Chương 8: Indominus Rex (8)

Every meal the humans delivered felt less like feeding and more like poisoning her. Each one seemed to be a carefully planned assassination attempt. If it wasn't, then humans must simply enjoy provocation and creating trouble. Nothing else could explain why her breakfast was a hedgehog, her lunch a porcupine, and her dinner an electric eel. The first time Asset encountered a hedgehog, she had almost no idea where to bite. It curled itself into a ball.

It looked timid, yet every spine on its body stood erect in defense. It remained rooted to the spot with the composure of something saying, What exactly do you think you can do to me? After getting stabbed several times in the roof of her mouth, Asset had no choice but to withdraw her jaws and use her claws to cut through the spines. Fortunately, the hedgehog's spines were hollow and not especially hard. She sliced away a large patch at the roots, then quickly ended the animal's life.

The frustrating part was that a hedgehog contained very little meat. She finished it in two or three bites and was soon starving again. After enduring the hunger until her second meal, she expected the humans to deliver something large. Instead, the idiots sent her a porcupine. Admittedly, a porcupine was larger than a hedgehog. Unfortunately, it was also covered in spines—and far more difficult to handle. Its quills were solid, tough, and hard.

When threatened, they could detach and lodge themselves in anything that made contact. Asset was caught off guard. The porcupine's quills rose and expanded with astonishing speed, embedding themselves all around her face and nearly piercing one of her eyes. Startled and furious, she lost her temper. No longer caring how painful the porcupine was to bite, she tore it apart with her jaws, shredding it at the cost of leaving her own mouth covered in blood.

She won, but the price had been high—and the meal still wasn't large enough. The porcupine only eased her hunger temporarily. Her stomach continued to burn. She had probably entered another growth spurt, because her appetite had increased considerably. The problem was that she was a selective eater and always left something behind after every meal. Naturally, the humans concluded that she did not eat very much and continued supplying the same portions as before. That was why she was constantly hungry.

Should she finish every scrap and use the empty plate to tell the humans she needed more? No. They would merely assume that her appetite had improved. The portions would remain unchanged. Irritated, she swept her long tail across the ground and stared hungrily at the humans outside, as though considering whether she should take a bite out of one of them. This prolonged hunger did teach her the value of food. She realized that while she remained inside the cage, humans would at least feed her.

If she ever reached the outside world, she would have to treasure every meal, because there was no guarantee she would find another. Having reached this conclusion, she felt as though her mind had undergone some profound transformation and grasped an important truth. But what good was that? Wisdom did nothing to fill her stomach. After enduring a miserable afternoon, she finally received a substantial dinner. It was a gray-brown eel, fifty-five inches long and weighing forty-four pounds.

Although its mouth was filled with sharp teeth, it looked absolutely adorable to her. She could practically see dinner waving at her. Excited, she entered the water and opened her jaws wide, intending to take the eel by surprise. She never imagined that her prey would suddenly switch from physical attacks to magical damage. This "fish" could produce electricity. Now she truly had encountered an unfamiliar kind of feed. She bit down and tasted not even a trace of blood.

Instead, white electrical light flashed around her, and she lost consciousness. When Asset awakened, she was strapped to an examination table. The people surrounding her released long breaths of relief.

"She survived the entire charge of an electric eel. She's unbelievably lucky!"

"So electricity still works against dinosaurs. I hope the new park keeps the high-voltage fences."

"Buddy, it probably only works at her current age…" The humans' words drifted past her ears, but Asset paid them no attention. What mattered was that she had suffered her first defeat as a hunter. The failure struck her like a basin of cold water, washing away the arrogance and conceit she had developed as a predator. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. She knew almost nothing about the world.

Countless things within it were capable of teaching her a painful lesson. Perhaps while she regarded everything else as food, she had already become food in another creature's eyes. She had to remember this lesson. Asset closed her eyes and fell asleep with hunger still gnawing at her stomach. * The humans were not complete monsters. Once they realized that the hatchling had entered a growth spurt, they finally increased her food supply to match her development.

They temporarily removed electric eel from the menu, however, deciding that the dish was not yet ready to be served again. They had no idea that the hatchling inside the habitat was waiting for the eel's return. She remembered it. More than that, she wanted to kill it herself. Her instincts told her that she had no natural enemies in this world. If one existed, it only meant that she was still too weak. Unfortunately, the electric eel vanished without a trace. All she could do was wait, day after day.

Impatience and frustration accumulated within her. Over the following days, she became more aggressive than before. Many troublesome animals failed to survive ten seconds beneath her claws.

"What's wrong with her? Has she entered a sensitive period for order, like a human child? That difficult stage when they become impossible to manage or comfort?"

"Baby dinosaurs probably don't have sensitive periods." A researcher yawned and swallowed a mouthful of coffee.

"It's just excessive hormone production during a growth spurt. Like sex hormones during puberty, dopamine when we fall in love, endorphins during exercise… perfectly normal." He paused, then released a long succession of yawns.

"Take me, for example. My body is producing so much melatonin that even caffeine can't defeat it. I'm going to sleep, buddy. Keep an eye on her." His colleague made an okay gesture. The man smiled contentedly, picked up his mug, and headed toward the sleeping quarters inside the laboratory. Perhaps he was too tired. Perhaps his reactions had simply become sluggish. Either way, he failed to watch where he was going. He tripped over a chair, sending the mug flying from his hand.

