Chapter 9: The disgust value is increased by 100 (not really)
“What’s with all the colorful stuff in your little night wolf’s nest?” Yu Yan asked, standing in front of the mutant silver wolf’s territory.
Su He, organizing her data, didn’t look up and said, “Those are toys I made for Xiao Ye.”
She had actually made them herself using her old clothes.
This was a habit Xiao Ye had since it was young. When Su He got separated from her team in the wilderness, the young silver wolf accompanied and protected her through several dangerous nights.
Later, Xiao Ye lived with her at her home for a short period before coming to the research institute for treatment.
Every time they moved to a new place, the young wolf struggled to adapt, staying awake all night, looking around with its eyes wide open, and making whimpering sounds.
When Su He couldn’t be with it, she made toys from her clothes carrying her scent and placed them in the wolf’s nest. Gradually, the young wolf got used to its new home.
Now that the young wolf had grown into a big wolf, it still liked toys with her scent.
“I made balls and some stuffed toys. Usually, it likes to push them out and play with them, but if someone it doesn’t like is nearby, it hides all the toys in its nest and guards them.”
Yu Yan understood: “So it’s wary of me, huh?”
Su He neither confirmed nor denied, glancing at Xiao Ye’s alert, upright ears. She handed the organized data to Yu Yan, urging him, “Alright, go back and check on your experimental subject.”
Stop bothering her.
The two of them had a collaborative project, and this month, they had interacted more than in the past few years combined, spending more time in each other’s labs.
After spending this time together, Su He found it hard not to change her opinion of this senior who had undergone such a drastic personality change.
If it weren’t for the matching biological information, Su He would have doubted whether the person in front of her was actually Kang Shi.
Yu Yan didn’t hurry to leave, flipping through the chameleon virus antibody experiment records Su He had given him.
“Since we’ve started the research, why not continue? There are still many viruses on 012.” Yu Yan seemed to say casually.
Su He paused, “You should know how complex this project is. The many mixed viruses on 012 are entirely different from the two viruses the chameleon was infected with. There won’t be any results in the short term.”
“Isn’t it normal for it to take a long time? All your projects are long-term, so one more shouldn’t be an issue.”
Yu Yan slowly flipped through the experiment records. He had learned a lot from Su He and had a good understanding of her character and preferences. At this moment, he looked up and smiled:
“Honestly, don’t you want to continue researching these complex viruses?”
Su He: “…” She did.
However, this meant she would likely have to take the lead, and 012 would essentially be handed over to her for research.
“Are you willing?” Su He asked again, incredulous.
Few researchers were willing to share their precious experimental subjects with others. She, for one, would never let anyone else study Xiao Ye.
“I am quite willing, actually. I’ll go back and ask 012 if he’s willing.” Yu Yan smiled, waving the documents in his hand. “I’m off!”
When Yu Yan returned to his domain, he glanced at 012, who was once again staring at the chameleon that had narrowly escaped death.
Sipping his tea, Yu Yan rubbed the dark circles under his eyes from all the overtime and thought that 012 might be too bored.
Since Su He’s wolf had a nest full of toys, maybe he should get some toys for his little animals as well. Even zoos had to provide enrichment activities.
But for now, he needed to have a conversation with 012.
After putting on protective gear, he entered 012’s enclosure. Upon seeing him, 012 automatically raised his arm to point out the chameleon’s hiding spot.
“I’m not here to find it today. I want to talk to you.” Yu Yan lowered 012’s arm and squatted in front of him.
“Want some snacks?” Yu Yan offered the honeyed dried fruit.
To make the atmosphere more relaxed, he had specifically brought 012’s favorite snack.
012 took the dried fruit and simultaneously extended his right hand for a blood draw.
Yu Yan pressed his arm down again. “We’re not drawing blood today either. We’re just having a light, friendly chat.”
012 sucked on the sweetness of the dried fruit with a calm expression, and the disgust value above his head increased by 1.
It was clear that he wasn’t keen on a friendly chat, but Yu Yan pretended not to notice.
“I want to continue researching the viruses on your body with Su He. We aim to remove the more troublesome and highly infectious viruses, so that, ideally, you can live freely in the wild without causing the death of any creatures you come into contact with. What do you think?”
“……”
“Do you want to go to places outside of human living areas? There are plenty of wildflowers and not just winter bell trees.”
“……”
“I see you quite like small animals. Would you like to touch that chameleon or other furry little animals? I think furry animals are cute. What do you think?”
Yu Yan continued to chat casually, with no particular theme, and the conversation quickly veered into strange territory.
012 remained silent, only staring at him with those indifferent eyes.
Yu Yan talked for a long time, then shifted the conversation back on track, ending with, “So, are you willing to let us continue the research?”
