Death Warning

He fought hard against his beastly instincts, but in the end, his human will fell just short. The moment he discovered his territory had been invaded and flew out to see the man, everything became irreversible.

Whether fortunate or unfortunate, his human will had lost, but it had still influenced him. At least he had chosen a human rather than a mutated monster like himself in this life, which gave Tao Qiu some comfort.

What surprised Tao Qiu, however, was that although he had been on top last night, he had been the one to lower himself onto the man.

Across both his previous life and this one, last night had been his first time. Though he had figured out his sexual orientation early in his previous life, he had never considered whether he was a top or a bottom. Now he had his answer.

In any case, the heat that had tormented him so badly was finally over.

Tao Qiu let out another long sigh and opened his eyes again.

Come to think of it, he was fairly familiar with the man before him.

For one thing, Tao Qiu had seen him several times before. The man had often gone out on missions over the past six months, so Tao Qiu knew he was from a nearby base.

For another, the man had been there on the night a month ago when Tao Qiu had first taken human form.

Whether it was fate or a cruel twist of it, the man had been involved in both of the "firsts" in his less-than-dignified life.

The man was still fast asleep. His body temperature had returned to normal, no longer burning hot as it had been last night.

The claw wounds, which nearly stretched across his entire chest, were gaping and gruesome, visibly severe. But by now, they had stopped bleeding and were beginning to scab over.

Without medicine or bandages, they had healed this much in just one night, even after several hours of vigorous activity. Tao Qiu thought it must have been thanks to the blood he had fed the man last night.

Tao Qiu raised his arm. Only a light brown scar remained where he had drawn blood from his forearm last night. It was almost completely healed, recovering even better than the man's wounds.

Mutated monsters in the wasteland world did indeed possess powerful self-healing abilities, but the old Tao Qiu could never have healed so quickly.

He had only gained this special ability through a chance encounter a little over a month ago.

Last night, he had noticed that the man had a high fever and looked badly dehydrated. Tao Qiu himself hadn't been fully conscious at the time and had only been thinking about doing that, never realizing he should look for water. In desperation, he had fed the man his own blood, unexpectedly saving him by accident.

Forget it. He would count it as part of his compensation for forcing himself on the man.

Tao Qiu turned to look outside the cave. The sun was shining brightly, and judging from experience, it was already past two in the afternoon.

He turned back and saw that the man still showed no sign of waking, so Tao Qiu folded his wings and sat up.

As he moved, a slight soreness and numbness spread through his lower back. A few nearly faded purple bruises remained on either side of his waist.

Even with his healing ability, he was still in this state. It seemed last night had been a little too intense.

And because he had moved, something also seemed to leak out of that place.

The tips of Tao Qiu's ears turned a little red. This is utterly ridiculous.

Fortunately, Tao Qiu was physically strong, and this bit of discomfort didn't hinder his movements at all.

He had eaten almost nothing while hiding in his nest and resisting his heat over the past few days. After that bout of physical exertion, his stomach was now telling him he was hungry.

Tao Qiu decided to go hunting.

Before leaving, Tao Qiu awkwardly and bashfully helped the man back into his clothes.

All the clothes had come off last night and been thrown some distance away. Fortunately, none of them had gotten anything on them that shouldn't have been there.

Even after Tao Qiu had fussed over him for so long, the man hadn't woken up. Clearly, he was truly exhausted, and Tao Qiu felt even guiltier.

He thought that when he returned from hunting and the man woke up, he would have to offer him a sincere apology and make proper compensation. He would take responsibility to the very end.

Still, he hoped that before he could apologize, the man wouldn't be frightened again by the odd sight of a mutated monster who could take human form and speak human language.

After all, the man's stunned expression that night was still vivid in his mind.

He had been badly injured and exhausted that night, unable to stop the man from leaving with his biggest secret.

He had thought people from the human base would come the next day to capture him for study, and he had prepared to fight to the death. Yet everything afterward had gone on as usual, as if seeing the man that night had been nothing more than an illusion.

But Tao Qiu knew the truth was probably that the man had concealed what he had seen and heard that night from everyone else.

Tao Qiu didn't know why the man had done that, but in the end, he owed him a favor.

Well, now he owed him two...

Forget it. A few more lice made no difference, and more debts were nothing to worry about. There would be a way forward when the time came. He would do his best to make it up to the man, satisfy him, and earn his forgiveness.

Before leaving the straw nest, Tao Qiu tidied it up inside and out, removing all the soiled hay and throwing it far away. At least things would look somewhat normal on the surface, so no one could tell at a glance what had happened there.

After that act of self-deception, Tao Qiu felt a little less guilty. He went to the cave entrance, transformed into a bird, and spread his wings, flying away from the mountain.

The ability to freely switch between human and bird forms was another skill Tao Qiu had gained after that chance encounter.

