“Hurts?”
“Sorry no nainkillers hut we have to do this
~ 90
<
8:55
“Sorry, no painkillers, but we have to do this
now.”
His eyelashes fluttered, his damp fur rising and
falling with each breath.
“…Doesn’t hurt. I feel nothing.”
I didn’t say anything, just made my movements
lighter.
Decades of doing surgeries, my hands were
steady and fast.
In about twenty minutes, I finished bandaging
the wolf’s eye.
“I’ll go get some painkillers and antibiotics.”
When I returned, the wolf was fast asleep on
the couch.
Probably exhausted from the surgery.
<
I grabbed the antibiotics, poured a glass of
water, ready to wake him.
Before I could even take a step, something cold
snaked around my neck, tightening.
The glass shattered on the floor.
“What are you giving him?”
The voice was low, smooth as silk.
I twisted around to see a pair of pale red eyes.
The snake.
He was awake.
4
The snake had me pinned, cutting off my air.
<
But my hands were quick, searching.
Finally, I pinched the snake right behind his
head!
He went limp, dropping to the ground.
I gasped for air, grabbing his body, waving it
around.
“All messed up, and you still want to strangle
me?”
I poked at the bloodstained bandage on his
belly.
“I spent a long time wrapping that. Don’t get
any funny ideas.”
The snake reared back.
Those red eyes stared at me.
<
8:56
“… You bandaged me?”
I nodded.
“Yep. Since you’re awake, take these pills.”
I put the box near him to show I wasn’t hostile.
“Antibiotics, for the infection.”
I popped three pills out and set them on the
table.
Then I aired out the room, cleaning the floor, scrubbing away the sticky blood.
I checked on the beastmen, making sure they
hadn’t moved or ripped their wounds open.
The snake was watching me the whole time.
In the evening, the setting sun cast a golden
light into the room.
90
<
8:56
I set the bowls of rice porridge on the table,
and caught the snake’s gaze.
I asked, “Want to eat? I made extra.”
Beastmen only turned into animals when they were injured or weak. Otherwise, they stayed in human form and ate human food.
The original owner never wasted money on
them, feeding them cheap nutrient paste.
The snake slithered onto the chair.
He stared at the food, then at me.
Then, a voice dripped with sarcasm echoed
from the couch.
“Made by you? We don’t have that many lives
to waste.”
A beautiful blond–haired teenager appeared.
90
<
8:56
His arm was bandaged.
90
He was shirtless, showing off his ripped torso, stalking toward me, sneering. “Jiang Mian, what
is this, some new game? You think this will impress us?”
His dark eyes bored into me, filled with pure
hatred.
Then, he grabbed the bowl of porridge, dumping it all over me.
“Eat? I want to puke just looking at you.”
LO
5
The porridge soaked my apron.
The cockatiel stood before me, sneering.
“You burned my wings, and now you’re acting like you care? Who are you trying to fool?
<
8:56
“Seriously, how are you going to torture us
next?”
The wolf and the snake were silent, staring.
The room was silent, broken only by the dripping porridge.
Finally, I unclenched my fist and raised my arm.
The cockatiel saw my hand in the corner of his
vision.
His eyes widened, and he began to tremble.
But he still sneered.
“Hit me! To be honest, it was way better when
you were a bitch!”
But he waited.
And waited.
90
<
…I just untied my apron and dropped the
porridge–soaked fabric on the floor.
The cockatiel gaped at me.
I spoke.
90
“Phoenix, if you don’t want to eat, don’t. But
you dumped my dinner. What am I supposed to
eat?
“And you’re cleaning up the floor later.”
Then I turned and went to my room, grabbed
the doorknob.
I paused, my back to the three beastmen.
I whispered, “…I’m not faking it. I won’t hurt
you again.
“Once you’re healed, I’ll take you to the
Beastmen Bureau and release you from your
く
8:56
CODE
6
