Chapter 92

Chapter 92

The implanted chip caused the creature to fall into a deep sleep. Bai Qi and Old Qi checked the data and took tissue samples from various parts of the creature before placing it back into a more compact container.

Old Qi looked at the creature inside, particularly at the wound in its central body that had been surgically opened and was now rapidly healing.

Throughout the entire experiment, the wound had been slowly repairing itself. The precise placement of the chip required them to repeatedly cut open the healing wound.

This was one of the abilities possessed by the insect prince—a remarkably powerful regenerative capacity.

Even during its juvenile stage, this ability was impressive enough to draw their attention and amaze them.

Especially for Old Qi, as an alchemist, he could not resist studying such a precious ability. He took many samples from the blue creature, to the point where even Bai Qi feared he might exhaust the barely alive prince. After several reminders, Old Qi reluctantly stopped.

Now, seeing the creature recover so quickly, with its severed tentacles growing back, he regretted not taking more samples. Once the prince fully matures, it would be much harder to find such a vulnerable opportunity again.

After all, even the insect emperor couldn't always control the prince perfectly, let alone Bai Qi, who needed to control it through the modified brain of the insect emperor.

There was a fear that if the creature woke up during surgery, it might swallow him whole.

Old Qi turned to Bai Qi and saw the uncontrollable excitement in his eyes as he stared at the prince. "Your mental energy is also within the chip. You need to quickly merge your mental energy with the other half of the insect emperor's brain and then use it to tame this prince."

Bai Qi nodded. This process was familiar to him, as he had controlled many modified warriors using this method. However, those warriors could be controlled en masse, whereas the insect prince required a one-on-one approach.

He believed there wouldn't be any major issues and immediately attempted to connect his mental energy with the golden brain in the adjacent container.

However, he repeatedly failed to activate the mental energy within the chip made from the other half of the brain.

Due to excessive mental energy expenditure, Bai Qi's face turned pale. He asked Old Qi, "What's going on? Why can I sense my mental energy within the chip but cannot establish a connection?"

After analyzing the situation, Old Qi replied, "This is likely due to the insect emperor's modified brain. If the mental energy hasn't fully merged, it seems it won't be as easy to control as the brains of other insect subordinates."

At that moment, the blue creature stirred.

Old Qi frowned. "You need some time to merge with the other half of the brain. I suggest we limit the prince's growth for now to prevent it from becoming too strong too quickly, which you may not be able to suppress. Therefore, the captured warriors intended as nutrients should not be allowed to feed it yet."

Bai Qi nodded. "But we have to start providing it with energy for development soon; otherwise, I'm afraid we'll miss the optimal period for its growth, which could affect its future combat capabilities. Even the strongest races suffer if their growth is compromised during their best developmental phase."

After discussing, they decided to provide the prince with large quantities of animal blood and meat suitable for human consumption. These ordinary animals would ensure the prince's growth without supplying enough energy to make it overly powerful, making it ideal for the current situation.

Bai Qi quickly placed orders across various livestock planets, and a large number of animals would be delivered to serve as the prince's food.

As Bai Qi placed his orders, Bai Xiaoyu was updating the information about the eggs on his breeding page.

Once the information was refreshed, everyone following Bai Xiaoyu's next batch of eggs knew that these eggs were set and no others would be added.

Many factions felt disgruntled, as their applications to include their own eggs were once again rejected. However, seeing that other factions faced the same fate, they felt somewhat consoled.

Bai Xiaoyu's fans, however, rejoiced. This news meant that they would soon see another live stream of the broadcaster nurturing eggs.

Sure enough, the next day, Bai Xiaoyu, who hadn't streamed on the breeding website for a week, went live.

The live stream quickly became lively.

"I wasn't the first one here? You guys came in too fast!"

"Based on past experience, the broadcaster usually goes live the day after posting on the breeding page."

"Why are there twelve strange containers here?"

The viewers were curious. Star breeding experts rarely accept dormant eggs, and even when they do, they don't display them in live streams. Due to the high uncertainty and low success rate, they only announce the first step once it's successful. Thus, while many viewers knew about dormant eggs, few had seen the initial stages.

"These instruments have data displays, looking somewhat like newborn egg data. Could these be new breeding devices? Are there eggs inside?"

Many breeders watching were stunned. These weren't new incubation devices but twelve of the most challenging dormant eggs—currently the hardest problem for star breeders to solve.

With the breeder's revelation, the viewers were equally shocked.

Last time, the broadcaster handled damaged eggs and multi-yolk eggs; this time, he took on the dreaded dormant eggs!

Handling one dormant egg was already a challenge, but now there were twelve?

Someone commented, "Another thing: the data screens on these egg containers show years of dormancy. The shortest is three years, and the longest... my goodness, twenty-three years!"

The viewers stared at the row of containers, speechless for a long time, then turned to look at Bai Xiaoyu.

Bai Xiaoyu focused entirely on the dormant eggs, especially the one that had been dormant for twenty-three years.

Noticing the viewers watching him, he naturally greeted them and then returned his attention to the eggs.

Seeing his calm demeanor, the viewers felt reassured.

Given the broadcaster's previous successes with problematic eggs, they were now more relaxed.

Similarly, various factions across the stars were amazed and closely monitoring the situation.

Bai Xiaoyu concentrated on the eggs but couldn't touch the most critical one just yet. He decided to choose one from among those that had been dormant for three to ten years.

He circled the twelve eggs and focused on the container holding the three eggs that had been dormant for three years.

