Recaps

An investigation revealed that Xiao Wang, an opposition member inside the research institute, had sabotaged the Shen Family’s white spider project and escaped with the help of an accomplice. After learning the accomplice had vanished, Second Young Master Shen was left angry and under pressure to recover the stolen samples.

• A military officer confronted the institute head over Xiao Wang’s sabotage, and the head accepted blame before the officer left him to face his fate.
• The chapter explained how the Shen Family had bred giant white spiders as potential weapons and Awakening Reagent material, while Xiao Wang took over the project and destroyed its samples and research data.
• The officer secretly reported that Xiao Wang had confessed an accomplice, a cleaner who had removed the samples from the institute before resigning.
• Second Young Master Shen learned that the accomplice had disappeared and cursed the officer after showing him out courteously.
• The chapter revealed that Second Young Master Shen was a son of a mistress who had gained control of the research institute after Lou Yu assassinated Fourth Young Master Shen.

Second Young Master Shen resented Lou Yu’s rapid rise and the Shen Family’s failed attempts to capture him, while Lou Yu worried that something had happened to Tao Qiu and the cubs. Tao Qiu recovered from his wound and returned to life in the wild with the cubs, but a half spider leg left him wondering whether other unusually fast-growing mutant monsters existed nearby.

• Second Young Master Shen blamed Lou Yu for the Shen Family’s setbacks and worried about explaining the latest incident to his father.
• Lou Yu felt uneasy about Tao Qiu and the cubs but could not leave the base during the winter.
• Tao Qiu’s cubs cared for his injury, and Tao Qiu comforted them with a joke before telling them a bedtime story.
• A week later, Tao Qiu’s wound had healed completely, and he patrolled his territory to discourage creatures from challenging him.
• Tao Qiu filmed the cubs skiing and later wondered whether other mutant monsters could grow as rapidly as the creature that had left behind a spider leg.

Tao Qiu wondered whether the spider’s transformation had been caused by eating his flesh or by its unusual constitution, then stored a leg for human researchers to study. As spring brought renewed battles and food shortages, Zhao Tao helped defend Yong'an Base while Lou Yu resolved to stay despite pressure from the Central Base.

• Tao Qiu stored the spider leg somewhere cold and planned to give it to Lou Yu for research when spring came.
• Black Rabbit visited the cubs, who pressed him to explain Dad’s joke about a lamb jumping into a lake, so he made up an answer while Tao Qiu hid.
• The cubs told Black Rabbit that Tao Qiu had not eaten the spider leg and often examined it because he could not understand it.
• Lou Quan allowed Zhao Tao to join the battle after doctors confirmed his ability had stabilized, and Zhao Tao used his sharpened senses to help defend the base while keeping his ability-user identity secret.
• Zhao Tao told Lou Yu that he wanted him to stay at Yong'an Base, and Lou Yu vowed to do everything he could to remain there.
• News spread that disease had damaged several crops, threatening the harvest and raising the risk of unrest amid food shortages.

Lou Quan traded valuable mutant-monster materials to Central Base for grain, while Lou Yu traveled to see Tao Qiu and learned how Tao Qiu had nearly died fighting a giant white spider. The chapter left Lou Yu overwhelmed with gratitude as Tao Qiu comforted him.

• Lou Quan agreed to trade fox hair and blood brought back by Lou Yu for grain from Central Base, despite the risk that they would investigate Yong'an Base.
• Lou Yu set out for the wilderness in mid-April and encountered the black rabbit again, which watched him without attacking.
• Tao Qiu left the cubs with lunch and crops to bring Lou Yu food, while the cubs secretly flew out to evaluate him.
• Tao Qiu and Lou Yu discussed the cubs, and Lou Yu said he was content that they were already kind to him.
• Tao Qiu gave Lou Yu part of a giant white spider's remains and explained how the spider had injured him the previous winter.
• Lou Yu cried as he realized how badly Tao Qiu had been hurt, and Tao Qiu reassured him that he had recovered.

