Chapter 174: The Hatched Youngling
「That afternoon.」
After parting ways with Wei Nan and Zhou Qi, Lin Yi took the bus home.
He had just opened the door and hadn’t even had time to change his shoes when his phone rang.
Lin Yi took it out and glanced at it. The caller ID clearly showed two words: ’Sister Xue’.
His heart leaped with joy, and he quickly answered the call.
"Hello? Sister Xue?"
While on the phone, Lin Yi changed his shoes and walked into the living room.
On the other end of the line, Qin Zhaoxue chuckled lightly. "I made you worry, didn’t I!"
"I’m calling to let you know that you don’t have to worry about me. I’m fine now!"
"We’re about to head back to Xinghai!"
"What? You’re coming back to Xinghai? What time will you arrive? I’ll come see you!" Lin Yi said hurriedly.
Ever since the battle of Wushan,
the people Lin Yi had been most worried about were Chu Zhengxiong and Qin Zhaoxue.
To Lin Yi, they had helped him a great deal on his path of growth.
Especially Qin Zhaoxue; she had always been selflessly helping him.
Regardless of whether her help was at someone else’s request,
Lin Yi had firmly committed this kindness to memory.
So, when he went to Wushan that night and saw so many familiar faces had died in battle, his heart had clenched in pain.
He had only been able to rest a little easier after confirming that Qin Zhaoxue was still alive.
And this phone call finally set his mind at ease.
"No need. We’ll probably be very late when we get to Xinghai.
How about tomorrow? I’ll contact you then!"
"By the way, you’re done with your Martial Arts exam, right? How did it go?"
Lin Yi smiled. "It was alright. With my talent, getting into a Martial Arts University shouldn’t be a problem!"
"Pfft... That’s good. Maybe we can return to the New District with you!" Qin Zhaoxue couldn’t help but reply with a light laugh.
Lin Yi was taken aback. "You’re going back to the New District?"
"Probably. After all, the mission is complete. Once Captain Chu’s injuries have healed, we’ll be heading back!"
"Anyway, you’re done with your Martial Arts exam. After you choose a university and get your acceptance letter, you can go to the New District. Maybe we can travel together!"
Lin Yi nodded and chatted a bit more with Qin Zhaoxue.
They only hung up when someone urged her to hurry and get in the vehicle.
At this point, Lin Yi’s heart was completely at ease.
So, he walked toward his bedroom.
But the moment he stepped into the bedroom, he was stunned by the scene before him.
The bathroom had turned into something like the inside of a freezer.
The floor, walls, toilet, and sink were all covered in a layer of frost.
The entire bathroom was radiating a frigid chill.
It even made the bedroom feel like an ice cellar.
’What’s going on here?’
Lin Yi stared at the disastrous state of his bathroom.
He froze for a moment, then immediately thought of that colorful egg.
He rushed straight into the bathroom.
There, he saw that the water in the basin was still frozen solid.
But the egg... had already hatched.
Lin Yi hurried forward and picked up the empty eggshell.
It was completely empty. There was nothing inside.
’Oh no, the thing got out!’
Alarmed, Lin Yi frantically began searching the bathroom.
Clearly, the state of the bathroom was the handiwork of whatever had come out of that egg.
Although he didn’t know what kind of creature had hatched,
anything that could cover an entire bathroom in frost was obviously not some harmless little bird.
Lin Yi’s gaze swept around, and he searched every single corner.
But he still found nothing.
’Could it have already run off?’
Lin Yi found it strange.
He had locked the bedroom door before he left this morning.
And aside from the sudden drop in temperature, there were no traces of frost in the rest of the room.
The window was also completely intact.
This meant the creature hadn’t broken through the door or the window to get out.
’In other words, it’s still in the bathroom?’
The thought flashed through Lin Yi’s mind.
The next moment, a premonition of danger struck him.
His extensive combat experience made him instinctively lean his body slightly to the side.
