Chapter 1: The Desire to Mark Her

Alien Battlefield.

Yu Xia crouched in the shadow of a wrecked mech, peering through a narrow gap at the monstrous, ugly beasts howling outside, her heart gripped by terror.

Where was this place? She and her teammates had been gravely injured on a mission and sent into the medical pod—only to awaken at the bottom of a vast crater.

When she climbed out, the world before her was utterly unfamiliar.

A boundless black-soil plain stretched as far as the eye could see, pitted everywhere with shell craters. Dozens of giant mechs fought the monsters, but even more striking were the tall soldiers, clad in combat suits and wielding all manner of weapons, darting with incredible speed among the beasts.

Yu Xia’s heart went cold when she saw a soldier transform into a towering bear nearly three meters tall. This place—this was certainly not Earth.

With a deafening crash, a mech, smashed by a monster, toppled over beside her. The pressure valve on its chest burst open, and a muscular, sinewy arm reached out from within.

A man, covered in blood, crawled out of the cockpit and locked eyes with Yu Xia.

She saw a pair of amber, bestial eyes—ferocious and menacing, as if he might tear her apart the next instant. But after a brief moment, the look in his eyes shifted from cold indifference to shock and confusion.

“You...?!”

Huo Lin caught the sweet, clear scent of pheromones coming from the girl, and his pupils contracted sharply.

She—she was a Guide?!

How could there be a Guide here?

Who was her Guardian? How could they bring her to such a dangerous place?!

A flood of questions erupted in Huo Lin’s mind. Guides were rare and precious; it was unthinkable for one to appear in a contamination zone, let alone on a planet below Class B. Yet there were always a few irresponsible Sentinel Guardians who would sneak their Guides onto the battlefield, seeking the spiritual comfort only a Guide could provide.

But such Sentinels were rare, for once discovered, the Guardian would lose their custodianship and face charges under the Guide Protection Ordinance before the highest court of the Alliance.

Only those with immense power and influence would dare attempt such a thing.

But this—this was a contamination zone, far more perilous than any battlefield. The environment here could claim her life at any moment.

Huo Lin looked at the dirt-smeared, terrified girl before him, his anger mounting toward the Sentinel who had brought her here.

“Don’t be afraid...” Huo Lin reached out to her, gently, about to offer words of reassurance—when he caught sight of two abominations behind her.

Yu Xia heard the monsters’ guttural snarls behind her. She turned, and her scalp prickled with fear.

Blood-red, grotesquely twisted forms, their jaws lined with serrated fangs, like some amalgamation of flesh attempting to mimic the human shape, but only managing a rough approximation.

Flesh writhed across their bodies, sprouting countless tentacles that whipped toward her. Their long, mucus-covered tongues flickered out, tasting the air with predatory curiosity.

The monsters drew closer and closer; fear paralyzed her, her breath growing short, heart pounding so wildly it might burst from her throat.

It was over—she would be devoured by monsters...

The two abominations caught her scent in the air, emitting an excited, low-frequency screech, and lunged at her.

At the critical moment, Huo Lin shot forward like an arrow loosed from the string, interposing himself between her and the abominations, determined not to let them approach her by a single step.

Yu Xia watched as the man engaged the monsters in a savage melee, fighting with the wild aggression of a beast gone berserk.

She even glimpsed a pair of black animal ears atop his head, and a thick, black tail swaying behind him.

The people of this world... seemed anything but normal...

With a vicious slash, Huo Lin dispatched the last abomination, pulling his blade from its carcass.

He staggered, barely able to remain upright. The battle had nearly pushed him to the brink of frenzy.

His panther spirit was now weakened, curled deep within his consciousness. All his bestial traits had manifested physically; his frame swelled, muscles bulging and tearing open his combat suit.

His muscles tensed like steel cables, veins bulging and writhing on his skin, threatening to burst.

Suddenly, he caught the sweet scent of pheromones drifting from ten meters behind him. The transformation halted abruptly. He whipped around.

The powerful Sentinel clutched his bloodied chest, vision blurred with blood, but he could just make out a slender figure standing there.

After a moment's daze, he stumbled toward her.

For a Sentinel on the verge of frenzy, the scent of a Guide’s pheromones was like an oasis appearing before a dying traveler lost in the desert.

He could not restrain himself—he tackled the girl to the ground.

“What—what are you doing?!”

Yu Xia tried to shove him away, but the man—nearly two meters tall—pinned her beneath him, as immovable as a stone wall.

He stared down at her with bloodshot, predatory eyes, like a wild beast about to snap its prey’s neck.

He braced himself on either side of her, gasping raggedly as if suffocating, sweat mingling with blood and dripping from his sharp jaw.

Huo Lin stared at the delicate Guide beneath him, mouth filling with saliva, canine teeth extending slowly past his lips.

He wanted to mark her, to taste her.

She would be so sweet...

Devour her—he wanted to devour her...

He leaned closer, the battle raging in his mind; his fingers dug into the black earth, jaw clenched almost to the point of shattering.

“Are you... all right?” Yu Xia saw that he was desperately struggling against himself, making no further move to harm her.

Remembering how he had saved her, she forced herself to calm down and spoke gently: “You’re hurt. Do you need help?”

She’d studied some medical basics back at the base—enough to handle simple wounds.

Huo Lin, hearing her voice, managed to regain a shred of sanity. With trembling hands, he fumbled a final Guide-pheromone inhibitor from his pocket and jabbed it into his arm.

His spirit beast was already damaged; the potent suppressant, once injected, vanished as swiftly as a drop of water falling on a red-hot stone.

The suppressant had failed.

“Go... quickly...” He must not harm her.

In his current state, he might lose control at any moment—then his mental landscape would collapse, his consciousness lost forever in the deep psychic domain, his soul consumed.

With these words, Huo Lin collapsed onto his side beside Yu Xia, unconscious.

Yu Xia called out to him anxiously, but he did not respond. She checked his breath and pulse at his neck.

Both were faint, and his skin was burning hot.

As she wondered what to do, she felt a thin, translucent strand extend from her fingertip into the skin of his neck.

In the next instant, Yu Xia felt herself drawn into a swirling mist, her body plummeting downward.

Even though she could still sense herself sitting by the man’s side, hear the distant and nearby sounds of artillery, she was overwhelmed by a sensation of weightlessness.

Soon, she landed.

Or rather, she was floating. Beneath her was a clear pool of water, which followed her wherever she went.

Sensing something was amiss, Yu Xia looked down—and saw her reflection in the water:

A beautiful pink dolphin.

Yu Xia stared in shock at her watery reflection. Tentatively, she tried moving, and the little dolphin in the water mimicked her every motion.

She brought her hands to her face—only to find two chubby, soft fins.

She rubbed her face with those fins, feeling as if she were in a dream.

Yet her mind was sharper than ever—clearer than at any time before. Her dolphin body felt light and agile, floating through the air as effortlessly as swimming through water.

A weak, plaintive cry, like a kitten’s mew, sounded nearby, pulling Yu Xia from her thoughts.