98. Handicapped Little Beastman

  "Xiao Bao, the younger brother’s still small. If you chase him like this, he’ll get tired, you know?" Having caught the little snake, Shu Shu explained to him seriously.

  The little snake coiled around Shu Shu's wrist and looked at Shu Shu in confusion, habitually flicking the snake tongue in his mouth.

  Shu Shu had not truly adapted to the tactile sensation of his eldest son's beast form, but in order not to make the child feel deeply hurt, he still endured and stroked his head. "You’re the older brother, so you must take care of your younger brother as much as possible. If you chase him, he’ll probably run around all over the place, and it'll be bad if he knocks into something in a hurry. It’d be better to let him chase you."

  The little snake nodded.

  "Also, you should turn into a person often when you play with your younger brother, so when your younger brother sees you in your human form, he’ll want to turn into a human form earlier." Shu Shu solemnly expressed.

  The little snake cleverly turned into a person.

  The white, plump, well-behaved, and clever baby looked really cute. Shu Shu did not dislike him one bit this time; instead, he liked him very, very much. Hugging the little snake, Shu Shu bestowed several kisses on his chubby little face, "Xiao Bao, let me tell you that a beastman who can turn into a person is the most amazing. You see, how happy those beastmen outside are after they can turn into people, ah!"

  The little baby showed a thoughtful expression. He had not yet managed to talk fluently, but he could already understand quite a lot of words. Moreover, he often ran outside all day long to play with those fallen beasts who were able to turn into people. So now, after hearing his mother say such things, he had a sudden feeling of realization.

  No wonder every time he turned into a person, his mother treated him particularly well. It turned out that this kind of ability was the most amazing!

  Unfortunately, he could not always turn into a person . . . .

  The little snake immediately became a little dejected. Upon seeing this, Shu Shu promptly praised him, "Don’t worry, Xiao Bao, you’re already very amazing. Many uncles outside aren’t as amazing as you!"

  The little snake was quickly coaxed and then continued to play with his brother under Shu Shu’s guidance.

  Edgar went to help the fallen beasts restore their beast cores as usual today. After draining all his spiritual power, he hurried back to the room.

  In the room, Shu Shu was fiddling with some spirit stones, and appearing on one side of the room . . . were a snake who was scurrying in front and a little hamster who was pursuing him closely behind, unwilling to let go.

  The little snake slithered very fast and often shook off the little hamster if he was not careful. When this happened, he would stop and wait for the little hamster to catch up and then continue to run.

  "The two kids are having a great time playing together." Edgar laughed as he watched this lovely scene.

  "Yeah." Shu Shu nodded earnestly. "They’re happy playing, and I’m also happy."

  Shu Shu was also happy? Why? Edgar looked at Shu Shu curiously.

  "Xiao Bei has fulfilled my lifelong dream!" Shu Shu stated with a serious face. He had previously fantasized that one day he would be able to chase a snake until the snake was scared witless. In the end, even if he had cultivated successfully, he still couldn't do it because of his own instincts . . . . His second son, Xiao Bei, was different though. This child had just been born but was not afraid of snakes and could run after them! He was truly a hero in the hamster world, ah!

  His sub-beastman’s dream was too small . . . . Edgar felt his heart moved. "If you like, I’ll become small and let you chase me? I can flee a little slower, and you can also bite me after you catch me." Shu Shu biting him on the lips and on other places . . . .

  "I definitely don't want to bite a snake!" Shu Shu refused without the slightest hesitation and then saw his eldest son deliberately slow down a little after hearing Edgar's words and let the little hamster catch up.

  It was estimated that the reason the little hamster did not fear the little snake one bit and always liked to play with the little snake was because he knew from the scent that the little snake was his own brother. After he caught up with the little snake, he really went up and bit the little snake’s tail.

  He was too small and simply unable to cause any harm to the little snake. In the end, he could do nothing more than wet the little snake's tail. The little snake swung his tail and directly put the thumb-sized little hamster on his back. After that, he started to go round the entire house while carrying the little hamster on his back. Because he was worried that his younger brother would fall off from his body, he slithered very slowly and steadily.

  His second son was really amazing! Not to mention chasing a snake, he could even ride a snake! Shu Shu watched this situation with great satisfaction and decided to encourage them to do it like this in the future.

  This was how you played games, ah!

  Edgar, seeing Shu Shu's envious look, chuckled, "Shu Shu, would you like to ride me?"

  "I don't want to ride a snake." Shu Shu said. Edgar's scales were slippery, so he had to hold on tight to avoid being dropped, but holding onto a snake was absolutely not a good experience for him.

  "You can ride a man." Edgar smiled at Shu Shu.

  "Wolf (pervert)!" Shu Shu cursed in Chinese.

  "I'm not a wolf." Edgar also replied in Chinese.

  Xiao Bao glanced at his father and mother and pursed his brows. Riding a man?

  Turning into a little baby, Xiao Bao put the little hamster on his head and began to crawl very carefully.

