A Guide to Incubating Eggs in the Stars

by Usui Takumii

not mine, asia novel. Beware edited mtl and bl. Ongoing.

1. 00 to 10

In one fell swoop, Bai Xiaoyu transmigrated from an apocalyptic world to a starry universe, awakening at the scene of a hunt with the muzzle of a black gun pointed at him.

In this interstellar era, newly born eggs require professional incubators for their care and development. The original host was a good-for-nothing who had been kicked out from Central Star and was posing as an incubator.

Facing a pile of messes and a nest of problematic eggs, he is given a task by the system:

System: Please hatch these eggs.

Bai Xiaoyu: How do I hatch them?

System: Figure it out yourself.

Bai Xiaoyu: …

After painstakingly resolving the pile of troubles left behind by his predecessor, he inadvertently gains a reputation, attracting more and more eggs to be brought to him, all with complex issues.

Bai Xiaoyu: …I don't actually want to incubate eggs.

One day, a taller-than-him egg rolls itself into his residence and refuses to leave.

Later on, this massive egg hatches into a fluffy giant cat, which then transforms into the legendary missing, aloof war god marshal.

Bai Xiaoyu: Aloof war god?

Big Black Egg: Wants a hug (︶)/

Big Black Egg: Wants to be lifted high high ︿(︶)︿

Chapter 1

On the edge of the starry expanse, in an uninhabited forest, flames and a massive plume of smoke spread through the trees following an explosion.

Not far from the blast site, two figures faced each other.

Bai Xiaoyu felt a searing pain in his chest as his unfocused eyes gradually regained their focus.

The man standing opposite him let out a surprised sound and, lifting his energy gun, fired another shot.

Caught in a moment of crisis, Bai Xiaoyu snapped back to reality from the intense pain in his chest. Years of survival in the apocalypse had honed his sense of danger, allowing him to roll sideways. Given his skills, evading such a shot should have been no problem. After all, the unpredictable abilities in the apocalypse were far more daunting, yet he had managed to survive. In this moment of peril, he glanced at the energy gun, thinking to himself that it was surprisingly advanced.

It seemed his information was outdated; the publicly known energy guns were of the third generation, but perhaps the fifth or seventh generations had already been secretly developed.

He just didn't know about it.

His expression changed dramatically in the next second. His body couldn't follow the evasive path his mind had planned, and he could only resort to a desperate measure, barely avoiding a direct hit to his chest. The shot pierced his shoulder instead.

The pain was excruciating, almost causing him to lose his balance.

Although the energy gun lacked any physical impact, he somehow knew its power could easily penetrate steel.

The man opposite him raised an eyebrow. "Impressive. It seems you're not as useless as the intel suggested. Of course, someone who's come from a place full of deceit wouldn't be without some skills. You finally dropped your act when faced with life and death. Your demeanor now is completely different from before. Interesting."

Bai Xiaoyu, pale-faced, watched the man with caution, struggling to speak through the pain in his chest and shoulder. "Who are you? I don't understand what you're talking about."

His mind was in turmoil. He should have died in that explosion, along with everyone chasing him. Yet here he was, still standing?

The man chuckled lightly. "Who I am doesn't matter. What matters is that I'll only make three attempts. You've dodged the first two. If you can dodge the third, I'll spare you and never accept another mission to hunt you down. Not just me, but the entire Dawn Organization will refrain. Of course, I've never failed a mission. Since you're not useless, I'll get serious now. Still using this weapon, the third shot will end you."

With that, he aimed the energy gun at Bai Xiaoyu again, his hand steady.

Bai Xiaoyu's alertness reached its peak. He could feel the man's aura change, the unhidden killing intent directed at him.

His breath caught, feeling like a large predator had locked onto him.

As the man slowly pulled the trigger, Bai Xiaoyu realized he couldn't evade this time.

Even at his peak, evasion would have been difficult. Now, with his weakened body, it was impossible. This body was at its limit.

Someone else might have closed their eyes to accept the inevitable, but Bai Xiaoyu remained calm, watching intently. Even knowing the outcome, he wanted to see it for himself.

Like when he was a child and other kids cried or looked away during injections, he always watched the doctor, preparing himself visually for the pain.

The man was momentarily stunned by Bai Xiaoyu's calm gaze, his expression becoming complex before settling into seriousness.

They stood facing each other until the trigger clicked.

Bai Xiaoyu saw the blinding light of the energy bullet, but there was no time to think. The bullet veered off its trajectory, grazing past his ear.

In the next instant, everything went dark—truly dark.

A large, round, black object fell from the sky, landing directly on the man with a loud thud.

Bai Xiaoyu regained his composure, his usual calmness returning. Seeing the scene before him, even he couldn't help but twitch a corner of his mouth.

The spot where the man had stood was now covered in dust and smoke. When the smoke cleared, a pit had formed, with a round black ball pressing down on the man's back, who was now unconscious.

Noticing Bai Xiaoyu's gaze, the black ball seemed to wobble slightly.

Bai Xiaoyu stared in surprise. What was this thing? Was it alive?

At that moment, a flying vessel he had never seen before descended rapidly from the sky.

Bai Xiaoyu watched several young men in military uniforms emerge, looking anxious as they approached the mysterious object.

One of them walked towards him. "Hello, we're from the Sixteenth Legion..."

Realizing there was no danger, Bai Xiaoyu didn't hear the rest of the words. He glanced one last time at the black object, noticing a hint of white near the bottom.

What was this technology? How could it surpass his understanding so drastically?

Unable to hold on any longer, Bai Xiaoyu lost consciousness.

After an unknown period, Bai Xiaoyu heard a cacophony of voices around him, making his head buzz and throb increasingly.

He frowned involuntarily, wanting to tell them to stop the noise. He was exhausted, in pain, and needed sleep.

But his eyelids were heavy, and he couldn't open them. The voices continued, oblivious to his thoughts.

Gradually, the voices became clearer, and his consciousness slowly returned.

He began to make out the words.

"When will Teacher Bai wake up?"

"This time, Teacher Bai went to retrieve the nutrient solution from the incubation facility. Who knew he'd encounter those damned space pirates? They injured Teacher Bai, stole the nutrient solution, and even destroyed the facility's only spacecraft. Fortunately, the Sixteenth Legion team came to the rescue, or he wouldn't have made it back."

"What do we do now? The eggs in the incubation facility have no nutrient solution, and Teacher Bai is unconscious. He's our only incubator. I wish it were me lying here instead."

At that moment, a stern female voice interrupted.

"How did you sneak in? Didn't I say the patient needs quiet? Get out immediately."

"Yes, Doctor. We'll leave right away. Can Teacher Bai's assistant, Yu Xi, stay behind to watch over him? That would give us peace of mind."

"Fine, but keep it quiet."

Bai Xiaoyu's brows gradually relaxed as waves of pain brought unfamiliar memories to his mind—strange surroundings, strange people, and strange events.

Yu Xi sat beside him, gazing at Bai Xiaoyu's clear and handsome features.

For some reason, Bai Xiaoyu seemed more attractive this time around than before.

At that moment, Bai Xiaoyu was struggling to process the memories flooding his mind. No wonder he had felt something was off; it turned out this was no longer his own body.

This world was set in the future. The energy guns he had seen earlier were not the rudimentary ones from the post-apocalyptic era, which were rare and hard to obtain. In this interstellar age, they were basic weapons, widely used. That flying craft-like object was an aircraft, capable of traversing between planets.

The original owner of this body was a royal descendant of the interstellar empire. Strictly speaking, he was the hundredth illegitimate child of the current emperor.

The current emperor was unmarried but had countless lovers on the capital planet. He seemed to enjoy sowing his seeds far and wide, and the original owner was the hundredth seed that successfully sprouted.

The emperor did not deny his relationships with these children. Three years ago, he announced that the next imperial heir would be chosen among them.

This sparked a frenzy, and over a hundred heirs on the capital planet began a fierce competition.

Among these siblings, the number kept growing, many born into various factions. The original owner was at the bottom, his mother being a commoner and the emperor's first love. They had separated and then reunited, so the original owner was not the eldest but ranked one hundredth.

Moreover, the original owner had a dual F-class physique, making him a rare waste.

Despite everyone knowing he could never inherit the empire, his mother was still the emperor's first love and remained highly favored. This led to the original owner receiving extra attention from the emperor.

Thus, he was 'looked after' even more by his other siblings.

To Bai Xiaoyu's surprise, some of the original owner's siblings could transform into beasts.

Were these demon cultivators?

Soon, he learned that in this world, some people could transform into beast forms, while others could only partially transform, and the rest couldn't transform at all.

The original owner belonged to the latter group.

The imperial family's beast form was a tiger, and among the original owner's siblings, only a few had the tiger form, all of whom were prime candidates for succession.

Even more astonishingly, reproduction in this world involved laying eggs.

Every egg laid long ago could be hatched by parents, but due to the influence of dark matter brought by the insect race, heavily polluted areas required specialized incubation for new eggs to hatch.

Thus, the profession of a breeder became essential.

The original owner's major was breeding. He had been pushed into it by the emperor, with plans to assign him to the Royal Nursery upon graduation.

However, the original owner disliked this field, as no emperor had ever majored in breeding.

Indeed, despite having the worst qualifications, the original owner harbored the highest ambitions—he wanted to be the emperor.

So he began plotting, forming alliances, and doing many things.

The outcome was predictable.

After skimming through some memories, Bai Xiaoyu sighed and slowly opened his eyes.

Yu Xi, who had been watching him, exclaimed in delight, "Master Bai, you're awake. I'll go call the doctor."

As Bai Xiaoyu watched the young man run out, more memories surfaced, and he suddenly held his forehead.

The original owner seemed to have left him a mess.

This boy, Yu Xi, was a part-time student at the nursery and the original owner's assistant.

The original owner, a novice with little breeding knowledge or experience, was the only breeder in the regional nursery!

And now, he, who had taken over this body halfway, knew even less.

Moreover, the original owner hadn't become a breeder to hatch eggs; he was interested in the nursery's sole aircraft and the monthly budget allocation.

The accident happened when he used the budget to buy other items under the pretense of purchasing nutrients, planning to fly back to the capital planet.

Midway, he was pursued by assassins, the aircraft exploded, and the funds vanished.

At that moment, Yu Xi returned with a doctor, his face full of excitement. "Master Bai, you're finally awake. The eggs in the nursery depend on you."

Bai Xiaoyu: "..."

No, he knew nothing about hatching eggs. It wouldn't work relying on him.

He didn't know how to hatch eggs at all!

Could he just refuse this mess?

Bai Xiaoyu's mind immediately filled with a beeping sound, startling him.

"Beep beep beep, I am the Interstellar Egg Incubation System. Detecting the host's intention to escape, starting a mission. Please return to the nursery within 12 hours to check on the eggs. Yes or No?"

Realizing what was happening, Bai Xiaoyu saw that the 'Yes' option was bold and red, while the 'No' was faint and almost invisible, with the button grayed out.

Bai Xiaoyu: "..."

"Why is 'No' not lit up?"

In the next second, a small white cat appeared in his mind. Just as Bai Xiaoyu was startled, he heard a sob, sensing trouble. His mind was soon flooded with the cries of the white kitten.

"Innng..."

"Mew... mew..."

"Mew... mew... mew..."

The little white cat cried until its fur was wet, its ears drooping and its nose twitching, looking utterly pitiful, with tears threatening to flood the entire place.

Bai Xiaoyu felt a headache coming on; he felt like his brain would drown if the crying continued.

"Stop crying. I just wanted to ask, I didn't say no. I choose yes."

He had only felt unprofessional, but since he had taken over the original body, he naturally had to deal with the mess left behind.

The system immediately stopped crying. "Host has accepted the task successfully. Please complete the task within 12 hours."

Then it vanished.

Bai Xiaoyu: "..."

How heartless.

But this system is called the Incubation System. The round black ball he encountered before looked like an egg.

Bai Xiaoyu chuckled, then quickly shook his head. How could there be such a big egg?

Chapter 002

Bai Xiaoyu thought it might be a high-tech product.

But that black ball saved his life, so it must have been controlled by someone. He had to find a way to thank its owner when he got the chance.

He wondered how much such a black ball would cost. No, in this world, they used credit points as currency. He wanted one too.

As soon as this thought crossed his mind, the image of the original owner's account, with a long string of zeros, automatically appeared in his mind. All his assets had been taken by his siblings before he was sent here.

The original owner had nothing but a light brain. Those people were afraid he would return and some even wanted to get rid of him for good.

"Teacher Bai Yu, are you feeling unwell?"

Bai Xiaoyu snapped back to reality, realizing his sudden silence had scared the assistant, "No, I'm fine. How long was I unconscious?"

Yu Xi: "Three days. You gave us quite a scare."

Bai Xiaoyu smiled at Yu Xi, "Thank you for all your hard work these past few days."

Yu Xi, who was not yet eighteen, was simple-minded and had been deceived by the original owner. The original owner, fearing he wouldn't have enough money, even 'borrowed' Yu Xi's savings.

Yu Xi hadn't realized he had been tricked; Bai Xiaoyu's smile made him stare again.

Bai Xiaoyu had fair skin, phoenix eyes, and thin lips. When the original owner was still around, his demeanor was gloomy, yet his appearance ranked among the best among his siblings.

Everyone mocked him as a double F loser, but no one could fault his looks. Thus, the original owner was known as a useless beauty on Capital Star.

And now, Bai Xiaoyu was even more remarkable. When he didn't smile, he looked like a refined gentleman, and when he did, he radiated warmth like spring blossoms.

Yu Xi's face turned red, and his words stumbled, "N-no... It's my duty. This... This is Doctor Yang, your attending physician."

Doctor Yang stood behind Yu Xi. Unlike Yu Xi, who had black hair and black eyes, she was a beautiful woman with brown hair and green eyes, a mature type. She spoke, "I'll do a full-body checkup now."

Bai Xiaoyu nodded, "Thank you."

Yang Wang looked at this person who seemed contrary to the rumors, her surprise flashing away quickly.

Born on Capital Star, she was different from the information-deprived locals. They had even attended the Imperial Military Academy together, though she studied medicine while Bai Xiaoyu studied cultivation. In a sense, they both belonged to the medical field.

