My organs are too abstract.

The boss was so slapped that he staggered on the spot, and his eyes were full of shock and confusion as he looked at Xu Yuan.

He should have suffered the consequences of the scalpel, becoming weak and falling into a coma. How could he have woken up so quickly?

His mind raced, but he forced a calm expression and tentatively asked, "You're not asleep?"

"I was asleep, but you woke me up." Xu Yuan looked at him with a puzzled expression. "But you, sneaking up to me like that, what are you up to?"

This person's strength is too terrifying; there's no way we can defeat him... The boss's heart sank, and he could only bite the bullet and say, "I just saw you leaning against the wall and was worried you'd catch a cold, so I thought I'd put a coat on you."

"Put on some clothes?" Xu Yuan's gaze swept over his wooden-like body, and he asked expressionlessly, "Do you think I'm an idiot?"

The boss was speechless for a moment, and just as he was racking his brains for a way to explain himself, Xu Yuan revealed an all-knowing expression and slowly said, "I think you're here to steal my knife, aren't you?"

"Yes, yes, that's exactly what I thought!" The boss nodded repeatedly, but then suddenly realized what he meant and hurriedly corrected himself, "No! I didn't steal, I took! This knife originally belonged to me!"

"I've already said, this is my blade of kindness." Xu Yuan slowly shook his head.

The boss's lips moved as he was about to speak, but Xu Yuan interrupted him.

"Didn't you ask me before if it would respond when I called it?" Xu Yuan's expression suddenly turned serious as he looked directly at the boss. "Now I'll tell you, it definitely will."

The boss was completely confused: "What do you mean?"

Xu Yuan ignored him, his left fingertips gently tracing the cold blade of the scalpel, and softly murmured, "Knife of Kindness, tell him to whom you belong."

The boss, who had been looking at him strangely, suddenly widened his eyes and exclaimed, "This…!"

In his incredulous gaze, the jet-black scalpel trembled slightly, clearly responding to Xu Yuan's call.

The boss's eyes widened suddenly, and he exclaimed in shock, "How is this possible?!"

In all the time he had wielded this knife, never before had the blade responded to him in such a way.

"I told you, it's my knife, do you believe me now?" Xu Yuan slowly stood up from the ground, suddenly laughed, his tone tinged with coldness, "So if you want to use it to skin me alive, you'd better go to bed early."

The boss's expression changed abruptly. Forgetting his shock, he asked in a deep voice, "You knew all along?"

"So you really wanted to do that?" Xu Yuan tossed the scalpel between his fingers, twirling it in his hand, a knowing smile in his eyes. "I wasn't sure before, but now I really do know."

The boss narrowed his eyes, his tone chilling: "Are you trying to scare me?"

Xu Yuan shook his head and said calmly, "It's not really true, because I never believed you from beginning to end."

Why?

"You pretend to be a kind person who drives away tourists and prevents them from suffering disasters, glorifying yourself as a pitiful person struggling against calamity, and pushing all evil deeds onto the calamity." Xu Yuan said indifferently, "But I can't trust someone who would steal corpses and skin them."

The boss asked, "Just because of that?"

"Of course not." Xu Yuan shook his head again, analyzing methodically, "In this haunted house, I saw two kinds of wood carvings, one is a regular white one, and the other is an upgraded black one."

"The white wooden carving has a mechanism that kills through calamity, but the black wooden carving does not. I guess it's because you had already gained the upper hand in the struggle against calamity and taken the initiative. The power of calamity can no longer affect you, and even further, your power has been enhanced."

"So that nurse, and those black wooden sculptures that attacked me and Wenxiu, were all manipulated by you in secret. You wanted to take the opportunity to kill us and skin us alive."

"At first I thought you were fighting against the calamity and that's why you accidentally harmed so many people. But now I understand. You were born evil and just used the calamity as an excuse to completely unleash the evil desires in your heart."

The boss nodded and sneered, "So that's how it is. No wonder you attacked me for no reason and stole my scalpel. You saw through everything all along."

