"Mm~."
Li Hao's consciousness awakened from the darkness. Every bone in his body felt as though it had fallen apart, the pain unbearable enough to make him groan.
What happened?
Right!
A girl in his neighborhood had jumped from a building. He had run over to help hold up a cloth sheet to catch her, and while he was looking up... a shapely butt had fallen from the sky.
Remembering those round, divided curves wrapped in jeans, he shuddered in regret.
Could this bone-deep pain mean he'd been smashed into paralysis?!
He opened his eyes and looked around. Li Hao was dumbfounded.
What entered his vision was not the modern hospital he had imagined, but a crude cave carved by hand.
Within the hemispherical space, the dark-red rock walls were rough and covered in gullies. The floor had been roughly leveled, and he lay on the faintly warm ground. A golden beam of light shone in through a narrow vent before him, dust motes drifting within it.
More terrifying than waking up in a cave was the fact that he was not its only occupant. Around him, more than twenty giant lizards slept curled up. They had horns on their heads, bat-like wings on their backs, and scales covering their bodies. At first glance, they resembled the Western dragons from movies and television.
Looking closer, they really were dragons!
"What is going on?! Am I dreaming?!"
Questioning his entire existence, he raised a hand to touch one of the dragons beside him and confirm whether it was real. Then, to his horror, he discovered that the hand he had extended could no longer be called a hand. It was a claw covered in crimson scales, tipped with sharp nails!
???
Memories surged in like a tidal wave, flooding crazily into Li Hao's mind and playing back at high speed, like a video fast-forwarded tenfold.
"I... I transmigrated?!"
As the memories played, he discovered that he really had transmigrated—to a bizarre fantasy world, where he had become a Young Red Dragon named Jose.
Like most Five-Colored Evil Dragons, Jose had been born in the Dragon Mother's nest.
An evil dragon indeed! An evil dragon through and through! Li Hao lamented inwardly.
When the original owner of this body had been a Dragon Hatchling equivalent to a two- or three-year-old human child, his own mother had kicked him out.
After losing their parent's protection, Jose and the brother and sister who had hatched from the same clutch of eggs had banded together to survive. They preyed on the weak and avoided the strong in the wilderness, until one day, they too became prey.
After personally witnessing his sister being swallowed alive, the surviving dragon hatchling brothers hardened their hearts and signed a Protection Contract to pledge themselves to a powerful member of their kind—the fearsome Red Nest Matriarch.
Seeing the Red Nest Matriarch's glorious exploits of massacring cities and destroying nations, Li Hao was puzzled.
"With such an absurdly powerful backer, why was this body still injured?"
He tried his best to digest the memories. It turned out that one year after joining the Red Nest Matriarch, the Dragon Slaying War had broken out, and a multinational alliance led by humans had launched a massive offensive.
The battle situation had been critical. Even potential assets like Dragon Hatchlings, who could not be immediately turned into fighting strength, had been dragged onto the battlefield. The final scene in the hatchling's memories was a burning meteor falling from the sky.
Li Hao could roughly infer what happened next with a little imagination. The heavily injured Dragon Hatchling had been carried back to the nest after the battle, only to die from its grave wounds. Meanwhile, he had been sat to death by that girl's butt and transmigrated here to take over the body.
"So I died beneath a peony flower too, huh," Li Hao thought hopelessly.
Self-pity would not benefit his current situation in the slightest. He did his best to adjust his mindset, suppress thoughts of his grieving parents, and hypnotize himself into accepting and adapting to his new identity.
"I am Jose. I have to live well."
After encouraging himself inwardly, Jose faced reality and examined his injuries.
Fragments from the meteor's explosion had struck his side, leaving behind a scorched mark the size of a washbasin. His dragon scales were cracked, and several ribs had been broken.
"I need treatment," he thought.
In his previous life, injuries to the muscles and bones would require at least a month of recovery even with scientific treatment. But in this magical world, all it took was a high-ranking priest casting Greater Healing Spell, and one could immediately move about without issue.