Back then, this person had entered the Imperial Military Academy's top program through privilege but skipped classes every day, failing every subject at the end of the year, ranking last in the entire academy. His reputation was well-known throughout the academy.

She had been personally assigned by the dean three days ago to be Bai Xiaoyu's attending physician. The dean was concerned and repeatedly emphasized the importance of the assignment, saying that Bai Xiaoyu was the only cultivator in their region, a high-achiever from Capital Star specifically sent here.

In fact, Yang Wang didn't believe it. After all, she remembered his school record vividly. Additionally, she had chosen to serve as a military doctor in the frontier because Bai Xiaoyu's father had once shown interest in her at a banquet. Her excellent bloodline and leopard form made her desirable for producing more humanoid offspring, which made her rejection even more intriguing to him. Her parents had paid a heavy price to allow her to escape.

Thus, she had no good feelings toward the royal offspring, including Bai Xiaoyu.

Bai Xiaoyu quickly noticed the hostility in the doctor's eyes. He sifted through his memories but found no information about her.

Could it be that the original owner had offended someone without realizing it?

Back then, the original owner had indeed offended many people.

Bai Xiaoyu didn't know that this woman knew the original owner's background and almost became one of his many stepmothers. She hadn't left any surgical gloves or scalpels inside during the operation due to her kindness and medical ethics.

Bai Xiaoyu was scanned in the treatment device by the grim-faced Yang Wang but couldn't recall anything. Finally, he gave up on investigating.

Instead, he focused on the treatment device, which he knew could heal external injuries quickly.

Of course, severe fractures still required a doctor's intervention. Due to the advanced physical and mental capabilities of future humans and advanced technology, most incurable diseases from before the apocalypse were now trivial.

The current challenge in the galaxy was genetic diseases, including those caused by the dark matter of the insectoids, leading to issues like a sharp drop in the birth rate of newborn eggs, difficulties in hatching, and a decreasing number of powerful humanoid births.

After thousands of years of fighting the insectoids, humanoids, with their superior physical and mental abilities, were better suited to pilot mechs and had always been on the front lines. The stability of countless planets in the galaxy was largely maintained by the sacrifices of humanoids.

In recent centuries, the number of humanoids had decreased, and many half-humanoids and pure humans had to fight on the battlefield, making the situation increasingly dire.

Like the planet he was on, which had experienced a major battle three years ago, many people had left after the war, leaving only a few behind. Reconstruction had just begun to stabilize things.

After reconstruction came the issue of reproduction. This frontier planet lacked resources, had a harsh environment, and was often harassed by insectoids, making it difficult to attract talent.

Cultivators like him were hard to come by; it took a long time for Capital Star to send one over.

Newborn eggs in the galaxy only began developing after hatching, and cultivators played a crucial role in this process.

An excellent cultivator could not only hatch healthier newborns but also increase the birth rate of humanoids.

Bai Xiaoyu frowned, feeling the pressure mounting.

The examination was quick, and Bai Xiaoyu was dismissed by Yang Wang afterward.

Yu Xi waited outside for him, and they took a public flying vehicle back.

Bai Xiaoyu watched the scenery, vastly different from the post-apocalyptic world, with lush greens and various buildings, showing no signs of the former battlefield.

"The reconstruction has been impressive."

Yu Xi proudly straightened his chest, "Of course! We have the Sixteenth Legion stationed here to help. Even if the insectoids come, we're not afraid."

Bai Xiaoyu heard the familiar name, "Sixteenth Legion? Is that the legion where the black egg's owner belongs?"

Yu Xi scratched his head, "I don't know about any black egg, but I do know that General Bai Chen led the Sixteenth Legion to save our planet three years ago."

Bai Xiaoyu saw the assistant's eyes light up when mentioning General Bai Chen, "General Bai Chen, you admire him?"

Yu Xi clenched his fist, his voice becoming firm, "Of course, he's an idol to the entire galaxy! He and the Sixteenth Legion protected half of our galactic territory, keeping the insectoids at bay."

Then his expression changed, looking almost teary and sad, "But he went missing six months ago after battling the insectoid king. Many say he probably won't come back, sniff sniff..."

Bai Xiaoyu was searching his mind for information about Marshal Bai Chen. The original host's deepest impression of him was the fear all the royal offspring had of Bai Chen.

Hearing this, he hurried to comfort Yu Xi, "No, he will come back."

Yu Xi: "Really?"

Bai Xiaoyu nodded, "Maybe he's just on a mission somewhere and can't show himself in public."

Seeing Yu Xi visibly cheer up, Bai Xiaoyu looked out the window, his expression turning serious. In his memory, the royal offspring celebrated after hearing the news of Bai Chen's disappearance.

At that time, the original host was busy with his ambitions and wasn't interested. Based on their reactions, the chances of a hero's return were slim.

The future flying vehicle was fast; it took only fifteen minutes to return to the breeding facility.

The breeding facility was even larger than he imagined. The entire building was oval-shaped, like a giant egg.

As soon as they stepped into the breeding facility, the system's voice sounded in his head: "Beep beep beep. Host returned to the breeding facility within 12 hours. Mission completion rate is 50%. Please continue to work hard. Please check on the eggs as soon as possible."

Bai Xiaoyu paused, "Xiao Xi, let's go see the eggs first."

Yu Xi was surprised by his enthusiasm, his eyes filled with excitement as he led the way, gesturing wildly.

Bai Xiaoyu remembered that the original host refused to incubate the eggs. He immediately asked for a flying vehicle and funding, treating the eggs carelessly. At that time, he incubated the eggs without much thought, relying on the little knowledge left in his mind.

Bai Xiaoyu couldn't help but rub his forehead, hoping there wouldn't be any problems with the eggs.

They went directly to the central incubation area. Upon entering, they saw large fully automated machinery. Every meter apart, there was a transparent energy shield shaped like an egg, each containing an egg.

These eggs varied in size. Bai Xiaoyu scanned them and asked, "Are all the eggs here?"

Yu Xi: "Yes, all eighteen eggs are here."

Bai Xiaoyu looked at the row of eggs, trying to recall relevant professional knowledge, but found nothing beyond what the original host had done.

As for what the original host did, it was simple: place the egg in the incubation shield, pour in the nutrient solution, and that was it!

A child of a few years could do it.

But what came next...

Bai Xiaoyu: "System, are you there?"

System: "Yes. Host has not completed the task. Please check each egg individually. Hint: touch with your hand."

What kind of hint was that? Bai Xiaoyu had no choice but to find the smallest egg and touch it.

The goose-egg-sized white egg felt slightly cooler than body temperature, with its shell barely undulating, as if the egg was breathing.

If not for Bai Xiaoyu's years of experience and professional instincts, he wouldn't have noticed.

He closed his eyes unconsciously, focusing his mental energy around the egg and slowly probing inside.

This egg was breathing, though slowly and steadily, indicating strong vitality. According to his guess, it might be due to insufficient nutrients.

But it was just a guess; he had no idea what to do. They needed a professional to come and assist with the incubation.

Thinking this, he saw no response from the system.

It seemed he wouldn't get any help unless he took action.

He released the egg and turned to Yu Xi, "Xiao Xi, how long would it take to request another breeder to come here?"

Yu Xi, who had just seen Bai Xiaoyu's actions, had been thinking that the breeder was finally willing to take over the facility. Hearing this, his face fell.

"Bai Breeder, you applied before, but it was always denied. You were sent here after we requested for a long time. This is the first batch of eggs; previously, they were sent to other districts for incubation. But those districts prioritize their own eggs, so our eggs were weak when hatched, with fewer half-beasts, let alone full beasts. Now that we have a breeder, they refuse to take our eggs."

Bai Xiaoyu was silent for a moment before patting Yu Xi's head, "I didn't say I was leaving. I just want to bring in someone more professional since I don't know how to incubate eggs."

Yu Xi looked at him with bright eyes, "The district leader said you graduated from the best school in the capital, specializing in breeding. If you can't do it, no one else can."

No matter how Bai Xiaoyu tried to explain, Yu Xi wouldn't believe him.

The system urged him again, so he continued touching the eggs, choosing the largest one this time.

As his hand passed through the energy shield, it began to flicker, and the smart system of the incubation equipment started to sound an alarm.

"Warning—energy shortage. Please replenish energy within three days."

Bai Xiaoyu turned to Yu Xi, "How do we replenish the energy?"

Yu Xi was close to tears, "Three days ago, you said to use the system's energy box for the flying vehicle and that you'd bring back nutrient solution and an energy box when you returned."

Bai Xiaoyu: "..."

Was this adding insult to injury?

He sighed and reached into the energy shield toward the egg.

Its breathing was even weaker than before, and the life force inside was fading.

Bai Xiaoyu's brows furrowed, and he suddenly opened his eyes wide.

This egg was showing signs of yolk dispersion!

Chapter 3

Bai Xiaoyu's face turned slightly cautious as his slender fingers gently caressed the surface of the eggshell. His right hand curved two fingers to lightly tap it a few times.

He even unconsciously leaned in to sniff it, making a motion as if he were going to pinch a bit and taste it.

Yu Xi watched intently from the side. It was said that excellent cultivators had their own unique methods for diagnosing eggs.

These methods were usually kept secret. Was it really okay for Bai Xiaoyu to demonstrate this in front of an outsider like him?

Or was he intentionally teaching him?

Everyone who came to be an assistant at the cultivation center dreamed of learning the master's unique skills. But that depended on whether the master was willing to teach them.

Yu Xi felt both nervous and delighted. Was Bai Xiaoyu hinting at teaching him something?

Unaware of his assistant's excitement, Bai Xiaoyu stopped just before his fingertips touched his lips.

He stared blankly at the basketball-sized egg for a while before coming back to his senses.

It seemed his professional habit had kicked in again.

He withdrew his hand and looked at it.

His hands were fair and slender, with distinct knuckles and no calluses.

Most importantly, the palms and fingertips were plump and tender, glowing with a pinkish sheen.

They were a pair of familiar yet strange hands he hadn't seen in a long time.

He once had such hands, but after the apocalypse, he picked up weapons to kill zombies—both hot weapons like guns and cold weapons like swords and bows. He had experience with all of them.

Thus, his hands were covered in calluses and stained with blood.

Blood from zombies, mutated animals and plants, and... humans.

In the apocalypse, people lost their humanity. Some would do anything for food.

He remembered the first person he killed during a mission. A leader of a remote small base and his henchmen were treating the people there like livestock.

When they arrived, what they saw was a large-scale slaughter scene.

Their team killed everyone who had eaten human flesh.

Blood flowed like a river.

Thinking about those past events, Bai Xiaoyu realized how long it had been.

Back then, he had already stopped his old profession. On one hand, his sense of touch had dulled, and on the other, many of his old customers had disappeared. Without their supply of elixirs, he, as a pill incubator, had no source of business.

Pill incubator, Bai Xiaoyu's profession before the apocalypse.

In the era of declining magic, the country could not produce spirits. They were cultivators living in the modern world.

Bai Xiaoyu's ancestors were alchemists. When the era of declining magic arrived and the potency of spirit herbs decreased significantly, it became impossible to create pills.

As a result, pills became scarce. Many cultivators relied on the old stock saved by their ancestors.

Over time, the potency of these preserved pills diminished.

Alchemists, unable to create new pills due to the lack of potent herbs, gradually changed professions or gave up. The art of alchemy declined irreversibly.

However, Bai Xiaoyu's ancestor was a genius. Seeing that the potency of herbs was insufficient for creating pills, he focused on restoring the potency of degraded pills. After decades of research, he successfully restored the potency of degraded pills using less potent herbs.

From then on, the Bai family transitioned from alchemists to pill restorers, passing down the skill through generations. During the turbulent times, pill restorers changed their name to pill incubators.

Since then, "pill restorer" became less common, and "pill incubator" became widely known.

By Bai Xiaoyu's generation, only he and his nephew remained.

Bai Xiaoyu had a natural talent for judging the degree of potency loss in pills, a process similar to traditional Chinese medicine's diagnostic methods of observation, listening, questioning, and palpation.

After adulthood, he could usually determine it with a glance and a sniff. If that didn't work, he would need to handle the pill. Thus, a pill incubator needed sensitive hands to feel the texture of the pill's outer layer to make an initial judgment. If still unsure, a taste test was necessary.

Sensitive hands were also crucial for restoring pills. The temperature of the pill, the temperature of the restoration liquid, and the viscosity of the medicinal solution were all important factors that required tactile measurement.

Lacking spiritual energy, other cultivators relied on elixirs for cultivation. However, most couldn't progress far without sufficient spiritual energy, making foundation building impossible.

Bai Xiaoyu pursued it naturally rather than forcing it.

His nephew lacked talent in this area and was more interested in serving the country, so he attended a military academy.

Bai Xiaoyu opened a veterinary clinic until the apocalypse began.

His nephew, Bai Ji, was on a mission when the apocalypse erupted and never returned.

He traveled northward through great hardship to the capital, where he learned from his nephew's comrades that his nephew had been pushed into a horde of zombies while rescuing a high-ranking official.

Despite appearing gentle and kind, Bai Xiaoyu was cold at heart and cared for very few people.

With his nephew gone, he spent ten years ruthlessly bringing down the one responsible.

Later, during the apocalypse, spiritual energy recovered, and Bai Xiaoyu's mental strength broke through, allowing him to create a potion to cure the zombie virus.

Just as he was about to deliver the formula to the leader who established the new order in the post-apocalyptic world, he was assassinated.

He self-destructed, taking his attackers with him.

The formula had already been sent through three different routes.

Those were his nephew's battle-hardened comrades, who had set out a day earlier.

His final wish was for the world to return to its pre-apocalypse beauty.

In that beautiful world, there were no zombies, only birds singing and flowers blooming, with people living peaceful lives.

His only family member was still alive.

Bai Xiaoyu reined in his emotions; the potion formula should have been successfully delivered, otherwise he wouldn't have gotten a chance to live again.

Merit, for cultivators, is the universe's reward.

The warmth in his palm reminded him that now he was in another world.

But becoming an egg incubator from being a pill refiner was a bit of a stretch.

