Another World: My life is on the hook!

Deities became taboo.

The rules have become an inviolable red line.

Everyone had to believe in the one and only former king of the Violet Empire. At first, only slander and criticism were punished. Later, even silence became a sign of wavering. And eventually, even not praising was a sin.

That was the glorious peak of the Violet Empire in the New World, but it was also the darkest period in the entire main universe.

"Where was the painter... at that time?!"

Zuo Zuo couldn't help but tremble.

The high pressure and terror in those memories even made her feel oppressed and suffocated.

Lynn closed his eyes, clenched his hands tightly, and said:

"If I'm not mistaken, that should be the years after the War of Heaven. The ravens lost the influence of that Great Lord's subconscious. It was also after the outbreak of the War of Heaven that they could no longer determine whether that Great Lord was sleeping or really dead."

And perhaps it is precisely this fear that leads them to their extremes.

I don't recall any mention of a painter.

But Lynn understood that if it really was that time, the painter probably wouldn't have interfered even if she were there, because her obsession with him... was definitely much deeper than that of everyone else in this era.

It's even possible that their extreme rule, forcing everyone in the main universe to worship the Violet Lord, might also be partly motivated by a desire to awaken that Lord, because in a sense, faith is indeed a very stable anchor, an anchor that can pull him back to order if he falls into chaos.

But they didn't know.

At that time, the Great King was already engaged in a protracted struggle and conflict with that calamity that would last for countless years to come.

And it was during that era of high pressure.

That raven has always been wandering in the mortal world.

It seems that after that, he gradually developed his own heart, but everything was so vague that he couldn't find his place or who he really was.

He can only rise and fall endlessly.

By that time, the role of the raven had become extremely limited, and it had even become a tool for maintaining stability in the Violet Empire.

So I ignored him and didn't care about him.

He just kept walking.

We have traversed one world after another, and one civilization after another.

He saw those lifeless eyes, those stiff faces of people who wanted to cry but had to keep smiling, and he gradually heard the silent cries in their hearts.

Looking up, the glaring sunlight seemed to offer no warmth whatsoever.

It is clearly springtime.

But why is it as cold as the dead of winter?

until one day.

When he watched those who had violated the law being killed by his colleagues, when he saw his wife and children weeping, when he watched them vent their anger against the towering idol, when the punishment for violating the law descended, he used his back to shield them from the lightning that fell from the sky, from the open and hidden attacks of suppression.

There is indeed no truth in this world.

He whispered as he hugged the mother and daughter.

"We are not the truth."

"The Great King is not the truth."

"What I rebel against... is all the harsh winters!"

And it was after that day that he completely changed. He became something else compared to the other mechanical ravens, but he still wanted to fight, he still wanted to change this increasingly extreme and insane system from within.

That day he arrived at the imperial court. He had his own appearance. He tore off his raven robe. When he revealed his white-haired face, all the former soldiers of Violet trembled.

They thought their king had returned.

They are because their king has finally returned once again!

But he wasn't.

He stormed into the realm of the gods, he stormed into the royal court, and under the shocked and trembling gaze of the four kings, he was going to see their mistress whom they had not seen for countless years.

He finally got what he wanted.

Or.

Only in this way could he see their mistress.

Everyone thought their king had returned, because it was their king's raven, because ravens were the symbol of their king, because ravens were originally vessels, because they were originally without hearts.

He finally met their mistress.

I saw that girl again.

He stopped lying and calmly revealed his identity. He denounced the stagnant system and the increasingly extreme and insane rule. He hoped that she, as the former wife of the Great King, could issue an order to abolish this oppressive rule that was hanging over the entire world, to put everything back on track, and to restore everything to the way the Great King had hoped it would be.

But his words only provoked anger.

All of Violet's old followers surrounded him, wanting to capture him, because the ravens were merely vessels for the Highlord's descent, and they were not allowed to have their own thoughts.

But he didn't care.

He gave it his all, he spoke frantically, he kept speaking, as if representing the unspoken thoughts of everyone in the world.

"God?! What is God?!"

"What does the Great Khan want to eliminate—the gods themselves, or the powerful forces and rulers that truly oppress the people?!"

"In the old world, on the title page of the first law of the Violet Empire! Have you all forgotten what was written there?! He wrote down all the crimes he had committed, leaving them for the people to criticize, because he didn't want people to forget the bad things, because he wanted to make everything better based on the mistakes he had made!!"

"The gods have been destroyed! So how are we any different from them now?!"

"The same power and rule, the same extremism and ruthlessness!"

"You may have silenced the public, but can you silence the hearts of the people?! If criticism is a crime, and slander is punishable by death, then we should be overthrown, and the Violet banner should be trampled underfoot!!"

On that day, as he was being suppressed and forced to kneel, he still angrily raised his head, looking at these former anti-gods and at these giant beasts that were gradually growing scales.

Winter is coming!

"That unbearable winter has arrived!"

"I just didn't expect it to come so quickly!"

But it had no effect whatsoever. Even when he was dragged out of the royal court, the girl he saw had nothing but calm and indifference in her eyes.

It was at that moment that he realized that she actually knew everything this time, and that the reconstruction and rule of the Violet Empire were all established with her tacit approval. She had already returned from that chaotic deep space, and it seemed that after that long and fruitless search, the girl from before was no longer Nanako.

She is a painter.