A Guide to Incubating Eggs in the Stars

by Usui Takumii

not mine, asia novel. Beware edited mtl and bl. Also at ao3. Ongoing.

15. 120 to 130

Chapter 120

The Little Prince felt it necessary to make his dear Little Bai understand that this man was not the Emperor at all.

He tugged hard on the little one's small hand in front of him and shouted, "Bao, don't... don't, he is not, not the Emperor."

The little one turned around and babbled back, "He is, in Mom's belly, Emperor, fed me, full full."

Hearing this, the Little Prince was stunned. Feeding the Prince was always done personally by the Emperor and absolutely not through someone else's hands.

While the Little Prince was dazed, the little one had already taken a few steps, stumbled, and sat on the ground. He then stuck out his chubby little bottom and crawled towards Bai Xiaoyu. Once close, he opened his fat little arms, asking to be picked up.

Bai Xiaoyu bent down and picked up the little one. Soon, the tiny one wrapped his arms around Bai Xiaoyu's neck. He rubbed the little one's head and said, "Baby is so well-behaved."

At this moment, he noticed another gaze and looked down to see the Little Prince staring at him with wide, round kajal-like eyes.

He crouched down, holding the little one, and reached out to pinch the Little Prince's puffed cheeks. "What's wrong? Do you want a hug too?"

The Little Prince swatted away Bai Xiaoyu's hand that was happily poking his face and instead reached out towards Bai Xiaoyu. "Bao, give me... hug."

Bai Xiaoyu looked at the serious Little Prince, then placed the chubby little one in his open arms. Slowly letting go, he found that the Little Prince had actually held on steadily.

Then the Little Prince turned around and ran off with his precious one.

Bai Xiaoyu watched with great interest, impressed by the strength of the young one.

After a while, the little one was put down, and the Little Prince tried to continue explaining to him, "I've confirmed again, he is not the Emperor."

The little one blinked, sucking on his small hand. After the Little Prince finished his dry explanation, he suddenly reached out and grabbed the Little Prince, wanting to pull him towards Bai Xiaoyu.

Hungry, go eat.

Find the Emperor, there's food.

The Little Prince struggled, breaking free from the little hand that was holding him, only to be grabbed by the leg again.

So Bai Xiaoyu watched as the little one babbled and tugged on the equally chubby little leg, dragging the Little Prince upside down towards him.

The Little Prince, seeing Bai Xiaoyu smiling at him, looked at himself and then at the little hand holding his leg. He suddenly covered his face with his hands.

His dear Little Bai was too violent, and he couldn't break free now.

Hearing Little Bai occasionally refer to the human in front of him as the Emperor, the Little Prince didn't know how this human had bewitched Little Bai. He glared at Bai Xiaoyu angrily and said, "Big liar!"

The Little Prince's clearly pronounced words made Bai Xiaoyu laugh and cry. "...What did I lie to you about?"

Little Prince: "You lied... Bao, you... not Emperor."

Bai Xiaoyu understood and nodded. "I'm indeed not the Insect Emperor, but I didn't lie."

Little Prince: "Then you explain clearly to Bao."

Bai Xiaoyu: "I've told Baby before, and I can say it again, but you'll have to coax him after."

The Little Prince was full of question marks, but if it meant coaxing Little Bai, he could do it.

After the Little Prince nodded, Bai Xiaoyu gently stroked the little one's head and said softly, "Baby, I'm not the Emperor you call that, I'm a human..."

The little one seemed to understand the words 'not the Emperor' and immediately turned red-eyed, pouted, and was about to cry.

Seeing that the denial by Bai Xiaoyu made the little one think the Emperor didn't want him, the Little Prince, as a Prince, knew that if the Insect Emperor abandoned him midway, the young Prince's mental faith would collapse.

The Little Prince immediately started to frantically coax the little drop-eared rabbit that had started shedding little pearls.

When Bai Xiaoyu also joined in the coaxing, rubbing his face against the little rabbit's head for a while, the little rabbit slowly cheered up.

Bai Xiaoyu and the Little Prince looked at each other and sighed in relief.

Bai Xiaoyu took out an insect crystal. The recovered little rabbit suddenly transformed into a wolf cub slightly larger than his rabbit form.

The fluffy wolf cub instinctively opened its mouth to bite the insect crystal but suddenly stopped and used its paw to push the crystal towards the Little Prince.

The Little Prince, this time, didn't cry, though his eyes turned red. After taking a bite of the insect crystal, he pushed it back to the wolf cub.

The wolf cub happily took another bite and pushed it back again.

Bai Xiaoyu watched as the two little heads of the Little Prince and the wolf cub huddled together, munching on the insect crystal, and couldn't help but smile.

But as he watched, he suddenly realized that the wolf cub's appetite had instantly caught up to the Little Prince's, with one bite equaling the amount of a meal before hatching. Looking at the insect crystal that would probably last less than half a month, he couldn't keep smiling.

He needed to find a way to get more insect crystals. For now, he should scout around and see where, besides the royal family, he could find insect crystals.

After eating, the human and wolf cub snuggled together. Soon, their bodies stretched, and their four short legs gradually became transparent and elongated. Before long, two differently sized dark blue Insect Prince forms appeared.

They stretched their tentacles and gently waved them. The round main body with a black dot-like eye was slightly larger than a basketball for the Little Prince. The main body of the other, the size of a small calf, was less transparent and larger.

This was the third complete form of the little one. Besides this, there was also the semi-insect form with wings-like tentacles on the back in human form, which was always present in the egg.

These were the two forms of a Prince, and they also had the interstellar wolf-rabbit beast form, making five forms in total.

Now the little one could freely switch between these forms, and as long as he hid the first two forms, living as an ordinary interstellar beastman was entirely possible.

The problem now was the Little Prince next to him, clearly stunned by the much larger Little Bai. This one had an unknown background and might have escaped from some lab. He might be a ticking time bomb that could be identified at any time. Bai Xiaoyu needed to resolve the Little Prince's identity issue soon and prevent him from being exposed.

At this moment, the Little Prince had no idea that Bai Xiaoyu had started worrying about various things concerning him. He stared at the much larger, deep blue mass, his tentacles frozen. No wonder he couldn't struggle free earlier; Little Bai now had strength comparable to his previous self and, with long-term nutrition, was even stronger.

The Little Prince poked the other's tentacle, which was ten times thicker than his own chubby tentacle. The main body in the middle was round and bright, clearly well-fed and about to enter the next evolution stage.

The little guy thought the Little Prince was playing with him and also poked at the Little Prince with his tentacles. Then, a basketball-sized mass rolled towards the wall from the poke.

The black dot of the Little Prince's true form spun dizzily for a while before recovering and suddenly turned to look at Bai Xiaoyu.

It must be said that this guy had raised Little Bai very well. No wonder Little Bai, or rather, given his size now, he could be called Big Bai, mistook someone for the emperor.

Bai Xiaoyu didn't pay attention to the Little Prince's scrutiny and only left after the two masses, one big and one small, plus a large tentacle, all nestled together and fell asleep.

Bai Xiaoyu then began to refine longevity locks for the cubs overnight. He carved each one with his spiritual power, wanting to engrave the best blessings into the longevity locks to always stay by the cubs' sides.

Late at night, a robot suddenly forwarded surveillance from the breeding room to Bai Xiaoyu.

Normally, the robot would sound an alarm and attack intruders when encountering anomalies, so this kind of anomaly was quite surprising.

Upon opening the surveillance, he saw a sneaky figure secretly making their way through the blind spots set up by Tao Limeng, entering the breeding facility. The person then walked straight to three adjacent breeding compartments.

The alert cubs quickly woke up and, seeing the man standing in front of the compartments looking eagerly at them, realized it was a familiar face. They yawned and turned over to continue sleeping.

Bai Xiaoyu happened to witness this scene and sighed; Tao Limeng still hadn't given up.

Now he was even trying to get the crystal core, pearl, and gauze from the three newly hatched cubs.

Tao Limeng made faces at the merman cub, trying to scare the little merman into crying. But the little merman laughed and splashed him with his tail.

Seeing that the merman cub wasn't falling for it, Tao Limeng turned to the young merfolk with a smile and quietly took out a small pair of scissors, "Give Uncle a little bit of gauze, just a little."

But the young merfolk slapped him with their tail. With an S-rank physique and strength, the unprepared Tao Limeng fell into the compartment of the little zombie next to him and was promptly scratched on both cheeks by the little zombie's three-centimeter-long black nails.

Bai Xiaoyu found it amusing—the scratches were quite symmetrical.

The little golden tiger saw the surveillance and rushed out. He couldn't let anyone lay a hand on his future queen candidate.

When Bai Xiaoyu noticed that the little golden tiger hadn't returned after a long while, he checked the time. Were they locked in a fierce battle with Tao Limeng?

Neither of them appeared in front of the cameras, probably because Tao Limeng knew he had been exposed.

The cubs would stay in the breeding facility for another two days. On the third day, the parents would come to take the cubs away.

For two consecutive nights, Tao Limeng came over but left empty-handed each time, along with the little golden tiger who rushed over to fight him.

On the third day, the parents began to take their cubs away one after another. The cubs left with their longevity locks and blessings, looking back step after step, before finally being carried onto the aircraft, crying.

The cubs from the two legions left first since their parents couldn't stay long. Then it was the regional cubs.

After the regional cubs left, only fifteen cubs remained in the entire breeding facility.

At this time, the parents from the Sunbathing Group were troubled because their cubs didn't want to leave the semi-plant-human cub. The cubs would cry and make a fuss as soon as they were separated.

Bai Xiaoyu was also very concerned about these cubs, especially since six of them had small buds and bloodlines that many interstellar factions were extremely interested in. After all, there had never been a stop to the applications to become parents for the parentless cubs hatched from the last batch of blood eggs.

Adding a rhino cub with plant characteristics and a semi-plant-human cub whose roots had merged with a small piece of Xirang, their parents looked too weak to protect them. Once outside, they would inevitably become targets of these factions.

The nearby butterfly-race cub also didn't want to leave, his black bean eyes still staring at the other cubs.

Just as the parents were at a loss, the sound of a large combat aircraft came from the sky. Everyone looked up to see a massive green combat aircraft.

Bai Xiaoyu received the information from the soldiers, who had also checked the situation on the aircraft. Everything was fine.

Bai Xiaoyu agreed to let them land, and soon a dozen people in combat suits came out of the aircraft. They exuded a refreshing and gentle aura.

As soon as they came down, they looked eagerly at the semi-plant-human cub with a multicolored root and the other cubs with small buds on their bodies, as well as the little rhino. Although the little rhino had no plant features, the plant people could sense the plant aura from far away.

Bai Xiaoyu breathed a sigh of relief. They were all plant people. The status of plant people in the interstellar world was no lower than that of the merfolk and the other two races. Plant people had the longest lifespans, and no one knew the current strength of their oldest member. With a very low birth rate, plant people were also extremely protective of their cubs. They had even formed a Plant People Legion, with half of its warriors being plant people.

Moreover, the series of planets where plant people lived were in a meteorite black hole belt. Unless guided by plant people, it was difficult to safely pass through the meteors and black holes to reach their area.

This way, the destination for these cubs was decided.

The leader of the plant people, a man with a faint bamboo scent, saluted Bai Xiaoyu, "We are very grateful that you have bred so many excellent cubs for our race. We heard that you have an Herb Base and a master alchemist. This is our token of gratitude and a gift for the cubs. Please do not refuse."

Before Bai Xiaoyu could refuse, the bamboo-scented man opened a box, revealing seeds with extremely high vitality.

Bai Xiaoyu immediately took back his refusal. They indeed needed these herb seeds.

Bai Xiaoyu nodded, "Thank you."

He took out a space ring containing potions prepared for the cubs, as well as a piece of synthesized Xirang. There were very few Five-Element Xirang Grass, and after a previous failed synthesis, only one piece remained, stored in the failed five-colored mud.

The five-colored mud was empty, but the plant people could see what was inside—this was the Xirang that plant people coveted.

There was no need to worry about them not finding it.

Sure enough, as soon as the space ring was handed over, the man trembled all over, and several long bamboo leaves suddenly sprouted from his head, lifting his hat right off.

After a while, Bai Xiaoyu saw a tall and verdant bamboo tree appear on the spot, with one of its bamboo leaves tightly circling the space ring.

While the leader and Bai Xiaoyu were talking, the other plant people ran to hug and rub against the semi-plant-human cub. In an instant, flowers, grass, and trees gathered around the little plant person.

Thus, a group of sunbathing plants appeared on the spot, swaying gracefully along with the eight Sunbathing Group cubs.

After basking for half a day, besides rubbing the cubs with their stems and leaves, they remained rooted in place like real plants and didn't move for half a day.

Seeing this, Bai Xiaoyu couldn't help but doubt them.

Could they safely bring the Xirang and the cubs back? If they suddenly turned back into plants while piloting the combat aircraft, it would be dangerous.

At that moment, three more combat mechs appeared in the sky.

Bai Xiaoyu, having been informed by the soldiers, naturally knew that the merfolk from the three clans had come to retrieve their young.

Soon, the aircraft landed. The men and women who emerged from the first two aircraft were all exceptionally handsome and beautiful, while those from the third aircraft were also good-looking, though not as striking as the ones before.

At this moment, Tao Limeng, hiding in the distance, kept his eyes on the three young ones in the arms of their parents and the three elderly men who were smiling at the young ones. The sudden appearance of so many zombie merfolk and merfolk stirred him with excitement, his fingers trembling slightly.

He had automatically converted them into the crystal nuclei pearls and silky gauze he desired.

At this point, the people from the three clans descended and surrounded the three young ones, their eyes gleaming.

However, they were soon driven away by the three elderly men using various excuses, preventing them from snatching the young ones from the elders.

As for the three shameless clan leaders, the clansmen were well aware of their antics. Not being allowed near the young ones left them helpless.

Apart from those surrounding the young ones, three individuals approached Bai Xiaoyu, bringing gifts like those from the plant-human side. They were boxes filled with numerous deep-sea herb seeds. Even the zombie clan brought herbs and seeds.

Finally, the mermaid looked around and secretly handed Bai Xiaoyu a space button, saying, "Breeder Bai, this is a gift from our young clan leader to someone named Tao Limeng. Please help pass it on."

Bai Xiaoyu naturally agreed. Young clan leader? It must be the mermaid from earlier.

At this moment, the three young ones, surrounded by so many people, seemed to sense something and began to look frequently at Bai Xiaoyu.

This time, the three elderly men did not stop them, allowing the parents to carry the young ones over. However, midway, a little golden tiger rushed over.

Everyone was already used to the little golden tiger coming over to bother the young merfolk and young zombies, so they didn't stop him.

However, something from the necklace around the little golden tiger's neck was suddenly scattered with great precision towards the young merfolk and young zombies.

In no time, the parents felt their arms empty, and looking up, they saw that the young merfolk and young zombies were already being dragged away by the little golden tiger. Transparent nets appeared on them.

Bai Xiaoyu glanced at Tao Limeng, who was hiding and shrinking back. When had these two become partners in crime?

At this moment, the little golden tiger, dragging the two nets, felt like laughing triumphantly. No way would he let anyone take his queens!

Suddenly, he felt a tightness around his body, as if something was tightly hugging him, and there was even a hand rubbing his belly?!

He turned around to see a young one smiling widely at him, revealing four tiny, grain-sized little fangs. The little golden tiger's tiger eyes trembled. Damn, how did this clingy one catch up?

He shouted at the zombie young one, "Let go!"

As soon as he finished shouting, a large and small tail smacked him in the face again.

The three young ones were not inferior to him in talent, and their strength was comparable, making the situation quite even...

Thus, the road to the interstellar super invincible emperor's quest for queens was fraught with difficulties. He ended up lying on the ground, tongue out, with tails still whipping him on the head. A small hand with black nails was petting his fur.

Finally, a well-defined hand picked up the little crown beside him and lifted him up.

The young ones were also picked up. As the little merfolk said goodbye, he rolled on Bai Xiaoyu's hand, holding back tears. He left behind a dozen tiny pearls the size of fine sand in Bai Xiaoyu's palm. A strong consciousness came from the small horns on his head, "Dad Bai, I will come back to see you one day."

Bai Xiaoyu patted the little merfolk's head and gave the young one a longevity lock. "I'll wait for you to come back and visit me."

The young merfolk did the same, but the little one leaned against Bai Xiaoyu's chest, sobbing, leaving behind a dozen tiny tear-shaped purple pearls.

Bai Xiaoyu carefully stored them away. These were the first tears of the little merfolk and young merfolk, a gift left for him. He hoped that when they met again in the future, he would return the largest and most beautiful one.

The little zombie young one also hugged his leg and cried loudly. No pearls, but he left a gift, biting hard on the little golden tiger's soft belly, leaving tooth marks.

At this point, the little golden tiger still hadn't given up, eyeing the little merfolk and young merfolk. His queens!

The next second, he let out a howl of agony, turning his head to see the little zombie baring its fangs at him. He retaliated by biting the little zombie's chest with an "ah-woo."

Exhausted, he watched the aircraft take away his queens, while in his heart, he cursed at the little zombie. He never wanted to see him again.

At that moment, Tao Limeng also ran over, rubbing his hands together. "Boss, I just saw the little merfolk crying in your palm. Uh, about that pearl..."

Bai Xiaoyu directly handed him a space button. "Someone gave you a gift."

Tao Limeng, thinking it was a pearl, was disappointed to see the space button instead. "What is this? Boss, I want the pearl."

Bai Xiaoyu spread his hands. "Don't have any."

Not intending to give up, Tao Limeng continued to pester Bai Xiaoyu, pulling out an ancient, intricately patterned wooden box from the space button. "What's this?"

Opening it, he revealed a gauze garment, which he shook out.

A fiery red wedding dress, as thin as cicada wings yet opaque, with a long, ancient train, appeared before his eyes. A red veil floated up, controlled by Bai Xiaoyu's mental power, and gently landed on Tao Limeng's head.

Tao Limeng pulled down the red veil. "What is this? The texture is so strange, yet quite beautiful."

As he touched it more, his expression brightened. He had never encountered such fabric before.

Bai Xiaoyu, watching Tao Limeng, smiled. This kind of silk gauze woven from such threads was vastly different in both feel and material from ordinary gauze; it was normal that Tao Limeng didn't recognize it.

Feeling a bit creeped out by Bai Xiaoyu's meaningful smile, Tao Limeng said, "Boss, don't smile. Just tell me what this is."

Bai Xiaoyu's gaze fell on the fiery red garment in his hands, and he spoke. "The merfolk's wedding dress. For every year a merfolk grows, their accompanying gauze grows longer. The merfolk weave this gauze into an extremely long thread until they reach adulthood. At that time, after collecting three hundred threads, the merfolk will use these threads to weave a wedding dress by hand, to give to their partner."

Bai Xiaoyu looked at Tao Limeng, who was staring at the wedding dress with green-eyed envy. "If you refuse, you'll have to return the dress. Otherwise, you'll have to prepare to be married."

But by now, Tao Limeng couldn't hear anything.

Bai Xiaoyu, feeling he had done all he could, turned his attention back to the little golden tiger, who was howling and shouting about his queens coming back and telling the black-nailed one to get lost. He couldn't help but feel both amused and exasperated.

He poked the little golden tiger. "Great Emperor, your queens hit you harder, so why are you so hung up on the little zombie's bite?"

The little golden tiger looked at him as if he were an idiot, licking the teeth marks on his chest, wincing in pain. "My queens hitting me, I don't fight back; they hit, and that's it. But the black-nailed one isn't my queen, so I won't allow him to hit me."

Bai Xiaoyu couldn't help but chuckle at this, then asked, "Great Emperor, don't you need a beautiful queen who matches you? I thought the little zombie looks quite good, not inferior to the little merfolk or the young merfolk. Each has their own unique features. You took a few extra glances earlier; what, not up to your standards?"

Little Golden Tiger was instantly agitated and howled, "Those black claws, they're super long! If he scratches you, it'll be terrible, and he even bites! My queens could just flick him with their tails and he'd be gone. But those black claws, plus the bite—who can really handle that in a serious fight..."

Bai Xiaoyu was startled by Little Golden Tiger's sharp sense of danger this time. If he were to distinguish these three young ones by light and dark, then the merfolk and young merfolk belonged to the light, while the little zombie was in the dark.

The former were naturally good-hearted; if you wronged them, you might still survive. But if you wronged the latter, he'd be willing to perish together with you.

Little Golden Tiger shook its paw. "My queen, unless I'm an idiot, I would never choose that black-clawed one. It'll shorten your life."

Bai Xiaoyu helped adjust Little Golden Tiger's small crown and almost burst out laughing.

At such a young age, it's quite good at avoiding harm and seeking benefit. It seems that those twenty-some years weren't lived in vain. Now, after being reborn, its intelligence has suddenly opened up, and its judgment of people is spot on. Thinking back to the Henchmen Group it used to lead, it's a world apart from what it is now.

---

Chapter 121

The plant people who had been rooting themselves in place to bask in the sun finally transformed back into their human forms as the sun set, drowsy and groggy. They bid farewell to Bai Xiaoyu and the others, leaving with their crying young ones.

After they left, the butterfly clan children were also taken away by their parents, still crying.