Closing his eyes, he channeled his mental energy into the eggshell. He had just discovered that his mental power from the apocalypse had also followed him here, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to easily assess the condition of the egg.

Pulling his hand back, Bai Xiaoyu turned to Yu Xi, "Xiao Xi, do we have any egg repair agents in the facility?"

He knew they had it from the original host's memory; he just didn't know if they had it here.

Yu Xi thought for a moment, "We only have one, which the district worked very hard to get approved. Master Bai, is this egg so severely damaged?"

Bai Xiaoyu nodded, "Go fetch it."

After Yu Xi left, Bai Xiaoyu ran his fingers over each egg, reminiscent of when he first learned to refine pills, feeling each one individually.

After going through all of them, out of eighteen eggs, only the largest one was critically damaged, at risk of yolk dispersal, while the others were all weak and showing signs of congenital defects. If not discovered early, more would likely have dispersed yolks.

At this moment, the system appeared: "Beep beep beep, host has finished checking the condition of the eggs. Mission completed. Rewards are now available. Please check with the system grid."

Hearing this, Bai Xiaoyu became interested, "How do I check?"

The system: "The system can merge with your optical brain. You can open the interface through your optical brain. Do you want to merge?"

Bai Xiaoyu: "Yes."

He opened his optical brain, a silver metallic sphere shaped like a watch. Upon opening it, he discovered a new world.

Combining the original host's memories and the system's prompts, he found the system interface on his personal page and opened it to see virtual grids.

Like game grids, there were currently only ten, three of which showed items. Two were dark, and clicking on them did not allow retrieval. The last bright one, when clicked, prompted a dialogue box asking if he wanted to retrieve it.

Bai Xiaoyu clicked yes, revealing a pale green scroll. Opening it, several large characters appeared before his eyes—

Egg Incubation Guide?

Expectant, Bai Xiaoyu closed the scroll, "System, are you messing with me?"

The system: "Given the host's severe lack of knowledge about egg incubation, the system has collected relevant materials to help you get started. Host, please do not thank the system. Please work hard on incubating the eggs and strive to make them hatch soon."

After this incident, Bai Xiaoyu now harbored some expectations for this seemingly unreliable system. He asked the system if randomly appearing items could be monitored. The system assured him that storage spaces were widely used in the star system, and optical brains came with a small storage space. Also, the system interface was invisible to others.

However, he did need the scroll, so he opened it to read.

It turned out that in the star system, most eggs only stayed in the mother's body or artificial wombs for seven months before birth, after which they were sent to incubation facilities.

Once incubation began, newborn eggs absorbed nutrients and gradually grew until around ten months when they hatched.

Hatched infants could take three forms: beastmen, half-beastmen, and pure humans.

Before the star system was contaminated by the dark matter of the insect race, the ratio was 3:3:4.

Now, the ratio had changed, with the birth rate of beastmen dropping by one percent. Eggs that should have hatched as beastmen were instead converted to half-beastmen due to dark matter contamination, changing the ratio to 0.5:5.5:4.

Basically, out of twenty eggs, only one would hatch as a beastman. Even in incubation facilities where the ratio was still favorable, some facilities needed hundreds of eggs to produce a single beastman.

This was related to the incubator's skill.

The system explained that dark matter could be dispelled during incubation, and excellent incubators used various methods to stop or reduce its impact, thus increasing the birth rate of beastmen.

An incubator who consistently maintained a beastman birth rate of 0.05 after multiple incubations was considered qualified. Those with higher rates were deemed excellent.

At this moment, Yu Xi returned with the repair agent, and Bai Xiaoyu put away the scroll.

Mixing the repair agent with the nutrient solution, he poured it into the incubation hood of the problematic egg.

Just as he finished, he turned to see Yu Xi looking at him with admiration.

Bai Xiaoyu paused slightly, "Xiao Xi?"

Yu Xi: "Master Bai can tell the condition of the eggs just by touching them, especially such severe cases like yolk dispersal. I remember other districts using instruments couldn't detect problems in the early stages, and by the time they did, it was too late. So every incubation facility inevitably faced egg deaths. If the death rate is too high, the incubator faces trouble, potentially losing their certification and facing lawsuits from the parents of the dead eggs."

Listening to this, Bai Xiaoyu sighed, feeling that his current situation was quite dangerous.

He still had no clue how to handle those problematic eggs.

Fortunately, the most critical one had been addressed.

The system popped up again: "Not yet, host. You haven't finished reading the guide and don't know that three doses of the repair agent are needed. One dose per week, and only then will the egg stabilize. Currently, repair agents are rare on this edge planet. Host, please try to obtain one within seven days."

He opened his optical brain again and checked the repair agent. He had the purchasing eligibility, but it cost fifty thousand credit points per dose.

He remembered that the facility's energy supply would run out in three days. Searching further, even the lowest-grade energy boxes cost one hundred thousand credit points.

And the nutrient solution was also running low. The original host had squandered the facility's nine hundred thousand credit points for the quarter to return to the capital!

Checking his balance: 0.

Bai Xiaoyu: "..."

Yu Xi cautiously: "Master Bai, do you need to buy anything? I still have over a hundred credit points."

As soon as he spoke, Bai Xiaoyu remembered that the original owner had 'borrowed' five thousand credit points from Yu Xi, adding another debt to the list.

"No need, Xiao Xi. Go out for now and let me think."

Bai Xiaoyu didn't stay quiet for long; time did not allow him such waste.

Soon, he went online and searched—how to earn credit points quickly.

A pile of answers appeared, and he patiently sifted through them, looking for useful information.

At this moment, a message came through on his light brain. Bai Xiaoyu opened it and found it was from the main computer.

Breeder live stream registration?

After quickly reading through it, Bai Xiaoyu realized that breeders needed to livestream the hatching of eggs daily.

This could be considered public supervision.

Various breeding centers were ranked and often competed against each other, making the competition fierce.

The original owner had received many system messages before, all of which were ignored.

Now, looking at the last line in large red letters, Bai Xiaoyu saw that he must start livestreaming within three days, or someone would come to enforce it.

Just how many messes did the original owner leave behind, and can they all be settled at once?

Chapter 004

After another inspection of Dandan, Bai Xiaoyu followed his memory back to the room.

This was the room assigned to him by the breeding facility—a one-bedroom apartment with a living room, kitchen, bathroom, and balcony, looking about eighty square meters in size, spacious and comfortable.

It could be considered quite nice.

Even before the apocalypse, apart from the large ancestral home of the Bai family, when he lived alone in City S, his mother had an apartment of similar size, though it was a two-bedroom. His nephew would occasionally come back for holidays, but most of the time, he lived alone and liked it very much.

So he was satisfied with this room, but the original owner despised it.

He recalled the luxurious villa where the original owner lived with his mother, bought by his cheap father, complete with many servants.

Dismissing such a small house, the contrast was too great after coming here; he couldn't stay more than a few days and desperately wanted to go back.

Bai Xiaoyu instructed the equipped robot to clean the place again while he entered the bathroom for a shower.

Only now did he have the chance to see himself. Looking at the familiar face with phoenix eyes and thin lips in the mirror, his eyes gradually curved into a smile.

The original owner had a face almost identical to his, just a bit more childish. Twenty-two was a young and beautiful age.

Bai Xiaoyu touched his abdomen, feeling the softness. Looking at this pudgy belly, he started to miss his six-pack abs.

The original owner's "white chicken" appearance had been ridiculed by his siblings no end.

Was this what an F-grade physique looked like?

During the time Bai Xiaoyu had taken over the body, comparing his experiences, it was slightly worse than an ordinary person's physique before the apocalypse—slightly leaner and weaker, but not problematic.

However, in the interstellar era, it didn't work that way. People here might carry beast genes and had evolved, making their innate physique and mental strength better than Earthlings.

Interstellar human physiques were graded, with F-grade being the lowest and SSS-grade the highest.

Mental strength was similarly graded.

Bai Xiaoyu was no stranger to this. After the apocalypse began, humans and zombies could evolve, leading to grading systems. The direction of evolution for physique and abilities was similar to the interstellar era.

The original owner's physique would have found it hard to survive after the apocalypse, especially in later stages, as even ordinary people were evolving subtly.

In the interstellar era, physiques and mental strengths continued to improve. Almost every interstellar human's physique improved with growth and exercise after birth.

The higher the grade, whether for physique or mental strength, the longer the lifespan.

Interstellar humans below C-grade could live up to three hundred years.

Those at E-grade could live to two hundred and fifty. The original owner, with dual F-grades, was advised by doctors during a physical examination to achieve any dreams before turning fifty, or else he might lack the energy later.

Bai Xiaoyu: "..."

Was there no end to this?

Bai Xiaoyu walked out of the bathroom, drenched in water vapor, feeling much more relaxed. He opened his optical brain once more.

Opening the message sent by the main brain, he clicked on the live-stream application.

A prompt popped up on the optical brain, "Given that the live-stream application requires a holographic environment, are you ready to enter the Star Network?"

Bai Xiaoyu clicked yes. In the next moment, his vision blurred, and upon regaining consciousness, he saw passersby moving around.

But these people were so tall!

And he was on all fours, with his tail swaying gently.

Wait, on all fours and with a tail? What was going on?

Bai Xiaoyu froze, opening his personal homepage and falling silent at the sight of himself.

There stood a small brown tiger with beautiful stripes, looking utterly bewildered, its ears flattened in shock.

He remembered the original owner didn't have a beast form, yet he had set up this image for himself?

And then there was the ID above his head: Interstellar Super Invincible Emperor.

This...

At this moment, some people stopped to look at the dazed little tiger.

"This kid must be new to the holographic Star Network. With a name like that, he's probably still a cub, looking so cute and dazed."

"I wonder if I can hold him. Dear Interstellar Super Emperor, may I hug you?"

"Your Majesty, can I kiss you?"

Bai Xiaoyu snapped back to reality, seeing the crowd gathering around him, setting off alarm bells in his mind.

He wanted to run away but found himself using his hind legs instinctively, leaving his front legs stationary.

Thus, in the next second, he stumbled in front of everyone, rolling forward like a ball of fur before barely stopping.

Bai Xiaoyu was completely stunned, his furry ears drooping, his eyes wet and innocent.

The crowd felt their hearts tremble, unable to resist wanting to hold the little guy.

Seeing countless hands reaching towards him, Bai Xiaoyu's tail instantly bristled, and he clumsily ran away, stumbling and rolling.

Growing up maintaining an elder's image in front of his nephew, always composed, Bai Xiaoyu had never felt so embarrassed.

Hiding in a corner, Bai Xiaoyu said, "Little Spirit, change this image."

He had just remembered that on the Star Network, every user had a guide sprite.

As soon as he finished speaking, a palm-sized sprite with white wings appeared before him. "Changing your avatar requires credit points, Master. You don't have enough credit points to switch."

Bai Xiaoyu's tail flicked faster as he asked, "Are there no default avatars provided by the system to choose from?"

The sprite blinked its eyes. "There used to be, but you deleted them because you found them too ugly. Isn't your current avatar good? I remember you liked it very much. Although your mental energy only allows for the more expensive cub version, you spent five million credit points on it in one go."

The little tiger's tail stood straight up and then shook fiercely after a moment.

"Can this be resold?"

The sprite smiled and replied, "Master, bound virtual items cannot be resold."

The little tiger's tail instantly drooped, and his ears flopped down. After a while, he seemed to finally accept reality. He waved his paw. "Then take me to the registration place for the live-streaming of the incubation center."

The registration for incubation live-streams was on the official community website of the incubation center. Thus, the people in the incubation community were fortunate enough to see a white sprite leading the way, followed by a fluffy little tiger stumbling along behind.

After much effort, they reached the registration office, and Bai Xiaoyu submitted his application.

The incubation live-stream applications were reviewed by dedicated personnel. The president of the Incubation Protection Association was planning to ride the Sixteenth Legion's spacecraft over because an incubator had audaciously refused to do a live-stream for a whole week.

He intended to personally go and urge them, and also check if they had done anything bad to the eggs.

However, just as he stepped out, he received a notification from the mainframe about the review. He stormed back in angrily.

Upon logging in, he saw no one and shouted, "Why did you register so late? Are you trying to avoid supervision? Are the eggs okay?"

Realizing no one was there, his anger flared even more. "Where are you?"

A young voice came from below, "I'm here."

The president, whose beard was already white, looked down to see a little tiger sitting on the ground, sighing. His beard trembled, but his voice became stern while his face softened. "Don't think changing into a cub avatar will help you evade responsibility. Hmph. Come closer, let me pet you."

Bai Xiaoyu: "..."

In the end, Bai Xiaoyu was petted twice by the president and was finally allowed to proceed with the successful review.

However, when the system scanned his real appearance, the avatar would temporarily become ineffective, revealing his true form.

Bai Xiaoyu preferred his human form, but the president immediately changed his demeanor, criticizing him harshly for everything he hadn't said earlier.

Seeing Bai Xiaoyu's calm expression despite being scolded, he grew even more annoyed.

How could this human form compare to the fluffy, cute cub?

Once the scan was complete and Bai Xiaoyu reverted to his little tiger avatar, the president's mood improved.

"When do you plan to start the live-stream?"

Before Bai Xiaoyu could answer, the president added, "The sooner, the better. Can you start today?"

Bai Xiaoyu thought for a moment. "Once I figure out how to start the live-stream, I'll begin."

The president, looking at the fluffy avatar, wasn't entirely convinced but said, "Then do it as soon as possible, no later than tomorrow."

Bai Xiaoyu was petted once more before leaving the registration office.

After successfully registering, he automatically generated a live-stream account on the incubation live-streaming website, with the number DQ369.

D36 referred to the abbreviation of the planet he was currently on, and Q9 indicated that the incubation center was in the ninth district of that planet.

Planets like D36, which were on the edge of the war zone and had few inhabitants due to severe dark matter pollution, had limited reproductive capabilities and few new eggs. Typically, one incubation center per district was sufficient.

On more prosperous planets, each district had three or more incubation centers.

Looking at his live-stream room number, he clicked in, but the window was still dark.

He then browsed the live-stream section of the official website.

A row of windows appeared before him, each displaying various eggs from different angles, with every detail visible, including the tiny particles on the eggshells.

