Ji Chengzhou is honest, reserved, and taciturn. After awakening as a sentinel, he struggles to get by in the chaotic lower city. Through sheer effort, he finally gets into the United Military Academy.
But that is not the end of his journey. The United Military Academy is full of privileged heirs from the central district, each so arrogant they might as well look down their noses at everyone. They look down especially on poor sentinels from the lower city.
Ji Chengzhou knows he isn't welcome, so he keeps to himself, wearing gloomy black-rimmed glasses and avoiding people. He makes little effort to get to know any of them.
But the moment he sees Ke Li, everything changes. He stares in disbelief at the man on the podium, whose face bears a striking resemblance to his deceased first love. His long-dormant heart begins to pound.
I want to pursue him, Ji Chengzhou thinks.
The moment he makes up his mind, his quiet, regimented life is abruptly turned upside down.
*
Ke Li is a star at the United Military Academy, an exceptionally rare S-rank guide from a prestigious family. He has the best of everything, and he and Ji Chengzhou are people from completely different worlds.
He's always disdainful of sentinels who profess their love for him. But watching Ji Chengzhou obediently take orders like a silly, earnest little mutt satisfies his cruel desires completely.
His interest is piqued. He strings along the single-minded, dense sentinel, keeping him close but never letting him get too close, unable to resist seeing just how far Ji Chengzhou will go for him.
*
Ji Chengzhou knows he's being toyed with, but he silently accepts it. Without a word, he keeps treating Ke Li well and steadfastly pursues his plan to win him over.
Then one day, he opens his eyes to find himself in an unfamiliar, enormous bed. Broken sobs spill uncontrollably from his parted lips, his body seemingly tuned to maximum sensitivity, his flushed skin trembling nonstop.
Someone behind him grips his neck. A mature, handsome face is set in a deathly cold expression, his movements rough and merciless.
A large full-length mirror stands beside the bed, allowing Ji Chengzhou to see himself through his blurred, tear-filled eyes.
It's his face, but not quite. His features are sharper, and his body is more muscular. He looks at least ten years older.
Ji Chengzhou's mind is a complete muddle, and he can't spare the strength to think. Though he's a powerful sentinel, he's being manhandled with ease, reduced to tears and tossed around like a doll, unable to fight back.
"We've been married for five years, and you're still hung up on Ke Li?"
The man tightens his fingers around Ji Chengzhou's neck, watching coldly as his face turns red from lack of air. He leans down and presses close to his ear, his touch intimate, his voice icy. "If you dare go looking for him again, I'll fuck you to death in this bed."
Ji Chengzhou struggles to lift his head, and finally gets a clear look at the man's face. It's the childhood best friend who grew up joined at the hip with Ke Li!
He remembers trying to win Ke Li over and also sucking up to the friends around him.
Yet now this man, who had hardly ever been nice to him, holds him tight. His mocking words are aimed squarely at the absent Ke Li, and he spits them out with venom. "That bastard Ke Li is trying to seduce someone else's husband."
Reader's guide:
1. A sentinel-guide interstellar setting. Humans have an average lifespan of two hundred years.
2. The idea that everyone hates the protagonist is only how the uke sees things. P.S. The uke is not muscular! A hot-nerd type sentinel, with excellent grades in both theory and practical training, just rather quiet.
3. The story moves back and forth between two timelines.
4. One-on-one ending. The final couple is the first love who "came back from the dead."
5. Readers with very high moral standards for the seme and uke should proceed with caution.
6. More details to come.
Theme: Keep an optimistic attitude.
