Chapter Summaries

Tao Qiu and Lou Yu reunited and prepared supplies for winter before Lou Quan tried to test Snow Bird’s attachment to Lou Yu. Snow Bird flew away after Lou Yu warned Lou Quan off, and Lou Yu later arranged for his squad to sell the game without trouble.

• Tao Qiu reunited with Lou Yu, teased him with a downy feather, and reviewed the winter supplies Lou Yu had brought.
• Tao Qiu and Lou Yu reached the base with two animals and found Lou Quan waiting to meet Snow Bird.
• Lou Quan tried to approach Snow Bird to gauge how much he would do for Lou Yu, but Lou Yu refused to let him get close.
• Snow Bird flew away after hearing Lou Yu and Lou Quan argue, and Lou Yu blamed Lou Quan for driving him off.
• Lou Yu called his squad to collect the game and refused to sell it to Lou Quan.
• Lou Yu's squad sold the larger animal through their own contacts, while keeping the smaller one.

Lou Yu and Snow Bird used their argument to warn Lou Quan against probing, while Tao Qiu and the cubs each secretly worried over the conflict. When three mutated monsters broke into the valley to steal ripe berries, the cubs ambushed them with chili water.

• Lou Yu avoided Lou Quan after their argument, and Snow Bird stayed angry that their time together had been interrupted.
• The cubs noticed Tao Qiu secretly studying something in a book and worried that he was sad about Lou Quan.
• Mutated monsters learned of the valley’s fragrant crops and, driven by hunger before winter, sent a goat, a hedgehog, and a wild dog to steal berries.
• The cubs spotted the intruders, prepared chili water, and had Third Cub splash it into their faces while Eldest Cub and Second Cub waited to attack.
• The wild dog howled with its eyes shut, and the other two monsters realized snow birds were in the valley.

The three chicks killed the goat, hedgehog, and wild dog who tried to steal their crops, and Tao Qiu comforted and praised them after returning. As winter arrived, Tao Qiu remained unsure whether to keep growing crops, and the chapter ended with the chicks greeting the first snowfall.

• Eldest Cub, Second Cub, and Third Cub pursued the three intruders and killed the wild dog, hedgehog, and goat with claws and rocks.
• Tao Qiu returned to find the chicks unharmed, bathed them, and praised their courage and quick thinking.
• Tao Qiu displayed the intruders’ bodies and used his pressure to frighten nearby mutated monsters, then hunted members of the three species.
• Green Python asked Tao Qiu whether he would stop growing fruit, and Tao Qiu said he had not decided.
• Tao Qiu and the chicks harvested their crops and stocked up on firewood and meat before winter.
• When the first snow fell, Second Cub noticed a snow pellet on her beak and told Tao Qiu that it had no flowers.

Tao Qiu and the cubs welcomed winter by building a snowman, skiing, and spending cozy days in the cave. At the base, Lou Yu learned that researchers had developed an awakening reagent, leaving Lou Quan to decide how to proceed with the dangerous experiments.

• Tao Qiu told the cubs the story of The Snow Child, and they asked him to build a snowman with them.
• After snowfall covered the valley, Tao Qiu and the cubs built a snowman, took a picture together, and went skiing.
• Tao Qiu and the cubs spent winter clearing snow, staying warm inside, and enjoying spicy food and television.
• Old Doctor Li called Lou Yu to report that the research team had successfully developed the awakening reagent.
• Lou Yu and Lou Quan met at the institute without speaking to each other, while Old Doctor Li explained that the available doses could support twenty people through awakening if all survived.
• Lou Quan said he needed to consult his subordinates before deciding how to conduct the dangerous awakening experiments.

Lou Quan and Lou Yu organized a secret awakening experiment at Yong'an Base, while Lou Yu endured the deaths of the participants and drew comfort from Tao Qiu’s photograph. Nearly two months later, the experiment ended with fifty-two of fifty-three participants dead and one uncertain survivor.

• Lou Yu told his teammates that the reagent had been successfully developed, though they refused to risk undergoing awakening themselves.
• Lou Quan gathered trusted senior members, and Lou Yu described the severe pain, isolation, and dangers of the awakening experiment before the leaders selected sixty candidates.
• Lou Yu supervised the renovation and security of an underground laboratory, where the first batch of awakeners began the experiment in secret.
• During the first five days, sixteen participants died, including five killed by the security team, and Lou Yu grieved privately while looking at Tao Qiu’s photograph.
• Tao Qiu woke with a racing heart in the cave, checked on the three sleeping little ones, and went back to sleep.
• After nearly two months, fifty-two of the fifty-three awakeners had died, while the sole survivor remained in uncertain condition.

