Recaps

Chi Li recalled his closeness with Si Jinyan as a teenager, including an alarming mark on his neck and their conversation about marking. As Si Jinyan grew increasingly exhausted from examinations, Chi Li tried to comfort him, while beginning to recognize the unease he had once ignored.

• Chi Li recalled how he often visited Jin after school, and how Jin built military models for him and taught him to assemble them.
• After an examination, Jin held Chi Li close and left a mark on his neck; Chi Li later heard his fathers worry that Jin wanted to mark him.
• Chi Li asked Jin about marking, and Jin denied wanting to mark him, easing Chi Li's fear as they called themselves good friends.
• Chi Li recalled seeing Jin return from examinations exhausted and secretly visiting him despite being told to let him rest.
• When Chi Li noticed blood seeping through a bandage on Jin's wrist, Jin asked him to blow on the wound and then pointed out needle marks on his neck.
• Chi Li kept trying to comfort Jin by blowing on his injuries, but Jin stopped him and refused to explain his reaction.

Chi Li remembered how Jin had revealed his fish tail and how he accepted it without fear, while Jin’s hidden precognitive visions explained why he had shared the secret and given Chi Li a precious scale. Jin hoped the scale might change the fate he had foreseen, though the future remained uncertain.

• Jin refused to tell Chi Li why he had always been confined to the research institute, calling it a terrifying secret.
• After Chi Li secretly visited Jin with beer, Jin revealed his fish tail, and Chi Li called it pretty and promised to accept him.
• Chi Li regularly touched Jin’s tail, and Jin told him that touching its tip meant lifelong responsibility; Chi Li agreed, then qualified his promise.
• Jin’s visions of the future dwindled until he foresaw Chi Li’s death, and he realized a scale over his heart carried a powerful life force.
• Jin persuaded Chi Li to cut out the heart scale and place it in his chest, hoping it could alter their destined fate.

Chi Li recovered memories of Jin's violent abduction and the later deaths of his fathers, then woke after four days unconscious. Si Jinyan comforted him and resolved to honor whatever Chi Li wanted, even if it meant letting him go.

• Chi Li remembered Jin hiding him in a wall compartment before strangers injected Jin and stabbed his fish tail, while Jin told him to wait.
• Chi Li recalled that his fathers reacted with helpless sorrow, then something happened to them, and Chi Li was taken away with a fever that erased his painful memories.
• After Bai Qi helped Chi Li recover his memories, Chi Li remained unconscious, and Si Jinyan nearly attacked Bai Qi before Lu Jiu and Bai Qi's attendant stopped him.
• Si Jinyan regretted accepting Bai Qi's offer to help him in exchange for support in claiming the throne, believing the bargain had put Chi Li in danger.
• On the fourth day, Chi Li woke with a vacant, sorrowful gaze, and Si Jinyan promised himself he would let Chi Li go if that was what he wanted.

Chi Li investigated whether his painful memories were real and learned more about Si Jinyan’s traumatic childhood, which deepened his suspicions about their past. After Si Jinyan disappeared for several days, Chi Li went to the base and found him chained inside a laboratory.

• Bai Qi told Chi Li that he had only uncovered memories already in Chi Li’s mind and had not altered them.
• Chi Li asked Lu Jiu about Si Jinyan’s childhood and heard that Si Jinyan had been withdrawn, confined to bed, and subjected to experiments when Lu Jiu first met him at fifteen.
• Chi Li suspected that people from the Empire had taken Si Jinyan and experimented on him, possibly leaving him with forgotten memories.
• After Si Jinyan failed to return home for several days, Chi Li went to the base when he could not reach either Si Jinyan or Lu Jiu.
• Lu Jiu opened a security door, and Chi Li saw Si Jinyan chained inside a large, translucent laboratory.

As Si Jinyan’s pheromone deficiency worsened into uncontrollable beastification, Chi Li learned that the chains and glass chamber were Si Jinyan’s own precautions against becoming an Aberrant Form. Seeing the last traces of reason in Si Jinyan’s gaze, Chi Li asked whether becoming an omega could help him.

• Chi Li saw silver-black scales and fins erupt across Si Jinyan’s body as he writhed in the glass chamber.
• Lu Jiu told Chi Li that Si Jinyan had chosen to be chained up and that the pheromone substitute had failed after Si Jinyan encountered Chi Li’s pheromones again.
• Lu Jiu explained that Si Jinyan had been in the chamber for twenty-seven hours and that no better solution had been found.
• Si Jinyan opened his golden eyes, briefly showing signs of reason as he struggled against the chains.
• Chi Li asked Lu Jiu whether becoming an omega could help Si Jinyan, saying that only he could help him now.

