“Hoo~” Yosena let out a soft sigh, her body wrapped in a water bubble, and a series of bubbles rose up with a gurgling sound.
“At this time…Sister XÄ« should be arriving soon.”
The innermost layer of the quiet cellar.
Still, there were only Yosena and Lin Nuo, who was securely bound to the chair.
This little mermaid, bored, played with her water bubble using a flicking gesture, tapping the inside with her finger.
The force landed on the surface of the bubble, sending out ripples like raindrops striking a secluded lake.
Once the force spread through the entire bubble, it was easily dispersed.
Absorb, dissolve, without release.
Yosena clearly felt completely at ease with the imminent success of Lin Nuo’s hypnosis.
At this stage, even someone with sky-high abilities would have no chance of changing the outcome of being hypnotized.
Meanwhile, quietly adjusting his breathing and keeping his body as relaxed as possible, steadying his heartbeat, Lin Nuo barely cracked his eyelids open a sliver.
That’s right.
He hadn’t been hypnotized at all.
Luckily, Yosena didn’t possess the ability to seep magic into his body and examine him carefully.
Otherwise, she would have been utterly shocked and displayed a look of disbelief.
Because the black aura that she was sure should have been suppressed inside him by that thick, black potion brewed with Rongxin Grass—watched by Xī and drunk by Lin Nuo himself—
At this very moment, it was steadily leaking out from within him.
The frenzied Blood Leech Curse, which would rampage and corrode every part of his body once activated, was currently clashing with the ice-blue magic transmitted into him through the magic array on the ground.
Lin Nuo could even hear the crackling sounds of magical forces colliding within his body when he closed his eyes.
“That so-called potion she said was brewed with Rongxin Grass to suppress my Blood Leech Curse—I really did drink all of it yesterday right in front of XÄ«.”
“But—”
“It’s not like, just because something’s in my own stomach, I can’t spit it back out if I want!”
Exactly.
His clever nun must have predicted that he would try to outsmart her.
But what XÄ« probably didn’t expect was that Lin Nuo realized she would anticipate his move—so he, in turn, anticipated her anticipation.
…Hmm, it’s a bit of a mental maze.
Since it was clear XÄ« wouldn’t do anything with unclear motives, Lin Nuo could clearly deduce that the potion meant to suppress his Blood Leech Curse must have another use.
With that in mind, Lin Nuo admitted, after knowing that in the Chapel’s Secret Chamber, all six walls were mirrors that XÄ« could use to monitor him and he wouldn’t even think of disobeying his nun—let alone doing anything inappropriate—since he’d always feel like he was being watched…
‘Wait, why am I even using that as an example!’
“Cough cough” Lin Nuo just felt that, as a normal person, XÄ« would definitely need to rest, and those mirrors probably didn’t have the recording function of a Soulstone.
As for the mirrors… maybe it was some psychological quirk Lin Nuo couldn’t understand, making XÄ« want to look at him more?
No need to overthink it.
Judging by the precious protective gear, the Demon-Dispelling Gauntlet, as long as he behaved, XÄ« would still take care of him like before.
It’s just that now, she revealed a bit more of that slightly strange, obsessive big-sisterly concern.
He wouldn’t be treated like a criminal under strict surveillance.
And that was indeed the case.
Lin Nuo admitted his actions carried a bit of wishful thinking, but realizing his mind was still clear—able to feel emotions like anger or joy, and even his body still responsive in every way—proved he hadn’t been affected by the Hypnosis Scroll at all.
The tension inside him gradually faded away.
‘Sometimes, going all in is a kind of wisdom, isn’t it?’
Just a bit of luck—and this time, it was on his side.
For now, all he had to do was wait for the hypnosis to “end.”
***
“Test subject, open your eyes.”
Yosena, having finished blowing bubbles and stretching her fish tail, came over.
Lin Nuo, who had already lowered his head and feigned grogginess, fully opened his eyes at her words.
Inside, there was a blank confusion, a clear foolishness, and the traces of resistance smoothed away by hypnosis, as if he was floating or detached from consciousness.
“Hypnosis… succeeded?”
Lin Nuo looked like a dumb puppet, dazed and silly.
Yosena’s tone was filled with delight, “My first experimental subject to be put under long-term hypnosis, I’m so very satisfied!”
The mermaid girl before him suddenly gripped a pen she’d taken from her upper pocket—the one used to record the entire hypnosis process and Lin Nuo’s reactions.
She stretched her arm out of the water bubble and, with a sharp “puchi,” stabbed the pen straight into his thigh.
Lin Nuo’s gaze didn’t even focus for a moment before he immediately fixed his eyes ahead, deliberately preventing himself from looking at the pen, now buried more than halfway in his flesh.
Supposedly, since XÄ« had brought him here so openly, she wouldn’t allow this mermaid to hurt him.
So, this test of his instinctive reaction to being attacked was likely her way of probing him.
And just as Lin Nuo had guessed—
There was no pain.
Yosena frowned and sized up Lin Nuo’s expressionless face.
After a while, she loosened her grip on the pen with satisfaction—there was, in fact, nothing in her hand at all.
Among her more than five hundred experiments, there had been those who tried to feign hypnosis and bluff their way through, but they all failed when faced with the natural physiological reaction to imminent pain.
Yosena nodded, looking even more pleased.
“In the second phase of the assessment, the test subject’s physiological response to sudden stimulus was normal.”
She continued to jot down notes.
“Heartbeat is slightly slower than normal—this is the usual result after receiving a large dose of purification magic.”
“Right, how old are you again?”
“All eighteen.”
“I asked your age, what do you mean ‘all’… Eh?” Yosena suddenly caught herself, glancing at Lin Nuo in surprise.
“You’re well-developed. Sister XÄ« is really lucky.”
“….”
“When posed with unexpected questions during the assessment, the subject’s cognitive responses are more agile than the average person,”
Yosena grinned mischievously and continued writing: “However, it seems the test subject’s thoughts are not exactly pure. I suggest that after hypnosis, Sister XÄ« should thoroughly investigate what the subject is usually imagining about her pure, youthful body…”
Yosena then put Lin Nuo through several more tests, but all were easily bluffed through by the prepared Lin Nuo.
“Looks like I’ve smoothly completed Sister XÄ«’s task this time!” At last, Yosena untied him from the deep green seaweed binding.
The sensation of freedom throughout his whole body finally allowed Lin Nuo to truly relax the mental tension he had been holding unconsciously.
Yosena was still busily tidying up, excited as if anticipating praise from Sister XÄ«: “When Sister XÄ« sees me, she’ll definitely be happy too!”
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