This time, Xiao Yue and Ye Feng left with seven young ones along with the merfolk children. They certainly wouldn't refuse the merfolk young one's brother and his partner. Adding in the Husky and wolf clan young ones who carried merfolk bloodlines, the merfolk, who currently had only one young one in the entire clan, welcomed them with open arms.

Now, the once bustling breeding facility suddenly felt empty. Currently, only little golden tiger, the Zerg Prince young one, and two conjoined little falcons remained.

The parents of the little falcons had met the parents of the previous batch of blood egg children who had stayed behind over the past few days. After some exchanges, they found the environment here more friendly for their little falcons, who were different from other normal beastkin children.

So, they approached Bai Xiaoyu not long ago, hoping the little falcons could stay like the blood egg children. One of the parents could also work alongside the children.

Considering the situation of the little falcons, Bai Xiaoyu accepted one parent's joining. This parent had been working with herbs and was just changing workplaces. The other parent was a District Chief from another main planet.

Although their two eagle children were conjoined, they had exceptional talents, reaching 2S. The District Chief was extremely satisfied.

Thus, he hoped Bai Xiaoyu's Fire Seed could expand to their planet soon. However, he knew their planet, close to Imperial Star, was currently just on the edge of the Fire Seed's map in the D36 peripheral star. Most interstellar suppliers, even operating for hundreds of years, might never become the direct pharmaceutical supplier for that region.

Still, he had high hopes for Fire Seed. The current strength of Fire Seed's potions had already shaken the entire galaxy, with residents from numerous planets now rolling around and acting cute on Fire Seed's official website, begging for their expansion.

At the moment, Bai Xiaoyu was heading back with little golden tiger and Tao Limeng.

The little golden tiger, having lost his queen, had no mood to patrol with his mighty army.

As they passed by the swimming pool, the little golden tiger stared at it for a long while.

Just as Bai Xiaoyu was about to comfort him, the little golden tiger turned around, ran to the place where the little zombies usually stayed, dug a large pit, and growled fiercely at it for a few moments.

Bai Xiaoyu: "……"

It seemed this little guy held quite a grudge.

Bai Xiaoyu walked up, picked up the muddy little fellow by the scruff of his neck, and as the little golden tiger instinctively froze, Bai Xiaoyu hung a small, delicate longevity lock around his neck before setting him down again.

The little golden tiger looked at the lock, pawed at it a bit, and then shouted at Bai Xiaoyu, "So you made me one? This design is just so-so, but since you've sincerely given it to me, I'll reluctantly wear it."

With that, the little golden tiger stopped fussing and waddled with his chubby little legs to the swimming pool. He spent half an hour adjusting his angle, looking at his reflection.

Suddenly, the little golden tiger ran to find Bai Xiaoyu, who was mass-producing potions in the Pharmacy Building. The little tiger climbed up his legs and perched on his shoulder, shouting, "Emperor me is going on patrol! Summon my mighty army for me!"

Bai Xiaoyu, busy at the moment, just glanced sideways at the little golden tiger with his tiny crown and used his mental powers to control the animals. "They're already waiting outside for Your Majesty."

The little golden tiger rubbed against Bai Xiaoyu's face, then left with a happy gait.

Watching the little one's back, Bai Xiaoyu's lips curled into a smile. But it faded quickly.

After finishing the batch of potions, Bai Xiaoyu opened the previous guardianship application for the little golden tiger.

It had been rejected.

The last time the little one was stuck in limbo but eventually approved. This time, the rejection meant the nominal parents didn't agree. Yet, no one came to pick up the child. Bai Xiaoyu couldn't understand what they were thinking.

If they had taken the child from the start, he would have let them. But after he had raised the child for a while, if they came back demanding the child, he wouldn't be so accommodating.

Of course, if the young one wanted to leave with them, he would agree.

Bai Xiaoyu glanced at the rejected application and submitted it again.

No matter the situation over there, he had to try. Otherwise, the young one would be without a guardian for the next three months, and someone else might apply to become his guardian.

He believed they wouldn't allow that to happen.

Meanwhile, on Imperial Star, Bai Qing lay in a repair machine, talking to Feng Shuang'er.

Bai Qing: "Shuang'er, we now have a 3S-talented little tiger cub, even better than we expected. How about we bring the cub back first and slowly resolve other issues, alright?"

Feng Shuang'er: "As long as you don't explain, I'll keep beating you every time I see you. I don't want our child to live in such an environment. Are you going to explain today or not?"

Hearing the bombing outside, Bai Qing felt a headache coming on.

Even with the high-talent cub's birth, Shuang'er wasn't appeased. The cub's guardianship issue hadn't been resolved, and the royal family elders would soon start pressuring them.

A child with such high talent had to be brought back.

But Feng Shuang'er, watching the little golden tiger causing trouble with his crown in the video, had completely lost trust in Bai Qing. After three children in a row experiencing such issues, she couldn't believe him anymore.

If the child's talent had been lower, even if he had the same talent as his father, she might have agreed to bring him back.

Now, with almost all factions eyeing the child, she had already been secretly drugged numerous times on Imperial Star. The child had been taken without her knowledge.

Xiaoyu's talent had been so poor back then and was eventually expelled. If this child returned, he might not live to adulthood.

After Bai Xiaoyu resubmitted the application, since it had been processed before, it quickly bypassed the initial stages and flowed directly to the final decision point.

Feng Shuang'er approved it swiftly, leaving Bai Qing in silence.

At that moment, Feng Shuang'er, controlling a mech, broke through the window. The mech's laser sword pointed at the repair machine, and she notified Bai Qing, "Approve the application, or don't blame me for being rude."

Bai Qing: "Shuang'er, this is the best bloodline the royal family has had in three hundred years. It's not a decision I can make alone. Even if I agree, the elders will find a way to bring the child back."

Feng Shuang'er had no patience for his excuses. "Just agree first."

The guards surrounding Feng Shuang'er didn't dare to shoot.

Everything here has been sealed off, except for the fact that His Majesty is being chased and hunted in a mech every day.

Attacking His Majesty is a grave crime, but His Majesty directly sealed off the scene and suppressed the incident. Those who have a general idea of what happened wouldn't go against His Majesty.

So, this scene is reenacted every day, with His Majesty able to enter the repair capsule three times a day.

They can't fight back and can only stand guard and watch. If they are unfortunately collateral damage, and even His Majesty can't do anything about it, they can't do anything either. However, there will be extremely generous work injury compensation.

Bai Qing had no choice but to agree to the guardian transfer for now.

Of course, the moment he gave his consent, he immediately and nimbly flipped over, transforming into a tall golden tiger. The next second, a laser sword came straight at his butt.

The large golden tiger seemed unsurprised; he knew this would happen.

Now he has to continue dodging attacks.

At Bai Xiaoyu's side, having received the approval request, he was also in a state of confusion.

After all, refusing one moment and agreeing the next, he had no idea what those bargain-bin parents were thinking. But the result was what he wanted, and he didn't know or care to guess the reasons.

As he looked at the request, the system suddenly appeared, saying, "Congratulations to the host for successfully hatching three eggs that entered a dormant state twenty years ago. Each egg is rewarded 50,000 base points, and successfully hatching three rare species cubs rewards 100,000 points per cub. Each hatched cub has excellent potential, with an additional reward of 50,000 points per egg, totaling 600,000 points."

System: "Congratulations to the host for hatching nine other dormant eggs, with each egg rewarding 30,000 points, and successfully hatching a semi-plant person egg with excellent potential, rewarding 100,000 points, totaling 370,000 points."

System: "Congratulations to the host for triggering the Zerg Prince hidden task, rewarding 100,000 points for successfully hatching a Zerg Prince."

System: "Congratulations to the host for triggering the special task 'My Brother is a Chuunibyou Emperor,' rewarding 100,000 points."

System: "Congratulations to the host for hatching 85 other quality eggs, with each egg rewarding 10,000 points, totaling 850,000 points. All the above adds up to 2,020,000 points; please be sure to check for receipt."

Bai Xiaoyu nodded, "Got it."

He clicked on his system's main page on his holoband. He had used up the points from supplying potions to other planets and the breeding facility recently, and now the points had once again reached ten million.

However, he had just allocated a sum of funds to the Herb Base, so the next potion brewing instrument would have to be exchanged later.

Bai Xiaoyu closed the holoband. Since he had just used funds to open a medicinal herb planting area, he now looked at the seeds brought by the three races and the plant-people race. These seeds were alive, so they couldn't be put into his spatial storage.

So, he went to the warehouse specifically for storing seeds and began to inspect them carefully.

The first few boxes from the few races contained seeds. The Zombie race mostly brought seeds with yin attributes, while the mermaid and jiao people's seeds were from the deep sea, with some overlap in types.

As Bai Xiaoyu looked through, the middle boxes contained various medicinal herbs, and soon he was delighted to find a few mature herbs that could repair and restore vitality.

When he opened the last box from the Zombie race, he was stunned.

Hidden among the well-packed medicinal herbs, a black wooden box appeared before his eyes.

All the herbs in this box were yin attribute, and the box exuded a familiar yet strange aura.

Bai Xiaoyu already had a guess in his mind, and upon opening the box, he saw crystals of all colors inside.

These crystals were evidently ancient, belonging to the mindless, man-eating zombies of the past. Even after so long, the crystals still emitted a faint glow.

Nowadays, the Zombie race would never give away their people's crystals. The ones given were from past collections, meaning they were used one by one and became increasingly rare. There were at least a hundred here, showing how excited and grateful the Zombie race was for the birth of the cub.

Bai Xiaoyu then opened the box from the mermaid race, which contained various beautiful pearls of different colors. Each pearl was perfectly round and bright, being the tears of joy. Through the pearls' faint glow, one could even vaguely sense the emotions of the mermaids at that time. The small box was filled to the brim, containing about five hundred pearls.

The box from the jiao people was similar, filled with seven extremely rare rainbow-colored gauzes. Each gauze was as thin as a cicada's wing yet unbreakable, filling most of the box. At the bottom was another box containing mostly black and colorless pearls. As soon as the box was opened, it illuminated the space inside. It wasn't a bright light but more like a thin layer of gauze, giving off a hazy and soft beauty.

Bai Xiaoyu stared at the three boxes in a daze, not expecting the three clans to have left him these gifts.

Mermaid tears and Jiao-human tears could both be used in medicine. Previously, the Chaoyuan Rejuvenation Pill required both of these ingredients, along with yin-attribute energy from the five elements. In other words, zombie crystal cores with distinct five elemental attributes could serve as a substitute.

Now, there were only the last five types of herbs that had not been restored, and he would have to research and experiment with them one by one.

Bai Xiaoyu finally opened the boxes brought by the semi-plant humans. They had even more boxes, twice as many as the three clans.

The variety of herbs inside was vast, and the quality was exceptionally high. After just examining three boxes, Bai Xiaoyu had already gathered formulas for several potions. There was even a whole box of Xisui Grass.

Bai Xiaoyu looked at the boxes of Xisui Grass, his eyes growing brighter as he opened each small box.

The older the Xisui Grass was, the further down it was placed.

Although spiritual energy was gradually recovering in the interstellar era, it was still scarce. Unless in places where spiritual energy was consistently abundant, it was impossible for many medicinal herbs to grow without limit. Once they reached a certain point, the herbs would stop growing. Herbs with shorter growth periods, even if they looked perfect, had limited medicinal properties.

Soon, Bai Xiaoyu took out the last three Xisui Grass plants: one was a century old, one was three centuries old, and one was eight centuries old.

Bai Xiaoyu's eyes grew brighter as he looked at these three herbs.

In addition to these three high-year Xisui Grass plants, the others were no less than fifty years old, with most concentrated between fifty and eighty years.

It seemed that the plant-human clan had given him a big surprise.

He put down the herbs. With these, the top-grade Xisui Dan that had been troubling him for some time would finally be within reach.

---

Chapter 122

Bai Xiaoyu organized the Ximus grass. A large portion of the herbs in the crates behind him were decades old.

From these, Bai Xiaoyu selected some of the herbs needed for the Ximus pills, dividing them into several portions based on their age. Although the collection wasn't complete yet, the main herbs were in place, making it easier to handle the rest.

He also took a cursory look at a few other crates. Since the herbs were exceptionally well-preserved, Bai Xiaoyu decided to keep them in their original storage method.

After organizing the herbs, he ran into Tao Limeng just as he was trying to enter the warehouse.

"What are you sneakily doing here?" Bai Xiaoyu asked.

Not surprised by Bai Xiaoyu's appearance, Tao Limeng, who was clearly prepared, intercepted him. "Boss, you have at least a dozen pearls from the mermaid. Just give me one."

Bai Xiaoyu reached into the system grid space and took out three small boxes he had prepared earlier. They contained some of the items Tao Limeng wanted most. "Here you go."

Upon opening the boxes, Tao Limeng's eyes almost glowed with greed. Crystals, pearls, and sheer silk!

Not only were there plenty, but the pearls were also much larger than the sand-grain-sized ones he had seen before, each as big as a thumb. In addition, there were about ten crystal cores and several bolts of sheer silk.

Tao Limeng could hardly believe his eyes. He had never imagined he would be able to study these three supreme materials all at once.

Previously, he had tried everything to observe the three races leave and even considered sneaking onto their aircraft. Now, with his dream suddenly realized, he was overwhelmed with joy.

He immediately hugged the three boxes tightly, afraid someone might snatch them away, and stored them in his spatial button. Realizing what he had done, he tried to give Bai Xiaoyu a big hug, which Bai Xiaoyu dodged. Undeterred, Tao Limeng excitedly shouted, "Boss, I love you."

Bai Xiaoyu waved him off. "Spare me the dramatics. By the way, you can discuss the research from your father's side with the royal family's researchers. If you need anything, consult Lou Hao."

The formula used to exchange for insect crystals had reduced the number of required herbs from over a hundred to nineteen. Experts from Imperial Star had recently developed a new generation of refining instruments, but the resulting potions were only grade D, occasionally reaching C. The production capacity was low, and more importantly, the dark matter hadn't been filtered out.

If this continued, the potions wouldn't differ much from previous ones, offering no significant improvement in the quality and health of the eggs nurtured by these potions. This contradicted Bai Xiaoyu's original plan.

It was best for Tao Limeng to communicate with the royal family's researchers now.

Tao Limeng nodded. Usually, technologies from the boss couldn't be shared, but since Bai Xiaoyu was willing, he would follow his instructions.

After a moment of thought, Bai Xiaoyu added, "There should be enough sheer silk here for your research. You better not touch that wedding dress."

Thinking of the wedding dress, Tao Limeng paused. He couldn't imagine how someone could weave such a large piece of sheer silk into a garment. Previously, he would have dismantled such a large piece for research, but now he hesitated.

He thought it best to ask Bai Xiaoyu for some pearls first, but unexpectedly, he got all three items he had been longing for.

Tao Limeng nodded. "I won't touch it for now, boss. I'll go study these things. Don't disturb me unless it's important."

Bai Xiaoyu was used to his behavior and promptly sent him on his way.

As he walked out, he bumped into the little golden tiger leading a large patrol. Seeing Bai Xiaoyu about to leave, the tiger immediately abandoned his troops, climbed onto Bai Xiaoyu's shoulder, and boarded the aircraft heading towards the Herb Base.

Instead of going to the Herb Base, Bai Xiaoyu flew to the nearby forest. This area belonged to the Herb Base, and outsiders weren't allowed. Warriors patrolled the area regularly.

Bai Xiaoyu didn't land the aircraft but projected the situation below.

A large black egg was nestled in the fork of a giant tree trunk. As the aircraft passed, it seemed to sense something and started bouncing on the trunk.

Bai Xiaoyu projected his mental energy onto the large black egg and shushed, "Big Black, wait, I'll come down later."

Besides the large black egg in the tree, a metal egg was fighting with several warriors below. Other warriors were guarding the blood egg cubs nearby.

The cubs were practicing climbing, sparring, and even forming small teams to catch prey.

It was evident from their actions that this wasn't their first training session. The first team, born three months ago, included beast cubs. Their current prey was a small porcupine with soft spines. After finishing half the eggshell, their front teeth had grown, allowing them to eat meat and drink broth.

These were young beastmen with excellent qualities, mostly ranging from S to 2S. After a month of training with seven-colored eggshells and various nutrients, their physical condition and mental strength had improved to levels comparable to many adults.

However, due to their small size, lack of strength, and experience, even with teamwork, hunting the spiny porcupine was quite dangerous despite the presence of Big Black and the warriors.

In addition to them, five other teams were surrounding porcupines of various sizes.

At the front, the little white tiger faced the largest porcupine.

The white tiger dodged the porcupine's attacks swiftly, using its newly sharp claws to attack the porcupine's nose.

The porcupine, though not very strong, was a relatively formidable beast. Before this, the white tiger had been hunting rabbits and small antelopes alone. Now, facing the semi-hard spines of the porcupine, it didn't panic.

While dodging the enraged porcupine, the white tiger occasionally glanced at the other six teams hunting.

Noticing something amiss, it let out a few howls. Even though Bai Xiaoyu couldn't understand the calls, the teams adjusted their formations accordingly.

After a month of training, these cubs exhibited remarkable cooperation and execution skills, resembling a military unit.

The little white tiger had unknowingly become their leader.

Even though Bai Xiaoyu had seen it before, he was still amazed.

Quickly, the white tiger avoided a head-on collision, provoking the porcupine into charging straight into a tree. As the porcupine bounced back, its unspined belly was exposed...

Seizing the opportunity, the white tiger attacked, opening the porcupine's belly. Bai Xiaoyu watched the blood-stained white tiger licking the blood off its sharp teeth, a stark contrast to its usual weak and soft appearance.

After finishing off the struggling porcupine, the white tiger didn't rest but went to command the other six teams.

The little golden tiger on Bai Xiaoyu's shoulder was stunned.

Is this really the same white tiger that was always weak and clingy, demanding to be carried?

Who is this blood-covered warrior?

As if sensing his gaze, the little golden tiger commanding the troops suddenly turned its head to look over.

When the little golden tiger saw the little white tiger with its entire face covered in blood, its tail bristled and it couldn't help but let out a roar.

Bai Xiaoyu turned his head to look at the fluffed-up little golden tiger and gently poked it with his hand, saying, "Take a lesson from the little guy."

The startled little golden tiger, annoyed, retorted, "Showing off what? It's just a few squads. I've got thousands of troops by my side!"

Bai Xiaoyu patted the little golden tiger twice on the head, saying, "At your age, you shouldn't call yourself 'I, the elder.' If I hear you say it again, there'll be consequences."

The little golden tiger puffed up its face, about to argue, but upon hearing the last part, it immediately deflated.

Fine, I just won't say it in front of you, then it's all good, right?

Bai Xiaoyu then shifted his gaze to the hunting squad below. After hunting down the last small porcupine, the cub squad successfully completed their mission.

The little white tiger led a group of cubs, dragging their prey to the large black egg, as if waiting for him to inspect their haul.

Bai Xiaoyu watched as the big black egg and the little white tiger hopped down from the tree. He couldn't help but wonder how they communicated, but the big black egg had actually started training the little white tiger and the cubs, and they were now training quite impressively.

The big black egg had different requirements for the many cubs, especially the little white tiger. It seemed to be training the little white tiger comprehensively. The little white tiger not only needed to lead and strategize but was also trained to enhance his individual combat abilities.

So, Bai Xiaoyu wasn't surprised when the little white tiger took on five squads of cubs next.

This battle was much more intense than the previous porcupine hunt.

Even with the little white tiger's high talent, facing a battle of attrition wasn't easy.

Bai Xiaoyu descended when all the cubs were lying on the ground. Even though the other cubs were on the ground, the little white tiger was still standing, albeit wobbly.

The warriors standing guard were both shocked and nostalgic. Now disabled and unable to go to battle, seeing the little white tiger like this reminded them of the Marshal's silhouette, which somehow calmed their hearts.

Bai Xiaoyu signaled the aircraft to land, and the big black egg quickly hopped over. He gently patted the egg's warm, smooth shell.

The little golden tiger on his shoulder bristled, showing its teeth at the approaching metal egg.

The big black egg, as if ignoring the little golden tiger, skillfully leaned against Bai Xiaoyu and even rubbed against him.

Bai Xiaoyu didn't feel much impact, but the little golden tiger flew off his shoulder.

The little golden tiger rolled a few times on the ground before realizing what happened and glared at the big black tiger. Just then, it was 'accidentally' knocked again by the passing metal egg, rolling several more times.

In the end, the little golden tiger's tail bristled in anger, but it knew there was no way to regain face in front of those two giant eggs. So, it turned its attention to the wobbly little white tiger.

These two had thick 'health bars' and couldn't be taken down, but wasn't that little white tiger's health bar almost depleted?

Now was the perfect time to strike while it was weak—returning all the grievances from past encounters.

Bai Xiaoyu was about to go and pick up the little one, but the little golden tiger strode over with a no-nonsense gait.

The little golden tiger, looking at the weakened little white tiger, wagged its tail proudly and circled around it before suddenly charging forward and biting.

However, in the next second, everything spun. The fluffy body was pinned to the ground, and before it could react, a blood-covered figure bit down on its throat.

The entire process, from the attack to being pinned, took less than three seconds, leaving the little golden tiger dumbfounded.

The little white tiger, not much bigger than him, now felt like a mountain, pinning him down with no chance to move.

The faint pain in his neck made the little golden tiger bristle again. How was it still strong enough to overpower him in one move?

It started yelling, "Let go of this emperor, or I'll sanction you!"