Chi Li entered the chamber to soothe the out-of-control Si Jinyan with his pheromones, and Si Jinyan reacted with possessive familiarity while remaining transformed. The chapter ended when Si Jinyan blocked the surveillance camera, leaving Lu Jiu unable to see what was happening inside.

• Lu Jiu warned Chi Li that Si Jinyan's rising vulnerable pheromones could make him violent, and Chi Li agreed to let Lu Jiu test Si Jinyan's reaction to his extracted pheromones.
• Si Jinyan calmed when Chi Li's pheromones entered the chamber, then became more furious when they stopped, so Lu Jiu sedated and restrained him before Chi Li went inside.
• Chi Li soothed Si Jinyan, who broke free with his fish tail, wrapped Chi Li in it, and called him “Treasure, mine...” in Mermaid Language.
• Si Jinyan's pheromones overwhelmed Chi Li as Si Jinyan claimed and kissed him, then licked a cut on Chi Li's calf and called him “Fragile Treasure.”
• Si Jinyan shielded Chi Li from the surveillance camera, and the display in Lu Jiu's surveillance room went black.

Si Jinyan continued to claim Chi Li during his vulnerable period, calling him “Treasure” and treating him as someone precious and exclusively his. Chi Li endured the encounter as Si Jinyan revealed that the surveillance cameras were broken, then woke in the cabin’s pool with a new pain in his lower abdomen.

• Si Jinyan wrapped Chi Li in his tail and continued their intimate encounter while Chi Li struggled with his instincts and the pleasure he felt.
• Si Jinyan pulled Chi Li into his arms and said the surveillance cameras were broken.
• Si Jinyan’s memories showed how pain and confusion had overwhelmed him until Chi Li’s familiar scent made him feel calm and possessive.
• Chi Li questioned whether Si Jinyan had broken the cameras, but Si Jinyan did not answer.
• Chi Li woke in the cabin’s pool still wrapped in Si Jinyan and felt a dragging pain in his lower abdomen.

After Si Jinyan lost control and broke out of the glass chamber, Chi Li confronted him as the institute prepared to activate the Destruction Protocol. Si Jinyan stopped short of attacking Chi Li and began shedding large pearls from his eyes.

• Si Jinyan ignored Chi Li's pleas to stop, so Chi Li contacted Lu Jiu, who sedated Si Jinyan and took Chi Li to the medical room.
• Lu Jiu discovered that the growth inside Chi Li had likely reached maturity and could probably be removed without affecting its growth.
• Si Jinyan broke free of his chains and shattered the glass chamber as researchers considered activating the Destruction Protocol.
• Lu Jiu told Chi Li that the plan was Si Jinyan's, and Chi Li stepped toward the rampaging Si Jinyan while ordering the guards not to move.
• Si Jinyan stared at Chi Li, then began crying large pearls, leaving everyone stunned.

After Si Jinyan emerged from the glass chamber, his fear and guilt overwhelmed him, and Chi Li calmed him while Lu Jiu cleared the laboratory. Lu Jiu suspected Si Jinyan had not fully recovered, so Chi Li took him back to continue his treatment.

• Si Jinyan clung to Chi Li and poured his grief and guilt through their pheromone connection, believing Chi Li had been taken away and hurt.
• Chi Li reassured Si Jinyan that he had not left, and Si Jinyan kissed him before Chi Li pulled him away.
• Lu Jiu sent the onlookers away, and Chi Li noticed Si Jinyan staring seriously at his stomach.
• Si Jinyan kept his tail wrapped around Chi Li and refused to leave his side, even while Chi Li used the restroom.
• Lu Jiu suggested Si Jinyan felt safe with Chi Li but had not fully recovered, so Chi Li took him back to continue treatment.

Chi Li tried to soothe the out-of-control Si Jinyan, who stopped short of intimacy and clung to Chi Li’s heartbeat, warning that Chi Li and the two of them would get hurt. Chi Li arranged with Lu Jiu to handle the pregnancy soon, though Lu Jiu cautioned that the mermaid fetus might already be mature enough for removal without threatening its life.