All the eggs made his eyes blur, but the front-row live-streams had decent viewership.

Bai Xiaoyu didn't realize he had entered the newcomers' section, where the viewership was average.

Choosing the most popular live-stream, he entered and found himself standing in front of a watermelon-sized, glowing white egg with cracks appearing on its surface.

Bai Xiaoyu was stunned for a moment, realizing that what he was seeing was someone else's main view.

Was this egg about to hatch?

Live comments occasionally flashed across his screen.

A male voice spoke, presumably the owner of the live-stream.

"This batch has thirty eggs, all healthy. Twenty have already hatched. This one is about to hatch too. Let's witness it together."

The comments immediately became excited. Additionally, sparkling stars appeared above the live-stream.

"Ding Lan, you're amazing! The third egg successfully hatched a healthy rabbit beast. Here are some stars for you."

"The color of this egg is excellent; it might be a beast cub. Can I witness the birth of a beast cub?"

"Here are some stars, Ding Lan! Keep it up!"

Bai Xiaoyu watched the stars and comments flash by, noticing the gift column with stars. He extended his paw and tapped it.

The system prompt read: "Stars cost 1 credit point. Insufficient balance to make a donation."

Bai Xiaoyu calmly withdrew his paw. Perfect, he didn't even have a single credit point.

At this moment, the barrage of comments suddenly surged.

"Quick, look! It's hatching! It's a little paw."

"A Beastman!"

"Hold your horses; it might just be a half-Beastman with paws."

"If it's a half-Beastman, part of its body would still be that of an infant and wouldn't be as agile as this one. But it's not impossible. Everyone, stay calm and don't get too excited."

But everyone was still excited. Normally, only one Beastman would be born out of twenty eggs, but now, the second Beastman had hatched from the twenty-first egg, doubling the odds.

For a moment, the live stream was filled with twinkling stars.

The owner of the live stream, Ding Lan, remained calm, as if he had known the outcome all along.

He moved the camera closer, allowing everyone to see another paw stretch out and push aside the eggshell.

A wet little head appeared before everyone's eyes.

"It's a little bamboo rat!"

Ding Lan's fans started sending meteor showers in the live stream.

Ding Lan was in a good mood. "It's very lucky to have hatched two little Beastmen. I consider this a satisfactory result for my graduation project."

"As a Breeder, you truly live up to being a top graduate from the Imperial Military Academy's breeding program. I heard that everyone from your program is exceptional and highly sought after across the entire galaxy."

Ding Lan's expression changed, and his tone became subtle. "Not everyone. Some got in through back doors. I heard they haven't even done a single live stream yet. Maybe we'll see them in the Interstellar Court someday. I doubt they can hatch even one egg."

"There are always such parasites around. Do you have their live stream number? Share it so I can go watch."

"We're both on Capital Star. That wouldn't be a good idea; many people are waiting to see him make a fool of himself."

"Who is it?"

"He's quite famous, a double F waste from Capital Star."

Ding Lan: "I'd like to challenge him someday."

"No, competing with him would be beneath you. Does he even deserve it?"

Xiaoyu: "?"

These days, watching a live stream could lead to encountering someone familiar and getting targeted remotely?

Chapter 005

Bai Xiaoyu remained silent. This must be referring to the original owner, openly provoking and such.

Ding Lan...

His mind began searching for memories of Ding Lan. He realized that his memory was somewhat problematic—it wasn't directly inherited but rather, many of the original owner's past memories only surfaced when he encountered related people or events and thought about them carefully.

It made his brain feel like a search engine.

Soon, a memory emerged of a young man with black hair wearing the uniform of their current class in the Imperial Military Academy, adorned with green stripes on his shoulders. Back then, this person's attitude towards the original owner was different from now; he treated the original owner like a close friend who had known him for years.

After digging through his memories, Bai Xiaoyu suddenly felt that the original owner was truly good to his own people.

Ding Lan was born into a minor family in the capital star.

He was the original owner's high school classmate. When everyone mocked the original owner, Ding Lan seized the opportunity to comfort him, becoming one of the few 'close' friends by the original owner's side. Not just him, there were many others from small factions in the capital star who approached the original owner with ulterior motives.

Thus, during university, the original owner found his future loyal followers—Ding Lan for strategy and Wang Ge for combat, along with other underlings to fight for him. With the indulgence of his father, he believed he could take on any other royal contender without fear.

Ding Lan was the only one who had been with the original owner since high school. In his memories, Ding Lan's grades were decent, but still far from reaching the standards of the Imperial Military Academy.

After all, Ding Lan had a B mental strength and B physical fitness. To enter the Imperial Military Academy, candidates needed at least one A-level attribute and another not lower than B, unless they had special talents.

Ding Lan didn't meet these standards. Proud and arrogant, he looked down on other schools and set his sights on the original owner.

He expressed his unwavering loyalty to the original owner, lamenting his lack of innate abilities that would prevent him from accompanying the original owner to university to gather more allies...

Ding Lan even confessed his feelings with gritted teeth.

Seeing this memory, Bai Xiaoyu was taken aback.

Could it be... one of the original owner's romantic entanglements?

Shuddering slightly, he continued to sift through the memories.

The original owner was moved by his tearful confession and rejection but immediately turned Ding Lan down.

After giving Ding Lan a "good guy" card, he said he didn't like that type and that his future partner must be worthy of him, the future interstellar super emperor.

In short, Ding Lan wasn't good enough.

Recalling Ding Lan's expression back then, Bai Xiaoyu found it somewhat amusing.

Clearly, Ding Lan didn't genuinely like the original owner but decided to persevere for his own future. He probably didn't expect to be rejected so humiliatingly?

He was a determined individual, declaring he would always stay by the original owner's side, watching him find true happiness.

However, the original owner fell for this act. Men tend to feel a strange sense of pity for those who like them.

So, the original owner went to his father, using the excuse of wanting to improve his qualifications, and obtained an A-level mental strength enhancer recently developed by the royal alchemist. This was meant for himself, one dose per year, but since it didn't work for him, he gave it to Ding Lan.

This enhancer cost millions of credits and was hard to obtain without connections.

With the enhancer, Ding Lan's mental strength improved from B to A. Next came his academic performance; the original owner sought help from his father again, securing the best tutors from the Imperial Military Academy for Ding Lan.

Finally, Ding Lan barely passed the entrance exam for the Imperial Military Academy but couldn't get into a top-tier program. The original owner once again turned to his father, using connections to place Ding Lan in the cultivation program.

During university, the original owner, with Ding Lan's help, established the Henchmen Group and committed numerous misdeeds.

When the original owner got into trouble and was sent here, none of his underlings offered any help.

Many, like Ding Lan now, wanted to step on him.

Bai Xiaoyu pondered that the original owner wronged no one except Ding Lan.

The original owner got in through nepotism, and so did Ding Lan, relying on the original owner.

Moreover, while Ding Lan's grades were better than the original owner's, the Imperial Military Academy was the top school in the galaxy, and the cultivation program was one of its flagship programs, filled with top students.

The original owner was last, and Ding Lan was second-to-last.

Now, the second-to-last mocking the last?

In the live stream, Ding Lan watched the barrage of insults directed at Bai Xiaoyu, feeling increasingly pleased.

Having been the lackey of that useless person for so long, enduring humiliation, he finally rose to prominence and felt vindicated.

A useless person with double F attributes aspiring to be king? What a joke.

He and Wang Ge laughed behind his back countless times, knowing none of them truly followed him out of loyalty but merely for personal gain.

Thinking back to his rejection, Ding Lan felt even more humiliated. How could Bai Xiaoyu, a double F waste, ever be worthy?

Bai Xiaoyu's fingers twitched as he started typing: "Ding Lan, even if he wronged everyone in the galaxy, he never wronged you."

But when he tried to send the message, a system prompt appeared: "Live stream requires sending a star to post comments. Redirect to gift page?"

Sighing, Bai Xiaoyu thought, okay, original owner, you squandered so much that I can't even speak up for you now.

He noted the live stream number, thinking, if we're going to battle, even though he doesn't know how to hatch eggs yet, he needs to retaliate. Accepting this body means standing up for the original owner.

He exited the live stream and looked at other streams.

Ding Lan, meanwhile, saw a visitor leaving the stream mention "interstellar super emperor," his expression changing slightly.

Could it be him?

Ding Lan suddenly felt a bit guilty, but that guilt quickly vanished without a trace.

Didn't that person say he was going to take care of him? Could it be that he hasn't made a move yet?

After that incident, they never saw each other again. Bai Xiaoyu was sent to the edge of the galaxy and became a breeder, a job he hated the most.

He had blocked him. Did he feel shocked and desperate when he couldn't reach him on his light brain?

Thinking about how he must have looked, Ding Lan felt incredibly good.

Just a discarded son who was expelled; to think he still dared to come back—what a dream!

Ding Lan didn't feel like streaming now. He said a few words to the audience in his live stream and then contacted an alumnus at the Hatchery Conservancy, asking him to help find Bai Xiaoyu's live stream number.

Calculating the time, if Bai Xiaoyu couldn't return to Imperial Star, he would be forced to stream these days.

He wanted to see how someone with no knowledge of breeding could stream hatching eggs.

Bai Xiaoyu watched several live streams in a row. Most of them were opening eggs. Apart from Ding Lan's live stream where a little beastman emerged, the others had half-beastmen breaking out of their shells, while two were pure humans.

From the comments, he noticed that everyone seemed unsurprised, as if this was quite normal.

Compared to Ding Lan's live stream, it was no wonder everyone was so excited.

During this time, he had the chance to see a half-beastman cub, a baby with animal ears and a tail on its head, and the body of a normal infant. This type was the most common, with five half-beastmen, three of whom had this feature. The remaining two half-beastman cubs, one had human limbs but a beast-like body, while another had a completely beast-like body but human hands for its front paws.

According to the guidelines provided by the incubation system, the former were normal half-beastmen, while the latter were relatively deformed due to dark matter contamination. Otherwise, according to their original genes, they should have hatched as complete beastmen.

Despite this, the half-beastmen with more beast-like traits had stronger physical and mental abilities than the former, though they still fell short compared to fully-formed beastmen.

The first type of half-beastman cub could control their ears and tails freely around the age of three. The second type could do so much earlier, closer to being a beastman, and could control them within a month of birth. Fully-formed beastman cubs could transform freely within a week of birth.

Some could even change forms at will right after birth. These were rare, and such beastman cubs invariably possessed extraordinary talents.

For example, Admiral Bai Chen, who is highly respected across the galaxy, could switch between beast and human form right after birth and now has both mental strength and physical condition at the SSS level.

Unfortunately, he went missing.

Bai Xiaoyu opened another newly launched streamer's broadcast to see how newbies streamed.

He found that the viewership was very low, almost non-existent, and the camera kept moving between the eggs.

The streamer was young and spoke nervously, with occasional comments appearing in the chat, far fewer than those in Ding Lan's stream.

It looked simple.

Bai Xiaoyu thought, "Maybe I can do this too?"

Bai Xiaoyu logged off the star network and spent the whole night reading through the incubation system's guidelines. He noticed that the scroll had extended, adding new content.

After a night of cramming, his body was visibly exhausted, but his mind was extremely excited.

The benefit of having strong mental power was enhanced memory. He had memorized the initial section of the system's guidelines.

Although he was still a novice at incubating eggs, at least he wouldn't easily make mistakes.

After preparing everything, he logged onto the star network, ready to open his live stream, only to find that the previously empty followers list now had over ten people.

Could this be a gift from the live streaming system?

What Bai Xiaoyu didn't know was that after Ding Lan found his live stream account, he immediately shared the news.

Then, the members of the once-fearsome Henchmen Group, who used to follow him around, secretly created new accounts and came over.

They waited anxiously in the group chat, occasionally grumbling.

"Tsk tsk, why isn't he streaming yet? Is he chickening out?"

"He doesn't know how to incubate eggs and has been doing it for over a week; maybe the eggs have gone bad."

"That would be even more exciting. We might get to see him dragged into the interstellar military court on his first stream."

"Hey, hey, hey, how can you talk like that? He was our former leader! We should support his debut properly."

"Yeah, I bought ten thousand rotten eggs to throw at his stream, making it stink. Isn't that supportive enough?"

"Then I'll check the rotten cabbages in the live stream chat for something equally smelly and insulting."

...

Apart from them, among the followers were Yu Xi, the assistant who inexplicably admired him, and the president of the Hatchery Conservancy.

The president, still feeling the softness of the little tiger's fur after returning home, couldn't resist and followed the stream late at night out of concern for the eggs.

Now, Bai Xiaoyu didn't realize that people had already gathered to watch him fail before he even started streaming. Before going live, he checked every egg with his hands and mental power, feeling that the timing was right, he opened the live stream interface and clicked start.

As soon as he went live, a barrage of rotten eggs rained down from above.

Chapter 006

Bai Xiaoyu was slightly stunned as he watched the stink bombs explode like fireworks in the live stream. For a moment, he couldn't react.

Could this be the system's gift for a novice breeder's first broadcast—a warning to take egg incubation seriously and avoid such an outcome?

He saw the ordinary two-dimensional live stream on his optical brain, not in full holographic mode, so he didn't experience the overwhelming sensation of being bombarded with stink bombs.

He quickly ignored the stink bombs and focused on the username "GrandpaIsPresident," recognizing it as the president who had been eyeing his online persona.

Meanwhile, the first comment appeared in the live stream: "Little Tiger, are you there? Check the eggs."

He could ignore the "Little Tiger" part, but the "check the eggs" bit...

With a hint of exasperation, he replied, "Alright, right away."

After adjusting the camera, he pointed it at the nearest egg. "This egg has only been incubating for nine days and currently has some minor issues. As a new breeder, I welcome any advice."

Not far away, Yu Xi, watching the holographic live stream on the Star Network, was visibly upset.

As a native of the interstellar era, he knew these stink bombs weren't a system warning but rather someone causing trouble on Bai Xiaoyu's first broadcast day!

Bai Xiaoyu seemed like such a good person, yet people were doing this to him—it was outrageous!

Yu Xi felt indignant, but Bai Xiaoyu appeared unperturbed, showing no reaction.

