Slime 419X
"How are the test subjects doing?" A black-haired amber-eyed man asked, looking at a round blue orb in front of him.
There was the projection of a green-haired black-eyed man who was wearing a white lab coat produced from the orb.
"Test subjects 001A, 247G, and 983C are showing immense progress and seem to be fusing with the draconic cells perfectly." The man replied, lifting his golden-framed glasses while reading from a sheet of paper in his hand.
"I see." Turning to look out the window behind him, the black-haired man looked at the clouds and added. "I'll be coming down to the lab to discuss other matters."
"Alright, Mr. Clifford." The green-haired man nodded, having his projection disappear a few seconds after he had finished speaking.
"We'll be needing more funds soon." Mr. Clifford sighed, closing his eyes as thoughts of how to increase the capital for their research filled his mind.
Shoving those thoughts to the back of his mind, he took a deep breath before standing up from where he was seated.
After patting his suit to get rid of all the wrinkles that were on it, the man walked out of his office and gradually made his way toward the hallway.
In a few minutes, Mr. Clifford had already reached the end of the hallway and was waiting for the elevator to open up.
He was constantly looking at the watch on his wrist while tapping his right foot rapidly, his brows slowly became furrowed the more he waited for the elevator.
Ting...
"Finally!" Mr. Clifford said, looking at the elevator door that slowly slid open.
Taking a step into it, he was just about to press the button to the bottom floor when he saw a young girl of about ten years old running towards him while waving her hand –making it seem as if she wanted the man to wait for her.
She had short purple hair packed into pigtails deep amber eyes and an extremely cute face.
When he saw the girl approaching, Mr. Clifford could only shake his head lightly as he sighed. "I guess she skipped school again."
"Can I follow you to the lab?" She asked, displaying the cuteness of her ten-year-old self to the fullest.
"Uhm... About that..." Hesitant, Mr. Clifford scratched the side of his head while thinking of the best way to turn his daughter down without making her sad.
"I promise I won't touch anything." She said, looking at her dad with hopeful eyes she added. "Please?"
Defeated by his daughter's cuteness –just like a normal father, Mr. Clifford sighed as he said. "I'll take you down but remember you promised that you won't touch anything."
"And if you do tough anything, I'll lock you up in your room for a week!" He said sternly, looking at the ten-year-old girl before him with a serious face.
Startled by the punishment her dad chose, Alyeen was slightly hesitant as she replied in a low tone. "Alright, I won't."
Nodding his head, he had the previous stern expression on his face disappear as a smile appeared on his lips. "Good girl."
'It is hard to be a father.' He thought, petting the head of the girl who stood beside him while pressing the button for the bottom floor.
'Way to go me!' He praised himself, thanking whatever it was that made him read a book that had a title called -How To Father A Child For Dummies-.
"Come to think of it, the old man who was selling the book did say his children left him." He muttered in a barely audible voice, laughing dryly after that thought crossed his mind.
****
Ting...
In about a minute, the elevator had reached the bottom floor and the duo came out of it.
Making the scenery of a completely white hallway land in their line of sight.
"Welcome Mr. Clifford." His secretary greeted, bowing his head lightly.
"So how long are the resources we have left going to last?" Mr. Clifford asked, deciding not to waste time exchanging greetings.
"About two weeks sir. But we should be receiving more from the Church in about three days or more." His secretary replied professionally, reading from a holographic screen in front of him.
"Good, good what did the church say about giving us more portion of the Genesis Dragon's scales, bones, and flesh?" Mr. Clifford asked, pleased by the previous reply his secretary gave him.
"They said the... that the number of factions that needs... the Genesis Dragon's parts are much so we have to manage what we are getting." The secretary stuttered, having his voice go several octaves lower when he saw Mr. Clifford's features getting darker with each word that left his mouth.
Barely controlling his anger, Mr. Clifford cursed. "If it weren't for the huge contribution of my ancestors those bastards would've failed the subjugation yet they can't even increase our portion!"
After a few seconds, Mr. Clifford was able to regain his calm and was currently taking deep breaths to suppress his anger.
"What did the government say about increasing our capital?" He asked his secretary as they walked down the hallway.
"The government said they would not be able to increase it by much but since the experiments are showing progress they'd be giving us funds earlier than before."
"At least that's better than nothing." Mr. Clifford replied.
Although it wasn't that helpful it was better than there being no change to it or worse having the funds given to them reduced.
Sighing in relief after seeing that his boss didn't flare up again, the secretary said. "As for 419X, there's nothing special about it."
"Another failure." Mr. Clifford sighed, shaking his head he walked through a glass door and added. "We'll just add it to the list of failures."
"Regarding that, we also noticed that its genes are far messier than those of any other slime here and it may cause some troubles for it in the future." His secretary replied, reading from another hologram that appeared beside the first one.
"What type of troubles?"
"The scientists are still unsure whether they will affect it positively or negatively though."
"I see."
Just as Mr. Clifford was slowly sinking into a pool of thoughts, he heard a childish feminine voice say. "Daddy! I want that one!"
Turning his head to where he heard the voice, he saw his daughter pointing her finger at a slime that had just begun moving and asked. "Alyeen are you sure you want to keep a slime?"
"Yes! It's really cute and I feel drawn to it." She replied, smiling as she looked at her father.
"Bring it here." He sighed, looking at the slime's information he added. "Good thing she didn't pick one that passed the experiments cause it would've been a loss."
"Are you sure it's safe to give her such a creature?" His secretary asked, whispering into Mr. Clifford's ear.
"Apart from its genetic structures being a bit messy, I doubt anything is wrong with it." Mr. Clifford replied after thinking for some time.
"If that's what you think." Unwilling to argue with his boss, the man shrugged his shoulders before diverting his gaze to the young girl who was looking at the slime with a smile on her face.
"And wipe out all information related to this slime." Mr. Clifford said, looking at his reliable secretary he added. "If the higher-ups learn about it they'd take it no matter what since it might give them what they seek."
"Okay, sir." His secretary replied, having a serious air about him.
"And do ensure that none of the scientists find out if they do, we might have to close our facility when the higher-ups come knocking." Mr. Clifford warned, having a slight smile bloom across his face when he saw his daughter's happy look.