Chapter 5

The baby, with its tender and smooth skin, looked like jelly, with the faint visibility of blood vessels beneath.

He had his eyes closed, but his black hair and long eyelashes were already fully grown. His two small hands were holding the eggshell, continuously bringing it to his mouth and crunching it.

He had teeth, white and clean, just like the milk teeth of an ordinary child. However, how could a newborn baby have a full set of neat, white milk teeth?

Lan Xiao touched the surface of the egg for the first time. It felt slightly warm. Apart from that, he could not sense any energy within it.

"Heaven! There's only the life energy of a hundred-year-old soul beast left. What should we do?" Nan Cheng asked Lan Xiao anxiously.

Lan Xiao smiled bitterly and said, "What can we do? It's too bizarre. We'll continue to observe. This is really a child, a baby born from an egg. Can you believe it?"

Another researcher beside him said, "Boss, could it be a ten-thousand-year-old soul beast reincarnated?"

Lan Xiao opened his mouth to speak, but Nan Cheng reported again, "Ten years, only the energy level of a ten-year-old soul beast remains."

Lan Xiao smiled bitterly and said, "According to the records of ancient soul beasts by the Federation and the data provided by the divine-level soul beasts, after a ten-thousand-year-old soul beast reincarnates, it can at least maintain the energy level of a hundred-year-old soul beast, and it retains its original memory and intelligence. It would never become a baby-sized, helpless creature. Generally, it would transform into a child with some self-protection ability."

"Crunch!" Another piece, keep eating!

"We should also take a piece of the eggshell back for research. Nan Cheng, come over and take the baby out. We need to keep the eggshell as proof of our scientific expedition's success." Lan Xiao said to Nan Cheng.

Nan Cheng walked over, and when she saw the baby in the eggshell, her eyes couldn't look away.

The baby was white and plump, with a slightly round face that was smooth and delicate, and two small dimples on his cheeks. He was incredibly cute. Instantly, her maternal love overflowed, and her eyes became gentle.

To avoid hurting the baby, she slowly reached out and lifted him from the broken eggshell. He wasn't heavy, weighing about six to seven pounds, with a soft, warm body and a faint, pleasant fragrance.

Nan Cheng carefully held him in her arms and couldn't help but say softly, "He's so beautiful!"

The other team members also saw him. Indeed, the baby was incredibly beautiful and handsome.

Suddenly, the baby's hands paused, reaching out to the side but grabbing nothing. He had finished eating the piece of eggshell in his hand.

"Wah, wah!" He started crying, his loud cries echoing throughout the cabin.

Nan Cheng, who wasn't married and had no children, was startled, and the others were also flustered.

Lan Xiao, who was about to take the eggshell away, was also stunned.

"Why is he crying?"

Nan Cheng was also flustered, "I didn't hurt him! Ah! It's the eggshell, he must want to eat more. Quickly, give him another piece."

As she spoke, she brought the baby to Lan Xiao. The moment the baby's hand touched the eggshell, his wrist flexed skillfully, grabbed the edge, broke off another piece, and put it in his mouth, crunching it and stopping his crying.

"Would he not cry if you took away his food?" Nan Cheng said, somewhat sympathetically.

"This... but we need to do research!" Lan Xiao said helplessly.

Nan Cheng hesitated. She knew the importance of research, and this child, born from an egg, was truly extraordinary, especially since the egg had previously emitted a massive amount of life energy.

Lan Xiao, who was decisive, thought for a moment and said, "Examine the baby's body, let him continue eating. When he's done, we'll keep a small piece for research."

"Yes!"

The reconnaissance aircraft was equipped with a wide range of experimental devices, especially for testing vital signs, which were as complete as those in a laboratory.

The baby was crunching away, and in a short while, he had eaten more than half of the eggshell. The basic vital sign tests were also completed.

Lan Xiao, Nan Cheng, and the other researchers looked at all the test data and were stunned.

It wasn't because the test data was bizarre, but because it was too normal. Just like a normal person.

The data for a normal newborn baby matched his. The data was generally within the normal range, and his life energy was also the same as a normal baby, with no signs of any soul beast aura. However, the baby was very resilient and didn't cry even during the blood test. Of course, this might have been because he was continuously eating the eggshell. When his skin was pricked, he only frowned slightly and then continued his "crunch, crunch."

"Is this really just a normal child?" Lan Xiao couldn't believe it, and neither could any of the researchers on the aircraft!

A child found in the ultra-low temperature ice beneath the extreme north, born from an egg, could be normal? Without any soul beast bloodline, any special energy, or any abnormalities, everything was as normal as it could be. How was this possible?

A normal embryo would have been frozen to death in the ice long ago!

However, the data couldn't be faked, and all the equipment was state-of-the-art. Perhaps the only thing that made this child different was that he was too normal. Some indicators in a normal baby might be slightly low or high, but he had none of that. He was completely normal.

In summary, this was a healthy, extremely normal human baby.

"Crunch, crunch, crunch!" The baby continued to eat the eggshell, completely unaware of what was happening.

"What should we do?" Nan Cheng looked at Lan Xiao.

Lan Xiao was also somewhat dazed. Originally, everyone, including him, thought this would be a rare discovery, perhaps even a significant achievement that would play a crucial role in the study of ancient soul beasts. However, the current situation meant they might face a strange predicament.

"Boss, this is a bit of a problem!" Researcher Chen Wei smiled bitterly, "Not long ago, the Federation severely punished a case of scientific fraud. Even if we had a hundred mouths, we couldn't explain this clearly!"

Scientific fraud was one of the most serious crimes in the Douluo Federation. The reason was simple: a single case of scientific fraud could bring catastrophic disaster to the Federation and even humanity. The punishment for scientific fraud varied depending on the severity, and it was one of the few crimes for which the Federation could impose the death penalty. This was a constant reminder to researchers not to be overly ambitious due to the generous rewards. Before having absolute confidence, they should not easily report scientific results, otherwise, if they were accused of fraud, it would be a big problem.

Another researcher, Li Tingyin, said, "It's not that bad, we still have the eggshell, right?"

Chen Wei smiled bitterly, "This is our only hope. We hope to find something special on the eggshell. Otherwise..."

Lan Xiao understood his meaning. Otherwise, today's discovery would be a false joy.