His admiration for Bai Xiaoyu grew even more; indeed, he was a top graduate from the Imperial Military Academy.

He had seen much in life, unlike Yu Xi, who would easily get flustered.

Since Bai Xiaoyu hadn't given any instructions, Yu Xi decided to bear with it for now. If he couldn't hold back later, he would act accordingly.

After the stink bomb barrage, everyone in the group held their breath, waiting anxiously for Bai Xiaoyu's reaction.

"He must be shocked by this scene. Do you think he'll lose his temper and start yelling?"

"The once high-and-mighty Young Master Bai is now reduced to doing the job he despised most, and we've pelted him with stink bombs. He can't be feeling good. Haha, it's satisfying."

They were all prepared for a spectacle, but Bai Xiaoyu merely glanced at the mess before ignoring it and calmly began introducing the eggs.

So what?

The members of The Henchmen Group were unsettled.

"He's definitely faking it!"

"Yeah, too bad he didn't go for a full holographic broadcast. We can't see his face, or it would have been quite a show."

"I already have a mental image. When he was mocked by Young Master Bai Qi, his face was like a palette of colors."

The group erupted in laughter, but Bai Xiaoyu remained calm, introducing each egg one by one.

The president looked at the eggs and found them to be fine.

He used his grandson's account since his own was officially verified and came with a long list of titles, which would cause too much commotion when visiting a newcomer's live stream.

His grandson, knowing that his grandfather only wanted to see the eggs and wasn't interested in anything else, kindly helped him block the gift effects in the live stream.

Thus, they engaged in a harmonious Q session.

The members of The Henchmen Group felt oddly frustrated, as if they had done something wrong but were being ignored.

"He's gotten smart, bringing in a stooge to ask questions and defuse the awkwardness. But this stooge is so unprofessional, completely lacking any appeal to attract other viewers."

"Guys, I don't believe he can stay calm for long. That was just an appetizer; let's prepare for the next round."

Other visitors also started entering the live stream. The system offers benefits for newcomers' first broadcasts, placing them prominently on the homepage. Typically, after three minutes, a new broadcaster is automatically featured at the top spot. Only ten slots are available, and how long a newcomer stays visible depends entirely on luck.

Most newcomers choose a time to broadcast that avoids peak hours, ensuring longer exposure.

Bai Xiaoyu's timing was average, but it still drew in many visitors.

"Found a new breeder, checking it out. Wow, DQ369? Isn't D36 a border planet?"

"No wonder the incubation equipment looks outdated, nothing compared to the advanced technology in Ding Lan's capital. Ding Lan broadcasts every day at noon and has already hatched two young beasts. Among newcomers, he's one of the best. Everyone should check him out."

"Oh, why are Ding Lan's fans everywhere? Can't you stop promoting other broadcasters during a newcomer's first broadcast? The whole interstellar community knows that Ding Lan has hatched two young beasts from the first batch of eggs. Are you satisfied now? Get lost."

Ding Lan was also in the live stream, but under a different avatar and username. Seeing this, he became displeased.

He casually tossed a thousand stink bombs, which exploded loudly, startling those who missed the initial barrage.

"Is this broadcaster already getting hate on their first broadcast?"

Using the username "JustAWhistleblower," Ding Lan commented, "I'm not here to hate; I just think these eggs look unhealthy. Also, I heard the broadcaster got into the Imperial Military Academy through connections and doesn't know how to incubate eggs. They've been incubating for over a week without applying for a live stream. I suggest reporting this to the system so the Hatchery Conservancy can check on these eggs."

The visitors perked up; it seemed there was drama brewing.

Yesterday, Ding Lan, who had just hatched two young beasts, publicly expressed his desire to challenge another breeder. His fans had already spread the word, and after a day of buildup, combined with Ding Lan's recent popularity, everyone following him knew about it.

So, the person who got in through connections at the Imperial Military Academy is this broadcaster?

They found the culprit so quickly.

"According to the information, this person really doesn't know anything. These eggs are in danger!"

"Are there any experts? Can someone check if these eggs have any problems?"

The barrage of comments grew increasingly numerous, but Bai Xiaoyu was not paying attention to them. Instead, he was earnestly answering the president's questions.

The president also sensed that there was something wrong with the last egg. Upon learning that a repair agent had already been used on it, his expression turned serious as he carefully examined the egg and discovered that it indeed showed signs of having previously been at risk of breaking apart. It had now stabilized.

Using two more repair agents should not be a problem.

After the inspection, the president had other matters to attend to and quickly left.

By this time, the chat was bustling with activity.

After Ding Lan revealed Bai Xiaoyu's identity, his fans immediately went to gather more people.

Now, many of Ding Lan's fans were in the live stream, and the number of viewers quickly surpassed ten thousand.

"Here we go, watching a useless parasite cultivate eggs."

"You're late; the streamer just exposed himself, saying one of the eggs was about to break apart."

"Just hatching an egg and it breaks apart—no wonder he's a double F waste from Imperial Military Academy."

"Anyone got any rotten eggs? Let's throw some."

Bai Xiaoyu was still focused on the most problematic egg. The warmth and slight dryness in his palm triggered his professional instincts, causing him to treat this egg as if it were a large pill.

In fact, for every pill to be successfully made, the herbs need to blend together, maintaining a stable interaction of elements. To preserve the medicinal properties, these elements must remain in balance.

Once this balance is disrupted, the medicinal properties will dissipate.

Therefore, repairing a pill involves restoring the fusion and balance of its elements. Even if it cannot return to its peak condition, restoring one or two percent of its efficacy is usually manageable.

Generally, only when the medicinal properties have diminished by more than fifty percent do cultivators choose to repair the pill. Repairing pills with less than fifty percent loss is much easier, and ordinary pill cultivators have a higher success rate with these.

Bai Xiaoyu had a remarkable talent in this area. While others could restore one or two percent, he could double that.

He could even restore a pill to up to ninety percent of its original state, though such cases were rare due to the high requirements for the quality of herbs. Encountering herbs imbued with spiritual energy is a matter of luck.

Under similar conditions, the pills he repaired typically achieved seventy to eighty percent efficacy.

Before the apocalypse, Bai Xiaoyu was the first choice for other cultivators when it came to cultivating pills.

Now, he felt the same sense of imbalance and disruption in this egg that he would feel with a damaged pill.

This feeling of imbalance and imperfection stirred his innate desire as a pill cultivator to repair it.

He brought his hand to his nose and smelled a faint medicinal scent, different from yesterday, which was due to the repair agent added then.

As a professional pill cultivator, he identified several types of herbs from this scent.

Feeling the round egg, a bold idea suddenly flashed through his mind.

Perhaps he could...

Not just this egg, but the others gave him a similar feeling. If not for his restraint and the lack of tools and herbs around him, he would have immediately started studying the eggs.

While Bai Xiaoyu was deep in thought, Yu Xi couldn't hold back anymore.

The assistant inexplicably had a strong bias towards Bai Xiaoyu. He had personally witnessed Bai Xiaoyu diagnosing the egg without any instruments, proving his exceptional skills. How could he let these people slander him so recklessly?

To Bai Xiaoyu, he was a caring little brother, but to those in the live stream, he became a small cannonball.

Indeed, he had already started arguing with them.

Overwhelmed by the numbers, he watched as the barrage of rotten eggs, spoiled cabbages, and ugly bugs flooded the screen, making his eyes turn red with anger.

Out of sheer frustration!

He ran to Bai Xiaoyu, "Master Xiaoyu."

Bai Xiaoyu looked up, "What?"

"The others in the live stream are slandering you. I can't stand it. We should apply for a dedicated moderator to manage the chat. These abusive comments can all be muted."

Yu Xi grew increasingly angry, "They keep throwing rotten eggs and spoiled cabbages into the stream. They clearly did this on purpose on your first day. Even after I refuted them, they didn't stop; instead, they intensified their attacks. Ah, I'm so angry I forgot that the live stream needs ten thousand followers or donations exceeding one hundred thousand credits to upgrade from an intern stream to a beginner stream. Only beginner streams have dedicated moderators."

Upon hearing this, Bai Xiaoyu glanced at the live stream again. Indeed, most of the comments were from Ding Lan's fans who seemed pleased that he had finally noticed them. Rotten eggs began to rain down like hailstones.

The members of The Henchmen Group lurking in the live stream were also excited and increased their efforts. Their presence alone was enough to show their impact!

The live stream was nearly overwhelmed by a sea of eggs and cabbage leaves.

Scared?

Cry your heart out!

The more painful you are, Bai Xiaoyu, the more excited we get!

Bai Xiaoyu browsed through the comments, noticing the most active IDs: "Just a Whistleblower," "Our Boss Eats Shit," and "Boss Down, I Stomp." He raised an eyebrow.

These were likely the traitorous members of The Henchmen Group that the original host had once recruited.

He remembered that the original host had treated these people well. As he pondered how to retaliate, the live stream system sent a message, "Congratulations! DQ369 live stream has received donations exceeding one hundred thousand credits. The live stream level has upgraded from intern cultivation stream to beginner cultivation stream. You have been awarded an intelligent moderator. Please continue to strive."

Bai Xiaoyu checked the gift list. Each rotten egg cost ten credits, and each spoiled cabbage cost twenty credits. The income was split fifty-fifty between the beginner streamer and the live stream system.

He saw the total donation amount: 15,212 rotten eggs, earning 76,060 credits.

2,521 spoiled cabbages, earning 25,210 credits.

Stars * 100, split revenue 50.

Total income 101,320.

At this moment, the live stream was bombarded with a bunch of rotten eggs.

Bai Xiaoyu reached out to pat Yu Xi's head and said, "Good job."

Then he turned to the live stream and said, "Is that all?"

Due to his provocation, the live stream fell silent for a moment, but soon exploded again.

Chapter 7

The Henchmen Group was furious. In the past, they had to tolerate Bai Xiaoyu's presence due to his status, but now that he had fallen so low, how dare he still provoke them?

The group chat of The Henchmen Group exploded.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it! How dare this loser? Who gave him the courage?"

"Damn, I'm so pissed! I'll go check if there's a more humiliating gift list. Watch me teach him a lesson!"

"Come on, let's do this! Send him to the front page in the 'Stench of the Newcomer' section and put him on the Humiliation List. Let's see if he cries."

Dare to provoke them?

They would make sure this live stream was flooded with rotten eggs, decorated with spoiled cabbages, adorned with stink bugs, and have ten tons of sewage sprayed from the roof!

Bai Xiaoyu, let's see if you're scared!

Yu Xi, after being patted on the head by Bai Xiaoyu, looked a bit shy. But when he saw what was happening in the Star Network live stream, he instantly transformed into a fire-breathing dragon, almost bursting with anger. "Teacher Bai, they've gone too far!"

Seeing his assistant fuming and ready to fight, Bai Xiaoyu patted his shoulder to calm him down. "Xiao Xi, don't be angry. Look at it this way—we've earned back our energy boxes and the repair fluid for Egg No. 1."

Yu Xi was stunned for a moment before exclaiming, "Really?"

For the past two days, he had been worried sick about running out of supplies for the incubation center. Even in his dreams, he saw the eggs malnourished and hatching poorly, leading to Teacher Bai being dragged to the Interstellar Court, while he could only cry helplessly.

Bai Xiaoyu nodded; those hundred little stars must have been sent by his assistant.

He couldn't help but marvel. Compared to the original owner's Henchmen Group, his assistant had never received any help from the original owner and had even been swindled out of five thousand credit points. Yet, he still quietly helped in his own way.

As for the Henchmen Group, aside from Ding Lan, who had received the most support from the original owner, everyone else had been cultivated using significant resources. Their equipment, including their mechs, upgrades, repairs, and energy boxes, all required substantial costs. It was as if the original owner had spent all his pocket money from childhood on them, only for them to turn against him now.

The remaining assets under his name were also taken away by his siblings, leaving the once extravagant playboy struggling with less than a million credit points for the incubation center, not even sparing Yu Xi's meager contributions.

Now, seeing the skyrocketing gift income, Bai Xiaoyu noted that the majority came from those few individuals, with the rest contributed by Ding Lan's fans, who didn't donate much—barely a fraction of the others'.

Bai Xiaoyu's target was the original owner's Henchmen Group. Thinking about the previous system tasks and the debts left behind, he gradually smiled.

These Henchmen were, in a certain sense, truly... cute.

He began to doubt the original owner's judgment. Perhaps the original owner envisioned leading a group of brave followers to the throne, but instead, they were just a bunch of amateurs causing chaos.

Regardless, now that the original owner had fallen so low, dealing with these leftovers seemed fair enough. And watching the live stream fill up with rotten eggs, Bai Xiaoyu's eyes sparkled with amusement. He gently reminded Yu Xi, "Xiao Xi, exit the holographic mode or lower your senses except for vision. Set everything else to the minimum."

Seeing Bai Xiaoyu smiling, Yu Xi reflexively nodded. "Okay, I'll do it right away."

After following the instructions, he felt a bit puzzled. Why did Teacher Bai seem so gentle yet somehow unsettling?

Was it just his imagination?

It must be.

Meanwhile, The Henchmen Group grew increasingly aggressive, and soon the live stream was overwhelmed with various effects. The holographic live stream allowed real-time interaction besides chat messages, making the situation feel dire for those inside.

The Henchmen Group couldn't even return to the group chat and started yelling directly in the live stream.

"Wait, there are too many rotten eggs. They're not refreshing fast enough, and there are spoiled cabbages and bugs. It smells awful."

"There's no place to stand. Oh my god, the sewage is rushing over with rotten eggs and other disgusting things!"

"Who threw the sewage? This is a basic system live stream, barely ten square meters. There's no room for all this sewage. It's already up to my ankles and rising!"

"Oh god, rotten eggs are exploding on my face. Ugh!"

"Stop throwing sewage, it's reaching my neck!"

"I want to stop, but I can't. I dumped ten sewage tanks, one after another. I'll try again. Oh no, I made it worse. Now it's all coming down faster, ah..."

With a loud crash, all the sewage poured in instantly.

In the next second, all visitors were submerged, gulping water everywhere.

In a holographic live stream, visitors enter a virtual room where they can view the stream through their own or the broadcaster's perspective. To better experience the content, they usually open all their senses. For harmless streams without pain, people default to the full sensory experience.

