Chapter Summaries

Ye Ruan and Gu Cheng’s group fought through a massive zombie horde while trying to reach City H’s defensive line, but they ran out of ammunition as Level Three Monsters closed in. Ye Ruan shielded Gu Cheng from a White Phosphorus Bomb and passed out just as dawn broke.

• Ye Ruan and Fang Ci shot down monsters as the vehicles approached City H, but a zombie horde trapped them and destroyed the last SUV, killing its passengers.
• Lou Yu and Song Ting joined the others, while Lu Jiayi revealed that a zombie had scratched his arm; Ye Ruan used his bombs to clear a path forward.
• Gu Cheng ordered Lou Yu to drive the Biohazard Vehicle as the group fought through more zombies, but Level Three Monsters approached and the bombs and ammunition ran out.
• Gu Cheng carried the exhausted Ye Ruan and fought off a spiny Level Three Monster until his gun was empty; when Yu Jingjing threw the last White Phosphorus Bomb, Ye Ruan transformed into a rabbit and shielded Gu Cheng.
• Gu Cheng removed the phosphorus-contaminated flesh from Ye Ruan’s back and comforted him, and Ye Ruan passed out as dawn broke.

After the survivors rested and reached a secluded construction site, Ye Ruan contacted his team and drugged the group’s beef noodles so he could take Li Tuantuan. Gu Cheng accepted that Ye Ruan could take Li Tuantuan, but Ye Ruan refused to return with him, leaving Gu Cheng to propose joining the Third Team instead.

• Ye Ruan woke in Gu Cheng’s arms as Yu Jingjing and the others dealt with survivors infected during the disaster.
• The exhausted group moved to a secluded construction site, where Ye Ruan used his Communicator to request an early return and was permitted to do so.
• Ye Ruan served everyone beef noodles, then revealed he had drugged them, leaving the others unable to move.
• Ye Ruan told Gu Cheng he had to take Li Tuantuan because Li Tuantuan was important to him, while Lu Jiayi and Li Rang accused him of betraying the group for military merit.
• Gu Cheng told Ye Ruan to take Li Tuantuan but asked him to return together; when Ye Ruan refused, Gu Cheng offered to join the Third Team and marry into Ye Ruan’s family.

Ye Ruan left Gu Cheng paralyzed behind in City H and reached the defensive line with Li Tuantuan and Ren Fei'er. During their examination in Yang City, Dr. Xu Chu recognized Gu Cheng’s bite mark on Ye Ruan and revealed that he was Gu Cheng’s longtime friend.

• Ye Ruan refused Gu Cheng’s plea to stay, warned that they would meet as rivals, and left with the Biohazard Vehicle.
• After the drug wore off, Gu Cheng ordered his team to pack up and go after Ye Ruan, while Lou Yu and the others mocked the paralyzed team.
• Ye Ruan, Li Tuantuan, and Ren Fei'er reached the defensive line, identified themselves, and submitted to infection screening in Yang City.
• Dr. Xu Chu examined the three, noticed Ye Ruan’s shoulder wound, and tried to treat it after Ye Ruan declined his help.
• Xu Chu exposed the bite mark on Ye Ruan’s neck, prompting Ye Ruan to attack him before Xu Chu explained that he had grown up with Gu Cheng.

Ye Ruan returned to S City, reunited with Ye Qingman, and confessed that he had fallen in love with Gu Cheng. After learning Gu Cheng had been injured and was in the hospital, Ye Ruan rushed there, where he unexpectedly encountered Nan Han.

• Commander Li reunited with Li Tuantuan and promised to help Ye Ruan free Ye Qingman from Nan Han.
• Ye Ruan returned home and tearfully reunited with Ye Qingman.
• Ye Ruan told Ye Qingman that he loved Gu Cheng, and she revealed that Gu Cheng had known him as a child.
• Three days later, Ye Qingman told Ye Ruan that Gu Cheng had returned injured and was in the hospital.
• Ye Ruan raced to the hospital and collided with Nan Han, who caught him and said, "Son, you're back."

Ye Ruan ran into Nan Han, who hurt his shoulder while announcing an upcoming assembly and medal ceremony. Wanting comfort from Gu Cheng, Ye Ruan went to the hospital but stayed outside after hearing Gu Cheng boast about him to Fang Ci and Xu Chu.

• Ye Ruan punched Nan Han and struggled against the men restraining him, reopening his shoulder wound.
• Nan Han told Ye Ruan that the teams would assemble in five days and promised to bring him his medal.
• Ye Ruan resisted the urge to visit Gu Cheng's room and went downstairs instead.
• Gu Cheng admitted to Fang Ci and Xu Chu that he had faked his injuries to lure Ye Ruan to the hospital.
• Ye Ruan climbed outside Gu Cheng's second-floor window and listened as Gu Cheng bragged about their relationship, then relaxed after confirming Gu Cheng was fine.

