Chapter 043

Chapter 043

Bai Xiaoyu had the robots move the White Bone Flowers up to the Pharmacy Building. Up there, besides the nutrient solution refining device, there was also an alchemy furnace.

Usually, after adding medicinal herbs to the refining device, he would also take the opportunity to refine potions nearby.

There was no other way; currently, there was only one refining device, and it was just for nutrient solutions. All other potions needed to be made manually.

The potion demand of the two legions went without saying; now he could only refine them according to his own speed.

In any case, whatever he managed to refine would count.

He went up and entered, seeing Tao Limeng lying down under the refining device, clanking away at something.

Bai Xiaoyu had the robots set down the White Bone Flowers and turned to watch the person below for a moment.

The person clanked around for a bit before suddenly stopping.

Seeming to sense something amiss, he poked his head out and came face to face with Bai Xiaoyu.

Tao Limeng immediately hid the tool in his hand behind his back and grinned sheepishly at Bai Xiaoyu. "Ah, Boss, why did you come suddenly? You didn't even tell me so I could prepare."

Bai Xiaoyu looked at the tool behind his back and paused. "Prepare for what?"

Tao Limeng: "Naturally, to welcome you, Boss."

Over the past few days, Tao Limeng had spent most of his time studying the potion refining device.

Although the system seemed a bit unreliable, the products it produced were indeed as advanced as it claimed, surpassing current technology.

Perhaps due to the significant gap between the knowledge Tao Limeng had learned and the technology of this device, his research efforts had been particularly challenging, and he still hadn't found a breakthrough.

The more difficult it was, the more he wanted to study it, even controlling himself from wanting to disassemble the device to see its structure.

This behavior had been caught by Lou Hao several times, and Bai Xiaoyu had caught him too, making it a common sight now.

However, Tao Limeng knew his limits and only tinkered with surface parts.

Bai Xiaoyu opened the alchemy furnace lid, intending to refine these White Bone Flowers.

Feeling a bit guilty, Tao Limeng stood up and peeked over, only to see a pile of bones next to Bai Xiaoyu, each part of a human body, now disassembled into pieces.

Tao Limeng suddenly remembered what Bai Xiaoyu had said last time, and instantly felt a chill run down his spine.

Not only that, but he also felt a vague pain in his leg bones, ribs, and spine.

He moved away from the pile of bones and stammered to Bai Xiaoyu, "Boss, believe me, I really didn't want to dismantle this precious refining device. Okay, I admit that when I delved deeper into my research, I secretly dismantled a few external parts, but I put them back afterward, so it doesn't affect your use. Can we please remove these bones?"

Bai Xiaoyu looked up and noticed Tao Limeng's nervous gaze on the White Bone Flowers, and chuckled.

"No, these are medicinal herbs, and I need them now."

Tao Limeng was stunned. "These are medicinal herbs? Anyone who doesn't know better would think this is a tomb raiding site."

Bai Xiaoyu: "Who robs tombs along with the tomb owner? What kind of grudge is that?"

Tao Limeng walked over and marveled at the White Bone Flowers. "Are these really not bones you took from someone else?"

Bai Xiaoyu looked at him. "Do you want to try?"

Tao Limeng quickly changed the subject. "I've studied the components of this refining device, and many of them are things not yet discovered in the current galaxy. More importantly, its structure is simply perfect, far surpassing current technology. This isn't something that can be manufactured now; if developed naturally, it would take at least a century to create such a potion refining device."

Tao Limeng was extremely curious about where Bai Xiaoyu got this device, but he didn't ask.

If Bai Xiaoyu got angry and threw him out or worse, killed him to cover it up, he wouldn't be able to finish his research, and he would die with regret.

Bai Xiaoyu nodded. "Keep studying."

He began refining the White Bone Flowers. Tao Limeng had seen him refine potions before and soon became engrossed in studying the potion refining device again.

So when Lou Hao came in, he saw both of them busy, completely ignoring him.

Well, years of dealing with Tao Limeng had become routine, and now there was Bai Xiaoyu too.

He opened his optical brain and started handling matters related to the StarNet Pharmacy.

When Bai Xiaoyu finished refining the last White Bone Flower, Lou Hao told him, "Boss, the future students' accommodations have been built. As per your requirements, they include classrooms, mental strength training rooms, and alchemy rooms. The alchemy room has fifty furnaces. Should we go check it out now?"

Bai Xiaoyu shook his head. "I'm busy now, no time to go. By the way, when will those students arrive?"

