Lou Yu Awakens

The subordinate's eye twitched at that. He answered yes, but inwardly grumbled, That's the boss for you. He doesn't go easy even when he's screwing over his own cousin.

After making his report, the subordinate left the study. The moment the door closed, Lou Quan hauled the man out from under the desk.

"Cough, cough... cough, cough..." The man's clothes were disheveled, and he was thin, his delicate face frighteningly pale.

He couldn't stop coughing. Tears welled in his eyes, and blood trickled from the split corner of his mouth, making him look especially pitiful.

Lou Quan's joking expression vanished. His gaze was like winter frost, and when it fell on the man, the chill seemed to pierce straight into his bones.

The man flinched, seemingly a little afraid of him.

Lou Quan had no intention of comforting him. His words were utterly merciless. "If you're not willing, get lost. I don't need you."

At that, genuine terror appeared in the man's eyes. He didn't even dare throw himself into Lou Quan's arms and act coquettish. He only caught Lou Quan's sleeve, shook it gently, and said, "I am willing. I like it."

His throat had been rubbed raw earlier, leaving his voice somewhat hoarse.

Lou Quan had long expected that answer. As he undid his cufflinks, he said coldly, "You said it yourself. If you dare say 'no' even once tonight, I'll kill you."

With that, he shoved the man down onto the hard desk without a hint of gentleness...

"Like a starving ghost reincarnated."

That was Tao Qiu's assessment of himself as he chewed on his prey's flesh and blood.

This was his fifth meal of the day. Even after eating all the wild fruit from the three plants he had forced to grow and ripen, he had recovered very little. His body was exhausted, as though it had been wrung dry.

Fortunately, he had gotten the results he wanted, so the day's effort hadn't been wasted.

He had slept for about three hours that afternoon and subconsciously ripened a raspberry plant. Later, when he was awake and focused on forcing plants to grow, he could grow and ripen a wild fruit plant about the size of the raspberry plant in an hour.

Larger wild fruit plants took longer.

He had also discovered that wild fruit he forced to grow and ripen tasted much, much better and had a much better texture.

To improve his chances of survival, he had also eaten the plants' branches, leaves, roots, and stems, but not only did they taste bad, they also lacked the fruit's effects.

He had tried making seeds sprout as well. That took less time, ten minutes on average.

He just didn't know whether the fruit's effects would differ if he only forced the plants to grow without ripening the fruit.

He would have to keep experimenting later.

Tao Qiu knew that, for now, his plant-ripening process was inefficient and laborious, but if he wanted to survive, he couldn't give up this opportunity.

After eating and recovering a little strength, Tao Qiu got up, left the cave, and spread his wings to fly to the bottom of the valley.

In a secluded corner at the bottom of the valley was a pond two meters wide. Under the bright moonlight, the water was clear enough to see the bottom. It seemed last night's downpour hadn't affected it much.

Several stone slabs lined the bottom of the pond, and stones with few sharp edges were piled around its rim. There was an outlet in the lower right corner. It was clearly man-made rather than naturally formed.

The water was flowing, emerging from a crack at the foot of the mountain, though the flow wasn't very strong.

Originally, the stream had branched off where the pond now stood, then slowly disappeared into the muddy ground. For the convenience of bathing, Tao Qiu had spent the time and effort to build the pool himself.

As for drinking water, he only had to go upstream.

After a wild night yesterday, followed today by escorting the man back to the base, hunting, and forcing plants to grow, Tao Qiu was filthy. He planned to take a bath before bed.

The flowing water didn't retain heat, and the pond was a little cool, but Tao Qiu had a strong constitution and didn't mind much. He took on his human form, which had no feathers, and stepped into the water.

In bird form, he had to worry about getting his feathers wet. In human form, he didn't have to think so much about it, and he washed to his heart's content.

When he washed his waist and saw his skin, clean as new, he thought of that man again.

Tao Qiu let out a long sigh. I hope he's all right.

Chapter 6: Lou Yu Awakens

Heat. Extreme heat, as though every trace of moisture in his body was about to evaporate.

Darkness filled Lou Yu's vision. His whole body was stiff, like a piece of dead wood.

Am I going to die? Lou Yu wondered.

In a daze, he seemed to hear many people calling him. The voices were all familiar. They belonged to comrades who had once fought at his side, but now they were separated by life and death.

Have they come to take me away?

That was fine too. In truth, he should have died with them half a year ago.

Lou Yu wanted to answer, but he didn't even have the strength to part his lips.

Gradually, the voices grew clearer, but what they said was entirely different from what Lou Yu had expected.

They were saying:

"Lou Yu, it's time to wake up."

"Captain Lou, it's not time for you to reunite with us yet."

"Commander, wake up. There are still so many people waiting for you."

"..."

As their voices rang out, Lou Yu smelled blood. A sweet, clear liquid poured into his mouth, and he fell into a soft embrace.

