after feeding John, Ailin stayed with him for a while.
Little John was clearly starting to depend on her now.
Every time Ailin got up to leave, he would immediately reach out and grab the hem of her clothes, making vague sounds as if trying to keep her.
Ailin had no choice but to patiently pick him up again and pat him gently.
Once he calmed down a bit, she slowly put him back on the ground.
"Okay, it's not like I'm not coming back."
She reached out and ruffled John's soft blonde hair.
"Yi... yiya!"
To be honest, the feel was pretty nice. The little brat was all soft and squishy now, fun to pinch.
Of course, Ailin also knew this wasn't the time to teach John anything yet.
This kid couldn't even understand a full sentence now, so trying to instill any ideas in him was completely pointless.
Besides, Vought would never allow something like that to happen.
John was their most important test subject right now, and in the future, he might even become the company's most powerful product.
Dr. Baum and Barbara would definitely keep a close watch on everyone who came into contact with John, especially someone like her, who had an obvious good relationship with the subject.
Ailin even suspected that the listening devices around the isolation room were more numerous than the surveillance cameras outside.
If she dared to teach John things like "the company is bad" or "you deserve freedom," she'd probably be dragged into the lab for dissection that very night.
Even though she was a superpowered individual and wasn't afraid of death, she hadn't revealed her powers yet. If she got caught, wouldn't that expose everything?
So what she needed to do now was simple: first make John used to her, trust her. The rest could come slowly.
With that thought, Ailin gently patted John's little head.
"Be good and stay put. Don't go shooting lasers everywhere."
"And don't suddenly fly up and put a hole in the ceiling."
"I'll come see you after work."
With that said, she left the isolation room.
As the heavy red door slowly closed, the white room returned to silence.
John, meanwhile, hugged his blanket, sitting on the floor with big eyes blinking as he stared at the door.
......
Office area.
As soon as Ailin returned, she could clearly feel the atmosphere was a bit off.
Several researchers were sitting in the break area drinking coffee. When they saw her, they quickly exchanged glances with each other, then started chuckling quietly.
"Look, the monster's nanny is back."
"Still not shot dead today?"
"Impressive. Seems like that little monster likes you quite a bit."
Someone deliberately imitated a baby's voice.
"Mama~"
Laughter erupted around her.
Ailin's eye twitched.
"How the hell did this damn American bullying culture get so deeply ingrained in their DNA..."
"I was being kind when I warned you guys to duck back then, and now you're pulling this bullying crap?"
"Should've kept my mouth shut. If ten were going to die and nine would've been innocent, at least one would've been guilty and gotten away."
She couldn't be bothered with these people and picked up her documents, ready to leave.
But she'd barely taken two steps when someone behind her spoke up again.
"I heard she actually hugged that thing when she went in."
"Really?"
"Of course, it's true. I saw it with my own eyes."
"Tsk, is she seriously treating the test subject like her own kid?"
"Better stay away from her. Who knows if she'll turn weird too."
Ailin paused for a moment, rolling her eyes internally.
"As if you guys are normal. You're the ones without a shred of decency, the real weirdos."
"A bunch of lunatics who spend every day figuring out how to inject kids with compounds, and you still have the nerve to call others abnormal."
Still, grumbling was grumbling. On the surface, she showed no reaction.
After all, in the Vought lab, showing too much personality wasn't a good thing.
The people here were either already twisted or about to become twisted. The more normal you were, the more you stood out.
But there was no helping it. In her previous life, Ailin was just an ordinary college student. She wasn't that crazy. Playing the part of a psycho was really asking too much of her.
So Ailin simply sat quietly at her desk and started organizing files.
Unfortunately, the more she ignored them, the more those jerks kept pushing.
Especially Marty. That guy had been sour ever since she'd snapped at him last time. He leaned against a nearby desk, smoking and making snide remarks.
"You'd better be careful. When that monster grows up, you might be the first one it eats."
Ailin didn't even look up.
"At least he hasn't tried to kill me yet. But the day might come when you're on duty and he decides to take you out."
"I'm not the one in charge of his daily care forever. Your shift will come sooner or later."
"You!"
Two sentences were enough to shut Marty up.
His face instantly turned the color of pig liver. His mouth opened and closed a couple of times, but he couldn't muster a rebuttal.
After all, he was genuinely afraid of that monster inside. He really didn't want to be randomly fried by a heat vision.
The people around him couldn't help but laugh, and Marty's face grew even uglier.
"What's so funny?! You'll all have your turns on duty too!"
At those words, sure enough, the others stopped laughing.
Ailin, meanwhile, continued working with her head down, but in her mind, she was already scheming.
"Damn it."
"Once Homeland grows up, I've got to find a way to make him deal with this bastard first."
There was no other choice. Right now, she had no money, no power, no strength. She couldn't fight against these veterans.
Meanwhile, inside the isolation room.
Little John was still sitting on the floor with his blanket.
He was too young. He couldn't speak yet, and there was so much he didn't understand.
He didn't understand what an experiment was, what a monster was, or why the adults always looked at him with such strange eyes.
But he could sense emotions, especially Ailin's.
And now, listening to the voices of people talking outside, he could feel that Ailin was a little unhappy.
John didn't know what anger was, but he didn't like it when Ailin was upset.
So the little guy slowly lifted his head, his blue eyes quietly staring toward the direction outside the isolation room.
"Yi... yiya."
The next second, a faint red glow began to appear in his pupils.
Sizzle...
An extremely faint burning sound came from the air.
Little John tilted his head, as if thinking about something.
Then, the red in his eyes began to flicker from time to time.
But after that, Ailin collected her emotions, mentally tuning those people out like scarecrows. Her mood settled, and John no longer sensed that Ailin was upset.
"Gu... guga."
The flickering red light slowly faded, and eventually, John's eyes turned blue again.
He blinked a couple of times, then went back to rolling around and occasionally crawling a bit.