Exotic Species Exhibit Hall

The Xie Family had lost. They were scrambling to find evidence that would drag the Wells and Pang families down with them.

But the countless guards and Pioneers who died inside the Sankar Arsenal—they knew nothing, gained nothing, and lost everything.

Among the noisy middle school students, Tu Ran zeroed in on the girl called Xiaomin, whose brother had died at the Sankar Arsenal.

Tu Ran guessed her brother worked in the Executive Department or the Pioneer Team, though the Executive Department was more likely; the overall working environment there was safer than the Pioneer Team's.

The girl attended an elite school, which meant her family wasn't poor—not one of the big conglomerates, but at least a minor wealthy clan.

Her brother probably joined the lower ranks of the Executive Department just to experience life or pad his résumé before transferring straight into management.

He could never have imagined he'd be dragged into the power struggle of the three major conglomerates and lose his life because of it.

The students kept chattering. One by one they climbed out of their family luxury cars, and the teacher in charge counted heads. Once satisfied, she walked up to Tu Ran. "Everyone's here. We can go in now."

"Tell them to quiet down. The Songwu Experimental Base prohibits loud noise," Tu Ran said.

The teacher's face twisted with reluctance. She glanced back at her students, then at Tu Ran, and said cautiously, "Once they start arguing, they never stop. I can't control them."

It wasn't that she couldn't—it's that she didn't dare.

Most of these young masters and ladies from wealthy families were polite and respectful toward their teachers, but a few were outright unruly. Say one word too many and they'd go home complaining. Their parents would file a complaint with the school, and the teacher—who had fought tooth and nail for the position—would lose it.

The previous teacher, apparently, had been dismissed just like that.

"Step aside. I'll handle it."

The teacher looked at her with deep gratitude, almost ready to kneel and kowtow twice.

Tu Ran gave a low cough, cleared her throat, and raised her voice, sweeping a stern gaze across the students. "Enough! Many of the exotic species in the Songwu Base are still alive, and they love eating the flesh of little kids like you. If you keep making noise and wake them up, we won't be able to protect you."

The chubby boy from the Xie Family frowned. He had been speaking just now, and this woman had the audacity to interrupt him. Indignant, he pointed at Tu Ran. "If you can't even protect us, why are you even a Pioneer?"

Tu Ran looked down at the chubby boy, who barely reached her shoulder. A faint, mocking smile curled her lips. "Whether I'm a Pioneer or not is my business, not yours. Just like me warning you that your noise will wake the exotic species—that's something you should be paying attention to. If you don't listen and get eaten, that's not my problem either."

The boy opened his mouth, wanting to argue, but Tu Ran's reasoning was sound. He couldn't find a counterargument. But admitting defeat was out of the question. He wielded the privilege of being a conglomerate's young master.

"If you can't protect us, you're getting fired from the Pioneer Team!" He spat the threat.

Tu Ran thought he'd come up with something truly vicious, but that was it.

"I'd love that," she said.

Getting kicked out of the Pioneer Team would be a blessing in disguise.

The boy's cheeks flushed red with fury at her shamelessness, but he had no recourse, so he just glared at her.

"Quiet now? Then let's go in." Tu Ran hoisted her machine gun over her shoulder and sauntered ahead to open the door.

The Songwu Experimental Base had two levels. The upper level was a fully automated exotic species storage facility, housing countless specimens—alive and dead—managed entirely by artificial intelligence. Aside from periodic maintenance crews coming up to service the machines, it was usually empty.

The real research base was underground; the researchers were all down there.

Today's visit only covered the upper-level exotic species. The route to the lower level was sealed off.

The moment they stepped into the Songwu Research Base, a wave of gasps rose from behind Tu Ran.

The young ladies and gentlemen looked around at everything, as if they had stepped into a prehistoric era teeming with monsters—a blend of science fiction and wonder. Every single creature dazzled them, and for a moment they didn't know where to look.

Overhead, a giant bat-like exotic species stretched across nearly the entire ceiling of the base. Its six claws gleamed black as obsidian, sharp enough to tear through a skyscraper;

Two massive brown bear-like exotic species guarded the main path. Their fangs alone were as long as a human forearm. They were already the kings of the land, and yet they also bore wings—one with wings folded, the other with wings spread wide, as if about to conquer the sky;

A python nearly a meter thick coiled around a sturdy tree trunk, flicking its blood-red tongue. Just as everyone assumed it was merely a very large python, they spotted a second head at its tail end—a two-headed, tail-less serpent.

Everything captured the young masters and ladies' curiosity, and they couldn't bear to look away.

They had seen these exotic species before—on various recordings or holographic projection screens. Though those fully reproduced their appearances, the experience was worlds apart from being here in person.

Gradually, the students dispersed, each gravitating toward the exotic species that fascinated them most and moving in for a closer look.

Tu Ran also studied these exotic species' forms carefully, guessing whether they were alive or dead.

Some were dead—like the bat-like species hanging from the ceiling. It had very little safety equipment; hooks simply pierced its wings and other parts to suspend it. If it were alive, the Research Institute wouldn't be so lax.

The two brown bears were likely dead too, standing rigidly in place with no ropes or restraints of any kind—probably specimens.

Tu Ran suspected the giant python was alive. It was enclosed in a sealed transparent glass tank, and from all eight corners of the tank, a mist-like substance sprayed continuously.

That substance was definitely more than just mist—it was likely a drug designed to keep the python perpetually unconscious.

Besides the python, there was a "chimera" that was also alive—shaped like a tiger, with deer antlers and a sharp snout with tusks like a wild boar. It too was confined in a glass tank, white mist spraying out, its four limbs stiff and frozen.

All the living exotic species were locked inside glass tanks, while the dead ones were displayed outside.

Whether alive or dead, they all looked half-dead, rigid and no different from specimens. The students and teacher couldn't tell the difference. They were only there for the novelty, and few listened to Zero's commentary.

Tu Ran admired these exotic species. Many of them she had never seen before, and they weren't in the original body's memories either—they must have appeared recently.