The speed of the laboratory was very fast, and it didn't take long for all the glass rooms in the third district to be packed again.Before transferring the experimental subjects back to the third area, the laboratory first carefully cleaned the glass rooms of all the experimental subjects in the third area.

During this process, it was inevitable to see a lot of gadgets hidden by the experimental subjects inside, such as some dry fruit cores, bones with more beautiful shapes... There is even a stainless steel that has been worn down a bit.small box.

"This is..." The researcher who found the box looked up subconsciously, "Is this No. 143 living here?"

He glanced at his colleague next to him: "I remember that number 143 was raised by you, right?"

When people around him looked over, he shook the box in his hand: "Do you know where 143 got such a box?"

The person being questioned frowned and thought for a while, and finally said hesitantly: "I don't know either."

"Maybe it was secretly hidden when he was sent to the third district?" He said with some uncertainty.

——

A week later, all the experimental subjects were transferred again to the glass room in the third district.

As soon as he woke up, 77 subconsciously searched for No. 76 in the glass room next door.

During this period of time in the experimental area, 76 seemed to be thinner than before.

No. 35 stretched her vines recklessly, and soon the green vines covered the corners of the glass room. She waved one of the vines in satisfaction: "It's more comfortable to stay here."

77 circled around the glass room, and after reacquainting himself with his residence, he slid to the side of the glass separated by 76, watching the black human snake approaching him.

"I've always wanted to see you." 76 said to 77 through the glass.

76 glanced at 77's tail back and forth a few times: "Is your tail okay?"

77 didn't know why, when 76 looked over, he subconsciously wanted to hide his tail behind him, he moved his tail, and then moved in front of 76 under his gaze.

"Look, it's cured now."

Next to them, other experimental subjects were also inspecting the glass room they had left for a while.

From time to time, the sound of several experimental subjects saying that the things they hid were taken away sounded.

"The fruit core I put here is gone!"

"My beautiful bones are gone, too."

Similar voices came and went, and soon the subjects quieted down again, staying in their favorite places, leaving only No. 143 walking back and forth in the glass room, as if looking for something.

"143, what are you looking for?" The experimental subject next to him asked curiously.

"My toy is missing." It is a palm-sized stainless steel box, the color is very monotonous gray, boxy, and has no special shape.

"It's a box given to me by 'Mom'." He likes to close the lid of the box, and then lightly tap it with his nails to make different sounds.

On the first day when he was sent to District 3, in order to appease 143 who refused to leave his "mother", his caregiver took an empty box from the table and patted the lid with his palm.

The sound from the stainless steel box really quickly attracted the subject's attention. The researcher handed the box forward, and 143 looked at him hesitantly. Under his gaze, he tentatively grabbed the box and headed towards himself.After tugging, he got the tacit consent and dragged the box under his body to hide it.

The researcher who saw this scene thought that he had successfully appeased the subject: "Good boy, the glass room is very big, you will like it."

143 looked at his smile, thinking that this was the same as all the experiments he had experienced before, and let go of the tail wrapped around "mother's" calf.

"Mom" is smiling at me... 143 tilted his head and thought happily.

——

"That box must have been thrown away." 77 glanced at No. 143 who was curled up in frustration.

143 actually knew the answer. After he came back, he had searched carefully, but the smell left by the box was already very weak, and he could still smell "Mom" and another person who had been with the box in the original place.The imprint of staying.

143 said: "'Mom' doesn't remember anymore."

——

"I brought in the things that 'Mom' gave me before." 77 looked at 76 and said suddenly.

76 didn't ask what "mother" gave him, nor where they were.Because of their similar appearance, researchers gave them exactly the same things in many cases during childhood.

77 said: "They have all been seen by 'Mom' and thrown away."

He blinked, and said again as if emphasizing: "But it's okay, I've already forgotten about it."

"What did you forget?" 76 subconsciously asked.

77 flicked his tail: "I already forgot what 'Mom' gave me."

76 was quiet for a while, then looked at 77 seriously: "I will give you many things in the future."

He thought for a while, and then added: "There will be a lot more than what 'mother' gave you."