Tao Qiu comforted Lou Yu over his guilt and anxiety about his duties at Yong'an Base, and Lou Yu finally opened up about the pressures he faced. After they reconciled, they went up the mountain to collect materials, while the cubs watched and mistook Lou Yu’s tears for a sign he had been bullied.

• Tao Qiu reassured Lou Yu that he loved him and would not abandon him or the kids, and Lou Yu admitted he feared losing their happiness.
• Lou Yu told Tao Qiu that protecting the base, the possible food shortage, and the Central Base’s designs on him were weighing on him.
• Tao Qiu eased Lou Yu’s guilt about bringing fewer supplies, reminding him that their family did not need to keep score of what each person gave.
• The cubs secretly watched Tao Qiu carry Lou Yu up the mountain and guessed that Lou Yu had been bullied at the human base.
• A little fox gave Lou Yu a bouquet after sensing his sadness, and Tao Qiu and Lou Yu collected materials before returning to the car.

Tao Qiu and the cubs learned that Lou Yu was struggling with the human base’s food shortage and arranged to share fruit and prey with him. Lou Yu brought a mutated spider fragment to the research institute with a warning against using it in an Awakening Reagent, then agreed to sell his team’s prey to the army at a discount.

• Tao Qiu told the cubs that Lou Yu would bring fewer supplies because the human base was short on food, and the cubs offered to share their food with him.
• Tao Qiu passed the cubs’ concern to Lou Yu, then gave him fruit and two prey animals before they parted at the base’s safe zone.
• Lou Yu gave Zhao Tao a box of strawberries, which Zhao Tao eagerly ate and praised.
• Lou Yu delivered a fragment of a high-level mutated spider to Elder Li and the researchers, warning them not to use it to make an Awakening Reagent because of the spider’s unusual death.
• Lou Yu agreed to sell the team’s prey to the army’s logistics department at a thirty-percent discount.

Lou Quan faced public panic over Yong'an Base’s declining grain production and promised the harvest would recover, while Central Base operatives turned their attention to Lou Yu. They arranged a theft at his home, where a burglar opened a box of feathers, photos, and gifts from the cubs.

• Lou Quan reassured Yong’an Base’s residents that grain production would return to normal in the second half of the year, staking his position on the promise.
• Central Base operatives decided to investigate Lou Yu for evidence connected to the mutated fox materials and hired thieves to search his room.
• The operatives arranged for a mutated mantis attack to draw Lou Yu’s team away from home.
• The thieves triggered an alarm while breaking into the courtyard, but their employers threatened them into continuing.
• A thief broke the lock on Lou Yu’s drawer and opened a box containing feathers, photos, and gifts from the cubs.

After thieves ransacked Lou Yu’s home, Lou Quan discovered the photograph of Lou Yu and Tao Qiu and confronted Lou Yu about their secret. The two agreed to cooperate, while a false rumor spread that Lou Yu had once dated a foreign partner.

• Lou Quan’s guards caught the thieves who broke into Lou Yu’s home, and Lou Yu found that his photograph with Tao Qiu had been opened and seen.
• Lou Yu and Chen Lin suspected Lou Quan had learned the truth from the photograph, and Lou Yu later confronted him about it.
• Lou Quan admitted he understood Lou Yu’s relationship with Tao Qiu and proposed that they cooperate to protect their shared secrets and interests.
• Lou Yu accepted the agreement but shocked Lou Quan as a warning not to exploit his secret.
• People spread a rumor that Lou Yu had a foreign ex-partner, prompting flirtatious attention and teasing from his teammates.

Lou Yu drove off Central Base’s agents who tried to follow him, while the Lou Family leaders discussed how to lure him back. At the valley, Tao Qiu prepared to welcome Lou Yu, and the cubs resigned themselves to sharing their dad with him again.

