If it were not for the little assistant's timely reflex as he leapt forward to hold down the leader's arms in place, Ye Junli would have been socked in the face.
"Ye-- f***er-- Junli! Come here you motherf***er! How dare you insult this grandpa's face! You're itching for a fight aren't you?!!"
The little assistant had used his whole body to hold on to their leader. Bao Cheng's long limbs stretched out at their maximum length to swipe at Ye Junli. It was as if they were playing cat and mouse; whenever he thought he finally managed to catch him, he would miss by a hair's breadth each time with Ye Junli turning sideways nimbly to avoid the flailing hands.
"Leader Bao!! Leader Bao! Calm down! Professor Ye didn't mean it!"
Little assistant Meng wanted to save the deer from drowning but the deer did not appreciate its efforts.
Ye Junli countered stubbornly. "No, I did mean it."
Little Assistant Meng: 'Can you not do this boss? Don't you see how small I am and how big he is? I beg you, don't provoke him anymore.'
"F***! You slippery hermit! Come closer and call me ugly again you f***!"
Ye Junli simply took the hands bulging with blue veins that were ninety percent muscles as cat paws swiping and continued provoking. He drawled out foully.
"U"
"G"
"L"
"Y"
"U.G.L.Y"
"You. You are ugly. Hideous. Some might even say deformed."
Bao Cheng blew his top. "F*** YOU!!"
After contentedly roughing up his feathers, Ye Junli asked cooly, "Why are you mad? Looks are not everything."
Bao Cheng paused. Was this Junli saying there was something to him other than looks?
"However, it is unfortunate that you are dumb as well. So you have nothing."
"F***!! OKAY THAT'S IT!-- YOU WAIT THERE FOR LAOZI--"
"Knock." The sound of knocking against glass.
"Knock. Knock. Knock."
Ye Junli was the first to notice the sound amidst the cursing.
"Shhhh." He signals for Bao Cheng to quieten down.
"Did you just 'shhh' me? You basta--"
"Knock. Knock. Knock."
The one knocking could only be Feng Mian from the other side of the room.
Feng Mian: "Do you think they heard me baobei?"
System 555: "They should be able to hear you."
Feng Mian blew hot air on the glass, enough to cover it with a layer of fog. She wrote with her fingers.
IS JUNLI THERE?
Ye Junli's eyebrows creased.
"She knows how to write?"
Little Assistant Meng was also surprised to see those fluid words being written.
"... We didn't know either." He faltered and came to a realisation.
"If no one taught her then… my god! What an astonishing cognitive capability!"
Assistant Meng's eyes glazed with admiration at the newfound discovery. How revolutionary! A learning ability that surpasses even the homo sapiens!
Bao Cheng shrugged the little assistant's hands off him. He also looked at the mirror perplexed.
Though he didn't pay much mind to what the group of researchers were doing down here, he knew enough to figure out that this 119 was an enigma to science. The laboratory's previous specimens all had trouble speaking and it was obvious to say that none of them had enough intelligence to learn how to write.
"Are you serious? So you're saying she learnt it by herself?"
Ye Junli rubbed at his temples, his expression unreadable.
He seemed to be thinking long and hard about something before speaking. "Don't say anything to anyone about what you saw today. How far her intelligence goes… we'll have to see for ourselves."
He spoke so solemnly and seriously that even Bao Cheng had not dared refute. Ye Junli took his silence as acquiescence to keep this matter a secret.
No one could tell, but Ye Junli's heart was beating faster than it ever did.
Excitement. He believed he was experiencing excitement.
No one but himself knew just how hard he had worked to create 119 - an ability user that was far more advance than her predecessors. He spent years collecting data on the failures of previous specimens and countless sleepless nights extracting, adding, and subtracting from DNA sequences to create the perfect living embryo only to do it all over again the next day.
There were also days when he vomited blood due to being overworked.
