"A pupa?" Chen Siyao blurted out.
"An ice pupa," Chen Hao said. "A juvenile Ice Butterfly. It hasn't emerged yet."
"It's still alive?!"
Yang Wanqing darted over.
She crouched in front of the recess, the tip of her nose almost touching the ice pupa.
Its shell was translucent ice blue. A vague shape was faintly visible inside, tiny and curled up.
"It's really still alive?" Yang Wanqing turned to look at Chen Hao.
"It still has a faint trace of life," Chen Hao said.
The livestream chat caught on.
"Alive?! An Ice Butterfly is still alive after ten thousand years?!"
"A miracle of life..."
"If it hatches, it'll be the only spirit insect from the Primordial Era on Blue Star!"
"Raise it! You have to keep it alive!"
Yang Wanqing was already making plans. "Master, can I take it with me? I'll raise it! I promise I'll take responsibility!"
Chen Siyao crouched beside her and examined the ice pupa. Several hairline cracks marked its shell—not cracks from hatching, but damage.
Its color wasn't quite right either. A healthy ice pupa should have had an even color throughout, but the lower half of this one was noticeably duller.
She looked up at Chen Hao.
"Brother, it's... not doing too well, is it?"
Chen Hao stepped closer. He lowered his eyes to the ice pupa and studied it for a long moment.
"Its chances of survival are slim."
Much of Yang Wanqing's excitement was instantly doused. "Why?"
"Hatching requires a continuous infusion of extremely cold spiritual energy. The concentration here has already fallen to an extremely low level. It's held on in this condition for too long, and its shell has begun to crack. If we wait any longer, it'll die before it can hatch."
Yang Wanqing grew anxious. "Then what do