Claire didn't expect that she just listened to Alyssa's words and went back to get a test tube, and saw this scene when she came back.

Coincidentally, although 157's voice was very soft, he just heard 157 speak, which is the interstellar lingua franca. They used to think that the experimental subjects could not understand, so they communicated without any scruples in front of them.

Claire saw the experimental subject raised his head and looked in his direction.

It is not that there are no records of experimental subjects attacking their caregivers. It happened many times in the early days, but in recent years it has become rare. Moreover, those experimental subjects who attacked their caregivers are also usually grumpy and irritable.very different.

Fifteen hours ago, it was still the sweet, clingy, gentle and obedient experimental subject in Claire's eyes, so the scene in front of him made him feel even more unbelievable.

It—no, it should be called her. She was in the corner of the glass room, stretching out her tentacles to wrap around Alyssa's body. Claire's throat rolled, and she almost subconsciously pressed the button to let the glass fall.

After the glass fell, he let out a long breath, hit the back of his head on the wall, and closed his eyes weakly.

157 was still locked in the glass room, and Claire hardly dared to look at Alyssa's body which was still in the glass room.

He leaned against the wall for a while, and then left the third district without looking back.

Someone was watching the monitoring room all the time, and Claire knew that someone would report this matter, and he didn't want to stay here any longer.

Not long after leaving the third district in a panic, Claire met Mendley. Looking at his direction, it seemed that he was also planning to go to the third district.

"Mr. Mendley." The pale Claire greeted him, and then prepared to go back first.

But unexpectedly, Mendley stopped him: "Wait a minute."

"What's the matter?" Claire knew that the expression on his face might not be good, but he couldn't control his emotions for the time being, so he could only force a smile in front of Mendley.

"Are you uncomfortable?" Claire didn't know if it was an illusion, but she felt that Mendley's voice was much gentler than usual.

"Ah...I..." He thought of Alyssa again, his face was ugly, trying to sort out the sequence of events.

"……yes."

"Isn't Alyssa with you? I remember you went there together?" Mendley continued to ask patiently.

"She... Alyssa..." Claire's eyes were blank, "She died, it was 157..."

"Do you know why?"

"I don't know... Alyssa asked me to get the test tube... When I came back, I saw her lying there with a hole in her chest..."

"So, it was Alyssa who accidentally scared 157 while you were away, and was accidentally injured by it?"

"No." Claire wanted to deny subconsciously, but met Mendley's suspicious eyes.

His tone was still gentle, and Claire's thoughts were subconsciously led to another direction: "Why is it impossible?"

Mendley asked back: "157 has always been a very gentle experimental subject."

"And you didn't see the specific situation at that time, did you?"

"But..." The dazed Claire subconsciously wanted to continue to refute, but was interrupted by Mendley's gentle voice: "You look tired, go back and rest first."

"You don't need to tell others about this, we will investigate it tonight and report it to the entire laboratory tomorrow."

The gray-haired old man had a kind face, and his words were as trustworthy as ever, and Claire's heart gradually settled down.

——

Not only Claire, but other experimental subjects did not react to 157's actions.

"Do you know what you are doing?" 35 shouted at her loudly, "You can easily die like this!"

She turned her back to the monitor, lowered the face behind the flower bud, showing a sad expression.

"Do you want to live like this forever?" 157 listened to the words of the experimental subjects, and replied after a long silence.

The gap in technology cannot be made up by flesh and blood. They all know that "mother" has many weapons that can easily subdue them, and will destroy experimental subjects that are not obedient in their eyes when necessary.

And they even had some difficulty opening the door of the third district.

"But one day I will be able to go out." 77 said, "At this time last year, a seed was left in my glass room." It is probably the food that the researchers brought back from this planet for the experimental subjects.It fell on the thin soil, took root and germinated soon after the temperature was suitable, and mixed into a piece of artificial turf on the ground.

It is obviously a similar color, but 77 can see it at a glance every time, and it also has a completely different smell from artificial turf.

"Haven't you ever been curious? What is it like in places we haven't been to?"

——

No. 157 was not taken away quickly. After eight o'clock in the evening, the lights in the laboratory were completely turned off, and only a few people entered the third area with the lights on.Because of 157's actions in the afternoon, they were fully armed when they appeared.

"You will be locked in a small house." 77 said, "But it doesn't matter, as long as you obey, you can come back."

The researchers who came over had well-trained movements, quickly anesthetized 157, and took her to the small house that 77 mentioned.

77 watched 157 leave, and then looked at No. 76 next door. He had already shed his skin, and the shed skin was hidden by 76, but his movements in the past two days seemed a little slow.

"Will she survive?" 77 asked 76.

76 thought for a long time, and finally he could only tell him: "I don't know."

——

The turnover of personnel in the laboratory is very small, basically everyone knows each other, and it is almost impossible to hide one person missing.

Alyssa was not seen soon after breakfast time.

"Where's Alyssa? Why didn't you see her? I remember she always got up early."

"I didn't see her last night either. I only know that she went to District 3 with Claire in the end yesterday." Another researcher shrugged.

"Claire? He also woke up very late today. I don't think he looks very well. I don't know if he has been sick for the past two days."

The news of Alyssa's death has not yet spread, and the work in the laboratory will inevitably become boring after a long time. They discuss in the dining room those conversations that can bring a little joy to a poor life.

"Did you hear that last night?" A researcher elbowed another person beside him, "There seemed to be some movement last night."

"What's going on?" Someone asked cooperatively.

"Is it the sound of wheels or something else? I heard it in a daze, and I don't know if it's a dream." He added, "It was in the middle of the night."

