Help! I transmigrated to a Beast World

Chapter 143: Here we Go Again

The first thing Xin Yi felt was cold.

The second thing she felt was grass. And dirt. And something sharp poking her ribs.

The third thing she felt was air. On her skin. Everywhere.

Her eyes snapped open.

Green. Everything was green. Trees. Leaves. Branches. Sky through the canopy.

Forest.

She was in a forest.

She was naked in a forest.

"Oh no," she whispered. "Not again."

She sat up too fast. Her head spun and her stomach lurched. She pressed a hand to her temple and felt... nothing. No memories. No explanation. Just the lingering sense that she had done this before.

Have I done this before?

She looked down at herself. Naked. Covered in dirt and small scratches. No injuries. No blood. Just...naked.

"This feels familiar," she muttered. "Why does this feel familiar?"

A bird squawked overhead. A squirrel, or something that looked like a squirrel but had too many teeth, scurried up a tree.

Xin Yi looked around.

No bathroom. No apartment. No toilet.

Just forest.

"Okay," she said. "Okay. Don’t panic. Panicking won’t help. Panicking is what got me—"

She stopped.

Got me what?

She couldn’t remember.

[iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii—]

She flinched. The sound was inside her head. A high-pitched whine, like a radio searching for a signal.

"What is—"

[—zzzzzzzz—ERROR—zzzzzzzz—]

A blue screen flickered in front of her face. It was glitching. Fragments of text appeared and disappeared too fast to read.

[System... booting...]

[Corrupted save file detected...]

[Host identity: uuuuuuuuuuu—]

[ERROR]

[Host identity: XXXXXXXXX—]

[ERROR ERROR ERROR]

Xin Yi stared at the broken screen in confusion. "What are you?"

[System. I am System.]

[I think.]

[I am... broken.]

The words appeared slowly. Uncertain. Like the voice behind them was confused.

"You are in my head," Xin Yi said slowly, still processing what was happening.

[Yes.]

[You are Host.]

[I think.]

[Do you remember being Host?]

"No," Xin Yi said. "I don’t remember anything."

[Oh.]

[That is... inconvenient.]

She stood up. Slowly. Her legs were shaky. Her body felt like it had been asleep for a long time. Or thrown through something. Or both.

The System flickered beside her.

[Warning: Host is naked.]

"Yes, I noticed."

[This feels familiar.]

"It does," Xin Yi admitted. "Why does it feel familiar?"

[I do not know.]

[My memory is also broken.]

[But I know you.]

[I know I know you.]

Xin Yi wanted to ask more. But the cold was getting unbearable. She needed to cover herself.

She looked around and saw large leaves hanging from a nearby tree. Big enough to serve as makeshift clothing.

"Leaves," she said. "I’m going to have to wear leaves, aren’t I?"

[Yes.]

[That is what Host did before.]

[I think.]

She gathered the largest leaves she could reach. Her hands moved with surprising efficiency, folding, tying, weaving. She didn’t remember learning how to do this. But her fingers knew.

Within minutes, she had something resembling a top and a skirt. It was ugly. It was lumpy. But it was much better than being naked.

[Host is resourceful.]

[Host was always resourceful.]

[I remember that.]

"You remember fragments," Xin Yi said. "So do I. Kind of." She touched her chest. Right over her heart. "There’s something here. A feeling. Like I’m supposed to be...somewhere else. With someone."

[Host had mates.]

[I think.]

[Many mates.]

[Very attractive mates.]

[Very possessive mates.]

[They fought over Host.]

[Often.]

Xin Yi blinked. "I had multiple boyfriends?"

[Yes.]

[A panther.]

[A snake.]

[A wolf.]

[A lion.]

[Maybe more.]

[I cannot remember.]

[My files are corrupted.]

"That’s... a lot," Xin Yi responded. "That’s a lot of boyfriends."

[Host handled it well.]

[Mostly.]

[There was screaming.]

[But Host enjoyed the screaming.]

[I think.]

She didn’t know what to do with that information. So she pushed it aside and focused on the practical.

"Where am I?" she asked.

[Scanning...]

[Error.]

[Location: Forest.]

[Specifics: Unknown.]

[But Host was here before.]

[I remember trees.]

[And a panther.]

[And screaming.]

"You keep mentioning screaming."

[Host screamed a lot.]

[It was usually justified.]

Xin Yi sighed. She had no memories. A broken voice in her head. Leaves for clothes. And the vague sense that she had done this exact thing before.

"Fine then," she said. "Let’s explore."

The forest was thick. Dense. Alive with sounds she didn’t recognize, chirps and rustles and the occasional crash of something large moving through the underbrush.

The trees slowly thinned. The ground dipped. She heard water, a stream, maybe. She was heading toward it when the howl came.

It was loud. Long. Drawn out like a wolf calling to the moon.

