Worse Than a Beast!

Lou Yu remained rooted to the spot, his eyes fixed on the mutant wild wolf as it drew closer and closer.

Once the distance had narrowed, the mutant wild wolf leaped into the air and pounced at Lou Yu.

Lou Yu frowned. Purple light flickered in his right palm, ready to be unleashed.

But before the mutant wild wolf reached Lou Yu, a curtain of white feathers came flying toward him!

The feathers, each gleaming with a metallic sheen, swept past Lou Yu without mercy and shot toward the mutant wild wolf. Evolution had made its hide as tough as armor, but its eyes, mouth, and nose were still vulnerable.

The mutant wild wolf was in midair and had no time to react or dodge. Most of the feathers that struck its body barely tickled, but one happened to pierce its right eye. It even saw the blood spray with its own eyes.

"Awooo!" The mutant wild wolf howled in pain and crashed to the ground, sending dust flying.

A rush of air came from above and behind him. Even without turning around, Lou Yu knew Snow Bird was gliding into a dive.

He went down on one knee, lowering his body as much as he could. Then he could no longer hold back and began gasping for breath, the hand braced against the ground trembling uncontrollably.

He had just fought a fierce battle, then run for his life while wounded, only to have to deal with a greedy predator. Even as a professionally trained soldier, he couldn't take that kind of strain.

His calm composure just now had been an act to deceive the mutant wild wolf.

As a shadow fell over him, the oppressive presence of a powerful mutant monster struck straight at Lou Yu's mind. The air Snow Bird stirred up whipped sand and dust into the wind. The cold air carried a bird's scent that made every creature that caught it tremble in fear.

In Snow Bird's eyes, both Lou Yu and the mutant wild wolf were no more than ants.

Lou Yu didn't know which of them Snow Bird would attack first. He didn't close his eyes in fear, but prepared to witness the god of fate's verdict for himself.

A snow-white figure appeared in Lou Yu's field of vision. Researchers at the base had previously cataloged the more notable mutant monsters in the area and estimated that this white Snow Bird had a wingspan of about six meters.

Some researchers had also said that Snow Bird was in his prime and might still grow larger.

The mutant wild wolf, over two meters tall, was nothing more than a little puppy before Snow Bird, let alone the even smaller human.

The mutant wild wolf had thought it could escape and had even tried to drag its prey along. Calling it wishful thinking would have been giving it too much credit.

Without a moment's hesitation, Snow Bird hooked his talons into the mutant wild wolf as it struggled in pain on the ground, then beat his wings and flew back into the sky.

A few seconds later, the sound of flesh and bone tearing rang out, and the mutant wild wolf's howls came to an abrupt stop.

A scrap of flesh fell in front of Lou Yu. The cold wind dispersed the bloody smell, but it remained horribly distinct.

Bang!

The mutant wild wolf's body crashed to the ground from the sky once again, though this time it was no longer whole.

Snow Bird didn't fly away after killing the mutant wild wolf. He circled above Lou Yu, his intentions unknown.

Lou Yu stood up. This time, it was his turn to raise his head.

The cold wind made Lou Yu's clothes snap and flutter, sending loose strands of hair flying. A few clung to the corners of his eyes, brushing his lashes as though coaxing him to close them.

But Lou Yu kept watching Snow Bird. Beneath the dim sky, Snow Bird's white feathers were streaked with blood, a cold symbol of his strength and cruelty.

Snow Bird noticed Lou Yu watching him. Perhaps that was what he wanted, because the next second, he stopped circling and dove toward Lou Yu once more.

His hooked talons seized Lou Yu around the waist and carried him into the air, just as he had done with the mutant wild wolf.

This time, however, Snow Bird didn't immediately tear Lou Yu apart. After pausing for a moment, he turned and flew toward the low mountains nearby, where his nest was.

After all that, the claw wounds the mutant wild wolf had left on Lou Yu's chest were injured again. The wounds widened and bled without stopping, and the pain came in a continuous stream. His vision went black, his head drooped, and he passed out.

Halfway there, Snow Bird sensed that something was wrong with the human in his talons and flew faster.

That night, the sky was pitch-black, and rain poured down.

Lou Yu's eyes were half-open, his consciousness hazy. His whole body burned as though he were being roasted over a fire, and even his breath came out scorching hot.

His mind turned sluggishly, like a rusted gear. Belatedly, he realized he probably had a fever.

The wolf's claws had torn open his chest, leaving the flesh gaping. He hadn't received medication in time, and the inflammation had brought on a high fever.

If he couldn't pull through, death was the only outcome.

Living in

the apocalypse

, Lou Yu had been prepared to lose his life at any moment ever since he was old enough to understand, so he felt neither despair nor sorrow.

He even thought optimistically that he was at least a little better off than the mutant wild wolf: his death wouldn't be quite so miserable.

As Lou Yu's thoughts wandered, he dimly felt something seem to crawl onto him. It was dark all around, and illness had blurred his vision, so all he could see were two glimmers of pale green light before his eyes.

