Chapter 8: The Chameleon Accident
Wearing his protective suit, Yu Yan walked into 012’s habitat. It was the first time 012 actively approached him.
“It’s there,” 012 repeated, pointing at the winter bell tree.
Despite his 20/20 vision, Yu Yan couldn’t see the perfectly camouflaged, motionless chameleon.
Seeing that Yu Yan was still leisurely taking his time without checking, 012 suddenly grabbed Yu Yan’s wrist.
As soon as he touched it, he immediately let go, still unaccustomed to the warmth radiating through the thin gloves. He then grabbed Yu Yan’s clothing, pulling him towards the winter bell tree.
Yu Yan felt as if his wrist had been frozen by an ice block, then a strong tug forced him to quicken his pace and follow 012 to the winter bell tree. 012 grabbed his arm and pressed Yu Yan’s hand against the rough tree trunk.
In the next moment, the seemingly normal tree trunk suddenly came to life!
The chameleon, pinned down, revealed the uncamouflaged color of its belly.
Yu Yan’s eyebrows twitched as he realized 012’s distress.
It turned out there was an intruder in his territory, taking his spot, which explained why he stood pitifully by the glass, waiting to report it.
“You sneaky little thing, how did you end up here? No wonder I couldn’t find you during feeding time.”
Yu Yan grabbed the chameleon’s tail, pinning its head to keep it from escaping.
“Alright, I caught it. Your territory is yours again,” Yu Yan said to 012.
012 had already let go of his arm and taken two steps back. Hearing this, he looked at Yu Yan steadily, his bright red lips parting.
“It will die, infected by the virus.”
Yu Yan instantly understood his meaning, feeling a wave of surprise.
012 was worried that the chameleon would die from being infected with his virus. This was the real reason for his “anxiety.”
It was hard to imagine that 012, who was concerned about a chameleon, would infect countless humans and mutants in the world line, almost causing mass extinction.
Having fed it so many times by hand, Yu Yan had developed a bit of a caretaker mentality and quickly patted 012’s head.
“You’re a good kid.”
Before the disgust value on 012’s head could spike, Yu Yan grabbed the chameleon with one hand and started walking out.
“Don’t worry, I’ll go check on it.”
Chameleons were different from humans; 012’s virus was more easily transmitted to humans.
The chameleon, placed in the isolation box for testing, lay there with only its eyes moving. In the few seconds Yu Yan glanced at the data, the chameleon inside had already assimilated with the silver box.
“Hey, stop, stop changing.” Yu Yan knocked on the box.
The color change of a mid-level mutant chameleon not only altered its visual appearance but could also interfere with machine detection.
Yu Yan reached in to turn the chameleon over, exposing its belly to slow down the color change, and tested it again.
Seeing how sluggish it was moving, Yu Yan knew the situation was likely not good.
When the test report came back, it confirmed the chameleon was infected with the virus from 012.
The good news was that out of the twenty-something viruses carried by 012, it had only been infected with two.
Moreover, mid-level mutants had a stronger resistance to viruses than humans, so there was still hope.
Yu Yan, inheriting some knowledge about viruses from the original owner, leaned against the box, pondering that he needed external help.
There was only one candidate for that help: Su He.
She was destined to be the main character who would save the world, a genius who, in the original storyline, developed a genetic potion that saved humanity from extinction.
She could develop a dr*g to resist the virus from 012’s mutation, so this should be no problem for her.
This would also help her gain experience in advance.
Yu Yan carried the isolation box with the chameleon and walked familiarly into Su He’s lab area.
“Junior, I’m here to ask for your help.”
Busy with her own experiments, Su He looked up blankly, unaware that a work hell was awaiting her.
After Yu Yan explained his purpose, Su He stared at him, asking repeatedly as if she hadn’t heard clearly, “You mean to say you want to start a new project with me to research a virus dr*g?”
Still cramming virus knowledge and only able to act as an assistant, Yu Yan shamelessly said, “Yes.”
“Actually, it’s because of this chameleon.” Yu Yan placed the isolation box in front of Su He. “It sneaked into 012’s isolation area and got infected with two viruses. I want to research an antibody to save it.”
Su He was soft-hearted and particularly fond of animals.
Although she didn’t believe that “Senior Kang” had such good intentions to start a project specifically to save a mid-level experimental subject, she still agreed.
“So, which two viruses did it get infected with?” Su He asked.
Yu Yan knew that she had agreed and assumed Su He was moved by his sincerity.
“It’s the z87 virus from the α series and the B04 virus.”
