In front of me is a cup of green tea, steam curling up and a refreshing fragrance wafting around, with two miniature creatures like figurines standing beside the cup. One has deep blue-purple, metallic long hair, looking exactly like Little Crow, and the other has long green hair and green attire, with two restless pairs of translucent small wings flapping incessantly. Well, it’s that newly born mini Medwen curiously studying the tea with Dingdang. The former is clinging onto the cup edge, scooping water to drink from the inside with a fragment of her eggshell, while the latter is reaching straight in to fish out tea leaves as snacks, having a great time, innocent and adorable—this scene somewhat calmed my mood.

Because sitting across from me is an incredible person who can incubate a miniature version of themself from a ping-pong ball.

It really is impossible to stay calm, right! This is indeed a situation that can’t keep one calm!

"I say, girl..." While I was adding some hot water into the tea cup under mini Medwen’s curious gaze, I said to Little Crow in front of me, "Didn’t I say, it’s not that I won’t let you incubate eggs, but you’re still young and you can’t take care of so many at once..."

Just as I began to speak, there was a clattering sound beside me, and Qianqian came running in, carrying a big box, chattering excitedly, "I’ve gathered them all up, there’s quite a lot!" Then she placed the box on the coffee table.

I glanced up and saw a jumble of items inside the box: ping-pong balls, tennis balls, light bulbs, yarn balls, capsule toys, walnuts, a Master Ball, and even a steaming hot and fragrant stuffed bun...

"Ahaha, this one is for me to eat." Qianqian giggled, plucking the stuffed bun and habitually splitting it in half as usual, giving me a half, "Ah Jun, have some? Big Sister just steamed these."

A bit stiffly, I took the stuffed bun Qianqian handed over. This girl is really calm and optimistic, probably considering that sharing the bun with her boyfriend is the top priority, and discussing world peace can wait. I glanced across and saw Little Crow staring fixedly at the hot food in Qianqian’s and my hands, then nonchalantly stretched out her little hand, "Master, I want some too!" Without any awareness of being reprimanded, in fact, I was even doubtful if she realized she had made a mistake.

Problems with kids like Xiao Xue are bothersome because her moral gauge is somewhat low, but at least she knows when she’s in trouble and when she’s going to get scolded. As for kids like Little Crow, they’re even more troublesome because not only does she have no moral gauge, but in most cases, she doesn’t even realize she’s causing trouble. She could be giggling and running around after being educated by the whole family for a whole day. From a certain angle, if her shamelessness and tenacity could be put into Shield Technology, perhaps our deep-diving ship would have reached the other side of the Abyss by now... thinking about these nonsensical things, I still handed the bun to the girl to prevent her from crying.

"Alright, do you really think these things can be..." Sandora, sitting next to me, finally couldn’t help but interrupt, frowning as she looked at the big box full of chaotic things that shared the commonality of being spherical. Her tone was quite subtle, "Did Medwen really incubate her Split Lifeform from a ping-pong ball?"

"There’s the eggshell as proof. These little things, just like that Silly Bird, regard their eggshell very seriously, definitely not making a mistake." Bingdisi, sprawled on the sofa reading a book, pointed to the newly born mini Medwen on the coffee table with her arm sticking out from under a big book. The latter was still clinging stubbornly to the edge of the tea cup, leaning over to scoop water with her eggshell, occasionally gasping from being scalded by hot tea, as if her entire world had only this one task to accomplish. The "eggshell" in her hand had long been identified, genuinely half a ping-pong ball, even though when the result was identified, even Bingdisi reportedly was dumbfounded for a few minutes.

"This isn’t scientific," I said, fumbling out a ping-pong ball from the box while gesturing beside the head of mini Medwen, who showed an extraordinary enthusiasm for green tea, "saying a chicken egg is at least somewhere believable, but a ping-pong ball is just too small, how did this little one fit inside before? Wasn’t she suffocating?"

Unable to endure, Bingdisi put the book aside, looked at me like looking at a fool, "Nothing should be incubated from a ping-pong ball to begin with, alright?! This premise has already become a damned reality, and you’re still hung up on whether the egg is big enough! Are you seriously that bothered by this trivial issue!"

I silently lowered my head, weakly protesting, "Cough, cough, be a bit more civilized in front of kids, what if Little Crow runs after me asking what ’being bothered by this trivial issue’ means, how should I explain?"

Bingdisi huffed and turned back to her book, "Civilized, my foot. That was a modal particle, in ancient terms, it meant ’your mom’s B,’ and the history of civilization is just a back-and-forth translation of swearing in various grammars resulting in progressively more hypocritical nonsense... forget it, not explaining to you, I’m busy checking the Bible..."

I stood dumbstruck watching Sister Bing’s verbal slip further escalate, I couldn’t help but add, "Why such a big temper?"

