A Cosmic Crisis Triggered by an Egg

1. The Revelation of the Egg

On Monday morning, Li Ran sleepily walked into the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, and found that there was only one egg left. He sighed and carefully picked up the egg, preparing to fry an egg.

But just as the egg touched the pan, it suddenly—began to speak!

"Do you know? You are about to change the fate of the universe," the egg said in a solemn tone.

Li Ran froze, and the spatula in his hand fell to the ground with a crisp sound.

"You... you just spoke?" He stared at the egg white slowly solidifying in the pan, his face filled with terror.

"Yes," the egg's voice was full of compassion, "but you have already made a huge mistake."

"What?" Li Ran felt like he hadn't fully woken up yet.

"I am an agent sent by the Universal Monitoring Department to Earth, responsible for maintaining the balance of the multiverse. And you, just now, killed my physical form."

Li Ran looked down. The yolk had started to solidify. Instinctively, he reached out to scoop it up, but his hand was pushed away by some invisible force. The air in the kitchen began to warp, the light bulb on the ceiling flickered wildly, and the tiles on the walls had sprouted tiny eyes, all staring at him.

"You now have two choices," the egg said softly. "Either take responsibility and repair the rift in the universe, or let the entire reality collapse into the chaos of egg white."

Li Ran stared at the egg in despair. "Can this be fixed? How do I fix it?"

"Go find the Egg God. He lives at the very bottom of the egg shelf in the supermarket."

2. The Secret of the Supermarket

Li Ran rushed out of his house and ran to the nearby supermarket, heading straight for the egg shelf.

Everything in the supermarket started to get strange: the cashier's head turned into a giant apple, the fish in the frozen section frantically gestured "Help me!" behind the glass, and the promotional advertisements on the intercom were playing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" in whale calls.

Li Ran ignored it all and knelt at the very bottom of the shelf. He pushed aside a carton of eggs, and a small portal appeared. Taking a deep breath, he crawled through it.

3. The Guidance of the Egg God

He fell into a small universe floating with countless eggshells. The eggshells formed mountains, the yolk became the sky, and the egg white turned into rivers leading to unknown places. In a palace made of eggshells, he met the Egg God— a giant egg wearing a robe and a golden crown.

The Egg God stared at him seriously: "Mortal, why did you kill the monitoring agent?"

"I... I just wanted to fry an egg," Li Ran said helplessly, raising his hands.

The Egg God sighed deeply: "Every thousand years, we send an egg to monitor the development of Earth’s civilization. You destroyed this egg, and now the order of the universe is unstable. You must find a replacement."

"Replacement? What do I need?"

The Egg God slowly raised his hand and pointed into the distance: "A perfect fried egg. You must find it and bring it back."

Li Ran was on the verge of collapse: "But I don’t know how to fry a perfect egg!"

The Egg God gazed at him, slowly saying: "Then learn."

4. The Cosmic Fried Egg Challenge

Li Ran was transported back to Earth by the Egg God, but he found himself in the middle of a bizarre cooking competition. His opponents were strange beings from all corners of the universe— a blue octopus that fried eggs with telekinesis, a flame giant who heated the pan with volcanic lava, and a mechanical chef whose hand speed could flip an egg ten times in 0.1 seconds.

The host shouted: "Welcome to the Ultimate Cosmic Fried Egg Challenge! The winner will receive the Cosmic Egg!"

Li Ran stared in despair at the pan and the egg. He had never felt his life was so absurd.

The competition began. He tried frying the first egg, but the egg white burned, and the yolk exploded, releasing a yolk fairy that shouted "Hello!" and flew off into the sky.

For the second egg, he attempted to flip it elegantly, but he accidentally applied too much force, sending the yolk into space, where it flew toward Jupiter…

On the third attempt, he took a deep breath, steadied his nerves, cracked the egg gently, controlled the heat, and carefully flipped it… Finally, a perfect fried egg was born!

The cosmic judges applauded, and golden beams of light descended from the sky. The fried egg slowly floated up, turning into a glowing, sacred egg.

The Egg God’s voice echoed across the universe: "The cosmic order has been restored, mortal. You did it!"

5. Return to Reality

After a violent tremor, Li Ran found himself back in his own kitchen. The egg in the pan was perfectly intact, and everything in the kitchen was back to normal.

He stared at the egg blankly, then, with lingering fear, placed it back in the fridge.

"Maybe I should just eat instant noodles," he muttered.

Meanwhile, in the very bottom of the egg shelf in the supermarket, a mysterious flash of light passed through…

6. The Aftershocks of Reality

Li Ran stared blankly at the perfectly intact egg, beads of cold sweat forming on his forehead. He forced himself to calm down and checked his phone. It was 7 a.m. Everything seemed to have returned to normal.

He took a deep breath, opened the fridge door again, dreading what he might find. However, aside from the egg, everything else in the fridge was perfectly normal. No glowing mysterious objects, no talking ingredients.

"Was… was this just a dream?" Li Ran murmured to himself.

To verify reality, he carefully picked up the egg again, ready to fry it once more. But just as he was about to lift it over the pan, his hand suddenly shook, and he quickly pulled it back.

"No, I’m not taking that risk again," he chuckled bitterly, gently placing the egg back in the fridge, then reaching for the instant noodles instead.

But just then, he noticed a strange cookbook in the corner of the kitchen.

The book’s cover was golden and shining, with the title clearly written:

"The Cosmic Ultimate Fried Egg Secrets"

Li Ran froze, trembling as he reached out to flip open the book. Inside, it detailed various egg frying techniques, from basic heat control to advanced cosmic flipping methods—everything was covered.

"What… what is this?" he felt his scalp tingle.

As he pondered, a line of small text appeared on the pages:

"Mortal, you have passed the test. As a reward, you will gain the ultimate wisdom of frying a perfect egg."

Li Ran's eyes widened in shock, and he quickly slammed the book shut, unwilling to read further.

He decided, for today, he would just stick with instant noodles.

Little did he know, at the very moment he closed the book, a mysterious golden light flashed from the bottom of the supermarket egg shelf, and a similar book slowly disappeared into the void…