"You could forget that?"
If not for the bruises all over the doll girl's head, clearly from being hit by the coffin lid just now, Lin Yuan would have suspected she was messing with him.
Speaking of which, this doll girl clearly looked like she was made of wood, so how could she get bruises from being hit?
Lin Yuan set aside his questions for the moment. Now wasn't the time to think about that.
"So what do you want to do now?"
"Me? Uh... what was I going to do again?" The doll girl scratched her head.
She didn't look like the brightest bulb.
For some reason, ever since this doll girl had appeared, the eerie atmosphere had vanished completely, replaced by the mood of a comedy full of sarcastic quips.
"Oh, right! I came out to get back at you! You just made me get all these bumps on my head. You're dead! Take this!"
The doll girl finally remembered her original purpose, raised her fist, and charged at him menacingly.
She ran across the sea as though it were solid ground, closing the distance in just a few strides. Then she leaped up and brought her raised fist crashing down!
But clearly, her combat sense was limited. She had been running quite fast, yet insisted on jumping high into the air at the very end.
The time she spent falling from above instead gave Lin Yuan an opening.
With a nimble turn, Lin Yuan dodged her attack.
Then he drove his left fist into her lower abdomen before she could find her footing after landing.
Lin Yuan held nothing back with this punch, putting his full strength into it.
He knew full well that although the wretched girl before him looked stupid, if he underestimated her because of that, he would be the stupid one.
Intelligence and combat strength weren't necessarily proportional.
Besides, everything about her was mysterious. For all he knew, she might be some brainless combat genius.
As it turned out, however, Lin Yuan seemed to have been overly cautious.
Not only was this doll girl unintelligent, but she wasn't much of a fighter either.
With his strength as high as 100, Lin Yuan shattered the doll girl with a single punch.
Bang!
Wood chips flew everywhere as Lin Yuan's punch blasted the doll girl into separate parts that scattered into the sea like raindrops.
The moment these parts touched the water, they melted away like snow falling into mud, vanishing without a trace.
"That's it? She's dead?"
Lin Yuan hadn't expected to blow her apart with a single punch either. For a moment, he couldn't tell whether he was too strong or the doll girl was too weak.
But it wasn't over yet.
"You bastard!"
Suddenly, the side of the coffin opened again, and the doll girl rolled out once more.
The instant she rolled out, she sprang up, swinging her fist at Lin Yuan.
She could revive inside the coffin?
Even as the thought crossed Lin Yuan's mind, his body reacted without hesitation. He threw another punch, faster and fiercer than the doll girl's attack!
Bang!
The doll girl exploded again.
"You bas-"
A second later, the doll girl rolled out of the side of the coffin again.
Then Lin Yuan blew her apart with another punch, faster than last time.
"You-"
Bang!
"You..."
Bang!
Like playing whack-a-mole, Lin Yuan punched the doll girl to pieces more times than he could count.
But a second later, she would always revive inside the coffin without a scratch.
Lin Yuan's expression began to grow grave.
No matter how weak an opponent was, if they could revive endlessly, they would undoubtedly become a headache.
Was this the coffin's special ability?
After blowing the doll girl apart with another punch, Lin Yuan didn't hesitate. He immediately punched the black coffin beneath his feet.
The doll girl was nothing to worry about. This eerie black coffin was the real threat!
Bang!
This time, however, it was Lin Yuan's arm that burst apart!
His attacking left arm was bent at an unnatural angle between his fist and forearm. The bones were clearly broken.
The skin and muscles had also split open in several places, dripping with blood.
When tremendous force struck an indestructible obstacle, it was the attacker himself who was destroyed!
"This...!"
Lin Yuan's expression grew utterly serious.
Perhaps because of his fusion with the panel, he didn't feel much pain.
But in the "Lin Yuan blueprint" within his consciousness, the weapons compartment in his left hand had turned red, indicating that it was no longer functional.
Fortunately, his harpoon was installed in his right-hand weapons compartment, or he wouldn't have been able to use that skill either.
His health had also dropped to 9,000/10,000, giving him a tangible sense of his own attack power.
What was terrifying, however, was that his punch hadn't damaged the black coffin at all. It hadn't even left a mark.
It stood in stark contrast to Lin Yuan's miserable condition.
"Huh? You're hurt!"
The doll girl's startled cry came from beside him.
Lin Yuan's heart jolted. Shocked by the coffin's sturdiness, he had nearly forgotten about this girl who could revive without a scratch.
This time, the doll girl had pulled an enormous wooden scythe from somewhere. It seemed to be her personal weapon.
As for why she had only taken it out now, she had probably gotten so worked up from Lin Yuan beating her that she had forgotten.
The enormous scythe was taller than the girl herself and pitch-black all over.
Although it didn't seem to be made of the same material as the black coffin, its appearance alone showed that it was no joke.
But the girl hadn't attacked while Lin Yuan was distracted. Instead, her tone carried considerable concern.
This left Lin Yuan somewhat puzzled.
"Why... didn't you attack me when you had the chance just now?"
"Huh? You were just standing there in a daze, not even defending yourself, and you were badly hurt. If I'd swung this blade at you, you might have died! How could I attack you?" the girl asked in surprise.
"Weren't you... trying to kill me?" Lin Yuan was taken aback too.
Earlier, the girl had come at him menacingly, shouting threats, making him instinctively assume they were fighting to the death.
Now that he thought about it carefully, she had seemed angry rather than murderous?
"Why would I kill you?" The girl's eyes widened, as though Lin Yuan had asked something unbelievable.
"I just wanted to teach you a lesson! Who knew you were so dumb you'd actually attack my coffin?"
Being called dumb by this doll girl made Lin Yuan feel as though his soul had just taken ten thousand damage, yet he couldn't really argue.
So he simply changed the subject.
"Ahem. Why did you want to teach me a lesson?"
"Because you blocked me inside my coffin and wouldn't let me out! You even made me get all these bumps on my head."
"You can't blame me for that! Your entrance was so creepy. Who would dare let you out?"
"What are you talking about? Weren't you the one who called me here?"
"I called you? No, I didn't!" This time, Lin Yuan was genuinely shocked. He carefully recalled everything he had done that day and confirmed that he hadn't done anything of the sort.
"Huh? Impossible!" The doll girl leaned closer, staring intently at Lin Yuan with her scarlet eyes for quite a while before declaring with certainty:
"You have the scent of a summons on you. It was definitely you."
Without waiting for Lin Yuan to answer, she slung the enormous scythe behind her back, lifted her skirt, and performed an impeccably executed courtly curtsy.
"My name is Lilia. I have come in answer to your summons and wish to enter into a crew contract with you, our fates henceforth entwined, never to forsake you."
At that moment, her bearing was graceful, her voice melodious, and her air that of the noblest aristocrat.
But in the very next instant, the doll girl named Lilia showed her true colors, casually clapping Lin Yuan on the shoulder.
"All right, hurry up and bring out the contract. Oh, right, where's your ship?"
Before you continue