The live stream requires active cleaning. While the system has some automatic maintenance, anything beyond that needs the broadcaster's command.

Visitors can overlap without taking up space, but gifts cannot. Bai Xiaoyu had given the command to stop cleaning and refreshing. Now, watching the black and yellow sewage flood the stream, he chuckled softly at the visitors floating in the sewage, bubbles rising from their mouths.

Yu Xi covered his mouth, completely stunned.

Where am I? What happened? How did a peaceful live stream suddenly turn into a disaster scene?

"What... what... what is going on?"

Bai Xiaoyu smiled. "Perhaps it's karma catching up with them."

Yu Xi realized, "Ah, I see."

So the two of them quietly watched as the crowd flopped around like fish, their legs kicking for a few seconds before flipping over.

Then, rows of white ghostly figures with only mouths and two black dots for eyes floated out, trembling continuously as if they were about to vomit, with black smoke rising from their mouths, seemingly still reeking of that terrifying stench.

Yu Xi couldn't help but burst into laughter, and Bai Xiaoyu's expression also relaxed as he asked, "Are these ghosts spiritual entities?"

Yu Xi tried to hold back his laughter. "Yes, in the Star Network, if a character is subjected to extreme stress, they enter this out-of-body state. That sewage is one of the most pungent items on the Star Network's gift list. Its full name is the Tenfold Stench Water. The smell of rotten eggs dissipates in the air, but this sewage is inherently extremely foul-smelling. It's said that the system scanned the foulest sewers in the galaxy to generate its data. Moreover, it has the added effect of absorbing other odors. In other words, not only does the sewage itself reek, but it also carries the smells of rotten eggs, spoiled cabbage, and stink bugs. They all have default 100% sensory perception, so no one can handle it."

Bai Xiaoyu admired the trembling ghosts while opening the system's gift income interface.

Rotten Eggs *30732, split income: 153660.

Spoiled Cabbage *5365, split income: 53650.

Stink Bugs *1003, split income: 7522.5.

Tenfold Stench Water *10, split income: 25000.

Stars *100, split income: 50.

Total income: 239882.5.

Seeing the numbers, Bai Xiaoyu's lips curved slightly.

It seemed the original owner's Henchmen Group was quite wealthy.

This would at least alleviate his immediate financial troubles. At the very least, he now had enough for the two repair agents needed for Egg No. 1, which he had temporarily named.

At this moment, the ghosts, who had regained their senses, started cursing each other.

"Jiang Zihao, it's all your fault! Are you out of your mind? Dumping all that sewage at once."

"Wang Ge, how dare you blame me? If it weren't for those rotten eggs, the system wouldn't have been unable to clean up in time, and one even hit my mouth. Ugh!"

"Stop arguing. Don't forget where we are, you idiots."

Bai Xiaoyu raised an eyebrow. "So it's Wang Ge and Jiang Zihao, huh? How did you like the hospitality?"

The ghosts looked at each other, feeling embarrassed and nauseous at the mention of 'taste.'

Feeling guilty yet more enraged, they muttered threats, saying things like, "You'll pay for this; just wait and see."

Bai Xiaoyu replied, "I'm so scared."

Wang Ge felt smug, thinking Bai Xiaoyu had backed down. Seeing the former leader, who used to lord over him, in such a pitiful state was incredibly satisfying. "Scared? This is just the beginning. Even if you beg for mercy, we won't let you off."

Bai Xiaoyu: "Oh."

He had never feared anyone during his time in the post-apocalyptic world.

Ding Lan sensed something different about Bai Xiaoyu's tone. He couldn't pinpoint what exactly had changed, but he couldn't articulate it.

Well, given Bai Xiaoyu's current state, there was no need to worry about him making a comeback.

After all, it wasn't just them; Bai Xiaoyu's siblings in the capital star would be the first to object.

In fact, Bai Xiaoyu's live stream had more than just the Henchmen Group; many were spies sent by his siblings.

One of Bai Xiaoyu's brothers, Bai Qi, was also present.

Watching the Henchmen Group's antics, he silently called them useless.

Bai Qi ranked 101st among the royal heirs, right behind Bai Xiaoyu.

The enmity between Bai Xiaoyu and Bai Qi could be traced back to their mothers.

When Bai Qi's mother was deeply involved with their father, Bai Xiaoyu's mother suddenly appeared.

The power of a first love was irresistible, and Bai Qi's mother became the quickest to fall out of favor.

Only after Bai Xiaoyu's mother became pregnant did Bai Qi's mother get another chance.

This resulted in Bai Qi being a few months younger than Bai Xiaoyu.

Thus, the relationship between Bai Qi's family and Bai Xiaoyu's family had always been strained. They relied on their family's influence, as they were a prominent clan in the capital star.

The capital star had eight major families, and Bai Qi's mother came from one of them—the Huang family.

The Huang family primarily dealt in medicinal agents, including repair agents and growth fluids for newborn eggs. After Bai Qi's mother gave birth to him, their market share rapidly increased and now occupies nearly fifteen percent of the entire interstellar market.

Fifteen percent of the market across countless planets is a staggering number.

However, their family had even bigger ambitions. While they dared not challenge the royal family's fifty percent market share, they kept a close eye on other families.

They suppressed smaller pharmaceutical companies and targeted the Xu family, another major clan.

The Xu family, aware of the Huang family's ambitions, especially after Bai Qi's birth, sent their own beauty to seduce Bai Xiaoyu's father and bore a small beastman, ranking 110th.

Thus, the Xu family stood firm against the Huang family, and the two families have been at odds ever since.

Both families held significant market shares.

On almost every planet, their medicinal agents were present, and each region was mostly dominated by one or the other. Especially on the peripheral and backward planets, half of the regions were controlled by the two families due to high costs, leaving little room for smaller competitors.

An example of such a peripheral planet is D36, where Bai Xiaoyu currently resided.

Meanwhile, Bai Qi watched the darkened live stream, recalling Bai Xiaoyu's conversation with the president and knowing he needed two more repair agents. He remembered that Zone 9 of Planet D36 was covered by their family's pharmaceutical network, right?

Bai Xiaoyu was unaware of this. After the ghosts in his live stream had dispersed, he ended the broadcast.

He planned to buy the other two Restorative Agents as soon as possible.

Opening the official website of the Pharmacy Department, Bai Xiaoyu browsed the prices listed on the homepage.

Apart from the two Restorative Agents priced at fifty thousand credit points each, there was also the nutrient solution needed for the incubation system at the incubation facility, which was applied for quarterly.

Given their current situation at the incubation facility, a quarter-dose (S) would suffice, costing eight hundred thousand credit points. Larger doses like M and L were more than they needed for now.

Orders could be placed through the application interface, with delivery by the supplier or collection in person.

If one preferred, they could even purchase from other planets. The original owner had used this reason to leave.

However, Restorative Agents were relatively scarce, with limited quantities available in each district.

If not purchased within one's own district, other districts wouldn't have extra supplies to sell to non-residents.

Even if someone wanted to apply, it was difficult to obtain them. Only Incubation Specialists were eligible.

There weren't many Incubation Specialists on the fringe planets, but there were plenty on prosperous planets like the Capital Star.

Some major forces had their own dedicated Incubation Specialists.

Families like the Huangs and Xus would not send their children to incubation facilities; instead, they had their own specialists for one-on-one incubation, using the best agents and professional processes. This is why many offspring from these families have a higher chance of being born as beasts.

Bai Xiaoyu's application to purchase two Restorative Agents was quickly approved, costing him one hundred thousand credit points.

Looking at his remaining balance, 139,882.5 credit points.

Between the nutrient solution and the energy box for the incubation system, he ultimately chose the energy box.

The low-grade energy box for the incubation system cost 110,000 credit points and lasted a quarter.

After placing the order, his remaining balance dropped to 29,882.5 credit points.

This amount was far too little to purchase the nutrient solution that cost eight hundred thousand credit points.

But the nutrient solution would run out in a few days, so he needed to find a way.

Right, there was still the five thousand credit points owed to Yu Xi.

These credit points couldn't buy the nutrient solution anyway, so he might as well repay Yu Xi first.

Transferring the credit points to Yu Xi, Bai Xiaoyu felt a debt lifted from his shoulders.

Beside him, Yu Xi was surprised. "Incubation Specialist Bai, why are you transferring me credit points?"

Bai Xiaoyu: "I'm repaying the credit points I borrowed from you."

Yu Xi: "Incubation Specialist Bai, you were robbed by space pirates, and even the nutrient solution from the incubation facility was stolen. How can I accept your credit points? Even if repayment is due, it should come from the space pirates. Besides, you've given me an extra thousand credit points."

Bai Xiaoyu: "Your account was empty, and you even gave away the last bit of credit points. Now that I have some, repaying debts is only right. As for the extra thousand credit points, it's a bonus for your good performance today."

While Bai Xiaoyu was convincing Yu Xi, in another part of the holographic star network, in the meeting room of the Huang's Pharmacy, Bai Qi, sitting in the main seat, indeed saw Bai Xiaoyu's Restorative Agent application.

A man in his thirties stood respectfully before him, the head of the Huang's Pharmacy on planet D36.

Knowing about the enmity between Bai Xiaoyu and Bai Qi, he cautiously asked, "Young Master, shall we reject the application?"

Bai Qi sneered, "Why reject it? If Bai Xiaoyu wants it, we'll give it to him."

Observing Bai Qi's expression and seeing no objection, the head replied, "Yes."

Bai Qi continued, "However, it will be a different kind."

The head was puzzled. "Young Master, please instruct."

Bai Qi turned his chair, leaving only his back visible. "I remember your planet's research department developed a new product. Send that to him."

The head's heart skipped a beat. That new Restorative Agent had a high failure rate, accelerating the dispersal of the yolk upon failure, with no remedy. Unlike other Restorative Agents, which had milder effects and could be salvaged, even if successful, it would reduce the potential of the child inside the egg.

The head left to carry out the task, while Bai Qi turned back with a cold smile. "Bai Xiaoyu, you deserve this. Your subordinates are now under my control, and your assets, though insignificant compared to the Huang family's, are still quite satisfying. Now that the Huang family's pharmacy is on track, Father looks favorably upon me. And you, once so doted upon by Father, are never mentioned again."

"This gift is for you. I hope you enjoy it."

After placing his order, Bai Xiaoyu noticed that the incubation system, which had been inactive for a day, suddenly popped up. "Host has completed 50% progress on obtaining one Restorative Agent within seven days. Please continue working hard."

He nodded casually, finally having time to venture out and explore this world.

The location of the incubation facility was quiet. Yesterday, from the balcony of his room, he discovered that behind the facility, just beyond the wall, lay a forest.

As an Incubation Specialist, forests were familiar territory for him.

Many medicinal herbs were found only in well-preserved forests.

Before the apocalypse, environmental destruction had led to the extinction of many herbs.

How were the forests in this interstellar era?

The desire to restore eggs, sparked by the numerous eggs at the incubation facility, grew stronger when he saw the forest.

He wanted to take a look.

With this thought in mind, he acted on it.

He sought information from Yu Xi about the nearby forest, and Yu Xi followed him out with an energy gun from the incubation facility.

Together, they ventured out, with Yu Xi chattering behind him.

"Incubation Specialist Bai, why are you going to the forest? I often go to the edge of the forest; I know it well."

Bai Xiaoyu: "I'll go see if there are any familiar herbs. What about you? With your small frame, what will you do if you encounter danger?"

Yu Xi waved his fist, flexing his arm like a bodybuilder to show off his biceps. "I'm going to gather herbs to sell and make money. What do you mean by 'small frame'? I'll grow more. Plus, I have an A-grade physique, so I'm not afraid of ordinary beasts. Master Bai, I'm more worried about you. You seem to be... cough cough."

Bai Xiaoyu looked at Yu Xi, who suddenly stopped talking and looked guilty, and said nonchalantly, "It's fine, F-grade physique. There's nothing that can't be said."

Never would he have thought that this little assistant had an A-grade physique, while the original owner's F-grade physique couldn't even compare to a child.

Upon arriving in the forest, Bai Xiaoyu was quickly drawn to a green plant ahead.

It was actually a Cleansing Marrow Grass. Before the apocalypse, he had only seen it a few times; could they find it just by stepping out here?

Chapter 008

To make sure he wasn't mistaken, Bai Xiaoyu approached and squatted down, tracing the slender leaves of the herb with their emerald green tinged with dark red.

Three-leafed red-stemmed, fine veins dark red; from its appearance, it was indeed the Marrow Cleansing Herb. He pinched a leaf, smelled it, and then put it in his mouth.

A bitter taste with a burning sensation quickly numbed his tongue.

Bai Xiaoyu's eyes held a smile; it really was the Marrow Cleansing Herb.

The Marrow Cleansing Herb is the main ingredient for refining Marrow Cleansing Pills, which have the effect of purifying one's essence and marrow.

If he could get one, the original body's weak constitution would be saved.

The original body had grown up taking medicine, yet still had a constitution and mental strength rated F.

Any random child in the starry universe could easily outmatch him physically.

No wonder Xiao Zhu didn't feel at ease letting him come alone and insisted on accompanying him.

Living two lifetimes, now being protected by a child—this was something he had never imagined.

Seeing Bai Xiaoyu's interest in a somewhat peculiar little herb, Yu Xi also squatted down, reaching out to touch the slender leaves. "Teacher Bai, is this herb valuable?"

Bai Xiaoyu nodded, "This is the Marrow Cleansing Herb, used to refine pills..."

Remembering that people in the starry universe usually use potions, he changed his words: "It's a potion that can strengthen the body and improve one's aptitude."

Yu Xi's eyes lit up, "Then let's quickly gather this herb."

Bai Xiaoyu took out the tools, and Yu Xi took them over. "Teacher Bai, let me do this."

He didn't dare say that Bai Xiaoyu needed to conserve his strength due to his weak constitution, or else he'd be panting after walking a short while.

After saying this, as if afraid someone would snatch it away, he swiftly dug up the Marrow Cleansing Herb.

Seeing how skilled Xiao Zhu was at gathering herbs, Bai Xiaoyu realized he must often go herb-gathering.