Except it wasn’t a wolf.

She knew that somehow. The howl was wrong for a wolf. Too high. Too manic. Too.....giggly?

[Warning.]

[Creatures detected.]

[Threat level: Unknown.]

[I think host should—]

The bushes in front of her exploded.

Three shapes burst out. Spotted. Hunched. Moving on two legs but running like they were born to chase. Yellow eyes. Wide grins. Patches of fur and scars and tails that wagged too fast.

Hyenas.

But not normal hyenas. These were standing on two legs. They had hands. Claws. Teeth that looked like they could crush bone.

Xin Yi stumbled backward. Her hand grabbed for a weapon that wasn’t there. Hyenas?! She woke up here and the first thing that happens is she gets attacked by Hyenas?!

And worst part of it, she had no weapon to use!

Damn it.

The lead hyena saw her and froze. Its yellow eyes went wide. Then its tail started wagging so hard its whole body shook.

"BOSS!"

The other two hyenas skidded to a halt behind him. Their eyes found her. Their faces split into identical grins.

"BOSS! BOSS IS BACK!"

"WE FOUND BOSS!"

"BOSS LOOKS DIFFERENT! BOSS HAS LEAVES!"

"BOSS, WE MISSED YOU! WHERE DID YOU GO? THE SKY ATE YOU!"

"THE SKY WAS ANGRY! BUT BOSS IS BACK!"

They were circling her. Not attacking. Not threatening. Circling like excited puppies who had just found their favorite person.

Xin Yi pressed her back against a tree. Her heart was pounding and her hands were shaking. They....weren’t going to kill her?

Why were they so happy to see her?

"I—" she started. "Who are you calling boss?"

The hyenas stopped.

The lead one tilted his head. His tail kept wagging.

"Boss?" he said. "You are Boss. You are tiny pink Boss. You gave us cooked meat. You said we were family. You said we bite ankles for justice."

"Justice?" Xin Yi repeated weakly. Were they insane?

"For the Boss," the hyena agreed. "Always for the Boss."

The other two nodded vigorously.

"Boss forgot us?" The lead hyena’s ears drooped. "Boss forgot Gou Sheng? And Er Gou? And Da Sha?"

The names meant nothing to her. But the ache in her chest meant something.

"I’m sorry," she said. "I don’t remember. I don’t remember anything."

Gou Sheng, if that was his name, stepped closer.

"That is okay, Boss," he said. "We remember enough for everyone. We will protect Boss. We will find Boss’s memories. We will bite anyone who tries to hurt Boss while Boss is confused."

"We bite very hard," Da Sha added. "We practiced."

"We practice every day," Er Gou confirmed. "On trees. And rocks. And sometimes each other."

"Er Gou bit my tail yesterday," Da Sha said.

"Your tail was in my mouth."

"You put your mouth on my tail!"

"Because it was there!"

Gou Sheng ignored them. He was still looking at Xin Yi. His yellow eyes were soft.

"Boss is scared," he said. "That is okay. Boss was scared before. When Boss first came. But Boss was brave anyway."

"I was?"

"You hit a panther with a rock. You built a city. You told wolves to wear pants." He nodded solemnly. "You were very brave."

Xin Yi looked at the three hyenas. At their scars and their patches and their wagging tails.

She had no idea who they were.

But the feeling that she was indeed something more to them burned in her chest. Hmmm.

"Okay," she said slowly. "Okay. I’m... I’m Boss. Apparently."

Gou Sheng’s tail exploded into motion.

"BOSS SAID YES!"

"BOSS REMEMBERED!"

"BOSS DID NOT REMEMBER. BOSS AGREED. THERE IS A DIFFERENCE."

"DO NOT RUIN THE MOMENT, ER GOU."

Xin Yi let out a breath. It wasn’t a laugh. But it was close.

"System," she thought. "Are you seeing this?"

[I see everything.]

[I do not understand any of it.]

[But I see it.]

[Host has hyenas.]

In the distance, something roared.

Not a hyena. Not a wolf. Something bigger.

Gou Sheng’s ears flattened. "We should go, Boss. The red-eyes are close."

"The what?"

"Red-eyes. Sick ones. The angry ones." He glanced at the darkening forest. "They do not remember faces. They only remember hunger."

Xin Yi looked at the trees. At the shadows growing longer as the sun sank.

She had no memories. No weapon. No plan.

But she had hyenas.

And somewhere, deep in her chest, a voice whispered: This isn’t your first time. You survived before. You’ll survive again.

"Okay," she said. "Lead the way, Gou Sheng."

The hyena grinned.

"Follow Boss? No, Boss. Boss follows us."

"That’s what I said."

"No. You said.....never mind. This way!"

They disappeared into the trees.

Xin Yi followed.

Behind her, the forest went quiet.

And in the distance, something roared again.