• Chi Li brought Si Jinyan to his room and tried to help him recover with his soothing pheromones, but Si Jinyan only kissed and caressed him before stopping.
• Chi Li suspected Si Jinyan might have recovered and be pretending otherwise, but Si Jinyan rested his head on Chi Li’s stomach and said, “Heartbeat,” warning that Chi Li and the two of them would get hurt.
• Chi Li left Si Jinyan resting in the bedroom and contacted Lu Jiu to ask when the procedure could be handled.
• Lu Jiu said it could be done within a couple of days and warned that the mermaid fetus might have entered its maturation period, making early removal less likely to threaten its life.
• Chi Li clenched his fist as Lu Jiu admitted he could not guarantee his deductions were correct.

Chi Li drank alone after speaking with Lu Jiu and fell asleep in the living room, while Si Jinyan prepared a scented nest in the bedroom. Si Jinyan carried Chi Li to bed, leaving Chi Li caught off guard by his affection.

• Lu Jiu called Chi Li about his pheromone research, and Chi Li said he would think about Lu Jiu's request.
• Chi Li discovered Si Jinyan's wine collection, recalled fragments of their childhood, and drank until exhaustion overtook him.
• Si Jinyan moved the bed and built a nest from bedding and Chi Li's clothes, scenting it with his pheromones.
• Chi Li woke to Si Jinyan's golden eyes and reached instinctively for his gun before recognizing him.
• Si Jinyan picked up the reluctant Chi Li and carried him toward the bedroom, telling him to be good.

Chi Li discovered that Si Jinyan had built a pheromone-scented nest for him and their egg, a rare nesting response driven by Si Jinyan’s anxiety and desire to protect them. After Si Jinyan cried over Chi Li’s refusal, Chi Li agreed to sleep inside, where Si Jinyan curled around him as drowsiness took hold.

• Chi Li found Si Jinyan’s clothing-and-cushion nest and called Lu Jiu to explain what was happening.
• Lu Jiu identified Si Jinyan’s behavior as rare mermaid nesting, an instinct to soothe and protect Chi Li and their egg.
• Lu Jiu explained that Si Jinyan had been stockpiling soft materials because of anxiety about Chi Li and the egg.
• Chi Li refused to sleep in the nest, and Si Jinyan began crying pearls while continuing to arrange it.
• Chi Li agreed to sleep in the nest, and Si Jinyan curled around him and wished him good night.

Chi Li slept soundly in the nest Si Jinyan built, then teased Si Jinyan into an intimate morning encounter. Concerned that Si Jinyan’s recovery was slowing because he kept holding back, Chi Li left to visit Lu Jiu and ordered Si Jinyan to stay behind.

• Si Jinyan soothed Chi Li to sleep in the nest and kissed him while he slept.
• Chi Li woke refreshed, noticed Si Jinyan’s pheromones carried a trace of heat, and released soothing pheromones.
• Chi Li teased Si Jinyan until he agreed to continue their intimate encounter, while still holding back to protect Chi Li.
• After washing, Chi Li saw that Si Jinyan’s scales had not faded and worried his recovery was progressing too slowly.
• Chi Li told Si Jinyan he was going to see Lu Jiu and left after warning him not to follow.

Chi Li agreed with Lu Jiu to proceed with a plan to help Si Jinyan recover, while keeping the details from him. Three days later, Chi Li anesthetized Si Jinyan and left for Lu Jiu’s office, but Si Jinyan opened his eyes as soon as he was alone.

• Chi Li told Lu Jiu he had decided to let the child stay, and they agreed to carry out their plan in three days.
• Si Jinyan secretly followed Chi Li to Lu Jiu’s office, then apologized and stayed close to Chi Li after being scolded.
• Chi Li punished Si Jinyan by keeping him at a distance, but relented and let him sleep in the nest with him.
• Three days later, Chi Li administered an anesthetic to Si Jinyan and left for Lu Jiu’s office after telling him to wait.
• Once Chi Li had gone, Si Jinyan opened his eyes, apparently still conscious.

Chi Li underwent a secret procedure with Lu Jiu, but the operation was interrupted when Si Jinyan arrived outside the operating room. As the machine paused, Si Jinyan restrained himself from breaking through the door.

• Chi Li arrived at Lu Jiu's office with Si Jinyan sedated, and Lu Jiu led him to the operating room.
• Lu Jiu prepared a private procedure to preserve something carrying half of Si Jinyan's genes, and Chi Li lay down inside the machine.
• During the procedure, Chi Li felt a surge of panic that he recognized as coming from the little thing rather than himself.
• Si Jinyan woke, escaped his restraints, and reached the operating room door while Chi Li was inside.
• After staff warned Lu Jiu that Si Jinyan was outside, Lu Jiu paused the procedure and saw that Si Jinyan was clawing the door but not breaking through.