Ye Ruan returned to the Third Team and announced a challenge against the First and Second Teams. At the assembly, he came face-to-face with Gu Cheng, who openly asked if Ye Ruan was seeing anyone.

• Gu Cheng waited three days for Ye Ruan at the hospital, while Fang Ci and Xu Chu teased him about his pining and shameless flirting.
• Ye Ruan reunited with Tang Tang, He Zhou, and the Third Team, then announced that they would compete against the First and Second Teams.
• He Zhou explained that the captains would have to win for their teams to change designations, spurring the Third Team to look forward to the contest.
• At the assembly, Gu Cheng and his teammates arrived casually, while Ye Ruan's empty seat made Cai Hao demand to know where he was.
• Ye Ruan entered the assembly hall and sat several seats away from Gu Cheng, who publicly asked whether he was seeing anyone.

At the team gathering, Ye Ruan proposed a competition to decide the new teams’ rankings, then fled when Gu Cheng approached him. Gu Cheng caught him in rabbit form, and Ye Ruan admitted he was keeping his distance to protect Gu Cheng, while Gu Cheng promised to stand by him.

• Nan Han announced that a twenty-person foreign unit would become the new Second Team, pushing the current Second and Third Teams down a rank.
• Ye Ruan proposed a competition, and Nan Han scheduled it for nine the next morning.
• Ye Ruan asked He Zhou to delay Gu Cheng and slipped away, while Yu Jingjing detained He Zhou and frightened Tang Tang into running off.
• Gu Cheng chased Ye Ruan in wolf form and caught him after he fell while fleeing as a rabbit.
• Ye Ruan told Gu Cheng he did not want him dragged into trouble, and Gu Cheng promised to protect him despite Nan Han’s disapproval.

Ye Ruan and Gu Cheng confessed their desire to face danger together, then arranged to meet secretly that night. After learning more about Ye Ruan’s painful childhood under Nan Han’s control, Ye Ruan sneaked out to meet Gu Cheng in the library’s hidden staff lounge.

• Ye Ruan asked Gu Cheng to hold him, and Gu Cheng promised to face future danger alongside him.
• Ye Ruan invited Gu Cheng to meet him that night in the library’s second-floor staff lounge before returning home to Ye Qingman.
• Ye Qingman told Ye Ruan that she had once hoped he and Gu Cheng could become childhood friends, but Nan Han’s controlling behavior had kept them apart.
• Ye Ruan recalled Nan Han’s cruelty toward the animals he loved and admitted that fear had stopped him from approaching Gu Cheng when they were young.
• Ye Ruan sneaked out of the house in the cold, and Ye Qingman watched him leave without stopping him.
• Gu Cheng climbed into the locked library and found Ye Ruan waiting in the hidden lounge, then wrapped him in his coat and kissed his hand.

Ye Ruan confessed that he wanted to use Li Tuantuan to win his mother’s freedom and had asked Gu Cheng to keep their distance because he feared Nan Han would hurt him. Gu Cheng refused to separate, and they reconciled; afterward, Ye Ruan slept while Gu Cheng messaged Xu Chu to brag about having a wife.

• Ye Ruan asked Gu Cheng to pretend not to know him for a month, but Gu Cheng refused and confronted him about running away.
• Ye Ruan explained that he wanted to use Li Tuantuan to ask for his mother’s release and feared Nan Han would hurt Gu Cheng.
• Gu Cheng reassured Ye Ruan that he would stay by his side, and Ye Ruan cried and embraced him.
• After they reconciled and spent the night together, Gu Cheng tucked Ye Ruan’s hand into his coat and urged him to rest before training.
• Once Ye Ruan fell asleep, Gu Cheng texted Xu Chu to boast about his wife.

Ye Ruan woke in Gu Cheng’s room and rejoined the Third Team, where Gu Cheng openly treated him as his husband and handed him his paycheck card. At the Training Ground, Ye Ruan blushed under the teams’ attention as he returned to the Third Team before their upcoming fight.

• Ye Ruan woke in a room smelling of Big Gray Wolf and reunited with Yu Jingjing and Fang Ci, who was close to recovering from his injury.
• Fang Ci comforted Ye Ruan and accepted that their trust as friends and comrades mattered deeply, while the others joked about He Zhou losing his paycheck at cards.
• Gu Cheng fed Ye Ruan breakfast, promised him his savings, and tucked his paycheck card into Ye Ruan’s pocket before giving him a black team uniform.
• Gu Cheng led Ye Ruan hand in hand to the Training Ground, where Cai Hao and the three teams reacted with surprise.
• Gu Cheng called Ye Ruan his husband in front of the First Team, and Ye Ruan blushed and returned to the Third Team as He Zhou teased him about their past in City H.