The little white tiger didn't loosen its bite. As its prey struggled, it let out a low threatening growl, its claws almost piercing through the little golden tiger's fur.

The little golden tiger immediately froze, turning its head to look at Bai Xiaoyu with pleading animal eyes.

Bai Xiaoyu: "..."

Every time you face the little one, you never gain the upper hand. How can you keep provoking him when you never learn from your mistakes?

The metal egg's big tiger looked on with rolling eyes. This guy looked so infuriating, just like how Xiao Yi Bai used to act when he was pretending.

It had to be said, the little tea tiger's move was well done. This guy needed a beating to keep him in line.

Bai Xiaoyu walked over, patting the other downed cubs along the way. As he approached, he saw the two fluffy creatures—one white and one golden—fighting. He reached out to pet the little white tiger and flicked the little golden tiger's forehead.

The little white tiger seemed to have been waiting for Bai Xiaoyu. It let go with its mouth but failed to stand with its four short legs, still trembling from exhaustion. It let out a low whimper, looking pitifully at Bai Xiaoyu.

Bai Xiaoyu gently picked up the exhausted little one, cradling it carefully. The little white tiger took the opportunity to roll into Bai Xiaoyu's arms, rubbing against him, its tail wagging unconsciously.

The two eggs and one tiger watching couldn't help but feel a little envious.

Among them, the two eggs knew the little white tiger's condition best. It was true that the little white tiger had been exhausted, but that had been a while ago. Although they didn't know how much it had recovered, it should at least be able to stand.

The little golden tiger, seeing that provocative little tail, got so angry it bounced up from the ground, trying to climb Bai Xiaoyu again. But every time it reached his waist, it was either kicked down or swatted away by a tail.

The other cubs, watching with longing eyes, were comforted one by one by Bai Xiaoyu holding the little white tiger.

Half an hour later, with their strength restored, the cubs surrounded Bai Xiaoyu.

After sending the cubs back, Bai Xiaoyu returned with the two eggs and two tigers.

Along the way, the white and golden pair continued their lively fight—well, it was more like the little golden tiger getting beaten up, charging forward only to be swatted away and locked in a throat hold. The weak-looking little white tiger was surprisingly tough.

Leaning against the big black egg, Bai Xiaoyu's mental energy unconsciously entered it. After these days of treatment, the dark matter inside had significantly decreased.

At least the outer layer showed that the big black's limbs had started to regrow flesh. As his mental energy probed further, a paw larger than his face, with pink pads but no fur, reached out.

---

Chapter 123

Bai Xiaoyu's mental threads gently prodded the pink, large paw pad. The bones were big, and the paw pad was thick and elastic. With a slight press, a small indentation could be made, and it quickly bounced back to its original shape when released.

There were also sharp claws that hadn't fully retracted, not well hidden due to the lack of fur, still revealing their sharp tips.

It seemed to have noticed its claws were exposed, so the big black creature tried hard to pull its claws back, then placed the thick paw pad under Bai Xiaoyu's mental threads again, gently shaking it, clearly asking to be poked.

Bai Xiaoyu chuckled and obliged, poking it several times in a row.

Satisfied, the big black creature switched to the other large paw.

Bai Bai had been too busy lately, and with so many people around these days, they wouldn't let him follow. Now was the time to make up for it.

Seeing the switched paw, Bai Xiaoyu didn't refuse, resigning himself to gently poking the paw pad.

After all, although the big black creature had joined midway, it was still one of his first batch of hatched eggs. Nine months had passed, and the big black creature hadn't hatched yet, so it wasn't suitable to appear in front of too many people frequently.

Even though some eggs have a long incubation period and it's fine if they're exposed, those eggs usually only start moving after they're fully formed. If they can move, they should be about to hatch. The six months after they start moving should be more than enough for the well-developed young inside to emerge. Now, the big black creature had been hopping around for nine months, and during live broadcasts, it could be kept out of viewers' sight, so these days, with many people around, the big black egg was kept away from the breeding facility.

Of course, this also included the metal egg and the little white tiger; they were similarly not suitable to appear in front of outsiders frequently.

This was also a good opportunity to train them more, leading the other blood-egg youngsters together.

The results so far were very pleasing.

Actually, the big black creature had only occasionally trained the youngsters before, just like the first batch of eggs.

Now, with the blood-egg youngsters not leaving, plus the addition of the little white tiger and the metal egg, it was unclear how the big black creature communicated with the youngsters, but their training progress was astonishingly fast.

Even more surprising was the sheer force an egg had, managing to train the youngsters to have a military-like presence. Especially with the little white tiger, it seemed the big black creature was stricter with him than any other youngster, including the metal egg. However, compared to the little one, Bai Kan was slightly more relaxed.

Thinking about the big black egg's recent actions, Bai Xiaoyu poked four paws that were stretched out toward him. Just as he was about to retract his mental energy, an underdeveloped tail stretched over. Only the tip of the tail had fully regrown flesh, round and bare. The middle part of the tail bone, closer to the body, was still wrapped in black dark matter, revealing a bone with black and white stripes where black dominated.

Bai Xiaoyu lightly poked the bare tail tip, which wrapped around his mental energy for a while before reluctantly letting go.

Bai Xiaoyu patted the egg's shell. Except for the outermost layer, the dark matter inside had been almost completely removed, but the remaining dark matter was extremely stubborn, all clinging to the big black creature. Wherever his mental energy reached, it was a mass of black, and if he got too close, the big black creature would stop him, not allowing his mental energy to probe further.

After retracting his mental energy, the big black egg continued rubbing against him, its nature unchanged from when it first arrived, not growing in intelligence like the other youngsters as they matured. The big black creature not only remained at a standstill but sometimes rested for longer periods than before.

The dark matter on the big black creature not only continuously damaged its body but also affected Bai Xiaoyu's mental energy.

Along with the damage, the big black creature had to endure intense pain both physically and mentally at all times.

Bai Xiaoyu sighed and gently stroked the big black egg's shell. Despite its usual hopping around, the big black creature's ability to endure pain was the greatest he had ever encountered in anyone.

In response to Bai Xiaoyu's gentle attitude, the big black egg rubbed vigorously, accidentally knocking away the little white tiger in Bai Xiaoyu's arms and the little golden tiger climbing on his legs.

The two little tigers, who had skillfully flipped over before landing, bared their teeth at the big black egg trying to squeeze into Bai Xiaoyu's arms. The big black egg, however, seemed oblivious.

At this moment, the metal egg didn't move. Unlike the other two trying to squeeze over, it was clear that he had realized something. At this moment, Xiao Yi Bai was feeling an inexplicable pity for the big black egg, and there was no point in bumping into it now.

He was puzzled as to why Xiao Yi Bai would sometimes show this expression toward the big black egg, which was terrifyingly powerful.

But at such times, he tried to avoid the other's sharpness.

Seeing the two little tigers being scolded by Bai Xiaoyu and realizing his choice was correct, he knew he had made the right decision.

By this time, it was about time, and they took the youngsters onto the aircraft.

When they returned to the breeding facility, many parents were already waiting to pick up their youngsters, including the twenty who had previously had no parents.

The fastest was a blood-patterned leopard who darted to the side of a tall man, the same warrior with 2S mental energy and physique who had been injured when they first met. Next to him stood another equally tall man.

When adopting youngsters, those with partners were given priority, as it was hard for a single person to raise a youngster well while working. The Youngster Protection Association would question this. So many warriors had confessed to the people they liked, and quite a few had become a couple in the past three months.

After spending time together, all twenty youngsters had found their guardians, with the little snake finding his biological father.

Now, looking at the little snake whose blood patterns had faded significantly, he too darted out quickly, running to a man with an expressionless face, ordinary looks, and a figure that wouldn't stand out in a crowd. The little snake happily twisted his little snake waist.

The little snake's beast eyes were filled with disbelief. Wasn't it said that fathers couldn't leave the underground rooms? He had thought that after he returned, he would have to stay with Papa Bai, but now his father was here to pick him up like the parents of other youngsters.

Seeing his father stand tall in the sunlight, not going mad or being confined, he was especially happy. Before, his father would either watch his unhatched videos all day or try to calm down other raging uncles and aunts, and they couldn't come out together.

He had envied other youngsters who had parents to accompany them, and now, could his father do the same?

Papa Bai had told him that his father would be able to accompany him soon, and it turned out to be true.

The little snake was even more excited and kept urging his father, wanting him to go to Papa Bai.

Bai Xiaoyu watched as the little snake happily led his father over, constantly hissing as if sharing his immense joy.

The man smiled slightly at Bai Xiaoyu, his usually expressionless face managing a tiny, stiff smile. Although it was awkward and not very natural, with only a slight curve, he had finally relearned how to smile.

The little snake became even more excited, constantly hissing and urging his father to let Papa Bai see.

Bai Xiaoyu nodded. "The Youngster Protection Association people will be here soon. I mentioned something to you before; you need to prepare for it."

Due to the changes in the big snake's genes, which caused a discrepancy with the little snake's genes, and the need for secrecy, he couldn't appear as the little snake's biological father for now. However, he could adopt the little snake under the identity of a blood relative, which had lower requirements than non-blood relatives. As long as the big snake had a stable job and income, adopting the little snake wouldn't be a problem.

Watching the youngsters being picked up by their parents, the interactions were no less affectionate than those with biological parents. Bai Xiaoyu's eyes became increasingly gentle. Even if the Youngster Protection Association came tomorrow and had reservations about these adoptive parents, as long as the youngsters liked them and the parents met the basic requirements, they couldn't interfere. Even if they could provide better-qualified adoptive parents, it still had to be the youngster's choice.

These youngsters were mostly settled.

Meanwhile, in the medical room below, it was no longer filled with the roars of raging beasts. Now, six wards were filled with laughter, occasionally accompanied by a beast roar in agreement. These were the relatives and friends brought by the Sixteenth and Twenty-ninth Legions, and after such a long time together, these six beasts had recovered to a state similar to the big snake. It wouldn't be long before they could leave too.

The remaining three ferocious beasts, among which the relatives of the weasel and hedgehog were found and brought over not long ago, have been much quieter recently.

Now, only one ferocious beast is left. Compared to the lively atmosphere outside the rooms of the other nine ferocious beasts, it has always been quiet and peaceful here. Besides Bai Xiaoyu who often comes by, the other nine beasts also drag their families over to show off every day, and he's really had enough of it.

Even a ferocious beast with little rationality can't stand the beastly behavior of these guys.

By now, a large pit had been dug in the ground. Every time these beasts come over, he would burrow into the ground and make sure to fill the exit properly.

No one is going to disturb him!

The reason this obviously armadillo beastman can move is because Bai Xiaoyu found what those guys were doing a bit unbearable. He replaced the armadillo's chains, and this new set allows him to move freely within the room. Even seeing the armadillo dig holes every day, Bai Xiaoyu doesn't stop him.

Now, whenever the armadillo is stimulated into a frenzy, instead of causing destruction, he digs holes like crazy.

When Bai Xiaoyu checked the surveillance, he naturally noticed the armadillo's good work and could only sigh. The information of this last ferocious beast warrior was brought over by the parents of the Sixteenth Legion.

This warrior's family perished when the planet they were on was attacked by the Zerg while he was still in school.

After enlisting, he didn't find a partner, and none of the comrades he was familiar with returned from the battlefield.

Now, out of the ten ferocious beasts, nine are slowly recovering, but he continues to wait in loneliness, with no relatives or friends coming to see him anymore.

Even if Bai Xiaoyu wants to help now, he doesn't know how to.

For the time being, this is the best they can do. Fortunately, with the stimulation from the other ferocious beasts, this guy hasn't completely lost his rationality like before, which is an unexpected surprise.

Bai Xiaoyu turned off the surveillance and took these two eggs and two tigers back. He took out the medicinal herbs sent over from the vegetative state people, first picking out the century-old Xisui herb and other Xisui Dan herbs.

These herbs were between fifty to eighty years old, but two types were still missing.

However, he quickly took out two white jade boxes, which contained the missing herbs.

After discovering that the dark matter on Dahei and regular Xisui Dan had little effect, he had already considered using herbs with better medicinal properties of at least several decades to refine a higher-grade Xisui Dan.

So, over the past few months, he had collected many herbs that were ten to twenty years old, and some were thirty to fifty years old. After all, in some parts of the galaxy, the spiritual energy had recovered well, maintaining an excellent growth state for a long time, and some herbs grew to be thirty to fifty years old.

But the quantity was scarce, far less in quality compared to those sent by the vegetative state people.

The two herbs in his hand, one being thirty years old and the other fifty, were just enough to complement the century-old Xisui herb.

Taking a deep breath and adjusting his state, he began to refine the herbs.

He first refined the ten-something-year-old herbs to get a feel for it before cautiously refining these herbs.

It took him half a day, being extremely careful throughout. The difficulty of refining these decades-old herbs was much higher than ordinary herbs. His mental energy was greatly depleted during the process of removing impurities and fusing them into a medicinal ball.

When his mental energy was barely holding on and his physique was about to give in, the dan pellet was formed.

Sensing that the time was about right, he opened the dan furnace, and a rotating dan pellet with three different colored patterns appeared before his eyes.

It was clearly a small premium Xisui Dan.

The fragrance of the dan could only be smelled from the residual aroma in the furnace; the formed dan pellet had its fragrance completely sealed by the three patterns, preventing any loss.

Bai Xiaoyu, with sweat beads on his forehead that he hadn't time to wipe off, hurriedly took out a white jade bottle to store the dan pellet.

Looking at the white jade bottle, Bai Xiaoyu let out a sigh of relief. Fortunately, a few days ago, he had taken time out of his busy schedule to exercise his physique and use potions to strengthen his body, doing everything he could to push through, and finally, he ascended another small level. Now, he had broken through from D to C-. Otherwise, he would have collapsed midway through refining the herbs.

Reaching C- meant he could finally discard the title of a waste, and his physique was now comparable to most ordinary people, completely bidding farewell to the fragile state where he used to pant after every step.

This improvement in physique came just in time for the herbs sent by the vegetative state people. Otherwise, even if he was worried about Dahei's condition, he would have been helpless facing this century-old Xisui herb. However, the next two herbs, one of three hundred years and another of eight hundred, would still require continued effort. But after breaking through to D grade, using medicinal herbs to strengthen his body no longer required dilution to the extent of newborns, and the improvement speed was much faster compared to the previous restrained approach.

Holding the white jade bottle, Bai Xiaoyu opened the door, and as expected, he saw Dahei's metal egg and a little white tiger guarding outside. The Little Prince, who had returned from a hunt, and Little Bai, who had been given a nickname by his parents, had just transformed back into human form. The Little Prince and Little Golden Tiger were fighting, while Little Bai clapped happily on the side, enjoying the show.

Seeing the white jade bottle in Bai Xiaoyu's hand, they all moved away slightly.

Bai Xiaoyu looked at them amusedly, then suddenly turned to the large black egg. "Dahei, follow me to the bathroom."

The other two let out a sigh of relief, but then Bai Xiaoyu looked at them again, "The little ones need a medicinal bath too, and before that, I need to change Bai Kan's medicine."

Soon, Bai Xiaoyu patted the metal egg that had finished having its medicine changed and was now rolling on the ground. He took Dahei's egg and the little one into the bathroom.

The little one had suffered injuries to his primordial qi since birth and hadn't recovered yet, so he naturally needed to join the medicinal bath. Once he recovered, his talent should improve further.

Now, the little one's talent was already double 3S, and it was uncertain what level it would reach after further improvement. It must be said that the White Tiger clan was exceptionally strong. According to galactic records, there were very few below 3S.

Bai Xiaoyu prepared the medicinal bath, picked up the little white tiger, and after a while, the little tiger was grimacing and twitching slightly, all wet.

Seeing the little one like this, Bai Xiaoyu couldn't help him; he could only rely on himself to get through it. After gently patting the little one's head, Bai Xiaoyu turned to the large bath tub where the large black egg had voluntarily hopped into and was now bouncing around.

Looking at Dahei like this, and considering the medicinal properties of the small premium Xisui Dan, Bai Xiaoyu realized this round would probably be several times more painful than before. Even if Dahei was very tolerant, he needed to warn him in advance.

He gently patted Dahei's egg, "Dahei, this time it's really more painful than before. Can you handle it? If not, I'll split the Xisui Dan into half and do it in two rounds."

The large black egg shook, clearly shaking its head while bouncing up and down, indicating as usual that he wasn't afraid.

Seeing Dahei like this, Bai Xiaoyu made his decision. Splitting the Xisui Dan would reduce its effectiveness by more than half, so he solemnly patted Dahei's egg, "Hold on. If it's too much, tell me, and I'll change the bath tub's medicine."

Seeing Dahei agree, Bai Xiaoyu took out the still warm small premium Xisui Dan, glanced at the prepared large black egg, and poured it into the steaming bath tub.

The Xisui Dan with three patterns almost instantly dissolved the moment it touched the other medicinal liquid in the bath tub, disappearing in an instant, without changing the color of the liquid inside the tub, as if nothing had been added.

However, at that moment, the large black egg suddenly trembled violently, almost crashing into the bath tub.

Bai Xiaoyu watched nervously, unsure if it was the steam from the tub or other reasons, but sweat began to appear on his forehead again.

The large black egg seemed to notice and rolled intensely before sinking to the bottom, constantly rolling in the transparent bath tub.

In no time, the originally faintly greenish medicinal liquid was dyed black by a large amount of black substance that suddenly emerged. The blackness inside the barrel became more and more concentrated, and Bai Xiaoyu could no longer see what was inside. He could only judge the condition of Dahei inside based on the degree of tumbling of the black medicinal liquid at the surface.

It was a full half hour, during which he asked several times, urging Dahei to come up if he couldn't hold on anymore, but the other party never surfaced.

It was only when the effect of the Ximosan was almost done that Bai Xiaoyu hurriedly transferred the black, entirely dark-substance-filled liquid into other containers. After washing the bath barrel several times, the interior regained its transparent color. Inside, a large black egg was still lying at the bottom, wobbling slightly and then suddenly stopping.

Startled, Bai Xiaoyu jumped into the bath barrel and patted the egg's surface with his hand, but the large black egg still showed no signs of movement. He probed inside the egg with his mental energy, and what met his eyes was a massive, fierce bone tiger. Except for the tips of its limbs and tail, the rest of its body was made of eerily black bones, with black gas emanating from them. Its flesh and blood repeatedly grew and were devoured again and again.

There were also multiple fractures in the bones, with fine cracks covering the limbs, ribs, spinal column, and even the skull.

Bai Xiaoyu's usually steady mental energy trembled; he had never seen such injuries in someone still alive.

Unconsciously, he clutched his chest. "Dahei, what exactly did you go through? What kind of pain are you enduring every moment?

And yet, you're still able to bounce around like that in front of me."

At that moment, the Dahei inside looked up, its beast eyes growing and then being devoured again, staring at him with empty eye sockets.

An inexplicable aura rushed towards him, powerful yet restrained. Even though what stood before him was a severely wounded beast, at that moment, Bai Xiaoyu felt as if the aura of thousands of troops couldn't compare to this bone tiger.

The human and the beast seemed to lock eyes for a moment, and in the familiarity, Bai Xiaoyu felt a hint of strangeness. He tried to speak, "Dahei, are you still in pain?"

At that moment, the large bone tiger on the other side trembled, awkwardly moving its paw slightly. The next second, the bone tiger began to convulse. Soon, that familiar paw reached under Bai Xiaoyu's mental energy, frantically urging him.

Seeing the four restless paws, the tail swinging and ready to stretch over, that familiar feeling returned to Bai Xiaoyu.

At that moment, several fist-thick mental energy tendrils shot out from the tiger's forehead. It was the first time he had seen such sharp, dangerous mental energy blades among the people of the interstellar world. Each was like a sharp sword, extremely perilous.

Now, several sharp mental energy swords were stretching towards him, swaying and wobbling as they approached.

Truly... the unstoppable aura brought by the mental energy swords was immediately broken by the convulsing posture.

As the misshapen mental energy swords gradually approached Bai Xiaoyu's mental energy filaments, they suddenly transformed into adorable transparent tiger paws, circling around his mental energy.

From these mental energy swords, Bai Xiaoyu received streams of incredibly joyful thoughts, "Bai Bai, I'm your dear Dahei, can you hear me? It's me, me, me!"

Looking at the bone tiger wagging its tail, its four paws swaying along, and its body slightly swaying, it seemed that everything was temporarily alright.

Bai Xiaoyu let out a sigh of relief and nodded in response to the bone tiger, which looked at him with eerily deep eye sockets full of anticipation. "I can hear you, Dahei. Hello."

---

Chapter 124

The large black beast was extremely excited by the response, and several beast claw-shaped mental tendrils swirled around Bai Xiaoyu's thin mental filaments, all trying to firmly grasp this thread.

At the same time, the mental tendrils kept transmitting various thoughts, "Bai Bai, I'm so happy that you can finally hear me. This time is much better, not as painful as before."

Bai Xiaoyu gently poked the nearest tiger claw with his mental filament, his eyes unable to resist glancing at the bone tiger inside the egg. Its body was still surrounded by dark matter and covered in wounds. How painful must it have been before?

The large black beast became even more excited when poked, constantly telepathically calling, "Bai Bai, Bai Bai, Bai Bai..."

