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Chapter 172 - Chapter 170: The Taste

The more heartbroken Mork was, the happier Roy was laughing on the other side.

Samantha had gone to the rare effort of cooking a table full of delicious food to treat Roy and Elrusa. Ashley and Mike had never received such treatment before.

The only slight disappointment was that Elrusa looked at the table of delicacies without touching a single thing.

Samantha found it a bit strange.

"Mr. Black, why isn't she eating anything? Doesn't she like the taste?"

Roy scratched his head, unsure how to explain the situation.

"Uh, Elrusa has pica. She doesn't like the things normal people eat."

Ashley looked Elrusa up and down with a face full of curiosity.

"Is there really such a condition?"

Ashley wasn't the best student, after all, she spent all day hanging out with bikers, so her grades weren't exactly stellar.

However, Mike was a little academic ace. He raised his hand to answer his sister's question.

"I know! I know! The teacher talked about pica. It's a special craving that gradually appears in babies and children during the feeding process. They uncontrollably chew and swallow foreign objects that are usually not meant to be eaten."

"Wow, there really is such a thing? So, what does Ms. Elrusa like to eat?"

This was even harder to talk about, so Roy had no choice but to change the subject.

"By the way, Samantha, I noticed the town seems really desolate. What's the reason for that?"

Hearing this, Samantha sighed.

"Our town originally thrived because of the gold mine. When the gold mine was depleted more than a decade ago, it naturally became desolate."

Roy recalled the plot of the movie "Eight Legged Freaks." In the movie, it seemed like a truck full of chemical materials overturned, leading to the birth of giant spiders.

This world was a bit strange and might not necessarily follow the plot of the movie, so Roy still wanted to inquire further.

After all, since he was already here, it would be a shame not to get involved.

"Is that gold mine now abandoned?"

"No, I heard it was leased to a tech company called Amalgamated Chemical. It's kind of making use of something that would otherwise be wasted."

Wait, Amalgamated Chemical?

A key detail!

Amalgamated Chemical had a long company history, founded in 1930 and headquartered in Portland, Maine. During World War II, it became a supplier for the Department of Defense, and its relationship with the federal government became increasingly close ever since.

This tech company possessed cutting-edge biological genetic engineering technology, which is why the FEA headquarters wanted to collaborate with Amalgamated Chemical when the Space Succubus was discovered earlier.

In the darkness of night, a transport vehicle bearing the Amalgamated Chemical logo drove along the winding mountain road next to the mining town, escorted by several armored cars with the MMC (Black Mountain Military Company) logo. Their destination was the town's only gold mine.

On the mine's side, from the outside it still looked like an abandoned mine, but the inside of the mine shaft had already undergone a huge transformation.

A middle-aged woman in a white lab coat walked out of the mine shaft, followed by several fully armed mercenaries and staff members. The mercenaries' equipment also bore the MMC logo.

A group of people waited at the entrance of the mine for a short while before the transport vehicle and armored cars drove in.

The transport vehicle stopped in the open space of the mine, and then a group of mercenaries got out of the armored cars. The leading mercenary captain greeted the middle-aged woman.

"Ms. Elsa Layton (from 'Splice'), why are you personally receiving the delivery?"

However, Elsa's attitude was very cold.

"You're late."

"Sorry, there was a slight accident on the road, causing some delay."

The mercenary captain quickly apologized. Elsa Layton and her husband, Clive Layton, on the other side, were both geniuses in genetic engineering, capable of independently managing a project at Amalgamated Chemical.

A small mercenary captain couldn't afford to offend such important figures.

Fortunately, Elsa didn't dwell on the lateness. She was more concerned about security.

"Is the cargo secure?"

The mercenary captain patted the side of the transport truck's container.

"Absolutely secure!"

Elsa nodded.

"Then hurry up and unload it. We're at a critical stage of the experiment right now."

With that, Elsa turned and went back into the mine. The rest of the work would naturally be handled by other staff members. She just wanted to confirm that the goods had arrived.