While eating breakfast, someone in the restaurant suddenly glanced at the communicator, and then shouted in surprise: "A meeting at nine o'clock in the morning? All members?"

"What meeting? I'll take a look too." The voices of the researchers in the dining room were one after another, "Is it a big conference room?" "What's the content?"

The noise was loud and subsided after a few minutes, and the researchers who had finished breakfast left one after another and walked towards the large conference room.

Unexpectedly, Mendley in the conference room looked unexpectedly serious.

At 8:55, he looked around the meeting room: "Everyone is here, let's start."

A researcher familiar with Alyssa was puzzled: "But Alyssa..."

Before he finished speaking, Mendley raised his hand: "Be quiet first, this is what I want to talk about today."

With a serious expression on his face, he subconsciously made the other people in the meeting room sit up straight.

"I have very sad news for everyone."

Mendley had a well-placed grim expression on his face: "Last night, our colleague Miss Alyssa passed away unexpectedly."

"As for the reason, it was because she opened the glass room of subject No. 157, and during the interaction with subject 157 was frightened, and was accidentally injured by the overreacting subject."

"I regret this." Mendley said, "Before this, I also emphasized that it is best not to open the glass door and leave the experimental subject alone..."

Mendley continued to talk, and Kathy occasionally answered a sentence or two. The differences some time ago were quickly left behind by the two of them. They have always cooperated very well in the matter of soothing people's hearts.

"They're just smarter animals," Mendley said. "A lot of times, they might not be smart enough. We can't ask them to have IQ and emotions that are comparable to humans. But it is undeniable that they have far stronger intelligence than humans."strength."

"So for your personal safety, I think it's best not to deal with them rashly thinking that you are their caretaker."

When Claire heard this, she felt that Mendley hadn't realized the huge information behind 157's speech, so she subconsciously said, "Mr. Mendley..."

The second he opens his mouth, Mendley cuts him off, as if he's been paying attention.

"Claire, I know what you want to say, but let's talk about your affairs when we have time."

Claire met his gaze and subconsciously replied, "Okay."

——

Alisa's death was easily concluded by Mendley at this meeting based on the stress response of the experimental subject after being frightened, just like many deaths of researchers in the past.

The surveillance of Alyssa's death has not been released, and according to Mendley, her body has been placed in a freezer and will be sent back the next time the transport starship leaves.

Except for the people who checked the surveillance at that time, only Claire saw the scene with his own eyes. The others only knew that Alyssa was accidentally killed by No. 157, and they didn't know anything about the specific situation.

Mendley and Kathy seem to be born with the talent to control people's hearts. They cited examples of animal trainers who were accidentally injured by wild animals that they had tamed since childhood before the interstellar era, and mentioned some accidental deaths caused by accidental injuries by experimental subjects in experiments.researcher.

"This is indeed a somewhat dangerous job, so we have to regulate our behavior during working hours..." Mendley cleared his throat and continued to talk, and the people present subconsciously followed his train of thought and blamed thisAn accident in an experiment.

But Claire, who experienced Alyssa's death with his own eyes, vaguely felt that something was wrong.

After the meeting, he subconsciously pulled Jonathan back: "Do you think Alyssa's death was an accident?"

"Didn't Mr. Mendley explain it?" Jonathan asked suspiciously.

"Then what do you think?"

"It was an accident." Jonathan was inclined to this answer, "Alyssa might be a little too unlucky."

"What if... I mean, what if there are other possibilities?"

"For example?" Jonathan asked, apart from this explanation, he seemed to be unable to think of any other answer.

Claire's mind was a little messy, and he grabbed Jonathan's hand subconsciously: "It's revenge... Is it possible that she is taking revenge on Alyssa?"

"How is it possible?" Jonathan laughed subconsciously when he heard the answer, "157 obviously likes Alyssa very much, so where's the revenge?"

Claire let go of his hand hesitantly, then went to ask the next person the same question, and soon got the same answer.

Claire suddenly remembered the first incident where the test subject attacked the caregiver. At that time, several people would ask whether the test subject's intelligence and emotions would exceed their expectations, but Mendley quickly refuted them with sufficient reasons.Then get used to it on attack after attack.

Because Mendley subtly told them again and again that this was just an accident in the experiment, and the experimental subject was inherently dangerous.

Gradually, this cognition also formed in their minds.

When he was about to catch the fourth person, he saw Mendley coming out of the door. He looked at the person who was holding a colleague who was asking anxiously, and called him, "Claire?"

Claire let go of the researcher's hand beside her, and walked slowly towards Mendley.

"Go to my office." As he said, he went forward and led the people to his office.

The two walked into Mendley's office quickly, and Mendley closed the door behind him.Claire studied the expression on Mendley's face inquiringly.Mendley sensed his obvious gaze, but didn't care.

He motioned for Claire to sit down on the chair beside the desk, then he took two cups and poured two cups of hot tea, one of which was placed in front of Claire.

"Have a cup of tea and take it easy." Mendley sat down in front of him, his tone still sounded extremely concerned at this moment, "Your expression doesn't look very good, did you not sleep well last night?"

Claire looked at him, moved her lips, and finally said, "I heard her."

Claire paid attention to every micro-expression on Mendley's face: "It's the lingua franca."

Mendley put down the teacup in his hand, his face looked blurry through the steam from the hot tea in the teacup.

Then Claire heard him reply flatly: "I know."

When did Mendley stop going to the third district to see the experimental subjects?

Claire finally remembered it after the first incident where the experimental subject attacked the caregiver.