Chi Li’s procedure was interrupted when Si Jinyan arrived, and Eggy’s fear and cries revealed that he had become conscious and believed Chi Li might reject him. After seeing Si Jinyan break down in tears, Chi Li let him approach, while the wound treatment remained unfinished.

• Eggy used his new ability to let Chi Li hear Si Jinyan’s voice, then cried inside his eggshell as he feared Chi Li no longer wanted him.
• Si Jinyan clawed at the metal door until his disturbance alarmed the researchers outside.
• Lu Jiu stopped Chi Li’s wound treatment after Si Jinyan interrupted it, and Chi Li asked to check on him before he lost control.
• Si Jinyan saw Chi Li, began sobbing, and stopped in front of him without daring to come closer.
• Chi Li sighed and told Si Jinyan to approach, saying he could not tell that Si Jinyan had sneaked out if he stayed away.

Chi Li confronted Si Jinyan over the injuries and interrupted procedure, but Si Jinyan insisted he could help and led him to a hidden pool room. The room’s surveillance footage of Chi Li flustered and angered him, while Si Jinyan’s pheromones grew heated and he again offered to help.

• Lu Jiu dismissed the others and left Chi Li alone with Si Jinyan.
• Chi Li blamed Si Jinyan for his injuries, and Si Jinyan apologized and promised to help him.
• Si Jinyan took Chi Li to a concealed room behind the bathroom wall, where a hidden pool began filling with hot water.
• A large screen played edited surveillance footage of Chi Li, and Chi Li ordered Si Jinyan to turn it off and delete it.
• Si Jinyan turned off the screen, then moved close to Chi Li and asked to help him as his pheromones grew hotter.

Si Jinyan used his pheromones and mermaid song to help Chi Li confront the strange presence inside him, which Si Jinyan said was frightened and calling them “father.” Chi Li woke in Si Jinyan’s nest afterward, and Si Jinyan told him the presence had disappeared.

• Si Jinyan carried Chi Li into the pool and explained that he could sense the small presence, which was afraid and called out for them using the word “father.”
• Chi Li recognized that the presence was well-behaved, while suspecting Si Jinyan knew more than he admitted.
• Si Jinyan soothed Chi Li with pheromones and a mermaid melody as Chi Li sensed the presence within him.
• Si Jinyan’s fish tail interrupted Chi Li’s attempt to make the presence leave, and Chi Li told him he did not want his help.
• Chi Li later woke in Si Jinyan’s nest and asked where the presence was, and Si Jinyan said it had disappeared.

Chi Li confirmed through an examination that the mysterious shadow and his abnormal readings had disappeared as Si Jinyan recovered from his loss of control. Si Jinyan avoided explaining what had happened to the object Chi Li had wanted destroyed, and the chapter ended with him and Lu Jiu entering a secure laboratory where a silver egg was being kept.

• Si Jinyan told Chi Li that the process was over and explained that he had gradually regained consciousness after entering the hidden room.
• Chi Li questioned whether Si Jinyan had concealed his recovery, then chose not to press him about the object he had wanted destroyed.
• Chi Li watched his examination, and Lu Jiu confirmed that his readings were stable and the shadow on his scan had vanished.
• Si Jinyan kissed Chi Li's forehead in front of the gathered staff, and Chi Li left with his test report.
• Si Jinyan went with Lu Jiu to a heavily secured laboratory, where a silver egg rested inside a constant-temperature device.

Si Jinyan cared for Eggy in the laboratory and learned that the hatchling was weak but strong enough to recover with time. Back home, he kissed Chi Li and persuaded him to share the nest for a few more days, though Chi Li asked for a new bed to be brought in tomorrow.

• Si Jinyan and Lu Jiu watched Eggy roll into Si Jinyan's hands, call to him, and fall asleep in his palm.
• Si Jinyan worried that Eggy's presence was weak, and Lu Jiu reassured him that the hatchling could grow well despite being born early.
• Lu Jiu asked how Si Jinyan had known to help Chi Li, and Si Jinyan said Eggy had told him he did not want Chi Li to suffer.
• Si Jinyan returned home, kissed Chi Li's forehead, and later clung to him, claiming he had not fully recovered.
• Chi Li told Si Jinyan to have a new bed moved in the next day, and Si Jinyan agreed.