Back in the lab, Elsa saw her husband, Clive, observing a large tarantula without moving.

The tarantula's behavior was very strange, its movements distorted but not stiff, giving off an eerie feeling.

"Has the delivery arrived?"

"Yes, they're unloading now."

Clive finally looked up and smiled.

"Excellent, we'll start the experiment tonight!"

Clive's words made Elsa pause.

"Tonight? Isn't that too rushed?"

"No! It has to be as soon as possible! The company is already a bit dissatisfied with my lack of results, and I need to show them something impressive enough to satisfy that old woman!"

Clive's expression was somewhat resentful, clearly very unhappy with the "old woman" he mentioned.

"Then I'll go prepare the lab."

Elsa turned and left coldly. Judging by their way of talking, you wouldn't guess they were a married couple.

"Elsa, wait! How's the acquisition of this mine going?"

Elsa stopped and briefly explained.

"To prevent the mine owner from becoming suspicious and refusing to sell, I specifically found someone else to acquire the mine through the town mayor. But the mine owner is still hesitating."

Clive's expression turned grim.

"What's going on? Hurry up and resolve this matter to avoid any unforeseen complications!"

Elsa nodded expressionlessly.

"I'll have someone urge the mayor tomorrow. That guy probably wants to squeeze out more money and is trying to lower the price."

"Get the mine within three days. The company isn't short of that little bit of money!"

"I understand."

"Prepare the experiment."

Elsa and Clive left the lab at the same time.

After they left, the large tarantula in the transparent glass box quickly flipped over and stopped moving. Some strange red hyphae emerged from its abdomen.

An hour later, the new lab was set up, and Clive and Elsa began their experiment.

The subjects of their experiment were the eggs of a locally common tarantula and some kind of special hyphae never before discovered, found deep within the mine.

Previously, Clive had tried to combine the two, but had always failed.

The hyphae would quickly devour the internal organs of a creature, turning it into an empty shell. Only this type of tarantula could survive until after mating before dying.

That's why Clive chose the tarantula as his experimental subject.

In order to better combine the tarantula and the hyphae, Clive specifically requested a special cell from space (flesh and blood of a male succubus) from the company.

This cell was extremely precious. Amalgamated Chemical had only recently obtained it. Clive being able to request it was due to his outstanding abilities, but he only received a small amount, so he had to use it with extreme caution.

However, scientific experiments are always built upon countless failures.

"Gene fusion experiment, attempt number 1, failed."

"Gene fusion experiment, attempt number 2, failed."

...

"Gene combination experiment, attempt number 13, successful!"

Clive and Elsa were undoubtedly very patient scientists. Continuous failures did not discourage them. They always firmly believed that their path was correct.

Finally, in the 13th experiment, the tarantula eggs, the underground hyphae, and the space cell were perfectly combined.

Although this number wasn't very auspicious in the West, Clive and Elsa, being materialists, didn't care about such things.

Looking at the small spider that had been hatched in a special way inside the glass box, a smile finally appeared on Clive and Elsa's tired faces.

"We succeeded!"

This little spider was about the size of a marble, with red tentacle-like hyphae on its body. It moved freely and looked very normal, except for its head, which looked a bit strange, but the exhausted Clive and Elsa didn't notice.

They had been working intensely for two hours, and their bodies were already somewhat overwhelmed. Seeing the experiment succeed, they decided to take a break.

"Have the assistant get some mealworms for it to eat and carefully observe its condition."

"Clive, should we give it a name?"

Clive and Elsa went to the disinfection room and pondered for a moment while being rinsed with disinfectant.

"As our first successful experimental prototype, it is indeed necessary to give it a name. What do you think would be a good name for it?"

"Since it's a female spider, how about Rose?"

"Sounds good."

Soon, the assistant entered the sterile lab with some disinfected mealworms, as food for Rose, the newly born gene-fused spider.

