The silence of the university research laboratory was absolute, broken only by the low, rhythmic hum of the air filtration system and the erratic clicking of a mechanical keyboard. Lin Xuan, a prodigy in molecular genetics on Earth, sat hunched over a microscope like a gargoyle. His eyes were bloodshot, his skin a sallow, sickly pale from weeks without natural sunlight. He was a man who had mastered the invisible building blocks of life—DNA, RNA, and the protein folds of existence—but had entirely forgotten how to live his own life.
At thirty, he was a bachelor whose only intimacy was with petri dishes and data sets. His colleagues called him the "Ghost of the Lab," a man who could map a complex genome in his sleep but couldn't name a single friend outside his department. He was a workaholic to the core, driven by a thirst for knowledge that bordered on a death wish.
That wish was finally granted.
A searing, jagged pain suddenly clawed at his chest, as if a hot iron were being twisted into his heart. His cardiovascular system, overworked and fueled by nothing but black coffee and adrenaline, finally surrendered. As his vision blurred and the fluorescent lights above flickered like dying stars, his last thought wasn't of the family he never started or the love he never found. It was a clinical, bitter frustration that his final genetic sequence was only 98% complete.
"So... this is the end of the experiment," he whispered, his head slamming onto the desk.
When his eyes snapped open again, he wasn't in a morgue or an afterlife of clouds. He was standing in the middle of a vibrant, bustling plaza that smelled of ozone, exotic spices, and wild, untamed earth.
This was Blue Star.
Memory fragments slammed into his mind like a high-speed train. This was a world that had been transformed five hundred years ago by the "Great Spiritual Revival." A surge of primordial energy had washed over the planet, turning common nature into a living nightmare. Plants grew teeth and moved like predators; common animals commanded lightning, frost, and fire. Human cities were razed overnight. Humanity only survived by birthing the Beast Tamer and Beast Breeder professions. Through soul contracts, humans could harness the power of these mutated creatures to reclaim their world.
In this life, Lin Xuan was the fourth son of the Lin family. He was adopted in name, but cherished in reality. His biological parents, elite explorers and close friends of the elder Lins, had vanished into a dimensional rift during a high-risk mission, leaving him an orphan. The Lins had raised him with more love than most biological children ever received.
Having spent several months in this body since his "rebirth," Lin Xuan had discovered something his predecessor had been too socially dense to see: his three non-blood-related sisters—Lin Yue, the graceful 3-star Breeder; Lin Feng, the fiery 4-star Tamer captain; and Lin Chen, the genius serum researcher—all looked at him with an affection that transcended simple sibling bonds. They were beautiful, talented, and fiercely protective of him. After a lifetime of crushing loneliness on Earth, Lin Xuan cherished them with a protective, deep-seated intensity. He wasn't just a researcher anymore; he was a brother who would do anything to keep his family safe.
But today was the day of his graduation, and the universe had a cruel, digital sense of humor.
[Ding! God-Level Insect Evolution System Initializing...]
[The Host has been detected. Potential: Unawakened.]
[Beginner Mission: Establish a Soul Contract with an Insect-type Beast.]
[Note: The Insect path is the most neglected path in history. Only through the small can one command the infinite.]
[Time Remaining: 00:59:59]
[Warning: If the contract is not signed within the hour, the system will self-destruct. As a penalty, the Host's spiritual sea will be permanently shattered, resulting in the total and irreversible loss of all Beast Taming potential.]
"An insect?" Lin Xuan hissed, his heart hammering against his ribs. In this world, insects were "trash." They were at the absolute bottom of the food chain, with the lowest spiritual intelligence and almost zero evolution potential. Signing an insect was considered a professional death sentence for a Tamer—a way to ensure you spent your life as a low-level worker rather than a hero.
But the timer was a ticking executioner.
Lin Xuan sprinted through the city, his lungs burning. He ignored the high-end beast boutiques where wealthy students were picking out Fire-Tail Lions and Frost-Winged Hawks. He didn't have the time to negotiate for a high-star beast, and he certainly didn't have the money. He ducked into the "Old Quarter," a labyrinth of narrow alleys where the air was thick with the scent of damp soil and rot.
He burst into a dilapidated, dust-covered shop: Old Wang's Crawlers.
00:00:25.
The shop was filled with glass jars containing common crickets and bait worms. Lin Xuan's eyes scanned the shelves with the precision of a hawk.
00:00:15.
"Give me that one! The green one in the corner!" Lin Xuan shouted, slamming his last few credits on the counter.
The shopkeeper, an old man with skin like wrinkled parchment, squinted through the dim light. "That? That's a dying Moon Silk Caterpillar, kid. It's barely two inches long and hasn't eaten in a week. It won't survive the night, let alone a battle—"
00:00:10.
Lin Xuan didn't listen. He smashed the glass lid, ignoring the shards that cut his palm. He grabbed the shivering, translucent green larva.
00:00:05.
He bit his own thumb, drawing a fresh bead of blood, and pressed it firmly onto the caterpillar's soft, cold forehead.
"I, Lin Xuan, claim this bond! Contract, form!"
00:00:01.
A surge of blinding emerald light erupted from the point of contact. The caterpillar's tiny body arched in his hand, and a golden thread of energy snaked up Lin Xuan's arm, searing its way directly into his soul.
[Ding! Contract Successful!]
[Congratulations, Host. You have bound your first beast: Moon Silk Caterpillar.]
[Emergency Mission Rewards Issued:]
[1. Unlocked: Divine Tamer's Eye (Can see all beast attributes and hidden evolution requirements).]
[2. Unlocked: 5 Extra Insect-Only Taming Slots.]
[3. Unlocked: The "Infinite Evolution Tree" of the Caterpillar Species.]
Lin Xuan slumped against the wooden counter, sweat soaking through his shirt and his breath coming in ragged gasps. He felt a tiny, fragile heartbeat pulsing in perfect sync with his own. For the first time in two lives, he felt a connection that wasn't based on data or logic, but on a spiritual resonance that made his Earth-born scientific mind reel.
The old shopkeeper stared at him as if he had just watched a man set his own future on fire. "You... you actually did it. You wasted your primary soul slot on a caterpillar? You'll be the laughingstock of the city, kid. You've just committed professional suicide."
Lin Xuan didn't respond. He couldn't. His vision was currently being dominated by a holographic interface of staggering complexity—a map of evolution so vast it made his previous research on Earth look like a child's drawing. He saw paths that led to divinity, and paths that were forbidden for a reason.
He looked at the small, glowing bug in his hand and smiled. The "Ghost of the Lab" was gone. The Insect Sovereign had arrived.