Yu Xi presented the gathered herb with both hands to Bai Xiaoyu, "Teacher Bai, is this okay?"

Bai Xiaoyu nodded, "Yes."

Seeing him always so respectful, he added, "Xiao Xi, we'll be spending a lot of time together, so you don't need to be so formal. You can call me Brother Bai, Brother Xiaoyu, or Brother Yu."

In the apocalypse, many young people like Yu Xi called him that in the teams he joined. Sadly, the apocalypse was cruel and claimed many young lives.

Yu Xi was delighted, "Then I'll call you Brother Bai. Brother Bai, where should we go next?"

Bai Xiaoyu patted his head, smiling, "Where do you usually go? Why not show me?"

"Sure, but the places I go usually don't have many herbs left; they've all been gathered. Besides me, other residents here often enter the forest to gather herbs."

It turned out that after the war, this forest, which had remained untouched, became a good place for nearby residents to gather herbs to improve their lives.

Yu Xi sent Bai Xiaoyu an official list of herbs, which he quickly browsed through, finding many familiar herbs, though their names were different from before. The list included prices, collection requirements, and storage methods.

Residents could mail or directly exchange their gathered herbs at various distribution points for credit points.

Yu Xi enthusiastically mentioned that before becoming Bai Xiaoyu's assistant, he gathered herbs every day and earned quite a bit.

As they walked and stopped, Bai Xiaoyu found many familiar herbs from the past. These herbs either didn't meet the collection standards or weren't listed in the official records, thus remaining preserved.

By the time Bai Xiaoyu's strength waned, their harvest was quite good.

They gathered dozens of herbs, including three rare ones from before the apocalypse, including the Marrow Cleansing Herb.

Although there was only one of each, it was much better than before the apocalypse.

Looking at the official list of herbs, many rare ones were priced low, suggesting that this world had a diverse variety of herbs, and the environment seemed better than during the post-apocalypse era of spiritual energy resurgence.

Now, they just needed to test the efficacy of these herbs. If their effects matched those from the previous world, this place would be a paradise for him as a Pill Incubator. There might not be pills here, but there were eggs. After all, a Pill Incubator's predecessor was a Pill Refiner.

Due to the extinction of herbs and issues with their properties, he had never practiced pill refinement. Here, he might be able to revive the dream of his ancestors in the Bai family.

Just as they were about to head back, Yu Xi suddenly perked up his ears, becoming alert and stepping in front of Bai Xiaoyu.

Bai Xiaoyu frowned, his crisis sense from the apocalypse making him ready for battle. He took the energy gun from Yu Xi and tried to pull Xiao Zhu back behind him.

But he couldn't move him.

Yu Xi didn't turn around, speaking softly, "Brother Bai, stay back. It's coming!"

Bai Xiaoyu saw a man-sized hyena charging towards them with murderous intent. He raised the energy gun and fired at the hyena.

Several shots missed.

Such speed!

This was even more formidable than high-level mutated beasts in the late stages of the apocalypse.

If it were his original body, he wouldn't be afraid. But with this weak physique, he couldn't even run away. And he had Yu Xi with him.

Bai Xiaoyu took a deep breath and calmly said to Xiao Zhu, "Xiao Xi, go back and get help. I'll cover you."

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Yu Xi suddenly roar and charge forward.

Bai Xiaoyu: "Xiao Xi!"

In the next second, Bai Xiaoyu lost his composure.

Yu Xi rushed halfway when Bai Xiaoyu heard the sound of bones stretching. Then he saw his little assistant suddenly transform into a large white wolf and lunge at the hyena's neck.

The White Wolf only reached about chest-high to him, making it significantly smaller than the adult-sized hyena.

The two beasts instantly engaged in a fierce battle. Due to the size difference, it looked like a teenager fighting an adult.

Bai Xiaoyu watched anxiously, holding the energy gun and focusing intently on the fight.

Soon, he noticed that although Yu Xi was small, he was incredibly agile. Moreover, he had a ferocity completely different from his usually shy demeanor, which made the larger hyena suffer.

This was the first time he witnessed a battle between the world's beastmen.

Indeed, the hyena on the other side was also a beastman.

This was a primitive animal fight, giving him his first assessment of the strength of this world's beastmen.

The speed and power were even stronger than those of high-level speed and strength abilities in the post-apocalyptic era. Typically, in the post-apocalyptic era, one could only awaken one of these abilities, but both beastmen before him possessed both.

Yu Xi was an A-class beastman, and his current strength seemed much higher than that of a high-level ability user in the post-apocalyptic era.

What about beastmen even more advanced than Yu Xi?

Bai Xiaoyu felt he needed to seriously understand the combat system of the interstellar world, including beastmen, half-beastmen, and pure humans.

He also needed to improve his own strength quickly; he couldn't rely on Xiao Xi, his little assistant, to protect him every time.

Bai Xiaoyu had a hunch that the hyena was targeting him.

After all, the original host didn't survive being pursued. He took over mid-way, but when he did, apart from the lingering pain in his chest, there were no other fatal injuries.

However, in the original host's residual memories, the shot indeed hit his heart. This might have something to do with the system.

Bai Xiaoyu had many thoughts swirling in his mind, but his gaze remained locked on the battling beastmen. He was looking for an opportunity to attack the hyena without harming the White Wolf.

Just as the hyena was bitten by the White Wolf and dodged, this was the moment!

He fired again.

The hyena reacted quickly, dodging the fatal shot to its forehead, but the second shot hit its belly.

Injured, the hyena gave Bai Xiaoyu a fierce look and began to retreat.

Bai Xiaoyu and the White Wolf couldn't stop it, allowing it to escape successfully.

The White Wolf wanted to chase but Bai Xiaoyu called out, "Xiao Xi, don't pursue a fleeing enemy. Let me check your wounds first."

The White Wolf stopped but continued to snarl and howl in the direction the hyena fled.

Bai Xiaoyu found this amusing and patted the fluffy wolf head, "So Xiao Xi is actually so fierce?"

Upon hearing this, the White Wolf's raised tail froze and then gently wagged. It sniffed around Bai Xiaoyu and rubbed against him.

Bai Xiaoyu stumbled slightly under the nudge, once again marveling at the body's constitution. The White Wolf seemed to remember something and stopped rubbing.

Bai Xiaoyu patted the White Wolf's head, "Where are you hurt?"

The White Wolf obediently extended its paw, revealing a torn wound about three fingers wide.

After checking, Bai Xiaoyu took out a herb, one of the three rare herbs. This herb was the main ingredient in the Small Healing Pill and had powerful restorative properties.

To test its efficacy, he pricked his finger with a thorn from a nearby plant and applied the herb. The wound almost immediately stopped bleeding. As for the tear, it would likely heal by tomorrow.

Confirming it worked, he crushed the herb and applied it to the White Wolf's wound. After checking the White Wolf thoroughly and finding no other injuries, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The White Wolf transformed back into human form, looking at Bai Xiaoyu with bright eyes, "Brother Bai is amazing, stopping the bleeding so quickly. This is almost as good as a high-level healing agent..."

Bai Xiaoyu chuckled, "How do you know? Have you tried a high-level healing agent before?"

In the original host's memory, high-level healing agents were expensive and mostly sent to battlefields.

Yu Xi was taken aback, "I... I don't know why I know this, but it feels true."

Seeing his assistant getting flustered, Bai Xiaoyu reassured him gently, "I don't doubt you. Be careful with your wounds." Then he changed the subject, "Xiao Xi's beast form is really cool. You chased away that hyena, impressive."

Yu Xi was distracted and responded shyly, "It wasn't that impressive."

But soon, he looked dejected, a hint of frustration and shame on his face, "Unfortunately, I couldn't catch him. With my previous strength, I could have bitten through ten such beastmen."

Bai Xiaoyu was surprised, "Xiao Xi used to be that strong?"

That hyena was an S-class beastman?

Yu Xi suddenly realized what he said and blushed, covering his face with his hands, "No, I don't know why I boasted like that. Brother Bai, please don't laugh at me."

Bai Xiaoyu was amused by Yu Xi's reaction, "Xiao Xi can drive away an S-class beastman, why would I laugh at you?"

Seeing Bai Xiaoyu wasn't mocking him, Yu Xi bounced ahead, walking in front of Bai Xiaoyu.

Watching Yu Xi, who seemed completely fine, Bai Xiaoyu marveled at the recovery abilities of beastmen.

But he quietly noted Yu Xi's sudden change in demeanor.

They returned to the breeding facility, and Yu Xi went to report the incident.

Bai Xiaoyu organized all the herbs and placed them aside. Two packages arrived via robot delivery.

Opening one package, he found a palm-sized energy box, exactly what the breeding facility's incubator needed.

Opening the other package, he saw two transparent green vials.

Here arrives the restorative for Eggshell.

Chapter 009

The previous restorative agent had already been used on Egg No. 1, and it was only the third day now.

Restorative agents could be used once every seven days, so it was still too early for the next dose.

Bai Xiaoyu looked at the pale green vial containing a thumb-sized restorative agent. He wanted to open it and study it, but the previous dose had already been absorbed into the nutrient solution. He could detect a faint trace of its components from the eggshell. However, this was far from enough to determine the types and proportions of the herbs used.

Still, medicinal agents tend to lose their efficacy more easily than pills, so he decided to wait until he needed it in a few days before opening it for further study.

He picked up one of the vials, feeling its coolness. The color seemed slightly murkier than the last one?

At that moment, the system's voice sounded in his mind: "Congratulations, Host! You have completed the task of obtaining one restorative agent within seven days. Your reward has been deposited into your system inventory. Please check it. Next, I will assign you a long-term task: successfully hatch all the eggs within three months. Completion criteria are as follows: if any egg fails to hatch, the task will fail immediately. Failure will result in a deduction of 10,000 mission points."

Bai Xiaoyu interrupted the system, "Wait, what are these mission points you mentioned?"

The system had never mentioned anything about points before, leaving him utterly confused.

System: "Your previous points were negative one million, which caused the point system to be disabled. Naturally, there was no notification. You can check your personal profile; the darkened points bar under your avatar has reappeared."

Bai Xiaoyu followed the instructions and saw his current points balance of negative nine hundred ninety thousand. He fell silent.

"System, aren't you going to explain why my points are suddenly negative nine hundred ninety thousand?"

System: "Because you were killed previously, the system spent one million points to repair your body. Completing two side quests earned you five thousand points each. Please work hard to complete the tasks assigned by the system. Numerous points and rewards await you. When your points return to positive, the point store will be unlocked."

Bai Xiaoyu had already guessed that the disappearance of the fatal wound on the original host's chest was related to the system. Now it seemed confirmed. Spending one million points to save his life was worth it. Hearing about the point store piqued his interest. "Point store? Is it a place where items are exchanged using points as currency?"

System: "Exactly. The host can use points to exchange for items in the store. As long as you have enough points, the store is always open for you."

Bai Xiaoyu: "What kind of items are there? Can I take a look?"

System: "Currently, your points are insufficient, so the store interface cannot be opened. Please work hard on your tasks. Continuing with the task completion details: you currently have eighteen eggs incubating. Successfully hatching all of them will earn you fifty thousand points. Additional points will be awarded for each healthy and well-qualified offspring. A friendly reminder: the probability of hatching healthy eggs from your current eighteen eggs is zero, and they are likely to fail. Please be cautious."

Bai Xiaoyu had a rough idea of the condition of each egg after touching them individually.

He waved his hand to dismiss the system and opened the system inventory. Among the ten slots, two were dark, one contained a scroll, and now there was an additional small package.

He took it out, and the small package suddenly became heavy and large. He quickly put it down and opened it.

Inside was a transparent circular backpack with a seemingly transparent layer underneath.

What was this?

He found the usage guide attached to the backpack and was both amused and bewildered.

It turned out to be an egg carrier, with the transparent layers underneath designed to hold nutrient solution. People these days really cared about the mental health of their eggs, designing such specialized carriers.

Some special eggs needed to be carried around for a stroll; otherwise, they would become depressed?

Bai Xiaoyu: "?"

He had learned something new.

Bai Xiaoyu carefully stored the egg carrier, hoping that his eggs would all be well-behaved and mentally healthy, never needing such a device.

Never ever!

After putting it away, he went to check on the eggs again, touching each one from start to finish.

Since taking over the care of these eggs, it had been three days.

Almost all the eggs had visibly grown larger. Originally arranged by size, some smaller eggs had now surpassed those that were originally larger.

Bai Xiaoyu still found it amazing how these eggs developed like they were inside a mother's womb, rapidly growing during the final three months like a fetus.

He withdrew his mental energy from the eggs, realizing that the original host's week-long incubation had indeed damaged the eggs' foundation.

Finally, his gaze fell on the nutrient solution flooding the eggs beneath the energy shield.

Just as he was about to extract some, he realized he lacked the necessary tools. So, he searched the Star Network and found a store to customize the required equipment. The advanced technology of the interstellar era was impressive; the order was processed and shipped within half a day. Even shipping from a neighboring planet only took three hours.

When Bai Xiaoyu received the delivery, he was stunned. In the pre-apocalyptic era, customizing such equipment would have taken a cultivator specializing in alchemy three months to complete.

He looked at the half-person-tall alchemy furnace, which resembled the one he had used extensively before the apocalypse. Previously, he had to control the fire manually, but now, it used energy boxes as a power source, making it easy to operate. The temperature could be adjusted precisely, even to decimal places.

Bai Xiaoyu was delighted with the alchemy furnace, considering it a treasure. However, it came at a high cost. After buying the energy boxes and restorative agents, he had 29,882.5 credits left. He repaid Yu Xi 6,000 credits, and the furnace along with some miscellaneous items cost 20,000 credits, leaving him with 3,988.5 credits.

Spending money wisely, he didn't feel any regret.

After fiddling with it for a while, Bai Xiaoyu began studying the extracted nutrient solution.

This was much easier than studying pills. Soon, he identified most of the recognizable herbal components. He then studied the scroll provided by the system, which contained information on basic herbs but lacked the formulas and methods for their preparation.

