Slap—

Lynn gave it another skull (hand) crack.

[Ding! Zuo Zuo's Affinity toward you -1]

A "╬" appeared above Lynn's head.

He closed his eyes.

Took a deep breath.

Then…

Bang bang bang bang bang—

"Ayaayayaay!!"

With the afterimages trailing from that skull-smash, Lynn's ears were also filled with a flurry of System notifications ringing ding ding ding.

Finally, Zuo Zuo let out a wail and opened her huge mouth, biting down on his right hand in one chomp, shouting:

"Stop jerking! Stop jerking, please! What are you doing, playing with cotton?! I already told you to stop waking me up, you don't care whether I can stand it or not, and you just keep pulling so hard…"

Lynn didn't give her a chance to argue—he grabbed two of her fingers and said sternly:

"Zuo Zuo, you're not chickening out, are you?"

The Left Hand's fingers shivered instantly;

it made a (ŎдŎ；) face and said:

"Chicken out? What… what a weird thing to say! Do you think I'd chicken out? As if! I'm not afraid of heaven or earth, okay? Even if it's a huge head or whatever… this hand would still—"

As if having heard that strange conversation above, Little One—who had been careening along at full speed—neatly plucked off one of her eyeballs, propped it up on a tentacle, and curiously looked toward Lynn:

"Doctor—did you—hear—someone—talk—"

"Waaayaaaa—"

Seeing the rolled-up eyeball, Zuo Zuo instantly went (ΩДΩ) berserk, whipping Lynn's arm back and hiding behind his shoulder, teeth chattering.

[Ding! Zuo Zuo's Fear toward Little One +10]

Accompanying the repeated System prompts.

Little One tilted her eyeball curiously and said, "Eh?"

"It's fine, Little One, don't mind her. My Left Hand's a bit shy;

she'll get used to it."

Lynn kept his eyes closed, the corner of his mouth lifting into a sly smile.

Little One responded with curious "Oh—"

Then she slid the tentacle back. She wasn't surprised that the doctor's Left Hand seemed to move on its own and was afraid of her. After all, just as she had many tentacles, it was perfectly normal that the doctor had a moving left hand.

Feeling the Left Hand trembling, Lynn grabbed the hand's wrist with a mischievous grin and held it up before his face, saying:

"Zuo Zuo, you're shaking!"

The Left Hand, (ó﹏ò｡), curled its pinky and thumb around its own palm and said, "No! Where did you see me shaking?! I was just casually stretching—did I shake? I did not shake!"

[Ding! Zuo Zuo's Fear toward Little One +5]

"Acting soft? Afraid of the tough?" Lynn showed an ambiguous grin and pointed at the Left Hand with unmistakable mischief.

The Left Hand flinched and cried, "No! I didn't! There's no being soft and scared of the tough! I'm a perfectly normal mutant;

when I encounter a creature I can't possibly beat, of course I'm going to be afraid! That's completely normal…"

"…"

Her expression went hollow.

She looked at Lynn's increasingly malicious, scheming smile.

It felt like two evenly matched opponents, one day suddenly discovering the other's exploitable weakness and mercilessly using it as a breakthrough…

"Zuo Zuo…"

The Left Hand heard the voice.

She snapped back to attention.

And then suddenly found a sinister face (*Φ皿Φ*) right up close.

[Ding! Zuo Zuo's Fear toward you +2]

Lynn leaned in with a grim look. Cold sweat ran in rivulets down the back of Zuo Zuo's hand.

"You should be obedient… right? Zuo Zuo wouldn't be disobedient… right… right… After all, pickled pig's trotters are so crunchy… would other hands be crunchy too…"

The voice was eerily chilling, like someone blowing cold air on your scalp.

[Ding! Zuo Zuo's Fear toward you +5]

[Ding! Zuo Zuo's Fear toward you +10]

Zuo Zuo's teeth chattered;

she swallowed and said, "You aren't hinting that… you'll feed me to… feed me to…"

[Ding! Zuo Zuo's Fear toward Little One +20]

Lynn said kindly, "Of course not. You've been my single left hand for seventeen years—how could I do such a cruel thing? After all, I'm not a devil."

Zuo Zuo finally exhaled in relief.

"But you should be fried and seasoned with some cumin first."

Zuo Zuo: "!!!"

[Ding! Zuo Zuo's Fear toward you +10]

Lynn's eyes crinkled happily as he produced a lollipop and a bottle of pesticide from his chest and placed them in front of Zuo Zuo.

Zuo Zuo cried in fright, "What are you doing!! Waaa!"

Lynn smiled, "A multiple-choice question."

"Obedient kids get candy;

disobedient kids get medicine. Zuo Zuo, do you want to be the obedient kid or the disobedient kid?"

Zuo Zuo protested, "Can I choose an obtuse angle?"

"……"

A brief silence.

"Little One! Today the doctor treats you to a cold-marinated left hand!" Lynn turned and shouted.

Zuo Zuo: "!!!"

Little One asked curiously, "Eh—it's delicious—?"

"Delicious beyond words! Fresh ingredients, lively and kicking;

take a bite and you'll get a special 'waa waa waa' accompaniment!"

"Uhh—so—novel—I'd love to try—"

Zuo Zuo: "!!!"

…

At this point, Zuo Zuo finally cracked.

Given this guy's perverse personality, he might actually do it!

"Fine! I never said I'd be disobedient! Never! When you grow up big I'll be the small one—okay? Waaa! Don't pickle me!!"

[Ding! Zuo Zuo's Submissiveness toward you +1]

Hearing the System notification, Lynn's smile blossomed like flowers.

He picked up the lollipop and said with a smile:

"Open wide!" Google seaʀᴄh novel⸺fire.net

Zuo Zuo, o(╥﹏╥)o, obediently opened her mouth.

Lynn closed his eyes, pinched Zuo Zuo's pinky and said, "Is that better? After all, I'm not a devil. If you're obedient, we can still get along. Live with your host and you can rest assured."

"If you get a bite of my flesh to eat, you'll have some bones to gnaw too. Sweet, right?!"

Zuo Zuo o(╥﹏╥)o held the lollipop in her mouth.

"Sweet, wuaa."

Having temporarily subdued the Left Hand, Lynn felt extremely relieved.

Although he had used threats and bribes, at least there was staged progress.

He believed that with a mixture of kindness and severity, he could eventually turn this disobedient mutant into his asset.

"Doctor—there's—a door—ahead—" Little One's voice came from beneath him.

Lynn smiled slightly, suddenly looked up, and pulled a grotesque severed hand out from the System space.

It was the Arm of Dragon Breath!

Rustle—

Flesh Calamity activated!

Vines of flesh sprouted wildly from his shoulder and fused onto the Arm of Dragon Breath.

The dragon-head's dead-looking eyes on that arm flared with surging firelight.

[Ding! You have linked to the Arm of Dragon Breath. Warning! Your body is severely overloaded!]

But Lynn didn't care.

"System! Allocate all attribute points to Constitution!"

Ding ding ding ding ding—