His consciousness was hazy, and his vision blurred.
He didn’t know where he was.
Beneath him was something soft, enveloping most of his body, making him feel dazed and disoriented.
In a daze, he slightly opened his eyes and shifted his gaze.
There seemed to be a vague figure next to him. He tried hard to make out the figure, but his vision was still too blurry to see clearly.
He could only vaguely make out the flowing golden hair, like strands of pure gold, cascading down, covering most of her shoulders. The exposed skin on her shoulder was as white as milk.
The woman was lying on her side, forming a beautiful curve, and from the waist down, it appeared as though she was one with the surroundings…
“A… mermaid?”
He mumbled in his daze.
Slap!
Suddenly, a stinging pain spread across his face, snapping him out of his muddled state.
He had just come to his senses when there was another loud slap, and the pain on his cheek became even more intense.
He focused his gaze just in time to see a third slap coming down toward him—
Moments ago, his entire body had been soft and limp, but now, every muscle tensed up. Almost instinctively, he rolled over, and the hand that was about to strike him hit the soft bed with a muffled thud.
The hand that had landed on the bed was slender and delicate, soft and smooth, with perfectly manicured nails, exuding an aura of perfection. It was obvious that it had been meticulously cared for.
However, the teenager, whose face was still burning from the two heavy slaps, had no time to admire it. He quickly sat up and glared at the owner of that hand.
“What the hell—”
His furious question was cut off halfway.
Miao Te looked at the person in front of him and, for a brief moment, lost himself in a daze.
The person lying on her side, propped up by her upper body, tilted her head and looked at him. Her long, pure golden hair, shimmering faintly in the light, cascaded like a waterfall over her slender shoulders.
Her full, round chest was mostly covered by that golden hair, while the other shoulder, left exposed, revealed skin as white as milk, with a smooth, lustrous sheen.
Her slightly curved eyes carried a hint of curiosity as she gazed at him. The corners of her eyes arched upwards, resembling blooming peach blossoms. Her long, delicate eyelashes fluttered ever so slightly, resembling the wings of a butterfly resting on a peach blossom.
Her light green pupils looked like emeralds melting in water, beautifully contrasting with her milk-white skin, accentuating an exquisite elegance in her features.
So… beautiful.
The teenager stared, utterly mesmerized by the breathtaking beauty of the golden-haired woman in front of him.
This was, without a doubt, the most beautiful person he had ever seen—
Wait, no.
Even though he was a straight guy who liked girls, Miao Te felt that he couldn’t lie to himself.
Hmm, compared to that certain Major General, she was still a notch below…
Uh—Major General—
In an instant, memories flooded back into his mind, and Miao Te suddenly recalled what had happened earlier.
He should have been in the underground water tank, completely submerged in water…
…He wasn’t dead?
The bewildered teenager looked at his hand and clenched it tightly, feeling the sensation of his fingers pressing into his palm. The stinging pain still lingered on his cheek, and he finally came to his senses.
He wasn’t dead.
He was still alive.
Ahhhhh—he was still alive—
“…So dumb.”
A crisp voice sounded from beside him. Still overwhelmed by the joy of surviving, Miao Te instinctively turned to look.
The beautiful young woman with golden hair had somehow stood up from the soft bed.
She was quite tall, and since the soft bed was laid out on the ground, standing up allowed her to look down at the teenager still kneeling on the bed.
As soon as she stood, her waterfall-like golden hair cascaded down her snowy-white shoulders. Her blue gauze skirt flowed down, spreading out like a blooming blue flower on the spotless, mirror-like floor.
As she looked at Miao Te, who still seemed a bit dazed, the golden-haired woman openly showed an expression of disdain, as if thinking how foolish he was.
Her green eyes blinked as she glanced up and down at Miao Te, a hint of confusion in her gaze.
“I don’t know what Caesar saw in you, to go through the trouble of dragging you back.”
As she said this, she recalled how her Caesar, his sleek, black fur drenched and clinging to his body, had given her quite a fright.
Not long ago, the servants tending to Caesar had come to her in a panic, saying that Caesar had run off on his own. She hadn’t even had time to send someone to search for him before Caesar had reappeared on his own, carrying a soaking wet, unconscious person in his mouth.
Since birth, Caesar had been pampered and meticulously cared for, to the point where the level of attention he received was nearly on par with hers. She had never seen Caesar in such a disheveled state before, which made her a bit frantic as she rushed to check if Caesar had been injured. However, Caesar simply pushed her aside with his head and anxiously paced around the unconscious person on the ground, constantly looking up at her with eyes that seemed to urge her to help him.
She did save the teenager that Caesar brought back, but he had remained in a deep sleep ever since.
Curious about what had caught Caesar’s attention with this youth, she had learned earlier to take a closer look at him.
