readbooksol Chapter 597 Garuda: Where's my egg?
Chapter 597 Garuda: Where's my egg?
"I said, Fox."
"Um?"
"We're chanting like shamans... can we really make this egg turn into the way we want it?"
Hellcat couldn't quite contain its urge to complain and whispered to Heartmoon Fox beside it.
"Although I don't know if it will work, let's give it a try," Su Tianqing replied.
The ruins were cleaned up, and a colorful ribbon surrounded the giant egg. The eggshell was decorated with several layers of pure white and pink lace, and even a bow was thoughtfully placed on top.
The cat and fox sat beside the giant egg. One of them held a plastic magic wand toy that emitted sound and light and waved it around the eggshell, while the other kept muttering to himself about a short essay with somewhat long and difficult sentences.
"You can hatch a sweet, soft, beautifully singing, and flamboyant winged loli with long golden hair tied in twin tails. She'll be an excellent cook, very attractive to cats when she walks down the street, and will happily flap her wings and hop around when her head is petted and her feathers are stroked..."
Are you making a wish here?
Nan Jiayu sighed helplessly, muttering a complaint to herself, but still earnestly imagined the appearance that Hu Hu had described.
The more Nan Jiayu thought about it, the more she felt that this image was somewhat similar to a replica of the golden-haired fox girl beside her. Apart from the hairstyle and wings, they really seemed almost identical.
"Are you all done over there? Is there any sign that the egg is hatching?" Chi Xue's voice called out from the edge of the ruins.
"Not yet! You guys play outside a little longer!" Xin Yuehu's muffled voice echoed from inside the ruins, coming through the rubble.
After listening to the melodious magical girl theme song from the ruins for a while, Akashi and Messiah Moira exchanged glances and shrugged.
"Are they always this eccentric?"
Chi Xue casually pulled up a chair and sat down next to Messiah, then asked this long-lost acquaintance.
"You think their behavior is a bit out of line... It might seem a bit much for someone our age, but I actually think it's quite good."
The white-haired, red-eyed girl grinned, her tone completely contradicting her apparent age.
"Young people look more lively this way. How can we do if everyone is as lifeless as us?"
"I'm not listless at all; I've been having a great time traveling lately," Akashi tried to retort.
Then, she looked around at the subway hall filled with the corpses of zombie NPCs. The bloody scene, which was pixelated, did not make her feel uncomfortable at all. Instead, she felt a little emotional.
Such a zombie apocalypse world can only be experienced in the mental image world. Only the mental image world of Xin Yuehu can achieve such a high degree of customization, which is what Chi Xue finds most incredible.
"Do you think they can succeed by just standing around the giant dome chanting about decorations and putting up toys?" Messiah suddenly asked.
"To be honest, I'm not sure." Chi Xue shook her head.
"I'm not as flexible as they are in changing my mind. I'm actually quite stubborn. Once I form a perception of something in my mind, it's hard to change it. That's probably why my mental world can only exist as a replica of the real world. I can't be as flexible as the two of them."
"...In all these years, this is the first time I've heard you praise someone else like this."
Moira, who was standing next to them, glanced over, raised her eyebrows, and smiled.
"After all, I've already retired. Acknowledging the strength of the newcomers and making way for them is what we old-timers should do."
"I see."
Moira didn't reply, but silently looked in the direction of the ruins.
Messiah didn't know what to say. He opened his mouth but quickly closed it again, tilted his head, and simply leaned back in his chair to rest.
"Sometimes I feel quite envious when I see them."
Chi Xue suddenly spoke up, continuing from where she left off,
"They are energetic and passionate about everything, which reminds me of when I was their age... I was just as enthusiastic about everything, always feeling like I could protect everyone and defeat all monsters."
"I always thought I was the invincible one in the world."
"...Later I learned that magic is not omnipotent, and I cannot protect everyone. I could have sensed the hatching of the giant egg behind Sparrow Village, but I was unable to stop it in time."
"It's not your fault," Messiah said. "Nobody expects you to do everything. Don't be too hard on yourself."
"Yes... I can't do anything."
"But if someone has to step up this time, it can only be me."
The voice just fell.
A surprised sound came from the ruins—
"Wow!" "It moved!"
"It's hatched! It's hatched!"
"Is the shell too thick for her to peck open? Kitty, come help her!"
"!!??"
The three of them jumped up almost simultaneously, instinctively wanting to run over and take a look, but then suddenly remembered Inari's repeated instructions. They stopped just before rushing in and shouted inside:
"What's going on inside?"
Has it hatched yet?
"What hatched?"
The three asked questions nervously, like anxious family members waiting in front of the delivery room.
Soon, Hellcat emerged from the ruins, solemnly putting away the toy wand that emitted sound and light, while looking up at the three people, Akashi and Yuki, who had extremely tense expressions.