The first choice should be the one with the highest vitality. Since the vitality of the eggs decreases over time, the best candidate would be among those with the shortest dormancy period. One of the eggs showed significantly higher vitality than the others, being more than half stronger than its counterparts.

Judging from its vitality, the egg seemed healthy initially, though it was unclear why it had gone dormant.

It was perfect for the first attempt.

For the dormant eggs, Bai Xiaoyu had done quite a bit of research. Apart from his knowledge about this aspect of interstellar matters, he had also gone through several scrolls provided by the system.

Cultivating dormant eggs was different from other eggs; the first major hurdle was to make the dormant egg 'wake up.' Only by ending the dormancy and restoring the various activities within the egg could the next steps of cultivation and hatching begin.

At this point, the egg was forcibly locked in time due to the special effects of the container. When the container was opened, the egg suddenly encountered external stimuli such as air, light, and temperature, which triggered the resumption of its growth phase. Since the egg had already been subjected to damage when it was abruptly forced into dormancy, many eggs could not withstand this sudden change and would turn into silent eggs.

Therefore, during the first stage, very few eggs could survive the challenge of emerging from dormancy.

After receiving the system's task, Bai Xiaoyu began doing his homework, searching for various solutions.

Up until now, he had found a solution to the first major hurdle.

Based on the instrument that forcibly induced dormancy in the eggs, he thought of the sealing technique used for medicinal pills.

Some secret realms require medicinal pills to be preserved long-term, necessitating the inscription of a storage formation within the pill bottle.

Inscribing such formations requires pill ink. As the name suggests, pill ink is made from medicinal pills transformed into ink. These pills are called ink pills and are refined using sealing grass as the primary ingredient.

With the arrival of the end of the law era, sealing grass naturally became extremely rare.

Bai Xiaoyu had indeed come across it before. While other cultivators might lack it, the Bai family, being a lineage of alchemists that had continued and even transitioned over generations, naturally had access to it.

Moreover, mastering the sealing formation technique for medicinal pills is a fundamental skill for any alchemist or pill cultivator from the Bai family.

Previously, Bai Xiaoyu had enlisted the help of two legions to successfully find the sealing grass and various auxiliary ingredients needed for the ink pills, which he spent an entire day refining yesterday. Otherwise, he wouldn't have waited until today to attempt to handle these eggs.

Bai Xiaoyu took out a bottle of medicinal pills, which contained the refined ink pills.

He also brought out an inkstone and a brush, leaving the live stream audience bewildered.

Watching the broadcaster stand there for a long time, they assumed he was about to wake the egg from dormancy. Knowing how low the chances of safely waking a dormant egg were, they all held their breaths, only to see him take out these antiques?

Bai Xiaoyu arranged everything neatly, then opened the bottle and poured out three black, thumb-sized pills.

From the data and projections on the instrument, he roughly knew how many ink pills were needed to inscribe the formation on the entire egg.

Placing the three ink pills on the inkstone, he took another bottle of cinnabar liquid and poured it in.

Within a few breaths, the inkstone contained a melted, viscous ink.

Amidst everyone's confusion, Bai Xiaoyu opened a small gap in the container holding the dormant egg, quickly placed the inkstone and brush inside, and closed it again.

Then, he probed inside with his mental power, transforming one strand into a hand identical to his own, transparent but gripping the brush, dipping it in the ink, and drawing the formation on the egg with great proficiency.

To avoid being rusty, he practiced all night, using the large black egg and the metal egg for practice. The large black egg aside, the metal egg had turned completely black by morning.

Now, with improved proficiency and speed, the transparent hand moved fluidly, quickly sketching the outline of the seal on the egg.

Almost there.

From the moment he opened the instrument, the egg inside was affected. The displayed data kept fluctuating, and the audience noticed a significant drop in the egg's overall condition, becoming anxious.

This indicated that the egg's condition was deteriorating, potentially leading to it becoming a silent egg!

Many factions watching agreed that even if Bai Xiaoyu was skilled at hatching eggs, he couldn't overcome the first hurdle with dormant eggs.

Typically, when ending dormancy, the egg's condition would continue to decline for two to three days. Eggs that deteriorate quickly show results within a day, while those that decline slowly can last two to three days, still having hope.

Given the current state of the egg Bai Xiaoyu was dealing with, especially its activity level, just opening a small gap caused such significant changes, suggesting a grim outcome.

Despite the changing data, Bai Xiaoyu's expression remained unchanged, and the hand formed from his mental power continued without hesitation or tremor, drawing each stroke meticulously.

The interns beside him also watched the instrument closely, sensing the subtle fluctuations in Bai Xiaoyu's mental power, unlike others who thought he was merely waiting.

Something extraordinary must be happening inside, and if conditions permitted, they would have probed with their mental power to see clearly.

Although the dormant egg did not feel much external stimulation, Bai Xiaoyu's controlled brush strokes and the ink marks on the egg influenced it, causing the dramatic changes in the displayed data.

Soon, the transparent hand moved faster, completing the formation in one fluid motion.

A minute later, the transparent hand finished the final stroke on the egg. In the darkness, the egg seemed to glow faintly, revealing a pattern.

Placing the brush on the inkstone, the transparent hand gently patted the egg before disappearing.

Then, under everyone's watchful eyes, Bai Xiaoyu approached the instrument, opened it, and revealed the egg covered in ink patterns.

The audience was completely stunned by his sudden action—this... he actually lifted the cover?!