Chapter Summaries

Lou Yu fled a mutant wolf after his patrol was ambushed and his team was left without a working communicator. He lured the wolf into Snow Bird’s territory, where Snow Bird arrived as the wolf charged him.

• Lou Yu’s patrol encountered a pack of mutant wolves in the southern safe zone, and their communicator stopped working while the team was injured and nearly out of ammunition.
• Lou Yu suspected the attack had been arranged by someone at the base who wanted him dead, so he lured the last and strongest wolf away from his teammates.
• Lou Yu ran toward a barren valley and turned to face the mutant wolf inside what it realized was a powerful mutant monster’s territory.
• Snow Bird flew toward Lou Yu and the mutant wolf, terrifying the wolf with its arrival.
• The mutant wolf chose to attack Lou Yu before Snow Bird reached them.

Tao Qiu woke in his nest beside Lou Yu and remembered carrying him there, treating his wounds with his blood, and sleeping with him while he was delirious. Ashamed of what he had done, Tao Qiu reflected on his returning human memories and the instincts that had driven him.

• After the rain stopped, Lou Yu and the white-haired man slept together in Snow Bird’s nest until afternoon.
• The white-haired man woke, recognized Lou Yu beside him, and remembered the previous night’s events.
• Tao Qiu recalled that he had fed Lou Yu his blood and slept with him, and he felt ashamed of acting worse than a beast.
• Tao Qiu reasoned that he had saved Lou Yu from dying under the mutant wild wolf’s claws.
• Tao Qiu reflected on how his human morality conflicted with his bird instincts, which had driven him into heat as he sensed his end was near.

After spending the night with the injured Lou Yu, Tao Qiu left his cave to hunt, unaware that Lou Yu’s teammates had found and rescued him. Tao Qiu returned to find the cave empty and pursued them, leaving the team racing toward base with the Snow Bird close behind.

• Tao Qiu woke beside Lou Yu, reflected on their night together, and noticed that both their wounds had healed rapidly.
• Tao Qiu dressed Lou Yu, cleaned the nest, and flew away in bird form to hunt.
• John, Liu Qi'an, and Huo Lan emerged from hiding, found Lou Yu in the cave, and carried him toward their armored vehicle after treating his chest wounds.
• Tao Qiu returned with prey, found Lou Yu gone, caught the scent of strangers, and chased after them.
• Huo Lan spotted the Snow Bird following their vehicle, and John explained that Tao Qiu was likely angry they had taken Lou Yu from his nest.

John brought the unconscious Lou Yu back to the base while Snow Bird escorted them without attacking, then Tao Qiu returned to his cave and reflected on his impending death. He had delayed his death by eating a strange fruit, but believed he had only about six months left and had taken Lou Yu because his body urged him to find a mate.

• John sped toward the base with Lou Yu, while Huo Lan watched Snow Bird and the team refrained from attacking him.
• Snow Bird followed the armored vehicle to the safe zone, frightening away mutated monsters, then circled outside the boundary as the soldiers let the team and Lou Yu enter.
• Tao Qiu realized the people who had taken Lou Yu were his friends and returned to his cave, regretting that he might not get the chance to repay Lou Yu.
• Tao Qiu recalled that a death premonition had begun two months earlier, and that a strange fruit had restored his human memories and let him change forms while slowing his decline.
• Tao Qiu estimated that he had about six months to live and fell asleep beside a half-dead blade of grass, hoping they would both survive until he woke.

After eating wild raspberries, Tao Qiu discovered that his presence could stimulate plant growth, though using the ability drained his strength and left him desperately hungry. He went to hunt to recover, having learned a new ability but not yet tested its limits.

• Tao Qiu woke to find that a nearly dead raspberry plant had grown to maturity while he slept.
• Tao Qiu shrank to palm size, ate the raspberries, and felt his hunger, fatigue, and bodily decay ease slightly.
• Tao Qiu suspected that his wish for the plant to survive had caused its growth and tested the idea on a nearby weed.
• Tao Qiu felt an invisible force pass from his body into the weed, then nearly collapsed from the weakness caused by the effort.
• Tao Qiu realized that stimulating plant growth consumed substantial physical strength, recovered enough to move, and flew to a hunting ground to eat.

Tao Qiu brought prey and wild berry seedlings to his cave to experiment with his ability, while Lou Yu’s mercenary squad uncovered evidence that someone had lured mutated wolves to kill him. At Yong'an Base, Lou Quan learned Lou Yu had survived and planned to use the coming experiments to secure his cooperation.

