Live Stream Treasure Appraisal: Your elf isn't thriving!

Chapter 675 From crawling on the seabed to swimming in the ocean? A mutation that grows wings? My Slowpoke, Steamed Clam!

Ye Yinchuan's finger remained suspended in mid-air, not falling.

The golden data stream from the Insightful Eye scrolled rapidly across the retina. The internal structure of the eighteenth egg was peeled away layer by layer, and the three-dimensional image of the embryo was accurate to the cellular level.

Two symmetrical protrusions.

One on each side. Approximately 0.8 cm in length. A thin, membranous outer layer encases a developing, rigid skeleton. The skeleton is not arranged in a fan shape—not a pectoral fin. Nor is it comb-like—not a dorsal fin.

They grow symmetrically along the upper middle section of the embryonic spine, with the internal supporting structure spreading out radially, and the base connected to the vertebrae in the prototype of a ball-and-socket joint.

This is an appendage structure with rotational freedom.

Ye Yinchuan's breathing faltered.

One hundred million years.

The coelacanth is called a living fossil, not because it is old. There are many species in the world that are older than it. What makes it special is that its morphology has not undergone any recordable changes over a timescale of 100 million years, including cases of variation and individual differences.

Other species evolve, mutate, and constantly rewrite their genes to adapt to changing environments. But the ancient coelacanth does not need to.

It wrote its ultimate version a hundred million years ago.

Rock-like scales withstand water pressure. Degenerate teeth are used for sucking and feeding. Fatty floats control buoyancy in the deep sea. Walking is done using pectoral fins instead of swimming, minimizing energy expenditure.

Each feature is the optimal solution that was locked in 100 million years ago.

Life has evolved to this point and no longer needs to evolve.

In academia, this is called the "evolutionary final state".

The underlying mechanism supporting this final state is the near-perfect gene repair system within the ancient coelacanth. Any random mutation that occurs during the replication process is instantly captured, corrected, and erased by this system. For a hundred million years, this system has never failed.

until today.

The eighteenth egg.

The system repair was missed once.

This time, the omission—has grown wings.

Ye Yinchuan closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them, the deliberate calm was still there, but what was pressing down beneath was different.

"Captain Lu."

"exist."

"The eighteenth egg. It's in the third row from the left, slightly towards the inner circle."

Lu Chen's gaze searched the surveillance screen: "Its appearance is no different from other eggs."

"The difference lies internally," Ye Yinchuan interrupted her. "The embryo of that egg underwent a morphological mutation."

The air in the research vessel's command center seemed to freeze for a moment.

"Mutation?" Lu Chen's voice suddenly tightened. "What type of mutation?"

"Two symmetrical membranous protrusions appeared on the back of the embryo. Inside, a rigid skeleton similar to fins but arranged in a completely different way from known structures was differentiating. At the base, there was a rudimentary ball-and-socket joint."

Ye Yinchuan paused for a second.

"Morphologically, the closest reference point is the wing."

The live chat exploded.

Wings? Wings? A fish has wings? It's going to fly?

[Oh ho ho, does this mean that today we not only witnessed a live ancient coelacanth, but also had the chance to see a mutated individual?]

Ye Yinchuan looked at the comments and smiled: "I believe that most of you probably don't yet understand what the appearance of mutated individuals in the ancient coelacanth means."

What do you mean by that?

Is it possible for not every Pokémon to mutate?

He moved forward and sat down.

"The ancient Coelacanth species may not have changed in the last 100 million years, not because it was lucky or happened to not mutate, but because it has an extremely efficient gene repair enzyme system. Random mutations that occur when ordinary Pokémon's genes are replicated are instantly intercepted, repaired, and reset to zero by this system in the ancient Coelacanth."

"If it weren't for this mechanism, the ancient coelacanth wouldn't have grown into what it is today, and it wouldn't be called a living fossil."

He tapped his finger lightly on the table.

"In other words, the occurrence of visible morphological variations in an ancient coelacanth is not a matter of low probability, but rather an almost impossible occurrence."

He drew the emotions of the viewers into a new height with every word he uttered.

Wait a minute? Something almost impossible just happened?!

Dude, did you know that the ancient coelacanth looked like this 100 million years ago?

[Hey bro upstairs, don't doubt the streamer's professionalism, there must be fossils for comparison!]

"Mr. Kirby," Lu Chen's voice was low and deep, "what do we need to do with this egg?"

Ye Yinchuan nodded and explained in detail: "Record the precise coordinates of this egg. Initiate continuous low-frequency passive observation of this egg. Do not use any active scanning methods—no sonar, no direct spotlighting. Your ROV is equipped with an infrared thermal imaging module; use that. The deep-sea water temperature is close to zero degrees Celsius, and the embryo's metabolism inside the egg will produce a slight thermal difference. By tracking changes in the temperature curve, we can indirectly reflect the embryo's development progress and health status. If necessary, take certain protective measures. If you have any questions, you can contact me immediately."