After fifty-two people died in the reagent experiment, Lou Quan nearly killed Bai Huan before stopping himself, while Lou Yu fell ill from grief. Tao Qiu and the cubs welcomed the approaching spring, but the chapter ended with Tao Qiu waking to hear wailing outside.

• Researchers grieved the fifty-two deaths caused by the experiment, and Lou Quan sat alone with the final report.
• Lou Quan attacked Bai Huan and nearly strangled him, but let him go because he had promised his mother not to kill him.
• Lou Yu became feverish and listless, then ate after Chen Lin reminded him he would need to recover to visit Snow Bird.
• Tao Qiu celebrated New Year's Eve with the cubs, and they talked about accepting the snowman's eventual melting as spring approached.
• Tao Qiu woke during the night to hear wailing, and the cubs woke and heard it too.

Tao Qiu and his cubs mourned the Fox Clan’s old patriarch, and Tao Qiu comforted Red Fox as he grieved. When spring brought mutant monsters toward the human base, Tao Qiu defended his territory and worried about Lou Yu’s safety.

• Tao Qiu told the cubs that the Fox Clan’s old patriarch had died, and they comforted one another by imagining a grave where they could all lie together.
• Red Fox told Tao Qiu that he and White Fox had killed the old patriarch at his request, and Tao Qiu reassured him that they should not blame themselves.
• Red Fox traded for winter crops and left feeling comforted by Tao Qiu’s words.
• As spring arrived and mutant monsters began moving toward the human base, Tao Qiu killed several leading mutant crows that approached his territory.
• Tao Qiu watched the route to the human base and worried about Lou Yu while the cubs recognized that he was thinking about him.

Tao Qiu’s cubs wondered why he had not brought Lou Yu to live with them, while Lou Yu struggled to defend Yong'an Base from escalating mutant attacks. When the Lou Family demanded an explanation for his unusual ability growth in exchange for weapons, Lou Yu offered his blood and training notes instead.

• Second Cub and Third Cub discussed inviting Lou Yu to live with them, but Eldest Cub realized Lou Yu did not know the cubs existed.
• Tao Qiu had not invited Lou Yu to stay because he knew Lou Yu would refuse to abandon his teammates and the human base.
• Lou Yu and his teammates rescued survivors and fought mutant monsters as attacks overwhelmed Yong'an Base.
• Lou Quan told Lou Yu that the Lou Family was withholding weapons unless he revealed how his ability had stabilized and grown stronger.
• Lou Yu refused to let the Central Base capture him and proposed offering a vial of his blood and notes on his training in exchange for weapons.

Lou Quan secured an exchange involving Lou Yu’s blood and training insights, then became overwhelmed with rebuilding Yong'an Base after the mutated-monster tide. Lou Yu recovered from a severe injury in the hospital, where his teammates learned he had a partner but failed to discover who it was before he was discharged.

• Lou Quan arranged the exchange with the other side, then worried they would keep demanding more from Lou Yu while Yong'an Base remained in a precarious position.
• After the monster tide receded, Lou Quan struggled with reconstruction work and learned from his adjutant that Lou Yu had been hospitalized for half a month after a mutated plant pierced his abdomen.
• Lou Yu had saved a soldier by tackling him out of the plant’s attack, and his strong self-healing ability helped him survive the severe wound.
• Lou Yu worried that the injury would leave a scar and told John that Tao Qiu would be heartbroken if he got hurt, prompting John to spread news that the captain had a wife.
• Lou Yu’s teammates searched for his partner, but Chen Lin’s hint led them to suspect the person came from another base, and they eventually gave up without finding out.
• Lou Yu was discharged from the hospital to recover at home.

Lou Yu visited Zhao Tao, the only other awakened ability user at Yong'an Base, after the young soldier began losing control of his temper and confusing himself with the fox whose genes granted his ability. Lou Yu explained that Zhao Tao’s survival and stability depended on his will, then encouraged him to keep training and promised they would fight together.

• Old Doctor Li told Lou Yu that Zhao Tao had become irritable, attacked researchers, and dreamed he was a fox.
• Lou Yu explained that mutated monster genes could influence ability users, but their will and human genes could help keep those traits in check.
• Lou Yu met Zhao Tao, who described his unstable fox-like transformations, vivid dreams, and difficulty distinguishing himself from a fox.
• Zhao Tao admitted he knew Lou Yu could not explain how to stabilize an ability and had only wanted encouragement.
• Lou Yu told Zhao Tao he believed his ability would stabilize and promised they would protect the base together.