Ye Ruan watched the teams prepare for a competition against Daniel’s overseas team while Gu Cheng openly showed affection for him. After Song Ting lost the first fight, Yu Jingjing defeated her opponent and won cheers from all three teams.

• The First Team called Ye Ruan “Sister-in-law,” while Lu Yao taunted Lou Yu about his tracking anklet and warned him not to run away.
• Nan Han introduced Daniel and the overseas team, and Gu Cheng translated Daniel’s challenge for Ye Ruan.
• Song Ting fought the overseas team’s first competitor but ran out of stamina and was knocked down.
• Yu Jingjing stepped in to avenge Song Ting and defeated the foreign woman with a powerful kick.
• The three teams cheered together as Yu Jingjing made a heart gesture toward Tang Tang, who shrank back in embarrassment.

Ye Ruan faced Daniel in a fight and a Training Ground challenge after Daniel demanded another contest. Ye Ruan leaped from the climbing wall without his safety harness, leaving the race unresolved.

• Daniel challenged the captains, and Ye Ruan stepped forward to fight him after Gu Cheng helped him remove his jacket.
• Ye Ruan overwhelmed Daniel until Daniel called a stop, then proposed a timed obstacle course, wall climb, and gun-assembly contest.
• Ye Ruan agreed on the condition that Daniel's group would drop to the Fourth Team if they lost.
• Ye Ruan raced through the obstacles and climbed the wall, briefly falling behind Daniel while struggling with the unfamiliar safety harness.
• Ye Ruan reached the top with Daniel, then removed his harness halfway down the wall and jumped from eight meters as Gu Cheng shouted his name.

Ye Ruan defeated Daniel, then challenged Gu Cheng and won their match after tricking him with a feigned plea for help. As the teams grew closer through the competition, Nan Han ordered Cai Hao to bring women for Gu Cheng to meet, while Lou Yu offered Ye Ruan his share of the betting winnings.

• Ye Ruan assembled a handgun and defeated Daniel, making him the newest member of the Fourth Team.
• Ye Ruan challenged Gu Cheng to a match, and their sparring turned into a close fight that brought the teams together as spectators placed bets.
• Yu Jingjing joked with Lou Yu about uniting the teams through marriage, while Nan Han insisted that Ye Ruan should marry a woman and ordered Cai Hao to arrange introductions for Gu Cheng.
• Ye Ruan tricked Gu Cheng with a feigned request for help, kicked him off, and won when Gu Cheng surrendered.
• Lou Yu offered Ye Ruan half of the money he had won betting on him, but Ye Ruan declined as Lu Yao watched angrily.

Ye Ruan’s reunion with his mother was disrupted when Nan Han provoked him, and Gu Cheng kicked Nan Han before Ye Qingman arrived and beat him. The group left the Training Ground for dinner at Ye Qingman’s home, where Gu Cheng charmed his mother-in-law and Ye Ruan settled in beside him.

• Lou Yu persuaded Ye Ruan to take a hundred from the betting winnings, while Cai Hao dismissed the team for dinner.
• Ye Ruan refused Nan Han’s offer to visit Ye Qingman, drew his gun, and began to lose control; Gu Cheng calmed him and took the weapon away.
• Gu Cheng kicked Nan Han after seeing Ye Ruan’s distress, and Cai Hao ordered Gu Cheng detained as armed soldiers surrounded him.
• Ye Qingman arrived, slapped Nan Han, and joined Gu Cheng and the others in beating him until soldiers carried him away.
• Ye Qingman invited Gu Cheng and his companions home for dinner, thanked them for caring for Ye Ruan, and watched Gu Cheng affectionately tease and reassure him.

Ye Ruan and Gu Cheng shared affectionate moments after dinner, while Ye Ruan learned that Ye Qingman’s old colleague had visited and worried about the children in the team. The chapter ended with Gu Cheng visiting Ye Ruan at midnight with a box of his favorite snacks, and Ye Ruan thanking him with kisses.

• Yu Jingjing praised Ye Qingman’s fighting skills, and Ye Qingman offered to teach her.
• Gu Cheng and Ye Ruan kissed privately and agreed that Gu Cheng would visit Ye Ruan’s room later that night.
• Ye Ruan learned that Ye Qingman had met an old colleague and heard that the children’s latest assessment had gone poorly.
• Ye Qingman reassured Ye Ruan that he was the child she loved most, and Gu Cheng teased him about being jealous.
• Gu Cheng visited Ye Ruan’s window at midnight with finger biscuits and listed the snacks he had stocked for him.
• Ye Ruan declined to call Gu Cheng “hubby” and kissed his cheek instead.

