The Bad Guy Is Here (continued)

After placing the cubs in the nest, Tao Qiu gave Third Cub a gentle instruction before getting up.

Third Cub had been startled awake from her sleep and felt safer only after hearing Dad's voice. But now Dad was saying he had to leave, and she immediately panicked.

But Dad was probably going out to take care of something important. If she followed him, she might get in his way.

Third Cub was torn and frightened, but in the end, she nodded solemnly. "Chirp."

Tao Qiu lowered his head and kissed her. "What a brave little baby."

Tao Qiu got up and walked toward the cave entrance. A gust of cold wind blew in, and Third Cub shivered instinctively.

Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, Third Cub reassured herself.

When she saw Dad's back disappear through the cave entrance, her heart leaped into her throat. She didn't dare blink, but she still instinctively raised her wings to shield her older brother and sister, who were fast asleep on either side of her.

The rain wasn't heavy. Tao Qiu first flew into the air and made sure there were no living creatures nearby. Only then did he descend to the valley floor and check on his crops.

After all, this was the real source of his unease lately.

The pear tree and radishes were fine, but when he reached the edge of the tomato patch, a winding trail left by something crawling came into view.

The rain that night had affected his senses of smell and hearing. If he hadn't come out to investigate because of his intuition, the tracks and scent would have been washed away by morning, and he really might not have noticed any of these traces.

Tao Qiu hadn't counted exactly how many tomatoes were still hanging on the vines, but since he had confirmed that a living creature had been there, whether any tomatoes were missing was no longer the point.

The trail had faded somewhat, which meant the thief had been gone for a while. When Tao Qiu went after it, he hadn't expected to catch the culprit. He only wanted to see who had been so impatient to come snooping around his home already.

The trail disappeared when he left the valley and reached the grassland at the edge of his territory.

Tao Qiu raised his head and looked in that direction, his eyes narrowing slightly.

Green Python, was it her?

But she hadn't even come when the others had fought over the fruit, and he'd had almost no dealings with her. Their only recent connection was when he had passed through her territory because of the radishes while looking for new crops at Black Rabbit's place.

Had Green Python noticed that a meat eater like him had suddenly taken an interest in the stinky radishes and wanted to know what he was up to?

Since when was Green Python so curious? She even acted on it so swiftly, sending a snake straight to my home to steal from me.

Tonight had been theft, but if she discovered what was unusual about the fruit, she would probably come and seize it by force next time.

Tao Qiu stared into the pitch-dark forest. He didn't know if it was his imagination, but he kept feeling as though a pair of eyes inside was staring coldly back at him.

In the end, no mutated monster emerged from the forest, and Tao Qiu didn't go in either.

Both sides understood that the time had not yet come.

Tao Qiu was soaked through by the time he returned. He shook the droplets from his feathers at the cave entrance and only took human form after going inside.

His wet white hair hung in strands over his chest and back. Tao Qiu gathered it up and wrung out the rainwater, then combed it apart with his hands so it would dry faster.

Third Cub had been tense all over since Dad left. Only when she saw him return, apparently unhurt, did she relax a little.

Tao Qiu was still cold, so when he returned to the nest, he didn't immediately take the cubs into his arms.

"Chirp chirp?" Third Cub didn't care whether he was cold at all. The moment Tao Qiu sat down, she eagerly threw herself at him, her chirps trembling.

Dad, are you all right?

Tao Qiu held Third Cub in both hands and affectionately lowered his head to nuzzle her. "I'm fine," he said gently. "Dad's here, baby. Don't be afraid."

"Chirp chirp?" Third Cub raised her wings and wrapped them around Tao Qiu's face, her eyes full of worry.

Did the bad guy come?

"...Yes, but they've already left." Tao Qiu thought it over and ultimately decided not to hide it from Third Cub.

Since Third Cub had already sensed something, it was better to tell her the truth than let her frighten herself with wild guesses.

Third Cub froze at his words. Tao Qiu had protected the three bird cubs so well since they were born that, until now, the words "bad guy" had been nothing more than a symbol in bedtime stories. Now that one had appeared in real life, she was at a loss.

Tao Qiu gently stroked Third Cub's face and reassured her with a smile. "It's all right. Your dad is super strong, you know. I'm not afraid, no matter how many bad guys come."

Third Cub rubbed against Tao Qiu's palm, the light returning to her eyes. "Chirp chirp."

I believe in you, Dad.

"Yuanyuan really is Dad's precious little darling." Tao Qiu's heart softened. He leaned over and kissed her before putting her back in the bird's nest. "Be good and go to sleep. Dad will catch you a rabbit to eat tomorrow."

Tao Qiu's voice was calm, as if everything had been normal tonight and would remain so in the future, giving Third Cub a strong sense of security.

"Chirp." Third Cub obediently lay down in the nest, her head turned toward Tao Qiu. She wished him good night before slowly closing her eyes.

