Chapter 39
Watching Xia Anran’s livestream had now become a daily mandatory activity for Xuan Mo. Today, he didn’t go to the palace and was watching alone at home. The moment the glossy, large rooster appeared, he sat up straight and examined it carefully, trying to figure out which of their tribes’ primitive beastmen it was.
Seeing Ren Yi lift the chicken with one hand, Xuan Mo was already numb to it. He had figured out by now that the status of Beastmen on Earth was ridiculously low. Some were raised by humans, while the wild ones were casually hunted, and some were even eaten as food! For example, it had been revealed that both the pigs and mantises that had appeared before were human food.
So, to some extent, Xuan Mo had already given up. After all, with a gap of sixteen thousand years, he couldn’t just fly back in time to kick some human ass and seek justice for the Beastmen. In such situations, all he could do was be angry for a moment; there was no outlet for his strength.
This time, he had already successfully desensitized himself and wasn’t paying too much attention, until he heard the word “egg.”
He shot up, frowning at the pale brown eggs in the yellow, round container on the screen. They weren’t large and were squeezed together, filling the container to the brim.
Some of the interstellar Beastman races were also oviparous, so they were no strangers to eggs. They knew it was a way for cubs to be born. But this was the first time they had seen such small eggs. Since their cubs were generally quite large, the smallest egg was usually at least a meter long.
The name “chicken egg” clearly meant it was the cub of the chicken that had just appeared.
Xuan Mo thought back to the clip of the scallion pancake from Xia Anran’s stream, which he had been repeatedly watching and studying recently. When she had introduced the ingredients, she had said, “Is there anything in it? Hmm, it should just be wheat, scallions, peanut oil. Auntie Li also has a habit of adding a few chicken eggs…”
At that time, he hadn’t known that a chicken was a type of primitive beastman on Earth.
So… he had actually eaten the cub of a primitive beast?!
Xuan Mo: Stunned. Heartbroken. Grief-stricken.
The next second, his communication line rang. It was his idiot emperor.
The moment the call connected, Jeqi’s loud voice boomed out. “Xuan Mo! Did you see the stream?”
“The chicken eggs Host Anran mentioned in the scallion pancake, is it this?!”
“Ahhh, we’re really not beasts! We ate a cub, sob, sob, sob!”
Xuan Mo: “…”
Thank you for reminding me again.
After wailing for a while and getting no response, Jeqi let out a puzzled “Huh?” “Hey? Is this photon-communicator broken?”
“Is it broken, or has Xuan Mo been unable to withstand the blow and passed out?”
“Royal Guard! Go check on General Xuan Mo! I think he’s about to die of anger from eating an egg!”
Xuan Mo’s head was about to explode. “…Your Majesty, can you please lower your voice?!” Just throw this unlucky bastard back into solitary confinement. He now supported Princess Ruoya with both hands and both wings to take the throne and kick this idiot out!
Jeqi finally heard a response and chuckled. “As long as you’re alive. I was just afraid you couldn’t take the shock.”
Xuan Mo said with a blank face, “Is there anything else? If not, I’m hanging up.”
“Wait!” Jeqi quickly shouted, afraid he would hang up the next second. This was a man who would actually do it.
“Haven’t we already experimented and found that our Horn Power doesn’t react to those plants and fruits? So, it seems the only thing that could possibly affect it is this chicken egg,” Jeqi said, for a rare change, seriously.
Xuan Mo: “…”
It can’t be that depraved, can it?! We have to eat the cubs of primitive beastmen to enhance our Horn Power?!
Seeing Xuan Mo’s silence, Jeqi knew he understood. Then, with a long sigh and a look of profound grief, he cautiously suggested, “How about… I issue an order later to have everyone send comments, asking Host Anran to raffle off those eggs?”
“And then? Eat them and see if it works?”
Xuan Mo’s fists were clenching. This unlucky bastard’s rock bottom was repeatedly breaking through his imagination.
Jeqi had already mentally prepared himself. He said righteously, “If these animals really are primitive beasts, then our ancestors would surely be very happy to help us, their descendants, to make the Beastman race great!”
“Once we’ve dealt with the Interstellar Empire and the United Star System, we will write every ancestor who sacrificed themselves for the cause of the Beastman race onto the honor roll!”
Xuan Mo’s head was spinning. “Then you’d better get past the council first. Let’s see if those old men will curse you to death.”
“That’s why I came to work on you first, isn’t it?” Jeqi said with a grin. “If you’re on my side, whatever those old men say won’t matter.”
Xuan Mo coldly stated that he wouldn’t get involved in such nonsense.
Jeqi got anxious. “Don’t pretend! Just tell me, was the scallion pancake delicious or not?! Next time the host holds a lottery, don’t you dare eat it!”
Xuan Mo: …Alright, the ancestors do seem to be a bit fragrant.
“Besides, these are primitive beasts from sixteen thousand years ago. They’re practically a different race from us now. We’ve evolved. Look, don’t those Earth people eat them too? There’s no need to feel any psychological pressure…” Jeqi continued to coax.
“Shut up for a minute.”