Lu Chen's expression was solemn, yet also somewhat grateful: "I understand. This egg is of extraordinary significance."

So, how much information can the streamer glean from this egg?

[I can't wait for this egg to hatch! — According to the streamer, this might be the first ever mutated individual of the ancient coelacanth!]

"I can say a little about the direction of mutation in this egg."

Ye Yinchuan's gaze pierced through the screen, across the Pacific Ocean thousands of kilometers away, through the 4820-meter-high black column of water, and landed on the eighteenth egg lying quietly in the silt.

"The ancient coelacanth walked using its pectoral fins. For a hundred million years, it did not swim. It only walked. Its entire body structure was designed for 'walking on the seabed': thick scales provided weight and protection, a vestigial swim bladder reduced buoyancy, and robust pectoral fins served as limbs. It was a fish conceived to crawl on the seabed."

"But in the eighteenth egg, the embryo has two protrusions sprouting on its back." He held up a finger.

"It's a wing."

"If this embryo can develop, hatch, and survive successfully..."

Ye Yinchuan's voice wasn't loud, but every word sent chills down the spines of the more than 300 million people in the live broadcast room.

"For the first time in 100 million years, the descendants of an ancient coelacanth may possess powerful underwater mobility, enabling them to leave the seabed and swim as if flying!"

Wow, this is so vivid, I'm almost moved. Why is that? Am I too sexy?

Is it possible that the ancestors of the ancient coelacanth were capable of free swimming? Is this not mutation, but rather atavism?

This last comment made Ye Yinchuan pause for a moment.

The sender's ID is "The Paleontologist Who's Just Lazing Around". The profile picture is a Slowpoke.

"My friend," Ye Yinchuan read the comment aloud.

The attention of more than 300 million people was focused at the same time.

"Your speculation—is somewhat plausible. However, because it's from such a distant era, and no fossils have been found so far, it's impossible to verify."

[Aaaaaaah, I was just saying this randomly!! Wait, I took a screenshot! I took a screenshot! Mr. Kirby personally endorsed my hypothesis!! Advisor, did you see this?! This is my theory!!!]

Ye Yinchuan did not elaborate further.

He turned towards Lu Chen.

"If you have any questions later, please feel free to contact us."

"Understood, thank you very much, Mr. Kirby."

"I should thank you all too," Ye Yinchuan said, his tone softening. "You brought such a pleasant surprise to my live stream."

The connection is broken.

The scene returns to the live stream studio in Pokémon Paradise. The sunlight outside the window is perfect, and Snorlax's purring has changed its rhythm. The berry in its hand has been gnawed down to a smooth pit at some point.

Ye Yinchuan leaned back in his chair and stretched his shoulders and neck.

The comments section was still filled with "Ancient Space Relic Fish".

Ye Yinchuan glanced at the time: "Keep the connection going! Bring on whatever treasures you have, there's not much time left!"

My finger swipes across the list of live chat connections.

An application title popped up: "My adorable pet is a genius! It's incredibly smart and can understand human speech! I have video proof! Requesting verification from the streamer!"

Ye Yinchuan's lips curled into a smirk.

connected.

A young man in his early twenties jumped in front of the camera. His fisherman's hat was askew, his eyes shone brightly, and he spoke so fast he almost swallowed his words.

"Hey streamer, you have to watch this! My Pokémon, Ball Ball—it understands everything! I'm telling you, nobody around me believes me, but today I'm going to prove it to the entire internet!"

He turned to the side, and the camera was pointed at the living room floor behind him.

A pink Slowpoke is lying on the tile.

Its eyes were the classic Slowpoke-style blank stare—not looking at any particular thing, but rather in a quantum superposition state between seeing everything in the world and seeing nothing at all. Its mouth was half-open. A trickle of drool dripped from the corner of its lips to the ground. Its tail lay sprawled behind it, occasionally twitching, but not intentionally.

From any perspective, it doesn't seem like a Pokémon with advanced cognitive abilities.

[Dude, are you serious? While many Pokémon can understand human speech, this is Slowpoke, for crying out loud!]

[A species with a brain delay of at least five seconds? I don't believe you for a second.]

"Please begin your performance."

Ye Yinchuan was quite tolerant, saying, "We've encountered clever Slowpokes in our live streams before. Besides, Slowpokes are inherently intelligent; sometimes they're wise in their foolishness."

"Okay, host!"

The young man was completely unaffected by the comments. He squatted down in front of Slowpoke and took a deep breath.

"Qiqiu! Pay attention!"

Slowpoke didn't react.

"Ball! Give me your left paw!"