  ". . ." Shu Shu was momentarily speechless. He pounced on Edgar in a flash and then took a bite on Edgar's arm—these kinds of words that were not suitable for children, he and Edgar definitely weren’t allowed to say them in front of the children later!

  It took Edgar some effort to appease the embarrassed and angry Shu Shu, and then he mentioned one thing. "Shu Shu, after Xiao Bao and Xiao Bei were born, they haven’t gone through detailed checkup. I plan to take them for a checkup tomorrow."

  "What will they check? "Shu Shu asked, puzzled.

  "Every aspect has to be checked. The physical fitness, the beast core, the beast bead, the innate skill and ability . . ." Edgar explained briefly. "Actually, this kind of checkup should be done at the big hospital in the capital star to be more accurate and thorough, but your situation is quite special, and the two children may be the same. I think it’s better for Xiao Bao and Xiao Bei to be checked on the Fallen Beast Planet. In any case, the equipment has been transported here. "

  "Then we’ll go for a checkup tomorrow.” Shu Shu nodded. Wasn’t it just a medical examination?

  For the medical examination of the two children, Edgar asked Jones and the old doctor, whom once wanted to worship Shu Shu as a teacher, to lend a hand.

  This old doctor was a sub-beastman named Dean. The last time he communicated with Shu Shu, he was bombarded with a lot of knowledge on acupoints and meridians by Shu Shu. After that, he was completely wrapped up in his study to the point of ignoring other matters. This time, it was only because he heard that the two little princes had to undergo a medical examination that he temporarily put aside his study.

  Jones knew that Shu Shu was special, so Edgar was quite reassured. As for Dean, Dean had been working with the imperial family for many years. He was the exclusive doctor of the imperial family and had signed a confidentiality agreement, so he would certainly not talk about anything that should not be said.

  When Edgar and Shu Shu brought the children to the medical room on the spaceship, Jones and Dean were already waiting there.

  "You’re here." Jones said with a smile, his eyes falling on the nursery basket Shu Shu was carrying in his hand. "Did you bring the newborn little prince? Does he look good? Are his scales particularly smooth?" After the child was born, Jones always wanted to see the child, but Shu Shu and Edgar hid the child so well that he never saw him.

  "He looks very good, but he has no scales." Shu Shu replied. His youngest son's beast form looked very beautiful and was a thousand times better than his oldest son’s!

  Had no scales? Could it be that there was something wrong with the child? Having heard what was said, Jones was shocked. At this time, Shu Shu lifted open the muslin covering the nursery basket.

  In the Beastman Empire, because children were born from eggs, newborn children were very small in size regardless of whether they were beastman babies or sub-beastman babies. It was nothing much if the children were small in size, but beastman babies might change their shapes at any time, and there were all kinds of beast shapes, which made it very inconvenient to hold them. Later, someone invented the nursery basket.

  This was a lightweight and portable big basket that allowed a beastman baby or a sub-beastman baby to lie in it, so that the child's relatives could carry them everywhere, which was very convenient.

  Shu Shu opened the muslin covering the nursery basket, and Jones finally saw the situation inside the nursery basket, but the basket was clearly empty . . . .

  "What about the child?" Jones asked in puzzlement.

  "Isn't he here?" Shu Shu picked up a little hamster from under the towel spread at the bottom of the nursery basket.

  "!!!" Staring at the little hamster in Shu Shu's hand, Jones was stunned. "How’s he a hamster?"

  "This child’s like me!" Shu Shu was quite proud of himself.

  "But . . . normally, the beast type of a beastman child is inherited from his father." Jones' expression was quite tangled. In the Beastman Empire, the reproduction of a beastman and a sub-beastman relied on the beast bead that formed a womb within the sub-beastman’s body, and the process of producing offspring was a battle between the genes of both sides.

  If the beastman father's genes prevailed in the embryo, the embryo would grow into a little beastman. If the sub-beastman mother's genes prevailed in the embryo, the embryo would grow into a sub-beastman.

  Because of this, if the child born to the couple was a beastman, his beast form would definitely be exactly the same as his beastman father’s. If the child was a sub-beastman, his racial type would be the same as his sub-beastman mother’s.

  Although a child was the offspring of a beastman and a sub-beastman, 90% of the genes in the beastman baby were inherited from the beastman father, and 90% of the genes in the sub-beastman baby were inherited from the sub-beastman mother.

  But now . . . why was the little beastman's beast shape different from Edgar’s and similar to Shu Shu’s instead?

  Wait a minute . . . Shu Shu seemed to be . . . a beastman, too? Jones suddenly remembered that Shu Shu had once turned into a hamster in front of him . . . . Shu Shu had a lot of secrets on his body, and he could also become a hamster. It would seem that the child being like this . . . was quite normal?

  Jones quickly figured it out, but old Dean was still confused. "It's truly strange. Could it be that this little beastman inherited too many of the crown princess’ genes? In that case, shouldn’t he grow up into a sub-beastman?"

