Chapter 203: A Tail Beyond Control

“Knock, knock, knock.”

A steady series of knocks suddenly came from outside the room.

The sound was not loud, but in the quiet room, it was exceptionally clear.

“Hm?”

Ayla jolted awake.

Instinctively, she took a sharp breath. Accompanied by a “slurp,” she forcibly sucked back the glistening drool hanging from the corner of her mouth.

Being forcibly awakened from a pleasant dream was never enjoyable.

Especially for a wolf girl with a strong sense of territory—morning irritability was twice as frightening.

Freshly awakened, Ayla's brain was still completely offline. She had entirely forgotten the “depressed” persona she had painstakingly maintained over the past several days.

Throwing off the blanket, she stormed barefoot to the door and yanked it open.

“Don't you know I'm sleeping?!”

Wrinkling her nose, Ayla roared at the person outside.

Standing outside, Lance had his right hand raised, originally intending to knock again.

The motion froze midway.

He stared blankly at the energetic werewolf girl before him.

Looking at her rosy complexion, her vigorous voice, and her slightly fuller appearance from eating well—

Lance suddenly felt that all the sympathy he had previously harbored, thinking he might have gone too far, had been completely wasted.

This wolf girl had clearly been living a much more comfortable life than he had these past few days while hiding in her room.

And after shouting that outburst—

Most of Ayla's morning temper dissipated with the fresh air from outside.

The first thing that flashed through her mind was recognizing who had come.

Standing outside the door was that perverted Dragon-blooded guy who liked flicking people's foreheads.

Then her gaze uncontrollably lingered on his face for several seconds.

That was her second reaction.

For some reason, after only a few days, this man whom she previously considered completely ordinary-looking suddenly seemed exceptionally pleasing to the eye today.

If it had been between men, such a change might have been difficult to notice, but Ayla immediately spotted it.

The face was still the same familiar face.

It seemed that something about his aura had changed.

Most captivating were his eyes. They resembled a deep pool, giving one the feeling of being drawn in at first glance.

Ayla felt her heart skip a beat uncontrollably.

She even had the urge to move closer and take another look.

But very quickly—

A gust of wind brushed across her bare feet.

That immediately triggered her third reaction.

Ayla shivered violently, and the lingering haze in her mind instantly disappeared.

Oh no!

Her persona these past few days was supposed to be that of a depressed wolf girl who had completely lost confidence in life after suffering a major blow!

Almost reflexively—

The anger and surprise on Ayla's face vanished completely within a tenth of a second.

Her previously straight posture immediately slumped.

Her gray beast ears drooped weakly as well.

Looking at Lance with an extremely frail and sorrowful expression, she spoke in a pitiful voice.

“What is it? Are you here to bully me again?”

The tone was mournful and tragic, as if she had suffered the greatest injustice in the world.

Watching this performance that rivaled a face-changing act—

Lance helplessly raised a hand and firmly covered his forehead.

Without mercy, he exposed her act.

“Enough. Stop pretending.”

If he still couldn't tell that she had been faking her condition these past few days to avoid studying, then the brain he'd grown this entire life would have been wasted.

“I only came to borrow a mirror.”

Hearing her disguise exposed directly, Ayla knew there was no point continuing the act.

She immediately dropped the pitiful expression and replaced it with a fierce glare.

“No!”

Planting both hands on her hips, Ayla bared her teeth aggressively at Lance, exposing her two sharp little canine teeth without reservation.

She had not forgotten the humiliation of being toyed with like a stray dog three days ago.

If he wanted her mirror, he could dream on!

Faced with such blatant uncooperativeness, Lance did not get angry.

He merely looked calmly into her eyes and offered a condition in an even tone.

“One bag of jerky.”

It was a snack he had specifically bought at the market yesterday afternoon, originally intended for Little Black and Doubao.

“Deal! I'll go get it right now!”

The arrogant expression on Ayla's face instantly blossomed into a sweet smile.

Since she'd already been exposed, life would soon return to being miserable anyway.

She immediately accepted reality.

For the sake of jerky, what was pride worth?

It was precisely because of this optimistic mindset that she had been able to wander around on her own so cheerfully without harboring any resentment toward the world.

However—

At the exact moment Ayla turned around to fetch the mirror—

A system notification suddenly appeared on Lance's retina.

【Detected that the vicious hound has expressed compromise and concession toward you. You have successfully obtained 3 Taming Points.】

Lance's heart immediately skipped a beat.

Not good!

Almost simultaneously with the system notification—

Ayla, who had just turned her back, suddenly stopped walking.

She felt an extremely strange tingling sensation spread from the base of her tailbone without any warning.

The faint tingling shot upward along her spine before surging directly into the back of her head.

Accompanied by this peculiar stimulation—

Her gray tail, which had previously been hanging slightly downward, suddenly slipped completely beyond her control.

The tail seemed to gain a life of its own.

It began wagging enthusiastically from side to side toward Lance behind her.

“Eh?”

Standing at the doorway, Lance looked at the tail wagging so vigorously that it seemed ready to sweep the floor.

All he felt was profound helplessness.

He immediately remembered the research trait he had unlocked three days ago while repeatedly flicking her forehead.

【Pleasure of Submission (Research Trait): Within the cruel laws of a wolf pack, the defeated must expose their most vulnerable soft belly to the alpha wolf as a sign of absolute submission.】

【Whenever the researched Demi-Human Race · Azure Moon Werewolves displays any form of “compromise” or “submission” toward you, the behavior will directly bypass rational thought.】

【Their central nervous system will be guided by your pheromones and secrete high concentrations of “Pleasure Hormones.”】

【Based on the degree of submission displayed by the target, you will obtain a corresponding amount of Taming Points.】

【These points may be used to issue “Forced Commands,” “Status Adjustments,” “Hypnosis,” or converted into tangible “Rewards” used to comfort the target.】

【Current Level 3 research progress uses consumed Taming Points as the advancement requirement. Current Progress: 0/300】

Lance silently sighed inwardly.

This was the exclusive trait he had developed from this wolf girl.

He should have known better.

There was simply no reason to expect anything normal from this research system.

Because he had been busy preparing for his Class Advancement Ritual these past few days, he had completely forgotten about this somewhat perverted trait.

What he had not expected was that the activation criteria were so lenient.

Ayla had merely made a verbal compromise for a few pieces of jerky—

And it had directly triggered her nervous system's reward mechanism.