The night was thick with fog, clinging to the barren wasteland like a death shroud. The sharp tang of gunpowder hung heavy in the air, mingling with the acrid scent of scorched earth.

Wei Long's boots pounded against the ground—thud-thud-thud—his breath coming in short, ragged gasps.

He wasn't running.

He was fleeing.

For all his years as the most decorated soldier of his unit, experience offered no solace now. Fear clawed at his mind, primal and suffocating, drowning every instinct he'd honed over decades of combat.

This wasn't what he'd expected.

Wei Long was a legend—a soldier whose name was whispered with reverence, a man who had survived battles others wouldn't dare approach. He had led squads through impossible odds, completed missions branded as suicide runs, and emerged victorious every time.

But this time was different.

The government had promised him freedom. Financial security. Care for his ailing parents. No more missions. Just one last task.

It seemed too good to be true.

It was.

He'd accepted without hesitation. How could he not? But as the mission unfolded, it became horrifyingly clear why they hadn't prepared him. Preparation would have been useless.

His squad—men who laughed in the face of death—were gone. All of them. The creature they were sent to neutralize tore through them like they were paper.

They had tried everything.

Bullets had ricocheted harmlessly off its shimmering black scales. Explosives had shattered the ground but left the creature unscathed. Even airstrikes—precision missiles raining down from the heavens—did nothing. The beast shrugged it all off, impervious to their most advanced weapons.

And now, it was after him.

Wei Long's instincts screamed at him to keep running, to not look back. But the creature's distant roar—a deep, bone-rattling sound—seemed to echo from every direction.

Ahead, a jagged hole in the ground appeared, dark and foreboding. He didn't think. He dove, landing hard on the rocky floor. The air was damp and reeked of decay.

His hands trembled as he pulled a small, worn cross from his pack. Clutching it tightly, he whispered a desperate prayer: "God, if you hear me… grant me strength. Not mercy—strength. If I go down, let it count."

A rumble cut through his prayer. The ground quaked, loose rocks tumbling around him. He froze, heart hammering, and slowly looked up.

A single, enormous reptilian eye filled the gap above, its slit pupil narrowing as it focused on him. Moonlight glinted off its glossy surface, giving it an unearthly glow.

Wei Long's breath caught.

The eye vanished, replaced by a maw of jagged teeth, stretching into what looked like a sadistic grin.

Claws scraped against the edges of the hole, sending chills down his spine. He scrambled backward, raising his rifle.

Bang! The shot echoed in the narrow space.

Bang! Bang!

Sparks flew as bullets struck the creature's claws, but it didn't flinch.

Click.

The rifle jammed. Wei Long fumbled for another weapon, his fingers brushing against a grenade.

Above, the creature let out a guttural growl, its hot, foul breath rushing into the hole. The air seemed to shift, pulling him toward its open jaws.

Wei Long gritted his teeth, holding on with one hand as he yanked the grenade's pin with the other.

He hurled it into the creature's throat.

For a moment, there was silence. Then—BOOM!

The explosion rocked the ground. Flames erupted from the hole, casting everything in an eerie green light. Wei Long pressed himself against the wall as heat seared his skin.

For a fleeting moment, hope flickered.

But then he saw it.

The explosion had ignited something deeper within the creature—a bio-engineered core of unimaginable power. The blast amplified into a roaring inferno, the green flames consuming everything in their path.

Wei Long didn't have time to think, to run, or even to feel pain.

The darkness swallowed him whole.

…

Far away, in a hidden military headquarters buried deep beneath the earth, a room full of monitors displayed the aftermath. 

The screens showed the creature's lifeless body sprawled across the wasteland, its once-impenetrable scales charred and cracked.

The room erupted into cheers. 

Generals, commanders, and officials from allied nations stood, clapping and exchanging relieved smiles. 

One of the generals, a grizzled man with a thick gray mustache, spoke first.

"It's over. The creature is dead." His voice was heavy with emotion.

Another, a younger officer, shook his head in disbelief. "I can't believe it. After everything… it's finally over."

An older woman, her uniform adorned with medals, leaned forward, her gaze fixed on the screen. "The creature's dead," she uttered. "We stopped it before it reached the ocean and evolved. The world owes that man everything."

The gray-mustached general nodded solemnly. "We owe it all to him. To Wei Long. If he didn't, I'm afraid that Bioengineered weapon of destruction would have grown—" he stopped. 

Silence fell over the room. 

Slowly, as one, they rose from their seats and saluted the screen where Wei Long's last stand played on a loop.

"You have saved the world, soldier," the older woman said quietly. Her voice was thick with gratitude. "You have saved us from a global apocalypse that could have happened if that creature was released to the ocean."

The room remained silent, their salutes seemed determined. 

They knew the cost of this victory. 

Wei Long, the hero they had sent to face the impossible, had paid the ultimate price. 

His name would never be forgotten.

In the history of mankind, there are warriors whose sacrifices shine brighter than their victories. 

Wei Long's light will never fade, for in his final hour, he shielded the world from the darkness.

…

In an endless span of darkness, Wei Long was there, his body—or was it a body?—frozen. 

The last thing he remembered was the explosion, the searing heat, and the sensation of being swallowed by green flames. 

Surely, this was death.

It was so dark he couldn't even see his hands—if he still had them. Yet he could feel his thoughts moving, strangely detached from a body he wasn't entirely sure existed. 

Just as the despair of endless blackness began to creep in, a faint glow appeared before him. The glow expanded, forming words. 

Installing...

Wei Long blinked. 

What? 

Installing? 

Installing what? 

He watched the glowing text flicker, the little pulsing dot at the end dragging on like a poor marching soldier.

In a second, the screen shifted. 

The glow intensified, and new text appeared in a crisp, radiant font.

Name: Wei Long.

Level: 5 Mortal Beast.

Age: 8 hours.

Race: Dinosaur Hybrid.

Current: Juvenile Dinosaur. 

Innate Ability: Predatory Bio-engineering.

Clan: Blue Eyes White Heaven Dragons.

Abilities:

Bio-engineered Mortal Healing (Peak).

Bio-engineered Mortal Toxic Scales (Peak).

Bio-engineered Mortal Camouflage (Peak).

Bio-engineered Mortal Reptilian Communication (Peak).

Bio-engineered Mortal Predatory Senses (Peak).