Slowpoke stared at him.

It lasted for about five seconds.

[Note: This is not a still image.]

[This is hilarious! Are you sure it can understand human speech?]

Slowly, as if it were playing at 0.25x speed, Slowpoke raised its left front paw and placed it on the young man's palm.

"Qiuqiu, steamed clams!"

The young man was excited, his expression as if he had discovered a new continent.

"See that? Left paw! I said left, and it gave me left! Amazing, right!"

As he spoke, he fed Slowpoke a piece of clam meat.

The comments section wavered.

[I timed it, exactly five seconds, no more, no less!]

【?? They actually gave it to them?】

Wait, is this a coincidence or real?

[That accent is kind of mesmerizing, haha!]

The young man pressed his advantage, shouting, "Ball! Wag your tail!"

Slowpoke continues to dodge.

Five seconds later, it extended its left hand again.

"Ball, wag your tail!"

The young man shouted, unwilling to give up.

The Slowpoke looked at him with eyes full of "wisdom," as if it were truly engaged in some kind of thought.

Then, it wagged its tail.

The young man happily fed it a piece of clam meat: "Qiuqiu, steamed clam! Did you see that? Did you see that? Both commands were correct! It understands!"

The barrage of comments flew by.

[Dude, are you just guessing with your Slowpoke?]

[Hilarious! This Slowpoke doesn't understand anything, but it knows how to read faces and act accordingly!]

This steamed clam dish is so addictive!

Ye Yinchuan's expression at this moment was quite subtle, a mixture of amusement and exasperation, and a sense of wanting to say something but holding back.

"Actually, the comments have already told you the truth—you silly beast, you're just guessing! The key point is, you only used two methods to prove it understands human speech, right? Why don't you add another testing method? Like having it use its left or right hand?"

After a long silence, Ye Yinchuan finally blurted it out.

The young man's expression became subtle, and it was unclear whether he was unwilling to accept the truth or had belatedly realized it and was finding it hard to admit.

"Qiuqiu, now please extend your right hand and shake my hand, okay?"

The young man seemed to have made up his mind to negotiate with Slowpoke.

Then the instruction was repeated: "Ball, extend your right hand!"

Slowpoke responded for five seconds, then extended its left hand.

The young man looked slightly embarrassed, but he continued to repeat the instructions.

But then Slowpoke "observed" the situation for a moment and started wagging its tail again.

When Slowpoke stretched out its left hand again after a while, the young man finally slumped his shoulders in despair.

"Okay, it seems my Qiuqiu isn't a genius after all—I misunderstood."

Are you sure you're not joking?

[Ouch, after not hearing "steamed clams" for a while, I feel like ants are crawling all over my body!]

Slowpoke Pokémon are all unintelligent; otherwise, trainers would have already developed their intelligence!

[Maybe there is, but it's definitely not this one.]

The young man looked at the comments on the screen, then looked down at his Slowpoke.

Qiuqiu was looking at him with her unfocused eyes, revealing great confusion, and a small puddle of drool was dripping from her mouth again.

However, the next moment, Slowpoke did something different.

But then the silly beast came up, opened its arms, and hugged the young man.

"Although your ball can't fully understand your commands, it can sense your emotions and is willing to try to do things that make you happy. It's a good ball and deserves your praise and love."

Upon seeing this, Ye Yinchuan's gaze softened, and his tone became gentler.

The young man paused for a moment, then seemed to understand: "Qiuqiu, steamed clams!"

Qiuqiu's eyes lit up, and she hugged him even tighter!

The number of followers on the young man's account is also growing rapidly!

Steamed clams may be late, but they've arrived!

[Who says this Slowpoke is stupid? As the streamer said, this Slowpoke is a good kid, steamed clam!]

The atmosphere during the live stream became more relaxed.

Ye Yinchuan was also in a good mood and relaxed. Although this Slowpoke was "ordinary", it was definitely a treasure for the Connect people and brought warmth and joy to everyone.

"The last one."

He clicked on the next application.

The message was concise, and the sender was tagged as "Sedge City Pokémon Center - On-Duty Nurse".

[Host, our center's Chansey has been behaving strangely lately. It's not caring for the patients anymore. All its medical checkups are normal; it's not sick. It's just suddenly—like it's changed its personality. It's grabbing the softest cushions. It's only eating the most expensive berries. It spends two hours sunbathing every day. It's worked at our center for eight years and has never done this before. We're very worried.]

A photo was attached.

Ye Yinchuan clicked on it.

A lucky egg. A round, pink body, with two perfectly shaped peaches stuffed in its pouch at the front of its belly—not eggs.

It lay on a thick cushion that had clearly been moved from a VIP ward. Its two little feet were sticking up. Its eyes were half-closed.

The expression was one of unprecedented relaxation?

>