Chapter 1: The First Iron Pillar

In the cold, pristine white laboratory, several cylindrical incubators with bases two meters in diameter stood out prominently. The incubators were filled with pale green nutrient fluid, with slender red connecting tubes extending from all sides, entwining the creatures inside like leeches.

A man with bulging muscles, four pairs of gigantic bird wings on his back, and a long, sharp bird-like beak.

A little girl whose green hair, resembling tangled vines and thorns, was longer than her body.

A young man who should have had a face growing at the back of his head and six arms sprouting from his sides.

A girl with skin as pale and cold as jade and winter snow, with four metallic, thin wings growing from her back.

Among these incubators, the female specimens appeared to be preserved with higher integrity.

“Beep.”

“Beep…”

The instruments operated rhythmically.

Bubbles slowly rose and enlarged as they ascended. Some bubbles split in two when they brushed against the sharp fingertips of the creatures inside, continuing their float upwards.

“Dr. Hill, these are the data from yesterday on specimen E503 from the bee species. The data shows the experiment is progressing well, edging closer to perfection, but the individual’s evolution results indicate… she is regressing. This is very strange.”

Dr. Hill frowned. Just as he reached to examine the data pad carefully, the floor suddenly trembled.

With a loud “boom,” red warning lights flared around the cold laboratory.

“Alert: The warship is under attack. Damage in sector B1 is at 75%.”

“Alert: The warship is under attack. Damage in sector V2 is at 31%.”

Dr. Hill’s face paled. He quickly pressed the earpiece on his head to connect with the bridge, asking, “What’s going on?”

“Doctor, we’ve encountered a band of space pirates. They have six small warships and are launching an attack on us!”

Dr. Hill cursed under his breath and immediately ordered, “Activate protective mode. We must ensure the specimens remain intact!”

But no sooner had he spoken than the laboratory shook violently again, even more intensely than before.

“Creak!”

A jagged crack crept up the wall, fracturing into a web of fissures.

A segment of the wall collapsed.

“Watch out!!”

Too late—the researcher near the workbench failed to dodge in time and was crushed by the falling wall.

The workbench itself was also destroyed.

“Beep!” Some buttons were triggered, and red connecting tubes extended from three of the incubators.

The tubes automatically linked to the specimens, injecting fluid.

“Stop it, now!!!” Dr. Hill’s eyes widened in rage.

These specimens were already in the mid-to-late stages of development; memory loading was nearly complete. Even a slight error in the fluid injection at this stage could cause catastrophic or irreversible changes.

Yet the experiment platform was out of control.

As Dr. Hill shouted, inside incubator C984, the specimen began to mutate.

The muscular man with four pairs of giant bird wings sprouted over ten thick green tentacles covered in countless suction cups from his back. These newly formed tentacles swelled like enormous leeches.

Within mere seconds, the nearly two-meter-tall muscle-bound man was drained until only a shriveled skin sack remained.

The swelling tentacles grew until they suddenly burst with a “pop,” releasing a pool of blood in the incubator.

“No!!” Dr. Hill’s voice was hoarse.

Mutation was not limited to one incubator; all that had fluid injected showed changes.

The little girl with thorn-like hair rapidly increased in height, growing four hands at her knee joints.

The girl with four pairs of thin wings on her back also changed. Her spinal bones elongated as if countless tiny insects had burrowed inside. Moments later, another pair of thin wings sprouted from her back.

Three pairs, six metallic wings in total, shimmered with a cold metallic sheen, shifting from black to fiery red.

Next, rows of dark green scales appeared on the outer sides of her arms, the contrast between jade white and deep green reminiscent of exquisite jade adorned with emeralds.

Almost every incubator was transforming. With the excessive infusion of fluid, the liquid inside became murky, obscuring visibility.

***

No one noticed that inside incubator E503, the girl with milky white skin slowly opened her eyes.

Her deep teal eyes resembled a moss-covered mountain pool or a sovereign jade submerged in ink—black and blue intermingled to give off a piercing winter chill.

After opening, her eyes slowly closed again.

After a long moment, the laboratory’s shaking ceased, but the red warning lights outside remained lit.

Dr. Hill exhaled, “Finally calm. Quickly seal the conduits—stop all fluid injections!”

“Dr. Hill, we’ve succeeded! The X-value of E503 has reached Horya’s equilibrium point. This is truly a great miracle!” The voice trembled with excitement.

Someone else said, “But Doctor, the data shows she’s an ultimate form. Why does she still retain so many primitive traits?”

Dr. Hill was clearly troubled by this.

The ultimate form is the highest classification of interstellar species. They rarely exhibit more than five percent of their primitive traits, with the rest adaptable for combat needs.

The higher the ultimate form’s level, the more ‘complete’ they are.

This batch was from the Lignamo species, also ultimate forms.

Unlike other ultimate forms that excel in physical strength, the Lignamo species’ advantage was intelligence.

Their intelligence surpassed most in the universe, but their combat capabilities were weak, and their genetics were unstable, making reproduction difficult, hence their sparse population.

Yet their scarcity didn’t dampen their ambition to dominate the universe.

They targeted the monarch of the Yiyan species, believing that by replacing their king, they could control the entire race.