The catgirl smiled easily and said:
"Everything went smoothly, the bird and the egg are both safe and sound, we'll take them out in a bit."
Hellcat returned to the ruins and quickly led the golden fox girl up the protruding reinforced concrete slab at the edge of the ruins.
Everyone looked up at her.
The spotlight shone precisely on Xin Yuehu at that moment, and in the dazzling light, she raised the small figure with both hands—
With its golden, smooth hair, pure white wings, petite and adorable appearance, and bright, round eyes, it wore a dress that inexplicably fit it perfectly, curiously observing everything around it.
It looks exactly like the scene where Simba is lifted up by a baboon, except the baboon is replaced with a fox.
"Ohhhhhhh!"
They cheered in unison.
This dreamlike state of mind ended very quickly.
As the magical girls gathered in the hall, they stared at Meteor, who was holding the little winged person and playing with her toys not far away, and then all looked at Qiyun, who was squeezing a screaming toy next to Meteor.
Everyone wore expressions of disbelief, and couldn't help but turn their heads to look over there after hearing that the meeting had started.
"Ahem, Miss Bai Lili." Xin Yuehu coughed lightly twice, calling Bai Lili, who had been staring intently at the little white-winged person for a long time, back to the conference table.
"Sorry." Bai Lili was slightly embarrassed, but quickly corrected her attitude and became serious.
"That's exactly what we were talking about," Hellcat said.
"We found the two heroes who were dragged into the Dreamscape by Garuda. With their help, we quickly located the giant egg into which Garuda fell, and through a series of methods pre-arranged by Inari, we altered the egg's hatching process..."
"That's not called change; to be precise, it's called the 'bystander effect' caused by the influence of subjective cognition on the magical level on the non-physical projection of the present world."
Inari continued, and a long, complicated sentence with a proper noun plunged the atmosphere of the meeting into a freezing point.
Fortunately, Su Tianqing picked up where Inari left off and started the discussion again:
"In short, we used a series of methods to successfully hatch the giant egg into the result we wanted—the little child in Miss Meteor's arms!"
Everyone shifted their gaze again, turning to the obedient, adorable, and well-behaved golden-haired, white-winged child in Meteor's arms.
She was also watching the magical girls in their colorful and gorgeous costumes on the conference table, but she seemed a little scared under the watchful eyes of everyone. She shrank closer to Meteor and tried to bury her head under Meteor's white wings.
"It's her? The one who hatched from that giant egg?" Hyacinth asked incredulously.
"Yes, it's genuine." Chi Xue nodded in confirmation.
"But...but this is completely different from what I've seen before. Why...why is there such a big difference?"
Bai Lili couldn't hold back any longer. This seemed to be completely beyond her understanding of magic, so she quickly turned her gaze to Inari, which was currently the most likely explanation for everything.
The red-haired fox crossed its arms over its chest, its red radish swaying from side to side, and its head shaking as if it had anticipated Bai Lili's question.
"I really want to give you an explanation that everyone can understand, but how should I put it... before it actually started, only Miss Xinyuehu and I knew the details of this operation, and the principles behind it are also difficult to explain to everyone in words."
"...In short, there's only one thing everyone needs to know for now."
Inari took a deep breath and said slowly but firmly:
"What kind of creature will hatch from a Garuda's egg depends on the incubator's subjective understanding."
The group remained silent for a long time, clearly not quite accepting of this explanation. However, those who were quick-witted, such as Alice, the Cheshire Rabbit, and Nightingale, had already shown expressions of sudden realization and even began to help their companions explain.
The quiet explanations gradually turned into conversations and discussions, and were eventually overwhelmed by more questions and brainstorming.
While the magical girls were explaining and refuting each other at the conference table, the golden-haired fox girl quietly slipped over to Meteor's side and looked at the winged little girl in her arms who had once again poked her head out from under her wings.
Her bright, round eyes and features, coupled with her well-behaved appearance that never cries or fusses, are very endearing, and for Qi Yun, a married woman, they are even more attractive.
"You've really given us a huge problem, Miss Xinyuehu."
Meteor smiled wryly and gently placed the winged child on the empty seat next to him, then said to Su Tianqing.
"We still need to discuss the child's future. If possible, we need to find a family willing to raise her; otherwise, she will have to go to an orphanage."
"Sorry, we really didn't think of that much when we were doing the experiment." Su Tianqing was a little embarrassed, but she still couldn't help teasing her with the fox tail.
Seeing the adorable winged child sleeping soundly with her arms wrapped in a soft fox tail, the fox girl smiled happily and couldn't bring herself to say anything like "send her to an orphanage."
Let's ask the Hero Association to find her a good home first; they're absolutely top-notch professionals in this area. It's also time for me to think about the important matters ahead.
—Find a way to destroy Garuda and completely eliminate it!