The Queen of Scrolls never admits defeat

While Moran turned around to make tea, Sen Tai tended to the vines, gnawed on fruit, and wiped the camera, Sylvia quickly rolled behind the curtains, under the sofa, in the gap between the bookshelf and the wall, and even into a half-open drawer to hide, waiting for everyone to find her.

Moran and Sentai always managed to spot her immediately.

But noticing that Sylvia would become withdrawn in her cradle after being "easily" found each time, Moran had a change of heart and began to play hide-and-seek with the little one.

Whenever Sylvia began her "hiding operation," they pretended not to notice, continued with what they were doing, and secretly memorized the location to ensure their safety.

The task of finding it was entrusted to Zizi, who was very interested in it, and Kaba, who was always very patient.

"Sylvia is missing again! Squeak, click, hurry and go find her!"

Moran would deliberately raise her voice and look "anxious".

Squeak immediately switched to detective mode, perked up its ears, twitched its nose, and began jumping up and down in the wooden building, rummaging through drawers and cabinets.

Kaba walked with steady steps, his eyes, glowing with ghostly light, scanning the area thoroughly, leaving no corner unchecked.

Like today, Egg Baby is missing again. Squeaking and sticking out its bottom, it tries to pry open the sofa and gently pushes aside the drooping tablecloth with its finger bones. Meanwhile, the "missing" Egg Baby is comfortably "stuck" between the "Parenting Handbook" on the bookshelf and the wall, quietly "watching" the two of them busy themselves, its eggshell shining slightly with excitement.

Moran watched all this with a gentle smile in her eyes. She enjoyed this interaction with the child and carefully nurtured this unique nature.

Several months passed quietly in the daily game of "hide-and-seek".

Sylvia had hidden almost every corner of the wooden building, from the storage boxes in the attic to the gaps in the kitchen cupboards.

The little guy's hiding skills are getting better and better.

That day, the sun shone brightly. Moran was taking a nap with Egg Baby on the soft couch in the living room. Moss vines hung lazily under the eaves. Squeak and Kaba were also asleep, one on the sofa and the other in the coffin.

Sylvia sensed that the adults were in a state of "relaxation of vigilance." She, who had been lying quietly on the cushion, began to roll very slowly and silently slipped off the cushion. She avoided the dozing Squeak, rolled across the living room, slipped out the back door, and rolled all the way into the vegetable garden in the backyard that Moran had tended so well.

Her goal was clear: she rolled directly to the center of a small patch of open ground next to the lettuce patch, where the soil had just been loosened and no seeds had yet been sown.

Then it began to rotate at high speed and steadily around the top of the eggshell, easily breaking through the soft soil. The soil was evenly flung outwards, and soon, a neat little pit appeared, with a diameter similar to the egg and a depth sufficient to bury most of it.

Sylvia seemed quite satisfied with her "project." She stopped rotating, adjusted the angle, and "planted" herself inside, unaware that her white "top" was still sticking out.

All of this was clearly "seen" by the moss clinging to the backyard fence.

The moss vines in the living room woke Moran and the others.

Squeak immediately got into character, rubbing its eyes dramatically and jumping to the cushion: "Oh no! Sylvia's gone again! Quick, find her!"

Quickly knock on the coffin lid and wake everyone up so we can search together.

So the monkey and the skeleton began a thorough search of the wooden building.

They searched every corner where Sylvia usually hid, their movements realistic and their expressions "anxious".

After pacing aimlessly around the house several times, Zizi suddenly had a brilliant idea. She pushed open the back door and ran into the yard. "Maybe she's outside!"

It and Kaba looked around the yard, glancing here and there, and deliberately lingered for a long time by the flowerbed and under the fruit trees.

Their gazes "inadvertently" swept over the vegetable patch several times, then "blindly" looked away. Finally, after "carefully" searching the vegetable patch for the third time, Zizi "suddenly" stopped, stretched out its little paws, and pointed to a small clump of particularly conspicuous "white spots" next to the lettuce patch, completely different from the surrounding dark brown soil, and exclaimed with the joy of discovering a new continent:

"I've found you! Sylvia! You actually hid here! Planted yourself in the ground, how could you even think of that!"

Kaba immediately stepped forward, stretched out his bone hand, and very gently brushed away the loose soil covering the eggshell.

Sylvia's pure white egg gradually came into view, with a few specks of damp soil still clinging to it.

The baby egg that was "dug out" didn't seem frustrated at all. Instead, it proudly shook itself in Kaba's palm, conveying a clear and proud mental wave: "Squeak, Kaba, so long, you're stupid!"

Squeaky couldn't help but chuckle at these childish yet arrogant "words." It leaned closer to the eggshell, gently tapped it with its paw, and coaxed in a cooperative tone:
"Alright, alright! We were the fools, Sylvia is the smartest! She hid it so well!"

Actually, it chuckled to itself: Silly boy, your white dot stands out like a lighthouse in the lush green vegetable garden. I saw it at first glance, and I just played with you a few more times on purpose.

at this time--

"Crack!"

An egg, a monkey, and a skeleton—their movements all froze instantly.

The shaking stopped, the joke froze, and even the ghostly fire in Kaba's eye sockets seemed to stop flickering.

Pretending not to notice, but actually keeping a close eye on the area, Moran vanished from her spot the instant the sound rang out, and reappeared at the edge of the vegetable garden the next second.

Moran's heart suddenly raced, her purple eyes fixed intently on the egg in Kaba's palm.

On the smooth, white eggshell, a tiny crack quickly spread out! Then, more fine cracks appeared and intersected from different directions, emitting a continuous, heart-stopping "crack" sound.

A fragment of eggshell quietly fell off, revealing what lay underneath...

Soft skin with a healthy pink hue.

Immediately afterwards, more eggshell fragments fell down.

A chubby little hand clumsily pushed open the largest piece of eggshell in front of it.

Then, a tiny head, covered in wet, black baby hair, struggled to peek out from the opening.

She opened her eyes.

Her pupils were the same deep purple as Moran's, still carrying the innocent, watery light of someone newly arrived in the world, yet already surprisingly bright.

She blinked curiously, tiny water droplets still clinging to her long eyelashes.

Her little mouth opened slightly, and she let out a clear, loud, and triumphant utterance:

"Eeya—!" (I'm out!)
The voice was full of curiosity about the world and pride in its successful hatching.

Moran held her breath, reached out, and took the warm, soft little body from the stiff, bony hand. (End of Chapter)