The Lignamo called this plan “The Replacement of the King.”

But evidently, they were now facing difficulties.

Dr. Hill stared at the girl behind him, now with six thin wings and arms and thighs covered in dark blue scales, his frown deepening.

This was wrong; it shouldn’t be like this. Where had the error occurred?

Just as the lead scientist was about to examine more closely, the shaking resumed.

Along with it came a tense voice from the cockpit: “Doctor, the pirate gang has powerful reinforcements. We need to use spatial jump. The plan is to land for refuge and repairs on an exile planet about 4,300 light-years away.”

Dr. Hill’s gaze sharpened. “Quick, get the specimens into reinforced incubation chambers. We’ll deal with everything after the spatial jump.”

If it were an ordinary spatial jump, the ship’s vibrations would be negligible. But with pursuers, it was a different matter.

Several incubators’ bases lit up blue, quickly lowering their height until the incubators were no longer visible.

“Send the engineering repair team here immediately. Damaged circuits must be fixed at once!”

*

After being lowered, the incubators operated normally under program control.

In an unseen corner—

The bee species girl trapped inside an incubator, with six wings on her back, was undergoing changes.

Her steel wings were rapidly retracting, bones folding and retreating into her back.

The dark blue scales on her waist and thighs also vanished. No one knew how much time had passed, but when the armor-like scales disappeared, the exposed skin looked no different from that of a normal person.

Any researcher witnessing this would be stunned—

The ultimate form they had doubted moments before now met all the highest standards perfectly.

The girl opened her eyes again. The moment she did, her deep teal eyes briefly transformed into compound bee eyes, the whites filled with countless tiny pupils. Within a second, they returned to normal.

She knew she was a product of their experiments and, strangely, was aware of the countless trials before her.

They had implanted memories and a basic database, named her 503, and called themselves her “father.”

Her mission from these fathers was to unify the bee species and replace the current bee queen.

503 found this utterly laughable.

She was her own free individual, refusing to bow to anyone. If one day she became queen, she would never allow anyone above her.

Of course, 503 didn’t realize her thoughts were influenced by an “ambition program” implanted in her brain.

Unfortunately, during the recent incident, this program experienced slight deviation.

Tearing off the red tubes attached to her, 503 clenched her fists and struck the ten-centimeter-thick incubator wall in front of her.

The wall, designed to withstand ten tons, cracked like spiderwebs from her single blow.

***

The pale green fluid leaked with a sizzling sound.

A jade-like, milky white foot stepped onto the floor, its rounded nails glowing with healthy pink.

At first, her steps were awkward, like a patient who had been bedridden with broken legs for over a decade just beginning rehabilitation.

Step by slow step, a trail of water extended behind her.

503 went to the researchers’ lounge, guided by the implanted knowledge that normal people wore clothes.

She needed to appear normal once outside to avoid being captured.

Using brute force, she broke the lounge door and found a white lab coat a size larger than her own in a cabinet.

Clumsily donning the coat, 503 stood before a mirror, fastening buttons.

The reflection revealed a face so beautiful it was near perfection—not a traditional feminine beauty but one of heroic spirit and vigor, still ambiguous in gender due to youth.

Just as she finished buttoning, the ship-wide announcement sounded.

“In three minutes, the warship will land on the exile planet. There will be minor turbulence during landing. All personnel, please ensure safety.”

At that moment, the floor beneath the lounge flashed a wildly blinking red marker.

The room was quiet, but 503’s keen hearing caught distant sounds.

“Warning: Research sector F has been compromised. Initial assessment indicates intruders. Immediate clearance required.”

Squinting her eyes, 503 quickly moved out.

She had to leave.

The grand mission from her “fathers”? Let them go to hell.

After exiting the lounge, her steps grew lighter, clearly having adjusted to the initial difficulty.

She lacked the ship’s map but could judge the intruders’ location by their footsteps.

Turning a corner, 503 saw a metal door ahead.

Coincidentally, the door opened, revealing a nearly two-meter-tall Lignamo soldier.

Startled to see the girl in the white lab coat, the soldier reacted swiftly.

“Intruder?!!”

He snatched an energy orb from his waist, which unfolded into a bird-wing-shaped gun in his hand.

“Bang! Bang!”

Black energy beams flashed toward her at lightning speed.

Despite aiming directly, after the barrage, no silhouette remained.

The soldier was stunned. “Wh-where?”

A cold hand suddenly grasped the soldier’s neck from behind.

“How did you get out here?” The voice was hoarse, as if unused for a long time.

The soldier’s pupils contracted. Over his neck, his normally closed third eye with teeth opened.

Unfortunately, it was immediately plucked out.

“Ah!” The soldier cried out in pain as the mechanical systems on his body prepared to activate under the controller’s brainwaves.

“I won’t say this twice.”

*

“Boom!!”

The Lignamo warship, about five hundred meters from the surface, was blasted open from the side.

Under the vast sky, a white bird seemed to fly past the ship.

As 503 stepped out, she looked up at the night sky, where a crescent moon hung faintly.

The delicate crescent was gradually obscured until it vanished.

Gazing into the ink-black heavens, 503 murmured, “A new moon… then I’ll call myself New Moon.”