After thinking for a moment, Jose dismissed the idea of seeking help from a high-ranking priest. Healing resources within the Red Nest were limited. He had no strength and no backing, so he was not qualified.
With no other options, there was only one makeshift solution—eat a great deal to replenish his nutrients and accelerate wound healing.
"Thank God, food isn't a problem."
Jose tried to stand, only to find that his fractured shinbone could not support his massive body weight. Forcing himself to move would only worsen his injuries.
He sensed trouble and glanced at the other dragons around him.
Perhaps he could ask his "roommates" to bring him food. But... none of these roommates looked reliable.
Right, I still have an older brother.
He turned his neck and searched the surrounding dragons for his brother.
Found him!
"Baren!"
Not far away, the Red Dragon Baren rested with his head on the ground. Without lifting his head, he slanted a glance at his brother, the source of the voice, then closed his eyes and went back to sleep.
Jose swallowed the plea for help that had reached his lips. He could not see the slightest trace of familial affection in those eyes, only contempt and disdain.
After a brief moment of thought, he understood why Baren was so cold. Five-Colored Evil Dragons of the evil faction were naturally callous and respected only strength. His heavily injured self had already become weak in the eyes of the dragons, and the weak deserved nothing but bullying!
Once he understood everything, Jose's heart turned cold, and his body shuddered. At the same time, he realized that asking the other dragons for help would only bring humiliation upon himself.
What should he do?!
When he imagined himself dying painfully under the double torment of injury and hunger, his corpse tossed out of the cave like garbage by the other dragons, boundless terror gripped him.
No! I absolutely cannot die like this!
An idea flashed through his mind. He remembered the gold coins the previous owner had hidden away while scavenging the battlefield, and a plan formed in his heart.
"Baren!"
Baren suddenly rose and strode over aggressively. His enormous head drew near as he wrinkled his snout and bared sharp, saw-like fangs, with scarlet strands of meat still hanging between them. "Twice! Twice! You had better give me a satisfactory explanation! Otherwise..."
"I want to hire you. The payment is thirty-two gold coins."
"What do you take me for? You think a few gold coins can buy me off? Hey, wait, did you just say gold coins?!"
"..."
Before long, a skinned cow, its bright-red muscles and stark-white skeleton exposed, was placed before Jose. To survive, he could no longer care about his psychological aversion to raw meat. He simply shut his eyes, buried his head in the flesh, opened his jaws wide, and tore at it with his teeth, swallowing meat and bone together before chewing and gulping them down.
Hm?!
After the first mouthful of meat-and-bone mixture went down, Jose, who had been prepared to feel nauseated, unexpectedly found that although the food was far from delicious, it was still acceptable. This was probably a change brought about by his transformed body.
Overjoyed, he wolfed it down.
After a ravenous feast, an entire cow had gone into his stomach. Under the powerful digestion of a dragon's gastric juices, flesh and bone alike turned into nutrients and were carried by his circulatory system to every part of his body.
His wounds tingled faintly. Jose could feel his body slowly recovering, and he could not help letting out a long sigh of relief.
Then, honoring their agreement, he told Baren where the treasure was buried.
Dragons had eating habits similar to snakes. An Adult Dragon could go for months after one full meal. Growing Dragon Hatchlings consumed more energy, but after eating their fill, they could still go ten days without food. By then, he should be able to take care of himself.
"No need to worry about my injuries getting worse."
With food and warmth secured... came thoughts of safety.
After all, this was wartime. Judging from the situation before he had fallen unconscious, their side was still at a disadvantage. The visitor from another world could not help worrying about his future.
Notice: Unable to view Chapter 2. Please update your Qidian App version.
PS:
1. Strongly recommend using the Qidian Reading app. The author has posted many wonderful fan-art images, which cannot be viewed on foreign websites or web pages.
2. Comments, book reviews, fan art, and all kinds of experience farming are welcome.
New book reporting in. Please show your support.
Book reviews, votes, and suggestions are all welcome.
Also, there is a reference map of the Tydanore Continent in the book review section.
Before you continue