Bai Xiaoyu felt each of the mental claw tendrils in turn, watching as the large black, unsatisfied after being poked, stretched out its claws again. Bai Xiaoyu rubbed it gently with his mental filament and then said to the large black beast, "Large black, how about letting me use my mental energy to probe your body again?"

In the past, because there was too much dark matter in the large black beast's body, any mental energy that probed inside would be attacked by this dark matter, so the large black beast would basically refuse to let Bai Xiaoyu's mental energy get close.

The large black beast hesitated for a moment, "Then Bai Bai must be careful, just look at the claws and the outer layer of the body, don't probe the inner layer. Otherwise, your mental energy will hurt and get injured."

Bai Xiaoyu: "Large black, my mental energy can hold up just fine, let me take a look."

The large black egg was usually very obedient, but in situations like this, it would become stubborn again. Now it was like a child, usually dazed but seemingly able to clearly judge how far Bai Xiaoyu's mental energy could go without being harmed.

This boundary was clearly defined. Except for the first time when Bai Xiaoyu probed inside the large black and almost got injured, whenever his mental energy reached the edge of 'crossing the boundary,' the large black would refuse further probing.

Looking at the wounded bone tiger, which was shaking its head while staring at him with empty eye sockets, Bai Xiaoyu knew the result and had to agree to the large black's request, "Alright."

He used his mental energy to probe, starting from the large black's front claws. Basically, the surface dark matter had been mostly expelled, and the outer layer had begun to slowly grow flesh and blood. Of course, there was still some dark matter consuming it, but the consumption speed had slowed, allowing the new flesh and blood to recover gradually.

Bai Xiaoyu looked at the black bones and cracks, shocking to the eye, and his mental energy wanted to probe further inside. Almost immediately, a mental tiger claw tendril stretched over, pressing down on his mental filament.

This time, the contact between the mental energies was larger than the previous gentle poke, causing Bai Xiaoyu's mental energy to tremble.

Strangely, their mental energies resonated.

Bai Xiaoyu looked at the bone tiger, which had now returned to its steady demeanor, the empty eye sockets staring intently at him.

Bai Xiaoyu felt a little guilty, more startled by the resonance of their mental energies and the immense familiarity. From the apocalypse until now, he had met many people but had never encountered such a mental resonance. This was different from the interns who were trained and used his mental energy as a guide to create a semi-source relationship. This was the first time he had encountered such a situation, and he couldn't quite describe the feeling for a moment. Moreover, this was his first contact with the large black's mental energy, but the deep familiarity that reached the soul couldn't be faked.

Bai Xiaoyu gave a slight nod to the large black, who seemed to have grown up mentally in an instant, and the large black's mental tiger claw slowly let go.

Bai Xiaoyu's mental tendril touched the tiger claw, "Large black?"

The bone tiger was startled, then nodded slightly.

Bai Xiaoyu now sensed the large black's uniqueness. He had probably suffered a fatal injury and, through some unknown opportunity, returned to being an egg. This situation was somewhat similar to when Lou Hao ate the Snake Shedding Grass.

In this vast interstellar world, as an outsider, Bai Xiaoyu only had a partial understanding. The situation with the large black egg wasn't particularly strange to him.

Bai Xiaoyu: "If you don't like the name Large Black, you can tell me your name."

The bone tiger sent a thought, "My name is Large Black."

Bai Xiaoyu looked at the majestic bone tiger, who was now seriously telling him that its name was Large Black, and it felt somewhat... strange.

Before he could ask further, the bone tiger instantly changed its style as its limbs moved and its tail swung.

The large black beast looked aggrieved, "Bai Bai, my name is Large Black, how could you forget my name!"

Bai Xiaoyu quickly reassured the large black beast, "I didn't forget; I just wanted to know your real name."

The large black seemed to think hard for a moment, "Bai Dahei, full name Bai Bai's Dear Dahei!"

Bai Xiaoyu: "..."

Seeing this, Bai Xiaoyu knew he wouldn't get a real name out of the large black.

And it seemed that the current large black and the adult-like large black didn't know their own names either.

Regarding the large black's situation, Bai Xiaoyu had no doubts that there were two people in the consciousness. No one was clearer than him that their mental energies were the same.

It was just that after the mental energy suffered a significant injury, various unexpected situations could arise.

The large black's case was just one type, more like a transformation into an egg, where the consciousness was also affected and reverted to the state of an egg's consciousness.

Once the large black's mental body was repaired, this situation would presumably heal.

Bai Xiaoyu's mental energy came out of the large black egg and gently touched the large black egg that came over. Thinking of the bone tiger inside, his actions became even gentler.

The little white tiger nearby had finally finished absorbing the potion and saw his brother jump into the large black egg's bathtub, now helping the large black egg rub its body to bathe. He couldn't help but let out an "Ao."

Brother, an egg could just be rinsed off with a cloth; there's no need to go through so much trouble.

Hearing this, Bai Xiaoyu got out of the bathtub, and the large black egg hopped out behind him.

As the large black egg passed by, it bumped into the little white tiger's bathtub, causing the little white tiger, who had just climbed out, to fall back in with a splash.

The little white tiger emerged again, glaring angrily and letting out an "Ao ao" at the large black.

Bai Xiaoyu was already used to this, knowing that although the little one was very obedient to the large black during training, at night, they would revert to their previous mode of not getting along.

He took the large black egg and the little white tiger out and also cleaned the little golden tiger outside.

When it was time to rest, after sending off the metal egg and settling the Little Prince and Little Bai, Bai Xiaoyu looked at his large bed, surrounded by eggs and little tigers on three sides, and his gaze fell on the large black egg.

This guy wasn't in the unhatched egg form that he had initially thought; inside was an adult beastman. Sleeping together again wouldn't bother him, as someone who had come from the apocalypse, he had slept in large communal beds with men, women, and children during the hardest times.

What he was thinking was that it was fine for the large black to be in its cub-dominant state, but if, while sleeping, the adult took over the body, would the other party be uncomfortable or mind sleeping with someone else?

So Bai Xiaoyu looked at the large black egg, which was wobbling and rolling around, taking up half the bed, and said, "Large black, you're grown up now; you need to learn to sleep alone. Your room has always been empty; why don't you sleep there?"

The two little tigers, one white and one golden, next to him both perked up their ears in unison, reaching a consensus for the first time. Upon hearing the conversation, they eagerly urged the big black egg to get off the bed. Their little tails wagged, clearly pleased about the impending departure of the big black egg.

If they weren't outmatched by the big black egg, the two of them would probably have already joined forces to carry the gigantic egg out.

The big black egg was stunned, the whole egg seemingly struck with a huge blow. A minute later, Bai Xiaoyu watched as the silently bouncing big black egg made its way to the corner of the room, dejected and facing the wall. He sighed.

Considering that the big black egg had already gone through a lot tonight and was in need of rest, he coaxed the aggrieved big black egg back onto the bed.

The previously downcast big black egg immediately sprang back to life, skillfully bouncing onto the bed, lying down, and obediently pulling the blanket over itself.

The other two tiger cubs, seeing the big black egg return, tried to push it away but to no avail, and could only resign themselves to the situation.

Bai Xiaoyu also got onto the bed, with the big black egg on one side and the two tiger cubs on the other.

He turned off the light and went to sleep. However, despite his usually excellent sleep quality and often dreamless nights until morning, he now had some extremely vague dreams.

In his dream, he found himself as a fetus, no, an egg that hadn't even developed a hard shell yet. At that moment, he was in a daze. The reason he suddenly woke up was due to the presence of harmful chemical components in his previously safe environment.

Even though he was just a soft-shelled egg, he somehow knew these substances were harmful to him.

And there was more than one inhabitant in this place. Right next to him was another similarly soft egg.

The egg next to him was oblivious to the impending disaster and showed no reaction at all.

Instinctively, he used his mental energy to disrupt the structure of some of the components, but there were traces of damage within his own egg body as well, indicating this wasn't the first time. After this, he soon fell back into a deep sleep.

At that moment, the scene changed.

His consciousness drifted, and now he felt the same emotions as when he had faced the barrel of a gun. Soon after, a powerful mental tendril emerged from nowhere and grabbed him.

Bai Xiaoyu was led by this mental energy to a giant silver-white tiger.

The white tiger seemed to know him, and they communicated. Later, he was gently wrapped in the white tiger's mental energy and taken back to the tiger's sea of consciousness...

The dream ended, and Bai Xiaoyu jolted awake, wondering what had just happened.

Rubbing his slightly sore forehead, he was momentarily confused by the strange dream.

People with excellent mental energy rarely dream, and when they do, it's often a display of their own memories.

He usually managed his memories very well and didn't experience such confusion-induced dreams.

This sudden dream was likely something he had experienced before but had somehow forgotten, only for it to resurface now without control.

After analyzing it, the first scene was clearly in the womb, suggesting he had come here very early. And the soft-shelled egg next to him...

Bai Xiaoyu instinctively looked at the little golden tiger sleeping next to him. Lying on its back, its four paws in the air, its small mouth slightly open, even leaving a small wet spot on the bedsheet below.

It had to be this little guy.

What time was the second scene?

Bai Xiaoyu suddenly looked at the big black egg. Unlike usual, after waking up, it didn't immediately try to get close to him, rubbing against him. Instead, it seemed frozen in place, not moving for a long time.

Bai Xiaoyu poked the big black egg, and to his surprise, it remained stiff and unmoving.

He reached out and touched the egg, and the big black egg involuntarily trembled. When Bai Xiaoyu moved his hand away, the egg discreetly shifted to the side.

Watching the big black egg move, Bai Xiaoyu looked at his hand in surprise. The egg's surface was slightly warm.

The big black egg seemed to notice Bai Xiaoyu's gaze and immediately stopped moving.

But three seconds later, the big black egg changed its attitude, happily rolling over to Bai Xiaoyu, rubbing against him with its egg body.

Bai Xiaoyu touched the big black egg, and its temperature gradually returned to normal.

But the big black egg suddenly became shy and acted coy. He was puzzled himself, having slept with Bai Bai for so long, why was he suddenly feeling shy today?

This strange situation continued until breakfast. As Bai Xiaoyu prepared a grand meal, the two little tiger cubs next to him had their tails straight up, trying to escape but being pulled back each time, forced to eat. However, the big black egg, unlike usual, didn't try to escape with the tiger cubs and instead absorbed everything without any reaction, standing still as if unaffected.

The two tiger cubs were unusually polite to the big black egg at this time, not teasing or provoking it as usual. Their fur seemed to bristle slightly, sensing how the big black egg's presence had grown significantly stronger overnight.

---

Chapter 125

Not only that, this guy remained so calm while absorbing the potion.

After the two tiger cubs were caught and brought back, they had a role model to follow. Not wanting to be outdone, they also forced themselves to finish the potion.

After finishing, they all sprawled out on the carpet, their eyes wandering over the big black egg.

The Little Prince and Little Bai next to them, both wrinkled their little faces as they finished eating, then began gnawing on insect crystals.

At this moment, Bai Xiaoyu added some extra nourishment to the metal egg, while Bai Kan tried hard to maintain the appearance of a good older brother, resisting the urge to roll around.

He also stared at the big black egg, wondering why it seemed a bit strange today.

As Bai Kan finished absorbing the potion, Bai Xiaoyu probed inside the egg with his mental energy.

The large tiger inside the egg had already evolved well, with strong and powerful limbs, thick paw pads, sharp claws, and fur colored in a mix of silver and light gold. The fur resembled a mix between a small white tiger and the little golden tiger. Added to that were the tiger stripes and a body much taller than before, making it look extremely majestic.

Bai Xiaoyu observed Bai Kan's beast form, noting that the half-White Tiger bloodline had been fully awakened, with the regression completed. In the process, the Golden Tiger bloodline within his body had also been purified, causing the originally brownish-yellow fur to evolve into a light gold.

Bai Xiaoyu focused on the large tiger's hind legs, which were well-developed. This meant that Bai Kan would be able to stand freely without the need for any mechanical assistance.

After examining Bai Kan's beast form inside the egg, Bai Xiaoyu estimated that Bai Kan's evolution was nearly complete and that he would be able to hatch in a few days.

Extending his mental energy, Bai Xiaoyu patted the egg's surface, "Your condition is good, keep it up, and try to hatch as soon as possible."

Bai Kan had been watching his legs closely for a long time, so he knew his situation well. His legs had been immobile for many years, so hearing Bai Xiaoyu's words naturally stirred great excitement in him.

The large tiger inside the egg began to roll around, and with its claws, it messaged Bai Xiaoyu using the optical brain, "Little Hundred, there's no problem with my legs this time, right?"

Bai Xiaoyu nodded, and the metal egg immediately started circling Bai Xiaoyu frantically, "Great! Soon I'll be able to pilot a mech and gallop across the stars!"

Seeing how unimpressive this was, it wasn't until Bai Xiaoyu called out that the other companions could stand it no longer.

Bai Xiaoyu checked the time, then turned to the big black egg, "Big Black, later you'll take them on the flyer to the Herb Base. After all, the Youngster Protection Association people are coming today, and you'll need to avoid them for the next three days."

Normally, the big black egg would take the opportunity to rub against Bai Xiaoyu, but now it just stood still, bouncing slightly as if to agree.

Big Black's reaction drew the attention of the other companions again, and even the metal egg messaged Bai Xiaoyu, "Has Big Black been possessed today?"

Bai Xiaoyu understood Big Black's situation; it had likely just experienced the impact of the marrow-washing elixir, causing its consciousness to be unstable, leading to these intermittent changes.

Once it stabilized, it would maintain one state for a longer period, rather than switching between states every few moments as it was doing now.

However, apart from confusing those who didn't understand, this wasn't a big issue and was actually a sign of Big Black's gradual recovery.

Bai Xiaoyu replied to Bai Kan, "It's okay, he's getting better. For the upcoming journey, I'll have to trouble you to keep an eye on him. If something seems off, remember to notify me."

Bai Kan naturally agreed.

At this point, Bai Xiaoyu took out a few longevity locks, placing one on Little Bai, "Little Bai, I wish you good health and growth in the future."

Little Bai's chubby little hand grabbed the shiny longevity lock around his neck and waved his other hand at Bai Xiaoyu, happily chirping.

The Little Prince next to him also eyed the pretty and delicate object, staring at Bai Xiaoyu's palm, "I want one too."

Bai Xiaoyu looked at the Little Prince, who was watching him eagerly, and took out a longevity lock for him as well. This longevity lock was the same as Little Bai's, both emitting a faint blue glow, and had been specially prepared for the two of them.

At this point, the little golden tiger also came over with its own longevity lock, looking at the golden lock around its neck and seeming to prefer it even more.

The little white tiger glanced over and then looked away. He had never really gotten along with the Little Prince, and not fighting was already a good outcome.

Bai Xiaoyu turned to the metal egg, "Iron Egg, what about you? Do you want it now or after you hatch?"

Bai Kan: "Naturally, we'll wait until after it hatches."

Bai Xiaoyu nodded and then looked at the unresponsive large black egg. By now, it would have usually come over asking for something. The man and the egg seemed to be locked in a stare. After a moment, Bai Xiaoyu opened his palm, revealing a silver longevity lock inside, "Big Black, do you want this again?"

The large black egg didn't nuzzle over but moved slightly. Bai Xiaoyu replied, "Alright, I'll keep it for you, along with the previous ones."

Of course, he would keep a longevity lock for himself too. By now, he had accumulated three. There would be more in the future.

Then Bai Xiaoyu stood up, and the large black egg immediately hopped to the front, looking ready to go.

Bai Xiaoyu: "Let's go."

The metal egg next to him paused, and the whiskers of the big tiger inside twitched. Something felt a bit off?

How had Little Hundred suddenly developed such strange chemistry with this large black egg? It was as if they could understand each other's intentions with just a few movements, without even speaking.

It looked very strange.

At this moment, the metal egg also inexplicably felt a sense of crisis, now looking at the large black egg, it didn't quite seem like an egg anymore. Before, it made sense, but now it resembled his situation more.

The more Bai Kan thought about it, the more suspicious he became, continuously staring at the large black egg.

Bai Xiaoyu, however, didn't notice the metal egg's abnormality. He sent these two eggs and three little ones away, heading out to the breeding facility.

By now, the warriors had already arrived early, accompanying the little ones for breakfast.

Bai Xiaoyu had also received a notification from the Youngster Protection Association that they had arrived.

He looked at the warriors dressed in ordinary casual clothes, exuding a bit more warmth and harmoniously interacting with the little ones, instructing them to prepare before he went to receive the Youngster Protection Association members.

At this time, on other planets, two factions were also searching planet by planet. As time passed and they still hadn't found what they were looking for, both became increasingly anxious, fearing someone else might snatch it first.

Bai Qi looked at the livestock planet's delivery recipient and address, which was near the forest by Bai Xiaoyu and the breeding facility.

Although he didn't think the Zerg Prince would come here, Bai Xiaoyu had the insect crystal. Just in case? Once they reached Bai Xiaoyu's place, the Prince would definitely go looking for the insect crystal.

Bai Xiaoyu had been eagerly awaiting the batch of experimental subjects to be hatched from the breeding facility. Now was the critical time for adoption, and he had always wanted a subject for research. Previously, the batch of special unhatched eggs was gone, and he was in desperate need of experimental materials.

It was perfect timing to send someone to investigate the Youngster Protection Association. Coincidentally, another group had a similar idea.

Thus, among the seven people from the Cultivation Association that Bai Xiaoyu and Lou Hao were dealing with, two had ulterior motives.

Over the next two days, these individuals would follow twenty youngsters, recording how prospective adoptive parents interacted with them.

Bai Xiaoyu observed them as they each recorded two to three youngsters, his attention eventually drawn to the last man, who was responsible for recording the little snake and his father.

Initially, he hadn't paid much attention, until this man started picking fights, deliberately targeting the big snake.

The big snake's current identity had been forged with the help of the Sixteenth Legion, posing as a relative of the little snake who had gone missing during the Zerg invasion of a planet. Even the big snake's face was covered with a realistic disguise mask, identical to the relative in every way except for the lack of expression.

Despite being the lowest requirement for relative adoption, they nitpicked endlessly, even using the big snake's serious demeanor as an argument. They claimed he couldn't be a good parent and kept promoting applicants with supposedly excellent conditions for adoption to the little snake.

However, when this man tried to pick up the little snake, the young snake lashed out with its tail.

Naturally, the man was upset but still smiled and tried to persuade the little snake. But the little snake ignored him completely. With high mental strength and proper nutrition aiding its brain development, the little snake wasn't as easily fooled as other youngsters.

As a result, while other parents had smooth progress, things weren't going well for the big snake.

That night, Bai Xiaoyu secretly brought Dahei and the others back, and in the late hours, he received a message from the soldiers.

Someone had gone out from the breeding facility, carrying instruments to detect the coordinates where the Little Prince's livestock aircraft had previously landed.

Bai Xiaoyu immediately became alert. Could it be the people from the lab that had imprisoned the Little Prince?

According to the soldiers' report, the person had detected for a long time before leaving at dawn. So far, they hadn't found anything.

After all, they had already cleaned up the site, and besides the mental protection layer painted by the Little Prince, there was also the jammer developed by Tao Limeng. Both the Little Prince and Little Bai had these small devices stuck behind their ears.

There was no way they could be found.

Bai Qi also received the message and wasn't surprised. However, the description of this parent reminded him of one of the individuals sent earlier.

But he still had doubts about Bai Xiaoyu's side. What if the Little Prince had been caught while searching for the Zerg crystal?

Although the chances were slim, if the Prince was in the breeding facility, their instruments, developed using the Prince's mental energy and body parts, would have detected him. If he wasn't there, he might have been transferred. They should mark him for now and reconsider if nothing turns up on other planets.

Now, Bai Qi focused on this adoptive parent's information, but nothing seemed off for now. If it was one of the previous batch, the best way to test him would emerge.

He instructed this person to focus their efforts on the blood-egg youngster, by any means necessary.

The next day was the last chance. The other party even requested a mental strength test on the big snake, suspecting issues with the big snake's mental state, claiming his violent tendencies made him unsuitable as an adoptive parent.

The man spoke with conviction, and when Bai Xiaoyou rushed over, he noticed the big snake's eyes had begun to show vertical pupils.

Highly sensitive to the scent of the drug, Bai Xiaoyu immediately detected something unusual, even though it had almost dissipated. The air still carried traces of a colorless, odorless drug containing mad beast grass, which greatly affected interstellar beast people.

Fortunately, Bai Xiaoyu had already trained the big snake extensively. After months of exposure to mad beast grass, instead of immediately transforming and attacking as he used to, the big snake now only showed vertical pupils.

To accompany the little snake, the big snake had spent an entire month struggling with mad beast grass, destroying several modified basements in the process.

Bai Xiaoyu looked at the man in front of him, who seemed righteous but had evasive eyes. This was the same person who had gone out to detect in the middle of the night. There was a high chance that the forces behind him were the same ones that had previously imprisoned the Little Prince. Given how skilled they were with mad beast grass without leaving traces, they might also be the ones who had modified the big snake.

Keeping his composure, Bai Xiaoyu said, "If you want to test him, then test him. But your association staff need to be here to witness it too. If there's no issue, you'll have to apologize to this parent."

The man agreed. This drug had a significant effect on beast people, and if there were signs of beast features, it would indicate mental issues.

