Chapter 87: Chapter 83: New Skills in the Skill Tree_2

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“What kind of crap is this paper!”

In a secret underground laboratory in Jincheng, the project leader tossed a stack of documents onto the young researcher’s face.

The young researcher felt like crying but had no tears, “Mentor, wasn’t it you who asked me to produce a paper every month? I really have no more research findings!”

The project leader snorted coldly, “Next time you publish such academic trash, do not put my name as the advisor!”

“Okay, teacher.” The young researcher humbly picked up the documents from the ground.

“Forget it, you’ve been diligently working hard for the last six months, follow me!”

“Yes, yes, yes.” The young researcher’s eyes lit up.

Six months ago, a letter from the mentor called him here, along with the offer of a high salary.

The task was to learn new cutting-edge technological knowledge, summarize it, and publish a paper each month. If he met the standard, he would get to work on a higher-level project, with not only double the salary but also additional bonuses and a lot of honors if the experiment succeeded.

He had his fill of being fed such promises during his student days from his mentor; he ignored the promises and knew that the current monthly salary was twice what it was before, and that was enough for him!

It’s not so easy to publish papers. After writing two or three, emptying all the ink in his stomach, he began to pad his papers extensively.

Of course, in academia, it couldn’t be called padding. This was a “deep collection of knowledge.”

The young researcher followed his mentor through three special security doors and finally took an elevator down to a huge and incredibly secret cavity a hundred meters underground.

The size of this underground space was unknown, with silver metal flooring. In the distance, one could faintly hear the roar of a monster.

The young researcher swallowed hard, impressed by the scale of the facility.

By the time he snapped back to his senses, he had already fallen a few steps behind and hurried to catch up.

The young researcher stayed close behind his mentor.

After passing through several checks, the two arrived at a laboratory.

In the huge laboratory, there was a four to five meters tall colossal creature.

The young researcher looked up, stepped back half a step, and his face turned pale the moment he got a clear view of the creature.

“Te… Tea… Teacher!”

“Is this the Behemoth?”

Behind the glass wall, a four to five meters tall, twenty to thirty meters long behemoth lay sleeping soundly.

The monster had a large mouth that occupied one-third of its head.

Six eyes scattered across its head ensured it had no blind spots.

It had a small head, a fat and long belly, resembling a massive eggplant.

Two thick back legs and two thinner front legs.

He remembered that the Behemoth walked like a Tyrannosaurus rex, using its front legs to stabilize and lock its prey.

Its body was covered in flesh-red scales, and its large belly moved up and down with its breathing.

The researcher stiffly turned his neck, afraid that his own breathing was too loud and would wake the terrifying behemoth at bay, doubting that the thin layer of glass would stop the creature. Maybe the glass wall was designed to offer psychological comfort to passersby.

The inspiration for his padded paper came from the Behemoth, this inherently N100 level monster.

A symbol of insatiable hunger, it was known as the endless pit that could never be filled.

A monster that was almost continuously feeding for more than 22 hours a day.

But… the Behemoth was actually sleeping peacefully?

The young researcher felt this contradicted the knowledge he had acquired in school.

It is said that apocalyptic beasts, even while sleeping, would be awakened by an intense hunger that drives them to constantly hunt for prey.

The reason lies in their powerful digestive system, which can quickly process the food they consume, and a certain part of their brain that reportedly emits continuous hunger signals.

Over time, this has caused their kind to suffer from nervous weakness due to chronic sleep deprivation, making each of them exceptionally “aggressive”.

“Aren’t they very aggressive?”

“Sever the nerve in its head that emits the hunger signal, and it won’t feel hungry all the time,” the project leader snorted. “Inject it with a large amount of tranquilizers every day, and we have also developed a new high-energy food that can satisfy its hunger. Naturally, it has no reason to cause trouble here.”

“Mentor, am I in charge of this project?” the young researcher asked timidly.

“Who said it’s a project?” the mentor looked at him quizzically.

The young researcher was startled. This was not a project.

“I just brought you here to get acquainted, so you don’t accidentally get eaten by it next time you come in. It’s the security creature here.”

The project leader stepped forward and knocked on the glass.

Inside, the apocalyptic beast was still deep in sleep; seeing this, the project leader rubbed his brow in resignation.

He pressed the red button on the wall beside him.

From above, a mechanical sound whirred, and moments later, a splat…

A piece of fresh flesh fell to the ground.

The apocalyptic beast, with its eyes tightly shut as it slept, remained immobile, but its neck stretched out like a spring, extending seven or eight meters to snatch the piece of meat on the ground.

Only after securing the chunk of solid flesh did the beast’s six eyes snap open abruptly.

Bloodshot veins filled every single pitch-black eye.

“This is a new person, don’t eat him,” the project leader pointed to the young researcher beside him.

The apocalyptic beast slowly moved its neck, carefully scrutinizing for a while before retracting.

It closed its eyes and continued to sleep.

“It has memorized your scent, let’s go.”

The project leader patted his shoulder.

Passing through a narrow corridor, they finally arrived at a new hall.

Here, the young researcher saw the subject of the experiment he was involved in.

It was a monster resembling a hawk with a human body, nearly a meter tall.

With a human-like body structure, it was covered in dense black-golden feathers, and a narrow, vertical, golden lightning mark was on its forehead.

It had three pairs of enormous feathered wings on its back—one pair black and golden, another pair a fiery red, and the last pair pure white, albeit with specks of black feathers.

Beneath its knees were clawed legs similar to a hawk’s, crossed in a sitting position on the floor, while its upper body boasted two more delicate and slender claws, each pointing at the temple, with strands of aggressive lightning entwining around the fingertips.

The hawk-faced, human-bodied monster let out a “heh heh” rasping croak from its throat, its eyes shut tight.

The young researcher racked his brains, but couldn’t recall any monster that looked like this from his memory.

What monster was this?

“It’s called 079, a unique monster birthed just three months ago,” the project leader said. “Stop wondering what kind of monster it is; you won’t find it in any book.”

“Because in the whole world, it’s one of a kind!”

The young researcher’s pupils constricted as he contemplated a possibility.

“Currently, it is the closest to a successful creation; your task is to continuously produce different sedatives for it. It has a strong resistance to drugs, so we need to constantly change the composition and proportion of the sedatives.

Due to some reasons, its nerves are very fragile and somewhat abnormal, its temper even more ferocious than that of an apocalyptic beast.”