Chapter Two: Incubation

“Phew—thank goodness, it’s nothing serious.” Huddled beneath his covers, Qin Fei couldn’t suppress a smile as he watched the digital egg bouncing on the screen of his Digivice. After examining the shattered scraps of paper in his hand, he quickly realized what had gone wrong. The content he’d written on those slips was simply too over the top.

“Having the power of the Four Holy Beasts at birth—no wonder that got rejected.” Scratching his head with a touch of embarrassment and regret, Qin Fei sighed. He had deliberately made his Digimon’s data as powerful as possible, hoping to test the limits of the Digivice. But his note about possessing the strength of the Four Holy Beasts in the infant stage was so absurdly beyond reason, the Digivice’s system had automatically discarded it—much like rejecting an illogical green chicken.

“Let’s see which designs the Digivice accepted and which ones it rejected.” Flashlight in hand, Qin Fei continued to pore over the scraps, sighing. On the slips, he saw that the idea of a hundred-meter-tall Digimon at maturity had been rejected, as had the ability to wield tens of millions of tons of strength. The power of light-speed movement—rejected. Time manipulation—rejected. Immortality—rejected. And so on...

Looking at the dense list of abilities and notes, Qin Fei gave a dry laugh. He had to admit, much of what he’d written was indeed unrealistic.

“Now, let’s see what abilities were kept.” Amid the pile of discarded notes, he found only seven complete descriptions that had survived.

First: extraordinary regenerative power. As long as the wound wasn’t fatal, his Digimon could quickly absorb digital data to restore its energy and heal.

Second: the ability to perform DNA Digivolution, Armor Digivolution, and Tamer Fusion Digivolution.

Third: human mimicry. From the Champion stage onward, his Digimon could temporarily take on a human appearance.

Fourth: the power to seize an opponent’s skills and traits and convert them into cards.

Fifth: the ability to overload internal data, accelerating neural reflexes and physical speed, even boosting strength.

Sixth: the capability to achieve further evolution beyond the Mega stage.

Seventh: a weapon forged from red Chrono Digizoid, capable of amplifying card abilities.

“Hmm? That’s it? I wrote over a hundred abilities... Ah, well, it’s fine. These are pretty good.” Qin Fei smiled contentedly at the abilities that had made it through. He was especially pleased with the human mimicry feature; that would spare him a lot of trouble if his Digimon evolved and drew too much attention.

Perhaps he was simply too tired, or perhaps a day and night of sketching and designing had completely drained him. As soon as he lay down, Qin Fei fell into a deeper sleep than usual. Only the Digivice, still clutched tightly in his arms, and the lingering smile on his face gave any sign of his undiminished joy.

...

“Ding ding ding!!!” Qin Fei, still sporting faint dark circles under his eyes, leapt out of bed the moment the alarm rang. He silenced it with a slap, then impatiently switched on his Digivice, eager to see whether the egg had hatched.

But the black-patterned digital egg was still pulsing on the screen, like a beating heart, with no sign of cracking open.

“Just as I thought—a single night isn’t enough.” Qin Fei yawned, running a hand through his messy hair.

“Oh well, since I’m up, I might as well stay up. I’ve slept nearly ten hours, and the summer camp meeting time is almost here.” After washing up, he munched on some leftover bread from the fridge, then strolled out the door.

“It shouldn’t take more than twenty-four hours. In the anime, Guilmon also hatched the next morning—my Digimon probably won’t be much different.” Swallowing the last bite, Qin Fei stared unblinkingly at his Digivice, as if nothing in the world could distract him for even a second.

“Hey! Watch out!” A pained yelp, and before Qin Fei could react, he collided with a girl.

“Ah, sorry! I didn’t mean to!” Heart pounding, Qin Fei quickly set the Digivice aside and reached out to help the petite figure he’d knocked over. After all, he was at fault.

“No worries, no worries—I was running too fast myself,” the girl replied with a cheerful smile, grasping his hand as she got up. Then she added, “But you really shouldn’t play with your game device while walking.”

She’d clearly noticed Qin Fei’s bad habit of walking and gaming.

“Sorry, I’ll be more careful,” Qin Fei said, helping her up and nodding apologetically. He glanced at her outfit and felt she looked oddly familiar.

A blue cap perched on her head, brown short hair peeking out beneath it. She wore a yellow sleeveless top, red gloves, and blue jeans. Her delicate, gentle face was brightened by a warm smile.

Still, with other things on his mind, Qin Fei didn’t dwell on it. He gave another apologetic smile and continued on toward the summer camp meeting point.

He hadn’t expected that the girl he’d bumped into was headed in the same direction.

“Oh, are you with the Children’s Association too? Going to the summer camp?” Noticing they were headed the same way, the girl looked at him curiously.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you before.”

“I’m a transfer student—I haven’t been here long. But yes, I’m going to the camp,” Qin Fei replied with a smile, feeling a growing fondness for her open, kind demeanor.

“A transfer student! That explains it. Well, if you ever need help, just ask me. I’m Sora Takenouchi, fifth grade.”

‘Click.’

“...”

“What’s wrong?” Seeing the delicate transfer student suddenly freeze and stare at her in shock, Sora was puzzled.

“Sora Takenouchi?”

“That’s right. Is my name strange?”

“No, no, not at all. I just remembered something. Let’s go, or we’ll miss the summer camp bus.” Qin Fei dropped his head and hurried forward.

“You haven’t told me your name yet,” Sora called after him, a hint of annoyance in her voice. What’s with this boy, acting like he’s lost his soul?

Sora... how could it be Sora! This world isn’t the third Digimon series, it’s the first? The one with Tai Kamiya and Agumon? Then why is my Digivice the third generation model?

A flood of questions swirled in Qin Fei’s mind, leaving him bewildered and at a loss. Instinctively, he pulled out his third-generation Digivice, as if hoping it would provide some answer.

Wait—!

Suddenly, he noticed something. His dazed eyes snapped into focus, staring in shock at the broken digital egg on his Digivice’s screen. The Digimon was nowhere to be seen.

At some point, it had hatched.

“Damn... Sorry, Sora, something urgent’s come up. Go on ahead—if the teachers ask, tell them Qin Fei had a stomachache and went to the restroom. If I’m not there in half an hour, don’t wait for me.” Without waiting for her reply, Qin Fei dashed off, his expression urgent.

“Hey, what happened? Need any help?” Sora called after him, pouting at his vanishing figure. “So his name is Qin Fei. Doesn’t sound like a local name.”

...

“Where? Where? Where is it?” Qin Fei frantically pressed the black button on his Digivice until a red indicator appeared on the screen, flashing to guide him.

His excitement lent him boundless energy. All his earlier confusion and worries vanished, replaced by a single thought: finding his unique Digimon.

“Where? Where? There!”

Following the Digivice’s signal, a pillar of light rose up in the distance, catching Qin Fei’s eye.

“Wait for me, Blackfangmon, I’m coming for you.”

It was as if he’d returned to a previous life, to childhood, to those days filled with love for Digimon. That almost-forgotten childhood wish—to have a Digimon of his own—resurfaced with vivid clarity. Even the later disappointment of realizing reality and fantasy were separate seemed to fade.

At this moment, hope brimmed anew.

A child sprinted wildly, across footbridges, through tunnels, over muddy pits, scaling walls—racing like a madman in the eyes of passersby.

...

Panting, Qin Fei finally reached a secluded alley shrouded in thick fog, obscuring everything within. But he knew this was the sign—a Digimon was about to appear, just like in the third series. And inside was his Digimon.

“I’m here, Blackfangmon!” he called joyfully into the mist, his breath ragged but his voice overflowing with happiness.