He didn't know when the man would wake up and thought it best to return early, so he chose a relatively nearby hunting ground.

Only after making sure the Snow Bird had disappeared behind the mountain did several humans emerge from behind the rocks concealing them.

They had sprayed themselves with a potion to hide their scent and had also hidden themselves, which was how they had avoided being discovered by the Snow Bird.

There were two men and one woman. The stern-faced man withdrew his gaze from the sky and said coldly, "Let's go to the cave. Whether or not we find the captain, we have to leave before the Snow Bird returns."

The other two nodded without saying much.

The cave where the Snow Bird lived was halfway up the mountain. There was no path from the foot of the mountain, only steep slopes covered in rocks and sparse vegetation. Fortunately, all three were well-trained mercenaries, and the terrain posed no great difficulty for them.

Their only concern now was whether the returning Snow Bird would catch them in the act. If that happened, not only would they fail to rescue their captain, but they might all die here together.

The three had never doubted that Lou Yu was still alive. Otherwise, they wouldn't have risked coming here.

Even though it had been nearly a full day and night since Lou Yu's accident, even though the people at the base had urged them to abandon the rescue, and even though they had found the mutated wild wolf in pieces on the wasteland, they would firmly believe Lou Yu was alive until they saw his body.

Lou Yu had saved all their lives. After all the years their squad had lived and faced death together, they had long since come to value one another more than their own lives.

They hadn't been the ones who went on patrol with Lou Yu yesterday. If they had been there, then with their teammates' abilities and coordination, even if they couldn't have beaten the mutated wild wolf, Lou Yu wouldn't have been forced to use himself as bait to give them a chance to escape.

But it was precisely because none of them had been there that those people had chosen yesterday to make their move.

Perhaps the heavens truly had been watching over them: they found Lou Yu unconscious in the cave.

Badly wounded, he had lured the mutated wild wolf away alone, spent the night in the wild unarmed, and been carried off by a mutated Snow Bird. Yet somehow, he was still alive with all his limbs intact.

The word "lucky" was no longer enough to describe Lou Yu's situation. It was as if the goddess of fortune herself had possessed him!

The team members had actually been prepared to find Lou Yu half-dead. This outcome truly exceeded their expectations.

But time wouldn't wait. They had no time to speculate about exactly how Lou Yu had survived. After giving the wounds on his chest emergency treatment, they had the tallest, strongest man of the three carry him, and they hurried back down the mountain.

In their haste, the three failed to notice that, having been out for so long, the potion's effect had weakened, and they had left traces of their scent along the way.

Tao Qiu's hunting was a little inefficient today. Considering that the man in the cave might also need food, he had decided to choose prey that looked more normal and had tender meat, so he wasted quite a bit of time searching.

When he returned with his prey in his beak and saw that the straw nest was empty, he caught the scent of strangers. Without a moment's hesitation, he turned and gave chase.

The armored vehicle sped along the rough road. John, who was driving, frowned deeply and pressed the accelerator to the floor, wishing he were flying a plane that could get them back to base in a second.

The tall, muscular Liu Qi'an was tending to the still-unconscious Lou Yu in the back seat, his features almost scrunched together with worry.

Huo Lan, who specialized in observation and sniping, had stretched her body out through the sunroof. Lying atop the vehicle with her sniper rifle in hand, she kept watch for any mutated monsters that might appear.

When she spotted the familiar figure gradually drawing closer in the sky, she couldn't help saying they were done for.

Huo Lan shouted to her teammates, "The Snow Bird is after us!"

Chapter 3: Death Warning

The two people in the vehicle instantly began wailing as well.

Liu Qi'an yelled, "Didn't the base's records say this bird never eats people? Then why is he chasing us?"

John said, "He doesn't eat people, but he attacks anyone who gets on his nerves. Don't forget, we rescued the captain from his nest."

Of course he wouldn't be happy about someone snatching something from his territory!

John wore a fierce expression, but his words sounded pitiful. "Do you think we can beat him?"

John and Huo Lan both fell silent.

The Snow Bird had claimed a mountain as his domain, so his strength was naturally not to be underestimated. Although he didn't relish eating humans like other mutated monsters, the base had still listed him as one of its key subjects for observation.

Not only did the Snow Bird have the advantages of size and control of the air, but once he entered a fighting state, the feathers covering his body became as tough as metal. Ordinary firearms could barely hurt him and were more likely to enrage him, leading to even more serious consequences.

Someone who didn't know better had once tried to attack the Snow Bird, only to be torn to pieces.

Huo Lan and the other two hadn't brought weapons powerful enough to seriously injure the Snow Bird, to say nothing of the fact that they had come out to bring their captain back safely. If they insisted on fighting the Snow Bird, there was a strong chance they would all meet a tragic end.