“Why ask me?” 012 replied in his strange pronunciation. “I am a locked-up test subject. I cannot refuse.”
“You can refuse. If you don’t want to, that’s fine,” Yu Yan said casually, and he genuinely meant it.
His attitude towards life was laid-back; if it worked, it worked, and if it didn’t, that was fine too.
Proposing this was just to save everyone some trouble and because he felt a bit sorry for the “little animal” in front of him who could spend a whole day chewing on a piece of dried fruit.
‘Strange human,’ 012 thought.
“Alright,” he said.
Whether it was cutting his skin or taking his bones for research, it didn’t matter. It was the same as before.
Perhaps it being the same as before made him feel a bit more secure.
Having received a response, Yu Yan didn’t leave immediately. Instead, he asked, “012, do you like colorful balls?”
“……”
“This life is too boring. What kind of toys do you want?”
“……”
Suddenly, 012’s wings, which had been neatly folded behind him, spread out. With a swift motion, he flew up and perched on a branch of the winter bell tree.
His stance clearly showed his resistance to further interaction.
Yu Yan looked up in surprise. “You can actually fly.”
It was the first time he realized 012 could fly. The wings were silver-gray membranes, and they were damaged. 012’s body was slender and looked similar to that of a normal adult male. Normally, such wings shouldn’t be able to support his weight.
Yu Yan grew curious and wanted to investigate further. But no matter how he called, 012 on the tree ignored him and showed no intention of coming down.
With a sigh of regret, Yu Yan gave up and walked towards the door.
After taking a few steps, Yu Yan suddenly clutched his chest in pain, collapsed to his knees, and lost consciousness.
The feeding area was silent. After a moment, the sound of wings flapping broke the stillness.
012 quietly approached the human lying on the ground.
Suddenly, Yu Yan flipped over and grabbed 012’s ankle.
“Wow, you’re so light,” Yu Yan said, lifting him slightly and realizing his weight was surprisingly low.
012, realizing he had been tricked by the human, was instantly furious, his ear feathers standing up as he raised his hand to punish Yu Yan.
Yu Yan ran away, dodging and ducking into the decontamination room.
After removing his protective suit, Yu Yan stood outside 012’s glass enclosure, beckoning to him.
012, now visibly displaying anger, grabbed a bunch of winter bell flowers and threw them at the glass in front of Yu Yan.
Yu Yan shook his head leisurely, saying, “Oh, so fierce. I’m scared.”
Xiao Gao, Yu Yan’s assistant, who had rushed over in a panic after seeing his boss seemingly collapse on the monitor, silently walked away upon witnessing the scene.
Recently, Dr. Kang’s temper had improved, but his behavior had become more unpredictable.
Yesterday, Xiao Gao had seen him deliberately knock on the shell of the dragon snapping turtle and play tug-of-war with it using food, which had angered the turtle so much that it dug a large hole in the hot sand pool. Today, Dr. Kang was provoking 012, making him angry enough to throw things at the glass.
Nevertheless, it was impressive that Dr. Kang could provoke 012 to the point of smashing the glass. Since 012 had arrived at the lab, Xiao Gao had never seen him show any expression; it was the first time he realized 012 could even get angry.
After teasing the lab’s animals, Yu Yan felt refreshed and went to work.
He opened the experimental subject application form, spent some time looking at it, and selected a few new subjects.
He chose the iridescent phosphorescent butterfly and the mutated yellow-bellied bee.
These two creatures were prepared as “companions” for 012. They didn’t have any special characteristics, but the viruses on 012 wouldn’t infect them, making them rare living beings that could share the same space with a virus carrier.
Besides adding “toys” for 012, Yu Yan also added a stone turtle to the dragon snapping turtle’s hot sand pool as a companion and placed a nest of small ants in the firebird’s enclosure, allowing it to peck at the ants for food when it was bored.
In 012’s enclosure, two flowering trees were added, but he didn’t react to them. However, when a dozen butterflies and a hive of bees were introduced, he finally turned to observe them.
The yellow-bellied bees’ hive was placed on one of the flowering trees. Yu Yan knocked on the glass and said to 012, “See those bees? They produce nectar and store it in their hive. Honey, that’s the sweet stuff I gave you.”
012 turned away, ignoring him.
Yu Yan felt a bit deflated but still left work with a smile.
The next day, when Yu Yan went to work, he eagerly observed 012 and wasn’t entirely surprised to see a swollen bump on his face from a bee sting.
Yu Yan couldn’t hold back and burst into laughter while leaning against the glass.
In fact, the mutated yellow-bellied bees were quite different from regular honeybees and didn’t produce honey.
What a troll 😂😂😂