Before Jeqi could finish, Xuan Mo interrupted him. Jeqi paused and looked up to see that while they had been talking, Xia Anran had finished her back-and-forth with Auntie Chunsheng and, unable to refuse her enthusiasm, had accepted the basket of eggs.
But the basket was too full, and one egg was teetering on the edge, about to fall. When Xia Anran took the basket, it was a bit heavy, and her hand trembled. The precarious egg flipped over and fell to the ground.
A group of sharp-eyed viewers in the comments were terrified.
[An egg is about to fall!!!]
[Ahhh, I can’t watch, it’s too bloody!]
[A cub’s eggshell is very fragile. Sigh. There are always so many unreliable parents who crush their eggs during incubation.]
[NO!!!]
[It’s better than being eaten. The thought of a cub becoming food makes me tremble. Mom, humans are too scary!]
[You can even learn about the Beastman race by watching Anran’s stream.]
[Not only that, the Empire also has to learn the United Star System’s script…]
[Wait, I just came to watch a livestream. What’s with this classroom atmosphere?]
[Hahahaha, the United Star System people are watching with great interest. You Imperials just keep studying!]
Splat!
The egg finally hit the ground, the shell breaking and the white and yolk spilling out.
Xia Anran let out a little “Aiyo.” Auntie Chunsheng looked at it and said with a smile that it was no big deal. There were many wild cats on the mountain; a little cat would eat this egg later.
And then, because of her words, the comments were once again flooded with question marks.
[What?! You Beastmen actually eat each other? That’s too depraved!]
[I’m starting to understand why schools don’t teach about the Beastman race. You guys are really a bit anti-human…]
[Cannibalism! So barbaric!]
[Slander! This is pure slander!!!]
[All you humans, shut up! I’m going to die of anger!]
[Beastmen do not eat Beastmen!]
[Where did this accusation come from…]
[We really don’t eat Beastmen!]
[How could we possibly eat our own kind? Don’t humans have brains?]
Auntie Chunsheng was in a hurry to get back to her chicken farm. She said a few more words and then rushed off. Only then did Xia Anran have a chance to look at the comments and saw that the Beastman race was so angry they were about to cough up blood, wishing they could crawl out of the screen and have her seek justice for them.
“Uh, everyone, please don’t argue for a moment. I think the animals on our Earth are probably different from the Beastmen. As you’ve all seen, the animals on Earth cannot transform into humans. Their brains are relatively simple, they can’t speak or write, they’re not socialized, and they have no moral concepts. In the natural food chain, it’s natural for animals to prey on each other.”
“But the Beastman race is different. Although I haven’t seen what a Beastman looks like, I can tell from the stream that there’s no difference in communication with humans. Perhaps your appearance is somewhat similar to animals, but you should be two completely different races.”
The Beastmen: A just judge has arrived! Finally, their name was cleared!
Xuan Mo and Jeqi’s communication was still on. When the comments had suspected them of cannibalism, Jeqi had been hopping mad, almost ready to rally the troops and go to war with the Interstellar Empire and the United Star System. After hearing Xia Anran’s words, he suddenly quieted down.
“Did you hear that, Xuan Mo? Host Anran said these primitive beasts have no intelligence. We have evolved. Strictly speaking, we’re not the same race. And the primitive beasts on Earth prey on each other, which means that’s just their way of survival!”
Jeqi seized the opportunity and began to persuade Xuan Mo, trying to get him on his side so that the council would agree to them obtaining primitive beast cubs from Earth, and then, ahem, eating them.
Xuan Mo didn’t respond, just stared at the puddle of egg on the screen. “Why does it look like that after it broke?” Where was the cub’s body? Why was it all liquid?
Only then did Jeqi notice this problem. He let out an “Eh” and then quickly asked in the comments.
[Beastman-Race-Interstellar-No.1]: Host, host, why is there no cub in this egg? Isn’t a chicken egg the cub of a chicken?
In just a few days, Jeqi had successfully become a VIP front-row member of Xia Anran’s stream through spending money, with a golden, sparkling chat box.
Seeing this comment, Xia Anran patiently explained, “A chicken egg is the ovum of a chicken. They are generally divided into fertilized and unfertilized eggs. Only fertilized eggs will develop into chicks and then hatch. But in the early stages, before they develop, they are all in this liquid state.”
These words completely refreshed the Beastman race’s understanding. The oviparous races of the Beastmen did not distinguish between fertilized and unfertilized eggs; only fertilized eggs could be produced. And even in a newly laid egg, the cub was already formed. Compared to the viviparous Beastmen, the only difference was that the last few days of the gestation period were spent in an egg instead of the mother’s body.
[Phew, thank goodness. So humans eat unfertilized eggs. Then that doesn’t count as a cub, right?]
[They’re even divided into fertilized and unfertilized eggs? How are unfertilized eggs laid?]
[I knew Earth people couldn’t be so depraved as to eat children!]
[But that human cub earlier said he was going to eat a mantis…]
[Didn’t Anran just explain? Animals and Beastmen are different. They have no intelligence. Animals even eat each other!]
Xia Anran looked at the comments with a complicated expression. Forget it. It’s better not to tell them about balut… All she could say was that her interstellar fans were still completely unaware of the Hua nation people’s foodie nature.