But after examining him thoroughly from head to toe, she couldn’t find anything particularly special about him.
He was just an ordinary teenager, nothing more.
…Well, if she had to point out something unique, it might be that he looked a bit dumb, a bit silly?
Miao Te didn’t fully understand what the beautiful golden-haired woman was saying, but he caught the gist of it.
It seemed that someone named Caesar had saved him and brought him here.
With this in mind, he opened his mouth to ask,
“Was it Mr. Caesar who saved me?”
The tall golden-haired woman remained silent, still standing there, looking down at the teenager in front of her.
She stared for a long time before she raised her brows slightly.
“Yes, Caesar saved you, but it’s not a ‘mister,’” she said, lifting her brows and looking at Miao Te. “…It’s a cat.”
Miao Te was momentarily dumbfounded.
He had been saved by a cat?
The more he thought about it, the more confused he became.
How could a cat save him?
Though he was small and thin, he still weighed around fifty or sixty kilograms. How could a small cat possibly drag him, especially out of water?
While he was trying to wrap his head around this, the exquisitely beautiful golden-haired woman suddenly shifted her gaze to something behind him, a small smile tugging at her lips.
“It’s here.”
Miao Te instinctively followed her gaze and turned around.
There, approaching him, was a creature with pure black fur, without a trace of any other color. Its coat gleamed like velvet under the light, giving off a dark sheen.
Standing nearly as tall as a person, the massive creature had a stocky build, but it didn’t appear overweight. As it walked, each silent step exuded an air of elegance and grace. With every movement, its raised limbs brought its well-toned muscles into play, creating beautiful muscular curves beneath its jet-black fur.
Its ice-blue eyes glinted as they narrowed into slender arcs, while its long, black tail swayed lazily behind it as it approached.
Though its gait appeared casual, there was an inexplicable pressure that radiated from it, an overwhelming sense of authority that sent a chill down Miao Te’s spine just from a single glance.
Miao Te: “…”
A cat?
Are you kidding me?
That’s clearly a black panther!
“This is… a cat?”
In the end, the teenager couldn’t help but ask.
Is your cat a panther?
Of course, he swallowed that last sentence back down his throat.
“See, that’s just how ignorant commoners are—can’t even recognize Lord Caesar,” said a maid trailing behind the panther. She couldn’t resist a sneer as she glared at Miao Te, her doll-like face puffed up with anger, clearly irritated by the sight of him. She barely stopped herself from rolling her eyes.
In truth, this maid was normally good-natured and not the type to look down on commoners.
But this time…
She had served Lord Caesar from the moment he was born, taking care of him when he was just a tiny, fluffy ball of fur, right up until now.
As one of the most precious beings in the universe, Lord Caesar had been cherished by everyone around him since birth, and treated with the utmost care. He was so precious that even kings and nobility could not compare to him.
Lord Caesar’s every need had been met with the highest standards of luxury. If he so much as shed a single hair, people would fret and fuss over him for hours—so when she saw him come back with his once-glorious fur soaking wet, she nearly had a heart attack.
Later, when they were cleaning Caesar, she noticed one of his claws was broken and there was a bit of blood. Her heart ached like never before.
Lord Caesar had been pampered his whole life. When had he ever endured such suffering?
So naturally, this teenager—who had somehow caused Lord Caesar to lower himself to save him and had even cost him a bit of blood—was someone she couldn’t stand to look at.
There was also a more personal reason for her dislike.
From the time she had served Caesar, everyone who had ever seen him had gazed upon him with awe and admiration. She had always taken great pride in the fact that her Lord Caesar was the most precious, the most unique and that he commanded the adoration of all who saw him.
But this teenager—this little brat who had been rescued by Caesar—looked at him as if he were just an ordinary beast. He didn’t seem to see Caesar’s beauty or recognize his nobility at all.
And that annoyed the protective little maid to no end.
Commoners would always be commoners, lacking in appreciation and knowledge.
Fuming with frustration, she couldn’t help but scold the teenager.
“This is probably the only chance in your life that you’ll ever get to see Lord Caesar. You should feel grateful, commoner.”
She spoke with a cold face.
“You should know, Lord Caesar is the last remaining creature in the entire universe with pure Earth bloodline.”
“…Huh?”
***
Back when humans left Earth to venture into space and build a new future, they brought with them a considerable number of Earth’s animals on the spacecraft. However, unlike humans, these creatures struggled to adapt to life in space. After leaving Earth, they began dying off one by one, and humanity was powerless to stop it.
Helpless, humans had no choice but to turn to genetic technology. They sought out species that could survive in space and spliced those genes into the animals, enabling them to survive.
However, after undergoing genetic modification, these animals could no longer be considered true Earth creatures.
Still, there were a few exceptions. Some animals, with their own extraordinary vitality, managed to survive in space without any genetic modification.