The previous experiments had all been put down because they either lacked intellect or emotional intelligence, or sometimes both; both essential factors to determine whether an individual is mentally sound enough to make their own judgements. Without one or the other, the ability users would pose too high of a risk if they were to be released from confinements.
A superhuman without sufficient learning capability and skewed morals is a formula for destruction.
If 119…
If their previous engagements have not been a fluke…
If she really is…
Ye Junli Adam's apple bobbed and he fought to calm his heart rate down. He placed his right hand on the glass, his fingers making distinct marks on the place where the words were written.
He knocked back twice.
Through the glass, as if she was standing in front of him face to face without the barrier of a mirror, he saw her shoulders straightening back and her eyes beaming with enthusiasm as she heard him respond.
He saw her mouthing, "Junli?"
Unbeknownst to him, his mouth had also quirked up to mirror hers. As if he was absorbing some of the happiness that radiated from her.
Only this silly thing would ever be happy to see him of all people. Scratch that. Even if she had was not able to see him, she was still happy at just being able to know he was near her proximity.
Junli knocked once more to signal that it was him.
Feng Mian bounced in excitement and waved vigorously in what she figured to be his direction.
She was so scared ah, in this whole plane, there was only Hao Junli whom she recognised; even if he had not remembered her. And unlike the previous worlds, there was no other person who was willing to talk to her so she had spent her days incredibly lonely and isolated.
If it were not for 555 keeping her company, she might not even be able to maintain her sanity until now.
Ye Junli made a decision and pushed the button to open the outer door to the experiment cabin.
His action caused both Assistant Meng and Bao Cheng to jerk up in surprise.
Bao Cheng cursed. "Fuck! You're not thinking of going inside right hermit?! F***ing insane! Didn't 119 punch a hole in the stomach of her previous caretaker?"
Ye Junli paused.
These rumours were growing more and more exaggerated, the last time he heard from another researcher that 119 had only thrown the guy across the wall.
Initially, he had only happened to overhear and had not cared whether they were true or not. If 119 had indeed shown some violent tendencies, he had his own means to settle her. But after seeing for himself how docile and well-behaved she was, he was even more disinclined to believe what anyone gossiped about her.
'Hn, indeed rumours are merely rumours. One person can spread a lie, and ten thousand people spread it as truth.' he thought to himself.
Such a good, cooperative ability user was defamed by others' mouths. Thankfully he had met her in time and could stop others from speculating. With 119's high IQ and EQ, if she were to learn anything bad it could only be the fault of others for not teaching her well.
If the previous caretaker had learned of Ye Junli's thoughts, he would file several complaints about how his broken bones were not for show and that they should check their facts before whitewashing someone blindingly.
Junli's heart had unknowingly become biased and had leaned towards his own experiment. He decided one-sidedly that his eyes were good and others were liars.
Ye Junli ignored the cries of a certain someone calling him an idiot and went through the opened door anyway.
He ordered Assistant Meng. "Open the gate."
Assistant Meng knew his boss's temper that once he decided on something, even ten horses could not pull him back. He could only reluctantly close the outer door and open the cabin's gate.
The inside gate made a screech as it slid up and disappeared into the walls.
He could not help giving a friendly reminder. "Be careful inside Professor Ye!"
Ye Junli had already made his way inside and felt his eyes adjusting to the brightness of the cabin. He walked in with steady strides.
It could have been his imagination but he felt his heart stirring, as if a stone had been thrown inside a calm lake water and rippled, as the person inside turned to meet his gaze.
Feng Mian skipped her way to him, her steps light and airy. "Surname Ye! You took so long to come inside ah!"
It was also the first time in his life that someone welcomed him, Ye Junli, with such vigour.
Ye Junli's stoic face melted and immediately lost seventy per cent of its grimness.
[SYSTEM PROMPT: Soul fluctuation detected. Awakening revived by 20%. Congratulations and continue working hard dear host~!]
Feng Mian nearly missed a step and tripped on air.