These two mature eggs were still encased in a gelatinous membrane, but they were more transparent than the table tennis ball-sized eggs in the corpse’s abdomen. Inside, one could see the curled-up embryonic life. Their aura made it clear that they were alive and healthy.
Calculating the time since the Beast Villa had killed the level-nine creature, these eggs had already been alive for several months!
“Master Li, by telling me this and showing me these living eggs, is there something you need me to do?”
Ye Zhongming’s heart raced. If Li Daqian’s goal was to ignite his desire to possess these eggs, he undoubtedly succeeded.
Originally, after discovering that this level-nine creature was pregnant, Ye Zhongming had wanted to purchase the midsection of the corpse, specifically the lower abdomen, in hopes of obtaining the biological eggs inside.
Now that the secret was out in the open, he no longer needed to hide his intentions.
“Yes.”
Li Daqian didn’t beat around the bush, either. He said directly, “These two mature eggs will not be sold. They will be placed in my Beast Pool equipment for cultivation until they hatch. I want to see their level when they are born.”
Hearing this, Ye Zhongming calmed down a bit. He leaned in to examine the two mature eggs more closely. Indeed, he couldn’t discern their evolutionary level from their appearance.
At the same time, he also sensed a powerful ruler-like energy emanating from them. It seemed that they had already been bound by a war beast contract, either by Li Daqian himself or by other members of the Beast Manor.
Clearly, even if Ye Zhongming had obtained them, he wouldn’t have been able to make them his own. Contracts formed during the egg stage were the most stable and nearly impossible to break.
“As for these eggs inside the body, I can let Brother Ye have them.”
Li Daqian looked at the eggs with deep reluctance in his eyes.
Ye Zhongming glanced over and saw six biological eggs in the ovary, all of which appeared to be alive.
Ye Zhongming was a bit confused. These eggs also had value, so why was Li Daqian willing to sell them? Wouldn’t it be better for him to keep and cultivate them himself?
After thinking for a moment, Ye Zhongming roughly understood what was happening.
Although he didn’t know much about biology, he guessed that the reproductive method of this level-nine Mantis Snatcher was to form these life eggs inside its body after fertilization, then nurture them internally. When the time was right, it would lay them underground, possibly using the energy or temperature of the environment to complete the final incubation.
In other words, the mature eggs were ready to hatch, having already left the mother’s body.
But the eggs still inside the body were different. They might be underdeveloped, lacking the special energy needed to be expelled from the body, or there could be other mysterious reasons that even humanity didn’t understand. In any case, these eggs were not yet mature!
What was the Beast Villa known for? What was its foundation? It was that mysterious large Beast Pool.
Ye Zhongming also had Beast Pool-type equipment, so he was somewhat familiar with it. These devices could cultivate battle beasts, even stimulate their reproduction and evolution, and maintain the life of eggs or young creatures. However, they were powerless when it came to immature life forms that they didn’t cultivate.
Li Daqian’s Beast Pool seemed the same—it couldn’t cultivate these immature eggs.
This was evident from the different treatment of the two types of eggs. The mature eggs had already been placed in the Beast Pool for cultivation, while the immature ones could only be kept alive inside the corpse, relying on the miraculous stone coffin.
In other words, these eggs were far less useful to Li Daqian than the two mature ones.
Understanding this, it made sense why he was willing to sell the six eggs.
“Name your price.”
Li Daqian had chosen his target well. Not only among the people who had come to the Beast Villa, but even in the entire country, the only ones who would be interested in these six eggs and could potentially maximize their value were the people of Cloud Peak, because they had Liu Zhenghong and the Gene Laboratory.
After hesitating momentarily, Li Daqian said, “Magic Crystal Cannon.”
Ye Zhongming shook his head decisively and pointed at the eggs. “These things aren’t very useful to you, and they aren’t very useful to others either. At most, they could be fed to war beasts as food, significantly reducing their value. Only my laboratory can unlock their full potential, and you know that very well, Master Li. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have sought me out.”
“The Magic Crystal Cannon is currently a non-negotiable item for Cloud Peak. Of course, that’s relative. If something truly tempted me, I might consider parting with it, but these eggs aren’t enough.”
Li Daqian hadn’t expected Ye Zhongming to refuse so firmly. He didn’t say anything momentarily.
“I do have some suggestions, though. Would you be interested, Master Li?” Ye Zhongming took the initiative, looking at Li Daqian.
“Oh? Let’s hear it.”
Ye Zhongming glanced at the little girl who had taken the mature eggs away, a hint of confusion in his eyes. Even now, he wasn’t entirely sure why Li Daqian had shown him this scene. Was it to prove that he was a lolicon?
“Cloud Peak can collaborate with Thousand Beast Villa,” Ye Zhongming began, voicing the idea he had been considering before coming here.
Li Daqian nodded, signaling for Ye Zhongming to continue, though he wasn’t particularly impressed. Collaboration? What did that have to do with selling these eggs?
“There are two ways. First, Cloud Peak will purchase battle beasts of various levels from the Beast Villa on a large scale and over the long term. We pay, and you deliver.”
“Cloud Peak will trade our gene-modified life forms for your battle beasts.”
“Oh?” Li Daqian’s interest was piqued now.
It was well known that Cloud Peak’s two major specialties were crystal weapons and gene lifeforms. Gene lifeforms were a decent alternative with the crystal weapons off the table.
Of course, Thousand Beast Villa wasn’t as desperate for these lifeforms as other factions, since battle beasts could replace them to some extent. So, Li Daqian’s interest was only mild.
Ye Zhongming, of course, knew this. He continued, “I know your large Beast Pool equipment can cultivate battle beasts, but I imagine there’s a level limit, right?”
Seeing that Li Daqian remained expressionless, Ye Zhongming took out the Demon Bee Hive, forcing the master of the Beast Manor to acknowledge this fact.
After putting away the Demon Bee Hive, Ye Zhongming added, “But my gene lifeforms can continue to improve as technology advances. I can tell you now that our mature products already possess the abilities of level-six lifeforms, and the laboratory is making breakthroughs toward level seven.”
This statement was half-true and half-false. Cloud Peak did have gene-modified life forms with level-six abilities, but they couldn’t be mass-produced. Each had to be individually crafted, and a batch of a hundred took about two months to complete. As for breakthroughs toward higher levels, Ye Zhongming had no idea about the progress—that was entirely in Liu Zhenghong’s hands.
Li Daqian was completely unsettled now.
His large Beast Pool equipment was indeed impressive, but as of now, it couldn’t cultivate level-seven battle beasts. The highest it could go was level six; even then, it couldn’t produce them in large quantities. Each one took a long time to cultivate.
After that, the battle beasts had to evolve on their own in the wild to see if they could reach higher levels.
But Ye Zhongming said that Cloud Peak was close to producing level-seven lifeforms?
“We want lower-level battle beasts in exchange for higher-level gene lifeforms. Of course, the level difference is limited to one, and the quantity is capped at a thousand.”
“This is one-third of what I’m prepared to offer.”