Chapter 85 – Breaking through its shell (2/2)

“What are you looking at?” Shao Xuan walked over and glimpsed inside the stone pot.

Instantly he found that one of the eggs had cracks on its shell, and it was even trembling.

What the fuck?!

Shao Xuan reached in and scooped the broken egg directly from the stone pot. He held it in his palm and carefully examined it.

Earlier there was only one crack on the shell. Luckily, Shao Xuan’s quick actions prevented water from getting in. The crack on the shell became bigger and bigger, while sounds of chirping could be heard clearly.

Very obviously, the chick was about to come out from its shell.

Looking back at the stone pot, Shao Xuan used his other empty hand to take the other two bird eggs out.

Fortunately, the stone pot had just been set up and the water was not too hot or the newborn bird would be directly cooked after spending a bit more time in the pot.

None of the eggs that Shao Xuan brought back had had such circumstances. He had eaten quite a lot of them, and there had never been an embryo. When collecting those bird eggs, Shao Xuan had followed Keke’s rules, only picking those that looked recently stolen. Normally there would be no baby bird inside. That was Keke’s experience. It was not due to Keke having a warm heart or something. It was simply that it was not convenient to start a fire in the green forest and Keke did not like to eat raw baby birds.

Recently stolen birds eggs were relatively cleaner than the rest, while the older eggs would have stains and other marks on their shells. The egg-stealing birds paid no attention to hygiene. Their nests were crude and simple. Often, bird droppings would fall from the nests above onto the nests below. Instead of shaking the eggs one by one Shao Xuan selected eggs that were clean.

Also, under those circumstances, it did not really matter whether there were baby birds inside. Just like Keke had said, if you didn’t feel like eating it, you could just throw it away. Previously, Shao Xuan had never encountered any eggs with forming embryos. Who knew, now he had.

Having just skinned a few animals, Shao Xuan’s hand was still bloody. In the palm of that bloodied hand, the crack on the egg grew bigger, and the sound of chirping grew louder. Shao Xuan could feel the egg’s movement clearly in his hand. He stared at the egg and thought, if the chick can survive, he’ll keep it as a chicken. He did not know whether it could lay eggs like chickens, but it won’t be a problem, for he could always eat it after it grows bigger in a year.

The broken egg shell got pushed away, and the baby bird inside gradually revealed its appearance.

It was not like the chicks that Shao Xuan had seen in his last life. The chick was wet all over with barely any down. Its eyes were still closed.

There were two types of baby birds, those that matured early, and those that matured late. Early maturing bird could open their eyes once they got out of their shell. It would be covered in soft down and could move around and eat food independently. However, the late maturing bird could not open its eyes after birth, and it had little fluff. Instead of feeding itself, it had to be nurtured by its parents.

Apparently, the one on Shao Xuan’s palm was one of the late maturing birds.

Shao Xuan examined the beak of the hatchling on his hand, and noticed that it had a beak for eating meat.

Probably the smell of blood on Shao Xuan’s hand stimulated the baby bird’s nerves. It opened its mouth wide and pecked on Shao Xuan’s palm. Perhaps it considered Shao Xuan’s hand as food, only to discover that it could not swallow it.

Shao Xuan looked around, and took out a piece of old rug made from animal skin and threw it over the stone table. He then placed the hatchling on the rug, before taking out a chunk of unsalted animal meat. He cut a slice off and tore it into smaller strips, using two thin branches to pick up a strap before putting it into the bird’s beak.

This chunk of animal meat was from the weakest amongst Shao Xuan’s hunted preys, but it was not that weak. Shao Xuan had no idea whether the hatchling could bear the energy that it contained.

Unexpectedly, the baby bird swallowed the meat strap directly, and opened its beak again, chirping for more.

It seemed to be fine.

Shao Xuan continued to feed it for a while before it finally closed its beak and fell asleep immediately after.

Shao Xuan looked at the silent fledgling on the animal skin rug, and then shook the other two eggs beside his ears. There was no shaking sound, so he tossed them back into the stone pot for cooking.