"No, not at all." Xu Yuan said honestly, "I didn't think that much about it at the time. I just didn't like you and wanted to give you a couple of blows."

"?"

The wood grain at the corner of the boss's mouth twitched violently. He took a deep breath and argued, "These are all just your speculations. What if I was actually affected by the calamity and lost control, committing evil deeds?"

"Isn't that perfect?" Xu Yuan said matter-of-factly and righteously, "You've been controlled by the calamity. If I kill you, wouldn't that be avenging your original kindness? I'm sure you'll thank me from heaven."

"If I was influenced, then I'm innocent!" The shopkeeper, recalling Xu Yuan's worried expression when he thought of killing innocent people, tried one last time to argue, "Won't you feel uneasy if you kill innocent people?"

"What gave you the illusion that I'm a good person?" Xu Yuan looked at him with a puzzled expression. "Whether you're innocent or not doesn't change the fact that you skinned my companion and almost killed him. If you're really innocent, I can just kill you and then apologize at your grave, isn't that enough?"

Boss: "..."

He finally understood that the person in front of him was determined to kill him today, no matter what.

Now that things had come to this, the boss stopped pretending. His aura instantly turned icy as he stared intently at Xu Yuan: "I don't understand. You used the aberrant device, so why don't you have to bear the consequences?"

Xu Yuan looked puzzled: "What price?"

Seeing that he was still pretending to be clueless, the boss suppressed his anger and said, "You were unconscious just now, wasn't that because you were exhausted after using the scalpel?"

"No, I'm just too tired from all the work today, I just want to take a nap."

The boss didn't believe it at all, retorting, "How could someone fall asleep so quickly while sleeping normally?"

"That's because I don't get enough sleep every day, so I need to seize every opportunity to fall asleep instantly," Xu Yuan recalled his hellish lifestyle with a sigh. "You might not understand now, but you'll understand when you get to my age."

"Nonsense!" The boss felt like he had been played from beginning to end. His wooden face turned ashen, and his aura of hostility intensified.

Xu Yuan shook his head helplessly: "If you insist on thinking this way, there's nothing I can do."

Though he said this, Xu Yuan had already figured out what his boss meant—using the deformed device required paying a corresponding price.

But he didn't feel anything when he used the black rope and scalpel before.

wrong.

Xu Yuan suddenly had a thought. He remembered that when he used the black rope before, it would always inexplicably wrap around his neck. Later, when Yang Minghao was playing ring toss on the playground, the rope even wrapped around his neck. Could this be the price of using the black rope?

It was only after it was beaten into submission that it dared not act recklessly again.

As for not feeling tired when using a scalpel, is it because the cost is not borne by oneself, but by the left hand?

Thinking of this, he silently asked his left hand, "Do you feel tired?"

A line of pale white characters immediately jumped out from the void:

[Your left hand says, "Are you kidding me? A true hero has inexhaustible energy! How dare you, mere drowsiness, disturb a hero's slumber?"]

It seemed that his left hand had indeed taken the brunt of the backlash... Xu Yuan didn't think any further. His gaze swept over the few lines of text that had appeared earlier, and he instantly understood:

Your left hand senses something is tempting you to fall into depravity and erupts in fury.

A hero on the righteous path would rather die than fall into a trap; how could he be manipulated by someone's drowsiness? Which hero cannot withstand such a test?

It proactively approached the initiator, requesting that the other party use their charm to test it and hone its weaknesses, but the initiator bluntly stated that they could not.

The left hand flew into a rage and launched a fierce attack against this despicable incitement, causing the instigator to surrender completely.

It finds it tedious, proclaiming that the allure of comfort is a hero's grave, urging you to quickly seek a deeper test to hone your skills and prove your path to heroism.

The initiator here is clearly the scalpel, which is why it responded to its own words—because it was intimidated by its left hand.

He had previously thought that his left hand was just used for routine twitches and adjusting the scalpel, but now he realized that the two had already engaged in a silent battle.

Looking at these words, Xu Yuan couldn't help but twitch his lips, thinking to himself: Are you trying to test me? I'm too lazy to even call you out on it.

