Three Eggs

At the memory of those mesmerizing pale green eyes, Lou Yu's heart skipped a beat.

He would likely never have such an encounter again in his lifetime. He would simply treat it as a wonderful coincidence and treasure it in his heart forever.

Chapter 10: Three Eggs

As the estimated time drew near, Tao Qiu rarely went out except for his daily patrols.

His body told him the eggs were about to be laid.

Tao Qiu tossed a bundle of wild grass into the pit, and only after making sure the injured prey were all still alive did he turn and fly back to the cave.

He had caught these herbivores while patrolling. They posed little danger, and all of them were injured. The natural pit was deep enough to keep them confined.

They were Tao Qiu's reserve food supply. He didn't have a refrigerator, and the temperature had been high lately. Even if he kept dead prey somewhere cool, the meat would spoil within a few days.

So he had made two preparations: once he finished the food he had stockpiled, he could still fill his stomach with the live reserves.

As for threats from outside, he had killed some mutant monsters that came to see whether he was dead and dumped them at the mouth of the valley as a warning. He had also been patrolling actively these past few days, so the mutant monsters probably wouldn't dare come again anytime soon.

This was Tao Qiu's first time laying eggs, and he had to account for every possible difficulty. After all, in this world full of danger, one tiny mistake could cost him his life.

Before going to sleep that night, Tao Qiu went down to the bottom of the valley for a bath.

The past few days had been sunny, so the pool wasn't too cold. The buoyancy of the water supported Tao Qiu's belly and made him much more comfortable, which was why he had grown fond of coming to the pool lately.

Even in human form, Tao Qiu's pregnant belly wasn't too big. At the very least, it was nowhere near as large as the bellies of women in late pregnancy he had seen in his previous life. Otherwise, the other mutant monsters would have noticed something was amiss while he patrolled his territory and hunted these past few days.

That was probably because he was carrying eggs, and none of them were very large.

Even so, Tao Qiu wasn't used to suddenly "gaining weight," and it still felt like a burden, both physically and mentally.

After all, there was a big difference between simply putting on weight and carrying little lives in his belly. Ever since learning he was pregnant, Tao Qiu had been much more restrained in his daily activities.

After his bath, Tao Qiu returned to the cave and lay down comfortably in his grass nest. He closed his eyes and soon fell asleep.

That night, he dreamed of the three little birds again. All three were chirping at him, looking very excited.

Tao Qiu found them a little noisy and was about to tell them to quiet down when a sudden cramp stabbed through his abdomen, jolting him awake.

The moon was bright that night, and its light shone into the mouth of the cave, keeping it from being pitch-dark inside.

Tao Qiu felt his belly pulling downward. It was an unfamiliar pain unlike anything he had ever experienced.

Cold sweat beaded on his forehead. Tao Qiu clenched his teeth, his gaze frighteningly resolute.

No matter what, he had to survive!

The valley was quiet, but the cave was deep. Tao Qiu didn't cry out from the pain, either, only muttering a few vulgar curses when it became unbearable. So no one but him knew what was happening in the cave.

Perhaps it was simply how his body was built, or perhaps heaven was looking after him. Though the pain was intense, it didn't take as long as Tao Qiu had expected.

Three hours passed, and the moon shifted position in the night sky. Tao Qiu finished laying his eggs in the cave.

Tao Qiu didn't want to recall exactly what had happened, and he was too exhausted to think much about it. He instinctively turned into his bird form, which was better suited to keeping warm, gathered the three eggs, whose shells were still somewhat soft, safely beneath his belly, and fell asleep again.

He had chosen to lay the eggs in human form because he thought it was more agile, making it easier to deal with any unexpected trouble.

He slept without dreaming and only woke slowly the following evening, his strength and energy restored.

The shells of the three bird eggs in the nest had hardened. Each was about the size of one of Tao Qiu's hands in human form. No wonder laying them had put him through so much the night before.

Fortunately, he had an extraordinarily strong ability to heal himself. Otherwise, he probably wouldn't have been able to get up at all.

Looking down at the eggs, Tao Qiu once again faced a difficult choice.

Should he hatch them, or leave them alone and let them die?

His near-death experience had triggered his heat and reproductive urge. It was biological instinct, not something Tao Qiu had wanted.

Whether in his previous life or this one, he had never thought of having children.

He had thought that once his heat was over, he could use his ability to accelerate the growth of plants and fruit to extend his lifespan and live peacefully for a few more years. He hadn't expected such a major surprise.

Tao Qiu reached out and poked the middle egg with a finger, sighing helplessly. "What am I supposed to do with you?"

Having gone hungry all day, Tao Qiu's stomach was growling. He could only put off the decision for now and tuck into the food he had prepared earlier.

After eating his fill, Tao Qiu tidied up the grass nest, throwing away the soiled hay and carefully lining it with fresh hay.

Once he had finished tidying the nest, he took the three eggs down to the bottom of the valley for a bath.

