A Show of Strength?

The blonde girl only stared at the hand extended toward her. She said nothing, and the air grew tense.

Behind the Observation Window, Barbara was ready to press the button to release the anesthetic gas, but Vogelbaum raised a hand, signaling everyone to hold still.

After a moment, the blonde girl seemed unable to resist. She slowly reached out, her movements stiff, as though no one had ever taught her how to take something offered to her.

But she did not take the red block. Instead, she placed her hand over Lin Mo's.

Her hand was tiny, barely large enough to cover the back of his. Her palm was slightly warmer than an ordinary child's.

She pressed down, wrapping her palm around the back of Lin Mo's hand. He could clearly feel her grip tightening. Wait, what?

Was she trying to put him in his place the moment they met? Lin Mo's little mind raced. The scene reminded him of the TV dramas he had watched in his previous life.

Come to think of it, the world I'm in is from a TV show too. That made it seem less strange.

As her grip tightened, the first thing to give way was the red block in Lin Mo's hand.

Crack.

A soft snap.

A crack appeared in the red block between their hands.

The next second, the hard composite plastic shattered. Red fragments slipped through his fingers and scattered across the colorful carpet.

The girl instinctively let go and stared at Lin Mo, stunned.

The atmosphere outside the Observation Room tightened at once.

"Strength reading is rising."

"No damage to SOL-0's skin."

"Should we terminate contact?"

"Wait."

Vogelbaum kept his eyes on them.

"HL-01 isn't attacking."

Lin Mo looked down at the fragments on the floor. He neither retreated nor showed any panic.

From what she had just done, he could roughly guess why. She certainly was not trying to put him in his place. She had not crushed the block because she wanted to destroy it. She simply did not know how much force to use.

Or rather, she was testing how much force it could withstand.

She was also testing whether the child who had reached toward her would scream and run away the next second, like the caregivers.

The blonde girl glanced at the fragments, then at Lin Mo's hand.

His palm was intact. There was no blood, not even a mark.

For the first time, a distinct change appeared in her eyes.

Confusion, followed by a more cautious urge to test him, and... a trace of curiosity.

The girl reached out again. This time, she took hold of Lin Mo's wrist.

Her fingers were so small they could barely wrap halfway around it.

The instant she touched him, Lin Mo could clearly feel her strength slowly increasing.

It did not feel like an attack. It felt more like she was checking.

She wanted to know if he really would not break.

Inside the Observation Room, the numbers on the monitoring equipment jumped rapidly.

"Grip strength exceeds five hundred kilograms."

"Still rising."

"No damage detected."

Barbara quickly asked in a low voice:

"Should we intervene?"

Vogelbaum did not answer. All his attention was on the two children.

At the force HL-01 was using, an ordinary adult's wrist bones would already have been crushed, yet SOL-0's wrist had not even deformed. His choice had been right. Fortunately, Lin Mo had extraordinary defenses. Otherwise, this would have been difficult.

More importantly, no one had stopped the girl. The door had not opened. No caregivers had rushed in. No anesthetic gas had been released. That seemed to be what mattered most to her.

Every previous encounter had followed much the same pattern. She reached out, the other person became afraid, she used a little force, and they screamed.

Then gas sprayed into the room and knocked her unconscious.

When she woke again, that person was gone.

Over time, she had gradually stopped approaching anyone on her own.

Everyone was afraid. Everyone got hurt. In the end, everyone left.

But this time was different. The child she held was not bleeding, and no one had immediately carried him away. He was still sitting in front of her.

The blonde girl's grip continued to tighten.

Lin Mo could feel the pressure on his wrist, but he could bear it. It was nowhere near enough to damage his bones. Fortunately, Steel Body had been the first thing he unlocked.

Watching the blonde girl squeeze harder and harder, he realized that if he never reacted, she would probably reach one conclusion.

This person won't break, so I don't need to hold back. That was not the lesson Lin Mo wanted her to learn.

He might not get hurt easily, but the others in this laboratory were not Kryptonians.

One day, she would leave this place and meet more ordinary people.

If she only learned who she could squeeze and who she could not, without learning to control her strength—or if he failed to form a strong enough bond with her this time—Homelander's tragedy would still happen.

Then I have to... Lin Mo looked into the girl's eyes and deliberately furrowed his brow.

Then he drew a small breath.

"That hurts."

Just two words, spoken softly.

But they worked better than he had expected. The girl reacted faster than she had to any command, as if startled.

Her fingers sprang open, freeing Lin Mo's wrist.

The girl did not retreat. She only looked down at her hand, clear hesitation appearing on her face for the first time.

She seemed unable to understand. His hand had not broken or bled, so why did it hurt?

Lin Mo did not wait for her to work it out. He raised his hand and pointed to where she had held him.

"Too hard."

The girl's gaze followed his finger.

Lin Mo held out his hand to her again.

"Be gentler, and it won't hurt."

The Observation Room fell silent. Everyone waited for HL-01's response.

The girl stared at his wrist for a long time. Then she tentatively reached out again.

This time, she moved much more slowly.

But when her fingers touched Lin Mo's skin, she still used enough force to crush an ordinary person's bones.

Lin Mo frowned again and said:

"Still hurts."

The girl let go at once. She did not get angry.

Nor did she start destroying things around her after failing twice.

She just looked at her hand, as though trying to understand something no one had ever taught her.

Be gentler.

But how gentle was gentle enough?

A moment later, she reached out for the third time.

This time, she used only one finger to touch Lin Mo's skin lightly.

The moment her fingertip made contact, she stopped.

She immediately looked up to study Lin Mo's expression.

Lin Mo showed no sign of pain. Instead, he smiled. See? She's a good kid. She listens.

Then he turned his hand over and took hers.

The blonde girl went rigid.

Her first instinct was not to pull away. She stood there without moving.

She seemed never to have experienced a touch like this. She was not being fastened into restraints, examined by caregivers wearing protective gloves, or forced to give up something she held.

Another child had simply taken her hand of his own accord.

One second.

Two seconds.

Ten seconds.

The girl never tightened her grip.

The researchers in the Observation Room continued reporting the data.

"HL-01's heart rate is falling."

Vogelbaum stared fixedly at their joined hands.

Over the past year, Vought had tried many ways to teach HL-01 to control her strength.

Rewards, punishments, verbal commands, demonstrations, drugs to suppress her powers—none had worked well.

She might remember an instruction for a short time, but she could not truly understand why she needed to hold back.

Clearly, what she needed was a good point of reference—or perhaps someone who could set a limit for her.

Yet SOL-0 had taken less than a minute.

First, he had shown her that too much force caused pain. Then, by taking her hand himself, he had shown her that if she was gentle enough, she would not be rejected.

Vogelbaum realized that his approach had been right after all.