Only after he heard Third Cub's breathing grow steady and knew she was asleep did Tao Qiu let his smile fade, a trace of worry appearing on his face.

He leaned against the nest and looked up at the dull gray cave ceiling, his thin lips pursed slightly.

If he didn't have cubs, even if other mutated monsters discovered the crops at the bottom of his valley and tried to seize them, he could always fight them to the death. Even if he died, he would take one of them down with him.

But he was no longer a solitary bird. He had a beloved family who loved him in return, and if he died, the cubs would surely not survive.

So if the time really came to fight to protect the crops, he had to come out alive, whether he won or lost. Even a serious injury was out of the question.

As long as he was alive, there was hope. He could start over, but if he died, he really would have nothing.

Having made his decision, Tao Qiu closed his eyes, and his breathing gradually grew steady.

With this weighing on her mind, Third Cub was the first to wake in the morning.

She found herself and her brother and sister lying in Dad's arms again, just as they had been before going to sleep. If she hadn't seen Dad's messy hair, she would have thought everything that happened last night had been a dream.

Third Cub breathed in Dad's scent and buried her face against him again.

She only wanted Dad to be safe and sound.

At breakfast, Tao Qiu told Eldest Cub and Second Cub what had happened the night before.

Third Cub already knew, so there was no point in hiding it from the other two cubs.

He added some details that even Third Cub didn't know, telling all three of them that Green Python, who lived two territories over, might have set her sights on them.

Tao Qiu had previously told the cubs the story of the farmer who saved a snake and taught them what snakes looked like.

When Tao Qiu said that Green Python could probably fill half the cave when coiled up, the radish in Second Cub's beak fell into her bamboo bowl with a plop.

When Tao Qiu first told them a bad guy had come to steal vegetables last night, Second Cub had wanted to ask why Dad hadn't woken her up to fight the bad guy. But now that she knew how big Green Python was, she couldn't help shivering.

How could she be so big? She could eat dozens of me in one bite!

Tao Qiu picked up the radish and fed it back to Second Cub. He waved a hand in front of her eyes to bring her back to her senses, then smiled. "Don't be afraid. Your dad is very strong too, all right? Protecting the three of you won't be a problem."

Eldest Cub had stopped eating long ago. He really wasn't in the mood.

"Chirp chirp... chirp..." He came up to Tao Qiu and looked at him with great concern.

Don't get hurt, Dad... don't...

Anxiety spread in an instant. Second Cub and Third Cub gathered around too, looking at their old father with frightened, pitiful expressions.

Second Cub said, "Chirp chirp?"

Will Dad die?

Tears welled up in Third Cub's eyes. "Chirp chirp!"

Dad, don't die!

Seeing how worried the cubs were about him, Tao Qiu felt both sorry for them and a little guilty.

"If I'd known, I wouldn't have brought this up at breakfast. Now my babies aren't in the mood to eat."

Tao Qiu gently wiped away Third Cub's tears and said solemnly, "Dad swears that whether or not there's a fight, and whether I win or lose, I'll come back alive. My little babies still need me, so I won't die easily."

The three bird cubs threw themselves into Tao Qiu's arms in sorrow. "Chirp chirp chirp."

We love Dad most of all.

"Dad loves you most of all too."

Only after the children had calmed down a little did Tao Qiu persuade them to finish breakfast.

Perhaps they were too worried, but the bird cubs ate very little that morning. Afterward, they clung to Tao Qiu even more closely, following him wherever he went. They even wanted to follow him outside when he needed to relieve himself.

Tao Qiu didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Babies, things aren't that serious yet. Let's not scare ourselves to death before the bad guy even gets here."

Second Cub crouched on Tao Qiu's shoulder, her voice full of concern. "Chirp chirp chirp?"

What if the bad guy suddenly appears?

"She won't." Tao Qiu tapped her little pointed beak. "Green Python is such a powerful mutated monster that I'll definitely sense her as soon as she enters our territory."

"Chirp..."

All right, then.

Although Tao Qiu had convinced them for the time being, whenever he went out, the bird cubs perched at the cave entrance, waiting anxiously for him to return.

To keep the cubs from worrying, Tao Qiu instinctively hurried through whatever he went out to do.

Over the next few days, Green Python didn't appear, and the thief didn't return either. Tao Qiu patrolled and hunted as usual, spending the rest of his time with the children and tending the crops.

For the first couple of days, the cubs remained on high alert. They wouldn't sleep at night, saying they would take turns keeping watch.

But the bad guy never came, and the little cubs couldn't stay focused for long. With some persuasion from Tao Qiu, they soon went back to sleeping soundly and carefree, their little bottoms sticking up in the air as usual.

That day, Tao Qiu ran into Black Rabbit, who was out foraging, while on patrol. The last time they had met was when Tao Qiu had gone looking for new crops.