155: Experiment Subject 0

Inside Lingnan Academy, Yan Ruyu's office.

She was currently chatting with Director Bai.

"It's good to see you looking a bit like your old self again," Director Bai said with a smile to Yan Ruyu as he sipped his tea comfortably.

Yan Ruyu thought for a moment and nodded with a smile as well.

Ever since Xie Ning became her disciple, she indeed felt much more relaxed than before. Especially when she was teaching Xie Ning, his occasional snarky remarks made her feel even more delighted.

It was as if everything had returned to the way it was before her suffering.

"The Breeding Exhibition Match starts today; that little girl is coming for you," Director Bai asked.

Yan Ruyu tilted her head slightly, lost in thought. After a moment, she replied, "I know she'll target me; she's pulled similar tricks before. But... forget it, teaching my student well is what matters."

"Is that so? Then congratulations," Director Bai said with a smile.

Yan Ruyu smiled back.

Then, Director Bai changed the subject and asked, "This is his first time performing a Monster Taming Alliance mission. Aren't you worried at all? That's not like a Secret Realm Trial or an academy challenge."

"Growth is never easy. A man must go through some hardships to grow into a great tree that can weather any storm," Yan Ruyu said, suddenly laughing. "Besides, his strength can't be judged purely by Rank. Whether it's his combat awareness, his Demon Tamers Beast, or even his mischievous nature, he won't let himself lose out."

"True," Director Bai nodded.

Just then, there was a knock at the door.

Yan Ruyu's expression shifted instantly. With a cold face, she said, "Come in."

Creak. The office door opened.

"Teacher, we're back."

"Greetings, Teacher Yan."

Su Qin, Qin Tianyu, and Fei Shanqiu walked in, greeting Yan Ruyu together.

Yan Ruyu nodded, her eyes looking behind them, but she didn't see Xie Ning. Her brow furrowed instantly. "Why are only the two of you back? Where is Xie Ning?"

Fei Shanqiu: ???

"Don't worry, Teacher, Big Brother Xie is fine," Su Qin replied with a smile, then added, "This incident had many twists and turns, but the mission is complete. Big Brother Xie told us to come back and report first so some shameless people wouldn't beat us to it. Oh, right, Big Brother Xie also said that the Rank of this mission might change again."

After he finished, Qin Tianyu stepped forward, handed over the mission scroll, and said, "Teacher, this is the supplementary explanation."

Yan Ruyu unrolled the scroll. Besides the initial mission details at the top, there was also a detailed account of the process added by Xie Ning and the others.

Curiously, Director Bai walked over. Halfway through reading, the two of them looked at each other, both seeing surprise in the other's eyes.

"I didn't expect you to be able to defeat a Silver Level 7 Lord Yao Beast. That's not something an ordinary Silver Rank Demon Tamer can do. Excellent performance. At this rate, the mission can be upgraded to at least D-rank, or even D+ rank."

After Director Bai finished, he noticed Yan Ruyu's brow was tightly furrowed and couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong?"

"There's a suspected Fallen Demon Tamer experimental base near Pingan Village. He's gone there." Yan Ruyu set down the scroll, her expression gradually turning grim.

Hearing this, Director Bai was instantly shocked and angry:

"Isn't this just reckless?! Why didn't you stop him?"

Su Qin and Fei Shanqiu glanced at each other. Su Qin couldn't help but ask, "Um, T-Teacher, is this experimental site very dangerous? Big Brother Xie didn't let us go at the time, and we didn't have time to ask."

"Experimental spaces established in the wild are basically at the base level. The defense of an experimental base will have at least five Silver Rank guards, and there will inevitably be a high-level Silver Rank guard whose strength is no less than the Gemini Fierce Demon you faced. If it's a higher-level experimental base, it's common for a Gold Rank Guard Captain to appear."

"What!"

Yan Ruyu's words were like a bolt from the blue, causing the faces of the three to change drastically.

Director Bai sighed. "It's more than that. If he really encounters a Gold Rank Guard Captain—not to mention the captain himself—hundreds or even thousands of subordinate Demon Tamers would be enough to exhaust him to death!"