Just as Xu Yuan was pondering, a series of hurried footsteps approached from afar. He turned his head and saw Wenxiu rushing back.

Seeing this, the boss silently retreated, leaning against the wall, and subtly stepped on something.

Xu Yuan looked at Wen Xiu and asked, "How is the situation?"

Wenxiu immediately noticed the boss standing against the wall with a strange expression. Sensing the eerie atmosphere, she didn't ask any further questions.

She nodded gently to Xu Yuan: "It's resolved. Weiwei has regained consciousness. I've observed her; she's just forgotten some things, but there's nothing else seriously wrong. We've already taken her outside to reunite her with Zhao Ze and the others."

"That's good." Xu Yuan nodded slightly.

He didn't kill the boss immediately because he was worried about Weiwei's safety and wanted to observe the situation more closely. Now that Weiwei is safe and sound, he naturally wants to beat the boss to death.

Xu Yuan's eyes turned cold, and he immediately barked, "Go shoulder to shoulder and take him down!"

"good!"

Although Wenxiu did not understand the cause and effect, she trusted Xu Yuan quite a bit. Upon hearing this, her eyes suddenly focused, and her black hair moved without wind, like sharp threads, and rushed towards the boss at lightning speed!

The boss's expression changed drastically. He hurriedly bent down to pick up the things on the ground, and without saying a word, he turned and ran away.

He had already witnessed Xu Yuan's strength through the puppet; it was a power that completely overwhelmed him, and there was no way he could contend with it.

He himself can only gain power by acting, and the calamity power he acts out is mostly manifested in the puppet. It might not be a problem to fight ordinary people or patients like Wenxiu, but it becomes completely ineffective when encountering someone like Xu Yuan.

What's more, this person is clearly so powerful, yet he still teamed up with that woman to gang up on him. He has no shame at all, and he can't even muster the slightest thought of resisting.

Xu Yuan stomped his feet, and the floor instantly cracked like a spiderweb. He shot out like an arrow, shouting as he chased after the attacker, "Surrender! I'll leave you a whole corpse!"

The boss's face turned green. Damn it, he's so bloodthirsty, yet he keeps bragging about being kind. Where's his kindness?

If it falls into his hands, what good will come of it?

Thinking this, he opened his palm, revealing a grayish mouse, his eyes flashing with a desperate hope.

This was exactly what he had secretly grabbed while leaning against the wall, and it was his only hope of escaping at this moment.

"I hope that after merging with the calamity, my abilities will truly advance further!"

The boss gritted his teeth and hardened his heart, running wildly while skinning the rat with his bare hands. His palms were instantly stained red with blood, and a pungent, fishy stench filled the air.

His hatred for Xu Yuan intensified. The scalpel and his abilities were a perfect match. If the other party hadn't taken it from him, he wouldn't have resorted to such a primitive and barbaric method of skinning.

In a few swift movements, he peeled off a piece of skin stained with blood and quickly put it on his head. The next second, his body shrank rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye, completely burrowing into the rat skin. With a spin in mid-air, he actually transformed into a rat!

"My abilities have really been upgraded!"

The boss, now transformed into a rat, lay sprawled on the ground, overjoyed. He had previously tested the limits of his abilities, finding that he could only wear the skin of a child at most, and any smaller vessel was simply unsuitable. He never imagined that he could now even control a rat's skin.

He moved nimbly, rushing towards a rusted and cracked ventilation duct opening in the corner of the wall.

Xu Yuan and Wen Xiu, standing behind him, were taken aback: "How did such a big person suddenly turn into a rat?"

But the boss had already crawled into the crack in the duct—the building's ventilation ducts were a labyrinth, spreading like a spiderweb throughout the entire structure. Instead of fleeing immediately, he stopped at a corner of the duct, poked his head out from a gap, and spoke in human language, smugly saying, "You're strong, but so what? Can you catch me?"

Xu Yuan frowned, then immediately punched the wall next to the pipe, smashing it open, and reached into the pipe.

The boss, however, had already darted away through the crisscrossing pipes, emerging from another ventilation opening and scoffing, "That's it?"

