She had been struggling for most of the day, and Zoey was in so much pain, but there was still no sign of the baby coming.
She felt frustrated. Was giving birth to a snake egg even harder than giving birth to a fox?
[System Reminder: The snake egg will hatch in fifteen minutes. Please change back to your beast form to make giving birth easier.]
Zoey was speechless when she saw the reminder. If she hadn't been in so much pain, she would have been furious.
Before, when she was in her fox form, the system told her to change back to her beast form to give birth. Now that she was already in her beast form, it still wanted her to change back?
Did she still not accept her beast form?
[System Reminder: The snake egg will hatch in five minutes. Please change back to your beast form to make giving birth easier.]
Ten minutes passed, and the system reminded her again.
With her upgrades, Zoey's beast form could now change with her mind, but to change into a beast-human form, she still needed a transformation pill.
Minute by minute passed, and the system kept sending reminders.
[Final System Reminder: The snake egg will hatch in one minute. If the host does not change back to beast form, the egg will die inside!]
[Warning! Warning! The baby will die. The host will return to max level! Experience points reset to 100,000,000.]
Zoey: "…" She would never allow that to happen!
She took another support pill, preparing herself mentally.
"Sinek, it's coming!"
As she spoke, Zoey turned into a beautiful female snake. Sinek was fully focused on her and didn't even react at first. Then he saw a white snake egg slide out from under her.
As the egg appeared, the system's reward package opened. It gave her a vitality pill, and Zoey immediately took it.
Seeing her eat the pill, Sinek became extremely nervous. Zoey had no strength to speak, but she gestured to show him everything was fine.
Sinek stayed by her side, barely daring to blink, afraid she might transform into another female and disappear.
After a short while, Zoey regained her strength and explained to Sinek,
"After giving birth, my skill gave me a vitality pill, the same as last time. Now I'm feeling better."
She then took out a transformation pill. Sinek recognized it—it could turn Zoey into a beast-human.
She swallowed one pill but saw no change. Confused, she took another, but still nothing happened. Zoey curled up in the soft grass, completely still.
Suddenly, she started feeling anxious. Sinek immediately noticed and asked with concern,
"Zoey, what's wrong? Are you uncomfortable? Should I call a healer to check you?"
He could still go out and bring a healer for her. Half an hour after the egg came out, he would need to start incubating it. Until the baby hatched, he couldn't leave, or the egg would die.
Zoey shook her head, noticing her snake tail flicking uncontrollably.
She closed her eyes and said to Sinek, "I don't know what's wrong. My transformation pill isn't working. I can't turn back…"
Her voice trembled, filled with frustration and worry.
Sinek was anxious, but he remembered that she had told him before that she could control her beast form with her mind, without pills. He reminded her,
"Zoey, didn't you say you could transform into your beast form with just your mind? Maybe after giving birth, you don't need the pill anymore, just control it with your thoughts."
Hearing this, Zoey grabbed at the hope like a lifeline. She focused her mind and, sure enough, transformed back into her beast-human form.
"That scared me! I thought I couldn't change back!"
Zoey patted her chest, still feeling frightened. Why didn't this broken system give any warning at all?
Seeing that Zoey no longer looked worried or scared, Sinek felt relieved and told her he was going to start incubating the egg.
"You, I'm going to start incubating the egg. I can't go out during this time, so you need to take good care of yourself."
Zoey then made space for Sinek, leaving the next step to him.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of myself, and I'll also take good care of you while I'm here."
Sinek nodded with satisfaction and prepared to transform into his beast form to incubate the egg. That's when he noticed Zoey had only laid one snake egg.
"Huh?"
Earlier he thought it was blocked by Zoey's body and didn't pay much attention, as all his focus had been on her.
"Why is there only one?"
He even flipped through the soft grass, checking again. In their clan, female snakes usually lay a whole clutch, never just one.
"Just one," Zoey answered.
Sinek looked at her in disbelief. He never knew snakes could lay just one egg. He even had five brothers.
Seeing Sinek's confusion, Zoey quickly explained and also checked the egg using her system.
Attributes: Female snake
Name: None
Parents: Mother Zoey, Father Sinek
Talent: Pending incubation
Level: High
Form: Can transform into beast-man after hatching
Skill: As an adult, beast form can grow huge at will, with overwhelming strength
Maybe because the father is strong, this second egg seemed stronger than the first one.
Still unsure, Zoey explained to Sinek, "Maybe it's a female, so there's only one."
When she had her fox before, she also only had one, and it was female.
"Female?!"
Sinek was surprised and a little shocked. How did Zoey know it was female before even starting incubation?
Zoey told him that she used her system to check the egg and explained it was her natural ability.
"This ability should be innate. Right after giving birth, I can immediately know the baby's attributes."
Listening to Zoey describe the egg, Sinek stared in disbelief. If Zoey hadn't reminded him, he would have forgotten it was already time to incubate.
"Time's up. Transform into your beast form to incubate the egg. Don't let anything happen."
"Oh!" Sinek had never been so distracted before. He was thrilled!
Looking at the snow-white snake egg under him, Sinek felt joy and responsibility.
Zoey stayed by his side the whole time, which made him feel very safe while incubating the egg. After just one day, the system started giving warnings again.
[System Reminder: Host, enjoy yourself. You have two hours left, or you will feel the pain of being burned alive.]
No way! She just gave birth!
Sinek is currently incubating the eggs. How could she go enjoy herself now?