But such animals were incredibly rare, like finding a needle in a haystack.
These purebred Earth creatures, viewed as treasures by humans who had lost their home planet, were seen as the most pure and noble of bloodlines. They were carefully nurtured and protected.
Unfortunately, the number of purebred animals that had survived was already minuscule, and over the years, inbreeding led to drastically reduced fertility rates, making it extremely difficult for them to produce offspring. Over time, they gradually began to die out.
Humans had attempted to use artificial breeding methods, but the purebred genes were still the original Earth genes, and none of the artificially bred offspring were able to survive in space or on other planets. Only the offspring of the purebred Earth creatures that had survived naturally with their powerful vitality could live and grow.
As of now, in the entire known universe, Caesar is the last remaining purebred creature with Earth blood.
Its parents had long since passed away.
Once Caesar dies, the pure Earth bloodline will be completely extinct.
***
The doll-faced maid was still rattling on about how precious and pure Lord Caesar’s bloodline was, but Caesar had already grown impatient.
With a light leap, it landed gracefully on the soft bed.
Miao Te, still reeling from the maid’s scolding, barely had time to react before he saw the black panther suddenly and nimbly jump onto the bed and move close to him.
Startled by the approach of the carnivorous beast, the teenager instinctively shrank back, freezing in place.
No matter how rare this animal was—it was still a predator!
Miao Te mentally wailed as his body stiffened, not daring to move an inch. He watched with wide, nervous eyes as the panther’s head drew near, terrified that it might suddenly sink its teeth into his throat.
The panther, with its glossy jet-black fur, leaned in and gently sniffed the youth.
Then, it placed one of its front paws on Miao Te’s lap and settled into a sitting position on the bed.
It lifted its black head and the narrow eyes that had been half-closed opened fully, staring unblinkingly at Miao Te. The eyes, which had been sharp moments before, now carried a faint trace of affection.
The panther’s ice-blue eyes, like blue gems submerged in water, shimmered with a mysterious glow.
There was something oddly familiar about that deep blue hue…
Miao Te stared blankly into the blue eyes of the black panther resting on him, and in a daze, he saw the image of the blue planet that had appeared before his eyes just before he was submerged in water.
A sudden, indescribable feeling washed over him.
This creature, the last of the ancient pure bloodline, seemed to be looking through his eyes, gazing at the planet that lived in his memories—the one its ancestors had once called home.
Lush jungles, endless green plains, and countless companions…
It was as if the panther, through Miao Te’s gaze, was searching for the faraway, unreachable homeland where its ancestors once roamed free…
…It was the last bloodline passed down from that blue planet…
“It seems my Caesar likes you.”
Watching her usually aloof “black cat,” who rarely even acknowledged her, quietly and obediently nestle close to the teenager without any intention of leaving, the golden-haired woman raised her eyebrows in surprise.
She thought for a moment, then made a decision.
“Alright, let’s do it this way.”
She spoke as if she were bestowing a favour, her expression one of complete certainty.
“I’ll make you a servant.”
Her tone was matter-of-fact as if this decision was an obvious one.
“You’ll be assigned to keep Caesar company from now on.”
She knew full well how many people vied for a chance to be one of her servants—so many that they practically trampled each other trying to get in. If it weren’t for Caesar’s clear fondness for this clumsy teenager, she wouldn’t have considered taking him in.
Once her words were spoken, they were final.
Before Miao Te could even process what she had said, a servant stepped forward. Without a word or hesitation, they grabbed Miao Te and snapped a metal collar around his neck with a click.
“Wait, hold on! I’m not a commoner! I’m—”
Miao Te hurriedly protested, clutching at the metal collar locked around his neck. He had no interest in becoming anyone’s servant.
But just as he started to shout, he abruptly stopped.
A sudden realization hit him—he didn’t even know who these people were. What if they were enemies of the Major General? Or worse, members of the Mia family? If he revealed that he was one of the Major General’s soldiers, wouldn’t that be a death sentence?
Wait—metal collar…
That’s right! The metal collar!
Miao Te suddenly remembered the data band the Major General had given him. It was a special device that could be used to contact the Major General directly.
Thinking this might be his way out, he quickly glanced down at his wrist to check for the band.
But when he looked down, he saw nothing—his wrist was bare, save for a few faint scratches.
“Excuse me,” he raised his right hand, his voice hesitant, “Where is my… data band?”
“Oh, that?” the woman replied casually. “Caesar probably bit it to pieces.”
Miao Te: “…”
Miao Te looked down at the culprit who had destroyed his only means of communication.
Caesar gazed up at him with wide, innocent eyes that resembled the blue of Earth’s oceans. The black panther then nuzzled its fluffy head against Miao Te’s face, as if it had done nothing wrong.
***
Translated by NightOwll
***
The plot keeps getting better