• Tao Qiu brought animals and berry-covered turf to his cave, then began testing whether he could make one of the seedlings grow.
• Chen Lin told the mercenary squad that an odorless spray on their patrol vehicle had attracted mutated wolves and exposed their route.
• Huo Lan, John, Liu Qi'an, and the others concluded that Lou Yu had been deliberately targeted and discussed seeking help from Lou Quan after Lou Yu woke.
• Lou Quan learned that rival families had sent people to check on Lou Yu, but his subordinates had kept them from learning anything.
• Lou Quan ordered the hospital to keep Lou Yu's survival secret and decided to leave revenge to Lou Yu so he could bargain for his cooperation with the experiments.

Lou Yu awakened in the hospital after two days unconscious, remembering a white-haired man from a dream and learning that Snow Bird had escorted his teammates back to Yong'an Base. He asked John to explain what had happened, and Liu Qi'an recounted how Lou Yu had drawn away the mutated wild wolf king before the base sealed its gates.

• Lou Yu heard his dead comrades urging him to wake, then saw a white-haired man in a dream and accidentally sent a glowing violet light flying, causing an explosion.
• Lou Yu woke and blasted a hole through the inner ward door; Liu Qi'an and John found him, while John kept the medical staff from entering.
• Lou Yu recognized his teammates and asked John to tell him what had happened.
• John explained that he, Liu Qi'an, and Huo Lan had rescued Lou Yu from Snow Bird's nest, and that Snow Bird had escorted them back to the base.
• Liu Qi'an said Lou Yu had lured away the mutated wild wolf king, but the base had closed its gates because of an approaching storm and the danger of a monster riot.

Lou Yu revealed that he had agreed to serve Lou Quan and undergo research into ability awakening in exchange for shelter at Yong'an Base. After waking, he learned his lightning ability had grown dramatically stronger and agreed to share a meal with Liu Qi'an.

• Liu Qi'an and John told Lou Yu they had searched for him after the wolf king incident and had found no proof that anyone tried to kill him.
• Lou Yu discovered that his ability had become powerful enough to blast a hole through the ward door, and he and his teammates worried Central Base would learn of it.
• Lou Yu decided to tell Lou Quan about his strengthened ability because they already had an agreement.
• Lou Quan heard that Lou Yu had awakened a lightning ability and was pleased that he had sheltered him.
• Lou Yu told Liu Qi'an and John that Lou Quan required him to cooperate with researchers studying ability awakening.
• John left to contact Huo Lan and Chen Lin, while Liu Qi'an offered Lou Yu food and Lou Yu invited him to eat together.

After Lou Yu recovered enough to leave the hospital, Lou Quan summoned him to the research institute to discuss the Ability Awakening Reagent and his survival in the wilderness. Lou Yu agreed to share what he knew while resolving to conceal Snow Bird’s human form and the events of that night.

• Liu Qi'an, John, and Lou Yu ate together and discussed rising food prices caused by poor yields from the latest generation of crops.
• Lou Quan’s subordinates arrived to take Lou Yu to the research institute, and Lou Yu left the hospital despite his teammates’ concerns.
• Lou Quan met Lou Yu at the institute and asked him to help researchers by describing how he had survived in the wilderness.
• Lou Yu prepared to reveal that his ability helped him escape the mutated wolves and that Snow Bird killed them, while keeping Snow Bird’s human form and their night together secret.

Lou Yu uncovered the Shen and Bai families’ role in the attack and made his conflict with the Shen Family public, while an unexplained rage overtook him. The chapter revealed that Tao Qiu had discovered he was pregnant and was reacting in panic as Snow Bird.

• Lou Yu cooperated with the researchers while Chen Lin and the others investigated the attack, identifying the Shen Family as the mastermind and the Bai Family as an accomplice.
• Lou Quan and Lou Yu discussed the families’ motives and the Central Base Lou Family’s apparent complicity, trading barbs before falling silent over hot water.
• Lou Yu learned that the Shen and Bai families had used wolf-attracting spray and driven mutant wolves toward the safety zone, but their leaders escaped punishment by sacrificing underlings.
• Lou Yu intended to use the failed retaliation to make his feud with the Shen Family public, while Lou Quan planned to consolidate his control of Yong'an Base behind the scenes.
• Lou Yu felt an intense, unexplained irritability as Snow Bird rampaged through the wild, killing mutant monsters and frightening others into fleeing.
• Tao Qiu realized that his growing belly meant he was pregnant, and he panicked because he had never heard of a male mutant monster becoming pregnant.

