Chapter 273: The Monsters Bred by Mad Medical Experts

What emerged from the earth cavern was a humanoid creature, but its size was more than double that of an American lion—no normal person could ever grow that large.

From afar, the humanoid creature had hands and feet, its body covered in brown-black fur; it braced its hands against the cavern edge, and its sturdy frame nearly four meters long slowly shifted out, revealing a tail about two meters long.

Lu Xingfeng immediately magnified the periscope view; on the electronic screen, a face appeared that resembled both an American lion and a human.

"Humanoid... American lion?" Lu Xingfeng exclaimed in disbelief, "On the American continent over two thousand years ago, there actually existed such a bizarre creature?"

Even though Lu Xingfeng was versed in martial arts and seated inside the tank, seeing something that looked like a monster still made his heart pound.

Roar!

The humanoid American lion monster let out another roar.

That sound was like a human wail combined with a big cat's roar, sending chills down one's spine.

As the roar rang out, Ning Yao felt her viscera resonate; the instinctive fear left her mind blank.

Lu Xingfeng also dazed for half a second, relying on timely circulation of Internal Strength to fend off that strange sensation.

In the moment they lost focus, the monster leapt ten meters away, disappearing from the tank's electronic screen view.

Lu Xingfeng swiftly turned the periscope, but the monster moved as fast as lightning, and the periscope could barely keep up with its tail.

Fortunately, the tank's observation system was highly advanced; besides the periscope, it had thermal imaging and biological sensing radar, and the electronic screen showed a light spot continually approaching the tank.

Ning Yao stared at the screen, sucking in a breath of cold air: "What incredible speed! It could keep up with a high-speed rail! Is this really a creature that could exist in nature? Even a cheetah's running speed is less than half of it!"

Hardly had she finished speaking.

Lu Xingfeng suddenly pulled Ning Yao tightly into his embrace.

Bang!

A muffled thud came from outside the cabin!

The tank, weighing over seventy tons, was actually shaken by the impact.

Although Lu Xingfeng promptly shielded Ning Yao, the penetrating impact still threw both of them from their seats.

The tank's interior was cramped, and the dazed pair nearly got wedged in a gap.

Before Lu Xingfeng could steady Ning Yao, the tank shuddered again!

Bang!!

This time the force was even more terrifying.

Ning Yao even began to worry that the monster might overturn the tank.

At that very moment, inside the research institute, the group of mad medical experts remained excited and agitated as they observed and recorded.

"It didn't charge straight in; instead, it chose to run around and attack from the flank, proving it possesses a certain level of intelligence."

"Its burst running speed has reached nearly three hundred kilometers per hour—perhaps that isn't its limit!"

"..."

In the Playground.

After ramming the tank twice, the monster failed to inflict any damage on it; instead, it battered itself into a bloody mess, its skull split open, bones exposed.

It then let out a low growl and retreated more than ten meters away, crouching like an American lion, its pair of eyes glowing with a lurid green light fixedly staring at the steel behemoth before it.

"Now!" Ning Yao shouted, "Uncle Lu, aim quickly! I'll fire!"

Under Lu Xingfeng's swift control, the tank's gun turret turned toward the monster.

The monster remained motionless, continuing to stare.

Boom!

A shell flew out of the barrel.

In the blink of an eye, it struck the monster's position over ten meters away, exploding with a deafening boom, flames erupting and thick smoke rolling.

Although it was only an ordinary tank shell, its power was still terrifying enough that, under normal circumstances, no animal in this world could withstand it outright.

When the smoke cleared, a pit three to four meters in diameter appeared on the ground.

No trace of the monster's bodily remains could be seen in the pit.

"Blown to bits?" Ning Yao asked.

"No!" Lu Xingfeng shouted, "It dodged! At the three o'clock direction!"

Ning Yao looked through the periscope and saw the monster's head appear over fifty meters away at the three o'clock position; this fellow had actually dodged at the exact moment the shell landed.

Nevertheless, it looked no better: its head was split and bleeding, shrapnel from shells embedded in its body, its fur stained red with blood.

"Give it another round!" Ning Yao said.

Lu Xingfeng re-aimed and quickly locked onto the target.

Ning Yao decisively pressed the shell launch button.

The second rocket-propelled shell struck; the monster, severely wounded and much slower, was hit squarely.

Boom!!

A second large crater appeared on the ground.

This time, the monster was nearly blown to pieces.

