"Holy crap, no way..."
Looking at the completely withered Serinu and the circle of girls around it as if they were keeping vigil, Fang Zheng was speechless.
Wasn't it supposed to take several days to wither? He'd been gone for less than five hours round trip.
"What happened?"
"Big Brother..."
Seeing Fang Zheng return, Mikana and Eve walked over.
"Serinu suddenly started glowing all over, and then it turned into this."
"Is it... completely dead?"
Fang Zheng walked over speechlessly for a closer look. Serinu no longer showed any of its previous reactions. Its body had gone completely stiff, and even its petals had closed up, making it look like some sort of fossil.
"This..."
Fang Zheng opened his mouth, about to say something, when cracks suddenly appeared across the closed flower bud in front of him. Then, with a crack, the entire bud shattered like an eggshell. Immediately afterward, a green-haired little girl who looked about one year old, with a flower growing from her head, jumped out.
"MAU!!"
"...Huh?"
Everyone was stunned by what they saw.
After that, everyone scrambled around before finally bringing the little baby back to the room. Watching the green-haired girl wave her arms around and giggle, Fang Zheng looked utterly bewildered.
"What is this? She's... Serinu? Did it gain sentience?"
As he spoke, Fang Zheng looked toward Momo, but this time, she shook her head as well.
"I'm sorry, I can't say for sure either... Mr. Yuuki, Serinu is an incredibly rare species in the universe, and much about its ecology is still unknown... I'm terribly sorry!"
Momo hurriedly pressed her palms together in apology, but Fang Zheng merely shrugged indifferently.
"Forget it. As long as she's okay..."
Although the alien flower had ultimately turned into a child, it wasn't too hard to