Like someone's eyes.

Before Lou Yu could think further, a few drops of liquid suddenly fell onto his parched lips. He instinctively pressed them together, and a sweet flavor spread through his mouth, a taste he had never experienced before.

Lou Yu instinctively parted his lips, craving more of the liquid. The high fever had drained too much moisture from his body.

As he wished, more and more of the sweet liquid came. Lou Yu swallowed continuously, paying no attention to the strong smell of blood.

Whether it was an illusion or not, after drinking the liquid, Lou Yu felt his temperature drop considerably. Even the claw wounds on his chest no longer hurt; if he didn't pay attention, he could almost forget they were there.

But Lou Yu's mind did not grow clearer. Instead, he sank into another kind of delirium, even more confused than before, until he was almost incapable of thought.

An indescribable heat burst through his body. Something soft touched his lips, and Lou Yu vaguely heard someone speaking in broken phrases. "Save you... with me... is that okay?"

Okay to do what? Lou Yu wanted to ask.

But he only managed to force out a barely audible "okay" before his body and consciousness were swept together into a bottomless abyss.

In the abyss, two flames burned and devoured each other freely among crimson flowers. Evenly matched, they struggled with abandon for a long time, neither gaining the upper hand or willing to admit defeat first.

At last, petals fell, green leaves lay scattered everywhere, and the two flames lost their strength. Mingling together, they fell into sleep.

Chapter 2: Worse Than a Beast!

The rain didn't stop until the first light of dawn. The wind blew damp air into the cave, bringing a chill with it.

But it didn't make the two people in the cave feel cold. The nest of dry grass was soft and deep enough to block half the cold wind blowing in. The other half was so weak it could only stir a few downy feathers on the enormous wings draped over the edge of the nest.

Dawn had yet to fully break, and the overcast sky let in little light, leaving the cave dim, though at least there was some visibility.

Snow-white wings served as a blanket, shielding against wind and light. Only at their edges could a glimpse of the scene beneath be seen.

In the grass nest, Lou Yu's clothes had been shoved aside like rags. Only the top of his short black hair was visible, entwined with a few strands of soft, fine white hair belonging to someone else.

The wings concealed the middle, but judging by the position of their lower legs, Lou Yu seemed to be lying on his back, while the white-haired man lay on his side, sleeping in his embrace. The man's smoothly curved legs were loosely hooked around his, the contrast between their skin tones like freshly mixed oats and milk.

After struggling with each other all night, the two had only recently fallen asleep. Their breathing was long and a little heavy; they were probably both tired.

A mixture of scents filled the air: the natural smells of Snow Bird and the human, a strangely sweet hint of blood, the freshness of dry grass, and a musky scent that defied description.

The entire range of low mountains and the surrounding wasteland belonged to Snow Bird. Neither humans nor mutant monsters dared come and disturb them, so the two slept peacefully until the afternoon.

The white-haired man woke first. His skin was so pale it seemed to reflect the light. His thick, feathery lashes trembled as he slowly opened his eyes, his pale green gaze still a little dazed and languid.

He took a deep breath and instinctively moved his head, only for his cheek to brush against a patch of warm skin.

As though a switch had been flipped, the touch, both strange and familiar, instantly activated his half-idle mind. Memories of the previous day erupted after it like a volcano.

The heat he couldn't suppress, himself driven senseless until nothing but the instinct to reproduce remained in his head, tearing apart the mutant wolf that had trespassed on his territory, carrying the man he had taken a fancy to back to his nest, feeding the man his own blood, sleeping with him through a mixture of coaxing and force...

A jumble of emotions filled his heart. He was so ashamed he wanted to cover his face, but when he raised his hand, he realized he still had it around the man's waist. Their position couldn't have been more intimate.

"..."

He couldn't stand looking at it himself, so he closed his eyes.

He couldn't help grumbling silently to himself: Tao Qiu, oh, Tao Qiu, being born a beast in this life was one thing, but how could you do something even worse than a beast?

Right now, Tao Qiu would rather he hadn't recovered his memories of being human in his previous life and had remained a bird ignorant of morality, because the pangs of conscience really hurt.

But then he thought that if he were still just an ordinary mutant monster of the wasteland world, as he had been for his first twenty years, he wouldn't have saved this man, and the man might have died under the mutant wild wolf's claws.

He had, in fact, saved the man's life.

Tao Qiu sighed.

Ever since the memories of his previous life had gradually begun to return a month ago, he had often found himself torn by thoughts like these.

What a person and a bird needed to learn and abide by were vastly different. A person had to possess humanity and live by human relationships, rules, and morality; a bird was far more free to follow its whims and desires, its wild nature and instincts prevailing over reason.

So when he had sensed not long ago that his end was near, his avian instinct to reproduce had urged his body into heat so that he could leave offspring behind before he died. But because he possessed memories of being human, he also disliked this emotionless act of producing offspring.