It was the middle of the night.
Lin Ent wasn't woken up; he was in so much pain that he couldn't sleep.
Damn it.
His entire body felt as if it had been run over by a dump truck a dozen times.
Even his bone fragments were screaming.
The system's pitiful warm current only kept him alive, but the excruciating, bone-deep ache was like someone was scraping his nerves with a steel brush.
He gritted his teeth, trying to turn over, and almost sent himself to an early grave.
No more sleeping.
Good.
Lin Ent simply closed his eyes and poured all his mental energy into the newly acquired function in his mind.
"Activate, tactical deduction."
Buzz—
In his consciousness, a virtual sandbox instantly formed.
Two light dots, one dim and one bright, representing him and Raven, were separated by a dangerous distance.
"Deduction Goal: Get away with it. Make Raven believe that everything last night was just an accident."
"Information Input: Raven's personality — suspicious, starved for affection, violent, extremely possessive, power-above-all…"
"Information Input: Existing incriminating evidence — a red hair that isn't mine, gunshots at the dock, I didn't return home all night."
"Deduction Activated!"
On the sandbox, countless lines of light instantly exploded, intertwining, colliding, and annihilating frantically.
"Option One: Play dumb."
"Process: Insist he was drunk and doesn't remember anything."
"Success Rate: 3.7%."
"Consequences of Failure: Raven's suspicion deepens by 95%. She will likely employ methods including, but not limited to, 'physical isolation' (breaking his legs) and 'permanent imprisonment' to ensure the host becomes her exclusive property."
Lin Ent gasped, a cold shiver running down his spine.
Good heavens.
This crazy woman really wants to turn him into a human stick and use him as a power bank for life!
He didn't even doubt that to prevent him from "running around" again, Raven would personally break his two legs.
"Option Two: Half-truths."
"Process: Admit going to the dock, fabricate a lie about working illegally and getting caught in a gang shootout."
"Success Rate: 11.2%."
"Consequences of Failure: With Raven's abilities, a quick trip to the scene would allow her to piece together most of the truth. The lie would be exposed, trust would drop to zero, and the consequences would be the same as above."
One plan after another lit up, then was quickly marked with the crimson word "FATAL."
Cold sweat dripped down Lin Ent's temples.
For the first time, he clearly realized that playing mind games and lying to a top Agent was the stupidest approach.
Her intuition was the graveyard of all lies.
Since he couldn't cover it up… then he'd flip the table!
He'd use a future she couldn't possibly refuse—one more exciting, more grand—to crush her damned suspicions!
He'd make her shift from agonizing over a single strand of hair to contemplating the entire World!
"New Deduction Direction: Higher-Dimensional Strike!"
"Core Logic: Create a common goal far superior to 'romantic relationships,' forcibly elevating her attention from the 'backyard' to the 'throne!'"
The light on the sandbox suddenly solidified.
An unprecedented, thick, dazzling path of light pierced through the entire sandbox.
"Optimal Plan Generated: 'Philosophy of Survival' and 'Game of Capital'!"
Lin Ent looked at the path of light, his lips curling into an uncontrollable smile.
The curve was cold, yet carried a hint of madness.
The next morning.
The light, like a knife, cut through the murky air in the room.
Raven opened her eyes.
In her golden vertical pupils, sleepiness instantly receded, replaced only by a Beast-like scrutiny.
She expected to see a Lin Ent begging on his knees or trying to curry favor out of guilt.
But there was nothing.
He sat on the rickety, almost broken chair by the bed, his back ramrod straight, his face devoid of any humanity, so calm it sent shivers down one's spine.
Noticing her gaze, Lin Ent lifted his eyelids and looked over.
His eyes were as deep as a bottomless pool of stagnant Water.
"What?" Raven's voice was cold and hoarse, full of wariness.
Lin Ent didn't answer; instead, he asked an unrelated question.
"Raven, what do you think we're like right now?"
"?"
Raven frowned.
"Like two rats hiding in a sewer, waiting to rot and die," Lin Ent answered for her, his tone flat, yet every word was laced with blood. "Is this the 'freedom' you want? Eating cold pizza, sleeping in a cockroach nest, calculating how many days those crumpled bills in your pocket can last?"
Raven scoffed, her golden pupils filled with disdain: "No money? Then go take it. Banks, vaults, for us, aren't they just open convenience stores?"
"Heh."
Lin Ent laughed, his laughter carrying an indescribable mockery.
He didn't stand up; he just sat there, looking up at the blue succubus on the bed, yet his gaze was as if he were looking down on a self-important ant.
"Raven, your biggest problem isn't naiveté."
"It's stupidity."
"You possess the power of a god, yet all you think about are the schemes of street thugs robbing convenience stores."
He suddenly leaned forward, hands braced on his knees, like a leopard about to pounce, staring intently into Raven's eyes.
The sheer pressure made Raven's muscles instinctively tense up.
"Every robbery, every appearance, is like shouting through a loudspeaker to the entire World—S.H.I.E.L.D., HYDRA, your crazy ex-boyfriend Erik—'We're here, come and catch us!'"
"You call this freedom? This is asking for death!"
"What we need is an absolutely safe haven! A place where no satellite in the World can find us!"
"What we need is the most advanced intelligence network and weapons! Not to wait for Sentinel robots to blast us to smithereens before we even know what the enemy looks like!"
"What we need is an… Empire that provides all of this for us! Our Empire!"
This string of words, like a red-hot knife, plunged into Raven's heart.
She was completely stunned.
Charles talked to her about ideals, about peaceful coexistence between humans and Mutants.
Erik talked to her about hatred, about a bloody future where Mutants reigned supreme.
One treated her like a sister who needed protection, the other treated her like his sharpest weapon.
Never had anyone.
Never had anyone, like this man before her, treated her as a… partner in an Empire, a queen.
Seeing the flicker of shock and confusion in her eyes, Lin Ent knew the hook was in.
He slowed his speech, lowering his voice, which was filled with a devilish allure.
"So, money, of course we'll have it. But not by 'taking' it."
In Lin Ent's eyes, the Fire named "ambition" was practically burning out.
"Robbing banks? Too low-class, that's for fools and hotheads."
He picked up his phone, the screen's light illuminating half his face, confident, yet with a hint of wickedness.
On the screen was a map of New York's underground forces, marked with red dots.
His finger landed precisely on the most chaotic, most bloody, and darkest area.
Hell's Kitchen.
"Raven, your power is a Deleted's scepter, a nuclear bomb."
Lin Ent's tone, like a snake, slid into her ear.
"Yet you, and Erik, always try to use it to crack walnuts, to fight with petty thugs. This is the greatest blasphemy against divine power."
"I want you, I want everyone to see clearly…"
He paused, his gaze burning, enunciating each word.
"Your power is not meant to destroy order. It is meant to… set the rules, to become the rules themselves!"
"Your value is to become that… throne, suspended above the heads of all ambitious people!"
Raven was completely silent now.
She stared intently at the man before her.
He still had that fragile body that looked like it could be crushed with a squeeze, yet the aura about him, the composure and dominance with which he treated the entire New York as a chessboard to be manipulated at will, was something she had never witnessed in anyone else.