"Also." 76 continued, "They will always be yours."

77 followed his words and thought about it seriously, with a trace of curiosity in his eyes: "Then what are you going to give me?"

76 had already thought about it before opening his mouth: "Beautiful fruit cores, your favorite meat, candies..." He counted down the things 77 might like one by one.

but……

After listening to it, 77 was quiet for a while, and then his depressed mood disappeared, and he became happy. His eyes looked bright: "Then you have given me a lot more than 'Mom'."

They had a long time to spare in the glass room, and 77 slowly listed from the beginning of memory: "On the fifth day after coming out of the nutrition cabin, you gave me a piece of meat, and on the tenth day you gave me a piece of meat."candy..."

He seems to remember everything clearly, including the hug that 76 gave him after imitating his "mother", and the goodnight song he learned from "mother" and then sang to himself.

"Do these count?" Hearing the last 76's question with some doubts, these are things that cannot be seen or touched.

"Why not?" 77 asked back, and he said seriously, "I like it too."

He said: "If there is no glass now, you can give me a hug, I will love it."

77 thought about it seriously, and then described to 76: "I like to be coiled on a tree, tightly wrapped around the trunk, so happy that I can't help but draw traces out of the branches."

"Is that so?" 76 stuck the cold glass on and said with regret, "But I can't give you a hug right now."

——

When the third district was back on track, No. 157 was also growing at a rapid speed.

She's almost growing to Alyssa's jaw now.

Alyssa wrapped her arms around 157's back, stroking the experimental subject who was rubbing back and forth on her body.

"Okay, okay, stop making trouble." She held down the restless tentacles, then grabbed one from it, took it out, and handed it to the colleague next to her, "Get anesthetized."

157's physical condition can already support some simple experiments, just like the experimental subjects locked in the glass room in the third district, it will go through the past step by step with almost no difference from its predecessors.

157, who had had his blood drawn several times during this period, saw that he was already very skilled in this posture, and the captured tentacles were lying limply on Alyssa's hands, and he didn't struggle much.It's just that 157's head was buried in Alyssa's arms, rubbing back and forth non-stop.

"157's personality is more docile than we imagined." A researcher next to him subconsciously said.

Alyssa took it very seriously: "It seems that it has no other attack methods except for some small thorns on its tentacles."

This surprised the researchers in the lab. In addition to accidentally being cut by the thorns on its tentacles, when 157 lost his temper, it seemed that he would only use his tentacles, which were much thicker than before, to lighten others.Gently push away.

"It looks like it doesn't have the ability to protect itself at all." A researcher said, piercing 157's body with the needle in his hand.

At the same moment, 157's body froze for a moment, and the spikes on the tentacles almost couldn't help but want to stick out.She buried her head in Alyssa's arms hard, restraining the spikes that tried to stick out and the venom that instinctively wanted to release because of the pain.

"Probably because all the talents are focused on healing." Another researcher said jokingly.

"After the blood is drawn, do you still not use medicine to stop the bleeding?"

"No need, its self-healing ability is very strong, and this wound is nothing."

"Okay, then I know."

After the needle tip was pulled/out, a drop of blue blood oozes from the skin, and after wiping it off with a cotton swab, a dark blue spot is left, which heals naturally within less than five minutes.

157 quickly lay limp on Alyssa's body.

"Have you run out of strength?" Someone set up 157 and put it on the car, "Take it to the experimental area, where the equipment is ready."

...

When 157 woke up, he felt very strange.

She was locked in a glass room about the size of three of her own. The space was so narrow that she could hardly turn around.

The body is also very uncomfortable, as if all the water has been sucked out, feel abnormally thirsty, and the skin is hot, as if it can burn.

"Mother……"

"Mother?"

157 looked around subconsciously, trying to find a familiar figure.

But separated by a layer of transparent glass, only a strange researcher recorded something in the notebook.

Pain and disease always make people extra vulnerable, 157 can barely lift his tentacles, feeling the panicked 157 subconsciously calling for Alyssa.

"Mother?"

"Mother?"

But Alyssa, unable to understand her words, could never respond to her.

——

"Did you hear that?"

