Chapter 70: Not a Snake Clan Cub

Chapter 70: Chapter 70: Not a Snake Clan Cub

The Incubator could be opened while the egg was hatching.

With trembling hands, Feng Si opened the lid of the Incubator. Her anxiety and uncertainty reached their peak.

She subconsciously sat up slowly, reaching into the Incubator. She cupped her hands around the egg without daring to touch it, her protective posture almost cradling it in her palms.

"CRACK-CRACK—"

A crack appeared on the black eggshell and gradually widened. A sliver of jet black showed through the fissure. As the cracking sound continued, the patch of inky black grew larger and larger.

Feng Si was incredibly moved as she watched, her eyes welling with tears of ecstasy and excitement.

AHHHH—

’My baby is finally hatching!’

She screamed wildly in her mind, her thoughts like a celebration with cluster after cluster of fireworks exploding.

Feng Si’s vision blurred, but she didn’t dare move. She let the tears fall until her eyes cleared, finally getting a distinct look at the hatchling before her.

It had a long body, an inverted triangular face, and tender black scales that emitted a soft glow. A pair of large, golden eyes, clear and moist, shone like flawless, top-grade gems.

’He’s a Snake Clan Beastman...’

Then, something cool and slick brushed against Feng Si’s fingers. The little Black Snake, no thicker than her thumb, curled its entire tiny body into its mother’s palm.

The little Black Snake lifted two tiny claws from its belly to prop itself up. It raised the upper half of its body and flicked out its tongue, instinctively scenting its mother.

"HISSS." Yun Chi let out a sound of pure excitement. ’Mama~’ He was trying out the name his mother had taught him while he was in the egg, his large eyes filled with joy and attachment.

Many male beasts were easy to raise because they were born in their mobile beast form, roughly equivalent to a one-year-old human child.

It was just that in their beast form, they hadn’t yet learned how to speak. Feng Si couldn’t understand the baby snake’s hisses, but she still felt tears welling up in her eyes.

"Yun Chi, welcome to the world. Mommy will always protect you," she said, her voice light and gentle with excitement and joy, like a pool of warm water on a cold day.

Feng Si carefully lifted the hatchling out of the Incubator. She picked up a towel from the counter, brought him close, and meticulously wiped the mucus from his body.

The little guy comfortably stretched out. He had exhausted all his energy breaking out of the shell. Now, cradled in his mother’s palm and enveloped by her familiar, reassuring scent, he drowsily fell asleep.

His body felt cool and soft, even better than the finest silk.

But... she had been mistaken.

Touched, blissful, and utterly content, Feng Si gazed at the hatchling’s snake-like body, which concealed two pairs of tiny, dragon-like claws on its belly.

’With looks like these, he’s clearly more like a Chi from ancient legends.’

Feng Si suddenly froze. ’The Jade Pendant he gave me... was it carved in the shape of his beast form?’

Her mind wandered for a moment. Seeing the sleeping hatchling, Feng Si carefully carried him back to her bed and placed Yun Chi on the pillow.

She was too excited to sleep now. Her mind was filled with thoughts of her new baby. Yun Chi was his formal name; she needed to think of a nickname for him too.

’What should I call him?’

She stared unblinking at the little one curled up beside her face. His dried body was warm, and a gentle stroke of her fingertip revealed a tender texture. The scales of a freshly hatched baby were even soft.

’He looks like a little black cloud that’s fallen to earth, or maybe a fluffy cotton candy ball.’

The sweetness made Feng Si’s lips curl up uncontrollably. In her heart, she secretly gave her baby a cute pet name: Yun Duo.

...

Snow fell heavily. At the entrance to the mall in Nantong City’s North City, the snow was piled especially thick, nearly burying half of the five-meter-high main doors. A frigid wind whipped flurries toward the entrance.

With the arrival of the cold season, temperatures had plummeted. Most of the Beastmen in Nantong City couldn’t stand the cold, so few ventured outside unless absolutely necessary.

The mall’s opening hours were also drastically shortened, opening at eleven in the morning and closing for the day at two in the afternoon.

At that moment, a sub-female bundled in a bulky down coat slowly walked from inside the mall to the main entrance. Holding a key card, they scanned it in front of the keyhole before bending down to unfasten the chain.

"Where’s the underfloor heating broken? The snow is piled way too high... WHOA!!" Straightening up to pull the door open, the sub-female looked up and was suddenly scared out of their wits. They turned and bolted back inside without a second glance.

Outside, the snow-covered ground in front of the entrance churned. A huge crowd of Beastmen, like zombies rising from their snowy graves, charged through the doors and into the mall.

The Beastmen rushed into the mall and ran without pause toward the elevators. They shook their heads, sending clumps of snow tumbling off their bodies. The snow hit the floor and quickly melted into water.

The floor became very slippery. The Beastmen following behind slipped and slid, but their desperate forward push didn’t slow one bit. Terrified of falling behind the rest, they shoved their way forward as if their lives depended on it.

"Hey, hey, hey! All of you, stop right there!" A few members of the patrol team who had been hastily summoned arrived to see at least a hundred Beastmen running forward in a chaotic mob. Their hearts instantly jumped into their throats.

Sure enough, his shouts to halt were lost like a cry in a blizzard. Not a single beast listened, or if they did, they couldn’t be bothered to care.

At the elevator entrance, which was about two bodies wide, they pushed forward for dear life, steam rising from their heads and shoulders. No one would yield an inch. It was like a torrent of water trying to force its way through a tiny funnel.

The patrol team would normally have intervened if they were dealing with just a few male beasts, but faced with a crazed horde of Beastmen, they didn’t dare approach. The captain shouted to his subordinate:

"Quick, go notify the City Guard Team! A group of Beastmen in the North District mall are—rioting!"

As soon as he shouted this, the rushing crowd froze collectively. Then, someone in the throng hurriedly yelled back:

"I’m not rioting!"

"We’re not rioting! I was tested at the Sacrificial Hall last month, and my Original Value is within the normal range!"

"I’m not rioting either! I can show you my Original Value test results."

One after another, voices rose from the crowd to profess their innocence, leaving the patrol team dumbfounded.

The mob of Beastmen blocking the elevator had their backs to the patrol team before, but now they all turned their heads. Indeed, their faces didn’t look like they had lost their minds.

"But... why do all of you look so murderous?" The patrol captain wasn’t fooled. "And you still dare to say your Original Values are normal!"

His nose wouldn’t deceive him; this was the result of forty years of hunting experience in the wild forests. He turned and ordered the subordinate to his right:

"Quick, notify the City—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, it’s a real misunderstanding! A huge injustice!" An Elephant Clan Beastman, using his tall, bulky frame to pop his head above the crowd, interrupted the patrol captain’s call for backup with his booming voice. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

’If the City Guard Team takes us away, we’ll have to pay a fine even if we weren’t rioting. I could use those coins for so many better things!’

He stood on his tiptoes and shouted, "I’m just here to buy pickled cabbage from Si Shi, really!"

"I’m here for pickled cabbage too! I was afraid that if I was late, it would all be sold out. That’s why I was rushing forward!"