Watching Sinek calmly closing his eyes and incubating the eggs, Zoey felt restless and didn't know what to do.
Should she ask Sinek if it's okay? Probably not!
If she accidentally leaves the egg, everything would be ruined. Her powerful second child was waiting to be born. She wanted to see what kind of cute little thing it would be.
After thinking carefully, Zoey decided to endure it this time. She could not go find another snake beast while Sinek was incubating the eggs.
Sinek was already so jealous; she could not make him even more jealous at this critical moment.
[System Warning: Host, enjoy yourself. One minute left, or you will feel the pain of being burned alive!]
"Ugh! Mm…"
She heard muffled groaning and rustling sounds nearby.
Sinek opened his eyes tiredly and saw Zoey curled on the ground, struggling and in pain.
"Zoey, Zoey! What's wrong? Zoey!"
Sinek was anxious but did not dare to leave the soft grass, afraid of ruining the eggs.
Zoey was in too much pain to speak. She reached out her hand to signal him not to worry about her.
"Ah!"
She couldn't hold back a scream. The pain was intense, but since she had prepared herself mentally, she could endure it.
[System Notice: Congratulations, host is awake. Enjoy yourself. One hour left, or you will feel the pain again, doubled!]
"…."
Zoey wanted to curse out all the bad words from her past and present life, but she couldn't, because Sinek was worried about her beside her.
"Zoey, Zoey!"
"What's wrong? Zoey!"
Sinek's eyes were bloodshot, veins of green almost bursting from worry.
"I'm fine… I'm fine…"
Zoey managed to catch her breath, forced a weak smile, and reassured Sinek.
She stayed curled on the ground.
"Don't worry, I just feel unwell for a moment. You continue incubating the eggs and don't leave. I'll be fine once I recover."
Zoey lay on her side, enjoying this brief comfort, even if it was just an hour.
Sinek watched her suffer, worried and helpless.
But he could only obey her words and stayed on the soft grass to incubate the snake eggs.
Time passed slowly. Zoey's color gradually returned to normal. She slowly sat up, leaning against a stone to rest.
"Zoey, how do you feel?" Sinek asked with concern. "What happened suddenly?"
"Much better…"
Zoey gave a weak, self-mocking smile. How could she tell Sinek the truth? That would be so embarrassing!
Seeing her hesitate, Sinek didn't push. He was worried and anxious, but he quietly watched her.
[System Notice: Host, enjoy yourself. Half an hour left. You will feel the pain of being burned alive again, pain doubled!]
Half an hour passed. Zoey still hadn't spoken. She remembered the previous system notice saying she could have another child with Sinek.
This meant she didn't have to hurry and could wait until Sinek hatched the eggs before continuing. But now, the system was being unfair.
[Friendly reminder: The system made a suggestion, but the host didn't agree at the time, so everything continues according to the original plan.]
Zoey: "..."
So, if she had agreed, she could have waited safely until Sinek hatched the snake babies? And during that time, she would have been fine?
Zoey wanted to curse loudly. Even though he hadn't agreed, he also hadn't refused!
This broken system was so cruel and sneaky! It was always making trouble for her.
[System warning: Host is speaking carelessly and damaging the system's reputation. Two transformation pills are taken back as a warning. Any further offense will not be forgiven!]
Zoey: "Your reputation can—" slap!
She slapped herself across the face. She had to endure it!
"Zoey!" Sinek was startled by her sudden reaction.
"I'm fine, I…"
Before Zoey could finish, a series of loud noises came from outside.
"Bang! Crash!"
"Ah! Ah!"
Sinek stretched his head toward the cave entrance and listened carefully. It seemed something serious had happened in the clan.
"Clan leader! Clan leader!"
A high-level snake beast ran in, looking terrified, wanting to report to Sinek.
Sinek had already warned them: no one was allowed to disturb him while he was hatching his eggs unless it was an emergency.
Since the beast ran in, it meant the situation outside was serious. Sinek narrowed his eyes and nodded seriously at the male beast.
The male beast pointed outside and said, "Clan leader, it's bad! A huge beast is outside. Its size is about the same as yours. Many of our males are already injured, and no one can defeat it…"
Hearing this, Sinek realized it was the same large male he had fought before. He grew anxious, moving restlessly on the soft grass, his green eyes turning red.
That beast was so strong that even the combined force of the clan might not be enough to defeat it.
Sinek didn't know where it came from. On this beast continent, many clans existed but usually didn't interfere with each other. He didn't understand why this male kept causing trouble for the snake clan.
"What should we do? That huge male is almost at your cave. We can't stop it!"
Another high-level snake beast ran over to report the situation outside.
Sinek flicked his tongue and glared fiercely, hissing. He wanted to protect the eggs and his clan, but now he had to choose one.
He was about to discuss with Zoey whether to abandon their eggs and save the male snakes when Zoey stood up and started moving outside.
"Zoey!" Sinek shouted. "Where are you going? Don't go out!"
Zoey turned to Sinek, frowning, unsure how to explain.
Her system had just given her another prompt, slightly different from before:
[System prompt: Enjoy yourself. 20 minutes remain. You will feel double the burning pain, and the experience time is doubled!]
[Congratulations host: The system has found a suitable male for you. Please take the transformation pill and move forward, work hard to downgrade!]
Zoey knew this "suitable male" was definitely not Sinek, and the system wanted her to take the transformation pill.
Right then, a large male had appeared outside, and Zoey wanted to go see. She knew the system wouldn't give her a hint for no reason.