Only its head, half of its chest and abdomen, and one right hand remained; the rest scattered like heavenly maidens scattering flowers, mingling with the dirt.

Ning Yao felt relieved, a triumphant smile on her face: "Hmph, after all it's still flesh and blood; no matter how fierce and formidable, before thermal weapons it amounts to nothing."

"Miss Ning, your hand is bleeding," Lu Xingfeng reminded.

Ning Yao raised her hand and saw she had split the skin on the back of her hand, likely from being thrown when the monster struck the tank.

"I can't believe it wounded me..." Ning Yao's eyes flashed with resentment as she gazed at the monster's remains through the periscope, "That bastard hasn't quite breathed its last; I'll personally chop off its head."

At that moment, a voice came over the walkie-talkie from the person in charge: "Miss Ning, that animal still possesses aggression; you had best not leave the tank."

Ning Yao asked, "What exactly is this species?"

The person in charge said proudly, "It doesn't belong to any known species, because it is our masterpiece; we combined the embryos of our test-subject natives with ancient American lion genes, and added genes from several other animals to assist. It possesses a certain intelligence, and has greater size, strength, and speed than an American lion, oh right, and also a degree of self-healing ability. Although still in the early stages of modification, it is already quite formidable."

"No wonder it's so scary," Ning Yao frowned, "After all this, it's the test-subject monster you guys created. This damned thing hurt me—I need to vent my anger!"

After saying that, she opened the tank hatch, climbed out, jumped to the ground, took the special forces short dagger strapped to her waist, and strode angrily toward the monster.

At that moment, the monster had its eyes closed, its shattered chest slowly heaving, a heart larger than a human head exposed outside the wound, still beating strongly.

Moreover, visible signs of healing appeared at the wound sites.

Ning Yao couldn't help but admire the people at the research institute—they were crazy enough, and indeed capable enough, that without modern world rules they'd managed to create something like this.

"You're impressive; I've had a lot of fun this time. I'll make your head into a bone specimen as a keepsake," Ning Yao said with a cold smile, driving her sharp dagger into the monster's neck, intending to cut off its head.

Just then, the monster suddenly opened its eyes, its sickly green pupils gleaming with a ghastly light.

Ning Yao was caught off guard and fell sitting on her buttocks from fright.

The monster suddenly grabbed her calf with its remaining right hand; its sharp claws tore through her pants like cutting tofu and dug deep into her calf flesh.

"Ah!" Ning Yao screamed in terror, drew her dagger and fiercely chopped at the monster's wrist.

The monster, however, seemed unaffected, gripping her tightly as it tried to bring her to its mouth.

All of this happened too quickly.

Ning Yao saw only a bloody maw full of fangs appear before her nose, the foul, hot breath almost making her faint.

Pfft—

A blade flash passed.

The monster's right hand suddenly snapped into two pieces.

Before the monster could swallow her head in one bite, Lu Xingfeng, who had rushed over, rescued her in time.

"Miss Ning, are you alright?" Lu Xingfeng shouted, simultaneously chopping off the monster's right hand and grabbing Ning Yao as they retreated several steps.

Ning Yao's face turned pale from pain; she didn't dare lower her head to look at her leg, clinging to Lu Xingfeng's arm and saying, "My leg… it hurts so much…"

Lu Xingfeng glanced at her bloody, mangled calf and softly reassured her: "Don't worry, it's only a flesh wound, no damage to tendons or bones—it can be healed."

"Uncle Lu… kill it for me!" Ning Yao shouted, eyes filled with fear and anger.

"Okay!"

Lu Xingfeng circulated his internal strength and threw the knife in his hand at the monster.

The next second, the monster's head—larger than a truck wheel—detached from its neck, slammed heavily to the ground and rolled several meters away.

Even so, the monster's mutilated torso kept twitching, its hideous, fang-filled bloody maw still gaping and biting wildly.

Click-click-click—

The special forces on the watchtower received the person-in-charge's order, pulled the machine-gun trigger, and poured fire onto the monster's head,

until the head was blasted into minced meat, at which point the gunfire ceased.

"Uncle Lu… I… my head… feels dizzy…" Ning Yao said, then suddenly went limp and lost consciousness.

Lu Xingfeng quickly hugged her and rushed her to the research institute for treatment.

Originally, Lu Xingfeng wasn't too worried about her injury—although it looked frightening, there was no bone damage, and besides, this place had M State's most complete and advanced medical equipment, with medical experts of top-notch skill.