Lou Hao: "They'll arrive tomorrow night. They're traveling at normal speed, unlike that madman Tao Limeng, so it takes them more than a day longer."

Bai Xiaoyu continued refining another batch of nutrient solution herbs, while Lou Hao uploaded them to the StarNet Pharmacy and arranged for the robots to pack and deliver them.

Lou Hao looked at the quantities listed—only a thousand or two each time—and compared them to the Huang family's output, feeling the stark difference.

He turned to Tao Limeng and kicked him. "Speed up your research."

Bai Xiaoyu ignored them and went to the incubation facility, selecting three severely damaged eggs to repair their shells.

During the process, he took breaks of one to two hours to recover his mental strength. By evening, he had finished repairing them.

Now, the incubation facility had five blood eggs.

The other damaged eggs weren't urgent; he would wait for the next batch of White Bone Flowers.

After checking all the eggs, he focused on the one with seven yolks. Initially, this egg was the largest among all, but due to low absorption, its size had not changed much and had even been surpassed by the others.

It's important to know that as other eggs develop, their demand for nutrient solution gradually increases.

Even Xiaodidian, which has the lowest absorption rate among all the eggs, is still increasing its absorption little by little.

Not only has this egg's absorption rate not increased, but today it even decreased slightly.

Bai Xiaoyu frowned. He had been at a loss about this seven-yolk egg from the start, checking it daily without much progress.

In recent days, most of his attention was on the damaged and silent eggs with countdowns, leaving him unable to focus here.

This time, Bai Xiaoyu concentrated all his attention on this egg, from the shell to the liquid inside.

He carefully probed everything with his mental threads.

So far, there were no issues.

Finally, Bai Xiaoyu focused on the seven yolks sitting side by side, touching each other.

Mental power inherently carries some aggressiveness, and even with deliberate control, it's impossible to completely eliminate this nature.

Even a tiny bit can be fatal to these newly formed eggs whose development is incomplete.

Currently, he couldn't find any problems, yet he needed to probe the yolk somehow.

How could he successfully explore the yolk inside without harming the egg?

Bai Xiaoyu pondered overnight, trying to recall the books he had read and the various medicinal pills he had repaired.

Finally, in a corner of his memory, he remembered an incident from when he was around five or six years old. Someone had gone berserk, and their powerful mental awareness was uncontrollably attacking others.

In the end, they sought help from his father. How did it get resolved?

It was called... Erosion Spirit Grass.

The medicine made from this grass, when applied to the head, forms a thin film.

This film would consume and dissipate any mental power passing through it.

If the person was unconscious, their mental power would spontaneously probe out, weakening before it could harm others. The mental power passing through the film would be in a state of disintegration, losing its ability to attack.

The drawback was obvious: the mental power passing through the film would dissipate, causing severe pain. This pain would quickly bring the person back to their senses.

Undeniably, this suited his current situation perfectly.

He just needed to send out a thin thread of mental power, pass it through the film, and probe the yolk before the mental power dissipated.

Without delay, he immediately sent out the information about Erosion Spirit Grass.

More and more people were bringing him medicines now, apart from the two legions; they might also help find it.

By the second day, after handling matters at the nursery, he had to take Dahan and Xiaodidian out for a walk.

There was no way around it; he had been too busy lately to look after them.

These two had temporarily stopped fighting and joined forces to stick close to him, wanting him to take them out to play.

Thus, by late afternoon, Bai Xiaoyu finally took the two eggs out for a stroll.

He walked towards the edge of the forest near his nursery, with Dahan bouncing along beside him.

Bai Xiaoyu had to touch Dahan occasionally because he was holding Xiaodidian. If he ignored Dahan, the big egg would roll on the ground.

Xiaodidian was the most excited since this was his first outing.

Looking at Dahan leading the way and then at Xiaodidian in his arms, feeling the joy of both eggs, Bai Xiaoyu's gaze softened.

For some reason, Bai Xiaoyu opened his optical brain. The application for guardianship over Xiaodidian was stuck.

It was stuck at the final step, not approved yet.

Normally, guardian applications don't take this long.

Approval or rejection usually comes quickly. What did being stuck mean?

Neither rejecting nor approving, just stuck in this phase, neither moving forward nor backward.

What Bai Xiaoyu didn't know was that his adoptive parents had seen the application.

They were the ones who caused it to be stuck.

Bai Xiaoyu clicked to expedite the approval and then exited the optical brain. Now he could only wait for the result.

At that moment, the mental power left in Xiaodidian suddenly sensed something, and Bai Xiaoyu stopped.