As long as there was a problem, he could report it. Since the breeding facility hadn't found suitable adoptive parents for the youngsters in over three months, the youngster would be transferred to the Cultivation Association, making things easier.

However, when everyone was present and the test results came in, he was shocked to find that the big snake's mental energy only showed a slight fluctuation, without the expected agitation issues.

Facing everyone's gaze, the man knew his task had failed and was forced to apologize. Since the parent had no issues, and the youngster had a strong preference for him, the adoption was finalized.

Except for some complications with the little snake, the adoption process for other youngsters went smoothly. In the end, the staff from the Youngster Protection Association...

Bai Xiaoyu gave a final glance at the association staff member who was still reluctant and passed this person's information to two legions.

For now, they couldn't touch this small fry and had to let him go to avoid alerting the bigger fish behind him.

Soon, the two legions uncovered that this person had a well-concealed background, but they managed to find some clues.

Looking at the final results, Bai Xiaoyu's eyes darkened as he thought of the mad beast warriors in the underground medical room.

The Huang family?

If it was them, it would make sense.

As the second-largest drug supplier in the entire star system, the Huang family also had large medical teams.

These medical teams needed to go to the battlefield rear of their affiliated planets to treat injured local civilians and wounded soldiers sent back.

The medical teams of the Huang family were present on the front lines of the Sixteenth and Twenty-ninth Legions.

If they had secretly transported wounded soldiers for experimental purposes, it was indeed possible.

But the two legions had already investigated them before without finding anything.

Almost all the wounded soldiers' entries and exits, numbers, and identities were in order.

The Huang family's medical teams had been flawless on the battlefield. Yet now, the evidence pointed to them.

How had they managed it?

As Bai Xiaoyu pondered, Bai Qi also received news that the beast person had no issues.

Perhaps he was overthinking it. After all, during that incident when he self-destructed, he should have destroyed those orcs. He pushed the thought aside.

As for the other faction, after Bai Qi's exploration of planet D36 yielded no results, they also learned the outcome and continued to scout other planets.

The masked man looked at the teenager beside him. The boy, who had been thirteen or fourteen, had grown taller after being fed consistently over this period. In just one month, the boy had grown as much as if half a year had passed.

Now, there were new movements from that old fellow, the Insect Emperor. The other day, for some unknown reason, many chieftains of the insect race had become restless.

Unexpectedly, that old fellow should have awakened.

That old guy was indeed strong. He, who had not yet fully grown, needed to temporarily avoid the limelight. At the same time, he must quickly find the other prince so that with two princes growing, there would be security. But unfortunately, the other prince had remained elusive.

Meanwhile, Bai Xiaoyu, once again leaned against the big black egg and fell into a dream.

In the dream, he became an egg again, a very tiny egg. There was another egg next to him, which was similar in size. Occasionally, the other egg would move slightly, but this time, instead of feeling the familiar closeness from when the shell was softer, he felt a bit of estrangement.

Now his egg could move, leaving behind the egg that could only spin in place. He looked around, then bounced away, sneaking out.

Along the way, he avoided staff members and came to a vast grassland outside.

There, a silver-white giant tiger seemed to be sunbathing on the grass.

He couldn't control the egg body now and could only watch as the egg, seemingly startled by the tiger, began to move.

Then… little by little, it shifted closer, sneaking up on the resting silver tiger.

At that moment, as an egg, he didn't know, but from Bai Xiaoyu's perspective, he could tell from the tiger's slightly trembling ears that the moment the egg appeared, the other had already known.

The egg remained unaware and, as it was about to approach the giant white tiger, darted forward suddenly.

In an instant, it was wrapped up by a silvery tail, the entire egg now surrounded by the fluffy and silky sensation, and started to feel confused.

He had hidden well, so how was he discovered?

Bai Xiaoyu sensed the egg's thoughts and suddenly felt an urge to cover his face with his hand.

At this point, the silver-white giant tiger turned its head, looking at the small egg between its tail. The egg was not even as thick as his tail, yet it was quite bold and had run fast. What could it be trying to do?

When Bai Xiaoyu's eyes through the egg's perspective met the beast's pupils, he suddenly woke up.

Opening his eyes, he found that the big black egg beside him had also stood up and seemed to be secretly watching him.

---

Chapter 126

Seeing Bai Xiaoyu open his eyes, the entire black egg froze.

Bai Xiaoyu thought of the large white tiger and then looked at the big black egg in front of him. Is it him?

Feeling Bai Xiaoyu's gaze, the big black egg became even quieter.

Bai Xiaoyu then glanced at the two nearby who were sleeping soundly. He looked back at the big black egg and softly asked, "Big Black, aren't you going to sleep?"

The big black egg immediately obediently lay down.

Bai Xiaoyu also closed his eyes again. Including this dream, he had already had three dreams of memories that he didn't recall over the past few days. Each dream was different, and all were seen from a first-person perspective. If everything went as expected, these were memories he had once forgotten.

All these memories were from the time when he was still an egg. But when did he become an egg?

Bai Xiaoyu thought about it and called the system in his mind, "System, do you know what's going on with the scenes in my dreams?"

System: "Please determine it yourself, host."

Bai Xiaoyu wasn't surprised after hearing that. The system had always been unreliable. Since he couldn't analyze it, he continued sleeping. Maybe after sleeping a few more times and experiencing more dream scenes, he would figure out what was going on.

The second half of the night passed without any dreams. When Bai Xiaoyu woke up in the morning, he received a notification that the District Chief would be coming over in half an hour.

Sooner than expected, the District Chief arrived and looked at Bai Xiaoyu with great anticipation. He said to him, "Breeder Bai, I mentioned before that after the last batch of eggs is cultivated, the breeding facility will undergo an expansion. Have you thought about it?"

Bai Xiaoyu nodded, "Yes."

The District Chief was delighted upon hearing this, "Alright, I'll arrange for people to come and assist."

Bai Xiaoyu had already prepared for the expansion of the breeding facility. After all, each egg needed to be cultivated and hatched within a month after birth, with the incubation period lasting about three months. Therefore, a breeding facility in each region needed to be divided into three time periods to ensure the eggs in the area were cultivated at different stages.

With more eggs expected in the future, expanding this breeding facility was imperative before other facilities in the region were established.

Bai Xiaoyu was a bit surprised to see the additional plot of land approved by the District Chief and the construction team already arranged.

The District Chief smiled beside him, "Everything was prepared in advance, just waiting for your batch of eggs to hatch and then we can proceed with the expansion. By the way, once the expansion is completed, we can apply for two more breeders from the official breeding department. It won't take long; the construction team can finish in three days, or even one day if things go smoothly. I'll have finance send you the bill, and you can transfer the fee to the region."

Bai Xiaoyu nodded, "Alright, I'll check if there are any suitable candidates at the official breeding department first."

If there were none, he could consider letting his two assistants take on the role. After all, they had learned a lot over the past few months, and with the potions he provided, it would be a good time to let them try. If they encountered any eggs they couldn't handle, he would step in to help. However, they still hadn't passed the test for removing dark matter from the eggs, which he would have to handle personally.

The official application process was required for the assistants' promotion, unlike when they came here as assistants where the facility's approval was sufficient.

In fact, assistants also needed to be reviewed by the region. Generally, the region had veto power. However, because Bai Xiaoyu's breeding facility had over 90% of its initial expansion funded by him, the main decision-making power and most of the revenue belonged to him. The region didn't have that right.

But the future expansion of the breeding facility also needed to maintain a good ratio. If the investment fell below 50%, the decision-making power would return to the region. That's why the District Chief gave Bai Xiaoyu the bill.

Bai Xiaoyu went to find his two assistants, who were in the alchemy room. Both were focused on a furnace, their expressions very serious.

From a distance, Bai Xiaoyu could see that Zhang Yi and Lu Qing were practicing guiding the dark matter out of the eggs using their mental energy.

The interns next to them had already finished a round and were carrying the eggs out for inspection.

Several interns lined up, nervously watching the detection instrument.

Soon, the first intern's result came out. Based on the damage to the egg and the degree of dark matter removal, the intern had barely reached a C-.

A hopeful student sighed, "Only a C-? We're far from Ren Zitao and Zhou Miaomiao."

Someone patted him on the shoulder, "If you're not good enough, move aside. I'll definitely do better this time."

The first student sneered, "Let's see how good you are... Oh, another C-? And you're bragging?"

After intense training, their mental energy tendrils had successfully split. The best batch had managed to split five or six mental energy tendrils.

These two interns had four tendrils and had only reached this level after many training sessions.

The next few interns were tested one by one, with similar results.

A C- was not up to Bai Xiaoyu's expectations. After all, they were now dealing with artificial eggs, and real eggs would be much harder than artificial ones. The grade achieved with artificial eggs would likely be one or two grades lower when dealing with real eggs.

But it was already quite good. Once they split more mental tendrils, their progress would accelerate.

Overall, Bai Xiaoyu was satisfied. These top students, though a bit arrogant at first, were diligent, smart, and highly motivated, so their progress was acceptable.

He then shifted his attention to his two assistants, who were also coming out to test their eggs. They looked a bit uneasy, far less confident than the interns.

Their mental energy tendrils had split into three, and the test result was a D-, a whole grade lower than the interns.

The expected result represented the situation of other breeders with slightly lower qualifications.

They were still happy with the result, as they had made progress compared to last time.

After training with the interns, they had learned not to compare themselves with others. As long as they made progress each time, even if they couldn't catch up with those more talented, they could still carve out their own path.

Bai Xiaoyu looked at their test results and thought it was still too early for them to take on the roles of the other two breeders in the facility. But since both had been good breeders before becoming assistants, they were steady and experienced, so there shouldn't be any major issues.

He planned to apply for other breeders from above, but even if they were more qualified, they might not be as good at removing the dark matter from the eggs as his two trained assistants.

So Bai Xiaoyu decided to discuss it with them first. The two assistants were hesitant after hearing his proposal.

After this period of training, they knew they couldn't incubate eggs the way they used to. At their current level, they weren't qualified to be excellent breeders yet. So they decided to continue as assistants and think about taking on more responsibilities when they could handle things independently.

Bai Xiaoyu respected their decision and would have to make other arrangements.

Their conversation was overheard by the nearby interns, and soon they were messaging in the group.

"Damn, the instructor is recruiting two more assistant breeders!"

The group chat exploded with excitement.

Many of the trainees still in training hurried over, including Ren Zitao and Zhou Miaomiao, whose mental energy was almost approaching 3S.

Ren Zitao: "Instructor, I heard that the breeding facility is expanding and needs to find more breeders, is that true?"

Zhou Miaomiao: "Instructor, what do you think of the two of us?"

Seeing that these two had spoken first, other interns quickly volunteered themselves.

"Instructor, can I give it a try?"

"And me..."

The interns, who initially couldn't wait to leave once they finished, were now nearly fighting over the two breeder positions, creating a lively and chaotic scene.

They had been interning for almost half a year, with just another half semester left until graduation. By now, it was about time to start contacting various prestigious breeding facilities, and they would usually be sought after without needing to reach out themselves. Even after graduation, for the next three years they would belong to Bai Xiaoyu, and those powers were willing to wait.

Now, the two top interns from Bai Xiaoyu's breeding and potion specialties had their eyes on the two assistant breeder positions at Bai Xiaoyu's facility, viewing each other as rivals, seeing every other intern as a competitor.

Seeing this, Bai Xiaoyu's gaze swept over a few of the interns. They appeared enthusiastic, and it didn't seem fake.

So he spoke up: "It's not impossible. Two positions, and it'll be based on your assessment scores."

He then patted the robot next to him, "Start the eggs."

Watching the interns place the eggs into the crucible, the chatter died down, and the room gradually became quiet.

Gone were the days of the massive explosions heard just a few months ago. Aside from the interns who had just practiced and were adjusting their states, waiting to recover before participating again, the rest of the interns were all driving out the dark matter in an orderly fashion. For two to three hours, there wasn't a single explosion.

Interns gradually finished, and once those adjusting their states were done, they began the level assessments.

As expected, half of them were C-grade, with most of the rest being C and C. Five achieved B-grade, and the highest, Zhou Miaomiao and Ren Zitao, actually reached B.

They were just shy of passing.

This grade meant they could start working with real eggs. The first month's eggs would go to him, and the next month, one of the two would take over. A month would be enough for both to reach A.

By then, the interns from the breeding and potion specialties, who were the focus of the entire interstellar community, would be ready to present their first report to the entire galaxy.

Bai Xiaoyu had planned for this, but to be safe, he had set the timeline for after their graduation. Now, it had unexpectedly been moved up.

Seeing the two interns confidently submitting their applications, Bai Xiaoyu patted their shoulders, "I'll submit these for you."

The other interns tried to persuade Bai Xiaoyu, "Instructor, one exam can't prove anything. Can we have regular assessments? Those who fail have to step down, how about that?"

Before Bai Xiaoyu could answer, Ren Zitao and Zhou Miaomiao countered them.

"Bring it on, we won't lose even if we do it again."

"Haha, that's quite a boast."

Bai Xiaoyu found it amusing and submitted the applications to the higher-ups.

The regional office approved it almost immediately, sending it directly to the Royal Nursery's official channels.

At that moment, two people from the Royal Nursery received the information and discovered that Bai Xiaoyu had submitted applications for assistant breeder positions, with the list including students from the top specialties of the Imperial Military Academy.

This was their chance.

As everyone waited, they soon saw Bai Xiaoyu accept a call.

Two elderly men with white hair appeared before everyone. They were startled—these were the elder-level master breeder and master potion maker from the Royal Nursery. As students of these two specialties, their initial dream had been to enter the Royal Nursery. Perhaps one day, they would have the honor of breeding a royal child, or even hatching a galactic emperor.

They were no strangers to the revered elders of the Royal Nursery.

Weren't these two in a coma? Why were they contacting their instructor now?

The elders spoke: "Breeder Bai, what do you think of us?"

Bai Xiaoyu: "What do you mean?"

The interns tensed up. This sounded familiar.

Elder Chen: "As your assistant breeder. How about it?"

Elder Han: "Yes, we believe we can do it well."

The interns were stunned.

These two could be recruited anywhere; why were they competing here?

Bai Xiaoyu glanced outside at the large black egg bouncing over and replied, "Sorry, I think younger generations are more suitable as assistant breeders. No generation gap."

The two elders were a little angry. Were they being rejected for being old? When had they ever been treated like this?

"So you prefer these twenty-something, not-fully-grown students as your assistant breeders?"

Bai Xiaoyu had been wary of Elder Han for some time and didn't want them to join. There were many secrets here. If they came, these two crafty elders would uncover many things.

He personally didn't mind, but with Little White Tiger metal egg and the others, especially Big Black and Little Prince Xiao Bai, they couldn't be exposed.

So he replied, "Yes, I do. Who doesn't like the young? They're full of energy, and it's easier to work with them. The assistant breeders I can accept should not have an age difference of more than fifty years. I hope you can understand."

The large black egg that had just rolled in seemed to trip and fell to the ground with a thud.

Dahei Dan was confused. Was he three years old?

No, he wasn't, right?

Moreover, Bai Bai was just a deputy cultivator who worked together with him.

So why was he suddenly feeling inexplicably nervous for no reason?

---

Chapter 127

Han Lao sized up Bai Xiaoyu carefully, speaking with gravitas: "Although we are old, we are not the type who are hard to communicate with, and you are the primary, we are secondary. If there are differences in opinion, your decisions will prevail. Now, about selecting colleagues, did you use some other criteria, like choosing a partner? That doesn't seem quite appropriate for the current situation, does it?"

He scrutinized the two selected students. Both were good-looking. He wondered, is this one also a womanizer like the other? After all, in the interstellar world, lifespan is related to one's mental and physical strength levels. The higher the level, the longer the lifespan. It's not uncommon to work with colleagues whose lifespans differ by five hundred years, not just fifty.

Some races don't even reach adulthood until they are fifty years old.

Moreover, their experience, strength, and reputation far exceed these youngsters. The interstellar world has always been about strength. He clearly wasn't willing to accept Bai Xiaoyu's reasoning.

Chen Lao also chimed in: "We have some experience too, and we can guarantee to hatch good-quality offspring."

Bai Xiaoyu paused, then retorted: "If I remember correctly, wasn't I hatched by you guys?"

His meaning was clear. This body was graded double F. Any intern now could hatch an egg and not end up with such a useless body as the original owner.

When he first took over the original body, he was so weak that any newly hatched creature could easily take him down with one punch or swipe. Even unhatched eggs in later stages could easily outmatch him from that time.

Hearing this, the two elders' expressions changed slightly. They observed Bai Xiaoyu's expression, and various thoughts crossed their minds.

Did he know something, or did he not?

Bai Xiaoyu noticed their subtle reactions and was reminded of a dream. The original owner's consciousness had returned to the little golden tiger. So, this body might actually belong to him.

That bouncing egg wasn't as weak as imagined. So, the original owner shouldn't have had such poor qualities at birth.

From taking over the body to discovering the original owner's consciousness had returned to the little golden tiger, twenty years had passed. This useless body couldn't handle two consciousnesses. So, where had his consciousness been all these years?

Thinking of the dream and the ethereal encounter with the large white tiger, Bai Xiaoyu turned to look at the large black egg. If the large black egg was that white tiger, there was no point in asking now.

The large black egg, still lying on the ground, felt Bai Xiaoyu's gaze and froze entirely.

Why is Bai Bai looking at me like that?

He really hadn't hatched yet, and... probably... maybe... wasn't more than fifty years apart from Bai Bai.

But under Bai Bai's gaze, he couldn't muster any confidence.

Bai Bai, stop looking. You're making me forget how old I am.

Rolling on the ground, the large black egg wondered if he was too concerned. Suddenly, a thought popped into his mind.

He was one hundred years old.

Impossible! He hadn't even hatched yet, how could he be one hundred?

One hundred years old would make him really old. Bai Bai was only ranked one hundred, and there were ninety-nine siblings before him!

Such a large number, absolutely impossible!

The large black egg jumped up from the ground, its body shaking violently as if trying to shake off the terrifying thought.

Seeing this, Bai Xiaoyu was startled and immediately ignored the other two people, rushing over to the large black egg. He patted the egg, "What's wrong with you? Let me help you check."

When Bai Xiaoyu's mental energy probed inside, he encountered a chubby tiger paw mental tendril, "Bai Bai, I haven't hatched yet, I'm only…"

Bai Xiaoyu interjected, "One year old?"

Looking at the tiger curled up, more pitiful than before, with scars and bone development indicating adulthood, it was impossible for it to be just one year old.

The bone tiger looked back with teary eyes, "You also think I'm only one year old, not one hundred, right?"

Receiving this information, Bai Xiaoyu was slightly stunned. So, the large black egg was one hundred years old?

In his view, interstellar people, like pre-apocalypse cultivators and post-apocalypse espers, couldn't be measured by ordinary age standards.

But it seemed the large black egg preferred to accept being one year old rather than one hundred.

But since his consciousness returned to the egg state, the large black egg was indeed one year old. He nodded, "You are indeed one year old."

The large black egg immediately became excited, and the bone tiger slowly unfurled, happily circling around Bai Xiaoyu.

Since the large black egg was shielded by Bai Xiaoyu, the two on the other side couldn't see him, but they knew Bai Xiaoyu was talking to someone else. They weren't surprised, only annoyed at being ignored. After all, it wasn't uncommon in the interstellar world to shield people during video calls.

Han Lao held back his anger, thinking Bai Xiaoyu was doing this on purpose. But at this moment, showing too much would alert him, and he didn't know what Bai Xiaoyu had discovered. He had to endure it. "Are you really not going to reconsider?"

Bai Xiaoyu shook his head, "Everyone has their own little quirks. I can't guarantee the future, but right now, I have strict age differences for colleagues. If they exceed that, it won't work."

The two elders were so angry they could barely contain themselves, and after repeatedly offering themselves and being rejected, they finally hung up, seething with anger.

After sending them off, Bai Xiaoyu turned to the suddenly quiet large black egg beside him. The large black egg, now seemingly in a different mood, silently looked at Bai Xiaoyu for a moment before bouncing away to face the wall.

Wasn't the large black egg fine just now? What's wrong again?

Bai Xiaoyu didn't have time to comfort the egg right now. He turned to Ren Zitao and Zhou Miaomiao, saying, "Your conditions should be approved soon, so don't worry. In the future, the two months of egg handling at the breeding facility will be your responsibility."

Ren Zitao and Zhou Miaomiao were overwhelmed with surprise and joy. Bai Xiaoyu had rejected the most famous pharmacist and breeder in the entire interstellar world to choose them as his assistant breeders!

Excited, they spoke in unison, "Teacher, we will do our utmost to hatch the best offspring."

After Bai Xiaoyu nodded, they rushed straight to the mental energy training room, determined to reach the A-level standard Bai Xiaoyu had set. For them, this was just a passing grade, and if possible, they hoped to achieve even higher results.

Watching Ren Zitao and Zhou Miaomiao leave in a hurry, Bai Xiaoyu then instructed the other interns to continue their practice.

He went over to the large black egg that was facing the wall. He reached out to touch the egg.

The large black egg froze. Bai Xiaoyu rubbed his face against it a few more times, asking, "Large black egg, what's wrong?"

Then he found himself encountering an eggshell that was becoming increasingly hot. This wasn't the first time the large black eggshell had become hot. Bai Xiaoyu once again extended his mental energy inside.

