Chapter 362 - Feeding the child

Chapter 362: Chapter 362 - Feeding the child

The baby’s weakness didn’t last long.

Within minutes, it turned into distress.

His tiny body uncurled inside the sphere, arms and legs moving restlessly through the clear liquid. He opened his mouth as though crying, but no sound could pass through the membrane. Instead, small bubbles escaped his lips and rushed toward the top while he twisted around frantically.

Muchen’s chest tightened at the sight.

"He’s hungry. We can’t just keep watching him like this."

"I know." Qiu Yue was already pulling supplies from the cabinets. "But we can’t put anything into that sphere until we know it won’t disrupt whatever is keeping him alive."

Yunfeng stood close beside Muchen, one hand supporting the shrinking sphere. He could feel the baby’s movements through the membrane now, each frantic kick making the surface tremble beneath his palm.

Jinju hurried to the kitchen and returned with powdered milk from their stored supplies. It wasn’t ideal for a premature infant, but at that moment nobody cared about ideal. They needed to determine whether the child could consume anything at all.

Qiu Yue mixed a tiny amount with warm sterile water.

Muchen held the sphere while Qiu Yue carefully brought a dropper toward the membrane.

The baby seemed to notice the milk immediately. He turned toward it, mouth opening as he followed the movement outside the sphere.

"He knows it’s food," Muchen said.

That gave them hope.

Qiu Yue pressed a small drop against the membrane.

Nothing happened.

The milk simply slid down the outside.

He tried again, this time gently pressing the dropper itself against the surface. The membrane bent inward but refused to open.

The baby’s agitation increased.

Muchen couldn’t bear it.

"He can see it."

"That doesn’t mean he can reach it."

"Then get it inside."

Qiu Yue glanced at him. "That’s what I’m trying to do."

They tried several methods. Milk against the membrane did nothing. A diluted glucose solution caused the surface to ripple faintly but still didn’t pass through. Even when Qiu Yue placed the lower portion of the sphere in a shallow sterile basin containing the solution, nothing entered.

The baby grew weaker again between bursts of frantic movement.

Yunfeng’s fear was turning into anger, not at anyone in particular but at the helplessness of standing there with food inches from his child and being unable to give it to him.

"There has to be a way inside."

Qiu Yue stared at the membrane.

Then he reached for an IV catheter.

Muchen immediately understood what he intended.

"You said not to puncture it."

"I said not to puncture it when we didn’t know what would happen." Qiu Yue held the thin catheter up. "Right now, doing nothing is becoming more dangerous."

Yunfeng’s hand tightened around the sphere.

"What if it bursts?"

"Then I stop immediately. I’m using the smallest catheter I have, and I’m not going anywhere near the baby."

Muchen looked down.

His son’s movements had become sluggish again.

"Do it."

Qiu Yue cleaned the outer surface despite having no idea whether ordinary sterilization mattered to something created by a supernatural ability. He chose a point as far from the baby as possible and brought the needle toward it.

The moment the tip touched the membrane, everyone held their breath.

Qiu Yue applied the slightest pressure.

The needle slipped through.

The sphere didn’t burst.

Not a single drop of liquid escaped.

Qiu Yue froze.

He released the pressure on the needle and stared at the point of entry. The membrane had tightened perfectly around the catheter.

"It’s sealing around it."

Relief hit Muchen so strongly that his knees nearly weakened.

"Can you feed him?"

Qiu Yue was already moving.

He removed the needle while leaving the soft catheter in place, then connected it to a small bag of nutritional solution. It wasn’t ordinary infant formula. He prepared a controlled mixture containing glucose, amino acids, electrolytes and other basic nutrients that could be delivered directly without requiring the baby’s immature digestive system to process milk.

"Slowly," he murmured, more to himself than anyone else.

He opened the line.

A tiny amount entered.

The change wasn’t immediate.

For several frightening seconds, the baby remained curled weakly inside.

Then his fingers moved.

Muchen leaned closer.

Another small amount of solution passed through the catheter.

The baby’s hand opened.

His legs stretched.

Color slowly returned to his little face.

"Oh, thank god."