• Lou Yu ambushed three men who followed him into an alley, leaving them badly burned but alive.
• The men reported Lou Yu’s strength and precise ability control to the Lou Family, whose leaders considered finding his partner to draw him back to Central Base.
• Tao Qiu woke from an intimate dream about Lou Yu, cooled himself in the pool, and decided he would satisfy their needs when Lou Yu visited.
• Lou Yu’s watchers arranged to search his car when he returned from the wilderness, hoping to discover what he was hiding.
• Lou Yu drove to the valley to see Tao Qiu, and the cubs told their dad to give him food and cool water.

Tao Qiu and Lou Yu passionately reunited in Lou Yu’s car while the cubs secretly watched and nearly got caught. Lou Yu explained that he had spread false stories about Tao Qiu to protect them from suspicion, and the chapter ended with the couple resuming their intimacy.

• Tao Qiu told Lou Yu about his embarrassing dream and teased him until they began kissing and undressing in the car.
• Tao Qiu checked the valley for the cubs, while the cubs hid behind a rock and fled home, terrified he had seen them.
• Afterward, Tao Qiu and Lou Yu embraced and decided Tao Qiu would not go collect materials that day.
• Lou Yu explained that the people at the base would search him, so he could not take back the prey, and admitted he had portrayed Tao Qiu as temperamental to protect them.
• Tao Qiu reassured Lou Yu, and Lou Yu invited him to continue their encounter before returning to the base.

Lou Yu visited Tao Qiu in the valley, where they spent time together and discussed Lou Quan learning Tao Qiu’s secret. After Lou Yu returned to the base, Tao Qiu traded crops with the neighboring clans while the cubs talked with Little Snake about her mother laying eggs.

• Lou Yu and Tao Qiu shared a private visit, and Lou Yu told Tao Qiu that Lou Quan knew he could take human form.
• Tao Qiu reassured Lou Yu that he had handled the situation well, and Lou Yu promised to protect him.
• Lou Yu returned to the base, passed a thorough search, and let people believe Snow Bird had abandoned him.
• Tao Qiu explained Lou Yu’s missed harvest to Red Fox and arranged for him to bring twice the usual materials next time.
• Tao Qiu traded crops with Red Fox, Green Python, and Black Rabbit, while Green Python and Tao Qiu admired how much Little Snake had grown.
• Little Snake told the cubs that her mother might find another male snake and lay eggs next spring, prompting Second Cub to ask her a question.

The cubs decided to accept Lou Yu as their other father so Tao Qiu would not find a new partner and give them more rivals. When Tao Qiu finally gave them a chance to talk about Lou Yu, they pretended to discover how much he resembled them, leaving Tao Qiu delighted and ready to hear more.

• After hearing that Little Snake's parents had other mates, the cubs realized Lou Yu was less threatening than the rivals Tao Qiu might find and agreed to acknowledge him as their father.
• For nearly half a month, Tao Qiu stopped showing the cubs Lou Yu's photo and decided he would tell them directly when the time was right.
• On a rainy day, Tao Qiu and the cubs tried to speak at the same time, but he made an excuse while the cubs took his phone to photograph their puzzle.
• The cubs pretended to notice that Lou Yu's irises had purple edges like Second Cub's, and Tao Qiu praised her observation.
• Eldest Cub and Third Cub pointed out Lou Yu's facial features resembled theirs, and Tao Qiu praised them and asked what else they had noticed.

Tao Qiu told the cubs that he and Lou Yu were their fathers, and the cubs agreed they wanted to acknowledge Lou Yu. As they planned a surprise for his next visit, a crop failure and a leak at the human base threatened Lou Yu’s circumstances.

• The cubs used their resemblance to Lou Yu to prompt Tao Qiu to explain that he and Lou Yu were their fathers, and Tao Qiu revealed how he had met Lou Yu and given birth to them.
• The cubs worried over Tao Qiu’s past near-death experience, then said they loved Lou Yu and were willing to acknowledge him as their dad.
• Tao Qiu told the cubs to reconsider before Lou Yu returned, but they planned to greet him with a surprise.
• The base discovered that its wheat and rice crops had poor heading rates and many empty heads, putting promised yields in doubt.
• Flyers spread detailed news of the crop problem, and Lou Quan identified a mole who had vanished without passing through the gate.