He discovered that the bone tiger inside still looked majestic. It even appeared more aloof than usual when facing him, with its claws and tail stretched out, maintaining the same posture without moving. There was none of the previous enthusiasm where all four claws and the tail would work together, begging for attention.

Bai Xiaoyu's thin mental tendrils reached out and poked the tiger's claw. The claw moved slightly and even seemed to want to hide further inside. But just as Bai Xiaoyu's mental tendrils were about to withdraw, another mental tiger claw displayed an enthusiasm completely different from the physical claw and suddenly pressed down on Bai Xiaoyu's mental tendrils.

The bone tiger stiffened, seemingly startled by its own mental tentacles' initiative.

Bai Xiaoyu casually poked the mental tiger claw and asked, "Big Black, you still haven't told me what's wrong with you?"

The bone tiger remained silent for a moment before finally responding, "I'm 100 years old."

Bai Xiaoyu was then surprised to see that although the bone tiger's surface didn't show any changes, its mental tiger claw tentacles visibly drooped at a speed visible to the naked eye, becoming limp and lacking any mental energy.

Bai Xiaoyu was completely confused. Previously, the one-year-old Big Black refused to admit to being 100 years old. Now, the 100-year-old Big Black admitted it, but this state was truly perplexing.

Being 100 years old was just that—at Big Black's level, 100 years old was still quite young.

Before Bai Xiaoyu could react, the tiger's mental claw tentacle sent another thought, "Bai Bai, we have no generation gap. We get along well."

Bai Xiaoyu uttered a soft "Huh?"

The bone tiger, now in a different state, rubbed each of its claws against Bai Xiaoyu, "I've been wanting to tell you this, but I held it in. Later, I couldn't help it."

Bai Xiaoyu found it amusing inside. This was clearly the other state of Big Black trying to express itself, "What else do you want to tell me in your heart?"

The bone tiger shook its head and rubbed against him again, "If there's a generation gap, I'll still listen to you."

Bai Xiaoyu rubbed the still-hot Big Black egg and thought about the bone tiger that had been hesitant earlier, only for the other state of Big Black to spill everything out, causing the corners of his mouth to involuntarily rise slightly.

This state of Big Black continued to bounce around following Bai Xiaoyu after this little interlude.

At this moment, Bai Xiaoyu inexplicably felt quite good as he awaited the approval results of the deputy breeder. He also began to handle other matters.

During this time, he leaned against the Big Black egg and occasionally touched the warm, smooth eggshell while thinking. The Big Black egg would sometimes rub against him and stand rigidly and aloof, but like before, it would habitually adjust its position to make it more comfortable for Bai Xiaoyu when he changed postures.

Bai Xiaoyu glanced at the next batch of egg applications. The data from the region had already arrived, with a quantity similar to the last batch, though the numbers might change by the time they were delivered.

As for the applications from various forces and planets to the breeding facility, he rejected them in batches, sending them back.

At this moment, Lou Hao approached and handed over a document.

Bai Xiaoyu took it and opened it, "Is the medical team ready?"

The star chart of the Fire Seed had already illuminated a small section of this area, though there were only over 60 planets. These planets were on the edge, and several of them faced occasional harassment from the Zerg. The warriors stationed on these planets would also go to battle, and the direct interstellar pharmaceutical merchants needed to establish medical teams to treat injured warriors and rescued civilians on the frontlines. Of course, in the more forward areas, there were the legion's military doctors.

During this period, with the illumination of the Fire Seed's star chart, Bai Xiaoyu and the others had already begun preparing for the medical team.

Currently, only one medical team needed to be established since the planets they had illuminated were under the Sixteenth Legion's guard, with no large-scale Zerg infiltration. They were all being held back on the more forward planets.

The medicines for the medical team were supplied by him, and various medical equipment, except for those procured, required channels to purchase were being designed for better ones by Tao Limeng.

There were no issues with the aircraft and escort teams either, as the warriors from the Herb Base were heroes who had returned from the battlefield. Protecting the medical teams in the rear of the battlefield was not unfamiliar to them.

The other issues were manageable, but the main problem was the personnel.

After all, it was a battlefield. Bai Xiaoyu wouldn't consider the parents of the cubs working in the breeding facility. Although some of them had previously worked in this profession.

Lou Hao: "Other than the personnel, everything else is almost ready."

Bai Xiaoyu: "What are your thoughts on the personnel?"

Lou Hao: "We can only try recruiting people first."

With the illumination of each planet, they had already begun facing a shortage of personnel, starting from recruiting on planet D36. The Pharmacy Department of the directly affiliated breeding facility had begun recruiting locals from subsequent planets.

Now the medical team also needed people.

But for now, it was just establishing the first medical team, and the number wasn't large.

Bai Xiaoyu nodded. These matters would naturally be left to Lou Hao to handle; otherwise, he would have a headache.

Moreover, the medical team would need to pass the inspection of the Sixteenth Legion before being allowed to enter the rear of the battlefield.

Setting this matter aside, he took the Big Black egg to the adjacent medical room, where there were 23 specially made breeding boxes containing large and small light blue eggs.

These eggs were the ones previously expelled by the Little Prince. At a glance, it was clear they came from a lab. Unlike the previous blood eggs, these were formally bred and sent directly by the Cultivation Association.

The origins of these eggs were unclear, and their condition wasn't good. The color wasn't the common one either. However, it seemed that recently, influenced by the Little Prince, the colors were gradually lightening.

This might not affect them later and could potentially return to the normal egg color.

The only issue now was the origin of these eggs.

All the eggs here had clear origins. Even Big Black had been arranged properly by the Sixteenth Legion.

With the current batch of eggs suddenly appearing in the breeding facility, there would definitely be questions. Even with private exclusive breeding, the information of the egg parents was supposed to be complete.

Privately breeding these eggs could result in them hatching, but the identity of the hatchlings would be more difficult to handle.

Now, with one Little Prince by his side whose identity issue had not been resolved, having over 20 more would complicate things. It would be better to resolve the issue when the eggs arrived rather than after they hatched, making it much simpler than dealing with it after the cubs were born.

At this moment, Bai Xiaoyu's communicator flashed. He saw it was Su Ran.

After connecting, Su Ran glanced at the Big Black egg Bai Xiaoyu was leaning on, then looked away and said casually, "Breeder Bai, we've rescued another batch of about ten eggs from a planet. These eggs don't seem to be in good condition. Can we send them to you first to see if they can be stabilized before notifying the Cultivation Association to come and collect them?"

Bai Xiaoyu: "Of course, but I have a batch of eggs with unclear origins that arrived earlier. Can they be mixed together? I'll take responsibility for this batch of eggs."

Su Ran glanced again at the Big Black egg bouncing around, clearly urging him to agree quickly. He twitched the corner of his mouth, "Leave it to me."

His orders are still the highest command for the entire legion, even if he is an egg now. Orders from the Marshal must be executed immediately.

---

Chapter 128

The Sixteenth Legion acted swiftly. Less than half a day after the call ended, the aircraft landed outside the Pharmacy Building.

Bai Xiaoyu took the large black egg with him, and soon the aircraft opened from the inside. The soldiers carefully carried down the breeding boxes.

The leading soldier saluted Bai Xiaoyu and the large black egg, and said, "Breeder Bai, here are the thirty-five rescued newborn eggs from planet F79. Where should we move these eggs to?"

Bai Xiaoyu nodded, "Thank you for your hard work. Please follow the robot, it will guide you to the destination."

He then went to prepare the necessary potions for the Sixteenth Legion, which he would need to take with him later.

Among the many breeding boxes brought by the soldiers, only twelve contained eggs. To keep things discreet, he did not involve anyone else. The entire process was handled by the soldiers themselves.

The soldiers made two trips to move all the breeding boxes and then quickly left with the potions for the Sixteenth Legion.

Bai Xiaoyu, looking at these boxes, immediately checked the twelve rescued eggs.

These eggs were retrieved from the clutches of the Zerg. Planet F79 was currently engaged in battle with the Zerg. Those who could be evacuated from the planet had been evacuated, while those who couldn't were forever lost. Additionally, some were trapped within the planet. The soldiers of the Sixteenth Legion risked being discovered and attacked by the Zerg to carry out the rescue mission.

As the rescue operation on this planet was nearing its end, the rescue team suddenly detected life signals in one area. Upon investigation, they quickly discovered an underground research facility, similar to a previous find.

The Zerg were surrounding these eggs in the facility, with some even swallowing them. After a fierce battle, the eggs were rescued, but only twelve remained.

Bai Xiaoyu noticed cracks, claw marks, and even strange tooth marks on some of the eggs, and the vitality within the eggs was rapidly decreasing. Seeing this, Bai Xiaoyu immediately placed the eggs into the maternal simulation device used before the last batch of dormant eggs were revived. This device was the most suitable place for these eggs before the cultivation process began.

After examining all the eggs, he found that their condition was similar to the blood eggs from before, and he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Any other issues with the eggs could be addressed during the cultivation process.

At that moment, Bai Xiaoyu's communicator flickered, and it was President Luo trying to contact him.

Bai Xiaoyu was not surprised. When the Sixteenth Legion informed him, they also notified President Luo, who had contacted him not long ago and was now on a nearby planet. His call now likely meant he had arrived.

Indeed, as soon as the call connected, the other party said, "Little Tiger, I've arrived. Where are those eggs?"

Three minutes later, President Luo examined the eggs and sighed after checking each one. He suddenly turned to Bai Xiaoyu, "Little Tiger, since these eggs have come to you, it's fate. Moving them again and the long journey would cause too much harm. What do you think?"

Bai Xiaoyu understood President Luo's meaning. He had intended to take in these eggs and would not refuse. He nodded, "Indeed, it's fate. So, these thirty-five eggs will be directly transferred to the breeding facility. What procedures are needed?"

President Luo happily patted Bai Xiaoyu on the shoulder, "Don't worry about the procedures. Once I register these eggs, I'll allocate them to your breeding facility. Eggs with issues like these, which no one else is willing to handle, will be put on the official cultivation system website, requesting assistance from breeding facilities across the galaxy."

Given the current condition of these eggs, they would likely be rejected if sent back to the branch. Now that Bai Xiaoyu had taken them all, how could he not be pleased?

However, his eyes fell on the light blue eggs. As someone who had experienced many challenges, he looked back at Bai Xiaoyu.

Noticing President Luo's gaze, Bai Xiaoyu met his eyes calmly.

President Luo did not reveal his thoughts. There was no reason to doubt either the Sixteenth Legion or Bai Xiaoyu. After a moment, he said, "In the future, feel free to contact me directly if you need help. I'm a professional in this area, Little Tiger. Do you understand what I mean?"

Bai Xiaoyu was slightly startled, then nodded, "I understand. I hope there won't be any more situations that trouble you in the future."

President Luo's eyes dimmed slightly, "I hope so too."

They did not discuss the matter further and proceeded to help with the egg examinations and registrations. President Luo had come alone without any assistants, and the two of them worked for quite a while.

During this time, President Luo also processed some abnormal data for the eggs.

After completing the task, President Luo looked at the thirty-some eggs with gentle eyes, "Since you've taken in these problematic eggs, there won't be any more for you to handle. I won't refer any more to you."

Bai Xiaoyu thought about the approximately sixty eggs reported from the region, plus the current thirty-five, which was almost the limit. Based on his upcoming capacity, he could handle about ten more eggs.

There were still changes in the region, so the exact number of eggs to be delivered remained to be seen.

Indeed, there wasn't much space left. Bai Xiaoyu said, "Only urgent eggs should be sent."

The remaining space would be allocated to the newborn eggs of soldiers from the two legions.

President Luo said, "Of course, but there's no immediate rush like before. Your new deputy breeder will be taking up their position in the next two months, right?"

President Luo indicated that the deputy breeder could handle any issues that Bai Xiaoyu, as the head breeder, would assist with.

Thus, with the expanded breeding facility, more problematic eggs would have a chance.

Bai Xiaoyu did not argue. The two interns were not yet at the stage where he could fully entrust them with everything.

After seeing off President Luo, Bai Xiaoyu checked the eggs again and opened the other breeding boxes brought by the Sixteenth Legion that did not contain eggs. They were filled with medicinal herbs, including some decades-old herbs.

Bai Xiaoyu organized these herbs and could now begin preparing the high-aged herbs needed for the next three-hundred-year Marrow Cleansing Pill.

However, to refine this Marrow Cleansing Pill, his physique needed further enhancement.

So, after finishing his tasks, Bai Xiaoyu started his medicinal bath that night.

Currently, only the little white tiger needed the medicinal bath. The regular marrow-cleansing potion had little effect on the large black egg.

The large black egg followed Bai Xiaoyu into the bathroom, and a certain little crown-wearing figure squeezed in just before the bathroom door closed.

The little golden tiger was upset that each time Bai Xiaoyu took him into the bathroom, he was only cleaned for less than ten minutes before being handed over to a robot to dry his fur and left unattended.

But every time, the large black egg and the detestable white tiger would stay inside for a long time, sometimes an hour or two.

Annoyed, he was determined to join them this time.

He found two baths, and the white tiger was swimming freely in a transparent bath, looking quite happy.

The little golden tiger glared in frustration at Bai Xiaoyu, the large black egg, and the white tiger by the bath. They really weren't including him in the fun!

Can't he play by himself if we don't bring him along?

With that, Little Golden Tiger suddenly lowered his fluffy body and jumped up, aiming for the bathtub where Little White Tiger was happily swimming.

The bathtub for Little White Tiger wasn't very high, and Little Golden Tiger had no problem jumping onto it. However, just as he was about to land in the center of the bathtub, a slender hand pinched the back of his neck.

He turned his head to see Bai Xiaoyu. The little tiger then shouted at Bai Xiaoyu, "You won't play with me, and now you're stopping me?"

Bai Xiaoyu looked at the restless little fellow he was holding by the neck, his mental energy receiving the thoughts transmitted by the other. Listening to the aggrieved calls, he paused before asking, "Are you sure you want to play with the little one?"

Little Golden Tiger nodded vigorously while calling, "Yes, I'm sure. I have to play today, and you can't leave me out in the future!"

Seeing Little Golden Tiger becoming more and more aggrieved, Bai Xiaoyu couldn't help but laugh. "Alright, even though it's a bit early, since you have such a request, I'll bring you along to 'play' in the future. But I'm making it clear now, there's no turning back once the medicinal bath starts. It won't stop until a phase is completed. Are you sure?"

Little Golden Tiger thought, playing is fun, and continuous play is even more fun. No stopping is no problem.

Bai Xiaoyu said, "Alright, I'll prepare a different medicinal solution for you."

Little Golden Tiger's tail was pointing at the Little White Tiger below. "I'm with him, let go now."

Bai Xiaoyu, seeing Little Golden Tiger's resolute attitude, considered that although the medicinal solution was prepared according to Little White Tiger's condition, it was relatively mild due to Little White Tiger's congenital deficiencies and injuries. Little Golden Tiger's condition was better, and the medicinal solution in the bathtub wouldn't harm him.

He suddenly let go, and Little Golden Tiger unexpectedly fell into the medicinal liquid.

Three seconds later, a Little Golden Tiger shot out of the bathtub with a painful cry.

What the hell, his whole body hurt! No, he wasn't playing anymore; he wanted to run!

However, he was caught mid-air by the familiar hand again. Bai Xiaoyu looked at the wet, soggy Little Golden Tiger with his fur sticking together and gave a faint smile. "The body tempering with the medicinal solution has just begun. You can't run; you have to stay for at least half an hour."

He let go again, and Little Golden Tiger was howling in the bathtub, trying to escape again, only to be dragged back into the medicinal liquid by Little White Tiger, who had locked onto his throat.

Bai Xiaoyu, seeing the two fighting in the transparent bathtub, slightly curved his lips.

He turned around and walked to another bathtub, the one he usually used for medicinal baths, which wasn't transparent.

He took out the marrow-washing and vitality-nurturing medicinal solutions and began preparing the bath. This time, he didn't need to add the solutions drop by drop like before but poured in one-fifth directly.

Big Black Egg followed behind as usual. However, when Bai Xiaoyu started undressing after preparing the medicinal bath, the Big Black Egg suddenly froze in place.

Bai Xiaoyu, who had taken off his upper clothing, used to have a slim build with hidden muscles, at least a thin layer of muscle on his abdomen, with six-pack abs that never missed.

Not long ago, his belly had been a 'ninety-nine to one' state, but after some effort, the abs had finally reappeared.

Satisfied with the touch of the thin layer of muscle, Bai Xiaoyu was about to enter the bathtub when the Big Black Egg suddenly turned around and bounced a few steps away.

Bai Xiaoyu: "..."

Usually, Big Black always wanted to join him, but because of its size, it had broken several bathtubs.

Now, the Big Black Egg was in another state, seemingly forgetting that it could just turn inside the egg.

Soon, Bai Xiaoyu couldn't spare any more attention for Big Black Egg, as the pain from the medicinal bath began to overwhelm him.

A C-grade physique could barely withstand the effects of this medicinal bath, but his fragile physique and heightened senses made the pain more intense.

His face turned slightly pale, and beads of sweat began to form on his forehead. He clenched his teeth to endure the pain, and for a while, the only sound in the bathroom was Little Golden Tiger's howls.

As time passed and Bai Xiaoyu felt weak, reaching out to grab the edge of the bathtub, his hand touched a warm eggshell. Turning his head, he saw that Big Black, who had run away earlier, had returned and was tightly pressed against the bathtub.

Several mental tiger claw tentacles appeared on the eggshell, clumsily trying to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

Bai Xiaoyu's mental energy also extended out, poking the claw. "I'm fine."

Big Black was always like this, wanting to join him before the medicinal bath but getting anxious and bouncing around once it started. Now, its mental tentacles even extended out of the eggshell.

So usually, he avoided Big Black during his medicinal baths. This time, he intended to send Big Black out, but Little Golden Tiger followed in.

Now it seemed he would have to avoid Big Black like before.

He patted Big Black's eggshell and, once the medicinal effects were mostly absorbed, began to assess his current state.

The changes in his body this time were very noticeable, more significant than any previous progress.

It seemed that after reaching C-, it was like flipping a strange switch. During the medicinal bath, his spine and tail felt a subtle heat, and the top of his head had a similar sensation. After a careful examination, he found nothing.

Not dwelling on it, Bai Xiaoyu focused on his body's progress. Before the medicinal bath, he had just broken through from D to C-, clearly at the bottom of the C- grade. Now, he had moved up a notch.

With continued training, he might break through to C after a few more sessions.

Bai Xiaoyu calculated that if the medicinal baths continued to be this intense, he could reach B-grade in less than half a month.

At B-grade, he could attempt to refine the 300-year marrow-washing grass.

He got up and put on his upper clothing. The Big Black Egg awkwardly turned away again.

Bai Xiaoyu, amused, touched Big Black's eggshell. Feeling a hot sensation in his hand, he laughed but didn't ask further. Instead, he turned to where the two tiger cubs were.

Little White Tiger soon jumped out of the bathtub, his movements slightly off but still relaxed and came to rub against his leg.

Bai Xiaoyu patted Little White Tiger and turned to look at the bathtub, where Little Golden Tiger was now floating on the surface, tongue lolling out, eyes spinning in circles, belly up.

Bai Xiaoyu grabbed the creature, and the little golden tiger trembled in response. It took a while for the little tiger to snap out of it, and then it weakly pointed its small paw at Bai Xiaoyu and let out a feeble cry.

"No more, no more of this ever again, okay, brother?"

A smile could hardly be contained in Bai Xiaoyu's eyes at this moment. He reached out and poked the little golden tiger's head gently, but his words mercilessly rejected the request. "No, you must have a medicinal bath every day."

The little golden tiger flipped over suddenly, escaping from his grasp, and darted out through the door, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Bai Xiaoyu didn't bother to chase it; it couldn't escape anyway.

When they went outside, there was still a bored metal egg waiting. The entire egg was about to sprout little mushrooms from waiting so long.

Bai Kan: "Little Hundred, you prepare their medicinal baths every day. When will you do the same for me?"

Bai Xiaoyu: "Aren't you in a medicinal bath every moment? If you want it in a different way, you'll have to wait until you hatch. Don't worry, it'll be soon."

Bai Xiaoyu thought it would take at least another three to five days for Bai Kan to hatch, but Bai Kan surprised him by showing signs of life the very next day.

The next day, while Bai Xiaoyu was preparing to improve his own physique, he added some medicine to the metal egg. After absorbing the medicine, the large tiger inside, with its gold and silver stripes, suddenly regained full health and let out a massive tiger roar.

The roar even penetrated through the layers of medicinal liquid inside the egg and the specially made shell, echoing through half of the breeding facility.

Almost instantly, the huge metallic shell was covered with dense cracks.

The Little Prince and Little Bai, who were playing nearby, had their large Cartier-like black eyes widen in shock, quickly turning into two black dots. The Little Prince's fingers had already turned back into five small blue tentacles, and the tentacles on Little Bai's back also popped out.

The two little ones bared their teeth at the metal egg and let out a particularly low growl.

Despite the intense reaction from the two natural enemies, the little white tiger and the little golden tiger didn't react much, only staring curiously. Was this about to hatch?

Bai Xiaoyu was now busy sealing off the room to prevent others from entering. However, Lou Hao had already come over earlier and witnessed the scene. Lou Hao had known about this for a while and was now helping Bai Xiaoyu with the same task.

