He transformed back into Qiao Yunshen.

I caught my bleeding lover, slowly kneeling on the rubble against the wall. The last bit of pheromone in his glands was extracted and pushed into my body, easing the pain in my lower abdomen. I held my weak lover, crying uncontrollably.

“Don’t cry…” Qiao Yunshen struggled to raise his hand to wipe away my tears. “Tiger brother, come take Xiao Que back… home, there’s a big pig’s trotter waiting for you to eat…”

I choked on my sobs, feeling Qiao Yunshen’s pulse growing weaker, unable to speak.

“Xiao Que… you’ve suffered these years. Holding me like this… just like many years ago…”

Just like many years ago, when we met in a cramped cage, two people who were never meant to cross paths. A constant environment coexisting with fierce winds and snow.

The free sky embraced the vast land. I cried like a dog. Before I loved him, I had told myself that he would leave.

But no one told me that before leaving, he had loved me for hundreds of years. Qiao Yunshen curled his fingers around mine.

“After I’m gone, I want to go home, back to the Northeast, to the fertile black soil. Back then, there were no artificial global temperature zones on the Xing’an Ridge, just a vast expanse of white.”

“I stood on the ridge looking down at the small bungalows, and the warm earth kang. One bowl of hot, thick corn porridge could warm you right down to your heart.”

“Xiao Que, I really want to take you to see it…” The fingers that were curling around mine relaxed and fell. They hit the ground with a dull thud. I held onto Qiao Yunshen’s body, which was losing warmth from blood loss, shaking him gently.

“Qiao Yunshen.”

“Yunshen.”

“Tiger brother!”

… Lu Tao, with his dark, ashen face, tugged at me.

“Li Que, don’t…”

“Let go of me!” I swatted him away, tears streaming down my face.

After all these years, Qiao Yunshen had responded to me every time I called. How could he not answer me now?

“Hubby.”

“Hubby, waaaah.”

“Hey!”

“Did I just faint?”

“It hurts so much; how am I still alive?”

“God, my intestines are spilling out and I’m still not dead. Am I that hard to kill?”

“I can’t open my eyes; my wife seems to think I’m dead. How can I tell her I’m not without scaring her?”

“Waaah, my wife’s so fragrant and soft, waaaah, I want to hug her.”

Me: ?

Me: … “Qiao Yunshen!”

---

Not only Qiao Yunshen, who was nearly half-dead, entered the hospital. There was also Lu Tao, whose pheromones were in chaos, and me, who was on the verge of a miscarriage. During the two days and nights when we were all barely conscious, the forces that had been blocked outside by Qiao Yunshen began to act.

A nearly five-century-long conspiracy was made public. Centuries ago, primitive humans had no secondary sexual characteristics. However, as industrialization accelerated, various heavy metal pollutants damaged human genetic chains. At first, there was just a frequent emergence of intersex individuals, but then lifespans rapidly declined, and physical health deteriorated.

The order of human society was completely disrupted. Just when everyone thought humanity was about to face extinction, scientists in a certain country discovered that animal genes were also being altered. Unlike humans, however, they slowly adapted to this pollution.

As a result, a large number of animals with differentiation characteristics were captured and gathered together. To ensure the experiments proceeded smoothly, a batch of robots designed for experimentation was created.

Later, a vial of serum appeared. Humans differentiated into a second sex, enhancing their physical condition and even extending their lifespans. Nearly a hundred years later, human society became more stable.

Such cruel experiments could not be allowed to continue existing in the world.

Thus, higher-ups issued a destruction order. However, who would have thought that the organization would be completely wiped out a century later? What remained were robots that had crossed mountains and seas due to chip orders. Even Qiao Yunshen had been deceived for many years, living in fear for a long time.

Months later. “Wife, that experiment didn’t say anything about species mixing.”

Qiao Yunshen held an egg, looking innocent.

I sniffed, a bit unsure. Because—the egg still hadn’t hatched, and after a special examination, we were told there was a little tiger inside. A little tiger with wings. It was fine to have just wings, or just a little tiger. But a beast with wings? That was something I couldn’t understand and was deeply shocked by.

Qiao Yunshen felt the same.

Before, he had been anxious about early education, worrying about the child being an omega and being bullied. Now he was obsessively packing, preparing to return to the Xing’an Ridge to pay homage to the five deities.

I couldn’t take it anymore.

I pressed down on Qiao Yunshen, calmly facing him. “Qiao Yunshen, you weren’t like this before. Why have you become so uncalm now?”

Qiao Yunshen said “Huh?” in confusion.

I accurately grabbed his hand that was quietly unbuttoning his pants. If I still had mind-reading abilities, I would definitely hear his thoughts clearly.

But since giving birth to the baby, my mind-reading powers had disappeared.

Yet after sharing a bed for so many years, I could tell what he wanted just by his movements.

Qiao Yunshen was scared. We were the crystallization of the experiment, and he feared he was a monster who would implicate the child. I gently kissed his temple, comforting this Northeast cool boy. “I told you long ago that mutual affection leads to love’s crystallization. The baby is unique; you are not guilty.”

“We are both innocent.”

“The guilty ones are the humans who took our original lives.”

In my arms, Qiao Yunshen gradually calmed down. After filming this project, during the downtime in production, we finally went to the Xing’an Ridge.

After a hundred years, all traces of primitive humans once camping here had disappeared. Nature had returned to its former state. Qiao Yunshen sat on an ancient tree, humming an unknown folk tune. I sat beneath the tree, hands clasped, quietly reciting a prayer. “May all the souls that remain here return to their homeland.”

“Click.”

The egg shell cracked.

(The End)