Muchen’s voice cracked.

Yunfeng put an arm around his waist, but his own eyes never left their son.

As the feeding continued, the clear liquid surrounding the baby gradually increased again. The sphere, which had noticeably shrunk over the afternoon, slowly regained some of its previous size.

Qiu Yue watched every change carefully.

"He isn’t digesting this normally," he said. "The sphere is distributing it somehow. It’s acting more like an external gestational environment than an ordinary container."

"So we can keep feeding him this way?" Yunfeng asked.

"For now. I’ll have to calculate what he needs and monitor his blood chemistry. He’s developing outside the body months earlier than he should be. Guessing quantities could be dangerous."

The baby suddenly kicked.

It was much stronger than before.

Muchen laughed shakily and wiped his eyes.

"There you are."

The little boy stretched inside the liquid and slowly turned toward Yunfeng.

Then the sphere drifted from Muchen’s hands.

It floated directly into Yunfeng’s chest.

Yunfeng caught it instinctively.

The moment his palms touched the membrane, blue light flickered across his fingers.

He stiffened.

He hadn’t activated his power.

A thin blue flame appeared along his fingertips anyway.

Instead of burning the membrane, it sank into it.

Yunfeng’s eyes widened.

"Qiu Yue."

"I see it."

The doctor stepped closer.

The blue energy spread through the sphere like fine threads of light. The baby reacted instantly. His bright blue eyes opened wider, and his little hands reached toward the glow.

Then the energy disappeared into him.

Yunfeng felt the pull.

It wasn’t painful, but it was unmistakable.

His son was drawing power directly from him.

The baby’s body brightened faintly beneath the blue light. Even the membrane seemed to become clearer and stronger, its surface taking on a soft blue shimmer.

Muchen stared.

"He’s absorbing your power."

Qiu Yue looked from Yunfeng to the baby, pieces beginning to fall into place.

"Not just his."

Muchen turned toward him.

Qiu Yue pointed at the floating sphere.

"Think about what happened before he was born. Your powers became unstable. Objects were floating around you without your control. Then he emerged inside something that can float independently and move wherever he wants."

Muchen’s eyes slowly widened.

"My power."

"At least part of it."

The baby had been taking from Muchen before they had even realized what was happening.

Qiu Yue continued studying the blue light. "He seems to have absorbed enough of your ability to maintain the sphere’s movement. Now he’s drawing from Yunfeng as well."

Yunfeng immediately looked worried. "Is that dangerous for him?"

"I don’t know yet, but look at him."

They did.

The difference was obvious.

The baby was no longer curled weakly inside the sphere. His little arms moved strongly again, and his blue eyes were bright and alert. The membrane had regained its shape. The nutrient solution had restored his body, but Yunfeng’s energy seemed to have restored something else entirely.

His power.

Qiu Yue reached over and closed the IV line once he’d delivered the amount he wanted. "The nutrients keep his body alive. Your energy may be helping maintain the ability that’s keeping this entire environment functioning."

Yunfeng looked down at his son.

The blue flame continued slipping from his fingertips in tiny amounts, but the pull had already weakened. The baby apparently knew when he’d had enough.

A moment later, it stopped completely.

The little boy yawned.

His eyes closed.

After terrifying everyone for nearly an hour, he simply curled onto his side and went to sleep.

Muchen let out a breath and rested his forehead against Yunfeng’s shoulder.

Yunfeng held the sphere between them.

Neither spoke for a while.

The fear hadn’t disappeared, but at least now they had something they hadn’t had an hour ago.

A way to feed him.

Qiu Yue carefully removed the catheter. The instant it slipped free, the tiny opening sealed behind it until there wasn’t even a mark left on the membrane.

That seemed to interest him almost as much as everything else.

"I’ll prepare a proper nutritional schedule. Small amounts frequently until I understand how quickly he’s consuming it. And Yunfeng, don’t deliberately feed him large amounts of power. We don’t know what too much will do."

Yunfeng nodded.

Muchen gently touched the sphere.

Their son shifted in his sleep, floating closer to the warmth of their hands.

Only then did Muchen finally relax.