Though Bingdisi said she wouldn’t bother with me, she turned around, "Damn it, just got the news this morning, two worlds under my name started fighting each other, and the reason for war was disagreements over the Bible’s interpretation. Bishops on both sides prayed to ask me what those two passages in the Bible meant... I’ve been searching all morning and still can’t recall when the heck did I write about tofu pudding in the Bible! Moreover, so many years have passed, back when I engraved the Bible on clay tablets, those little bunnies preserved every word, and they’ve now developed into a cross-universe civilization while still persistently erecting totem poles everywhere, how do you deal with this? Don’t they know that literary creation is time-sensitive? Stuff that was relevant back then can’t possibly have the same feel now... Hmm... What the! Sandora, are you insa... mmm mmm..."

Bingdisi got tied up like a dumpling by her bestie in three quick moves and was tossed out, leaving Sandora and me sharing a moment of mutual understanding, "I (you) must be bored to provoke that fool!"

Anyway, Bingdisi’s interruption did a great deal in lightening the mood, and I no longer fretted over whether Little Crow incubating a Split Lifeform from a ping-pong ball was scientific. Now, the main issue was: how to fundamentally stop this absurd, perplexing affair from occurring.

"It can now be speculated that Little Crow can incubate a Split Lifeform from anything she deems an egg and thinks incubatable," I said, pulling a tennis ball from the box and tossing it in my hand, causing Little Crow, who was busy stuffing baozi into her mouth, to instantly lock her eyes on it, her little head nodding along with the tennis ball: she absolutely regarded it as an egg, "this cognition is entrenched in her subconscious, even if we tell her these things aren’t eggs and she understands, it won’t help... to put it simply, it’s the Divine Power at work, Divine Power supersedes inherent worldly laws, if the God assumes the ping-pong ball can hatch a chick, it must do so... why is Little Crow so obsessed with incubating eggs?"

I was quite perplexed—probably as a primate, I’ll never understand where Little Crow’s drive to incubate comes from, just like I can’t fathom why the two foolish male members of the Light Divine Race in the corner are playing rock-paper-scissors to decide who would let Lin kick them. Speaking of which, 123 is an M, Kenser, what exactly is your mindset?

"Mini Medwen is such a good child," Big Sister said, emerging from the kitchen while wiping water droplets off her hands on her skirt, "she listens to you and Anwina, so I guess she doesn’t do it intentionally, right?"

"Caw?" Little Crow looked at the adults around her, seemingly not understanding why the atmosphere was a bit serious, but it didn’t impede her self-entertainment. She moved her head, and a tiny mini Medwen popped out from her hair, and Little Crow began picking out chives from inside the stuffed bun to feed the little one: the spectacle was exceedingly bizarre.

We had just discovered this. When releasing or recalling her Split Lifeform in small quantities, Medwen doesn’t need to generate that colossal Crow Swarm Storm, which is probably the only positive thing: since with an almost uncontrollable Crow Swarm Storm and the unpredictable noggin, Little Crow has now become our family’s top demolition expert, and I’m relieved to have found a way to mitigate her destructiveness.

"So, this means... mini Medwen isn’t intentionally disobedient, rather that she has to unleash her power, which led to this string of bizarre actions?" Sandora said thoughtfully, as she took an apple from her Personal Space and began munching on it, drawing my gaze instantly to the apple, making Her Majesty the Queen instantly wary as she shielded her food, "What—I’m already out of eggs! Is even my apple going to be taken away? Don’t tell me she can hatch a Split Lifeform from this thing too! Then what else is there to eat in our house!"

"If things keep going like this, sooner or later our family will be steaming mantou into triangles. Can you imagine the scene of that girl crouched over the steamer, hatching a bunch of steaming Steamed Bun Spirits?" I smiled wryly and waved my hand. "You say the Little Bird is uncontrollably releasing excess energy? Is egg hatching a kind of instinctual reaction under such impulses?"

Sandora nodded affirmatively, "Don’t forget, at the current stage in most cases, Little Crow’s instincts outweigh her reasoning. She does listen to you, but she can’t control all her instinctual reactions, including the energy outbursts during Crow Swarm Storm and Transformation. If you must explain why she’s still creating Split Lifeforms even after repeated adult lessons, there’s only one answer: instinct cannot be restrained. Perhaps... she’s about to grow again."

I couldn’t help but look at Little Crow across from me. She was still diligently feeding her "children," nurturing the chicks with the instinct of a bird: although to me, she appeared no more than a fledgling herself. And there, a slightly bloated Little Bird held a shell (which should be a ping-pong ball shell? Well, let’s call it an eggshell) of tea, running to her sister, seemingly wanting to trade her drink for some leek stuffing. After a brief, cryptic ’chirp chirp,’ the two little ones reached a consensus.

In just two days, Little Crow created 2,700 of these peculiar little beings, and it seems these strange little creatures have far more secrets than we imagined.

I couldn’t help but lean over and press on Little Crow’s head. The little girl was immediately delighted, "Caw," closing her eyes as she rubbed against my hand. From the outside, I couldn’t see any differences in Little Crow compared to before, but her peculiar behaviors in recent days indicated that this odd bird was overflowing with energy.

