Chương 7: Indominus Rex (7)

Asset had grown another size larger. Perhaps her mind had expanded along with her skull. More of the fog clouding her thoughts had lifted, allowing her to learn much faster than before. Her greatest progress had been in language. She had never received any structured education, but even fragments of vocabulary could eventually accumulate into something greater. By now, she could understand short human sentences. Remove some of the technical jargon, and she could even make sense of longer ones.

Understanding them felt wonderful. The humans never avoided speaking in front of her, giving her the thrill of secretly listening in. Separated from her by nothing more than a glass barrier, they showed no caution whatsoever. They discussed everything in front of her: laboratory gossip, Dr. Wu's orders, plans for raising the dinosaurs, and even their private emotions. She listened and remembered. It passed the time while also giving her a general understanding of her circumstances.

She learned that she and the humans all lived in a place called a "laboratory," while her enclosure was called a "habitat." She was not the only dinosaur in the laboratory. According to the researchers, another of her kind was confined next door—a gray-white hatchling with red eyes, whom they called her older "sister." At first, Asset did not understand what the word sister meant. She assumed it was simply the other hatchling's name.

Then one day, a researcher became so baffled by Asset's growth data that she asked her own sister to help examine it. Only then did Asset understand the word. The two researchers stood before the habitat. They were almost the same height and had similar faces. Their scents traveled through the ventilation system and entered the enclosure. Asset inhaled deeply. Her sensitive nose told her that their flesh and blood should taste almost identical. Identical? So sister was not the other hatchling's name.

It described a person with a similar body, a similar face, and the same flesh and blood. One of the same kind. A bond between blood and blood. Once Asset understood this, she developed an intense curiosity about the other hatchling. She desperately wanted to see her. But that was destined to remain a fantasy. Her sister was confined in the neighboring enclosure. Because she was developing so well, the entire laboratory had placed its hopes upon her. Dr.

Wu personally oversaw her care, and she received far better treatment than Asset did. Asset often heard the researchers comparing them.

"Silver-gray dinosaurs already exist, but no one has ever seen a gray-white dinosaur with red eyes. Of course the company will display the first one."

"If the second one had a more unusual coloration, she wouldn't have to work so hard for every meal. Dr. Wu would simply keep feeding her." In other words, Asset was not striking enough to be exhibited. Her only purpose was to serve as a test subject and provide data. For some reason, she felt no disappointment whatsoever. Instead, she was immensely grateful for her ordinary appearance. Well, this was the first time she had ever felt thankful for looking like a demon.

But compared with those minor concerns, she cared far more about the humans' research. Their conversations often revealed her own strengths and helped her understand what she was. The researcher sisters were one example. When the younger sister handed Asset's data to the elder, the woman immediately frowned as though she had encountered something impossible.

"Generally speaking, the size of an animal's brain is determined at birth," she said gravely.

"Some changes occur as the animal develops, but the brain should never keep growing continuously with age." A brain meant to be the size of a walnut would remain the size of a walnut. It could not grow into a watermelon.

"But this one's brain…" Uncertainty entered her voice.

"It's still getting larger? And its development resembles that of the human brain? Is the other Asset the same?" The younger sister sighed.

"That's precisely why I'm worried. The other one isn't like this."

"I haven't dared tell Dr. Wu. I suspect that when he created the second Asset, he didn't use the same genetic sequence at all. He may have replaced the capuchin or chimpanzee DNA with that of another primate. As for which one…" She hesitated.

"I don't dare guess, much less say it aloud." Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. The sisters looked at each other. Neither said another word, yet their silence conveyed more than any conversation could have. They did not investigate further or confront anyone. They merely put down the report and pretended that nothing had happened, all for the sake of protecting themselves. One continued caring for the animals and recording data in the laboratory.

The other returned to her work elsewhere on the island, raising herbivorous dinosaurs. Each resumed her duties as though they had never spoken privately. Asset could sense the fear concealed beneath their calm appearances. Whenever they saw her, their blood flowed faster and their breathing quickened. The scent commanded her full attention, drawing her gaze unconsciously toward their throats. Fortunately, she had grown older and developed some control over her predatory instincts and appetite.

Otherwise, she might have interpreted their frequent stares as a challenge, attacked the enclosure, and caused another disturbance. Thanks to them, however, she now understood a little more about her own brain. It seemed she truly was a unique dinosaur. After all, her mind was completely different from that of her own kind. * Over the past several days, Asset had become increasingly skilled at hunting crocodiles. The humans therefore stopped supplying them and replaced them with red-bellied piranhas.

Despite their fearsome reputation, piranhas were freshwater fish. They usually inhabited rivers and streams, traveled in schools, fed eagerly on meat, and possessed teeth sharp enough to leave marks on steel. Almost nothing targeted by the school escaped alive. Their unfortunate prey had occasionally included humans as well. That afternoon, the water level in the habitat rose once again, and the piranhas swam in. Asset did not want to reveal that she had learned to swim.

