Chapter 104

Chapter 104

At this moment, scratching sounds came from outside the door. Bai Xiaoyu knew that he had been inside for too long, and the two eggs and one tiger waiting outside were getting impatient.

However, as soon as the scratching sound began, the movements of the hatchling inside the egg and the tentacles wrapped around it paused. The hatchling inside the egg turned its head toward the door, seemingly able to see through the shell without even opening its eyes. The tentacles behind it stirred, their color deepening slightly as the hatchling stared.

The scratching sound outside the door stopped, followed by a young tiger's whine.

Bai Xiaoyu noticed that the color of the hatchling's tentacles quickly darkened, and their tips instantly redirected towards the source of the sound. The tentacles outside also lifted their ends like snakes, with their fur standing on end.

In response to the tiger's cry, the tentacles perceived it as a challenge. A section of a tentacle reached out and struck the alchemy cauldron nearby, producing a dull thud.

The sound outside paused momentarily, and in the next second, the hatchling's voice sounded again, this time with dissatisfaction and a fighting spirit. The doorknob was then opened by a slightly larger white tiger cub, who strutted in, followed by two eggs.

Almost immediately upon opening the door, both sides faced off against each other.

Bai Xiaoyu watched helplessly as even the hatchling inside the egg entered combat mode, rubbing his forehead.

Indeed, every time he fed them, he did not allow the other two eggs and the tiger to enter because they always behaved like natural enemies. Previously, only the tentacles would covet the others and often ambush them, but never succeeded.

Initially, just the tentacles causing trouble wasn't a big issue. After all, the tentacles had an incredible resilience, recovering quickly even after being flattened countless times. However, when the tentacles started bringing the eggs into battle, he became alert.

The tentacle egg developed faster than the others, moving shortly after birth. With numerous tentacles controlled by the hatchling inside, the egg alone was already a handful. It behaved very obediently around Bai Xiaoyu, Qi Yanhuan, and Qin Lie, but became extremely combative when facing the black egg.

Just as he withdrew his mental energy, the deep blue tentacle-wrapped egg was brought out of the nursery box by the large tentacle.

When the white tiger cub approached, the large tentacle carried the egg forward and engaged in a fight with the tiger cub.

Little One hadn't grown much over the past month and was still the smallest among the hatchlings. Despite its small size, the white tiger cub's fighting ability had increased significantly. A month ago, Bai Xiaoyu wouldn't have dared let Little One fight the tentacles, but now he could stand aside with his arms crossed and watch them battle.

The tentacles would be cautious about protecting the egg, slightly reducing their combat effectiveness. Half a tentacle wrapped around the egg, fighting alongside it.

Bai Xiaoyu observed that the coordination between the tentacles and the egg was remarkable, advancing and retreating, attacking and defending at the right moments. Once the egg hatched, the combined power would be more than just one plus one.

He had seen many partners who fought together for years during the apocalypse, but none matched the harmony between the tentacles and the egg. They seemed like a single entity despite being independent.

Perhaps this was due to the tentacles' instinctual behavior and lack of self-awareness? In fact, as the tentacles evolved, they developed neural nodes controlling their actions. These neural nodes lacked independent consciousness but possessed a certain level of intelligence.

This meant that the owner of the tentacles didn't need to control them constantly; they could be sent out independently to hunt or fight.

No wonder the insect princes were so powerful; a single adult prince could match an entire army. Now, the deep blue tentacles, after his research, had not yet reached the adult stage of a prince, indicating they were still in their juvenile form.

Bai Xiaoyu recalled the information provided by Bai Kan about insect princes. Typically, a single emperor would have one or two princes. Since they were all in their juvenile form, the likelihood of two emperors awakening simultaneously was low, suggesting they might belong to the same emperor?

However, there were no records of princes being so affectionate towards each other. Could these two be mutants?

Meanwhile, Bai Qi, pale-faced, watched the deep blue mass, which resembled a flying saucer, engulfing half the pasture with countless tentacles. Within moments, hundreds of animals were absorbed, leaving only impurities behind.

A black dot within the round body of the tentacles slowly moved and suddenly turned to stare at Bai Qi.

Bai Qi was not in good condition, having exhausted his mental energy and nearly losing control of the prince. Even though he fed the insect prince with ordinary animals daily, the prince was already showing signs of growing beyond his control.

This was not what he wanted.

Looking at the prince, his eyes gradually turned wild. After a while, he abruptly turned and left.

He headed to the underground laboratory, where Old Qi greeted him without surprise. Bai Qi's inability to control the prince had been evident, and according to his character, agreeing to the brain implant modified by the emperor was inevitable.

Meanwhile, in another location, a massive deep blue mass, similar in size to a three-story villa, had tentacles tinged with a faint red from unabsorbed flesh essence, exuding a bloody scent. Scattered around were remnants of flesh, indicating the brutality of its feeding.

Suddenly, a man wearing a silver mask approached, revealing only his thin lips.

He patted the round belly of the mass, which seemed excited by his arrival, its tentacles trembling.