But he hadn't expected that after waiting over an hour, Ning Yao still hadn't been taken out of the operating room.

The situation seemed off.

He wanted to barge in to have a look, but the person-in-charge of the research institute stopped him.

Lu Xingfeng grabbed the person-in-charge by the throat, lifted him up, and warned in a cold voice: "If Miss Ning suffers any mishap, Ning Hai and I will not let any of you off the hook."

The person-in-charge's face flushed liver-colored, "Lu… Mr. Lu… you… you first… let go… let me go…"

Lu Xingfeng released his grip.

The person-in-charge fell to the ground, propping himself up with his hands, panting heavily: "Miss Ning's… her injury isn't the problem; the problem is… she's been poisoned…"

"Poisoned?!" Lu Xingfeng snapped, "How could she possibly be poisoned out of the blue?!"

The person-in-charge struggled to his feet: "It's like this—the humanoid ferocious beast we bred mainly contains indigenous human and American lion genes, plus some animal genes we tried adding to enhance its abilities, such as the silver-spotted lizard, black widow spider, American vampire bat, and several others—over a dozen types in total, a few of which are poisonous species. The fusion and mutation of genes is miraculous… we never expected that the beast's claws would grow venom glands, which is why Miss Ning got poisoned."

"What kind of poison, and can it be neutralized?" Lu Xingfeng's face grew ever darker.

The person-in-charge replied with a forced smile: "It's the toxin unique to that humanoid ferocious beast; we've already figured out a solution—its serum can neutralize it, and fortunately we've kept plenty of its serum for improving later test subjects. However… this antidote method is only theoretical for now; why don't you first inform Mr. Ning Hai?"

Lu Xingfeng grabbed the person-in-charge's collar, eyes blazing with killing intent, "You mean there's danger?!"

The person-in-charge hastily said: "It's not danger, it's risk—scientific experiments always come with various unexpected situations; please don't kill me, otherwise Miss Ning might never wake up!"

"You…" Lu Xingfeng's gaze looked like he wanted to devour someone.

After spending these days together, Ning Yao's reliance on him made him unconsciously start to care about this girl.

Now faced with this situation, he genuinely worries for her.

A few seconds later, Lu Xingfeng released his grip, stared fixedly at the person-in-charge, and said: "Mr. Ning Hai is very busy, and I also don't want to worry him. In short, I've told you this: if Miss Ning suffers any accident, I will make sure every person in this research institute dies without a whole body."

"Don't worry," the person-in-charge said, forcing a smile while masking his fear of Lu Xingfeng, "Including myself, the dozens of medical experts here all have world-class skill; Miss Ning will surely be unharmed."

Thus, Lu Xingfeng approved the person-in-charge's detoxification plan.

The person-in-charge entered the operating room, while Lu Xingfeng continued waiting outside.

Inside the operating room.

Ning Yao had sunk into deep coma, and the spot on her calf where the claws had stabbed showed signs of ulceration.

The person-in-charge ordered the administration of serum detoxification.

Soon, the prepared serum was injected into Ning Yao's bloodstream.

On the nearby vital-signs monitor, various numbers kept fluctuating.

A few minutes later, her heartbeat suddenly stopped.

The chief physician shook his head at the person-in-charge.

Faced with this situation, the person-in-charge, himself a medical expert, naturally didn't need the chief physician to explain things in detail.

He stared at the dense data on the instrument without changing his expression, pondered briefly, and said: "Continue the injection."

The attending physician didn't hesitate, immediately giving Ning Yao several more injections of serum.

"There's a change, continue!" The person in charge stared at the instrument display, excitement flashing in their eyes.

The attending physician then continuously injected the remaining prepared serum.

Until the last drop of serum was used up, Ning Yao's heart began beating again.

And her temperature shot up to forty degrees in just a few seconds, while other vital signs also showed varying degrees of abnormality.

If one only looked at the numbers, this would already be outside the normal human range, yet Ning Yao was still doing fine; although she hadn't opened her eyes, her breathing and heartbeat were steady and strong.

The person in charge discerned some situation from the countless complex data, a glint of sharpness flashing in his eyes as he told the attending doctor, "We can leave now; have a few nurses clean up Miss Ning's wounds."

The attending doctor seemed to understand something as well, nodded, took along the nearby surgical team members, and left the operating room together with the person in charge.

After the few nurses they had arranged entered, the person in charge quietly locked the operating room door from outside……