Inside the Avilars Biological Research Institute,
Jennifer had just finished her examination and hopped off the bed.
Their father took both her and her sister's hands, softening his voice, "I need to speak with the doctor. Can you two stay here quietly?"
Jennifer and Wennie nodded obediently, bringing a smile to their father's face. He kissed their foreheads before leaving.
After their father left, the two girls mirrored each other's actions, exchanging mischievous smiles.
Then, they quietly approached the door to eavesdrop on their father's conversation with the doctor.
"My good friend, are they alright?"
"They're fine, don't worry."
They heard their father exhale deeply, saying with relief, "That's good."
"But I should warn you, keep an eye out for any harmful behavior from Jennifer. You know, initially she only had half a body..."
Their voices gradually lowered, and the two little girls saw confusion in each other's eyes.
However, being so young, they soon forgot about it as they played in the room. By the time their father came back, it had slipped their minds entirely.
The scene gradually faded, quickly transitioning to a new one.
Qi Yuan looked around. The view outside the window was the same as when they celebrated awakening their abilities, probably their home again.
Two teenage girls were solemnly packing clothes.
Judging by the fabric and style, they appeared to be their mother's clothes. Considering the packing materials on the floor and their expressions, they were likely sorting through belongings left behind.
After finishing with the clothes, they began tidying the room. Jennifer found a medical record book in the cabinet.
Jennifer's fingertips hovered in mid-air as she recognized the name on the book.
Wennie walked over and picked up the book. A photo slipped out from between its pages.
The photo showed conjoined twins lying on a bed. The infants had separate upper bodies, but their waists and lower bodies were fused together.
No longer children, they trembled as they read through the contents of the medical record, shattering their last shred of hope.
It clearly stated that because the organs in their waist and abdomen were shared, if a separation surgery were performed, one of the girls would die.
Their father happened to come upstairs to find them.
Noticing their unusual expressions, he snatched the photo and medical record. His face changed slightly as he saw the contents.
Seeing his reaction, the two girls already had a vague answer in their hearts.
Wennie questioned her father, "This is us, isn't it?"
"Yes."
Their father, still not adept at deceiving his family, said, "The surgery was very successful. Your mother and I thought it would be better for you to grow up without this burden."
Jennifer's expression wasn't good. From the information that she could parasitize while Wennie couldn't, she deduced that she was the one who had been given up on.
If the surgery had failed, she would have left this world as an infant.
Although their parents tried to treat them equally, Jennifer had always been the favored one.
Wennie was always taught to be considerate of her sister because of her poor health.
Suddenly learning the reason, Jennifer became emotionally unstable and left the room.
Wennie, not paying attention to her at the moment, asked her father, "That Dr. Marlon who often came to check on us when we were little..."
"He's my good friend. If it weren't for him recommending us for the experiment, Jennifer would have only been able to spend a very short time with us."
"Experiment?"
"Yes, an experiment."
Their father sighed, fingering the photo in his hand. "This experiment didn't have much to do with you. They simply separated Jennifer from you. I'm not clear about the specifics of Jennifer's experiment, but from Marlon's vague words, I guess it involved using gene serum derived from monsters to achieve self-regeneration."
"That's insane."
"Perhaps, but I'm grateful they gave me a chance. The subjects they recruited for the experiment were all people who had lost body parts in dangerous situations. If the research had succeeded, it would have been a breakthrough benefiting all of humanity. Unfortunately, the success rate was extremely low, and the large number of disabled people who died caught the government's attention. It wasn't long before the project was shut down."
Wennie frowned, "Then what if something goes wrong with Jennifer?"
Their father felt touched by the deep bond between his daughters. His rough hand brushed over Wennie's golden hair.
"Don't worry. Although the project was shelved, the entire project team is still at Avilars Biological."
The scene shifted, instantly changing to a cold laboratory.
"Your father said you'd be coming to see me soon, but I didn't expect it to be this quick. Follow me," Marlon said, gesturing to the two girls.
"Sorry to bother you, Uncle Marlon."
Marlon asked an assistant to bring two cups of coffee and led them to a reception room.
"I wasn't clear before, but as our research on monsters progressed..." He spread his interlocked hands, giving them a helpless smile. "To be frank, Jennifer was an accident, or rather, a miracle born from coincidence."
"Why do you say that?"
Wennie and Jennifer leaned forward, eager to know more.
"When we study humans, we continuously delve deeper into cellular structures, gene chains, and so on, gaining rich research results. When we started researching monsters, most scholars in academia took the same approach. What substances can be extracted from monsters, how their structure differs from humans - these were all our research directions."
"The gene serum Jennifer used was a byproduct of research into how monsters promote human abilities. Well... there was a hypothesis that humans were more likely to awaken abilities when facing monsters, so we kept extracting various substances from monster corpses and analyzing their effects."
The two girls nodded seriously, "And then?"
"Years later, an experiment successfully proved that genetic changes had no effect on monsters. Our research direction had been completely wrong."
At this point, Marlon couldn't help but laugh bitterly. He changed his sitting position and continued, "We changed our research direction and reanalyzed Jennifer's case."
"To fulfill your father's request to the best of our ability, I invited a healing ability user to help at the time. His ability stimulated the extracted monster substance, which should have been in a living state at that time..."
Seeing the sisters' confused expressions, Marlon stopped his detailed explanation and summarized in one sentence: "What looked like a precise operation was actually a crude fusion of monster limbs and human tissue."
"This kind of thing could be done by one person with combination or fusion abilities. Aside from the low success rate of human-monster fusion, even if successful, it would only provide the physical abilities of the monster, not its special abilities. Except for some die-hards, basically no one researches fusion topics anymore. After all, even if the physical body becomes stronger, it still can't withstand damage from high-level ability users."
"Her parasitic ability probably comes from the monster itself."
"I've checked Jennifer's condition, and there's no sign of rejection, so you don't need to worry too much."
Hearing this, the sisters finally put their minds at ease.
They continued to ask Marlon more questions.
The scene ended here.