SWOOSH—
Something shot past him at an incredible speed.
Lin Yi quickly looked toward the spot where the thing had just passed.
But before he could find where it had gone,
the premonition of danger struck again.
Lin Yi dodged to the side once more.
SWOOSH—
It was the same thing, flashing past again.
But having learned from the first time, Lin Yi was prepared as he dodged.
He snatched a towel from the rack and whipped it toward the afterimage.
THWAP...
The weight on the towel told Lin Yi he had definitely hit something.
The next moment, he saw a small chick slam heavily against the wall.
Then it fell to the floor.
Only then did Lin Yi get a clear look at what it was.
That’s right, it was a little chick.
Aside from the three colors on its head—red, green, and cyan—
its body was a scorched yellow, and its tail had seven different colors.
It looked as if someone had deliberately dyed it that way.
’I didn’t kill it, did I?’
Lin Yi drew closer, examining the little chick carefully.
If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he would never have believed this thing was responsible for turning the bathroom into such a mess.
Just as a worried Lin Yi was about to check on it,
the chick, which had gone limp, suddenly snapped its eyes open.
It let out a flurry of chirps at Lin Yi.
Then, a cyan light flashed in its eyes.
In an instant, Lin Yi felt the surrounding air temperature plummet again.
Lin Yi had previously undergone Body Tempering training at the Martial Arts Hall.
In fact, he still held the record for the tempering.
This level of biting cold had no effect on him whatsoever.
No matter how much bone-chilling cold the little chick radiated, it couldn’t affect Lin Yi in the slightest.
Instead, it just made Lin Yi more curious about the little chick.
"What kind of breed are you exactly? Quite the temper, and so colorful..."
"Are you a monster? A common chicken? Or a bird?"
The little chick didn’t answer.
Lin Yi tried to establish a telepathic connection with it again.
But he found that no matter how he tried to probe with his telepathy, he was pushed back by an invisible force.
His telepathy couldn’t reach it.
’In other words, unless it was willing to establish a telepathic connection with him, I couldn’t initiate contact on my own?’
"Forget it. I don’t care what kind of bird or chicken you are, turn this bathroom back to normal right now. Otherwise... I wouldn’t mind turning you into a roasted spring chicken!"
After saying his piece, Lin Yi stood up and walked out of the bathroom.
He was confident the chick could understand what he was saying.
After all, it had contacted him via telepathy before.
And its speech had been perfectly clear.
Lin Yi went to the kitchen and found a bag of millet in the cupboard.
It was one Tang Qinru had bought some time ago.
She used it to make porridge in the mornings.
There was still half a bag left, which was perfect for feeding the little chick.
’Whether it’s a chicken or a bird, it should eat this, right?’
Lin Yi poured some millet into a small dish.
When he returned to the bathroom,
sure enough, the bathroom that had just been an ice cellar covered in frost was now back to normal.
However, the melted ice on the ceiling and walls had turned to water, which was dripping and streaming down to the floor.
Seeing this, Lin Yi sighed softly.
He placed the dish of millet on the floor.
"Come and get it. You eat, I’ll clean up!"
The chick could indeed understand Lin Yi.
It glanced curiously at Lin Yi, then at the millet on the floor.
Full of vigilance, it walked toward the dish.
After it lowered its head and pecked at the millet,
it tentatively swallowed.
As it turned out, that one mouthful got it hooked.
It began pecking away like a chick possessed, rapidly devouring the millet in the dish.
It even glanced back from time to time at Lin Yi, who was cleaning the bathroom.
By the time Lin Yi had wiped all the water in the bathroom clean and walked out,
he found that all the millet in the dish was gone.
However...
the colorful chick had vanished.
Just as he was looking around for it,
suddenly, a CLATTER came from the kitchen.
"Oh no!"
An ominous thought flashed through his mind.
Lin Yi dashed straight for the kitchen.
When he got there, he discovered that the bag of millet had been found...