The planet Xiao Lin lived on was a forgotten corner of the Empire — a speck of dust drifting at the edge of civilization.
To understand the vastness of what lay beyond, one had to know this:
Humanity no longer belonged to a single world.
After the Old Earth crumbled beneath poisoned skies and endless wars, humanity fled into the stars, guided by the desperate dream of survival. They spread like scattered seeds across countless worlds, forging a new empire stitched together by blood, ambition, and fragile hope.
But survival had not come without cost.
Over centuries of harsh adaptation and bioengineering, humans had changed.
Mutations took root in their bloodlines, both natural and engineered:
— Some humans developed mental powers — psychic abilities that bent the rules of matter and mind.
— Others gained animal counterparts, spiritual beasts tied to their soul, bestowing strength, instincts, and in rare cases, the power to transform.
— And humanity's biology itself shifted, giving rise to a third gender: the Ger — carriers of life, bearing both male form and womb.
Gers were treasured and coveted, both for their rarity and for their ability to bear powerful heirs — especially among noble families.
The structure of the Empire reflected these changes:
At the top stood the Imperial Royal Family, descended from the first S-class mental users, whose bloodlines remained fiercely guarded.
Beneath them were the Noble Houses, competing endlessly for power, influence, and advantageous marriages.
The general population was divided by mental strength grades:
F, E, D — weak, limited abilities, useful mainly for labor.
C, B — skilled fighters, engineers, tacticians.
A — elite officers, governors, scientists.
S and SS — legends.
Only a handful of SS-rank individuals lived in the Empire at any time.
They were national treasures, weapons, protectors.
Marshal Sheng Long had been one such legend.
Inside the broken dragon's body, the memories came like crashing waves.
First — flashes of battlefields, burning red and gold under alien skies.
The shrieks of the Zerg, insectoid horrors swarming in endless tides.
Then — the faces of comrades, proud and desperate, saluting him as he led charge after charge against the darkness.
Faces that blurred now, slipping through his damaged mind like water through fingers.
And then...
The moment of sacrifice.
The battlefield was chaos.
The Zerg Queen — bloated, armored, almost invincible — rose from the smoking earth like a living nightmare.
Victory was slipping away.
Without hesitation, Sheng Long had made his choice.
He unleashed all his stored energy — his life, his core — exploding his beast nucleus in a blast of psychic force powerful enough to wound even the Queen.
He remembered the pain.
The unimaginable tearing apart of self from body.
He should have died.
He wanted to die.
But instead, his consciousness had slipped, twisted, and condensed, forcing him unwillingly into his full beast form — dragon's flesh binding around his broken soul.
He had crawled into the depths of some forgotten world, chained by fools who didn't understand the danger they held captive in their courtyard.
Now, inside the darkness of his mind, a new face burned brighter than the rest.
Not a soldier.
Not a general.
Not a courtier bowing low.
No — this face was soft and fragile, framed by silver-white hair and ruby-red eyes that glistened with kindness.
Xiao Lin.
The little ger who touched him without fear.
Who sang lullabies instead of orders.
Who poured healing energy into his ruined soul night after night until the broken threads of his mind began stitching themselves painfully back together.
Every time Xiao Lin smiled at him, Sheng Long's dragon heart twisted painfully inside his chest.
It was dangerous.
It was foolish.
He had no right to long for such warmth.
He was a weapon — nothing more.
And yet, as the threads of sanity slowly wove together inside him, as the fog lifted and awareness sharpened, Sheng Long realized a terrifying truth:
He could not bear to lose this boy.
Not to his twisted family.
Not to a cruel, meaningless marriage.
Not to death.
Not now.
Not ever.
Outside, a storm brewed.
The Zerg were restless again.
The court in the Imperial Capital whispered of revolts, succession struggles, assassinations.
The galaxy was stirring with threats Xiao Lin could not even imagine.
And soon...
Soon, Sheng Long would rise from his chains, reclaim his place — and carve a bloody path through anyone who dared harm the boy who had saved him.
Soon.