Lynn spoke with a calm demeanor, "This is a small business. I don't accept flesh as payment. Don't worry, I only need your right eye. You can come back to redeem it when you have the money."
The girl replied with a tearful face o(╥﹏╥)o, "O-Okay... Waaah!"
...
A few minutes later.
[Ding! You have obtained a rare item: Blood Doll's Right Eye x1]
[Blood Doll's Right Eye: Increases hunger by 10 when carried, enables skill: Invincible Stomach.]
[Ding! You have completed the task. You receive the task reward: 50 Skull Coins, +50 Surgical Skill Experience, Special Reward: Blood Doll's Fear +30, Blood Doll's Doll's Fear +50]
Lynn calmly washed the blood off his hands.
He then placed the eyeball in a bottle of special reagent and labeled it carefully.
Turning around, he looked at the girl who was covering one of her eyes o( x﹏╥)o and said politely:
"Thank you for your patronage. Blood Saw's Potion Shop is always at your service."
Lynn bowed.
The girl o( x﹏╥)o walked out hugging her doll. Her voice could be heard from afar.
"I should hurry and find mom. I'm never coming back here again, waaah... What a scam..."
[Ding, you have triggered a hidden task: Blood Doll Finds Mom. Help Blood Doll find her mother. Task completion reward: Blood Doll's Goodwill +200, Blood Doll's Doll's Goodwill +100, Special Reward x1]
[Current task completion: 2]
Lynn was startled.
Looking towards the door, the girl's figure had already disappeared into the darkness.
Completion 2?
Lynn's gaze immediately fell on the plate on the counter containing several organs extracted from the girl's stomach.
[Unknown Woman's Hair x50]
[Unknown Woman's Ears x2]
[Unknown Woman's Comb x1]
Lynn: "..."
He couldn't help but form a horrifying conjecture.
Lynn stood up, cleaned those parts, and sealed them in bottles, planning to discuss this matter with the girl the next time she came.
He opened his status panel.
Due to the previous rewards, he had gained a total of 50 points of surgical skill experience, as well as an extra 50 Skull Coins for himself.
The customer's money belonged to the shop, which he couldn't touch.
So now he had a total of 150 Skull Coins in his possession.
Skull Coins were a basic currency in this world he was in now, usable as a general equivalent, but Lynn hadn't really stepped out of this shop in the past two years.
So he hadn't had the chance to use them.
But having more money never hurts.
Time passed quickly.
Lynn closed his eyes, holding the bone-carving knife in his hand, like a statue.
The Soul Lantern at the door represented a kind of rule, telling the wandering souls in the darkness that this was an occupied territory. If they harbored malicious intentions, they would surely pay the price.
Most wandering spirits and monsters generally wouldn't invade when the Soul Lantern was lit.
Because within the homestead protected by the Soul Lantern, as long as the owner was willing, they could use the lantern to suppress invading evil spirits and monsters at any time.
But this didn't rule out some extremely evil spirits and monsters who feared nothing.
For them.
There were no rules in this world that they would abide by.
Knock, knock, knock—
At this moment.
There was another knock at the door.
"Welcome," Lynn opened his eyes.
And Lynn instantly saw a burly pig-headed humanoid monster appearing at the front door. One of its eyes was bloody, without an eyeball, wearing a crimson apron, and holding a butcher's knife that seemed to have just cut something.
A panel instantly appeared in front of Lynn.
[Boar-Head Fiend]
[Level]: 21
[Race: Deformed Freak]
[Alignment]: Lawful Evil
[Combat Ability]: As long as you're willing to be eaten...
[Description: The butcher of Wandering Soul Alley's pork shop. He's your "friendly" neighbor, and he's always happy to share his freshly slaughtered prey with you, or share you with others...]
[Lynn's Sanity -5]
"Damn it," the Boar-Head Fiend cursed, covering his eye socket, and said:
"Just because I didn't have any useless trash to give that old hag, she took one of my eyes. Next time I meet her, I'll... I'll... Pah!"
He spat out a foul-smelling glob of phlegm, continuing to curse under his breath.
And Lynn immediately heard a system prompt in his mind.
[Ding! Boar-Head Fiend's Task: Help him match a suitable eyeball. Task reward: 50 Skull Coins, +50 Surgical Skill Experience, Boar-Head Fiend's Goodwill +20, Special Reward +1]
"Please come in," Lynn said impassively, sitting at the counter, secretly gripping the bone-carving knife.
The Boar-Head Fiend strode in, making the Soul Lantern flicker wildly.
A stench of blood and gore washed over Lynn, making him want to retch.
The Boar-Head Fiend sat heavily on the stool in front of the counter, his remaining fierce pig eye scanning the room before fixing on Lynn.
"Where's Blood Saw? Get him out here. I want him to replace an eyeball for me. I'll trade some prime prey for it!"
Lynn maintained his composure and said quietly:
"The master has gone out on business. You can tell me what you need."
The Boar-Head Fiend paused, then turned his head, narrowing his eye, his gaze falling on Lynn as if appraising a piece of meat.
"Oh?"
[Ding! Crisis level increased to 89]
Though his heart was turbulent, Lynn's face remained perfectly calm.
His decision had been correct.
Had he tried to deceive by saying his master was in the backyard, the Boar-Head Fiend would have attacked immediately upon detecting the lie.
Being honest, paradoxically, made the other party more cautious.
"What type of eyeball do you need?" Lynn turned around, calmly pointing to the eyeballs preserved in reagents on the shelf.
"We have human eyes, pig eyes, undead eyes, bat eyes, blood doll eyes. Take your pick. Different eyeballs have different prices."
The Boar-Head Fiend's eyes flashed with murderous intent as he revealed a mouthful of fangs, his fetid breath washing over Lynn.
"I think your eyeballs seem quite nice."
He stuck out his tongue, licking his cracked lips.
[Lynn's Sanity -10]
[Ding! Crisis level increased to 91]
Lynn knew that showing any weakness now would cause the Boar-Head Fiend to attack without hesitation.
"Mine?" Lynn turned his head, meeting the monster's gaze steadily.
Then, under the Boar-Head Fiend's fierce stare, Lynn slowly extended three fingers and, without hesitation, inserted them into his own eye socket, gradually gouging out his right eye.
Squish— Squish—
[Ding! Host life loss!]
[Ding! Host organ missing!]
A few seconds later, Lynn calmly placed his own eyeball in his palm and held it out.
[Boar-Head Fiend's Sanity -20!]
His composure never wavered.
"Two hundred Skull Coins for one. No refunds if it doesn't match."
The Boar-Head Fiend was stunned into silence.
He hadn't expected this seemingly frail human to be so ruthless as to gouge out his own eyeball without flinching.
When the scavenger had taken his eyeball, he had howled in pain for quite a while.
Yet this one maintained perfect composure throughout.
[Ding! Crisis level reduced to 50]
"""