"Could it be...the experiment succeeded?!"
Seeing Lynn's foolish expression, Milani's heartbeat quickened slightly.
But she did not show it on her face.
Because among the past 125 test subjects, there were no lack of clever clogs who thought they could deceive her with their acting skills, only to meet with a very grim end.
However, if it really was an act, then this fellow's acting was quite convincing.
Remembering the odd impression Lynn had given her before, Milani increasingly felt that he might be acting.
This daredevil, who even dared to hold the Princess hostage, what wouldn't he dare to do?
And in fact, Milani's guess was not wrong.
At this moment, feeling the doubtful gaze of the other party, Lynn remained silent.
His eyes were unfocused, his limbs weak, and his whole being was immersed in a muddled and unclear state of mind.
But this was only a physical manifestation.
In reality, Lynn's thoughts still operated at high speed.
His consciousness and soul seemed to have left his body, observing Milani's every move as a bystander, and like controlling a puppet, he manipulated his body to react.
It all came down to Milani having agreed to his last request.
A few minutes before, looking at himself in the mirror, Lynn activated the Lie Swallowing.
The effect of Lie Swallowing was to make the lies he told with his own mouth believable, and its scope of effect included everyone.
Naturally, this also included Lynn himself.
So he lied to himself.
Of course, just one lie was not enough.
In order to escape from this underground laboratory with his self intact, Lynn told a total of two lies.
Having remembered a great deal of the original plot, he was very clear about the Soul Sect.
This religious organization, active during the Second Era in the southern part of an ancient Empire, worshipped an intangible and insubstantial god of the soul and believed that humans should abandon their physical bodies to embrace the ocean of consciousness.
Later, for some reason, the Soul Sect was completely eradicated by Transcendents dispatched by the upper echelons of the ancient Empire.
Only some fragmented texts were left, which spread through various secretive channels.
Where exactly Milani's Magic Book came from, and whether the research content in it was truly effective,
These, Lynn did not know.
But he did not need to know.
After all, being transported into the world of a novel was already quite magical, so even if more magical things happened, it wouldn't really matter.
Therefore, Lynn only needed to make himself disbelieve that the Magic Book was of any use.
The first lie he told himself was that after the Soul Sect was wiped out, all the key documents were destroyed; therefore, this experiment was a hoax, bound to fail and incapable of affecting his mind or consciousness in the slightest.
For Lynn, this lie was possible.
Otherwise, all 125 previous test subjects would not have all failed.
So when the experiment began, the mental energy contained within the Magic Stones and the Magic Matrix had a hard time influencing his personality.
Because this was a competition between external forces and his own willpower.
As long as he believed that the experiment was a joke, the brainwashing and hypnotic effects of the Eye of the Soul could not take hold.
After all, this was different from the extraordinary powers of the reality system.
Reality needed to follow the physical Laws of this world; for instance, being burned by fire would definitely cause burns, being cut by a knife would certainly result in bleeding.
But the Mind system tended more towards idealism, a field seldom touched by many.
So looking at the outcome, Lynn's first lie was a resounding success.
He maintained his self-awareness and survived the experiment unscathed.
Next came the second test.
Lynn, still maintaining the sensation of his soul being out of body, did not relax in the slightest.
The girl in front of him had, at some unknown point, taken out a small gas lamp and placed it in front of his eyes, observing him at close range with great scrutiny.
A moment later, she pulled out a notebook from her pocket and began writing something down with a steel pen.
"Breathing rate and heartbeat... slightly below that of a normal person," Milani muttered to herself softly.
Suddenly, without any warning, she lifted the hand that was holding the steel pen and stabbed towards Lynn's eyeball with the speed of lightning.
Just as the distance between the pen tip and the eyeball was only a few millimeters, she stopped.
After observing for a while, Milani lowered her head again and continued to jot down: "Pupils are normal, no significant response to external stimuli."
It seemed that she was measuring various data to confirm whether the subject was truly hypnotized or faking it.
Perhaps a good half of the first 125 subjects had failed at this point.
After all, it is very difficult to overcome the innate responses of the human body.
Of course, he was an exception.
Lynn told himself a second lie, that Lynn from Blue Star and Lynn Bartleion were two different people, the former having taken over the latter's body but, due to some accidents, had not been able to take full control of this body, resulting in delayed reactions as a side effect.
Compared to the previous lie, this one was more complex and harder to believe.
Therefore, he took advantage of the power of that mirror, using it as an amplifier to enhance the effect of the Lie Swallowing.
Looking at the reflection in the mirror that was utterly different from his past life, the point that "Lynn from Blue Star and Lynn Bartleion are two different people" was corroborated.
Thus, his subconscious chose to believe it.
However, once the ability of the Lie Swallowing was lifted, he would recall everything and regain control over his body.
Milani, however, knew nothing of this.
After passing several basic assessments, Milani fell silent, furrowing her brow while sizing up Lynn from head to toe.
Suddenly, as if she had thought of something, she murmured, "You're getting off easy," then tugged down her white lab coat, revealing a patch of pristine skin.
At the same time, she struck a seductive pose, her pink tongue lightly licking her lips.
During this process, her gaze was firmly fixed on Lynn's lower half.
Several minutes later, Milani returned to normal, calmly straightening her lab coat and continuing to write in her notebook: "Subject No. 126 exhibited no noticeable physiological response to the impromptu addition to the exam, passing it perfectly."
No, if it were any normal person here, they probably wouldn't have any reaction either.
Of course, animals would be the exception.
Staring at the copper mine in front of him, Lynn found it hard to keep his composure, internally critiquing.
"Hmm, all the basic assessments have been perfectly passed," Milani expressed a trace of surprise in her eyes, "It seems that we can have the Princess come over for the final inspection."
"The handcuffs must be quite tight, I'll undo them for you now so you can relax a bit."
Saying this, Milani pressed a button on the instrument.
As the iron hoops on his hands and feet slowly fell off, Lynn's heart also eased.
It looked as if the test was over.
Had he just narrowly escaped disaster?
However, he was also aware that he might soon face Ivyst's examination.
It really hadn't been easy.
Yet just as this thought emerged, he heard the sound of gears turning from below.
A sudden sensation of weightlessness enveloped him tightly.
Lynn felt as if a void had opened up below him, and along with the chair, he fell from the lab's level.
"Yikes! Oh no, I pressed the wrong button!"
In a daze, he faintly heard Milani's cry of alarm from above.