Chapter Summaries

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.

Lou Yu’s teammates learned about his family and helped prepare a home for them, while Yong'an Base faced a smaller harvest without asking the Central Base for help. Lou Yu reunited with Tao Qiu and their children in the valley, where they planned to return to the base together after a week.

• Huo Lan and the others asked Lou Yu about Tao Qiu and the three children, then helped furnish the family’s new home.
• As harvest yields fell, Lou Quan arranged to repay Yongkang Base with food as cover for exchanging Awakening Reagent research data for identity documents.
• Lou Yu left the food convoy to visit the valley, where he found Tao Qiu’s wheat ready for harvest and was greeted by the three cubs.
• Lou Yu embraced Tao Qiu and told him and the children they could stay together in the valley until the convoy returned in about a week.
• Tao Qiu carried Lou Yu and the cubs back to the cave as they looked forward to visiting the base together.

Lou Yu reunited with Tao Qiu and the three cubs in their cave, shared a family meal, and spent a warm evening with them before helping care for the children the next morning. The chapter left Lou Yu about to style Second Cub’s hair after secretly preparing by studying tutorials.

• Second Cub showed Lou Yu the stool the family had chosen for him, and the family ate together while Lou Yu told the cubs about the base and their new house.
• Lou Yu showed the cubs photos of their rooms and told them Huo Lan had decorated two of them, prompting the cubs to plan a fruit gift for her.
• Lou Yu and Tao Qiu cooked dinner together, and the cubs filled Lou Yu’s bowl with food while urging him to eat more.
• The family walked through Tao Qiu’s wheat field, and Tao Qiu accepted Lou Yu’s kiss after the cubs praised his hard work.
• Tao Qiu told the cubs a bedtime story, and after they fell asleep, he and Lou Yu snuggled together.
• The next morning, Lou Yu took the cubs for a run, and Second Cub asked him to give her a pretty hairstyle.

Lou Yu spent the day learning to style the cubs’ hair, cooking for Tao Qiu and the children, and sharing playful, affectionate moments with Tao Qiu. After the cubs fell asleep, Lou Yu and Tao Qiu quietly left the cave, and Tao Qiu flew them toward an unknown destination.

• Lou Yu gave Second Cub a cat-ear hairstyle and Third Cub a princess hairstyle while Eldest Cub declined a makeover.
• Second Cub and Third Cub posed for pictures, and Tao Qiu teased Lou Yu by suggesting he would only let him do his hair.
• Lou Yu cooked lunch for Tao Qiu and the cubs, who praised the food as Tao Qiu flirted and joked with him.
• Lou Yu read to Tao Qiu and the cubs after their nap while Tao Qiu teased him for blushing.
• After the cubs fell asleep, Lou Yu and Tao Qiu slipped outside, and Tao Qiu carried him through the darkness toward their destination.

Tao Qiu and Lou Yu spent the night together in the bamboo grove, then returned to the valley and slept late. The cubs noticed their changed clothes and heard Tao Qiu suggest they had gone out to play, leaving him to answer their questions.

• Tao Qiu carried Lou Yu to a bamboo grove, where they kissed and spent the night together.
• At dawn, Tao Qiu bathed Lou Yu and himself, then carried him back to the cave to rest.
• Lou Yu prepared porridge and left the cubs a note explaining that he and Tao Qiu would sleep longer.
• Third Cub briefly woke and saw Lou Yu kiss Tao Qiu, while Eldest Cub later read the note to the others.
• The cubs ate breakfast and went to play, and Tao Qiu woke around midday while Lou Yu continued sleeping.
• Second Cub asked Tao Qiu whether he and Lou Yu had sneaked out to play the previous night.

Tao Qiu and Lou Yu shared a playful, affectionate day with the cubs, but Tao Qiu’s revelation about his blood’s healing and ability-enhancing effects left Lou Yu alarmed about the danger it could bring. Lou Yu learned that Tao Qiu had once saved his life with his blood, and the chapter ended as he explained its power.

• Tao Qiu made up an excuse to the cubs about his and Lou Yu’s muddy clothes, then hurried to prepare noodles.
• Lou Yu sought a kiss from Tao Qiu, but the cubs interrupted them before they could kiss.
• Lou Yu burned his injured lip on the hot noodles, and Tao Qiu hid his amusement while the cubs believed the food was too hot.
• Lou Yu styled Second Cub and Third Cub’s hair, then Tao Qiu asked him for a new hairstyle and teased him until he admitted his back was sore.
• Tao Qiu told Lou Yu that his blood could heal wounds and had once saved Yuanyuan, prompting Lou Yu to worry that others might try to capture him.
• Lou Yu asked who knew about the blood’s effects, and Tao Qiu said only he, Lou Yu, and the cubs knew; Lou Yu then explained that it could greatly strengthen ability users.