After a manipulated food crisis and stampede left seven dead, Lou Quan was suspended and ordered to the Central Base for questioning. When the Zheng Family's arrest team arrived, Lou Yu revealed a powerful ability that stopped their three ability users in their tracks.

• Lou Yu persuaded most protesters to leave the base office, then stayed on guard there for three days while Lou Quan searched for a solution to the food crisis.
• After Lou Yu went home to rest, rumors drew protesters back, and a stampede killed seven people and injured more than a hundred.
• Lou Quan realized the disaster had been engineered to force him from power, and he refused to cooperate when the Zheng Family called to summon him for questioning.
• Three days later, a Zheng Family arrest team arrived at Yong'an Base with orders suspending Lou Quan and taking him to the Central Base.
• When the arrest team’s ability users moved toward Lou Quan, Lou Yu released his ability and trapped all five visitors in an invisible enclosure.

Lou Quan was taken from Yong'an Base to the Central Base for questioning while Lou Yu and the base’s residents watched. The residents’ loyalty to Lou Quan became clear, prompting the tall man accompanying him to reconsider how the Central Base should handle him.

• Lou Yu kept the five Central Base officials under threat until Lou Quan finished his work, then let them take Lou Quan away.
• Lou Quan told his subordinates to protect the base’s secrets and have Lou Yu assume authority in his absence, while avoiding violence unless attacked.
• Yong'an Base residents followed the vehicle carrying Lou Quan, and elderly residents blocked its path to defend him and offer themselves in his place.
• A hot-tempered ability user tried to attack the elderly residents, but Lou Quan and the tall man stopped him.
• Lou Yu persuaded the elderly residents to clear the road, warning that blocking the vehicle could add charges against Lou Quan.
• The tall man recognized Lou Quan’s strong support among the residents and decided to report it so the Central Base could adjust its plans.

After Lou Quan was taken to Central Base, Lou Yu struggled to keep Yong'an Base stable while outside spies tried to exploit his absence. Lou Quan returned nearly a month later with his suspension rescinded, but warned Lou Yu that the Lou Family might keep pressuring them and that the base’s food shortage remained unresolved.

• Lou Yu reassured Bai Huan that Lou Quan would return alive, while Zhao Tao blamed himself for the incident and vowed to train harder.
• Lou Yu and the senior officials weathered the spies’ efforts to cause trouble, exposed infiltrators, and cleaned up the black market while residents refrained from further unrest.
• Nearly a month later, Lou Quan returned from Central Base alive, and his suspension was lifted; the Lou Family members who brought him back quickly left.
• After recovering, Lou Quan praised the officials for protecting the base and told Lou Yu that he had resisted interrogation by using psychological suggestion to forget Yong'an Base’s secrets.
• Lou Quan told Lou Yu that the Lou Family had found his supposed ex-boyfriend and might use him as leverage, then warned that they could stop lending grain and suggested Lou Yu seek refuge with Snow Bird if necessary.

Lou Yu visited Tao Qiu after recovering from the strain of helping the base, only to be ambushed and dragged into the valley by Tao Qiu’s three cubs. The cubs revealed their prank and welcomed him as Dad Lou Yu.

• Lou Yu refused to abandon the struggling base, and he told the guards to accept the gifts residents had left for Lou Quan.
• Lou Yu rested for several days, then drove to the valley to see Tao Qiu and ask him for help.
• Tao Qiu let the excited cubs go meet Lou Yu, and they surrounded him in bird form and dragged him into the valley.
• The cubs pretended Lou Yu was their prey and joked about cooking him while Tao Qiu watched, unharmed.
• Tao Qiu told the cubs to stop teasing Lou Yu, and Second Cub asked if she had scared Dad Lou Yu.