The types of herbs used in basic nutrient solutions were public knowledge, but ordinary people couldn't produce them due to equipment and technical limitations. Each piece of equipment needed for processing herbs required extremely high precision. With over a hundred different herbs, one would need over a hundred pieces of equipment working simultaneously, controlled by a system to blend the liquids.

If basic nutrient solutions were this complicated, imagine the complexity of advanced ones with over three hundred herbs.

Thus, only major organizations could afford such operations. During the production process, a master alchemist and several other alchemists would collaborate, programming each piece of equipment for the system to execute.

Understanding the interstellar alchemy process, Bai Xiaoyu was once again amazed by the technological advancement. These days, alchemists also needed to learn programming.

However, he preferred manual methods. As an alchemist, Bai Xiaoyu believed that using machines robbed the process of its soul. Indeed, some advanced medicinal agents still required manual production, as not everything could be mechanized. But for over a hundred herbs, the alchemist must have S-level mental strength. And even then, the results might not surpass those produced by machines in terms of efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

They only produced certain potions that couldn't be made mechanically, and of course, the prices were high. However, the royal family and major clans still used manually produced nutrient solutions for their own children.

After conducting his research, Bai Xiaoyu wanted to start making potions but found he had no herbs.

He went online again and discovered that many pharmacies sold herbs at high prices. It seemed their primary customers were potion companies, with each type of herb starting at five hundred units.

Even if each unit was not expensive—only three to five credits—the cumulative cost was significant.

He tried negotiating with the store's AI robot to get one or two herbs of each type, but the robot refused mercilessly.

Bai Xiaoyu looked at his balance and sighed.

Outside Yang's chain herbal store, a colorful little tiger drooped its ears and sighed in front of the custom transparent display cabinet. The small, fluffy creature looked incredibly endearing.

Yang Wang noticed the little tiger as it stumbled into the store. She initially thought she had developed an aversion to tiger-type beasts due to the Casanova on Imperial Star. But unexpectedly, just looking at the little tiger made her fingers itch, even wanting to transform into a cheetah to help groom the sighing fluff ball.

As the store owner, she had set tourists to be invisible to her, so the little tiger couldn't see her.

Just as the little one was about to leave, Yang Wang spoke up: "Little one, you're looking for herbs for nutrient solutions, right? If you need them for learning, I suggest visiting the official potion website. They have specialized tutorials where all potions resemble real ones by 99%. You don't need to buy them; identifying them is enough without wasting credits."

Bai Xiaoyu saw a life-sized cheetah appear beside him and quickly realized he needed to use a soft, childlike voice: "Thanks for the advice, but I really need these herbs."

The cheetah was surprised: "Are you planning to make potions?"

Yang Wang had done something similar when she was young, ruining many herbs in the process. She understood the rebelliousness of younglings, especially beast-type ones, who wouldn't give up until they tried.

With her mental strength only at A-level, she hadn't reached the standard for potion-making. Could this little one have S-level mental strength?

Bai Xiaoyu nodded, and Yang Wang didn't ask further.

Soon, Bai Xiaoyu saw the cheetah circling him, with what seemed like green light flickering in its eyes. When he looked puzzled, the cheetah said, "How about this: let me squeeze your paw, and I'll sell you three units of each herb. Deal?"

By selling his paw's charm, Bai Xiaoyu spent three thousand credits on three sets of nutrient solution herbs and some other necessary herbs.

Yang's pharmacy was a chain, and orders were shipped from nearby stores. This particular edge star happened to have one, and despite the odd quantity, the order was dispatched promptly.

Within half an hour of placing the order, Bai Xiaoyu received the delivery from a robot.

Then he began making potions.

Naturally, he first combined the herbs he and his assistant had collected from the forest with those he had just bought, enough to make a potion with the Cleansing Root.

When Yu Xi returned, his nose twitched, leading him straight to Bai Xiaoyu's room, where he squatted outside, scratching his head.

Suddenly, two fluffy animal ears sprouted atop his head.

At the same time, a black egg in the forest of the breeding facility gently shook, seemingly trying to identify something.

Soon, the black egg determined a direction and started hopping towards it.

Chapter 010

Bai Xiaoyu was unaware of what was happening outside; he was fully focused on refining the potion.

He had never refined the Bone-Washing Pill before, but long ago, he had the opportunity to refine the Bone-Washing Potion. It was an old family of cultivators who provided their ancestral Bone-Washing Pill and various herbs like the Bone-Washing Grass.

Because the quality of the herbs was quite good, he managed to restore ninety percent of the pill's efficacy that time.

He still clearly remembered the process. Each herb had to be wrapped in mental energy and placed under the flame to strip out the gray impurities.

Before the apocalypse, he had years of cultivation experience, but this body did not. However, the mental energy he brought over after the apocalypse could still accomplish the task.

Stripping the gray impurities was easy at first. But just as Bai Xiaoyu was about to set down the fused liquid, he suddenly noticed some black impurities mixed in.

Bai Xiaoyu frowned. The impurities in herbs were usually lighter in color and easier to remove. Gray impurities were common, but black ones were extremely rare.

He used his mental energy to wrap around the black impurities and attempted to strip them away. In the next moment, his expression changed slightly.

These black impurities could directly corrode his mental energy!

Bai Xiaoyu did not withdraw his mental energy; he only had one Bone-Washing Grass.

But his mental energy was not to be underestimated. It had been honed into a powerful force during the apocalypse, and even though it had only recently recovered, it was enough to handle this small amount of impurities.

It took Bai Xiaoyu half an hour to strip the impurities. Looking at the clear liquid, his brows gradually relaxed.

Indeed, the potion looked much better without the impurities.

Next, he extracted each herb and combined them in sequence and at different temperatures.

The herbs needed for the Bone-Washing Pill were not many, only about ten varieties, which was nothing compared to the hundreds required in interstellar alchemy.

After extracting the herbs, he almost failed due to the prolonged use of mental energy for over an hour. Fortunately, he managed to complete the process without any major issues.

The potion was deep green and stored in a transparent vial the size of a thumb, containing only one-third of the previous restorative agent.

Bai Xiaoyu reached out to touch a bit of it; it was very thick. He tasted it, and a faint medicinal aroma filled his mouth, invigorating him instantly. A sharp bitterness and a burning sensation followed, making it both numbing, spicy, bitter, and hot.

Even someone as composed as Bai Xiaoyu felt a slight flush on his face.

Good, it was still that familiar taste.

Long time no see.

Before the apocalypse, Bai Xiaoyu's pill-refining skills were unparalleled. However, the pills he refined often had a taste that was hard to describe.

There were cultivators who nearly lost control due to the stimulation of his restored pills, making his pill-refining skills and the taste of his pills equally notorious.

But Bai Xiaoyu always thought others exaggerated the truth; the taste was merely average.

In the past, Bai Xiaoyu could taste potions without changing his expression because his original body was well-trained. Now, his current body almost collapsed from the stimulation.

Bai Xiaoyu realized this body was too weak to handle such stimulation. He put the cap back on the Bone-Washing Potion, wiped his sweat, and felt a bit weak.

His mental energy had only recovered to a basic level, and his poor physical condition made the process take over three hours. Previously, it would have taken him only half an hour. It seemed he needed to improve his physical condition soon.

The Bone-Washing Potion was too little for normal consumption. For someone with a double-F constitution, it could be diluted and drunk or added to a bath for absorption, enhancing both internal and external effects.

Bai Xiaoyu planned to use it as soon as possible when a knock interrupted his thoughts.

Opening the door, he saw his assistant with two animal ears on his head and a fluffy tail wagging wildly behind him.

Upon seeing Bai Xiaoyu, he quickly approached, sniffing left and right.

Seeing his assistant's appearance, Bai Xiaoyu chuckled, "Xiao Xi, what are you doing?"

Yu Xi suddenly became flustered, his hands and feet unsure of what to do, "Ah, I just... that is, Brother Bai, what are you doing? It smells so good."

Bai Xiaoyu: "Good?"

Yu Xi scratched his head, his ears twitching, his gaze drifting into the room. Taking a deep breath, he replied, "It's a scent that makes one feel very invigorated."

Bai Xiaoyu guessed the potion had attracted Xiao Xi, indicating that future interstellar beastmen had a strong sense of smell.

"I'm refining medicine. Do you want to come in?"

Yu Xi's ears perked up, and his tail wagged faster. He licked his canine teeth, "Can I?"

Bai Xiaoyu stepped aside, "Of course, I welcome you."

As his assistant, Yu Xi would naturally discover his alchemy sooner or later.

He felt good about Xiao Xi, and after ten years in the apocalypse, he believed he had a good eye for people.

Yu Xi ran into the living room, approaching the alchemy furnace. Upon reaching it, he transformed into a white wolf as tall as an adult's chest, poking its head into the furnace.

Bai Xiaoyu quickly grabbed the wolf by the scruff of its neck, amused yet exasperated, "Xiao Xi, are you trying to jump in? It's still hot inside. Don't you fear getting cooked?"

The wolf whimpered pitifully.

Bai Xiaoyu did not relent, "Xiao Xi, be good, come out."

Good grief, if such a big wolf jumped in, how could he still use the potion?

Besides, wolves were not pills that could absorb the liquid and restore their properties. The furnace's temperature was indeed suitable for absorption, but pills and eggs had similar properties. He had some ideas, but quickly dismissed them.

The egg is still too fragile now. He won't attempt this until it has been successfully tested.

Before that, he must also customize another alchemy furnace.

Bai Xiaoyu saw that after the White Wolf was refused, its ears and tail drooped, but it kept circling around the alchemy furnace.

He stroked the fluffy wolf's head. According to the current size of the little helper, in the interstellar world, it was still a young beastman cub.

It was so excited now, probably because of the bone-washing potion?

Was the bone-washing potion really that attractive to Xiao Xi?

His gaze involuntarily fell on the White Wolf's front paws, which had already fully healed.

Xiaoyu's eyes softened as he poured a glass of water for the White Wolf. Taking out the freshly made bone-washing potion, he opened it. The White Wolf, which had been staring at the alchemy furnace and ready to jump into it, instantly appeared on the sofa beside him, its eyes fixed on the potion in his hand.

Xiaoyu poured a little and said, "Drink it."

As soon as he finished speaking, the White Wolf grabbed the cup with its mouth, tilted its head back, and drank it all in one go. After licking the cup, it pushed the empty cup towards him.

Xiaoyu: "That's all there is. There's no more. I'll give you some next time."

In the next second, the White Wolf belatedly tasted the potion. Its white fur stood up, its tail fluffed out, and it rolled on the sofa, baring its teeth.

Xiaoyu: "…Is it that bad? Do you still want it?"

The White Wolf abruptly stopped, extended its paw, and tremulously yet stubbornly pushed the cup towards him again, whining in a friendly manner at Xiaoyu.

Xiaoyu couldn't help but laugh and gave it another glass of water, pouring a third of it this time. "There really isn't any more unless you find the bone-washing grass again."

After drinking, the White Wolf convulsed for a while. Once it returned to normal, it rubbed its head against Xiaoyu, transformed back into human form, and hurriedly said, "Brother Bai, it's the same grass from before, right? Wait for me, I'll go find it right away."

With that, it turned back into the White Wolf and vanished in an instant.

Xiaoyu's outstretched hand paused for a moment before he casually withdrew it.

No one saw it anyway.

It seemed that the small amount of bone-washing potion wasn't enough for Yu Xi, who had an A-level physique, as there wasn't much of a reaction. Bone-washing was supposed to be very painful. However, his own body reacted differently; just tasting it made him feel a bit warm.

Xiaoyu rested for a while and then started making medicine again.

This time, he needed to make the nutrient solution for the eggs, as they would run out tomorrow. He had three batches of herbs and needed to produce one batch today.

Extracting over a hundred types of herbs was tedious and boring. As time passed, Xiaoyu's frown deepened. He found that among these herbs, apart from a dozen main ingredients, the rest were merely auxiliary, and some were even ineffective for him.

Perhaps mechanized alchemy differed greatly from manual alchemy, requiring more herbs to blend and purify, even to enhance color and remove impurities, all relying on the herbs themselves.

However, these herbs contained impurities themselves, leading to many impurities in the initial nutrient solution.

Xiaoyu planned to make two batches: one following the original formula and one with a simplified formula.

He wanted to see the difference in their effects.

Meanwhile, not long after running out, the White Wolf suddenly felt intense pain throughout its body. It howled and rushed into the forest, colliding wildly. Soon, its once-white, fluffy fur gradually turned gray...

By nightfall, Xiaoyu had completed the two batches of potions.

The nutrient solution was more abundant than the bone-washing potion, filling five-centimeter-diameter test tubes eight centimeters high.

Comparing the two transparent solutions, the one without various auxiliary herbs was noticeably clearer and more active, while the other was darker and thicker, far less effective.

The research facility had specialized testing equipment. Xiaoyu took both bottles downstairs and tested them separately.

The results came out simultaneously.

Simplified nutrient solution — S-grade

Original formula nutrient solution — A-grade

It seemed his previous thoughts were correct. Removing unnecessary auxiliary herbs did not affect the efficacy but even improved the grade.

Now that he had a better option, Xiaoyu frowned at the subpar nutrient solution inside the energy shields of all the eggs.

He directly instructed the system to replace the nutrient solution, inserting the S-grade bottle into the dedicated hatch of the incubation device.

Soon, the smart system activated, diluting the nutrient solution, completing the configuration, and replacing the liquid.

Xiaoyu watched as the old nutrient solution was expelled from the device. Indeed, it contained many impurities and was far too ineffective. He could even sense the presence of those domineering black impurities. How could healthy cubs hatch using such a nutrient solution?

Thus, these initial nutrient solutions were removed by robots and used to water the plants outside the research facility.

After finishing everything, he suddenly remembered Yu Xi. Was the little helper still searching for herbs in the forest?

He contacted him via optical brain. After a brief ring, the call connected. It was dark around him, but Yu Xi's slightly hoarse voice came through, "Brother Bai?"

While Xiaoyu was talking to Yu Xi, a round, black intruder appeared on his balcony.

This large black egg had a clear target and hopped straight towards the alchemy furnace, circling it contentedly.

The scent of the superior nutrient solution, no mistake.

It jumped!

In the next second, the entire large black egg got stuck on the alchemy furnace, unable to move.