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 chaleon 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 so 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 pigntation and the structural color is not the sa, as I hypothesized. The blue wavelengths reaching the natural yellow pigntation is what causes the green outer appearance." Harker muttered as he wrote down. "These blue wavelengths may co 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.
at. Demon at.
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 pigntation?"
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 compartnt. "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 sothing more complicated than that." Harker said.
"Well, if it's any help, I found sothing 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? So 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 sa. 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 experints. 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 so 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 ti to socialize, so they end up having a hard ti with it.
He experienced it too for a while, being the 'nerd outcast' before he changed to adapt to his environnt. 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 an different strokes for different folks." Lila corrected.
Harker chuckled. "Nope, that's exactly what I an. 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 experintation 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 at.
"I actually don't know how long I can store demon at 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 at. "So I can store it indefinitely, but it will have less Duration over ti. 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 ti of his birthday. But the Enhanced Ability remains enhanced everyti you consu 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 soone as strong and powerful as Miss Lovette choose to be a stay-at-ho wife for a snake-like demon? It doesn't make any sense…."
Suddenly, Harker got called out by a lazy voice.
"Harker, there's so guy that wants to talk to you….." Professor Seward spoke from her office. "So 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 ti.
".... 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 cris of his wife. He's dropping by our house first by Friday to discuss things with him."
Harker's eyes widened. That ant he would be able to et Mr. Xi earlier while he still had his Snake Ability!
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