Jia Five

The chick was still too young to tell whether it was male or female.

It had only just hatched and was still a little damp, its warm yellow body covered in fluff. It showed no fear at the sight of Wang Ba, simply lifting its head to stare blankly at him and occasionally chirping.

It soon figured out who its mother was and immediately flapped its two little pancake-like wings, scampering toward the hen.

Halfway there, however, a large hand descended from above and gently scooped it up.

"Little fellow, you actually have forty-two years of lifespan..."

Wang Ba cupped his hands, gently enclosing the chick that had taken over a month to hatch, an unusual look in his eyes.

Ordinary Precious Chickens only took around twenty days to hatch.

This chick had taken over ten days longer than its companions.

It was also noticeably larger than the other newly hatched chicks.

As a result, Wang Ba had held great expectations for this chick.

And the chick had not disappointed him. Its lifespan was actually a full forty-two years!

Though it could not compare with a Spirit Chicken, that was far more than an ordinary Precious Chicken had.

"A weaker version of a Spirit Chicken. Or I could call it a 'Half-Spirit Chicken.'"

"The father is a Spirit Chicken, and the mother is a Precious Chicken, so what hatches is a 'Half-Spirit Chicken.' Hmm, I should record that."

Feeling the faint pecking and chirping in his palms, Wang Ba was quite fond of the little fellow.

"I'll call you 'Jia Five.'"

Chicks had weak resistance and were very sensitive to temperature changes, making them extremely prone to dying young.

So Wang Ba did not dare leave this chick outside and specifically brought it into Old Sun's former room.

There were four other Spirit Chickens here, which Wang Ba had placed in separate cages and covered with black cloth.

Wang Ba also prepared a portion of suitable feed for the chick. It soon settled in, taking tiny steps around the room, its adorable little eyes wide as it curiously surveyed the new world before it.

From time to time, it lowered its head to peck at things. Whether they were edible or not, it would grab them in its beak first, but its tender little beak was so small that it could barely hold on to anything.

Wang Ba found it amusing to watch and could not resist checking on it even while he worked.

Since Jia Five had only just hatched, he did not quite dare deposit lifespan into it yet, intending to wait a couple of days and see.

It was not until evening that he had time to deposit lifespan into all five of the Male Precious Chicken roosters he had selected.

He had chosen roosters because they truly were prime examples of eating without doing any work.

They had almost no desire to reproduce. All day long, aside from stuffing themselves, they simply wandered about with nothing to do.

Even with plump, alluring hens right beside them, they turned a completely blind eye.

They insisted on leaving those big hens widows with living husbands.

It made Wang Ba grit his teeth in resentment.

He had been at the estate for over four months, yet apart from Jia Five, only seven chicks had hatched.

Their reproductive efficiency was terrifyingly low. No wonder the number of Precious Chickens never rose.

After all, he had to hand over four every month in tribute alone.

By that reckoning, the chicks born each month fell far short of covering the tribute.

And the blame for this lay almost entirely with the roosters' inaction and neglect of duty.

For that reason, Wang Ba's gaze always carried a murderous edge when he looked at these roosters.

"I'll have five break through first, then eat them after extracting their lifespan."

For the time being, he had no intention of selling Spirit Chickens.

His previous experience still left him shaken, and he absolutely would not take another risk anytime soon.

Three more days passed.

When Wang Ba went into the Spirit Chickens' room, he unexpectedly discovered that something seemed wrong with the chick.

Jia Five, previously lively and active, hopping up and down with boundless curiosity, now drooped its little head, its eyes half-closed.

It looked weak at a glance.

"Something's wrong. Its weight has barely changed over these three days, either!"

Wang Ba gently lifted Jia Five, his expression grave.

Anyone who had raised chickens knew that chicks grew quickly, changing almost daily.

Yet Jia Five's weight was scarcely different from two days earlier.

It either had indigestion or had fallen ill.

The former would be manageable; maintaining the right temperature would suffice.

But illness would be troublesome. There was no oxytetracycline here to use.

And even if medicine were available, the chick was too small for him to judge the dosage easily. One slip could poison it to death.

This was another difficulty in raising and breeding Precious Chickens.

The chicks had frail constitutions, could not withstand much, and had a very low survival rate!

After turning it over in his mind, Wang Ba could only rest his palm on the chick's head.

He intended to deposit 0.1 years of lifespan, simply solving the illness by accelerating its growth.

After all, birds had fast metabolisms. Once its constitution improved, the illness would soon disappear.

But to Wang Ba's surprise, he actually could not deposit 0.1 years!

"How strange! The minimum actually starts at 0.5 years!"

This was the first time Wang Ba had encountered such a situation.

"They're all Precious Chickens, so why is this chick's minimum lifespan deposit so high?"

"Is it because it's too young? Or... because it's a 'Half-Spirit Chicken'?"

Wang Ba could not arrive at an answer.

He simply stopped worrying about it and raised his hand to deposit lifespan into the chick's body.

[Current lifespan: -0.5 years!]

[Target lifespan: +2.5 years!]

In the blink of an eye, the chick visibly grew larger!

Thick feather shafts also appeared among the down on its body.

"Cluck, cluck!"

Jia Five's half-closed eyes widened again. It struggled hard in Wang Ba's palm, then leaped down.

Like a starving ghost reborn, it frantically bobbed its head, pecking at the feed on the ground.

It made a rapid tapping sound!

Wang Ba watched from the side for a while longer before nodding in satisfaction.

There was nothing wrong with his approach. Depositing lifespan into a chick could indeed resolve its illness to a certain extent.

Another four or five days passed.

The roosters that had broken through into Spirit Chickens through lifespan finally stopped gaining lifespan, which also meant they would soon be heading into Wang Ba's clay pot.

Perhaps sensing a threat from the unseen, one of these five Male Spirit Chickens actually took the initiative to force itself upon a Precious Chicken.

Of course, it also approached the Spirit Chicken hens, only to be pecked away.

Wang Ba therefore specifically kept this Spirit Chicken rooster and named it Jia Six.

As for the other Male Spirit Chickens, after each contributing 5.6 years of lifespan, they were dispatched one by one in the clay pot.

Wang Ba's lifespan finally recovered a little as well. His current lifespan was 37.6 years.

As his lifespan recovered, his body felt noticeably healthier, and the gray at his temples gradually disappeared.

During this time, to make a Female Spirit Chicken cooperate with the newly interested Male Spirit Chicken, he even tied her up in an extremely humiliating position...

"Cluck, cluck-"

All he got in return was the Male Spirit Chicken's disdain.

Wang Ba could read its thoughts in its eyes: Do I need you to lift a finger if I want a hen? Who are you looking down on?

It infuriated Wang Ba so much that he nearly lost control and cooked Jia Six.

Meanwhile, Jia Five's lifespan finally stopped increasing as well.

[Target lifespan: 92.7 years!]