This Villain Ch.15

Chapter 15: What a good kid

Yu Yan, who was leaning against the tree trunk, suddenly turned his head and burst into laughter.

He felt a bit relieved, as if seeing a reclusive and introverted child learning to play a prank.

The small prank was rather endearing.

“Yao’er, you knocked over my ladder. How am I supposed to get down?” Yu Yan shouted from the tree.

012 stood at the base of the tree, looking up without exchanging any words, but his eyes showed a vivid emotion, much more alive than two months ago.

The tree was quite thick, with a smooth bark and a straight trunk. At two meters high, there was a branch, and at three meters high, another branch extended to the left and right.

It was a tree not easy to climb.

After observing, Yu Yan had a clear idea of the situation.

He sighed deeply and said to 012 with an affected tone of difficulty, “I know. You knocked down my ladder to make me stay up here and keep you company a bit longer.”

This shameless comment made 012’s wings on his back twitch, and the fingers hanging by his sides also moved, perhaps feeling a bit itchy.

“Since you used such a method to keep me here, I guess I’ll stay and keep you company for a while longer.” Yu Yan shook his head and leaned against the tree trunk with his arms crossed.

After all, it was his break time, and staying in the adjacent office or sitting in the tree made no difference.

“By the way, 012, your food is still up here. Aren’t you going to bring it down to drink?”

Yu Yan pointed to the plasma bag beside him and said, “Come on.”

012 had turned away and walked toward another tree without even looking back when a sudden shout came from behind: “Yao’er, catch!”

012 was caught off guard by the heavy blow, taking a hit from a plasma bag on the back of his head. His head tilted forward, and the plasma bag fell to the ground with a thud.

Yu Yan was stunned; he hadn’t expected to throw so accurately, nor had he anticipated that 012 wouldn’t react in time.

Maintaining the tilted-head position, 012 stiffly turned his head.

Yu Yan, changing from his previous lazy demeanor, swiftly flipped over, hooked a long leg onto another tree branch, and jumped down, striding straight toward the door.

“I’m starting work now. I’m leaving, leaving. I’ll come back next time.”

A bump had appeared on the back of 012’s head, so noticeable that even Su He saw it when she arrived.

With a serious expression, Su He asked, “Why does 012 have a bump on the back of his head? Is there something wrong with his body? Should we take him to the examination room for a check-up?”

Most of the viruses and bacteria on 012 were artificially transferred to him in the lab. Although 012 hadn’t died from these viruses, frequent bodily issues were normal.

To prevent sudden situations threatening 012’s life, his body data needed constant monitoring.

Su He, her mind full of rescue plans, was taken aback when Yu Yan said, “Oh, that’s my doing.”

Su He: “??”

“You did it?! You’ve returned to your old ways of taking action against the experimental subjects?” The righteous protagonist’s expression was ten times more serious than before.

“It was an accident, really an accident,” Yu Yan reiterated. Seeing the continued skepticism in her eyes, he had no choice but to explain the minor accident that had just occurred.

Su He’s expression was hard to describe: “Senior Kang, you really are not afraid of death.”

He was even actively seeking it.

012 never took the initiative to pay attention to people. Even after she often visited Senior Kang, 012 never even glanced at her. To him, humans were less significant than the chameleon or butterflies.

However, this temperamental senior of hers always seemed to deliberately provoke 012, unafraid of being attacked. It was dangerous, as an unintentional attack from him could be fatal.

“012’s temper is actually quite good. It’s not as good as mine, but he won’t hurt people casually,” Yu Yan said, glancing back at 012’s silhouette in the glass. He murmured, “It looks like that bump on his head is getting bigger.”

“Next time you bring food to 012, remember to take some medicine with you to reduce the bump and also give his head a simple check-up. Make sure he doesn’t have any serious issues from the blow,” Su He repeatedly reminded him.

Yu Yan glanced at 012’s health bar, which had risen to 88, and thought to himself that the guy was strong and vigorous.

If they, the ones who often stayed up late working on research and forgot to eat, had their health bars displayed, it would surely be lower than 012’s—just barely passing the threshold.

Yu Yan had a room full of small animals, and 012 had the largest appetite. When he first arrived, Yu Yan fed him once a day, and he never complained. Later, he discovered that he could finish three meals a day, and he realized he had always been hungry.

012’s true appetite was a bit shocking. He could consume six bags of purified blood plasma a day, and could ingest 5000ML of synthetic blood, which was equivalent to the total blood volume of an adult human.

In the lab, dangerous test subjects like 012 were only given enough food to meet their basic needs, not enough to keep them fully energized.

Once a test subject was fully energized, it could create problems for the experiments.

This was also why 012 was accustomed to sitting in one fixed spot without moving—to conserve energy and stamina.

Otherwise, given his genes, he would prefer flying around rather than sleeping.

Noticing 012’s large appetite, Yu Yan began bringing him four meals a day.

He only ate fresh food, and the extracted blood plasma had to be stored in a special place for refrigeration. If left out for too long, it would spoil.

He could eat a lot and digest quickly, which was also why 012’s wounds healed faster.

Conversely, if food was insufficient, 012 would lose weight rapidly, which was the state he was in when he first arrived.