"Is this okay?" he heard someone ask him.

The heat inside him grew ever more intense, yet it was different from the heat before, as though something was about to break through the earth.

At the crucial moment, Lou Yu suddenly discovered he could move.

Out of an instinct to survive, he wrapped his arms around the person. As he felt safe, a violet light suddenly burst from his chest.

By its light, Lou Yu saw the person in his arms clearly.

Soft, long white hair framed an exquisitely beautiful face. A pair of pale green eyes, filled with sorrow and pity, gazed steadily at him.

The light flared again, completely obscuring the man's face. Lou Yu could no longer see him clearly.

Panic rose in his heart, and Lou Yu instinctively waved his hand, wanting to throw the ball of light away.

He hadn't expected to actually succeed.

The moment the ball of light flew away, an explosion rang out. The scene before him rapidly faded, the white-haired man vanished, and his comrades' voices disappeared as well.

"Don't go!"

Lou Yu sat bolt upright in bed, his forehead covered in cold sweat and his eyes wide. He hadn't fully recovered from the dream.

Outside the ward, Liu Qi'an, who had gone out to buy food, heard the explosion and came rushing back. He kicked the main door open and ran inside. The first thing he saw was John sitting in a chair, holding a teacup, his face blank with shock.

Following John's gaze, he saw that a large hole had been blasted through the wooden door to the inner ward. Sparks still lingered around its blackened edges.

Through the hole, Liu Qi'an saw Lou Yu sitting on the hospital bed, his raised hand still extended. It was plain to everyone who the "culprit" behind the ruined door was.

Holding the food containers, Liu Qi'an stared in shock and yelled, "Holy shit!!!"

By then, the medical staff, alerted by the commotion, had also hurried over. John came to his senses and rushed to the door to stop them.

A nurse asked curiously and in surprise, "What happened?"

John used his body to block their view inside and said apologetically, "Sorry, we accidentally dropped something. We'll handle it ourselves, and we'll pay for the damage."

The doctor on duty behind her didn't believe him. "What could you drop that would make such a huge noise? Even if you're going to pay for it, you should at least let us take a look first."

John's expression changed. His gaze stabbed at the doctor's face like a knife, and his tone was firm, leaving no room for argument. "I said we'll handle it ourselves. Can't you understand plain speech?"

At those words, the medical staff's expressions all changed.

Lou Yu's squad had appeared at Yong'an Base half a year ago. They had since completed many high-risk missions and ranked among the top mercenary squads. Lou Yu himself was well known for his exceptional fighting strength, outstanding looks, and steady, gentle personality.

News that Lou Yu had returned alive had spread through almost the entire base. Everyone also knew he was in the hospital, and many people were paying attention to him.

The medical staff had wanted to be among the first to learn how Lou Yu was doing, but faced with the ice-cold John, none of them dared object again. They backed away with awkward smiles, each finding an excuse to leave.

After all, everyone at Yong'an Base knew that the members of Lou Yu's squad had very different personalities. As vice-captain, John's ruthless, decisive style stood in stark contrast to Lou Yu's restrained edge.

He usually looked refined and scholarly, but once his temper flared, ordinary people couldn't withstand his methods.

Once, someone had publicly provoked their squad, and John had beaten him until half his body was paralyzed. The man had nearly lost his life.

No joke, he really would beat people up.

After making sure everyone had left, John closed the main door. He turned and joined Liu Qi'an, who had put down the food containers, and together they pushed open the damaged door to the inner ward and hurried to the bedside.

Liu Qi'an was so excited he nearly jumped. "Captain! You're finally awake! You slept for two days and two nights. You nearly scared us to death!"

Lou Yu was fully awake now. Looking at his teammates and the familiar surroundings, he still looked somewhat incredulous. "I... came back?"

His last memory was still of the cave. After that absurd night, exhaustion and drowsiness had overtaken them, and when they both fell asleep, that "person's" fingers had still been entwined with his.

The corners of John's lips lifted, and his eyes shone. "Yes. Qi'an, Huo Lan, and I brought you back from Snow Bird's nest. We were fairly lucky. Snow Bird didn't stop us."

Lou Yu pressed his lips together. "Tell me everything."

John nodded and gave a clear, orderly account of what had happened on the day of the rescue, emphasizing that Snow Bird had escorted them back to the base before leaving.

Hearing that they had only seen the bird and not the "person," Lou Yu lowered his eyes, hiding the emotion in them.

Liu Qi'an added what had happened the day before the rescue. "A few members of the patrol ran back that day and said you'd lured the mutated wild wolf king away on your own, Captain. By the time we got the news and were ready to go out and help, a downpour was about to start, and the base was also afraid the mutated wild wolves' appearance would cause the mutated monsters to riot. So they recalled everyone nearby and closed the gates early, not allowing anyone in or out. Making a fuss didn't help."