Lou Yu reunited with Tao Qiu and the cubs, who welcomed him as their father and showered him with affection. He then asked Tao Qiu to help the human base by cultivating grain seeds, but Tao Qiu’s ability had never been tested without ongoing support, and the request conflicted with his spring planting plans.

• Lou Yu dressed Eldest Cub, and the cubs welcomed him into their family with kisses and fruit.
• Tao Qiu noticed Lou Yu looked haggard and asked whether something had happened at the base.
• Lou Yu told Tao Qiu and the cubs that he needed help cultivating grain seeds to address the base’s falling yields.
• Lou Yu asked whether crops from seeds improved by Tao Qiu’s ability would still yield well without his continued support, and Tao Qiu said he did not know.
• Tao Qiu explained that he planned to plant next spring, creating a timing conflict with Lou Yu’s seeds, then asked whether Lou Quan had correctly predicted the base’s grain yield would recover this season.

Tao Qiu offered to grow grain for Yong'an Base in exchange for safely bringing the cubs there to visit. Lou Yu agreed to discuss the arrangement with Lou Quan, while the cubs learned the base might be dangerous and began asking what kind of mutated monster Lou Yu was.

• Lou Yu told Tao Qiu that Yong'an Base’s crop yield had fallen and that the base could not borrow enough grain to avoid shortages.
• Tao Qiu offered to grow the grain the base needed if Yong'an Base paid by ensuring the cubs could safely visit.
• The cubs asked to explore Yong'an Base, and Lou Yu said he would discuss their request with Lou Quan while refusing to risk Tao Qiu or the children’s safety.
• Tao Qiu warned the cubs that people at the base might capture them because they were birds who had turned into humans.
• Lou Yu pretended that people at Yong'an Base bullied him, prompting the cubs to offer to protect him and share their food.
• Tao Qiu prompted the cubs to question why Lou Yu was supposedly in danger, and they concluded he must be a mutated monster and pressed him to explain.

Lou Yu showed Tao Qiu and the cubs his destructive lightning ability, then reconciled with the cubs after Tao Qiu helped them address how they had all lied to one another. The family returned to the valley, where Tao Qiu began growing berries so Lou Yu could record proof of his ability for Lou Quan.

• Lou Yu demonstrated his purple lightning ability by blasting a boulder apart, while Tao Qiu shielded the cubs from the fragments.
• The cubs reproached Lou Yu for pretending to be helpless, and he explained that the bad guys had wanted to capture him because his ability grew unusually quickly.
• Tao Qiu reminded the cubs that they had also tricked Lou Yu, prompting them to apologize; Lou Yu and the cubs forgave one another and embraced.
• The family carried their supplies into the valley, and Tao Qiu planned to grow berries for Lou Yu to film and show Lou Quan.
• Tao Qiu brought out berry seeds and a phone, then planted and watered a seed before channeling his ability into it as Lou Yu recorded.

Tao Qiu showed Lou Yu how quickly his ability could grow fruit, and Lou Yu brought a video and fruit to Lou Quan as proof of what Snow Bird could offer the base. Lou Quan agreed that clearing out the spies was worth the cost, but he questioned whether the fruit had side effects.

• Tao Qiu rapidly grew fruit, then gave Lou Yu berries and other fruit to take back to Lou Quan.
• Tao Qiu and Lou Yu kissed and discussed Lou Quan's loyalty before Lou Yu returned to the base.
• Lou Yu told his teammates that Snow Bird had given him the best gift in the world, then arranged to meet with Lou Quan the next morning.
• Lou Yu asked whether Lou Quan could remove the base's spies before winter in exchange for stable abilities and enough food, and Lou Quan agreed.
• Lou Yu showed Lou Quan a video of Tao Qiu, their three children, and Tao Qiu's plant-growing ability, then let him taste the fruit.
• Lou Quan ate several kinds of fruit and asked whether they had side effects, and Lou Yu said none had been found so far.

