Dad Acts Like a Child, the World Turned Upside Down (Continued)

So they need to hurry back and disguise themselves, otherwise their father will find out and they'll be in trouble.

When Tao Qiu carried the supplies back to the cave, the kids had already cleaned themselves up and even washed a plate of strawberries. The three of them were eating and watching cartoons, as if they hadn't peeked at all.

When they saw Tao Qiu return, they greeted him warmly, smiling and saying, "Dad, you've worked hard."

The three of them each fed Tao Qiu a strawberry.

"Thank you, my darlings." Tao Qiu rubbed his head.

Afterwards, while unpacking the supplies, Tao Qiu told the kids that the human base was experiencing food shortages and that the amount of food items in the supplies Lou Yu would send in the future would be reduced.

Three brats? They were stunned when they heard this news. They thought Lou Yu was already in a bad situation because he was being bullied, but they didn't expect that he was now even struggling to get enough to eat.

The Eldest Cub said, "Dad, we don't lack food. Why don't you have Lou Yu take all this food back with him? He can eat it himself."

"We still have a lot of the crops we gave him," Second Cub said in a kind tone. "Dad, could you give him some more to eat later, so he can have a full meal before going back?"

Third Cub also offered a suggestion. "If he gets hungry in the future, he can come out and find us, and we can share our food with him."

Humans have small appetites; the children think that even if they only give out a tiny bit, Lou Yu might not be able to finish it.

Sigh, Lou Yu is their father after all, and he gave them so many gifts before. He's so pitiful now, so they'll just let it go for now that he's competing with them for their father's affection.

Even considering only the relationship they've built through their usual business dealings, the kids would be willing to support him for a while.

But this won't work indefinitely, because they and Lou Yu are still rivals.

The kids' tone was incredibly sincere, showing absolutely no sign of lying.

Hearing their concern for Lou Yu, Tao Qiu was just as happy as they were concerned for her, her eyes and brows beaming with joy.

He said, "Since Lou Yu has already sent it, we won't return the food. However, I will tell him of your good intentions and that he shouldn't bring any more food supplies next time."

The kids agreed with Tao Qiu; it did seem a bit odd to return things that had already been brought.

Tao Qiu added, "His tasks at the base are very heavy, and he can't come out to see us often, so Dad can only feed him enough fruit and catch a couple of larger prey for him."

The chicks were stunned. They were all hungry, and couldn't they come out anytime? This made the birds feel even more sorry for them.

The Eldest Cub said earnestly, "Let him eat more meat."

Eating more meat will make him grow taller and stronger, and then fewer people will bully him.

This statement also expresses concern for Lou Yu, but Tao Qiu and Zai Zi have completely different understandings of the specific points of concern.

Tao Qiu returned to the car and told Lou Yu everything the kids had said. Lou Yu was happier than if he had found money, grinning from ear to ear.

He hugged Tao Qiu and said in a spoiled tone, "I think I'm the luckiest person in the world, having such a doting and loving partner and child. I must have done a lot of good deeds in my past life to be so lucky in this one."

Tao Qiu's tone was gentle. "It's our good fortune that we, the children, were able to meet you."

Lou Yu felt fortunate, but wasn't Tao Qiu also relieved?

If the person who saw him turn into human form after eating the fruit that year wasn't Lou Yu, but some other human, he would most likely either have left this place or been captured and studied by humans.

The worst possible outcome would be that he perishes along with humanity.

Their current stable and happy life is based on their personalities, combined with various inevitabilities and coincidences, which have created their Lou Yu together.

Perhaps it was fate that destined them to be together in this life.

After a long, sweet nothings, seeing that it was getting late, the two drove to the hunting area.

Lou Yu was driving a relatively small car today, so Tao Qiu gave him two small prey animals.

The fruit box was placed near the prey; the smell of blood was the best cover.

The prey in early spring hadn't fattened up yet, and were all skinny. However, Tao Qiu still took the time to pick out the strongest one, killed it, and personally delivered it to Lou Yu in the base's safe zone.

If we consider Lou Yu as a machine that needs electricity to operate, his state when he left the base was that his battery was very low and he was about to shut down. So, after going out and coming back, he not only had his battery fully charged and his body repaired, but he also brought back several spare batteries.

Tao Qiu and her children's love is like recharging his batteries.

Tao Qiu rubbed against Lou Yu frantically until they were both covered in each other's scent, then they parted with red eyes.

Because Lou Yu always brought back materials about mutated monsters in his car, Lou Quan arranged for someone to inspect his vehicle. The inspection was basically just a casual glance, nothing like the usual strict checks.

To passersby, Lou Yu's return this time was another triumphant one; the two carloads of prey made some people so jealous they were grinding their teeth in envy.

