In this era built of steel and lies, dragons never really die - they just change their ways, gnawing at the foundation of reality.
The continuous rain in Jiangcheng washes away the rust of the industrial waste city and conceals the undercurrent surging underground. Seventeen-year-old Lin An drags his broken lungs and a failed test paper to spend his days numbly in bullying and poverty. He didn't know that deep in his soul slept a ray of will from the ultimate in the world - that was the broken godhead of Nidhogg, the dragon of the end who gnawed at the roots of the world tree in mythology.
When he lost control and ignited the black flames in the dark alley for the first time, the gears of fate had been shattered and reorganized. This is not a celebration of the birth of a hero, but the awakening of a curse.
In this divided world:
The ancient dragon-blood family is entrenched in the dark side of power and treats mortals as trivial;
The military's special forces wield firearms that combine science and alchemy to hunt all "unstable factors";
The "scavengers" wandering in the rifts of the gray realm lick the blood of monsters and interests to survive.
Lin An was forced to step into this quagmire, met Su Wan, a former elite soldier who defected, and learned to breathe among gunfire and dragon roars. His power is not a gift, but a chronic suicide - every time he uses the black flame, it burns his already fragile life. There is no redemption from the sky, no natural victory, only choices made with blood and regret in desperate situations again and again.
He will witness the true majesty of the Western dragon: from the rock dragon that controls the earth to the illusory ancient dragon that controls nightmares, each one follows the ancient authority