The man patted it again and said, "You're not behaving like a prince. Change into human form."

The mass clearly hesitated, so the man took out a fist-sized insect crystal, "No change, no food."

The black dot within the mass stared at the insect crystal, and soon the deep blue mass began to shrink, transforming into a naked twelve-year-old boy. The boy walked over without any sense of shame, his mouth still stained with blood, drooling as he looked at the insect crystal.

He spoke like a child learning to talk, stammering, "Emperor... give... me..."

The man stroked the boy's head and handed him a set of clothes, "Put these on, as I taught you."

Seeing the boy's reluctance, the man threatened, "No clothes, no insect crystal."

The boy quickly put on the clothes, looking harmless except for the blood on his lips.

The man handed him the insect crystal, "This time, don't tear your clothes off when not eating."

The boy's eyes fixed on the insect crystal, nodding eagerly before biting into it. The crystal, usually requiring sharp instruments to cut, crunched like an apple in his hands.

The man watched the boy for a while, "Another prince born around the same time hasn't been found yet, but we have clues. You two will need to get along well."

The boy stuffed the insect crystal into his mouth hastily, speaking between bites, "Fight... for food!"

The man wiped the blood from the boy's mouth, his eyes turning dangerous, "We can feed you the entire galaxy. Don't worry about not having enough. But for now, that old man is still around. Believe me, he sensed my awakening. We'll have to hide a bit longer."

On the other side, Bai Xiaoyu watched the white tiger cub battling the tentacles and egg. If they continued, the fight would turn serious, potentially damaging the alchemy room. He quickly called a halt.

Upon hearing his voice, both sides separated. Although the tiger cub kept snarling at the tentacles and egg, and the tentacles remained poised to attack, they respected Bai Xiaoyu's command.

Bai Xiaoyu patted the tiger cub's head and touched the top of the egg not wrapped by the tentacles, "Both of you are good kids."

Little One listened to him without question, and the hatchling inside the egg always behaved similarly, which made him feel relieved.

After all, this hatchling was an insect prince, and disobedience would be troublesome.

He needed to raise it properly, ensuring it didn't go astray.

Bai Xiaoyu resettled the tentacle eggs and the balls, and at this moment, the large black egg and the metal egg rubbed against him, so he also stroked these two eggs. He then turned back to his work, preparing to make a batch of Bone Marrow Washing Elixir as soon as possible.

The next day, Bai Xiaoyu carried the tentacle eggs down, followed by a robot holding a spherical container about the same size as the tentacle eggs.

For this opaque sphere, it could move and bump. Occasionally, when the tentacle eggs were placed in the live streaming interface, the audience only thought that this ball with the eggs was a special toy, or even some believed it was an incubation aid used by Bai Xiaoyu. Since the ball and the eggs were almost always together, they thought the movement of the eggs was caused by this toy ball.

Bai Xiaoyu did not plan to explain this. After all, the less information leaked about the tentacle eggs, the better.

Watching the egg and the ball skillfully stick together, Bai Xiaoyu turned around to examine each egg. After checking the eggs from the region and the army, Bai Xiaoyu's next target was the egg whose yolk and whites were entirely gray and filled with death energy.

This egg had grown significantly after a month of development, thanks to the large amount of attribute-matching nutrient solution provided by Bai Xiaoyu. Although it developed relatively slowly compared to the main group, its current size was acceptable. At least compared to the tiny one it once was, this growth rate was quite good.

His mental power probed into the egg, and the young creature inside was also in the forming stage. It was not yet fully differentiated, but its general shape could be seen, resembling an ordinary human infant.

But Bai Xiaoyu knew there was much more to it than that.

The young creature inside was unlike the tentacle young, which could move and turn; this one needed about half a month before it could move.

The young creature curled up in a ball, its skin not the typical reddish hue of other human infants but very thin and translucent, revealing the blood vessels underneath. This young creature was grayish overall, and through the translucent skin, one could see the gray blood flowing within. Additionally, while it had a heartbeat, it lacked a constant warm body temperature.

The young creature also had a grayish aura of death, mixed with a new vitality, making it look quite contradictory.

At first, Bai Xiaoyu did not recognize it, but as the young creature gradually formed, he began to suspect something. Now, his guess was confirmed.

He had spent over a decade in the apocalypse and even specialized in researching a potion, so he was extremely familiar with it. How could he not recognize that the young creature in this egg was actually a zombie infant?

Initially, he was extremely shocked, but later he discovered that in the universe, there were countless planets, and some had experienced an apocalypse similar to his original world. On one such planet, humans and zombies eventually coexisted peacefully.

These zombies had regained their consciousness, and some even recovered their past memories. The zombie virus was controlled and no longer contagious. Over time, the hatred and disgust faded, and the humans on that planet gradually accepted them.

After thousands of years of evolution, zombies gradually regained reproductive abilities, but the birth rate of their young was almost the lowest in the entire universe. After being contaminated by the dark matter of the insectoids, there had been no newborns for a hundred years.

If anyone dared to bully their youngest, a hundred-year-old "child," the entire race would fight to the death for them.