Chapter 6 - Without a trace

“Wa wa, wa wa, wa wa!” His thunderous cries echoed throughout the cabin.

It was truly loud! Even their soundproof earphones were unable to block it out completely.

Initially, Lan Xiao was planning to keep one-third of the eggshell, but that baby that was born out of an egg kept crying and shouted himself hoarse. Nan Cheng really couldn’t bear to watch him like that, so she decided to let him eat some more. He stopped crying whenever he was eating.

When there was only one-fifth of the eggshell left, he started crying once again. His cries were loud and clear, just like the standard of a tenor singer.

One-sixth, one-seventh, one-eighth… one-tenth!

Finally, there was only one-tenth of the eggshell left—this was their limit. This wasn’t a decision that Lan Xiao could make on his own; he had to be responsible for the entire team. Hence, he hardened his heart and left the baby to cry.

Nan Cheng understood his decision; they were doing it for the name research after all. Although she kept using her big watery eyes to look at Lan Xiao, she didn’t ask him to let the child continue his meal.

At first, they all thought that this child would stop crying once he gets tired. But who knew that he was truly gifted! He was crying and shouting at the top of his voice but he didn’t stop at all. His voice was very penetrating, and he cried like that for three days and three nights.

Three days ago, the surveillance aircraft had already completed the sweep, but the research team was extremely exhausted. None of them could rest properly with this baby’s cries; whether it was meditation or sleep, none of them even were able to consider it.

The surveillance aircraft had a room that was made specially for them to rest, but the metal door couldn’t block out his voice. Hence, when the plane began its journey back home, they turned on the auto-pilot mode since they were utterly exhausted.

The cries of the baby echoed in Nan Cheng’s head. She took care of this child every single day. The baby cried non-stop and refused to eat or even drink. Nan Cheng was both physically and mentally exhausted because of that.

“Place him inside the protective cover and get some rest. The sound-proofing in the protective cover is slightly better, and it’s very safe inside. He wouldn’t be able to escape.” Lan Xiao’s heart ached as he looked at his lover whose skin had turned pale.

“En.” Nan Cheng really couldn’t take it any longer.

The protective cover had a slightly better effect on isolating the sound of his cries and its overall volume was reduced; everyone was finally able to heave a sigh of relief. Other than the driver, who had to keep himself awake to prevent any problems from arising on their way back, the others entered their world of slumber within just a few seconds.

They were too tired these past few days. In addition, their main job was completed, and they were now more relaxed. Naturally, it was easier for them to sleep. It didn’t take long until everyone was asleep, including Lan Xiao.

“Wa wa wa…” The baby’s cries went on, and those big round eyes of his were filled with grief.

The remaining one-tenth of the eggshell was also placed on the experiment table inside another protective cover. The interior was isolated from the air and was preserved in a vacuum environment at a low temperature to make sure that its quality wouldn’t change. Once they returned to the ancient Spirit Beast research institute, they would use a much larger equipment to perform a more thorough testing and research about their specimen.

Trying to meditate while the baby was crying proved to be quite a challenge since there was a danger of being possessed by the devil. So, Lan Xiao, Nan Cheng, and the rest of the team chose to sleep instead. They fell into a deep sleep and silence pervaded the aircraft—only those faintly discernible cries were still resonant.

The pilot was flying the plane and the cruise system was working properly. Immediately after leaving the Extreme North, he immediately ascended to a 10,000-meter high-altitude stratosphere and cruised. At this speed, they should be able to return to the station airport in about seven to eight hours. Their expedition this time would then come to an end.

The driver yawned. He had also been disturbed by the cries and was extremely lethargic. After making sure once again that the cruising and defensive systems were in place and without errors, he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

The current Soul Guidance surveillance aircraft was very advanced. Even if the cruise system fails, an alarm would go off instantly. Furthermore, there shouldn’t be any problem usually.

The air within the plane was noticeably gentler except for that baby who was still crying. The gold and silver decorative markings on the remaining one-tenth of the eggshell was faintly discernible. At this moment, what no one had noticed was that along with the baby’s cries, the frequency of the flickering glow on the remaining eggshell had changed slightly.

Each time the cries were at its loudest, the silver pattern would become brighter, and when the cries were at its softest, the glow would be reduced.

That eggshell gradually became transparent as it conformed with the baby’s cries, and on the surface of that transparent eggshell, a few cracks appeared. At first, they were very hard to distinguish, but as time moved on, they continued to grow.

“Ding!” A sound rang and the eggshell cracked. It didn’t break into pieces, but instead turned into powder before eventually becoming a cloud of light.

The gold and silver glow shone out of the shell’s case. It then proceeded to enter the protective cover that the baby was in, and when it entered the baby’s mouth and nose, the crying finally stopped.

The entire aircraft had finally regained its peace. After the gold and silver cloud of light entered the baby, he finally fell asleep.

After quite some time…

“Weng, weng, weng!” The low cry of a chicken shook up the entire aircraft and everyone gradually awoke from their deep sleep.

“Oh, this sleep was fantastic! Is this an indication that we’re about to descend? Are we gonna be there soon?” Nan Cheng opened her eyes in a daze and looked at the signal in front of the cabin.

The pilot was already awake before the rest. He laughed as he said, “Yes, we will be arriving soon, we’re in the midst of a landing.”

Nan Cheng suddenly felt like something was different and instinctively turned to the experiment table.

That little baby was bundled up, his powdery and fair skin seemed to have a soft glow. He was so tiny and appeared to be lonely.

Nan Cheng suddenly thought, Where are his daddy and mommy? They must miss him so much.

“Eh!” She suddenly realized what was different. This little fella isn’t crying anymore?

Nan Cheng quickly got up and went to the baby. His small chest was still moving, his little cheeks moving from time to time, showing a sweet smile on his face.

Is he really sleeping? Nan Cheng heaved a sigh of relief in her heart.

“Uh, we’re landing so soon?” Lan Xiao stretched his arms and stood up.

“Lan Xiao, quick, come over. Look, he’s not crying anymore. He’s so adorable when he isn’t crying!” Nan Cheng smiled.

“He’s not crying anymore? Oh yes, if he was, we wouldn’t have slept for such a long time, huh.” Lan Xiao smiled. He turned to look at his side while he was speaking, and then he was dumbstruck.

“Eggshell? Where’s the eggshell?” He turned back and stared at Nan Cheng.

“Ah?” Nan Cheng was stunned and looked in the same direction where the eggshell was placed. It was completely empty, and there wasn’t a trace of the eggshell at all. The eggshell had completely disappeared.

“It wasn’t me, I didn’t do it!” Nan Cheng quickly explained.

At this moment, the other members were awake as well, and when they realized that the eggshell was missing, they quickly went over.

Lan Xiao waved at Nan Cheng. “Don’t panic, if you said you didn’t, then you really didn’t. The protective cover does keep a record of it being opened. We’ll take a look and see if it has been opened before.”

Nan Cheng heaved a sigh of relief. That’s right! There would be records showing whether the protective cover was opened and the password that each of them had was unique. Wait, wrong, I’m happy with how Lan Xiao trusted me immediately without any doubt, but where’s the eggshell, huh?

The surveillance camera in the aircraft would tell them the answer very soon.

Everyone turned to look at one another before they turned their eyes on Lan Xiao. Lan Xiao laughed bitterly. “Don’t look at me, I don’t have a choice, either. This is a dead-end, and there’s no evidence or even a trace left that we could follow.”