Now, apart from the old scars, his fur had become smooth and sleek.

When Yu Yan arrived with the food, he saw 012 sleeping under a tree. He casually used the hand-held examination device to check his head and applied some medicine from Su He, rubbing it onto 012’s head.

As he touched 012’s head through the isolation gloves, he marveled at how smooth his feathers were, noting that it seemed like they had no issues with hair loss.

012 might have been drowsy. Normally, he would wake up alert at the slightest proximity, but this time Yu Yan rubbed his head several times before he slowly opened his eyes.

Yu Yan took the opportunity to rub his head a few more times.

His silver-gray eyes looked almost translucent under the light. When Yu Yan was suddenly stared at by him, he felt a chill run down his spine instinctively.

Pulling his hand back, Yu Yan did not retreat but instead leaned in closer, smiling and saying, “You’re awake. It’s time to eat.”

012 moved his head away from his fingers and sat up.

“Yao’er, don’t be mad. I’m sorry, it wasn’t intentional. I even got scolded by the junior just now.”

“If not, should I let you hit me back?”

Yu Yan turned around, presenting the back of his head to 012.

“Go ahead, hit me.”

His head was covered in protective clothing, so only a rounded curve was visible.

Yu Yan remained calm, thinking 012 wouldn’t actually retaliate.

To his surprise, he did feel a slight touch on the back of his head.

Yu Yan’s heart skipped a beat: No way, is he really holding a grudge?

He started to protest, but before he could, 012 had already pulled his hand away.

It seemed 012 had only accidentally touched him. When Yu Yan turned back, he had already flown up to the tree with the food, turning his back to him.

Relieved, Yu Yan grabbed the examination device and walked out, muttering, “What a good kid.”

Su He, who had witnessed the whole interaction from outside the glass, was clutching her racing heart.

During that moment, when 012 lifted his hand towards Senior Kang’s head, Su He had almost feared he would tear through the thin protective clothing and grab Senior Kang’s head and hair.

The dangerous premonition had come out of nowhere, and fortunately, it didn’t come true.

012’s sharp fingers had only brushed against Yu Yan before withdrawing, and nothing dreadful had happened.

“Senior Kang, don’t you think 012’s nails are too sharp now? They need to be trimmed,” Su He suggested.

“They do grow pretty fast. Next time, I’ll bring a nail clipper so he can trim them himself,” Yu Yan casually replied.

Su He: ……

“Otherwise, Senior Kang, maybe you should wear a thicker protective suit next time you bring food?” Su He suggested again.

Yu Yan thought it wasn’t necessary. Even the high-grade protective suits worn by Zhou Xiangcheng had been torn apart by 012 when he went berserk.

As long as 012 wasn’t in a rage, it didn’t matter what kind of protective suit he wore. This thin layer of protective clothing was only for isolating virus transmission, not for defending against beast attacks.

“If you’re really worried that one day I might meet a tragic end at 012’s hands, why not work on developing a drug to suppress the viruses in his body sooner?” Yu Yan said with a smile.

Su He immediately masked her concern: “I’ll head off for the day.”

She enjoyed research, but she couldn’t work around the clock. Recently, in addition to her own projects, she had to find time to study 012’s viruses.

The useless senior only knew how to idle away his time with the experimental subjects, while she was left with dark circles under her eyes that couldn’t be covered.

Yu Yan wanted to leave as well, but with so many experimental subjects in the lab, there was always more work to be done.

Previously, he had three assistants helping out, but due to the recent visit from the Central District research team, he had only left one assistant, Xiao Gao, to help, to avoid leaking any information.

Despite this, he was still busy until dark, and only after finishing his tasks did he finally leave.

…

In the Fifth District Research Institute, the lights remained on until late into the night, with Kang Shi’s research room being one of the first to close.

Late at night, as other researchers gradually left, the assistant researcher Xiao Gao walked into the research institute through the deepening night.

Researchers who knew him greeted him: “Assistant Gao, we’re about to clock out. Why are you coming back at this hour? Don’t tell me you’re here to work overtime?”

“No, I forgot something and came back to get it,” Xiao Gao said, greeting them quickly before hurrying toward Kang Shi’s research room.

The lights in this section were off, but they flickered on as he approached.

At the entrance of the research room, Xiao Gao verified his identity, wiping the sweat from his palms, and tried to enter as normally as possible.

Inside the lab, the experimental subjects stirred upon hearing the noise. The dragon snapping turtle peeked out of its area, bumping its head against the glass with a series of thuds.

Xiao Gao ignored it, not bothering to interact with or restrain it like Yu Yan did, nor did he take it to the hot sand pool.

Instead, he stood in place, nervously monitoring 012’s enclosure for a moment before heading straight to the control room.

Here, he could manage the water and air exchange in the enclosures. The disinfectant spray function for 012’s enclosure was also controlled from this room.

Xiao Gao took out a small vial of unlabelled liquid and added it to a designated atomizer.

In 012’s enclosure, as with every night, a cold white mist silently sprayed from the atomizer, maintaining the humidity in the area.

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**TN

I will be posting 3 chapters a day from now on (I posted 3 yesterday), 2 in the morning and 1 in the evening (GMT+8).