Back home, Lou Yu handed the prey over to his teammates to process; they were already skilled at it.

He then took the crops and spider legs and headed to the research institute.

When he arrived, Dr. Elder Li and the others were busy and couldn't leave for the time being, so he went to Zhao Tao's place first.

The aroma of the half-eaten box of strawberries is so enticing that it makes your mouth water the moment you open the lid.

Before today, Zhao Tao had only seen pictures of strawberries in books; this was a fruit that their small farm couldn't afford to grow.

Unexpectedly, at this very moment, he actually possesses so much, and all of it is completely free!

Zhao Tao's eyes welled up with tears. He solemnly thanked Lou Yu, then stuffed strawberries into his mouth one after another, so delicious that he almost fainted.

Zhao Tao thought he must live a very, very long time; if he died, he would never be able to eat such delicious fruit again.

After finishing his meal, Zhao Tao went to wash up and opened the window to let the lingering aroma dissipate before he was finally at ease.

"After eating the fruit you gave me, Brother Lou, I probably won't be able to eat any other ordinary fruit anymore, even fruit from the Central Base," Zhao Tao remarked, savoring the taste of the strawberries.

His words were tantamount to praising Tao Qiu in a roundabout way, and Lou Yu felt honored to hear them. However, he still said, "Adults and children should all eat more fruit. Although ordinary fruits may not taste as good, they are still beneficial to the body."

Zhao Tao replied listlessly, "I know. For my health, I'll eat ordinary fruit even if it brings tears to my eyes."

After leaving Zhao Tao's residence, Lou Yu returned to the laboratory, where Dr. Elder Li and the others were already waiting for him.

Lou Yu handed them the spider leg fragment and said, "This is a small section of a leg fragment from a high-level mutated spider. If you have any doubts, you can test it again."

The last sentence was just a polite remark. Dr. Elder Li and Lou Yu were both people who frequently came into contact with mutated monsters. Even from just a piece of remains, they could determine its level in life by the aura and some traces on it.

However, testing is still necessary; some procedures cannot be omitted.

Lou Yu then said, "You can study this wreckage however you like, but you absolutely cannot use it as material for the Awakening Reagent."

Still immersed in joy, Dr. Elder Li and the others looked up in astonishment upon hearing this. "Why?"

Lou Yu still remembered what Tao Qiu had told him about the fate of the giant spider—its power, fleeting like a flash in the pan. If its materials were used to develop Awakening Reagent, what would become of the superhumans who awakened from it? It was easy to imagine.

Perhaps this is just him worrying too much; maybe once the reagent is developed, it won't have this negative effect at all.

Just as some high-level mutated monsters can develop a kind of madness, so far, no superhumans who have successfully awakened their abilities using reagents made from their materials have shown any symptoms of the disease.

Scientists generally believe that the disease exists only among mutated monsters.

But Lou Yu didn't want to gamble, or rather, gamble with the lives of his own kind.

Lou Yu said, "The way this mutated spider died was very unusual; that's all I can say."

Everyone knew that this piece of wreckage must have been given to Lou Yu by the Snow Bird, but they didn't know that the Snow Bird could transform into a human and communicate with Lou Yu in human language.

So Lou Yu can't go into too much detail, otherwise he'll be exposed.

Although Elder Li. Li and others were disappointed at losing a good reagent material, the material was brought by Lou Yu, and they could not ignore his opinion.

He said, "Thank you, Captain Lou, for your contribution to our research. I will truthfully inform the Commander-in-Chief so that he can pay you the appropriate compensation."

Lou Yu nodded and agreed.

Back home, his teammates had almost finished processing the game. John came over and asked how he planned to sell it this time.

John said, "What the army's logistics department means is, if possible, they want to take everything except what we're left to eat."

Liu Qi'an also said, "I've asked the previous customers, and their willingness to buy isn't high."

Huo Lan suggested, "Their money is all saved to buy new food, and the meat of the mutated monsters is quite expensive, so it's unlikely to sell well this time. I think it would be better to just contract it out to the army's logistics department."

"Me too? That's the idea." Chen Lin looked at Lou Yu.

The main reason everyone is saying all this is because they're worried that Lou Yu still harbors resentment about his conflict with Lou Quan.

To be honest, Lou Yu Lou Quan, but given the current special circumstances, he won't make things difficult for anyone in this matter.

"Then sell them all to them, at a 30% discount." The battle to defend the city isn't over yet, and the army is the one that suffers the most and has the highest casualty rate. This is Lou Yu's way of showing his appreciation to them.

John laughed and said, "Okay, I'll tell them to come and pick up the goods later."

They knew their captain was a reasonable person, and since he had returned today, he seemed to be in a much better mood, probably because he had enjoyed his time with the Snow Bird.