By the time he returned to the cave, it was already dark, and Tao Qiu was still torn over whether to become a single dad.

Even so, while he hesitated, he carefully sheltered the eggs beneath his warm down. He hadn't truly had the heart to abandon them.

As he hesitated over whether to raise the three little birds, Tao Qiu couldn't help thinking of his own life.

In his previous life, his parents had gone away to run a business, leaving his grandparents to raise him. He was effectively a left-behind child, usually seeing his parents only at the New Year, so he wasn't very close to either of them.

A few years after he started elementary school, his grandfather died of a serious illness. His grandmother was old and often suffered minor ailments like headaches and fevers. Though she loved her grandson Tao Qiu, her poor health made it difficult for her to take good care of him.

Fortunately, his parents' small business began to prosper, and they brought his grandmother and Tao Qiu to the city. Tao Qiu continued going to school, while his grandmother lived out her retirement at home.

At first, life was warm and happy enough. Even though his parents still had no time to spend with Tao Qiu, just as before, he didn't lack family affection with his grandmother there.

But by the time Tao Qiu entered middle school, his grandmother had reached the end of her life as well, having suffered from various age-related illnesses.

Without his grandmother to protect him, Tao Qiu had to face his indifferent parents alone. It was only then that he learned they had grown apart long ago and each had a new lover. They stayed married partly because their business interests were intertwined, and partly because they were afraid of becoming a laughingstock.

In their earlier years, his parents had been the golden couple in other people's eyes. They had supported each other and built their fortune from scratch, earning the envy of so many.

So they would rather deceive themselves by maintaining a marriage that existed in name only than become the subject of other people's gossip and ridicule.

They had Tao Qiu when they were in love, but after their relationship fell apart, both came to resent him. As if acting out of spite, neither was willing to spare him even the slightest bit of warmth.

Fortunately, they cared about their reputation and feared being condemned behind their backs, so they didn't deprive Tao Qiu of material comforts.

With his parents, Tao Qiu went from hope to disappointment. He grew up all alone, until that accident came, and he closed his eyes forever to the sound of his parents arguing.

In this life, his bond with his bird parents was also weak. The two birds had produced him out of a biological instinct to reproduce and protected him until he was old enough to leave the nest. They were responsible, but there was no love.

Fate was a curious thing. In two lifetimes, he had never experienced the tender affection between parent and child.

As for material needs, Tao Qiu believed he was capable of raising three little birds. But he couldn't make any promises when it came to affection. After all, he hadn't wanted to become pregnant, and having never been loved by his parents, he might not know how to love children.

They were children whose birth wasn't expected, and they had an inexperienced dad to boot. If they really did hatch, he didn't know whether it would be a blessing or a curse for the three little birds.

"Tsk, if only you could talk now. You could decide for yourselves whether you wanted to live or die, and save me the trouble."

Tao Qiu also blamed himself for not being decisive enough. He wanted to hatch them but feared the children would follow the same path he had. He wanted to abandon them but couldn't truly bring himself to do it.

"If only your other dad were here. At least I'd have someone to discuss it with."

Speaking of that human man, memories of that night surfaced again. Tao Qiu wickedly thought that although he had forced himself on the man, it really had felt good.

It seemed a forcibly twisted melon could still be sweet after all.

"But if he knew I'd laid three eggs for him, I wonder what kind of expression he'd make?"

Would he be stunned and bewildered, or ashamed and furious?

Though Tao Qiu occasionally lacked morals, he understood the situation. The man had been a perfectly ordinary human, and it was bad enough that a bird had forced himself on him. Now he had suddenly become the father of three little birds.

It was like forcing someone to buy something. Getting him to be happy about it would probably be harder than ascending to heaven.

At the base, Lou Yu had just returned to his room after his evening training when he couldn't help sneezing. He thought the night wind had caused it and paid it little mind, but Huo Lan happened to pass by and laughed when she saw it.

"Who's talking about our Captain Lou? Could it be some

secret

admirer?"

Liu Qi'an, eager to join in the fun, chimed in, "Captain Lou's really popular at the base. There are plenty of men and women who want to climb into his bed."

Perhaps it was because of their environment. In the danger-filled wasteland, where anyone could die at any moment, people were very open about sex and love. Even if they spoke about them at length, no one would criticize them.

Liu Qi'an said with a smile, "It's just a pity our Captain Lou isn't interested in romance. He's getting on in years and still a virgin. I wonder what kind of person could win his heart."

Lou Yu thought of that wild night but didn't correct him. He simply joked, "Whoever's talking about me isn't necessarily a secret admirer. They might be wishing me dead, like those guys."

Disgust showed on Huo Lan's face. "Then let's hope they never get what they want."

Liu Qi'an nodded in agreement.

As the night deepened, most people in the base drifted off to sleep.

Lou Yu closed the book he was halfway through and placed it on the bedside table. Then he pulled a long wooden box from beneath his pillow and opened it.

A layer of red velvet lined the bottom of the box, and in its center lay a snow-white bird feather.