Dead beast

Monster!

What kind of a monster is it? A lizard!

A mutated monitor lizard?

That was their only thought.

It looks more like a giant comodo dragon. It was twice the size of the largest saltwater water crocodile ever recorded. It is an abomination!

Although bullet wounds scarred its face, the ferocious glint in its eyes was still shining like stars. It chewed the young researcher's head and spat the body out, exuding ferociousness. It was ready to take as many as life as it could to quench its anger. The rippling muscles on its body tightened.

Showing intelligence on par with a human leapt towards the group of people. It stunned most of the people with its ferocious display.

Roaring madly, it dashed towards the group.

Although everything happened lightning fast, the guards and Alan were still able to react. Now that the beast was injured, they stood a chance of killing it.

Quickly, they unloaded their whole magazine of Ammo on the beast's head.

Finally, one of the bullets reached its mark, bursting through the eye of the beast into the soft tissue of the brain.

"Thud!!!"

The two-ton monstrosity came crashing down on the forest floor. Its momentum dragged it into the middle of the group. Its tail slammed onto some of them while in motion. The thrashing with the tail was painful.

Even then, the research team and guards alike were relieved to see the beast falling lifeless.

'At last, it died!'

One after the other the researchers fell, their legs turning into jelly just thinking about their near-death experience. Even the beauty, Isabella was no better. The only ones who were still standing were the remaining guards, Alan, Uncle Ben and the mysterious old man.

Maybe no one else has noticed that, but after seeing the giant beast. The eyes of the old man were shining like stars. It showed emotion much more than happiness, he was excited and thrilled to see it.

After wiping cold sweat off her face, Isabella looked at the old senior. It seemed like all her fear turned to pure excitement in a moment.

Now, when she looked at Alan, there was a glint in her eyes. When most people did not even sense the beast, he was able to shoot precisely even in the pitch black of night.

Even if someone said there is nothing much to it, it would be too hard to believe it. Every one of them was a scientist who is an expert at the different disciplines of science, how could they be dumb enough to overlook such obvious facts.

She was ready to get to the bottom of it one way or another. Such a perfect specimen, how could she waste this chance.

'But now is not the right time I have to wait.' Thought the young women while planning for the future.

The interaction with Alan and the group of researchers were none to nil. No one even bothered remembering his existence. Till now they treated him like dirt on the roadside. But now that he had proven his worth, more people started looking at him favourably. Even the mysterious old man noticed him as someone worth remembering.

The pungent smell of iron diffused into the air.

A river of blood was flowing down the beast's body. Other than the occasional twitching of its tail there was no movement from the monitor lizard.

While most people feel disgusted seeing that. Alan's tense muscles were relieved. Finally, he could relax.

That was when a crazy idea popped into his mind.

What if he absorbed energy as he used to from dead animals? It was worth a try, right?

Now that the beast was dead, instead of dread, Alan began to feel very hungry all of a sudden. His energy sensors were nudging Alan to move close towards the beast.

Just looking at the large beast, Alan was confident that he could get far more energy from it than anything else.

He moved slightly towards the beast making no sudden movement. Others saw him probing if the beast was dead or not. They didn't mind it either. Besides, who in their right mind would go near a beast like that.

Suddenly, a glowing ball of light the size of a tennis ball flew into Alan. No one except Alan could see it. The ball of light diffused into his body like a melting snowflake.

'Status.' Alan called out in his mind.

[STATUS]

Human: Normal (only with the help of system)

Strength:10

Dexterity:10

Mind: 10

Energy:10

Comment: Alive and healthy. But, a feeble life form.

Ability

• Energy assimilation: Can digest all forms of energy.

• Energy sense: Sense the energy around the host.

[902/1000]

As expected, the energy Alan gained from the beast dwarfed everything else.

He gained 300 units of energy causing the progress bar to be 90% full.

It was tremendous progress. Alan only needed 98 units of energy to awaken the system. He was excited!

That's when a crazy thought struck Alan.

What if?

What if there are more of these animals?

Alan's instinct was sure that the one who attacked the guard the other day was not this beast. If it was, there wouldn't have even been a complete body left. That one must be smaller than this forty feet moving piece of pure muscle. So, there was some hope to gain more energy.

In a way, this realization made Alan fearfully happy.

If there was a smaller one, there is even a possibility of a bigger one existing.

Alan was not the only one to realize it. The mysterious old man who was grinning ear to ear also should have realised it.

These creatures are treasures worth the same weight in gold.

Just research value of this two-ton beast was more than he could hope for. The doors it could open are limitless. Even if he was a mutant. The beast body was always in demand because of its usefulness in improving mutant's superpowers.

There is also the fact that these mutated beasts flesh meat could improve the life span of normal humans. Tycoons would pay anything to get it much less a company like Life Corps. One of the leading companies in bleeding-edge research of mutants and monsters.

Seeing the blood flowing from the beast into the forest floor, the old man's heart bled.

"You wasteful idiots." He blurted out.

Quickly he ordered everyone to contain the beast and preserve it in the best condition possible.

They couldn't possibly waste such good specimen treasure.

Now that there is a mutant beast here, he may find the thing he came looking for. The main mission of the old man was something completely different.