Tao Qiu realized he was carrying eggs after sensing living things in his belly, and decided to nourish them with his ability rather than risk trying to get rid of them. At Yong'an Base, Lou Yu heard that Snow Bird had gone on a rampage but was alive and well, easing his worry.

• Tao Qiu connected his pregnancy dream and growing belly to the eggs after his ability energy was swallowed by living things inside him.
• Tao Qiu spent a night panicking, then vented his anger and helplessness by slaughtering mutant monsters before retreating to his cave for three days.
• Tao Qiu accepted that he was pregnant and decided to lay the eggs, directing his ability energy toward nourishing them instead of growing plants.
• Lou Yu recovered, practiced his ability, and asked Huo Lan and John to investigate reports that Snow Bird had gone mad.
• John reported finding fewer mutant monsters and scattered remains, while Huo Lan said they had seen Snow Bird return to his valley in good health.
• Lou Yu felt relieved that Snow Bird was safe.

Tao Qiu laid three eggs and struggled with whether to raise them, reflecting on his lonely childhood and wondering how their other father would react. At the base, Lou Yu thought of his mysterious encounter and opened a box containing a white feather.

• Tao Qiu finished preparing his cave and food supplies as he sensed that he was about to lay his eggs.
• Tao Qiu endured three hours of labor, laid three eggs, and fell asleep with them sheltered beneath his bird form.
• After waking, Tao Qiu debated whether to hatch the eggs and reflected on the lack of affection in both his human and bird family lives.
• Tao Qiu kept the eggs warm while imagining how Lou Yu would react to becoming their father.
• Lou Yu joked with Huo Lan and Liu Qi'an about having no romantic prospects, then opened a wooden box containing a snow-white feather.

Tao Qiu committed to hatching his three eggs while balancing their care with hunting and experimenting with his fruit-growing ability. After confirming that successive generations of fruit showed no extra benefit, he continued incubating the eggs, one of which moved faintly overnight, then left to patrol and hunt.

• Tao Qiu decided to do his best to hatch all three eggs while keeping his expectations in check.
• Tao Qiu cared for the eggs by maintaining the cave’s humidity and warmth, covering them when he went out, and occasionally placing them in the sun.
• Tao Qiu harvested two groups of wild fruits grown from seeds that had undergone different numbers of accelerated ripening cycles and found no difference in their taste or life-extending effect.
• Tao Qiu examined the eggs in sunlight, wiped them with water, and told them a story before joking that they should feed him once they hatched.
• One egg rocked faintly after Tao Qiu fell asleep, and the next day Tao Qiu completed his patrol and went looking for prey.

Tao Qiu found Lou Yu with a human convoy and, reassured by Lou Yu’s friendly manner, brought him edible prey as a gift. After Lou Yu gently petted him, Tao Qiu flew away to hunt and tend to his three eggs, leaving the convoy astonished.

• Tao Qiu spotted a human convoy and flew toward it, hoping Lou Yu was there.
• Lou Yu emerged from the vehicle, approached Tao Qiu, and waved to him while the soldiers held their fire.
• Tao Qiu landed and gave Lou Yu a large animal he had caught, which Lou Yu accepted with surprise and delight.
• Lou Yu gently petted Tao Qiu’s head, and Tao Qiu took this as proof that Lou Yu bore him no ill will.
• Tao Qiu said farewell and flew off to hunt and care for his three eggs, while Liu Qi'an hurried to speak with Lou Yu.

After returning safely to Yong'an Base with recovered equipment and documents, Lou Yu’s team attracted attention when word spread that Snow Bird had given him prey. Tao Qiu continued caring for his three eggs until the eldest chick hatched, and he fed him his first meal.

• Lou Yu’s team loaded Snow Bird’s prey and returned to Yong’an Base, where researchers inspected them and Lou Yu revealed they had also found documents in the basement.
• Liu Qi'an loudly spread the news that Snow Bird had given Lou Yu prey, and rumors about the gift swept through the base while the research institute kept its discoveries secret.
• Tao Qiu tended the three eggs and planted a tomato in his garden while waiting for them to hatch.
• A month after the eggs were laid, Tao Qiu noticed one moving and watched as the eldest chick pecked his way out of the shell.
• Tao Qiu warmed the newly hatched black male chick in a feather nest, then tore tender meat into small pieces and fed him.