"Isn’t this child growing a bit too fast?" I turned my head to glance at Bingdisi, who had somehow escaped her Zongzi form and returned to reading a book. "It’s been less than two months since she stabilized last time, right?"

"For a future Main God Crow God, growth rate is really just a random number; common rules can’t be applied to her. Better send her to your research facility for observation for a few days, otherwise..." Bingdisi suddenly paused, pointing at the ground underfoot, "Guess when she’ll find out Earth is round?"

Instantly, everyone was stunned. I stared wide-eyed at Sister Bing, "No... no way!"

"Trust me, the reason she hasn’t hatched Earth pure and simple is that she hasn’t seen a globe. So, you’d better quickly send her to the research facility and let those experts come up with something to control her growth speed."

"Alright, Little Birdie," I turned to summon Medivh, "for the next couple of days, why don’t you stay at the research facility for a while? Would you like to stay with those uncles and aunts? Anwina and I will often visit you."

Little Crow readily nodded, "Caw!"

Persuading her to go to the research facility was actually quite easy. Contrary to what outsiders might imagine, a child loath to leave home, crying and making a scene at the mention of a hospital (to Little Crow, the research facility is a hospital), was not the case. This was primarily because she was taken to the research facility right after she was born and has frequent visits there, sometimes to play, sometimes for experiments. Her feelings about that place were probably akin to a second home, and there was a group of familiar researchers there—temporarily staying there a few days didn’t bother this girl at all.

So that same afternoon, we sent Little Crow over, handing her to a research group specializing in long-term track research on Crow God phenomena: this research group hadn’t disbanded since Little Crow’s birth. Faced with an ever-growing unpredictable Crow God, they never lacked projects. As I left, I repeatedly emphasized to the research group: never let Little Crow contact a globe and avoid letting her touch anything that looks like an egg.

On the way back, I ran into Bieberu, who was visiting Fina in Shadow City, then rushed in a cold sweat to the research facility again:

also don’t let Little Crow see Bieberu...

By the time I’d dealt with all the chaotic matters concerning Little Crow, it was already evening. Ultimately, everything had been taken care of, and after going home, I just wanted to quickly eat something, take a bath, and forget about the bizarre events of the past couple of days as quickly as possible. But just as I walked in, I was greeted by a small surprise: that silly Little Douding Dingdang was running back and forth on the sofa’s backrest, with two Little Crows following her!

"Looks like... those two were carelessly left behind by that absent-minded Crow God," Big Sister sat on the sofa holding a stalk of leek, smiling helplessly at me. Every time a Little Crow ran by, she handed over some leek for a couple of bites. The ten-centimeter-tall mini Medivh hugged the leek, eating it with exuberant joy, then continued their jubilant chase of Dingdang.

"Let’s just help raise them for a few days before Little Crow comes back," I waved offhandedly, "After Mercury Lamp, we’ve got yet another leading a miniature army of dolls in our home, all mini-army in a much smaller size. Do you think launching a new project to sell toys could be lucrative?"

"Who’s a doll’s head! Who’s a doll’s head!" No sooner had I finished speaking than I heard a shout from the side. Then something pulled hard on my hair from my shoulder—a tiny doll girl was tugging my hair fiercely. "I’m a mature Rose Maiden—oh right, you idiot, I want to go find Zhenhong and them, is it okay to go out for a few days?"

I blinked, "Find Zhenhong? Didn’t you just go a while back?"

The little doll didn’t reply but dug around in the small pocket in front of her, fished out a poster, and waved it in front of me before speaking: "Look! The Rose Maiden’s new launch! It’s getting another TV version again! I want to go show off with them!"

Me: "..." What kind of eccentric group have I ended up raising! Where exactly did the educational process go wrong!

Every day was chaos like this, my life and everyday routine rolling forward under a logic no one could explain. Early the next morning, Mercury Lamp went off to play with her sisters, the aim to boast that she could watch the latest Rose Maiden in another world. She called that noon, asking me to send engineers to build a signal tower at Sakurada Jun’s home because Zhenhong also wanted to watch the new season. Those once-fiercely battling doll girls seemed bizarrely harmonious now. Good news also came from the research facility. They discovered the energy spectrum Little Crow was releasing and were researching a guidance device to channel the energy leaked from rapid growth into the Void. We wouldn’t have to worry about that Silly Bird hatching Earth like an egg. The two mini Medivhs left by the Silly Bird had somehow become good friends with Dingdang. Though initially, Dingdang saw the group of Three-inch Dings as enemies invading her homeland, they now had put past grievances behind them—likely dependent on their intelligence level. Dingdang warmly invited the two Little Crows to tour her bedroom, study, playroom, warehouse, kitchen, and large balcony and happily enjoyed afternoon tea with them—in other words, the three Little Demon Kings tormented me by crawling all over me the entire day, eventually spilling tea down my neck when they were having tea on my head.

And in moments of boredom, I started a new research project: the Little Crows’ Ecological Observation Diary... (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to vote for it at Qidian (qidian.com) with recommendations and monthly tickets, your support is my greatest motivation.)