The rain never slowed down for even a second that night.

At some point, Hao Xuan just passed out from exhaustion and woke up with a blinding headache. His eyes hurt so bad that he couldn't even look at anything remotely bright.

He tapped the watch once, activating Baracus.

"Baracus, run another scan on me. What's causing this damn headache?

"

*Beep*

"Source unidentified. Too many things are changing inside your body so I can't make an accurate assumption.

"

Hao Xuan sat up and shook his head vigorously but it only made the pain worse.

"An assumption by definition is not accurate. Just give me your best guess.

"

"If I had to bet, which I wouldn't, then its probably related to the hormonal imbalance. The sudden...

"outburst

" from last night was probably caused by this as well. You have to be extremely careful, try to stay away from any stressful situations if at all possible.

"

"Hahahaha...

"

Even with the headache Hao Xuan couldn't help but break out laughing at Baracus's suggestion.

"I have to go bury Fifth sister today, then meet Third brother and see the creature impersonating as her. I don't even know what to do after that. Should I kill her? Should I tell Third brother that he is about to marry the thing that tortured and killed the love of his life? Avoiding

"Stress

" isn't an option for me right now.

"

"Point taken. I didn't think about that. I forgot how attached you humans get to one another.

"

"Well I'm sorry for having emotions. Not everyone can be an emotionless robot.

"

"I'm not emotionless. I feel things.

"

"Good for you. Come talk to me when you get dumped by someone or lose a loved one. Then we'll talk.

"

"...I think I'm good.

"

With a deep sigh Hao Xuan got up to go shower when he saw the black egg in the corner of the room. It was still in the same place he had left it almost a week ago.

The blue cracks around it were glowing with the same blue light, slowly dimming and then lighting up again over and over again but it seemed like the intervals between them had become a little shorter, less than a second but shorter nonetheless.

Hao Xuan walked up to it and brushed its hard exterior. It felt warm to the touch, like rough skin. It didn't just feel like an eggshell.

"Do you have any information about this thing?

"

*Beep*

"None. It could have any kind of mutation. There are literally trillions and trillions of different species and any of them can evolve in any way. No way to tell what this belongs to, that is without dissecting it of course.

"

"Hmm, what about the material of this eggshell?

"

"I don't need to scan for that, its not a shell. Some creatures are known to be born this way and when they have gestated for a certain time, the 'eggshell' becomes one with the creature.

"

"Wait, so right now this IS the creature?

"

"More or less.

"

"More more or more less?

"

"What?

"

"Nevermind...

"

Now that the thought had crawled its way into his mind, he HAD to try it out. Hao Xuan placed his right palm over it and closed his eyes.

The inside of his palm lit up as he lightly muttered,

"Sever!

"

*Shiiiing*

The light from his hand started increasing in intensity. For a second it was so bright that Hao Xuan had to look away. Even Ensis and Yun Wentian saw it in broad daylight from several hundred meters away.

When Hao Xuan came to, the egg was gone.

"Hmm?

"

He closed his eyes and appeared in the mind palace. It was completely empty with only Zhurong sleeping in the podium in the middle, or at least it used to be. The black egg was now sitting just below the podium.

"How the hell did you get in here...?

" Hao Xuan mumbled picking it up.

He could feel a connection with it, although very faint.

Once again he placed his palm over it,

"Inspect!

"

Species: ---

Bloodline: ---

Blood Purity Level: 13.1%

Abilities: ---

Skills: ---

Hao Xuan's brow scrunched up looking at the information that appeared in his mind. He looked down at the egg suspiciously.

"How is your blood purity level so high yet I can't find what species or even bloodline it belongs to?

"

He spoke those words to himself, just thinking out loud but the egg shook in response, startling him.

He almost jumped back and dropped the egg.

"Y-You can hear me?

"

The egg trembled once again.

Hao Xuan's mouth fell wide open. He carefully put the egg down next to the podium and opened his eyes, appearing back in the outside world.

"Baracus, is it possible for an unborn creature like that egg to be able to understand me?

"

*Beep*

"How would it understand you when it can't hear you? It doesn't even have any ears.

"

"Yeah but...what if it did?

"

"....If, and that's a big if, but if it did somehow managed to understand what you were saying then that narrows it down quite a bit. The first and foremost requirement is to have an extremely strong soul. The second is to have some abilities related to it.

"

"There is no way it actually understood what you said, but only inferred from your soul connection. Meaning it's conscious even before coming into this world, which is only possible if it had an extremely powerful bloodline. I suggest you keep that thing a secret untill you know more about it. If it really is that powerful, sooner or later someone is going to come looking for it.

"

"I wasn't planning on mentioning anything about it to anyone, but thanks for the heads up.

"

Hao Xuan got ready and went straight to Jin Wang's room, not even waiting for breakfast.

"Oi, wake the f*ck up already. It's almost 10 a.m!

" he shouted while banging on the door.

A few seconds later a disheveled Jin Wang opened the door, dried drool stains on the side of his face.

"What you want?

" he asked with half-closed eyes.

"Come with me, I might need your help.

"

"F*ck off. I'm sleepy, don't bother me with your useless sh*t,

" he turned around to close to the door but Hao Xuan held it open by force.

"I...I have to bury a friend, and then go kill the thing that's impersonating as her. I need your help with this,

" Hao Xuan said somberly.

Jin Wang's shoulders drooped lower as he shook his head with a deep sigh.

"I'm way too nice. Your b*tch ass is so lucky to have a friend like me,

" he said before walking into the bathroom.

Hao Xuan waited outside patiently and a few minutes later Jin Wang walked out, looking somewhat like a normal person.

It was still raining a little bit so he took an umbrella and walked out before Hao Xuan.

"Let's go already, I ain't got all day. And bring your own umbrella, I'm not sharing mine.

"

Hao Xuan's lips unconsciously arched up into a faint smile looking at his hunched back. It was obvious he was still quite tired but he didn't ask any questions or made excuses and went out to help him without a second thought.

He had never had a friend like this, a friend he could depend on and ask for things.....it wasn't a bad feeling at all.