  Dean’s thought strayed to a not-so-good area; he planned to say something but ultimately held back. After the crown princess had just given birth to his first child, he rushed to conceive a second one, and then he went through a kidnapping and nearly died. It was said that his life was very difficult then. Under these circumstances, the child might have suffered some injuries. Would it be . . . genetic mutation?

  No wonder the crown prince and the crown princess kept the child well-hidden after the child broke the shell. It turned out that the child had a problem!

  Dean felt very sorry for the child in front of him. In the end, he merely asked, "Which child will be checked first?" Besides the little hamster who got much attention, the little snake was also brought. However, he was coiled around Edgar’s body, very normal and very spirited, and almost completely ignored.

  "Check Xiao Bao first." Edgar pulled the little snake off his body.

  90% of the little snake's genes were from Edgar. All the data that came out of the examination were very good, much better than Edgar's when he was a child, and his development was extremely advanced.

  "The child’s beast bead looks very beautiful. His beast core looks quite different from ordinary beast core, but the energy fluctuation in it is very strong. He’ll definitely grow up into a strong beastman and should be likely to surpass his father." After Dean and Jones finished checking the little snake, they spoke briefly of the little snake’s condition in addition to praising him—this was the first time they saw such a strong and powerful little beastman.

  After the little snake had been checked, it was the little hamster's turn.

  The little hamster’s size was really too small, causing a little trouble for the checkup, but it still went smoothly in the end. As the results of the checkup came out one by one, Jones and Dean's expressions became more and more grave.

  "This child . . . . He has no beast bead in his body!" Dean's expression was very ugly when he said this. A beastman without beast bead indicated that he was infertile, which could be said to be a handicap.

  The second child of His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince and the crown princess actually didn’t have a beast bead . . . .

  Edgar was somewhat surprised when he heard what was said, his brows puckering slightly.

  The child had no beast bead; could he still be considered as a beastman? If he was not regarded as a beastman, then he in the future . . . . Edgar suddenly recalled that Shu Shu was also a beastman without a beast bead, and then . . . he had children.

  His little son was in fact not a beastman in the traditional sense but a “sub-beastman” like Shu Shu?

  Edgar was a little worried when he knew the results of the checkup, but after thinking carefully about it, that worry immediately disappeared, leaving only joy.

  He always wanted a sub-beastman child, and now he had!

  Edgar thought of this implication, and so did Shu Shu, which made him very happy as well—this child was like him in all respects; how good, ah! As for having no beast bead . . . he did not have it either, yet didn't he grow up well?

  Edgar and Shu Shu were very happy. Seeing their expressions, Jones also felt relieved, but the other doctor present was not aware of this.

  "Your Imperial Highness, although the little prince has no beast bead in his body, and his hamster build leaned to small beast type that’s unsuitable for fighting, but he’s still very healthy." Dean tried to comfort the crown prince and his wife and could not help but give the little hamster a pitying glance. Such a little beastman would be overshadowed by his older brother in the future, right?

  Or worse, the imperial family would hide him as airtight as before and keep him hidden from others forever . . . .

  "I know, this child’s very healthy." Edgar said. He saw Dean’s expression and realized that Dean, who did not know Shu Shu's situation, must have misunderstood, but he had no intention to explain.

  After putting the little hamster, who was very impatient with the medical examination, into the nursery basket again, Edgar briefed Dean and Jones to not divulge the child's condition and then went back with Shu Shu and the children.

  Edgar and Shu Shu did not care about the checkup results at all. Jones later figured it out, but Dean was very uneasy. Of course, even so, he still said nothing when facing people outside and didn’t even show the slightest difference in front of them. However, he looked for Edgar a few days later and put forward a proposal, hoping to check the two children once every few days to record the children's growths.

  "Checkup every few days? Isn't it too much?" Edgar asked.

  "It’s not too much. Actually, it’s the same as when you’re a child, Your Imperial Highness, and I also recorded all your data at that time . . . . You grew very fast then." Dean said. In fact, this kind of check up was not necessary, but he was really uneasy about the little prince who had no beast bead. He thought about recording his data and then doing research to see if there were other ways to stimulate him to grow a beast bead.

  Edgar considered it and then agreed with Dean's request.

  Xiao Bao had no problem at all, but Xiao Bei’s situation was very special. Edgar felt it was quite necessary to record his development so that there was a reference if there were more children like Xiao Bei born in the imperial family in the future.

  The little snake and the little hamster began their new life of having a medical examination every few days. At the beginning, they were very curious about the various machines that gave them medical examinations, and the little hamster always couldn't help but gnaw on them, but after a few more times, they never took it seriously again.

  That's when Dean once again discovered a big problem with the little hamster.

  The little hamster, he grew too slow!

  Beastmen were usually small when they were born, but they grew very fast, and oftentimes, they could grow very big in just a short time. The little snake's weight and length had already grown a lot.

  But the little hamster, he hardly grew. If he continued like this . . . maybe he would only be as big as a fist after he grew up!