Lou Yu comforted Zhao Tao and learned that Zhao Tao had been hiding his fear of dying, then wrestled with whether to tell Tao Qiu that his crops might help stabilize Zhao Tao’s ability. Tao Qiu and the cubs worried that Lou Yu had died in the base, while the cubs debated whether Lou Yu was Tao Qiu’s mate or friend.

• Lou Yu reassured Zhao Tao, who admitted he had concealed his anxiety, and advised him to accept and control his mutated monster genes.
• Lou Yu told Old Doctor Li and the researchers about Zhao Tao’s hidden distress, then wondered whether Tao Qiu’s crops could help him without exposing Tao Qiu to danger.
• Tao Qiu cried over Lou Yu’s long absence, while the cubs secretly worried about their father and blamed the absent human for making him sad.
• Little Snake advised the cubs that if they missed someone, they should visit rather than wait, but warned that a dangerous journey could be fatal.
• Black Rabbit explained that same-sex partners could be mates, leading the cubs to wonder whether Tao Qiu and Lou Yu were mates and fear Lou Yu might have died.

After more than half a year apart, Tao Qiu finally found Lou Yu waiting outside the valley and confronted him about his silence. Lou Yu explained his fear and everything that had happened, and the chapter ended with Tao Qiu asking whether he still wanted crops for Zhao Tao.

• Tao Qiu grew more despondent while waiting for Lou Yu, and the cubs tried to comfort him without revealing that they knew the truth.
• In early June, Tao Qiu heard what might have been a car and flew out of the valley, while the cubs discovered photographs tucked inside his book and Third Cub recognized the purple ring around the person’s eyes.
• Tao Qiu spotted Lou Yu’s car, rushed inside, and tore Lou Yu’s clothes to check his injuries before breaking down in tears at his scars.
• Tao Qiu and Lou Yu embraced, and Tao Qiu demanded an explanation for the long separation.
• Lou Yu told Tao Qiu about the reagent, the awakening experiment, the mutant monsters, his hospitalization, Zhao Tao, and his fear of returning.
• Tao Qiu asked whether Lou Yu wanted crops for Zhao Tao, and Lou Yu admitted he did but said Tao Qiu’s safety mattered more.

Tao Qiu questioned Lou Yu about whether he liked children and could support them, then the two reunited lovers flirted and kissed in the car. Meanwhile, the three cubs studied photographs of Tao Qiu and Lou Yu being intimate and began to wonder about their relationship.

• Tao Qiu asked Lou Yu whether he liked children, regretted not having any, and could be a good father.
• Lou Yu said he loved children, described his ability to care for them, and joked that he could support up to six.
• Tao Qiu and Lou Yu teased each other about having children before kissing in the car.
• The three cubs examined photos of Tao Qiu and Lou Yu kissing and embracing.

The cubs found a photo of Tao Qiu kissing Lou Yu and secretly concluded that Lou Yu was their other daddy, though they decided to pretend they knew nothing. After Lou Yu left with tomatoes hidden in a mud-stinking car, Tao Qiu began preparing the cubs to meet him by telling them his name and praising him.

• The cubs examined a photo of Tao Qiu and Lou Yu kissing and guessed that Lou Yu was their other daddy, but worried he might not like them.
• The cubs agreed to pretend they had not seen the photo so Tao Qiu would not have to choose between them and Lou Yu.
• Tao Qiu gave Lou Yu four tomatoes and disguised their scent by exposing his car to foul-smelling mud before Lou Yu drove back to the human base.
• Tao Qiu returned to the cave, found the cubs asleep, and put the photo back inside the book without waking them.
• That evening, Tao Qiu told the cubs the human's name was Lou Yu and praised him as kind, reliable, and good to him.

Tao Qiu repeatedly praised Lou Yu to the cubs, who guessed he wanted them to acknowledge Lou Yu and decided to pretend they liked him for Tao Qiu’s sake. Lou Yu delivered tomatoes to Zhao Tao, learned the base’s crops had been damaged, and reunited affectionately with Tao Qiu, who brought them lunch.

• Tao Qiu praised Lou Yu for several days, and the cubs realized he seemed to want them to accept Lou Yu as their other father.
• The cubs decided to act as though they liked Lou Yu so Tao Qiu would be happy, while privately seeing him as a rival for their dad’s affection.
• Lou Yu gave Zhao Tao two tomatoes in secret and watched him eat them, then learned that damage to the planting area and contaminated seeds would reduce the base’s harvest.
• Tao Qiu left the cubs with Black Rabbit and brought food, crops, and a phone to meet Lou Yu.
• Tao Qiu and Lou Yu greeted each other with kisses, then Tao Qiu served the lunch he had prepared.

