This black lump was the same monster that accompanied Chloe and Anderson when they entered the Extreme Cold arena before.
Chloe finally managed to struggle out of the black lump's tentacles after tremendous effort.
The eyes on the black lump's body stared intently at Chloe, unwilling to take their gaze off her for even a moment.
Chloe felt uneasy being watched like that, and quietly hid behind Anderson.
Seeing this, the black lump let out an unsatisfied growl towards Anderson.
Anderson's expression remained unchanged as he stood his ground, firmly shielding Chloe's figure.
Seeing that the black lump was about to go berserk, Ren Yunying swiftly struck it with a powerful electric baton.
The sizzling sound of electricity rang out, and the flesh on the black lump immediately began to convulse. Soon, hundreds upon hundreds of eyes began to roll back simultaneously.
This scene was a bit eerie, to say the least.
Under the effect of the electric baton, this black lump quickly collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
Immediately after, Ren Yunying waved her hand behind her, and several researchers quickly came over, dragging this black lump towards the laboratory.
It was only then that Chloe emerged from behind Anderson.
Her gaze fell upon the black lump being dragged away in the distance, before shifting back to Ren Yunying:
"Instructor, you called me here just to have me look at this monster, didn't you?"
Ren Yunying reached out and ruffled Chloe's hair. "Not just that, come with me."
With that, she led Chloe and the others deep into the laboratory.
This place was no different from the others, except for the abundance of experimental equipment.
On a white marble table, a pure white lion cub lay sprawled, its azure eyes appearing extremely gentle.
Upon seeing this cub, Chloe had a vague sense of familiarity:
"...Isn't this the Fantasy Species we captured from the desert arena?"
"Yes." Ren Yunying didn't deny it. She clapped her hands, and the lion cub's gaze immediately regained focus, snapping out of its dazed state.
Almost instantly, the lion cub shifted its attention to Chloe.
It was visibly growing excited.
It leapt off the table and into Chloe's embrace, its four soft paws stepping onto her chest as it stretched out its tongue, excitedly licking Chloe's face.
Caught off guard by its antics, Chloe was dazed for a moment before obediently tightening her hold to prevent the lion cub from falling.
Seeing this, Ren Yunying smiled. "Don't worry too much, this Fantasy Species is very sturdy. Even if thrown from hundreds of floors up, it wouldn't get hurt."
Those were her words, but...
But as Chloe lowered her gaze to look at this soft, beautiful lion cub, she held it even tighter.
It certainly didn't seem like a creature with great vitality.
Ren Yunying watched with amusement as the human and cub bonded harmoniously.
In fact, she had guessed that when Chloe came, this Fantasy Species would likely be obedient, but she hadn't expected it to be this obedient.
Recalling how the Fantasy Species had previously run amok in the laboratory, jumping around and knocking over experimental equipment, Ren Yunying felt a sense of dissonance when comparing it to the now docile cub snuggling in Chloe's embrace.
Strange, how all these peculiar creatures seemed to take a liking to Chloe.
This Fantasy Species was like that, and so was that black lump.
After they had played enough, Ren Yunying turned serious:
"I called you here today to ask for a favor."
With one hand still occupied by the lion cub licking her face, Chloe raised her head and asked:
"What is it?"
"It's about that black lump you saw when you entered earlier, the unknown monster you brought back from the Extreme Cold arena. We want to conduct some simple research on it, and we've already confirmed that it won't have any negative impact on the monster's body."
As she spoke, Ren Yunying handed the electric baton to Chloe. "But it's unwilling to cooperate, and it's very wary even in the designated research room, not allowing the electric baton to get close. So this research has been unable to proceed."
"We're really out of options, which is why we want you to help keep an eye on it."
After all, no matter how you looked at it, that monster seemed to really like Chloe.
"Alright, no problem." Chloe agreed without hesitation.
It was just a matter of shocking a monster with an electric baton, what was so difficult about that?
A piece of cake.
With that thought, Chloe passed the lion cub to Anderson behind her, bid farewell to her companions who were fiddling around, and promptly followed Ren Yunying.
After winding through several corridors, they finally arrived at the entrance of a laboratory.
Upon entering, they could see that the black lump had regained consciousness.
Seeing this, Chloe was slightly dazed. After carefully calculating the time, she couldn't help but feel incredulous:
"It woke up so quickly after being electrocuted?"
Ren Yunying nodded helplessly. "Yes, an ordinary electric baton can't even subdue it. The one I handed you is a modified high-voltage electric baton."
As her words fell, Chloe glanced down at the electric baton in her hand, feeling a deep sense of the importance of her task.
Upon seeing Chloe, the dejected and somewhat irritated expression on the black lump seemed to vanish.
It began waving its tentacles excitedly, carefully stretching them out to touch Chloe.
Amidst the flurry of tentacles, Chloe remained unperturbed.
Following the researchers' guidance, she took a seat beside the black lump, locking eyes with its thousands of eyes as she coldly warned:
"Behave, or else..."
She shook the electric baton in her hand.
Unexpectedly, instead of being intimidated, this only seemed to excite the black lump further. Its tentacles thrashed about wildly, even striking several researchers and eliciting pained hisses.
Chloe grabbed one of its tentacles and twisted it forcefully in a threatening manner:
"Behave yourself."
The black lump blinked its eyes, seemingly understanding Chloe's intention. It slowly retracted all of its tentacles.
Only the one grasped in Chloe's hand remained extended.
It thought Chloe wanted to play.
Seeing the monster's mood had calmed somewhat, Ren Yunying breathed a sigh of relief and signaled the researchers to extract fluid from the monster's body.
As soon as the thick needle appeared, the monster immediately grew agitated, its tentacles twitching restlessly.
But before it could act, Chloe forcefully squeezed the tentacle clutched in her embrace.
Feeling the pain, the monster froze, glancing towards Chloe. Upon meeting her warning gaze, it hesitated for a moment before obediently calming down, no longer using its tentacles to attack the researchers.
Throughout the entire research process, with Chloe keeping watch, the monster remained very obedient, allowing the researchers to work on it unhindered.
After the experiment ended, Chloe gazed at the weakened monster, a strange feeling rising within her.
But before she could make sense of it, Ren Yunying came over and hugged her:
"Good girl, well done."
Chloe had her head patted, feeling a bit dazed.
She turned her head to look at the dejected monster, fell silent for a moment, then broke free from Ren Yunying's embrace and walked over to pat the monster's head:
"You did well too."
The monster froze, looking at Chloe with disbelief.
Chloe awkwardly yet soothingly patted it.
Sensing what she was doing, the monster's tentacles immediately began waving joyfully, emitting a "hissing" sound from its throat.
Watching its behavior, Chloe silently thought—
It's not too difficult to placate.