The assistant watched Rose eat for a while. After feeling that there were no problems, he turned his attention to Clive and Elsa's experimental records.

These were experimental records written by two of the top genetic engineering scientists. As their assistant, he couldn't miss out on these records.

The assistant, who was focused on reading the experimental records, didn't notice that after eating a few mealworms, the small spider's size rapidly increased, quickly growing from the size of a marble to the size of a billiard ball.

But the little spider was still not satisfied. It bared its fangs and claws at the assistant, seemingly demanding more food.

Unfortunately, the assistant completely missed the little spider's needs. The angry little spider directly sprayed a mouthful of venom onto the glass box, actually corroding a hole in the glass, and then crawled out through the hole.

It wasn't until the gas produced by the corrosion triggered the lab's automatic alarm that the assistant realized Rose was missing from the glass box. Immediately afterward, he felt something bite his foot.

There couldn't be any other living creatures in the sterile lab, and entering the sterile lab required wearing a full set of protective clothing, so it was obvious what had bitten him.

The intense pain terrified the assistant. He wanted to escape the sterile lab and go outside for help, but because the corrosive gas had triggered the lab's automatic alarm, the lab door was locked, and the assistant couldn't get out at all.

Only Clive and Elsa had the authority to open the sterile lab.

"Help! Help me!"

The assistant desperately pounded on the lab door. He could feel the spider Rose burrowing around inside his body, but he didn't feel much pain. Instead, he had a kind of lightheaded, euphoric feeling.

This situation terrified the assistant even more. His professional knowledge told him that he might have been poisoned by some kind of neurotoxin, which meant that he would soon completely lose consciousness.

This judgment was correct. In less than three minutes, the assistant had already fallen to the ground with a happy smile on his face, and saliva started to drool from the corners of his mouth. He was completely unable to move.

Ten minutes later, when Clive and Elsa arrived with the mercenaries, they saw the assistant, who was now just a layer of skin. His internal organs and flesh had all been eaten away.

"Rose did this?"

Clive was both surprised and delighted. Losing an assistant meant nothing to him. What made him happy was that his scientific ideas of many years seemed to be on the verge of success.

Elsa felt a bit of pity seeing the assistant's corpse, but she still calmly analyzed the situation.

"This method of feeding doesn't seem like the way a tarantula feeds. Tarantulas usually choose to swallow their prey."

Clive didn't pay attention to this detail.

"Maybe it's because the prey was too big! You, immediately search the lab. You must find Rose!"

The mercenaries obeyed and searched everywhere in the sterile lab. Finally, they found a hole about the size of a soccer ball in a corner.

"Sir, the target may have escaped!"

Clive's face immediately turned grim.

"Damn it, this thing can actually corrode metal walls directly! And it grew so big in just a few minutes!"

"Clive, we have a problem! If Rose enters the natural environment and starts to reproduce, it could cause a huge biological disaster."

What Elsa said was exactly what Clive was most worried about right now.

"Immediately report this to the company, then pack up the data and supplies and prepare to evacuate! Oh, right, copy the surveillance footage from the sterile lab and send it to the company. At least, our experiment this time was a success!"

Amalgamated Chemical was rich and powerful. As long as the experiment was successful, even small mistakes could be covered up.

Clive knew this very well, and with the success of the experiment, he had already begun planning the next step.

What kind of results would be produced if the hyphae and the space cells could be combined with human genes?

Clive was already looking forward to it!

An hour later, the mine lab was sealed off, and everyone was gone.

And the swampy area around the mine also began to change quietly.

At this time, Roy, who had just returned to the hotel with Elrusa, knew nothing about all this.

Roy originally wanted to call Gerald to ask him some things about Amalgamated Chemical.

However, Roy heard a knock on the door.

It was already midnight. Who would be knocking on the door at this time?

"Ashley?"

Standing outside the door was actually the youthful version of Black Widow.

"Roy, did you guys only book one room?"

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