By terrible coincidence, it landed in the water purification reservoir outside the habitat. That immediately caused a problem. The change in water quality automatically activated the circulation system. As both researchers cried, "No, no, no!" in panic, an entire mug of extra-strong coffee mixed with the water and flowed into the habitat, turning Asset's drinking pool brown.

"No, no! Don't drink it! Good girl, don't drink!"

"Replace the water in the purification tank! Dinosaurs don't understand human speech!" Coffee was not part of the Asset's approved diet. If one mouthful made her seriously ill, their lives were finished. Unfortunately, no matter how quickly the researchers moved, they could not compete with Asset lowering her head. Besides, she had been curious about the coffee humans drank every day for a long time. Now that an opportunity had finally appeared, how could she resist trying it?

Under the horrified gazes of the two researchers, Asset lowered her head and drank the coffee. Because she treasured this rare opportunity, she took an especially large mouthful. Then she spat it out. Bitter! It was unbearably bitter! What the hell was wrong with humans? How could they drink something so bitter? Did they not possess tongues? Asset had never imagined that her first feeling of respect toward the human species would be inspired by a mouthful of coffee. The bitterness lingered.

Although she spat it out quickly, her body absorbed substances efficiently. Until the caffeine had been metabolized, she could not sleep at all. And if she remained awake, neither researcher dared sleep. So the three of them stared at one another for half the night, locked in a confrontation none of them understood. Afterward, Asset finally understood the purpose of "coffee." Put simply, coffee existed to keep humans awake. The longer they stayed awake, the more work they could complete.

No wonder there was always coffee in the laboratory, while dinosaurs were forbidden to drink it. Humans were meant to keep working, while dinosaurs were allowed to relax and enjoy themselves. Asset felt that she had achieved another moment of enlightenment. Once again, it was useless. It did nothing to satisfy her hunger. For an animal, food was far more important than any profound thought. * The two researchers concealed the coffee incident, just as the sisters had concealed the abnormalities in Asset's brain.

The laboratory returned to its usual calm appearance. It seemed as though nothing had happened, even though new changes were taking place every moment. According to the researchers, the first Asset would be removed from her habitat and transferred to an outdoor enclosure in a few weeks. She ate more and grew faster. She was already twice Asset's size. Soon, even the largest habitat in the laboratory would no longer allow her to move freely.

For everyone's safety, transferring her to the outdoor enclosure was the best choice. Another researcher mentioned that Dr. Wu appeared interested in allowing the two Assets to spend some time together. He wanted to see whether they would display the same social behavior as velociraptors. If they did, it would mean that the two Assets could potentially be conditioned. The company might even hire an animal behaviorist to train them. If they did not, it would prove that their wild nature could not be controlled.

Plans for direct human care would then be abandoned, and food would be delivered with mechanical lifting arms instead. No one objected to the first proposal. The second sparked considerable disagreement.

"They'll never get along. The first one is extremely aggressive, and the second… well, she seems to think that every animal entering her habitat is food. If we put them together, how could they possibly avoid fighting?"

"The size difference is enormous. If a fight starts, the first one will kill the second."

"Hey, don't underestimate her! The second Asset killed a reticulated python twice her size during her very first hunt. She also killed a marsh crocodile. She's exceptionally good at turning a fight around. If conflict breaks out, maybe she'll be the one who kills the first Asset."

"When predators of the same species meet, the larger one has the advantage. That's common knowledge."

"History has taught science that what we call common knowledge sometimes turns out to be a contradiction!" The two sides began arguing. Short sentences became long ones. Entire chains of logic were unleashed. The more they debated, the more excited they became, until they were only a step away from physically fighting one another. Asset listened in silence, her long tail swaying contentedly like that of a lazy cat.

She did not care about the arrangements being discussed or which of them the humans considered stronger. At present, only one thing held her attention. A new device had been installed in the laboratory. It was a screen. Whenever the clock reached eight, a double helix appeared on it. The figure had human facial features and arms. It could speak like a human and enjoyed bouncing around the screen, yet it carried no scent of a living creature. It introduced itself as Mr.

DNA and claimed that anyone with a question could ask him. Unfortunately, the elite researchers in the laboratory had no questions. The one with the most questions was trapped inside a habitat and could not speak. Gradually, Asset noticed that the noise around her had disappeared.

"What is she looking at?" Only then did they realize that the hatchling had emerged from the shadows. She was staring fixedly at one location, the intensity of her gaze slightly unsettling. Following her line of sight, they saw the animated figure of Mr. DNA bouncing across the screen.

"…Wow. Cartoons. I suppose she's reached that age."

"Maybe she's wondering whether she can eat him."

"I admit it—I prefer the second one to the first. At least with Mr. DNA playing, she doesn't make noise while you're trying to sleep." The researchers dispersed, but no one turned off the "cartoon." Asset knew that humans also ate at fixed times. They had left to fill their stomachs. The laboratory became quiet, making Mr. DNA's voice seem especially loud and clear.

"Hello, and welcome to Jurassic Park! Today is our official opening day. Would you like to know how we brought dinosaurs back to life? Allow me to show you!" This outdated version of Mr. DNA turned the clock back to 1993. Before a creature that was not human, an origin buried for ten years slowly began to unfold. Asset could not understand it. But she remembered the images that appeared again and again.