situation is wrong, we can join forces to disrupt the ritual at any time." Lynch pondered for a moment and had an idea: "But you must help me find the mole who would leak inside information to the church, as well as the one who has unified their stance with Howard. It wouldn't be you, would it?"

"It is not me, but they rarely feign ignorance in front of me, so I know all five of them have something to hide. Among them, Jack Adams should be related to the authorities and can still contact the outside world; he just brought several items in from the outside a few days ago. Salin's actions are also very strange, but I am not sure if he has a connection with Howard. If you need, I can help you investigate further, as a thank you for agreeing to help."

"Deal. Finally, can you tell me how you recognized me?"

"You don't know? That is impossible; the Lady would not allow it. I have reached my limit. In the future, if there is anything, you can speak directly to my body; we share information."

Before the words were finished, the flame humanoid suddenly lunged at Lynch. Lynch's spirit jolted, and he then discovered he had detached from that state and returned to normal. Only a single instant had passed, and everything that happened in the flames felt like nothing more than a dream.

What is going on?

Only then did Lynch have the opportunity to ponder everything that had just occurred.

The bad news is, my identity was seen through?

The good news is, the one who saw through me might be an evil god?

What kind of good news is this?

And she didn't even tell me how she saw through my disguise, and why she had the attitude of knowing me and treating me as one of her own.

It is very strange, neighbor, do you know the reason? Can you say it?

【You have been remembered by her, Lynch.】

'??? What does that mean?'

【Think about what happened the first time you used the ring.】

The memory of that time flashed through his mind instantly. Lynch clearly remembered transforming into a wall of fire, scaring away countless monsters, and then removing the ring in time.

Wait, in time?

Right, the neighbor said to finish using it within ten seconds, or unpredictable consequences would occur. Could it be that... I actually went overtime?

【Reality is not as fortunate as those stage plays of yours, Lynch. There are not that many coincidences in the final second; you did indeed go overtime. Being noticed by her is one of the milder possibilities among the unpredictable ones. It just hadn't manifested until now, and it has only been exposed now.】

'So she has actually been watching me since a month ago?'

【Mainly, she has been watching this ring. You are perceived by her the moment you put it on. She has no malicious intent for now, but your soul has been stained with her aura, and you will be naturally approached by her apostles.】

Damn, so she recognized me the moment we met? And here I was thinking this girl was easy to fool. But it is fortunate she recognized me, otherwise, her plan might have been to kill me.

The internal communication lasted only an instant. His gaze refocused; the four people discussing and the eavesdropping bartender had discovered the anomaly here and were surrounding them. Judy rubbed her eyes, looking drowsy and dazed, then skillfully climbed up and stood to the side, swaying.

"This burden is sleepier than usual today." The bearded man, Jack, curled his lip and stood up impatiently. "I will take her back; you guys continue."

Karl Jones also stretched: "Forget it, let's call it a day. We aren't departing until the night after tomorrow anyway; there is still a day and a half. Let's continue the discussion tomorrow."

Watching this group of people yawn and start packing up, a thought suddenly struck Lynch.

It is basically certain now that these six people all have their own motives and can all be considered moles. As for who exactly leaked Lynch's information, it is actually not important at this moment. What is important is the mole sent by Howard, which greatly impacts Lynch's plan. However, if I can truly persuade Howard to let me join them, I might be able to fish the identity of this mole out of him.

As for how to persuade him... Lynch stared thoughtfully at the dazed Judy, nodded slightly, and maintained his aloof, self-absorbed demeanor, ignoring the others as he headed straight for the study where Mayor Howard was.

Mayor Howard had not yet rested and was still in a secret conversation with Walker. Seeing Ms. Selene visit suddenly, he appeared quite surprised. Especially the face behind the folding fan looked quite gloomy; even the mysterious smile that usually hung on the corners of his lips was gone.

"Mayor Howard." Lynch said in an icy tone, "I thought your cooperation with us was very sincere."

The two were a bit stunned, looked at each other, and said very puzzled: "We are indeed full of sincerity."

"Is that so?" Lynch sneered, "You are colluding with the mortal enemy of my big sister; I suspect you have other motives. This kind of unprovoked betrayal has already made my big sister start considering whether to cancel this cooperation."

The mention of cancellation made the expressions of both men change.