Lou Yu and Tao Qiu collected materials from Red Fox, then Tao Qiu showed Lou Yu photos and videos of three cubs in his valley. Lou Yu mistook them for Tao Qiu’s children with another bird, but Tao Qiu suggested they might be their children, leaving Lou Yu studying their features.

• Lou Yu ate the meal Tao Qiu had prepared, and Tao Qiu told him that the old fox had died over the winter.
• Tao Qiu and Lou Yu visited Red Fox, collected the requested materials, and saw the foxes’ grave for the old chieftain.
• After they returned to the car, Tao Qiu gave Lou Yu phones and power banks as a surprise and told him to view the photos and videos.
• Lou Yu saw videos of three cubs calling Tao Qiu Daddy and assumed Tao Qiu had children with another bird.
• Tao Qiu told Lou Yu the cubs might be theirs, and Lou Yu examined their hair, eyes, and features.

Lou Yu and Tao Qiu resolved their misunderstanding about the three children, and Lou Yu learned that he was their father. They agreed to take their introduction to the children slowly, while Tao Qiu urged Lou Yu to prioritize his safety when visiting.

• Lou Yu realized the children were his and Tao Qiu’s, apologized for suspecting Tao Qiu, and admitted he had put Tao Qiu above himself in their relationship.
• Tao Qiu told Lou Yu that they were equals and asked him to value himself as much as he valued Tao Qiu.
• Tao Qiu explained how he had discovered his pregnancy, raised the children, and named Tao Mo, Tao Xue, and Tao Yuan; Lou Yu said he did not blame him.
• Tao Qiu and Lou Yu looked through photos and discussed the children’s interests, with Lou Yu eager to bring them clothes and toys.
• Lou Yu suggested taking extra missions to visit Tao Qiu, but Tao Qiu asked him to put his safety first and promised that he and the children would wait for him.

Lou Yu visited Tao Qiu and learned more about the cubs, then returned to the base with supplies and prey while Tao Qiu brought home extra provisions for the family. At the research institute, Lou Yu secretly gave Zhao Tao a container of wild berries and hinted that he had brought them from outside.

• Lou Yu thanked Tao Qiu for raising the cubs and promised to take on his responsibilities as their father.
• Tao Qiu and Lou Yu hunted mutated monsters, delivered the kills near the base, and parted reluctantly before Lou Yu rejoined his teammates.
• Tao Qiu returned to the valley with extra supplies, and the cubs opened the packages and praised Lou Yu while privately still treating him as a rival for Tao Qiu's affection.
• Lou Yu visited Zhao Tao at the research institute and gave him more than thirty wild berries, telling him not to ask questions and to eat them quickly.

Lou Yu gave Zhao Tao more fruit and encouraged him to train, then sold half his team’s mutated monster meat to military logistics and the rest at a discount while keeping his good news secret. Meanwhile, Tao Qiu traded crops with Red Fox’s tribe and received a pumpkin chosen by the fox cubs as a gift.

• Lou Yu gave Zhao Tao fruit, asked him to keep its source secret, and urged him to train his ability.
• Lou Yu agreed to sell half the team’s prey to military logistics and discounted the rest, prompting customers to buy it eagerly.
• Lou Yu gave a customer extra meat to celebrate his good news, but told his curious teammates it was a secret.
• Tao Qiu watched a family drama with the cubs before taking harvested crops to Red Fox’s tribe.
• Red Fox gave Tao Qiu a round pumpkin that the fox cubs had chosen as a gift.

Tao Qiu and the cubs opened Red Fox’s pumpkin gift, planted its seeds, and discovered that the pumpkins he grew were both delicious and potent. The new crop spread through the valley, and Red Fox was astonished to learn that Tao Qiu had transformed the Fox Clan’s gift into another valuable crop.

• Tao Qiu let the cubs try to open the pumpkin, then played a soccer game with them that ended in a narrow victory for Team Cub.
• Tao Qiu cracked the pumpkin open, collected its seeds, and planted one in the cave, where he used his ability to grow four pumpkins.
• Tao Qiu cooked young and mature pumpkins and made pumpkin cakes, which the cubs enjoyed.
• Tao Qiu planted more pumpkins in the valley and traded samples to Green Python, Little Snake, and Black Rabbit, who liked them and each took one home.
• Red Fox discovered that Tao Qiu had grown the gifted pumpkin into a delicious crop with good effects, and Tao Qiu gave the Fox Clan extra crops in return.