As the robots kept curious interns outside, the cracked metal egg exploded with a bang the next second.

Shrapnel and medicinal liquid flew everywhere as a man-high gold and silver striped tiger emerged, roaring loudly. The tiger, finally free and able to stand on its legs, began running wildly around the room, shaking off its fur.

It wreaked havoc on nearly everyone and everything in the room, leaving no person, beast, or egg untouched—except for Bai Xiaoyu.

When the metal egg hatched, Bai Xiaoyu only saw a flash of darkness before him. Upon closer inspection, a large black egg had shielded him from all the eggshell and liquid. Even when Bai Kan excitedly ran around shaking off his fur later, not a single drop touched him.

Once the frenzied gold and silver tiger stopped, it suddenly sensed the atmosphere around it had changed.

Without realizing it, two Zerg Prince cubs, two tiger cubs, a transformed Tengshe, and a large black egg that bounced over and gave him a crushing blow had surrounded it.

They rushed forward and began pounding on the tiger, causing a chaotic scene that quickly spiraled out of control.

In no time, the gold and silver tiger, now lying on the ground, was questioning its tiger life.

Bai Xiaoyu stepped forward, and the large tiger let out a mournful howl.

It was Little Hundred who truly cared for him.

Bai Xiaoyu patted the tiger's head and sincerely congratulated him. "Congratulations on regaining your legs."

The fluffy golden and silver tiger head rubbed against Bai Xiaoyu's hand and let out an excited howl. Then Little Hundred pointed to the living room, which looked like an explosion had just occurred, and revealed a particularly kind smile. "But remember to clean up later."

The tiger froze, looking around. How was he supposed to clean this up? Would rebuilding be okay?

---

Chapter 129

Bai Xiaoyu looked at the adult-sized large tiger in front of him. Despite reeking of medication and having soaked fur, the tiger had strong limbs, thick padded paws, and sharp claws.

Compared to before, Bai Kan in his current state was significantly larger than when his fur had a brownish tint. When the golden tiger had countered the attack while lying down just now, his fangs were sharper and more prominent. If not for the Big Black Egg's suppression and the attacks from the other young ones and the Thunder Snake, this large tiger would have easily taken them all out in one bite.

The explosion of energy when he hatched was like a bomb exploding, leaving the surroundings in a mess. Fortunately, even the young ones had S-rank physiques; otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to withstand it. As for Bai Xiaoyu, who had the weakest physique, Bai Kan deliberately stayed farthest from him, and with the Big Black Egg in front, there were no issues at all.

This energy surge was the complete release of power from a fully evolved bloodline, which was expected. However, his showy shaking of fur finally angered everyone.

The young ones were also soaked from the skirmish just now. In terms of current combat power, the ranking was: Tiny, Young Prince, Little Bai, and then Golden Tiger.

There were no issues with the top and bottom of this ranking. In reality, Little Bai was much stronger than Young Prince, but he lacked the ruthlessness of Young Prince. Though Little Bai was hostile towards Bai Kan, who had awakened the White Tiger bloodline, his attacks were never lethal due to his half-human heritage.

However, Young Prince was different. His attacks aimed at Bai Kan's vital points were much more vicious than anyone else's.

He genuinely wanted to drag this tiger, now awakened with the White Tiger bloodline, away.

Among the chaos, Bai Xiaoyu had the clearest view of the scene. Even now, he continued to pay attention to Young Prince.

Even though they had stopped fighting for the moment, Young Prince's pupil-like eyes had not returned to normal, and he looked like he was ready to charge again at any moment.

Bai Xiaoyu withdrew his gaze and looked at the aggrieved large tiger with his ears drooping, not wanting to clean up. "When I return, I expect to see the living room restored to its original state."

The large tiger gently scratched Bai Xiaoyu's pants with a paw bigger than his face and let out a low growl.

Bai Xiaoyu said, "Acting cute won't work."

However, he stopped in his tracks, took out a golden and silver colored longevity lock, and hung it on Bai Kan's slightly trembling ear. His hand couldn't help but give the large tiger's head a pat. "This longevity lock is for you. I hope you continue to thrive in the future."

The golden and silver tiger was extremely excited and extended his tail to wrap around Bai Xiaoyu's wrist.

Little Bai was the best.

Bai Xiaoyu paused, his wrist lightly brushed by the fur. He moved his fingers slightly and said, "If you can't manage the cleaning, you can always ask the robots for help."

At that moment, as Bai Kan's vision darkened, the shameless Big Black Egg bounced over and shamelessly pushed him aside, squeezing itself between him and Little Bai. Even Bai Kan's tail was pushed aside by the egg.

The golden and silver tiger lowered his body and let out a low growl at the domineering egg in front of him. However, he was helpless against the Big Black Egg. The medication that had awakened his bloodline originated from this egg. The more he growled, the stronger the feeling of being an unfilial son grew inside him.

This made the unstoppable golden and silver tiger very troubled. Even though the egg in front of him was still, well, an egg, his awakened bloodline told him that this egg was his dad. This feeling was... complicated.

After all, he already had a cheap dad.

The golden and silver tiger's momentum was overshadowed by the Big Black Egg. Watching the egg shamelessly push him aside and rub against Little Bai, he could only hold his nose and endure it for the time being.

Bai Xiaoyu patted the Big Black Egg and retrieved a detection device.

The Thunder Snake, knowing the purpose of this device, approached and even transformed back into human form, watching curiously.

Lou Hao already knew Bai Kan's situation. He thought this time they would only cure his legs, but looking at Bai Kan's current state, not only were his legs healed, but he had also undergone a return to ancestral form. Moreover, it was a partial White Tiger bloodline return to ancestral form.

White Tigers were extremely powerful from birth, and Lou Hao was now very curious about Bai Kan's innate potential and his current physique and mental strength levels. He remembered that Bai Kan's innate potential included an S physique and 3S mental strength. Before coming here, his physique had already reached S with no room for further improvement, and his mental strength had reached 2S.

The other young ones also gathered around, wanting to see this 'little brother's' innate potential. Although they couldn't understand why he was so large just after hatching, he had hatched late, after all.

Bai Kan's tiger face looked eager to try. He had never felt so powerful since birth. For a moment, he felt an invincible sense of loneliness.

Before he could float away, he turned his head and saw the big black egg, instantly losing his enthusiasm.

Bai Xiaoyu took out the detection device and began testing. All eyes were fixed intently on him.

Soon, the results came out—Bai Kan's aptitude, physical constitution, and mental strength were all rated 3S.

His physical constitution grade had jumped from S to 2S, and his mental strength had risen from 2S to 3S!

Bai Xiaoyu, who was well aware of Bai Kan's situation, wasn't surprised, as the test results matched his expectations.

Lou Hao, standing nearby, was so shocked his jaw nearly dropped. The most famous person in the entire star system with double 3S ratings was General Liu Lingxi!

Lou Hao had never seen a beastkin progress so drastically in just three months. The higher the grade, the harder it was to advance. Jumping from DF to S and from S to 2S were on entirely different levels of difficulty. That Bai Kan had returned to an ancestral form was rare, but progressing this quickly was unprecedented. It had to be due to the White Tiger bloodline.

Looking at Bai Kan's golden and silver-white fur, a stark contrast to his previous brownish coat, Lou Hao couldn't help but feel envious. Not only had Bai Kan's aura changed, but his appearance had also improved dramatically.

Even though Bai Kan's fur was still wet, it couldn't hide the handsome presence of the golden-white tiger ready to pounce.

Didn't you see how the boss couldn't resist petting him several times during the inspection? The big black egg beside them was practically steaming with jealousy.

With only half of the White Tiger bloodline, Bai Kan was already this powerful. Lou Hao couldn't help but wonder if he had any White Tiger genes himself and whether he could undergo an ancestral return.

Besides Lou Hao, the other four cubs were also watching closely. Only the little golden tiger was upset that his stats were surpassed, while the other three were focused on Bai Kan's current physicality and mental strength. No wonder they lost—the level gap was too big.

The little golden tiger jumped onto Bai Xiaoyu's shoulder and pointed at the golden-white tiger with his claws, yowling, "Why am I more golden than him, yet his stats are better?"

Bai Xiaoyu said, "Shouldn't you know best? Bai Kan's golden fur was enhanced by the silver-white bloodline, triggering the ancestral return. Otherwise, the regular brown bloodline wouldn't have been strong enough to fuse with another bloodline."

The little golden tiger yowled, "Can golden fur really not surpass silver-white fur?"

Bai Xiaoyu glanced at the little golden tiger. "Shouldn't you know best?"

The little golden tiger was taken aback. "How would I know?"

Before he could finish, a little white tiger pounced up, swiftly and accurately biting the little golden tiger's throat and dragging him down.

Bai Xiaoyu watched the little golden tiger, his little crown now skewed and fur all puffed up, and thought, 'Shouldn't you be convinced by now?'

Lou Hao, observing the golden and white tiger cubs sparring, could see that the little white tiger had already been holding back significantly. Even with less than a third of his strength, the little white tiger still overpowered the little golden tiger.

The strength of the White Tiger clan was indeed formidable. Given such a disparity in strength, it was no wonder the royal family was so wary of the Bai family.

However, the Bai family had always been relatively sparse in numbers. Across the entire star system, there weren't many White Tigers. Apart from the older, high-ranking White Tigers in the royal family, there were very few mixed-blood White Tigers. Before this, there hadn't been any royal White Tigers of Bai Kan's generation. Now, two had appeared at once—one mixed-blood and one pure-blood. This was strange.

Both Bai Xiaoyu and Bai Kan, who had finally snapped out of his state, turned to look at the big black egg.

They both knew that Bai Kan's bloodline essence had been used as a catalyst. Therefore, Bai Kan's stats were heavily influenced by the big black egg's bloodline. Bai Kan's stats couldn't surpass those of the big black egg. With only half of the bloodline, his stats should have been lower than the big black egg's.

Yet, despite these limitations, Bai Kan had still reached double 3S ratings. What were the big black egg's stats?

Bai Xiaoyu wasn't very familiar with the star system's dynamics, but Bai Kan, staring at the big black egg, had his beast pupils wide with disbelief.

The only person in the entire star system whose stats were rumored to exceed 3S but had never been measured was Marshal Bai, born a hundred years ago!

He looked at the big black egg, which was now clinging tightly to Bai Xiaoyu, occasionally trying to squeeze into his arms and rubbing against him.

Bai Kan was overthinking. How could he possibly associate this black egg with Marshal Bai? That would be the most unfair comparison ever made of Marshal Bai.

Apart from the royal family, hardly anyone in the star system would dare to disparage Marshal Bai.

Bai Kan now felt that even having these thoughts was a form of disrespect.

However, since the Big Black Egg was related to the White Tiger, it must have some connection to Marshal Bai. Could it be that the Big Black Egg was Marshal Bai's son? Otherwise, how could its incredible aptitude be explained?

Or was it created using genes from Marshal Bai's parents? After all, Marshal Bai had been missing for too long, and with only the old marshal left in the Bai family, they might have had to resort to such methods to cultivate the next heir for the Bai family.

Since it was either Marshal Bai's child or younger brother, it wasn't strange. After all, Marshal Bai was born with memories, and the Big Black Egg had been incubating for nearly a year.

Bai Xiaoyu was unaware of Bai Kan's thoughts as he stroked the Big Black Egg, thinking about the bone tiger within. The Big Black Egg's aptitude seemed extremely high, but the exact level could only be determined after it hatched.

At this moment, Bai Kan wanted to shift back to human form, but the inner clothes in his spatial pouch no longer fit him. He couldn't perfectly transform into human form and simultaneously wear them. Thus, he had to remain in his beast form, using his claws to tap on the optical brain, ordering new battle suits for his humanoid form.

By the time Bai Kan's new suits arrived, Bai Xiaoyu had already gone to another side to refine medicine.

After preparing several batches of potions, the District Chief soon informed him that the area's eggs were about to be delivered and sent him the data for the new batch of eggs.

Bai Xiaoyu reviewed the data. There were sixty-two eggs in total. Adding to the previous thirty-five, he added ten more slots, leaving thirteen spots. He reserved one spot for the Big Black Egg and evenly distributed the remaining spots between the two legions.

After completing the batch of potion refinement, Bai Xiaoyu went to receive this batch of eggs. Ren Zitao and Zhou Miaomiao had been following him, beginning to learn the various duties of a true cultivator.

Bai Xiaoyu also took them to handle the handover with the people who delivered the eggs from the area. He then began inspecting the batch of eggs.

As usual, the area's eggs had no major issues. After placing them in the breeding facility compartments, he received responses from the two legions. Their eggs were to arrive in two days.

Bai Xiaoyu observed the twenty-three pale blue eggs; their color was gradually returning, and they would likely match the color of regular eggs in two or three days. By the time the legion's eggs arrived, they could hatch them together.

After finishing his work, Bai Xiaoyu returned, as it was feeding time for the cubs.

As soon as he returned, the four cubs immediately began running around upon seeing the tray in his hands.

However, they couldn't escape. The Little Prince and Little Bai ate the nurturing liquid, while the Little Golden Tiger ate the eggshells.

The Little Prince and Little Bai had returned from hunting. After finishing the nurturing liquid, they naturally sat side by side, staring eagerly at Bai Xiaoyu.

Bai Xiaoyu knew what they wanted and retrieved the remaining Insect Crystal. The Little Prince and Little Bai immediately pounced on the Insect Crystal, holding it with their small chubby hands and taking bites alternately.

Watching the visibly diminishing Insect Crystal, Bai Xiaoyu thought that this Insect Crystal probably wouldn't last much longer.

Feeling it was enough, he gave the two cubs a pat and said, "That's enough for now. Let's save some for next time."

Little Bai blinked his large eyes, still showing some desire, but soon let go. However, the Little Prince was not as obedient. He held the Insect Crystal tightly and said, "There's not much left. Let me keep it."

Bai Xiaoyu raised an eyebrow and said, "No."

If he let this little guy take the last bit of Insect Crystal, he might run off with Little Bai when Bai Xiaoyu wasn't looking.

Although Little Bai seemed very well-behaved and unwilling to leave now, the temptation of the Insect Crystal might lead him astray.

The Little Prince, though young, was far more mature than Little Bai. He was close to the mentality of a prince, but there were still many issues. He definitely couldn't be allowed to run off.

The Little Prince immediately looked at him with pleading eyes, tilting his little head and imitating the tone of a small child, "Hehe, give it to me."

Next to him, Little Bai also looked at Bai Xiaoyu with the same expression, still nibbling on his small hand, seemingly unsatisfied.

Bai Xiaoyu bent down and picked up the two cubs, one in each arm, and said, "Until we find another Insect Crystal, I need to make you two conserve. If we finish it, there won't be any left. Understand, babies?"

At that moment, the little golden tiger, who had just finished the nutrient solution and was rolling on the ground, saw this and immediately climbed up Bai Xiaoyu's body, jumping onto his shoulder. He reached out his claws to provoke the little Prince in Bai Xiaoyu's arms, shouting, "Who are you calling brother? He's my brother; you can't call him that!"

Bai Xiaoyu felt a weight on his shoulder and saw the little golden tiger provoking the little Prince. He was left feeling both amused and exasperated, thinking, "This guy always provokes the little Prince even though he never wins. Isn't he afraid of getting beaten again?"

Just as he was about to say something, he felt the same weight on his other shoulder. Turning his head, he saw the little white tiger had also jumped up. For the first time, the two tiger brothers were united, and the little white tiger shouted aggressively at the little Prince, "Don't randomly call me 'brother'!"

The little Prince's eyes instantly narrowed into black dots as he growled lowly at the little white tiger, who bared his teeth in response. The little golden tiger was quite pleased with himself, while little Bai moved slowly, still sucking on his paw with his large, cartoonish eyes making him look adorably innocent.

Despite little Bai's current cute and innocent appearance, Bai Xiaoyu wouldn't intervene in a one-on-one fight between the little Prince and the tiger cubs. However, if the cubs ganged up on the little Prince, little Bai would definitely join in to help.

Previously, the little Prince and the little golden tiger had fought many times. Once, when the little white tiger was fighting the little Prince, the moment the little golden tiger joined in, little Bai, who had been watching, also jumped into the fray.

Their fights were fairly even, with the little white tiger being skilled, the little Prince fighting fiercely, little Bai moving slowly, and the little golden tiger always stirring up trouble and holding back.

Amidst the battle of the four young ones, Bai Xiaoyu sighed. It was indeed quite a headache when the cubs weren't getting along.

At that moment, a tall and handsome young man strode in. "Little Hundred, is my potion ready? It's mealtime!"

Bai Xiaoyu looked at Bai Kan, whose facial features had become more chiseled, and who had grown taller with a more upright posture. He now exuded a much stronger presence, and his whole demeanor had completely changed.

With four young ones on him, Bai Xiaoyu replied helplessly, "Now that you've hatched, you should go to the dining hall for meals, not ask me for food."

The next second, Bai Kan transformed back into a huge golden-silver tiger, walked in front of Bai Xiaoyu, and nudged him with his furry head while shouting, "Little Hundred, you didn't prepare a meal for your brother?"

Surrounded by the young ones, Bai Xiaoyu was left speechless.

Bai Xiaoyu finally realized, "Where's Big Black? He was with me just a moment ago. Usually, these guys wouldn't even get close to me because Big Black would stop them. How come he's not here today?"

Looking up, he saw a large black egg standing in the corner, completely still. Bai Xiaoyu was stunned. "Has the adult version of Big Black's consciousness taken over inside the egg?"

At that moment, Lou Hao entered and brought some good news.

"Boss, I've got news about the Insect Crystal you asked me to find. There's an auction happening tomorrow on the F105 planet in the neighboring star system. They say Insect Crystals will be up for auction there."

Bai Xiaoyu shifted his gaze back from Big Black. "Is the news reliable?"

Lou Hao replied, "It's fifty-fifty. I'm not entirely sure. But even if there are no Insect Crystals, the herbs in that area are excellent. The auction will definitely feature many high-quality herbs, including some of high vintage."

At the same time, Bai Qi and the others also received the news. Since they were searching for the little Prince, they were all in this star region and had decided to set off immediately.

Bai Xiaoyu was still deep in thought when Lou Hao continued, "F105 is a small planet. While we're there, we might as well make a stop at the F91 planet. There's a medical college on that planet, and it's about time for the students to graduate and start their internships and jobs. Our medical team could use some new recruits."

At this point, Bai Kan transformed back into human form and asked, "Little Hundred, do you want to go? I can accompany you."

Bai Xiaoyu nodded. "If I go, you'll have to stay behind."

Bai Kan's strength was now sufficient to keep the little Prince in check, and the breeding facility needed someone to stay behind and maintain order. In case something happened, someone had to be there to take charge.

Bai Kan said, "Then what about you? Will you take the warriors from the Herb Base with you?"

Bai Xiaoyu reflexively answered, "I'll take Big Black with me."

The Big Black egg in the corner seemed to bounce excitedly for a moment before turning away again, seemingly sulking.

Bai Xiaoyu was left speechless.

"What's wrong with Big Black today?"

Bai Kan followed Bai Xiaoyu's gaze and saw a large black egg barreling toward them, brimming with anger.

Bai Kan was flustered; if not for Bai Xiaoyu stepping in to calm Big Black, he wouldn't have been able to dodge in time.

Bai Kan said, "Xiao Bai, I've been meaning to tell you, Big Black's talents surpass mine. He could be Marshal Bai's son or younger brother."

At the mention of Marshal Bai, Bai Xiaoyu felt a strange pang in his heart. "Is that so?"

But then he thought of Big Black's injuries and how Marshal Bai had gone missing in battle, his beast form also that of a White Tiger. Inside Big Black, there was a kind of dark matter that was like a royal-grade substance in comparison to ordinary eggs. A thought suddenly struck him.

Bai Xiaoyu looked at the bouncing black egg and inquired, "How old is Marshal Bai?"

Bai Kan was startled and blurted out, "One hundred. Why do you ask, Xiao Bai?"

He paused, then continued, "This black egg might be his son. Even if it's not, although Marshal Bai is the guardian deity of the star system, he's like an emotionless humanoid weapon. I'm afraid he doesn't care about personal relationships. He's not right for you."

Bai Kan added, "Also, when he returned to the imperial capital, many men and women with ulterior motives tried every possible means to get within three meters of him, only to faint or be dragged away by the guards. The only living creature I've ever seen get within one meter of him was..."

Bai Kan suddenly remembered the egg that had been by Marshal Bai's side twenty-three years ago. Wasn't that Xiao Bai?

Bai Xiaoyu interrupted, "An egg? What do you mean?"

Bai Kan was at a loss for words and finally stammered, "In any case, he's too old for you. More importantly, you're still young; you shouldn't be thinking about romance."

Bai Xiaoyu said, "I'm an adult. What are you getting at?"

Marshal Bai was one hundred years old, which corresponded to Big Black's age.

Bai Xiaoyu recalled Su Ran's expression when he saw Big Black. As Marshal Bai's deputy, Su Ran had been searching for his superior.

Then there was the Sixteenth Legion helping to find herbs, and later using the potions he provided for trade. But before trust was established, their attitude toward him had been somewhat unusual. That trust seemed unconditional, and now that he thought about it, they had probably been trusting not him, but Big Black.

Bai Xiaoyu looked at the bouncing black egg beside him, still feeling a bit confused. Thinking of Marshal Bai's personality and methods as described by Bai Kan, Big Black didn't seem like the legendary marshal at all.