Lou Yu secured Lou Quan’s cooperation in purging the base and gave fruit to Zhao Tao, then prepared to take wheat seeds to Tao Qiu. Before he could leave, the Lou Family brought him Lin Wang, a former comrade who falsely claimed to have been his boyfriend.

• Lou Yu told Lou Quan that Snow Bird’s deal depended on the base being cleaned up, and Lou Quan promised to act.
• Lou Yu gave Zhao Tao the remaining fruit, and Zhao Tao revealed he had believed rumors that Lou Yu had fallen out of favor.
• Lou Quan spent the following week rooting out informants, including several people in high positions, and Lou Yu arranged to take wheat seeds to Tao Qiu.
• Two Lou Family members brought Lin Wang to Lou Yu, claiming Lin Wang was his ex-boyfriend because he had produced a photograph and Lou Yu’s belongings.
• Lou Yu recognized Lin Wang as a former army comrade who had harassed him and stolen from him, then exposed his false claim and threatened him.
• Lin Wang collapsed in fear after Lou Yu confronted him, having approached the Lou Family to escape gambling debts and threats from a casino.

Lou Yu exposed Lin Wang’s deception and rejected his pleas, then told Tao Qiu about the attention he received from potential partners. Tao Qiu decided to move more quickly toward joining Lou Yu at the base, and Lou Yu left with a heartfelt letter from him.

• Lou Yu revealed that Lin Wang had stolen his belongings and lied to the Lou Family, then kicked him away and refused to help him.
• Lou Quan teased Lou Yu about the gossip, while Tao Qiu comforted Lou Yu and grew uneasy about other people pursuing him.
• Tao Qiu decided to speed up his plans to be with Lou Yu and wrote a letter for Lou Quan, then wrote Lou Yu a letter after he asked for one.
• Lou Yu returned to the base after kissing Tao Qiu, unaware that the cubs had watched them and identified them as partners.
• Lou Yu read Tao Qiu’s letter about their children and his love for him, then pressed it to his chest and tearfully said he loved Tao Qiu.

Tao Qiu and the cubs planted wheat while Lou Quan purged rival factions from Yong'an Base and worked to secure the family’s identities. Lou Quan arranged a deal with Yongkang Base, trading Awakening Reagent research data for identities that could withstand investigation.

• Tao Qiu and the cubs sowed wheat, and Tao used his ability to make the seedlings grow rapidly.
• Tao Qiu assured Red Fox that Lou Yu would collect the materials before winter and planned to keep tending his territory after moving to the base.
• Lou Quan and Lou Yu purged rival factions from Yong'an Base, expelled their forces, and curtailed the Lou Family faction’s influence.
• Lou Quan decided Tao Qiu and the children needed identities from outside Yong'an Base and Central Base to survive scrutiny.
• Lou Quan offered Yongkang Base research data on the Awakening Reagent in exchange for forged identities and household registrations for Tao Qiu and the three children.
• Yongkang Base accepted the terms, verified the first portion of Lou Quan’s data, and began the transaction.

Lou Yu revealed to his teammates that Tao Qiu, also known as Snow Bird, was his partner and the father of their three children. He also told them Snow Bird could turn human and had a plant-growing ability, then Chen Lin and Huo Lan asked to see a video of it.

• Lou Yu bought and furnished a house for Tao Qiu and their children, who were coming to visit the base.
• Lou Yu told his teammates he had a partner and children, then showed them a photo of himself with Tao Qiu and the three children.
• Lou Yu confirmed the children had been conceived during the mission when he had encountered Snow Bird, and explained why he had kept their relationship secret.
• Lou Yu told his teammates that Lou Quan already knew Snow Bird could turn human and had protected the secret from Central Base.
• Lou Yu confirmed Snow Bird had a special ability that made plants grow quickly, and Chen Lin and Huo Lan asked to see the video Lou Quan had watched.