"If that's all you've got..." He stared at Xu Yuan menacingly, his tone ruthless, "You just wait, one day I'll skin you alive and wear your skin myself!"

"call out!"

A strand of hair suddenly shot out, aiming at him as a sneak attack, but the boss nimbly dodged it. His green, beady eyes glared at Wenxiu, and he tilted his head, snarling, "And you, you stinking woman, I've reserved your skin too!"

"If we let him get away like this, we'll be in trouble." Wenxiu's expression was a little unpleasant. She knew she was no match for her boss, and if he escaped, he would definitely become a major threat in the future.

"Don't panic."

Xu Yuan offered a soft reassurance, looking calmly at the boss, raising an eyebrow: "You seem pretty arrogant, don't you?"

"So what if I'm arrogant? Is arrogance illegal? Come and arrest me if you dare!" The boss became even more smug, his laughter wild. "That black rope of yours seems to have an automatic target acquisition effect. If it were there, I might be a little wary, but unfortunately, it's not there. You can't do anything to me, hahahaha!"

"Oh, really?" Xu Yuan suddenly laughed. "You think I can't do anything to you without the black rope?"

Upon hearing this, Wenxiu's eyes lit up with a glimmer of hope, and she quickly asked, "Do you have a way to deal with him?"

Xu Yuan's expression turned solemn, and he solemnly said, "Now that things have come to this, we have no choice but to resort to the ultimate means."

Wenxiu was taken aback: "What methods?"

"I will begin the ritual to summon the drones."

"Drone?"

Wenxiu was completely confused. Before she could ask any questions, she saw Xu Yuan grip the black scalpel tightly and sigh softly, "I wonder if it will hurt."

The next second, he raised the scalpel high in his right hand and slashed at his left wrist without hesitation!

The hand fell with a thud, severing the entire left hand cleanly at the root. The cut was smooth and clean, without a single drop of blood.

Wenxiu stared wide-eyed at Xu Yuan in shock, speechless for a long time: "You..."

"Don't panic, this is the ritual to summon the drone." Xu Yuan glanced at his wrist curiously, then nodded calmly. "It's quite user-friendly; it can adjust the pain level."

The shop owner, who was not far away, was completely stunned by this unbelievable scene.

"What does he want to do?"

The boss couldn't figure out Xu Yuan's intentions at all, but a strong sense of unease was growing wildly in his heart. He dared not linger any longer and turned around to run into the ventilation duct and desperately escape.

But after running only a few steps, he heard rapid climbing sounds behind him. He turned around and was instantly terrified—

The severed left hand actually started moving on its own! Its five fingers braced against the pipe wall, and like an agile person, it quickly chased after the ventilation duct!

"What kind of monster is this?!"

The boss was horrified. He turned around and saw the severed hand chasing after him relentlessly, moving swiftly through the narrow pipe with an inexplicable excitement.

Even more terrifying, a mouth had split open in the palm of the severed hand, with a long, thin, scarlet tongue licking the sharp teeth, exuding an air of excitement.

Holy crap!

The boss's face turned green. He thought he was already a monster, but he never expected there was always someone better!

He ran desperately through the pipes, but he couldn't shake off the severed hand behind him; instead, the pursuer drew ever closer.

Finally, to his utter shock, the left hand caught up with him in an instant, its thumb, ring finger, and little finger locking his body tightly, preventing him from breaking free. Then, the index and middle fingers took turns stepping forward, slowly retracing their steps.

With the severed hand carrying the rat, he returned to Xu Yuan. Xu Yuan glanced at the left hand and expressionlessly reattached it to his wrist.

A line of small characters leaped lightly out of the void:

[Your left hand indicates: A perfect test flight experience! It's a little unsatisfied and looks forward to the next takeoff.]

"I knew it! Even without that rope, I could still annihilate the enemy."

Xu Yuan gently rotated his wrist, restoring his left hand to normal. He looked down at the trembling mouse curled into a ball in his palm, a cold smile playing on his lips: "Squeak away, why aren't you squeaking anymore?"