Dahan also stopped, hopping over to him and rubbing against him, as if asking what was wrong.

Bai Xiaoyu patted Dahan and looked down at Xiaodidian in his arms. "My mental power seems to sense a very tiny fluctuation of mental power from Xiaodidian."

He had long noticed that Xiaodidian was unusually intelligent. The appearance of mental power fluctuations, even if just a tiny bit, indicated that Xiaodidian's mental power was strong.

Previously, Xiao Yi's mental power was almost 2S, but it didn't appear this early. Perhaps the injuries Xiao Yi suffered affected his mental power.

Dahan wobbled, indifferent to the matter of Xiaodidian. Still, he obediently listened to Bai Xiaoyu.

Bai Xiaoyu felt the intermittent mental fluctuations inside Xiaodidian and gently tapped its shell. "Xiaodidian, you're amazing."

Xiaodidian became even more excited, while Dahan rolled over.

At that moment, Bai Xiaoyu's optical brain received a call request.

Bai Xiaoyu answered, "What's up?"

On the other end, Lou Hao said, "The junior brothers and sisters have arrived. I'm currently arranging their accommodations."

Bai Xiaoyu: "Then you arrange it. I’m busy playing with the eggs; I don’t have time."

Lou Hao looked at the two eggs beside him, his mouth twitching slightly, especially when he saw the large black egg. It made his whole body ache.

No one knew what species this egg was, but its shell was as hard as iron, making collisions extremely painful.

Being too busy to play with eggs was indeed a good excuse.

Lou Hao: "But these juniors all specifically asked to see you."

Bai Xiaoyu: "Tomorrow then; it’s late now."

Lou Hao glanced at the arrogant juniors and replied, "Alright. You’re right; we should humble them a bit."

Bai Xiaoyu: "?"

He really was just busy.

Moreover, there was no obligation for him to greet them upon their arrival.

Thus, the students from Imperial Star were left waiting for a night.

Bai Xiaoyu used his mental power to exhaust the little one and played with the big black egg before heading back.

Upon returning, he received good news: the 29th Army had found the Erosion Spirit Grass first. However, the person who found it was too far away, so it couldn’t be delivered until the next morning.

As long as they found it, that was fine.

The next day, shortly after Bai Xiaoyu got up, he took the little one and the big black egg to the breeding center for food when he heard noise outside.

Stepping out, he saw many students in the uniforms of the Imperial Military Academy’s Pharmacy and Breeding Departments gathered at the entrance of the breeding center.

Bai Xiaoyu walked out, crossed his arms, and asked, "What’s all the noise about?"

The people outside finally noticed Bai Xiaoyu and exclaimed in surprise. Then, sixty pairs of eyes all focused on him.

Soon, representatives from the Pharmacy and Breeding Departments appeared, a man and a woman.

"We came here for an internship, but you didn’t show up yesterday, nor did you make any arrangements. So we had to come find you. We want to learn your alchemy techniques, and if possible, can we meet the master behind you?"

"We also want to learn how to remove dark matter from inside the eggs. When can we start learning?"

Bai Xiaoyu raised an eyebrow, "Why the rush? I remember saying before that you might not be able to learn it."

This statement caused the faces of the talented students to show signs of discontent.

They were truly unconvinced. With Bai Xiaoyu's aptitude, he could master any subject with just a few points on exams. How could they, with their outstanding grades, fail to grasp it?

At this moment, Lou Hao came down with a stack of contracts. "Morning."

Bai Xiaoyu nodded towards the crowd, "Xiaolou, perfect timing. Go ahead and get these guys to sign the contracts."

Seeing Lou Hao approach, the crowd quieted down.

After all, Lou Hao’s reputation in the Imperial Military Academy was the opposite of Bai Xiaoyu’s. As the chief of both the Command and Mecha Systems, he had been top since admission, and they all knew him well.

Some were even his fans, eager to get his autograph.

Lou Hao distributed the contracts to everyone.

Opening them, they were speechless. The several-page contract contained only a few sentences.

During the internship, they must unconditionally obey Bai Xiaoyu’s orders. Upon completion, they must serve Bai Xiaoyu for three years. Other terms would be added later as needed.

Wasn’t this a tyrannical clause?

Upon finalizing the contracts, they noticed the term "tyrannical clause" on the cover.

Everyone: "..."

In space, tyrannical clauses could be issued, but they couldn’t be forced. Typically, it was a case of willing participants.

The problem was that this tyrannical clause had blank pages—three of them!

Truly unprecedented!