Tao Qiu raised Eldest Cub and Second Cub after they hatched, then discovered the last chick was alive but too weak to break out of its egg. He began peeling away the shell to help Third Cub hatch.

• Tao Qiu cared for Eldest Cub, feeding him frequently while incubating the two remaining eggs.
• Second Cub hatched three days later, and Tao Qiu learned she was a lively daughter who kept exploring her surroundings.
• Tao Qiu watched over Second Cub while Eldest Cub remained calm, and Eldest Cub opened his green eyes six days later.
• Tao Qiu worried that the third egg had stopped developing, while Eldest Cub and Second Cub sensed something was wrong.
• Tao Qiu found a breathing hole and a crack in the shell, heard a faint heartbeat, and began helping the weak chick hatch by peeling the shell away.

Tao Qiu helped the frail Third Cub hatch and fed her two drops of his blood before giving her meat, while caring for Eldest Cub and Second Cub. After the family rested, Second Cub mistook Eldest Cub’s ruffled chest down for a furry berry, and Tao Qiu shared the wild berries he had ripened among the three chicks.

• Tao Qiu helped Third Cub struggle free of her shell and fed her two drops of his blood because she was too weak to eat on her own.
• Tao Qiu fed Third Cub tiny pieces of meat, then realized Eldest Cub and Second Cub had waited quietly past their mealtime and fed them too.
• Tao Qiu rested beside the chicks, and Eldest Cub and Second Cub cuddled against his chest before falling asleep.
• Second Cub woke from a dream about furry berries and, after Tao Qiu showed her Eldest Cub’s ruffled down, decided her brother was a furry berry.
• Tao Qiu divided the wild berries he had ripened among the three chicks, giving Third Cub a few extra to help her recover.

Tao Qiu cared for his three chicks as they grew close to one another, then took them out of the cave for the first time when his second batch of fruit and tomatoes ripened. He harvested the crops while the chicks watched as his little bird supervisors, and Second Cub praised him for his work.

• Tao Qiu discovered Third Cub was a girl with nearly white feathers and a small black patch on her tail, and saw how strongly she depended on him.
• Eldest Cub and Second Cub began sleeping beside Tao Qiu and Third Cub, and all three chicks showed affection and consideration for one another.
• A month and a half later, Tao Qiu’s wild fruit and tomato crops ripened, and he carried the chicks out of the cave for their first flight.
• Tao Qiu set the chicks on a rock and appointed them little bird supervisors while he harvested the fruit and tomatoes.
• Eldest Cub and Second Cub offered to help, but Tao Qiu told them to watch instead, and Second Cub later praised him for picking everything.

After Third Cub’s appetite grew, she became increasingly listless and eventually vomited during the night. Tao Qiu gave her two drops of his healing blood, and her siblings comforted her as he cared for her.

• Tao Qiu noticed that Third Cub was eating more than her siblings but becoming less energetic.
• Third Cub woke Tao Qiu at night while trying to crawl away, then vomited and complained that her tummy hurt.
• Tao Qiu realized that Third Cub’s sudden overeating had upset her stomach and fed her two drops of his blood.
• Third Cub cried and apologized, while Tao Qiu reassured her and checked on her.
• Eldest Cub and Second Cub joined them, comforting Third Cub and offering her affection and a treasured stone.

After Third Cub recovered from overeating, Tao Qiu learned she had eaten extra fruit to get stronger and spare him worry, then reassured her and the other cubs that their love should not become a burden. The family shared a bedtime story and, the next day, enjoyed the sun while Second Cub practiced singing.

• Tao Qiu cleaned Third Cub after she vomited and listened as she admitted she had overeaten to get healthy and stop him from worrying.
• Tao Qiu comforted Third Cub, explaining that their family could cherish their love without feeling guilty or burdened.
• Eldest Cub and Second Cub objected when Tao Qiu said he had once blamed himself, and Tao Qiu promised to care for all three cubs.
• Tao Qiu told the cubs the story of “The Nightingale,” then answered their questions until they fell asleep.
• After sleeping late, Tao Qiu took the recovered Third Cub and the other cubs to bask in the sun, where Second Cub practiced singing.
• Tao Qiu stopped Second Cub from singing too long, gave her water, and asked Eldest Cub and Third Cub if they wanted to sing for him.