Now, the faces of Su Qin and the other two turned even paler.

"I'm going to help him."

Qin Tianyu turned to leave as soon as he finished speaking. Su Qin followed behind him, trembling, and Fei Shanqiu gritted his teeth, preparing to follow as well.

"Stop!" Yan Ruyu shouted.

She looked at the three before her with a serious expression. "With your level of strength, can you defeat a Silver or even Gold-rank Demon Tamer? Going there will only cause him trouble!"

The three looked miserable, but they also knew where the limits of their strength lay.

"Then... then what do we do now?" Su Qin paced around anxiously.

Yan Ruyu stood up and said, "He hasn't encountered an irresistible attack yet, so he should be fine. Tell me the location; I'll go save him."

"Okay, okay, okay, I remember, I remember seeing it. Let me look for the record..." Su Qin frantically picked up his phone.

However, Fei Shanqiu noticed something strange and asked cautiously, "Instructor Yan, what's wrong?"

It turned out that as soon as Yan Ruyu finished her sentence, her expression froze in the next second. Her face was solemn and filled with worry.

Director Bai patted her on the shoulder and gave her a concerned look.

She snapped back to her senses, pursed her lips, and said, "Just now, he encountered a Gold Rank attack."

"What?!"

"Give me the address, quick!"

At this moment, Yan Ruyu had long since completely forgotten what she had said earlier.

What was that about a man needing to experience the wind and rain?

What was that about growing into a great tree that weathers any storm?

Have you ever seen a tiny sapling used to withstand a Category 18 typhoon?

...Inside the experimental base.

Led by Little Mantis, Xie Ning and the Ice Blade Woman moved through the long corridors. Because they were so fast, no one noticed them.

Finally, Little Mantis stopped at a large laboratory.

The two held their breath and hid in the laboratory, watching the activity outside through the one-way glass.

From time to time, people would walk by and voices could be heard, but fortunately, no one discovered them, and no one came inside to check.

"Whew~ looks like we've escaped for now." The woman glanced warily out the window, then looked at Xie Ning and said in surprise, "I didn't expect you to be a Demon Tamer."

Xie Ning ignored her and instead looked around at everything in the laboratory.

This was a massive laboratory, five or six times larger than the ones they had seen before.

On a row of shelves were various containers holding organs of humans or Yao Beasts. Inside glass pillars rising from the floor, weakened Yao Beasts were trapped. In the cabinets along the walls, the faint scent of spiritual Materials wafted out.

Six researchers lay unconscious on the floor. On the table they had been surrounding was a document with "experiment subject no. 0" written on the header.

experiment subject no. 0?

Wasn't that what the guard looking for Withered Deer mentioned?

Judging by their reactions, this experiment subject no. 0 was clearly very important.

Thinking this, Xie Ning looked past the glass pillars in front of him toward the innermost part, where there was a spherical vessel shrouded in frost. He couldn't see what was inside.

Suddenly, something inside the vessel moved.

Slap~

A small tail whipped against the vessel, and then a weary triangular head peeked out toward the edge of the glass, looking outside and curiously observing the two humans and the beast.

"I didn't expect experiment subject no. 0 to still be alive," the woman from the Huaxia Security Action Team remarked.

Xie Ning looked at her curiously. "Is there something wrong?"

The woman nodded. "According to the intelligence we received, experiment subject no. 0 is the earliest successful human-soul-Yao-Beast lifeform experiment by the Fallen Demon Tamers. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that, despite being an ice-element lifeform, it contains life energy that even natural-type beings can't rival. It's said to be capable of bringing the dead back to life and regrowing flesh on bones without exaggeration."

"Heh, then it's stealing the natural-type's livelihood," Xie Ning couldn't help but laugh.

The woman flipped through the documents on the desk and added, "Its life state is unstable. To maintain its vital signs, the Fallen Demon Tamers directly extracted life energy from other Yao Beasts for it, but it resisted all of them."

Just then, the small tail slapped the glass vessel again, catching the attention of Xie Ning and the woman. Then, using frost, it wrote two words on the glass—Help Me.