Ye Ruan told Gu Cheng about his five younger siblings and the way Nan Han abandoned their family, then the couple learned the Third Team would receive First Team benefits despite keeping its C classification. The four teams were ordered to prepare for a field exercise on Siyang Mountain, and they stocked up on supplies while suspecting the Headquarters Team and Nan Han had plans to split them up.

• Ye Ruan explained that his five younger siblings had been taken after birth to be raised by researchers, and that Nan Han had abandoned him and his mother and tried to send him away too.
• Ye Ruan recalled meeting Gu Cheng on a mission with the Second Team, then celebrated that the Third Team should move up after beating him and the foreigners.
• Cai Hao told the four captains that their teams would conduct a field exercise on Siyang Mountain in three days, while the Third Team's classification remained C despite receiving First Team benefits.
• Gu Cheng took his teammates shopping for shelf-stable food and outdoor equipment, while Li Rang revealed Nan Han had helped plan the exercise and might arrange to split the teams up.
• Ye Ruan picked out drinks, chips, and canned meat, including canned natto, for Gu Cheng.

Ye Ruan and Gu Cheng’s teams reached Siyang Mountain for a two-team-versus-two-team marking-gun exercise, while Ye Ruan and Gu Cheng reluctantly prepared to be separated. After the chief left, the teams settled in and Gu Cheng immediately went looking for Ye Ruan.

• Cai Hao divided the four teams into opposing pairs and explained the marking-gun rules for the exercise.
• Ye Ruan said an emotional goodbye to his mother, Ye Qingman, before catching up with the teams.
• Ye Ruan and Gu Cheng shared an affectionate moment on the muddy mountain trail, and Ye Ruan promised Gu Cheng a reward for staying away from others.
• The teams reached the summit, where Cai Hao told them to rest and spread out the next morning.
• After Cai Hao left to monitor their trackers from camp, Gu Cheng assigned tasks to his team and set off to find Ye Ruan.

Ye Ruan and Gu Cheng shared a secret night together before the four-team match began. As the teams scattered to hide or set traps, Gu Cheng told Ye Ruan he loved him for his life past.

• Gu Cheng brought Ye Ruan wild berries, and the two flirted while the Third Team prepared dinner.
• Ye Ruan asked Gu Cheng about the battle plan he had discussed with Daniel, but Gu Cheng teased him instead of answering.
• Ye Ruan secretly met Gu Cheng beneath the stars, and Gu Cheng carried the sleepy Ye Ruan back to his tent.
• Gu Cheng kicked Li Rang out of the tent and fell asleep holding Ye Ruan.
• The four teams gathered for the match, and the vice-captain gave them an hour to find hiding places or set traps.
• Gu Cheng told Ye Ruan, "I love you for my life past," before they parted.

Ye Ruan led a mixed group from Third and Second Teams through the mission, coordinating their movements and eliminating four opponents. Gu Cheng’s group searched nearby while Gu Cheng loudly bragged about his relationship with Ye Ruan, who chose to avoid meeting them for now.

• Ye Ruan instructed Xiao Mian’s Third Team to watch for First Team ambushes and told Lou Yu that their cooperation only involved the two of them.
• Xiao Mian reported that Husky and a black panther had eliminated half his group, so Ye Ruan told the survivors to hide and ambush passersby.
• Ye Ruan led the group toward crowded areas, then charged four opponents and helped eliminate all of them.
• Lou Yu smelled Gu Cheng, Fang Ci, and Daniel nearby, but Ye Ruan decided to go around them instead of meeting them.
• Gu Cheng’s teammates teased him about smiling, and he bragged that Ye Ruan was clingy and devoted to him until Fang Ci told him to have some shame.

Ye Ruan's team camped in the shrubs and continued eliminating opponents, until Ye Ruan learned that Gu Cheng was waiting near a huge pine tree. He set off alone at night to find Gu Cheng, eager to finish the exercise.

• Ye Ruan led his team to a hidden campsite, where they shared dumplings and rested for the night.
• The next day, Ye Ruan's team found no other members of the Second or Third Teams, then encountered Yu Jingjing and Li Rang and eliminated Li Rang.
• Ye Ruan asked Yu Jingjing where Gu Cheng was, and she revealed that he was southwest by a huge pine tree with traps set.
• Yu Jingjing pleaded with Ye Ruan to spare her by calling him her sister-in-law, and Ye Ruan pretended to shoot her before letting her escape.
• Ye Ruan told his team to rest and went alone to find Gu Cheng that night.