In the Interstellar Federation, ruled by genetic aristocrats, "heart-corruptors" are filthier than radioactive dust.
Shi Xinli's blood corrodes everything it touches, while her body crystallizes in turn. She is a living paradox, a walking plague. When her tribe sacrifices her in exchange for purifying agents, the entire altar melts into molten iron in her blood.
Jin Yuhen, the Federation's supreme commander, is a monster who walks through radiation hell in the flesh. He grants Shi Xinli the "right to survive." "Your blood is the key to opening the Abyssal Hive, and my mission is to burn it to ashes."
To suppress an uprising by the Abyssal Kin, Jin Yuhen's genetic chain is pierced by dark matter spores.
The only way to delay his disintegration is to turn Shi Xinli's spine into a symbiotic device:
Every drop of her blood keeps him alive, while every wound accelerates the corrosion of the Federation's energy grid.
But the blood-corrosion serum in the hidden compartment, resonating at the same frequency as her blood, points to an even filthier truth...
