[Plot Deviation: 0.00%]
Lynn's mind wavered for a moment.
He looked at the numbers on the system panel in disbelief.
The incident with the Creationist School had only happened yesterday, the scenes were still vivid in his mind.
He had certainly changed the fate of those more than three hundred people destined to die, thereby causing a significant shift in Ivyst's future trajectory.
Even setting that aside,
the moment when he first met her, removing her mask, was still fresh in his memory.
Otherwise, where did the Lie Swallowing come from?
If it wasn't for the system points he got from Ivyst, he would never have been able to draw this divine skill, nor would he have survived the hypnosis experiment!
Cause and effect, there has to be a cause for there to be an effect.
That's why Lynn was certain that the number should not be zero.
Yet, the stark reality before his eyes plunged him into an unprecedented silence.
After a while, Lynn seemed to think of something.
In an instant, Lynn dismissed the possibility in his mind.
Not only did he scoff at this theory himself, but there's also another point to consider.
This is the world of a novel.
From beginning to end of the original story, there's just one line, every single detail is already written in text.
Moreover, Lynn didn't remember the novel mentioning any similar settings.
To him, it seemed more like the world line theory.
The story begins the moment the male protagonist appears, heading towards a predetermined direction, steadily, until it concludes.
If that's the case, why bother with the notion of infinite possibilities?
In Lynn's view, parallel worlds were just a fallacy.
Take, for example, some novels he read in a previous life where the protagonist travels to another world line to save the heroine with a tragic fate, leading to a happy ending.
It sounds like a happy ending for everyone.
But once you consider the setting of infinite world lines, there will always be countless world lines where the heroine remains miserable.
The so-called salvation is merely a self-satisfied complacency that arises after solving the problems of the current world line.
Therefore, Lynn did not believe in parallel worlds at all.
But besides that, what else could explain this phenomenon?
Perhaps, it was the whole predetermined fate, cause turned into effect thing?
For instance, if someone is destined to die in poverty in the future, then even if he comes into a sudden fortune, he will spend it in various ways instead of becoming rich again.
Ivyst would be that person in poverty, and he would be the unexpected fortune.
Even though he had been there, he ultimately could not resist the will of the world to correct the plot.
But that didn't make sense either.
If it were true, at least that person in poverty would remember the wealth they once had.
Not like her, who just showed no knowledge whatsoever.
Feeling the Doomsday Witch's gaze upon him, Lynn was silent for a moment.
Then he spoke again, "Your Highness, do you... remember Morris, Aphia, or Mrs. Milani?"
His gaze remained fixed on her face the entire time.
And this time, it seemed to be different.
Upon hearing these names, unlike her previous emotionless state, the Doomsday Witch's expression stalled for a moment, then reverted to the initial coldness.
Lynn clearly saw a hint of recollection in her expression.
However, that expression was not one of pleasant memories.
"It should be about time now."
After a moment, she spoke indifferently.
Lynn looked at her, "What do you mean?"
"These people, at this point, should still be alive in the era you come from." The Doomsday Witch replied serenely, "Only, they are about to die."
Upon hearing this, Lynn took a deep breath.
Of course, he had no reason to doubt the truth of the Doomsday Witch's words.
Because the original work's descriptions of the villainous Imperial Princess were not extensive, and her subordinates were mentioned even less.
At the very least, Lynn did not remember any plot involving these few people in the original work.
There was only one possibility.
They had died before the plot had even begun to unfold.
Or perhaps, these people never existed to begin with, only coming into being because after his own arrival, the will of the world sought to satisfy basic logic by supplementing the narrative in the parts not mentioned in the original work.
Of course, for Lynn as he was now, these were not the main points.
He committed this information to memory and then refocused his attention on the previous questions.
The Doomsday Witch had forgotten Lynn's existence, yet she still remembered those subordinates.
Then, what was the difference between himself and Aphia and the others?
A flicker of enlightenment arose in Lynn's heart.
Perhaps, because he never belonged to this world in the first place.
To the natives of this place, he was an anomaly incompatible with any plotline.
With this thought, Lynn suddenly turned to the Doomsday Witch, "Your Highness, I have another question."
"During your extensive lifetime, have you ever heard the name 'Lynn Bartleion' anywhere else?"
The Doomsday Witch answered indifferently, "No."
Lynn sighed in relief, "That's good to know."
At those words, the Doomsday Witch glanced at him and asked softly, "What do you mean?"
"It means... to you, the era I come from is history," Lynn said with a determined gaze, "But I alone understand that if I truly existed in the past, it would be impossible for me to remain in obscurity."
"The name 'Lynn Bartleion' is destined to resonate across the world."
The previous theory of being a nobody could be overturned now.
Perhaps everything in this world is predestined.
But this is not the case for Lynn.
From the concept of 'plot deviation,' combined with the memory of death from his previous life, it was very likely that he was sent to this world to change the original plot.
There was no such thing as parallel worlds or additional timelines here.
Only a single axis of time.
Princess Ivyst and the Doomsday Witch before him were one and the same person all along.
Just that one was in the past and the other, in the future.
Of course, this might be a bit abstract.
Lynn suddenly thought of a clearer example.
It was as if he now stood on the shore of a lake, while the Doomsday Witch was on the distant opposite bank, with both unable to directly interfere with each other.
Only by throwing stones into the lake, causing ripples and waves, could one truly affect the far shore.
The act of throwing stones, in reality, corresponded to actions that changed the storyline.
And the lake between Lynn and the Doomsday Witch was the corrective force of the world's will, along with a full hundred thousand years of time.
Although some ripples of fate had been stirred at this moment, they would just get gradually dissipated by the resistance of the lake, unable to reach the other side.
That's why she had no recollection of Lynn, and the plot deviation had been reset to zero.
Because to everyone in this world, Lynn did not exist in either the past or the future, but only in the present.
But this did not mean that his efforts until now were futile.
After all, he had only thrown a small stone into the lake.
What if one day, he could lift an entire mountain?
If the ripples he created could turn into a storm, they would inevitably one day traverse those hundred thousand years of time and reach the other shore.