Lou Hao: "Consider whether you want to sign or not. It’s entirely up to you, no coercion."

Seeing them glaring at him with the contracts, Bai Xiaoyu turned and headed back into the breeding center.

He was busy and hadn’t thought much about the contract. He casually mentioned it to Lou Hao, who was shocked but then laughed heartily and agreed.

The crowd followed, and seeing Bai Xiaoyu not stopping them, Lou Hao let them be.

Interns in space had protections, and contracts couldn’t have overly unreasonable demands. So even facing a tyrannical clause, they weren’t afraid.

Back in the breeding room, Bai Xiaoyu placed the seven-yolk egg into the alchemy furnace. Just then, he received the Erosion Spirit Grass sent by the 29th Army.

All the interns gathered around him.

It was clear this was a multi-yolk egg, which were notoriously difficult to hatch in space. The more yolks, the harder the hatching.

The breeding department had seen many cases, most ending in failure. Successful ones were usually double-yolk eggs.

Before coming, their old professor had mentioned that this egg had at least five yolks. If Bai Xiaoyu could successfully hatch it and remove the dark matter, his breeding skills would be unparalleled in the entire galaxy, ensuring no one could surpass him in the future.

They carefully exchanged ideas and discussed with the Department of Pharmacy.

In the end, they sent representatives to negotiate with Bai Xiaoyu.

"This egg is a polyvitellinic egg with five or more yolks, which typically cannot develop properly and eventually becomes infertile. Now, if you can successfully nurture this egg, enhance its assimilation, and ensure its proper growth, we will agree to this **tyrannical clause**. Should you fail, the clause is nullified, and you must teach us whatever we wish to learn, without any conditions. What do you say to that?"

The large black egg stood in front of Bai Xiaoyu, swaying as if ready to strike at any moment. The many interns were frightened by the aggressive appearance of the large black egg and took a few steps back. What kind of egg was this, to be so fierce?

Bai Xiaoyu patted the large black egg, calming it down before glancing at the interns. They were certainly dreaming.

He turned back to look at the other eggs and replied, "Fine, under the witness of the live stream viewers, no one can renege on their word."

Many newcomers felt Bai Xiaoyu was getting too confident; this time, the interns were likely to win for sure.

Bai Xiaoyu started placing medicinal herbs into the small alchemy room to refine them. The Erosion Spirit Grass and other auxiliary herbs were refined into small medicinal pellets. Feeling it was about right, he guided the small pellets onto the egg, evenly coating it.

Soon, the medicinal liquid formed a thin, transparent layer.

Bai Xiaoyu knew it had worked.

The students from the Department of Pharmacy watched his smooth movements with envious eyes. Seeing the rhythm firsthand was even more impressive.

This trip had indeed been worthwhile.

Bai Xiaoyu extended several threads of mental power, forcefully piercing through the thin film. After being devoured, the mental power threads were about to disintegrate. He endured the intense pain and, just as the threads were about to break, entered the egg, cautiously probing into the yolk.

Perhaps because his mental power was unusual, he managed to persist longer.

Quickly, he probed the first yolk, finding nothing inside.

From the beginning of the egg's development, tiny consciousnesses slowly form within the yolks, very weak and undetectable until the hatchling takes shape.

After such a long incubation period, the yolk remained empty.

Bai Xiaoyu's mental power threads circled the yolk once more before completely disintegrating.

He confirmed there were no growing consciousnesses.

Then he extended another thread of mental power.

Nothing.

Six threads of mental power were devoured and disintegrated, yielding no results from six yolks.

Bai Xiaoyu touched his forehead; the pain from having his mental power devoured was excruciating. There was still one yolk left unexplored.

Taking a deep breath, Bai Xiaoyu extended the seventh thread of mental power, probing into the last yolk.

And then he froze.

A consciousness was present, but not just one.

This consciousness had seven distinct yet indistinguishable waves, all originating from the same source.

Each wave was extremely weak, almost disappearing.

The mental power thread persisted for two rounds before finally disintegrating.

Bai Xiaoyu opened his eyes, realizing the seven consciousnesses had merged into one, residing in the same yolk.

Or perhaps the other yolks were empty, while the last yolk contained seven consciousnesses, forming a single entity, inseparable.

Since new consciousnesses must rely on the yolk to survive and cannot leave it—similar to a soul leaving the body—and would dissipate upon separation,

it was clearly the latter.

Bai Xiaoyu rubbed his forehead, feeling the pain from losing seven threads of mental power intensify.

The symptoms of this Huluwa egg were indeed quite bothersome.