At the Artifact Spirit's reaction, everyone else present was taken aback.
"A monster?" Wang Shouzhe frowned. "There's actually a monster in our research institute?"
"Of course there is~" Artifact Spirit Lanshan replied as if it were only natural. "What ancient ruin have you ever seen that wasn't occupied by monsters? Don't later arrivals have to pass trial after trial before earning abundant rewards?"
"..."
Wang Shouzhe found himself speechless.
You make a very convincing point.
"But as I vaguely recall, wasn't our Green Demon Research Institute only growing some spirit plants and spirit medicines, along with those energy-conversion vines cultivated in the laboratories?" Senior Schoolmate Luwei was instead rather puzzled. "None of those count as 'monsters,' do they? Could some monster from outside have barged in and seized the magpie's nest?"
"Reporting to Your Venerable," Artifact Spirit Lanshan explained, "ever since our institute received your order to close, no outsiders have entered the depths of the research base. That monster was born within our institute."
"Could it be... that exotic demon vine I cultivated successfully evolved?" As though recalling something, Senior Schoolmate Luwei suddenly erupted in wild delight. "I searched until my iron shoes were worn through and found nothing, only for it to come without the slightest effort! Wahahaha~~~ Wait, why am I so happy?"
Senior Schoolmate Luwei's laughter abruptly halted, and confusion appeared on her face.
"That is because Your Venerable once placed great hopes upon that exotic demon vine. To cultivate it, you even spent a vast fortune building the Green Demon Research Institute," Artifact Spirit Lanshan explained. "Although you have lost much of your memory, your instincts still make you happy over this. However, I regret to inform Your Venerable that your experiment failed."
"Uh..." Senior Schoolmate Luwei was at a loss for words.
"After our