Chi Li contacted the Emperor and the mercenary corps, then reassured an increasingly clingy Si Jinyan that he was not planning to leave. Si Jinyan invited him to a confidential meeting about the Aberrant Forms and Geng Ji’s new intelligence, before asking Chi Li to help him with his pain.

• Chi Li replied to the Emperor and the mercenary corps but kept his recovered childhood memories and knowledge of Si Jinyan’s identity secret from the Emperor.
• Chi Li found Si Jinyan rebuilding their nest and let him wrap his tail around him, though he protested when Si Jinyan clung too tightly.
• Si Jinyan asked whether Chi Li would return, and Chi Li said he was not planning to go back right now and soothed Si Jinyan with his pheromones.
• Si Jinyan invited Chi Li to a confidential meeting about the Aberrant Forms the next morning and said Geng Ji would arrive with important intelligence.
• Si Jinyan asked Chi Li for help with his pain, then kissed him as Chi Li held him tightly.

Si Jinyan carried Chi Li to the pool, where their intimacy continued until Chi Li fell asleep, and the next morning Si Jinyan cared for him before they attended a meeting. There, Geng Ji presented evidence that Emperor Yao Di was conducting human modification experiments and that escaped Aberrant Forms had been sighted across the Empire.

• Si Jinyan carried Chi Li from the bedroom to the pool, and Chi Li eventually fell asleep after their encounter.
• Si Jinyan returned the next morning and told Chi Li that Geng Ji was on his way and that his eye color had improved.
• Chi Li and Si Jinyan joined Geng Ji and four others in the conference room.
• Geng Ji showed footage from an Imperial laboratory depicting a strange creature and reported that escaped test subjects had been seen in multiple locations.
• Geng Ji said the evidence implicated Emperor Yao Di in ongoing human modification experiments at scattered bases, some of which had already been abandoned.

Geng Ji confirmed that Yao Di was using the Marshal’s blood in human experiments to create another Si Jinyan, and Si Jinyan warned that Luolan needed to prepare for a prolonged conflict. Meanwhile, Chi Li discovered that Eggy had developed consciousness, and Si Jinyan woke to find Chi Li holding the egg.

• Geng Ji showed Si Jinyan and Chi Li evidence that Yao Di had diluted the Marshal’s blood and used living people as test subjects in an attempt to create another Si Jinyan.
• Si Jinyan said they had to stop Yao Di, but urged Geng Ji not to rush into finding him because their evidence constrained the emperor’s actions.
• Si Jinyan told Chi Li that Luolan needed to prepare for a prolonged battle, and Chi Li passed warnings to Luolan’s emperor and his mercenary brothers.
• Si Jinyan spent the following days caring for Eggy and returned late at night, often falling asleep beside Chi Li with the egg.
• Chi Li woke to Eggy moving in his arms, tested it by tossing it, and realized that it could consciously control where it landed.
• Si Jinyan woke when he found his arms empty and saw Chi Li holding Eggy.

Si Jinyan woke to find Chi Li handling Eggy and panicked when the egg slipped from his grasp. Chi Li explained that he had not meant to drop it, but the two were left facing the tension surrounding Eggy and their relationship.

• Si Jinyan tucked Eggy close to Chi Li, but his sleeping fishtail loosened and let the egg wander.
• Chi Li tossed Eggy in his hand until it slipped, and Si Jinyan caught it with his fishtail.
• Chi Li told Si Jinyan not to come closer and asked him to leave, while Si Jinyan feared Chi Li would reject him and Eggy.
• Si Jinyan wept pearls and offered to send Eggy away, pleading with Chi Li not to avoid him.
• Chi Li said he had not meant to drop Eggy and asked whether he had ever said he would hurt it.

Chi Li rejected Si Jinyan’s egg but struggled with his feelings about it, while Si Jinyan left the bedroom with Eggy. After Chi Li slept in Si Jinyan’s nest, he praised its comfort, giving Si Jinyan the approval he had been hoping for.

• Chi Li told Si Jinyan to leave with the egg and insisted that he did not accept it.
• Si Jinyan confessed that he liked Chi Li, kissed and bit his foot, then gathered his tears and left with Eggy.
• After Si Jinyan left, Chi Li examined one of his pearls and lay awake thinking about the egg.
• Chi Li woke in Si Jinyan’s nest, where Si Jinyan told him he had slept there the previous night.
• Chi Li told Si Jinyan that the nest was comfortable and that he had slept well.