In the end, their virus antibody research group was set up in Yu Yan’s lab area because Su He’s place was already packed with too many experimental subjects, leaving no space for a new project lab.
Yu Yan wisely didn’t object, noting the large area occupied by the mutant silver wolf, and agreed to divide his office space.
With the establishment of the new research group, Xiao Gao and the other three could come over to help, making Yu Yan’s lab area no longer in a “closed for reorganization” state but bustling with activity every day.
The chameleon, the main culprit behind all this, lay quietly in the transparent isolation box with several vials of medicine stuck into it.
The α series virus reduced its bodily functions, rendering it immobile. The already sluggish creature was now completely still.
After changing the chameleon’s vials, Yu Yan noticed 012 standing by the glass, watching.
He had been doing this frequently these past two days.
Yu Yan walked over and saw that the emotional display above 012’s head was calm, with no signs of worry or anxiety, yet he still showed concern for the chameleon.
“Knock, knock.” Yu Yan tapped on the glass and curiously asked him, “Are you worried about that chameleon?”
012 kept staring at the chameleon’s isolation box and replied, “Not worried. It will die.”
The tone was too indifferent, but Yu Yan sensed that this strange guy seemed a bit sad. He tapped the glass again to draw 012’s gaze to himself and repeated, “It won’t die.”
After being serious for just a couple of seconds, Yu Yan squeezed the back of his neck and sighed, “Even if it does die, it’s not your fault, you know that?”
“I didn’t notice it sneaking into another enclosure, which led to its infection. That’s my responsibility.”
“So stop standing here and go sit under the tree.”
If he kept standing there, Xiao Gao and the others would keep stopping to look, and Su He was also concerned, which was affecting the progress of their experiments.
To develop an antibody, they needed to extract the virus from 012. Dressed in protective gear, Yu Yan entered the enclosure, not to bring food this time, but to draw blood from 012.
012 was sitting under the tree again. Yu Yan walked over, squatted in front of him, and extended both hands.
“Guess what I have in my hands?”
012 thought he was really strange. He had just watched him bring a blood-drawing needle inside; they all knew it, and he wouldn’t forget in such a short time.
012 was unwilling to cooperate, so Yu Yan opened his left hand to reveal a piece of sweet dried fruit.
“Here, have a piece of honeyed dried fruit. We need to draw some blood.”
Last night, Yu Yan stayed up late reading and discovered that 012 had rare northern bird genes, and this bird loved various fruits and flower nectar.
Yu Yan casually took some snacks offered by Xiao Gao, hoping to see if 012 would like a change in taste.
“I won’t resist the blood draw,” 012 said, so there was no need to use food as bait.
As 012 spoke, Yu Yan took the opportunity to stuff the dried fruit into his mouth. Then, he pulled his hand over and began to draw blood.
Yu Yan was very skilled at this, having practiced on children while working in the hospital.
012, who had never tasted honey before, was stunned by the sweetness spreading in his mouth. He bit the dried fruit and sucked on it, his head slowly tilting to one side.
Yu Yan took the needle out, noticing how unusually cooperative 012 was. When he looked up, he saw 012 seriously savoring the dried fruit, so much so that he didn’t care about anything else around him.
“Good boy,” Yu Yan said, mischievously ruffling his hair before quickly leaving with the blood sample.
With 012’s blood sample, Su He’s tireless research, and Yu Yan’s growing assistance, the chameleon began to recover.
Once it started moving, the isolation box became too small for it. After rechecking its infection levels, Yu Yan placed it in the enclosure next to 012.
“Okay, it’s slowly recovering now. You’re in charge of watching it,” Yu Yan joked with 012.
012 took the joke seriously and watched it every day.
Whenever Yu Yan passed by and saw 012 staring fixedly at a spot, he knew the chameleon was hiding there.
The chameleon’s camouflage ability was so strong that even in a narrow isolation box, it was hard to spot when it stayed still, let alone in a larger space.
Every day, Yu Yan struggled to find the chameleon to give it injections and feed it. Each time, he would have to knock on 012’s glass and ask, “012, where’s the chameleon?”
With vision ten times better than a normal human’s, 012 would sweep his gaze over the area and point out the chameleon’s hiding spot.
The day the chameleon fully regained its vitality, Yu Yan made a point of holding up the long-tailed little creature to show 012.
“Look, it’s better now. I told you it wouldn’t die.”
012 stared at the chameleon for a while, and the disgust value above his head, which hadn’t changed in a long time, decreased from 30 to 29.
Yu Yan, holding the weighty chameleon, couldn’t help but laugh.
This guy, adding disgust points 10 at a time and subtracting them 1 at a time, huh?