She had no choice but to huddle "miserably" on the small patch of dry ground, tapping one claw against the earth at an unhurried pace. She initially assumed the new fish would also come onto land and had already prepared herself to fight the entire group. She had overestimated them. Not every fish could crawl. Piranhas could move only through water. She would either have to enter the pool and catch them or find some way to lure them onto land.

Her tail swept across the ground as she lowered her head and studied the surface, considering how she might fill her stomach. By coincidence, the rising water had reached the claw she was tapping. Her claw struck the water. A small splash broke the surface, sending ripples outward. The piranhas reacted instantly. Drawn by the disturbance, the entire school turned toward her—and toward the claw creating the ripples. In a sudden flash of understanding, Asset grasped how these fish hunted.

They were attracted to movement. The more violently she thrashed on the surface and the more helpless she appeared, the more eagerly they would swarm toward her. So she continued tapping the water with her claw. Sure enough, the piranhas came. The instant the first one drew close, she snatched it between her jaws, bit through its spine, and threw it aside. But its blood splashed across her claw. The scent of blood struck the piranhas' senses and ignited their frenzy. They burst from the water.

One clamped onto her claw. Another struck her leg. Their jaws snapped shut with astonishing force. One of her claws broke, and a piece of flesh was torn from her body. Pain surged through her. She immediately understood how dangerous they were, but there was no dry ground left behind her. She had no choice but to fight.

"ROAR!" With a thunderous bellow, she relied on her extraordinary eyesight and speed and began slaughtering them. She avoided their mouths and drove her claws through their bodies. After each successful strike, she bit off the fish's head to make certain it was dead, then threw the carcass behind her. The battle grew vicious. Half her body sank beneath the water. The piranhas stripped the flesh from her tail until white bone showed through. Yet pain did not consume her reason.

She seemed to enter a detached state of madness, transforming into a precision killing machine locked in a battle that could end only with one side's extinction. Once again, the water turned red. It was impossible to tell which side had shed more blood. Asset was unquestionably the final victor. But by the end of the battle, she had lost almost two pounds of flesh. For some time afterward, the humans released no more piranhas. Instead, they allowed her enough time to recover.

Perhaps her body had grown accustomed to hunting and combat. Even as she spent each day lazily enjoying food that required no effort to obtain, her body raced to repair itself, as though another fight to the death might begin at any moment. The missing flesh soon grew back. The new skin, however, was paler than the rest. It formed several rows of blotches across her body, creating a distracting pattern. Her concern had nothing to do with beauty.

As a predator, nothing was more dangerous than a brightly mottled hide that prevented her from concealing herself perfectly while hunting. Fortunately, the problem did not last long. She discovered that she had begun to shed her skin. Yes. She was molting. Like a snake, she sloughed off the old skin and replaced it with a new layer of evenly colored hide. * Dr. Wu readily admitted that he had incorporated snake DNA when creating the Indominus rex.

But he had combined different genes to make the overall genome more stable and prevent it from collapsing. He had not intended for the dinosaurs to absorb every trait encoded in those genes and evolve into creatures he no longer recognized.

"I find this surprising," Henry said, though his voice contained no trace of surprise.

"Still, life finds a way. Perhaps this is how a genetic creation fights against nature." The first Asset did not shed her skin. Henry had never deliberately trained her hunting abilities. Everything she needed had been provided for her. As a result, the first Asset lived in considerable comfort. She had no understanding of her position in the food chain and naturally possessed no sense of danger. Without a sense of danger, the body remained relaxed and failed to release the necessary hormones.

Without those hormones, there could be no molting cycle. The second Asset was different. Every meal had to be hunted. The principle of succeed or die had been driven deep into her bones, fully awakening her body's will to survive. She recovered faster, concealed herself more effectively, and possessed a more adaptable mind. To remain alive, her body instinctively discarded everything it did not need and everything it could not afford to keep—including the uneven, mottled layer of old skin.

"Doctor, her new hide is extremely tough." A researcher handed Henry a microscope slide containing a small sample of the newly grown tissue.

"If she sheds once every month, then by the time she reaches adolescence, her hide may be tough enough to withstand fire from a Gatling gun."

"Doctor, that possibility is extremely dangerous. It means that once they reach adolescence, our tranquilizer darts may no longer be able to penetrate their skin." If the Assets escaped and tranquilizers became useless, who would clean up the disaster? Henry said nothing. His hand tightened slightly around the railing before he replied in a calm voice.

"There is no need to worry. A micro-explosive will be implanted in each of them along with the tracking device." If matters ever reached that point, they would still have a way to regain control.

"Then when will the trackers be implanted?"

"When they're larger," Henry said.

"They're highly intelligent. If we implant the trackers too early and the devices interfere with their movement, they'll notice something is wrong."

"When they mature, their senses will become less acute. As long as the implants don't restrict their movement, they won't discover them." The plan was settled. Everyone's nerves settled with it. What the humans failed to understand was that making plans could sometimes resemble conducting a double-slit experiment. The very act of observing the future might already have changed it.