In an unprecedented event that left several prominent figures flustered and scratching their heads, researchers across the Empire were suddenly clamoring to figure out what the hell chickens were.
This was especially true at the capital's leading research institute.
Inside one of its main halls, a gathering of exhausted experts stood hunched over terminals like academic zombies, firing off increasingly frantic questions at one another.
"What the hell is a chicken?"
"Look at the scale of that thing."
"Get the streamer to ask about the species. If not possible, then the genus. Or at least the class."
"Look at those talons. They're so… tiny?"
"Look. Is that how they eat?"
"With a head that small, it definitely cannot eat anyone's head."
The silence that followed that last statement was heavy.
No one argued.
And they were not alone.
