A Useless Dragon?

"Quick! He's over there! He can't have gone far!" Hearing the commotion nearby, Zheng Yichen scowled, though his dragon face was already black. He craned his neck to glance back. Sure enough, while the bolts had struggled to pierce his scales, so many had struck him along the way that quite a few were still stuck to him.

He looked like a hedgehog.

He swept his agile tail behind him, knocking off some of the bolts, then paused to catch his breath. After being chased for so long, he had picked up a few injuries, but otherwise things had gone fairly well. The ballistae could only move so fast. Once he got far enough away from them, he should be fine... right?

Just as that thought crossed his mind, pain shot through his leg. Something tugged at him. The force was not great, but it made him stumble. He looked down to find a bolt lodged in his leg.

Weren't they unable to pierce my scales? Why could this one?

Before he could recover, several more bolts flew in and struck his limbs and wings, pinning him in place. He tried to pull them free, but the barbed bolts would not come out easily, and the ropes attached to them kept pulling outward.

As he struggled against the restraints, a heavy blow struck the back of his head. Through the pain, Zheng Yichen caught sight of his attacker. He whipped his head around and bit down hard on the Spiked Club that had hit him.

The attacker was a burly man. He was strong, but still far weaker than Zheng Yichen. After only a couple of attempts to wrestle free, the man was flung aside and slammed into the rock wall. Blood spread across it in a broad splash.

Zheng Yichen spat out the mangled Spiked Club. A wave of dizziness swept through him. "Damn it, what now?"

He shook his head. The ropes he had been able to pull against moments ago had grown heavy. He could even feel himself being dragged along, and his vision was steadily blurring.

"He's still conscious? The Dragon Race really does live up to its reputation," the Branch President said with a sigh, looking at Zheng Yichen. His head hung against the ground, but his eyes had not fully closed. The Armor-Piercing Bolts had all been coated with a massive dose of drugs.

By all rights, a young dragon should have passed out under these circumstances.

"..." Zheng Yichen fixed his gaze on the approaching Branch President. The instant the man came close, Zheng Yichen lunged at him with open jaws, but the president dodged a step ahead of him.

"Not only are you still awake, you can still fight back. With a constitution this remarkable, why were you abandoned?" the Branch President muttered, looking at Zheng Yichen, who had almost no strength left to resist.

Zheng Yichen could not understand a word the bastard said, but that did nothing to improve his mood. The man had come to stand before him and prattle on like a victor. Too bad Zheng Yichen's bite had missed him!

Through his haze, Zheng Yichen watched more and more torchbearers gather around. He knew he was done for. Fuck this. It was bad enough getting transported here as some lousy dragon, and now humans were hunting me down. They did not seem intent on killing him outright, but he doubted being captured alive would turn out any better.

"Why was he abandoned? I'd like to know too."

"Who's there?!" The Branch President and Vice President spun toward the voice in shock. The two of them were arguably the strongest people present. They had held back partly to keep control of the situation and partly to guard against anyone else interfering.

As for the people taking part in the hunt, they were members of those families and their trusted followers, so loyalty was not a concern... And even if it was, it hardly mattered now. These people knew too much!

"Is that all the reaction you have?" The soft, sweet voice continued. It clearly came from somewhere nearby, yet no one who heard it could find the speaker, even with the torches lighting up the area.

They can't find her... No, are these people blind? Zheng Yichen felt close to blacking out as he watched their reactions. She's right behind the two of you!

The girl was less than half the Branch President's height. She wore an exquisite dark-red dress and a silk hat of nearly the same shade. Stylish as she looked, a closer glance showed that her outfit covered her from head to toe. Apart from her neck and face, not a scrap of skin was visible.

Even on the verge of unconsciousness, Zheng Yichen felt an inexplicable, overwhelming terror when he saw her. The air itself seemed to thicken.

Yet everyone else kept searching around like they were deaf and blind. She's right in the middle of your group! She's short, but you'd see her if you just looked down. Are you all hired actors or something?

"Oh? You can see me?" Noticing Zheng Yichen's gaze, the little girl looked at him with interest. She walked past the Branch President and Vice President and came up to him. After looking down at him for a moment, she pulled off the long glove on her right hand and gently stroked his head.

Her arm was slender and delicate, as a little girl's should be. But if he stared at it, her pale skin seemed mottled with blood the same color as her eyes. Whenever he tried to get a clearer look, what he had seen seemed like an illusion.

Out of the wolf's den and into the tiger's jaws. Zheng Yichen could hold on no longer. He lost consciousness.

"What a useless dragon." The little girl studied the spot on Zheng Yichen's head she had touched. After confirming that it had not changed at all, she stood and put her glove back on. "To be driven to this by a bunch of ordinary people who haven't even reached the first rank."

As soon as her glove was back on, the others snapped out of their deaf-and-blind state. They stared in shock at the "little girl" who had somehow appeared before the dragon. None of them were fools blinded by desire or lacking experience.

She looked elegant and adorably sweet, but could an ordinary person have appeared there without anyone noticing?

"Who are you?" The Branch President stared gravely at the little girl. She looked and felt no different from an ordinary child. And yet... all he wanted was to flee, no matter what it took!