With the young ones clinging to him, Bai Xiaoyu couldn't even spare a hand to pet the black egg. The black egg grew angrier, turning its body away and bouncing forcefully, making the floor shake and tremble, as if it was afraid Bai Xiaoyu couldn't hear.

This temperament didn't match the legendary marshal at all.

Unable to free his hands, Bai Xiaoyu extended his mental energy to pat the dark egg.

The black egg wriggled again, and just as Bai Xiaoyu was about to tap it a second time, a tiger claw made of mental energy shot out, grabbing Bai Xiaoyu's mental threads.

As soon as Bai Xiaoyu's mental threads were inside, they were surrounded by the tiger claw mental energy, and countless thoughts were transmitted over.

"Bai Bai, you've never hugged me like you hug them."

"Bai Bai, I want to sit on your shoulder too."

"Bai Bai, when I get out, can I make a nest on your head?"

"Bai Bai, I'm angry, and you're not comforting me."

As Bai Xiaoyu struggled to process the flood of information, he saw a bone tiger rear up, its two front paws—larger and sharper than his head—making a gesture as if asking for a hug.

"Bai Bai, I want a hug too, the kind where you hold me in one arm."

Bai Xiaoyu hesitated.

---

Chapter 130

Perhaps Bai Xiaoyu had been stunned for too long. Large Black tilted its head and looked at him with its empty eye sockets, extending its huge claws a bit further toward him.

However, upon realizing that Bai Xiaoyu still didn't intend to hug him, he immediately felt extremely hurt.

Were his requests too much to ask?

Why had Bai Bai hugged all the others that had hatched, but not him?

Bai Xiaoyu watched as Large Black slowly lowered its paws reaching out for a hug. Before he could even breathe a sigh of relief, Large Black suddenly turned around, and a black gas began to emanate from his body.

Yes, it was truly black gas.

This dark matter was usually suppressed very well by Large Black, but in this state of emotional agitation, some of it began to leak out.

Bai Xiaoyu looked at the huge tiger in front of him, its body having regained some flesh, which made it significantly heavier than before. Thinking back to the time he had tried to hug the Large Black egg and almost strained his waist, he realized that even if Large Black was feeling hurt now, he was still unable to do anything about it.

Bai Xiaoyu prodded the seemingly wilted, drooping mental energy tendrils with his own. "Large Black, bear with me for a little longer, next time… and the time after that, okay?"

After precise calculations and considering the strengths corresponding to different physiques provided by the star system, along with Large Black's increasing weight, Bai Xiaoyu estimated that his physique would need to reach Grade A. With the help of his mental energy, he might just be able to barely lift Large Black.

So, to avoid disappointing Large Black again, it was better to promise it for the time after next.

Although still feeling hurt, Large Black finally turned its egg body back around, extending its huge claw with the thick pink paw pad shaped like a plum blossom facing Bai Xiaoyu. "Promise me, next time, you have to hug me."

Bai Xiaoyu chuckled softly, his mental energy thickened and changed shape, quickly forming a mental hand identical to his own. He gently patted the center of the paw pad. "Alright, wait for me."

After being completely rejuvenated, Large Black was back to normal. Not long after, the four little cubs and the giant gold-and-silver tiger around Bai Xiaoyu were driven away by the Large Black egg. The five of them could only glare and growl at Large Black, who was selfishly occupying Bai Xiaoyu.

No matter how much the five of them puffed up, they were not allowed to come close to Bai Xiaoyu again.

Not wanting to get involved in their conflict, Bai Xiaoyu naturally didn't participate and continued to discuss the matters regarding the F105 planet with Lou Hao.

Apart from being small, the F105 planet had, due to its geographical location, once been at the very edge of the imperial star region. Back then, it wasn't just the empire that existed in the star system, but other nations as well. The planet had been a boundary planet between two star regions, a no-man's-land throughout history, notorious for being a place where all sorts of people gathered. Therefore, the black market here was famous throughout the star system. If there were insect crystals, the likelihood was very high.

Lou Hao said, "Boss, if you're going, you'll need to make some preparations, at least arrange for some strong bodyguards."

He glanced at Bai Xiaoyu's face, hesitating to continue.

Bai Xiaoyu said, "If you have something to say, just say it."

Lou Hao spoke quickly, "Boss, the people there have always been quite fierce. You should probably wear a mask or something, just in case you get kidnapped. Also, in the black market, people might be treated as commodities."

Bai Xiaoyu wasn't too surprised. Since receiving the three batches of eggs from the research institute below, he had been aware of these dark sides, both in the post-apocalyptic era and even before it. The star system was vast, and there were always some gray areas that were beyond control.

Since time was tight, Bai Xiaoyu began preparing almost immediately. Even with an S-grade spacecraft, it would take half a day to make a space jump to reach the F105 planet. Leaving right now would allow him to make it to the auction tomorrow.

Bai Xiaoyu found two 2S warriors from the herb base to accompany him, and that evening, he finished packing and was ready to head out.

Just before departure, thinking about Large Black's identity, Bai Xiaoyu decided it would be safer for Large Black to stay here.

However, Large Black was unwilling, and when it saw that Bai Xiaoyu didn't want him to follow, it really got angry this time.

Usually, when Large Black was upset, it would sulk in a corner, but this time, it stuck to Bai Xiaoyu, not leaving his side for a single step.

Bai Xiaoyu was helpless. At this point, the other cubs, seeing that Large Black was following Bai Xiaoyu, also started to follow along.

The little white tiger and the little golden tiger kept glancing at the blue spacecraft, and the little golden tiger even tried to jump aboard.

Bai Xiaoyu grabbed the little fellow, and the little golden tiger growled at him, "Where are you going without bringing this emperor?"

Bai Xiaoyu patted the little golden tiger on the head and said, "F105 planet, emperor. Don't cause trouble. I'll bring you a gift when I'm back."

The little white tiger's eyes darted around, and Bai Xiaoyu knew exactly what the little one was thinking. "Little one, wait for brother to come back. Just tell me what you want, and I'll bring it back for you."

The little white tiger, realizing Bai Xiaoyu wasn't going to bring him, pointed at Big Black with his paw and growled, "Why can Big Black go?"

Bai Xiaoyu turned his head to look at Big Black, who was clinging to him. It seemed he wouldn't be able to persuade Big Black otherwise, so he explained, "Big Black needs to protect me. Little one, you have to take care of Little Golden Tiger and Little Prince at home, okay?"

The little white tiger considered his brother's combat ability. If Big Black didn't go, what if Bai Xiaoyu got into trouble? Besides, someone had to stay and watch the house while his brother was away.

After some hesitation, the little white tiger nodded and growled, "Okay, I'll wait for brother to come back. But, brother, you have to give me a kiss."

Bai Xiaoyu picked up the little white tiger and kissed its fluffy head. The little golden tiger also poked its head out and whined. Bai Xiaoyu, being fair, also kissed the little golden tiger. Afterward, he noticed his legs were being hugged again and looked down to see two children staring up at him eagerly.

Alright, the Little Prince wore a cold expression but still clung to Bai Xiaoyu's legs.

Lifting up the two little ones, Bai Xiaoyu said, "I'll get you something good to eat, but you two can't cause any trouble while I'm away."

Something good to eat?

The eyes of the two cubs immediately lit up, imagining getting insect crystals. They excitedly hugged Bai Xiaoyu's neck, and each gave him a kiss.

The Big Black Egg, sulking, was so angry that its body began to tremble. Just then, Tao Limeng arrived and shouted, "Boss, give me a kiss too, and bring me back some good materials, will you? Ah!"

Bai Xiaoyu watched as the furious Big Black Egg rammed into Tao Limeng, sending him flying onto a tree branch. Bai Xiaoyu couldn't help but chuckle. "Alright."

As soon as he finished speaking, the Big Black Egg had already blocked the golden and silver tigers that were trying to approach. It bumped them away and then charged straight at Bai Xiaoyu.

With a skillful maneuver, it managed to hoist Bai Xiaoyu onto its back and quickly bounced onto the aircraft, urging the soldiers to take off. The aircraft shot into the sky, and only then did the Big Black Egg settle down.

Bai Xiaoyu realized what had happened—Big Black had carried him. He quickly got off the egg body, and the Big Black Egg turned away, still pretending to be angry.

He patted the Big Black Egg and asked, "Are you upset, Big Black?"

The Big Black Egg wobbled, indicating it was still upset.

Bai Xiaoyu took out the backpack egg carrier that he had received as a system reward and pretended to be sorry. "Big Black, didn't you want a hug?"

The Big Black Egg wobbled and gradually inched closer to Bai Xiaoyu.

Bai Xiaoyu added fuel to the fire, "I was also going to give you a kiss..."

Seeing the Big Black Egg immediately press against his face, Bai Xiaoyu smiled slightly. So easy to please.

He kissed the egg body, and the Big Black Egg was revitalized again. Several tiger claw tentacles wobbled out as if they were drunk, asking for more kisses and a carry.

Bai Xiaoyu said, "Let's rest now, and I'll carry you later on the aircraft."

Since Big Black had come along, Bai Xiaoyu needed to report to Su Ran. As soon as he dialed, the call was answered. After listening to Bai Xiaoyu, Su Ran looked at the bouncing Big Black Egg and signaled that he understood.

In truth, they had already known the outcome before Big Black even boarded the aircraft. The Sixteenth Legion wouldn't secretly monitor Bai Xiaoyu, but they had to pay attention to Big Black Egg's movements.

After finishing the call, the Big Black Egg nestled excitedly against Bai Xiaoyu, and the two of them soon fell into a deep sleep.

In the dead of night, the Big Black Egg suddenly woke up and slowly stood up to stealthily peek at the sleeping person. It wasn't until dawn that it slowly lay back down.

They reached their destination early the next morning. After washing and freshening up, Bai Xiaoyu retrieved the Egg Carrier.

The Big Black Egg hopped excitedly around in circles around Bai Xiaoyu.

Bai Xiaoyu strapped the Egg Carrier onto his back and gently pressed the switch. The carrier expanded into its initial form, a semi-elliptical base. He crouched down, allowing the Big Black Egg to hop onto the carrier. Despite its size, Bai Xiaoyu didn't feel any weight at all. This was due to the carrier's built-in hovering function, though it required high-grade energy fluid.

The energy fluid consumption rate varied based on the weight of the egg being carried. A fully loaded Egg Carrier could last for a month. However, as the Big Black Egg hopped on, Bai Xiaoyu saw the energy fluid deplete rapidly. At this rate, the energy would be exhausted in less than half a day.

But Bai Xiaoyu was prepared. In his system inventory, he had a whole box of high-grade energy fluid. Even if Big Black used it quickly, it would suffice.

With the Big Black Egg on board, Bai Xiaoyu stood up, activated the carrier's full mode, and a transparent shell immediately enveloped the Big Black Egg on his back.

Bai Xiaoyu patted the shell, no longer sensing Big Black's original aura. Instead, it had been replaced with the aura of an ordinary egg. He felt very satisfied with this arrangement.

Though the carrier looked very similar to those commonly seen in the star system, it was a system-produced item that could completely mask Big Black's aura. Of course, it worked both ways; Big Black couldn't sense outside auras either.

That was enough. After all, Big Black's identity was too unique, and the fewer people who knew, the better.

He put on the face mask Tao Limeng had prepared for him, instantly transforming his appearance. This type of lifelike bio-mask wasn't uncommon on this planet. After all, people came here specifically for the black market and preferred to remain anonymous.

With a giant black egg on his back, Bai Xiaoyu disembarked from the flight, drawing curious glances.

However, despite the curiosity, no one made a fuss. After all, it wasn't rare for breeders to take their eggs out for a stroll. Although this egg was exceptionally large, many species in the star system had large eggs.

Everything went more smoothly than Bai Xiaoyu had imagined. But unlike D36 planet, there were many people coming and going here, all of whom appeared to be well-equipped and did not seem to be locals. They were likely here for the auction.

While the public auction was easy to find, the insect crystals were at the black market auction. He needed to locate the guide who would lead him there. It was said that these guides blended in among the crowd, and once convinced, they would take you to the black market auction. This required keen observation.

Looking around, he saw occasional fights and arguments, and even people shooting at each other with energy cannons.

This place was indeed chaotic.

Even the children were unusually fierce. For instance, in the small alley ahead, a teenager around thirteen or fourteen years old was holding a peer and slamming them down with one hand while tearing into a bloody lamb leg with the other.

A group of children was ganging up on one, but they were all being beaten down.

Children's fights, adults rarely intervened. As Bai Xiaoyu was about to look away, the teenager's gaze caught his eye. It was a familiar look, one he often saw in the Little Prince's eyes—a look that saw others as food.

He quickly walked over and grabbed the teenager's hand that was half-thrust into the chest of a trembling fallen child. Seeing this, the other children screamed and ran off.

The teenager turned to look at Bai Xiaoyu, his pupils pitch black. Upon seeing him, he couldn't help but lick his lips, treating Bai Xiaoyu as another meal.

In the next second, he sniffed like a puppy, licked the blood off his fingers, and then locked his gaze onto Bai Xiaoyu.

This meal smelled delicious.

At that moment, the Big Black Egg behind Bai Xiaoyu started hopping up and down. If Bai Xiaoyu hadn't quickly pressed the shell to keep it from breaking free, it would have leaped out and attacked the teenager.

As the teenager stared at Bai Xiaoyu, his pupils dilating in excitement, a male voice came from behind. "Greedy Wolf, come back."

Bai Xiaoyu looked up and saw a masked man. Their eyes met, and Bai Xiaoyu became alert. The teenager was dangerous, but this man seemed even more so.

The man looked at Bai Xiaoyu and then at Big Black behind him. Suddenly, he spoke, "I'm advising you to leave here as soon as possible."

Bai Xiaoyu asked, "Why?"

The man replied, "You don't need to know. I've said all I need to say. Tan Wolf, let's go."

The man led the boy away, and Bai Xiaoyu patted the extremely agitated Big Black. He looked down at the pale young man who had fainted on the ground.

He took out a repairing agent and a blood-replenishing agent, giving them to the young man to drink. He also used a small repair device to heal the young man's wounds.

Soon, the young man woke up, letting out a startled cry before clutching his neck. "What was that? It tasted horrible! Am I being poisoned?"

Bai Xiaoyu reassured him, "No, it was just medicine."

The young man retched and rolled around before sitting up and quickly checking his own heart. "Thank goodness it's still there."

He looked around frantically and, seeing Bai Xiaoyu, said, "Did you save me? What terrible medicine did you give me? I was jolted awake from my unconscious state. By the way, what happened to that devil?"

Bai Xiaoyu replied, "He's gone. How did you end up provoking him?"

The young man explained, "It wasn't us who provoked him; he came after us. He even said I smelled a bit fragrant, like I could be his food! He really wanted to eat me!"

The young man glanced at Bai Xiaoyu and the two warriors behind him. "You're here for the black market auction event, right? Are you interested in the open one or the covert one?"

Bai Xiaoyu was surprised, realizing they had accidentally found their guide. "The covert one."

The young man stood up, brushing off his clothes despite the bloodstains. "I'll take you there."

They passed through an ordinary alley and soon arrived at a residential building. The young man opened the basement, revealing a staircase leading underground. "Follow me."

As they descended, the young man chattered ahead of them. He seemed quite fond of Bai Xiaoyu, who had saved his life.

"The black market's entrance is different every time, and so is the venue. By the way, I know roughly what's up for auction. If you're not comfortable sharing, you don't have to."

Bai Xiaoyu said, "Insect Crystal."

The young man paused, his expression turning slightly odd.

Bai Xiaoyu asked, "What's wrong? Is it unavailable?"

The young man quickly recovered, "It is."

The young man hesitated, and Bai Xiaoyu asked, "Do you have something to say?"

The young man admitted, "I've heard that those higher up are using the Insect Crystal as bait. Anyone with designs on the Insect Crystal won't be spared. It's best if you don't bid."

Bai Xiaoyu nodded, "I understand. Thank you for the information."

The young man led Bai Xiaoyu to the entrance of an underground chamber, where they encountered another group of people.

Even though both parties were wearing masks, they recognized each other almost instantly.

The person opposite was Bai Qi, accompanied by a man—Qi Yun.

Bai Qi looked at Bai Xiaoyu and said, "You actually dared leave D36? Aren't you afraid you won't be able to return?"

Bai Xiaoyu retorted, "You should be worried about yourself."

Bai Qi sneered, "By the way, I brought your boyfriend with me. Why don't the two of you have a reunion?"

Qi Yun looked at Bai Xiaoyu and walked over, attempting to link arms with him. The large black egg behind Bai Xiaoyu was displeased. It suddenly bounced up, and Bai Xiaoyu reached back to press it down, but the black egg, encased in its transparent shell, bounced up and slammed into Qi Yun, pinning him to the wall.

Bai Xiaoyu watched Qi Yun slowly slide down the wall and said, "We never got together, and we weren't meant to be that kind of relationship. Don't make it sound like something it isn't."

Hearing this, the large black egg bounced back onto Bai Xiaoyu's back.

Qi Yun felt like his bones had been scattered. He glared at the black egg. "Is this egg insane? It's attacking people!"

Bai Xiaoyu ignored him, and Bai Qi didn't respond either. After a moment of silent confrontation, Bai Qi snorted coldly and led his people away.

For now, they would let Bai Xiaoyu off, but they would settle things with him later.

After registering, Bai Xiaoyu went to a private room. There was still half an hour before it started. He leaned back on the large black egg and, without realizing it, fell into a deep sleep.

Once again, Bai Xiaoyu found himself dreaming. In the dream, the white tiger appeared again.

He was still hanging between the tiger's tail. The massive silver-white tiger looked at him and, with a gentle toss, placed the egg on the ground without a wobble.

The white tiger's tail pointed toward the direction of the breeding facility and then slowly closed its eyes to rest.

The message was clear. If it were him now, he wouldn't dare disturb the tiger. But from the egg's limited perspective, Bai Xiaoyu knew that the egg understood the tiger's intentions. Yet, in the sunlight, the majestic white tiger was too beautiful to resist. Every silver-white hair seemed to glow, its sharp claws and deep, unfathomable beast-like eyes made it both powerful and captivating.

He could feel the egg's unrestrained admiration and even some inappropriate thoughts.

This big cat is so beautiful. I wish to keep it by my side.

Bai Xiaoyu thought that if this were the past him, something terrible would happen after such a thought. He wanted to hide his face in embarrassment because he knew himself too well.

Sure enough, the egg, still hanging by the tail, began to stir again.

The egg secretly observed for a moment, thinking the white tiger had fallen asleep, and quickly bounced over. But once again, the tail caught it and threw it even farther away.

But the egg was undeterred and rolled back again.

The back-and-forth continued until the egg was too exhausted to move. Marshal Bai, with an almost imperceptible sigh, used his tail to gently place the restless egg back into the breeding compartment. After resting, the egg rolled out again the next day.

For a whole week, the egg persistently 'harassed' the white tiger. Finally, Marshal Bai, using his tail, wrapped around the delicate egg again. Marshal Bai seemed to sigh almost imperceptibly.

This time, he used his tail to toss the egg again, but instead of throwing it far, he placed it beside him.

The egg, quite smart, seemed to understand that its efforts had finally earned it the right to approach the big cat. So, it shamelessly moved even closer.

The egg rolled toward the white tiger's soft, fluffy belly. But once again, the tail caught it.

The white tiger placed the unruly egg under its paw. The egg, seeing the pink paw pad, paid no attention to the sharp claws hidden within. It began rubbing against the elastic paw pad, bouncing off it playfully.

The white tiger watched for a while before letting the egg play with the paw. However, this leniency led to the other paws and tail suffering as well.

But Bai Xiaoyu, though covering his face, couldn't help but smile as he watched the egg's behavior. He realized that this was the same trick the large black egg often used. The difference was that with the white tiger, the egg initiated the contact, whereas with the black egg, the paw would reach out to let the egg touch it.

After conquering the paw, the egg began to explore other areas, such as the head and back. Finally, the egg rolled down from the tiger's body and quickly slid under the white tiger's belly.

Bai Xiaoyu saw the white tiger stiffen. The tiger then used its claws to pull the egg out. But the egg would just roll back in, only to be pulled out again.

Finally, the egg achieved its goal and rolled around on the white tiger's furry belly. The white tiger remained stiff, allowing the egg to wreak havoc on its belly. Bai Xiaoyu, though covering his face, couldn't help but smile.

Beside him, the guards also found it incredible. The Marshal had always carried a menacing aura, and hardly any young cubs would remain unstartled by him. This egg was truly an oddity, boldly provoking the Marshal daily. Lately, many men and women had tried hard to achieve what this egg had done.

Watching the egg that charged in and out of the Marshal's belly seven times, messing up the fur of the Marshal's beast form beyond recognition, it was probably the only daring egg in the entire star system.

Through the dear egg, Bai Xiaoyu felt the sensation of extreme softness and warmth from the white tiger's fur, and even in his sleep, he smiled.

His mental energy threads also kept emerging, involuntarily probing the nearby Big Black Egg.

After a moment, the bone tiger lowered its head and saw Bai Xiaoyu's mental energy slowly transform into a round, transparent little egg about the size of a palm, rolling around on his belly. A single look showed this was a repeat offender.

Big Black froze. Why did it feel like he had experienced this before?

---