77 turned over slightly on the branch, lying on his arm, looking at 76 next door who was also lying on the tree.

"The larva seems to have been taken to the experimental area."

"I heard it." 76 nodded, "She's still calling mom."

"She's very noisy." 77 frowned, as if really disturbed by 157's voice.

He raised the volume to ensure that 15 in the experimental area could hear: "'Mom' can't hear what you're saying."

After a while, 157's voice came from that direction: "I know."

"But I feel bad..." Although there were no tears, the sobbing sound of the larva came intermittently from the experimental area. During the larval period, it seemed that all the experimental subjects were the same, and they never felt sad.To cover up, but to express it bluntly.

Because for a long time, in their cognition, as long as they express it, they can get a response from "mother".

157 said: "I want to see 'Mom'. It won't be so hard to see her."

"It's her who made you feel bad." Probably because he was really free, 77 continued the back and forth conversation with 157.

"If she didn't take you to the experimental area, you wouldn't feel uncomfortable."

"'Mom' won't." 157 was still defending his "mother".

She said: "I love 'Mom', and I will put away the thorns on my tentacles when I touch 'Mom'. I am afraid of pain, and I will not let 'Mom' feel pain."

She tried to refute 77: "'Mom' loves me, and she must not want me to suffer."

"But she grabbed you and had someone else drug you."

"When you wake up, you will start to feel uncomfortable."

157 was blocked by 77's words, and was at a loss for words for a while. After a while, she said the reason she had thought up for "mother": "Even if it is because of 'mother', there must be a reason."

She firmly believes that "Mom" loves herself: "'Mom' loves me, even if she makes me hurt, there is a reason."

After she said these words in a firm tone, 157 found that 77, who was still talking to him just now, suddenly ignored her.

She subconsciously recalled the conversation between herself and 77, and wondered if any of her words made him angry.

Before she could figure it out, the door was opened, and Alyssa walked in from there.

"Mom." 157 subconsciously moved forward, directly bumping into the glass.

Her body was close to the glass, watching the familiar figure getting closer and closer to her.

"Mom?" 157 called her again.

"So cute." Alyssa smiled, and patted 157's head through the glass, "I heard that you didn't make a fuss at all when you woke up."

"Awesome." She didn't hesitate to praise herself, and said the title before she had time to go through it in her mind, "My little monster."

little monster?

157 Hearing these three syllables that he had never heard before was a little puzzled, as if he was calling me?

Thinking of this, she happily waved her tentacles in response.

"How long is the observation period?" Alyssa turned her head to ask the researcher beside her.

"Observe for another two hours, and then take it to draw blood once." The researcher wrote down a sentence in the notebook, "Its reaction is very peaceful, I think we should consider increasing the dose in the next experiment."

"Probably because of insensitivity to pain." Alyssa replied to his words, while tapping on the glass casually, as a response to the experimental subject inside.

Two hours passed in a blink of an eye, and when Alyssa came again, there was another researcher beside her, pushing a small cart with needles and glass test tubes on it.

The moment the glass was opened, 157 came out waving her tentacles. Due to pain and fatigue, her movements were slower than usual.

The person next to him had already started to unpack the needle tube. The sound of the unpacking of the plastic bag made 157 stop and stood a few meters away from Alyssa.

"157?" Alyssa called her number, "Why don't you come?"

She opened her hands towards 157: "Come here."

157 looked at the needle tip on the researcher's hand next to her, and the residual pain in her body made her tremble slightly.

And the call of "Mom" a few meters away continued.

157 looked at Alyssa, then put his body into her arms without hesitation, and leaned his head on Alyssa's shoulder with attachment: "Mom..."

——

"Did you hear it all?" 77 turned to look at 76 who was caught by him and listened to Alyssa when he called "Mom" and threw himself into Alyssa's arms. He didn't talk to 157 anymore. It doesn't mean that 77 didn't pay attention to 157's first experiment.follow-up.

He looked at 76, and a small part of its tail fell from the branches and leaves, shaking in mid-air.

77 said: "I used to be the same as her, not afraid of pain." She could also rush to "mother" without fear of pain.