Uncle Ping noticed Ji Xinghuo’s gaze and explained, "The dragon eggs in this hatchery have all failed to hatch, or have encountered unknown errors, but still show signs of life. They will continue to incubate here for a while, and once they are completely dead, they will be destroyed."
"May I go in and take a look?" Ji Xinghuo asked.
"Feel free," Uncle Ping said with a smile, "after all, these are failed dragon eggs, they hold no value anymore."
Ji Xinghuo entered, his gaze sweeping over each dragon egg.
Even the eggs of ordinary dragon species were large, the smaller ones being one to two meters high, the larger ones five to six meters high, weighing several tons. Each dragon egg was placed in a specific environment, continuing the unfinished hatching process.
Ji Xinghuo could sense that the life force inside most of the dragon eggs was very weak, flickering like a candle in the wind, on the brink of death.
That sensation was getting closer.
He walked to the far end of the terminal hatchery and suddenly, a peculiar dragon egg caught his attention.
It was very small, about the size of an ostrich egg, a thousandth the size of the other dragon eggs. Its pitch-black shell was covered with dense dragon scales, the edges of the scales streaming with gold, like specks of gold in the darkness.
"What kind of dragon egg is this?" Ji Xinghuo asked curiously.
"Annihilation Dragon."
Uncle Ping’s answer surprised both Ji Xinghuo and Titanium Cobalt Lan.
The Annihilation Dragon was one of the seven Divine Dragon species, renowned for its terrifying destructive power, but it was very mysterious and also extremely rare. To date, there was no True Dragon Family in the True Dragon Dynasty with the Annihilation Dragon lineage.
Seeing the expressions on their faces, Uncle Ping laughed and explained, "This Annihilation Dragon egg has been here since the first day the Dragon Breeding Room was established."
"That would be over ten thousand seasons!"
Titanium Cobalt Lan’s face showed astonishment.
The True Dragon Dynasty had split and been rebuilt time and again, and the Dragon King Family had also risen and fallen. The Titanium Cobalt Family had risen to rule the Yuan Magnetic Territory for already over eleven thousand seasons. This Dragon Breeding Room was established at the same time as Titanium Ring City, slightly later, but it too had lasted over ten thousand seasons, equivalent to over 18,500 years on Earth.
Such a long time, let alone an Annihilation Dragon, no dragon egg could incubate for that long.
Uncle Ping stepped forward and gently stroked the scales on the dragon egg, "But after all, it is the egg of an Annihilation Dragon, a Divine Dragon species, so it is kept here as a collectible."
"No wonder there is no incubation environment set up for it." Titanium Cobalt Lan looked at it, then suddenly laughed, "There have always been rumors that there are other Divine Dragon species in the Titanium Cobalt Dragon Breeding Room. They must have been referring to this Annihilation Dragon egg, right?"
"Exactly!" Uncle Ping nodded.
As the two conversed, neither noticed the change in Ji Xinghuo’s expression. He stared at the dragon egg, his calm gaze concealing a touch of perplexity.
It was clearly a dead egg, and he could not sense any life force inside it, as if it were completely lifeless.
But that inexplicable sensation was growing stronger.
The source was this very dragon egg.
"Divine Dragon species’ eggs, able to remain uncorrupted for ten thousand seasons, if it were any other creature’s egg, it might have fossilized already," Ji Xinghuo said, moving closer and touching the dragon egg. The moment he touched it, an information interface popped up in his vision.
[Hatching Progress: 35%]
Ji Xinghuo felt a towering wave surge in his heart, yet he remained outwardly calm, his heartbeat without any rhythmic changes.
What did this information mean?
Could this dragon egg hatch?
Ji Xinghuo’s thoughts raced, knowing instantly what to do.
He feigned curiosity as he caressed the dragon egg, keeping his palm in contact with it, secretly channeling Spiritual Origin Ability. The values on the Wanxiang Star Pupil interface quickly plummeted, consuming several thousand points of Spiritual Origin Ability in an instant.
[Hatching Progress: 36%]
Ji Xinghuo released his hand, looking nonchalantly towards Uncle Ping, and asked, "Uncle Ping, may I choose this dragon egg?"