Chapter 145: There are beasts above us!

"We are now entering the research institute's perimeter. No electronic devices are allowed inside. Furthermore, the tour may take the better part of the day. If you two have matters to attend to..."

Amidst idle chatter and empty promises, Lin Ying and Chen Zhiyu arrived before the gate of the 【Dongxiang Spirit Beast Research Institute】.

This place is a restricted military zone; no map shows its existence. Even approaching it, all signals except for the internal network are blocked.

Before entering the sentry-guarded zone, Director Yang explained the situation to the two, suggesting they handle any urgent business beforehand to avoid any embarrassing mishaps.

Certainly.

Although Director Yang's words seemed like a thoughtful reminder, he kept his eyes fixed on Lin Ying.

"We conduct life research here."

"Since your great-grandfather is willing to invest in the Longevity Club, why not invest a few billion dollars in us instead?"

"A significant portion of the research groups in our institute are crying out for funding, so desperate that they'd pawn their own underwear if they could."

Lin Ying, leveraging her influence and wealth, arrived at the Dongxiang Institute through a non-repayable donation.

But Director Yang was eager to establish a connection with the Lin family, constantly dangling carrots to trick the Lin family into donating money here.

All core technologies and relevant data are stored within the three emerging universities; what is displayed here at the institute is only what can be shown to the public.

If he could trick them into investing...

Of course, it couldn't exactly be called trickery, as the truth about the spiritual energy recovery wouldn't be hidden forever.

Once information regarding spirit beasts is made public, these investors will also receive their fair share.

It's much like crowdfunding; some research is extremely difficult to yield results, or has low priority, and if the institute wants to conduct such research, it must find ways to raise money legally and compliantly.

If done well, they might even be able to apply for a larger budget for the coming year.

Because the crowdfunders only possess the right to use the results; the technology and knowledge belong to the institute and the state.

Calling it trickery... doesn't seem to be a problem either.

Lin Ying took out her phone and sent a text message to the Lin family patriarch far overseas.

She didn't say much, only that she had already made contact with the regular military.

The director here is purely obsessed with money; out of every five sentences, three are attempts to persuade her to donate, even hinting vaguely that they possess life-extending technology.

Chen Zhiyu also made a call home to report their itinerary and arrangements.

Once everything was settled, they handed over their electronic devices and passed through the metal detector.

Director Yang and other accompanying researchers surrounded Lin Ying, leading her toward the institute.

"Deep!"

Director Yang looked toward the gate, and when the armed guards looked over, he quickly uttered a single word.

"Immerse."

The sentry replied with one word. A small door on the side of the main gate slowly opened, and the group entered the institute, heading straight to a decontamination room at the entrance.

Moreover, a strange "ticking" sound echoed constantly in everyone's ears.

The rhythmic "ticking" sound kept ringing, even causing a sense of irritation in people.

Lin Ying frowned slightly. She was already suffering from some mental exhaustion and fatigue, and after hearing the noise, she felt her previously calm state of mind become somewhat restless.

"What is the Thin Shou Shou Gou Jian Boar King doing? Why does it keep making these lewd sounds?"

Hearing the "ticking" sound, Director Yang frowned and whispered an instruction to a researcher beside him, telling him to go handle that lewd boar and stop it from wandering around.

"Understood..."

The researcher nodded and hurried out of the decontamination room to notify the keeper of the Thin Shou Shou Gou Jian boar.

Walking out of the decontamination room, they arrived at what should have been a garden with a shaded path, but what they saw was a mess, along with a giant boar with a tuft of blue hair on its head.

And that rhythmic "ticking" sound was coming from the boar's rear.

Where its male pride used to be, two metal balls the size of lanterns were now hanging.

As the Thin Shou Shou Gou Jian boar destroyed the garden, the two metal spheres swung back and forth, constantly colliding.

Director Yang looked somewhat embarrassed and said, "This boar king, codenamed 【Thin Shou Shou Gou Jian】, lost... *ahem ahem*... due to certain accidental reasons, and its mental state has been in a depression."

"Now... it seems to quite like its two lanterns welded from stainless steel."

While speaking, Director Yang frantically signaled the researchers and keepers to hurry up and deal with that bastard boar, so as not to scare the institute's benefactor.

The researcher and keeper hurried forward, grabbing the Thin Shou Shou Gou Jian boar's curved, saber-like tusks.

The Thin Shou Shou Gou Jian boar was initially unwilling, but after a whisper from the keeper, it reluctantly stopped its destructive behavior, squatted down, and looked at Director Yang's group with dissatisfaction.

I didn't have them before, but now that they've grown back, can't I show off my metal lanterns?

"!"

Director Yang glared at it fiercely and gestured for Lin Ying to enter the institute.

Besides the Thin Shou Shou Gou Jian boar, along the way, Lin Ying and Chen Zhiyu also saw other spirit beasts.

Including the Han Yu crocodile and the saltwater crocodile, a pair of giant beast spouses.

The two crocodiles, which should have been temperamental, were now floating on the artificial pond like salted fish, not even bothering with the exotic otters floating in the pond, letting them drag wood to build dams.

"Isn't that the Changle River Han Yu crocodile?"

Chen Zhiyu looked at the crocodile in surprise, then at Director Yang walking in front, and said, "How many tons of sleeping pills did you add to the pond? As far as I know, their original personalities weren't like this."

"It's the application of certain spirit beast traits. Once they realize who the overlord of the territory is, their unruliness vanishes completely, which is even more effective than castrating them."

Director Yang smiled and explained to the two, almost explicitly stating that there was a ferocious beast above them.

Overlord spirit beasts have the pride of overlord spirit beasts.

But once their unruliness is crushed, they return to a normal state of mind. As long as they are in the territory of that overlord spirit beast, all other living beings, regardless of strength, are equal.

Facing equal beings, the spirit beasts won't attack casually unless their own lives are in danger, for fear of disturbing the rest of the overlord bigwig.

Although spirit beasts are beasts, they aren't stupid.

No one wants to be picked up and beaten by an overlord-level spirit beast thousands of times stronger than themselves for no reason.

They don't have any masochistic tendencies. Anyway, they have enough to eat and drink; it's just that there are a few more neighbors, and the idiot next door likes to run to their door to poop, which is nothing.

Led by Director Yang, the group arrived before the first research project room of the Dongxiang Institute.

In a sunken courtyard, four or five shirtless men were observing a roe deer.

The roe deer was kneeling on the ground, eyes closed, as if it were sleeping.

But as several personnel in sterile suits arrived beside the roe deer and the young men, under Lin Ying's gaze, the researchers injected them all with a serum.

After the injection, the lights in the sunken courtyard instantly went out. Light began to glow on the roe deer's body and the young men's bodies, and threads like orange-white veins emerged on them.

Director Yang looked at Lin Ying and said:

"These are meridians... Although I used to scoff at Traditional Chinese Medicine, after being able to clearly see the human meridians with human technology, my face is swollen."

"This is the method of spiritual energy application created by our ancestors through some metaphysics, without the help of modern technology and contrast agents."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 146 =====