The next day…..
Harker injected his new favorite little buddy, Skitters, with the vitamin and mineral solution he had made. Skitters was one of his chameleon samples, who Harker treats like his children.
"Now you have all the calcium and vitamins you need. You gotta stay strong, okay? We still have a few more tests to go and then you can hang out with your buddies." He told the little creature.
He set it down on its own tinier observation tank. It had some leaves and twigs there, but it's nothing compared to the mini forest park that the Genetics Engineering building had. That was where Skitters and his 'buddies' lived along with other flora and fauna observed by the students.
"Let's see…. the observed pigmentation and the structural color is not the same, as I hypothesized. The blue wavelengths reaching the natural yellow pigmentation is what causes the green outer appearance." Harker muttered as he wrote down. "These blue wavelengths may come from other structures than the genetic make-up of their skin…."
He went to pick up the skin sample for dissection and faltered a little when he saw the other things he had stored.
Meat. Demon meat.
No one can peek through the contents of his cold storage through this angle, so Harker wasn't too worried even when his research partners were around.
A little girl with brown, braided hair looked over his research notes. "Hm. I see. Could it possibly be another chemical being produced by the body that changes the color from the pigmentation?"
This was Lila, only 11 years old. She was of course a genius who accelerated many years and was also under the scholarship of Stoker University. Her IQ was 150.
Harker closed the compartment. "Perhaps. Studies before ours also supported my notes about how their colors react to changes in body temperature."
"Not to camouflage?" Lila asked.
"I'm still not crossing that possibility out. But it may be something more complicated than that." Harker said.
"Well, if it's any help, I found something recently too. Significantly high amounts of guanine in the topmost layers of my skin sample." Lila said. "Could it be similar to the reflective cells observed in squids and octopi? Some studies also noted guanine in them."
Guanine was part of the four nucleic building blocks of DNA. The others were adenine, cytosine, and thymine. Harker wondered if the DNA composition of monsters were also the same. It could be, since he absorbs it after all. But then again, they have features that other living organisms don't.
It would be interesting to study their biology…..
But Harker was also not a fan of treating humanoid and sentient creatures as lab experiments. Even with small animals and non-mammals like Skitters, he still followed a personal code of ethics.
"We'll figure out this mystery soon enough. Why don't you eat lunch with Sarasvati and Maeve?" He asked her. "I saw those girls walk out a while ago to the cafeteria."
"I'm fine with socializing with Sarasvati, but I'd rather not share a table with Maeve." Lila frowned. "She said I should go back to middle school."
Harker sighed. This was exactly why he didn't want to be accelerated. People treat geniuses either as some superior beings or as freaks. They were always regarded with envy, which makes them highly dislikable to others.
And highly intellectual people were often made to spend their lives studying instead of having time to socialize, so they end up having a hard time with it.
He experienced it too for a while, being the 'nerd outcast' before he changed to adapt to his environment. Just like Skitters.
"You just have to adapt the best you can. Try to focus on talking to Sarasvati. I'm sure she would also do her best to help Maeve warm up to you." He advised. "But if it doesn't work out, it just doesn't work out. Different folks for different folks."
"I think you mean different strokes for different folks." Lila corrected.
Harker chuckled. "Nope, that's exactly what I mean. There are different folks to fit anyone, you just have to find 'em. Don't make assumptions too. Who knows, Maeve might actually be one of your folks, you just haven't finished the experimentation phase yet. You just need to get to know her more before you see the results."
Lila nodded. "Thanks, Harker. I'll keep that in mind."
His young lab partner went off, and Harker was alone. He took out one of the cuts of Miss Lovette meat.
"I actually don't know how long I can store demon meat until it's inedible. I won't get food poisoning or anythin', right?" Harker asked Yan.
The flying eyeball appeared by his side, scaring little Skitters into changing colors rapidly.
"You won't, Master. But yes, prolonged freezing may affect the amount of DNA you can absorb. It's harder to digest too." Yan said.
Harker looked at the piece of meat. "So I can store it indefinitely, but it will have less Duration over time. I also won't be able to eat large amounts in one go once my snake ability is gone…."
"Yes. You can't unhinge your jaw and expand your esophagus. But all you need to do is to cut it to smaller pieces—"
"That's not the only problem. I will lose my snake ability once 1 month is up, right?" Harker said. "If I had both Enhanced Succubus Ability and the Snake Demon, I'd be more confident in stealing the Shard from Mr. Xi."
Yan sighed. "That's true, Master. Your absorbed DNA of Xi Hua would expire by the time of his birthday. But the Enhanced Ability remains enhanced everytime you consume Succubus DNA, if that makes you feel any better ...."
Harker slumped on his chair. "It is, but not much. I could maybe control Mr. Xi's body using the ability. But I have always wondered one thing about this family….."
"Why did they marry each other? Why would someone as strong and powerful as Miss Lovette choose to be a stay-at-home wife for a snake-like demon? It doesn't make any sense…."
Suddenly, Harker got called out by a lazy voice.
"Harker, there's some guy that wants to talk to you….." Professor Seward spoke from her office. "Some guy called Rohan or Armand."
Harker went to take the phone call. "Hello, Roland? What's up?"
"Did you see the news last night?" Roland's voice sounded more tense than usual. "Xi Hua's house burned, and her mother turned out to be the one who abducted the missing boys from Nassau!"
Roland relayed the information from the news about the situation, and Harker reacted like he was only learning all this for the first time.
".... That's why Mr. Xi called my father and said he would be returning here to New York, to address all the damages and the crimes of his wife. He's dropping by our house first by Friday to discuss things with him."
Harker's eyes widened. That meant he would be able to meet Mr. Xi earlier while he still had his Snake Ability!