Su Qinglan sat frozen on the cold slab, her lips twitching.
…What kind of sick joke was this?
Five minutes ago, she was ready to hunt that man down and bash his head in with a rock. Now? She wasn't even sure she dared to look him in the eye.
Because even if she was innocent… the body she was in was not.
And Hu Yan, the terrifying tiger warrior had every reason to want her dead.
She swallowed hard. Damn it, this is so unfair! She hadn't even touched him! She was from an entirely different world!
Her name was also Su Qinglan. She was from a world where every day was a fight for survival, where zombies roamed the streets and the smell of blood was her alarm clock.
She'd been a fighter. A survivor. She had battled tooth and nail to stay alive in the apocalypse, dodging bullets, killing evolved beasts, and smashing zombie heads with whatever she could get her hands on.
Her last fight had been with the Zombie King itself, an ugly, massive thing that could split buildings in half with one swipe. And she'd been winning, almost in the fight.
Until the bastard decided to self-destruct.
She remembered the deafening explosion, the flash of burning light, the heat ripping through her body… and then nothing.
When she opened her eyes again....Boom!
She was in a Beast world.
With a stinking body, smelly animal hide, and a pissed-off tiger man who thought she'd drugged him.
Su Qinglan was still trying to wrap her head around this crazy transmigration when her stomach betrayed her.
Grrrrrr—!
The loud growl echoed in the quiet cave, making her freeze.
She stared down at her stomach like it had personally offended her. "Seriously? You're still hungry? Look at all this fat! Just burn that and feed yourself, why bother with food?" she muttered under her breath, poking at her soft belly in disbelief.
But before she could decide if she wanted to laugh or cry, another problem smacked her right in the face...literally.
The smell.
She hadn't noticed it before, but now that she was fully awake, it hit her like a punch to the nose.
The cave was disgusting.
It was dim and damp, the air was filled with the stench of rot. Pieces of spoiled meat were scattered around the floor, some of them were blackened with decay and others were crawling with white fat worms wriggling lazily through the flesh.
Piles of animal hides were thrown haphazardly in one corner, their fur clumped with dirt and grease. Judging by the smell, they hadn't seen sunlight, since the day they were made.
Her stomach turned. She lifted a hand to cover her nose, but the foulness was already in her lungs.
And then, she realized something worse.
The most horrifying smell… wasn't coming from the decayed meat or cave.
It was coming from her.
She froze, dread crawling up her spine. Slowly, hesitantly, she leaned down and sniffed herself.
Her eyes widened. Her brain short-circuited.
What the fuck…?!
It was rancid and filthy. Like she'd been rolling in a dead carcass for a week. The stench clung to her skin, her hair, her clothes, if you could even call this ragged hide a "clothes." Even when she was in an apocalyptic world, she was cleaner than this.
She gagged.
"Yuck—"
She gagged again, louder this time, clutching her throat. "Oh hell no… I'm going to faint…"
She needed a bath now or she would definitely faint again from this smell.
She waddled over to the corner of the cave where some spare animal hides were stacked. Most were torn, greasy, and had a suspicious yellow crust on them.
She picked the one that looked least like it had been used to wipe someone's behind.
"Luxury fashion, beast-style," she muttered dryly, wrapping it awkwardly around her body.
It was too small.
Her fat squished out from the sides like dough in a stuffed bun.
"Whatever. I'm not here to win a beauty contest."
With great effort and the balance of a drunk baby deer, Su Qinglan began the journey out of the cave.
"One step…" she counted in her mind, arms flapping as she steadied herself against the wall. "Two steps… three—WHOA—!"
She slipped slightly, and had to grip a jagged stone like her life depended on it.
This body had no balance. Every step was a threat. Her thighs rubbed together like sandpaper, and her breath was already getting heavy.
"If I fall," she muttered, "someone's going to mistake me for a boulder and roll me down a hill."
But she was completely not hopeless...
The good news?
Fresh air.
The moment she stepped out, her lungs expanded in relief.
Blue sky, green forest, and the scent of flowers and earth, finally. She actually got out from that hell.
She squinted at the sunlight like heaven's spotlight.
"At least I'm not dodging mutant rats or chewing expired protein bars made of unknown powdered."
Seriously, compared to the apocalypse, this place was practically a luxury resort.
Back there, even breathing could kill you. The air was thick with toxins. Food was either expired, mutated, or suspiciously wiggling. Water had to be boiled five times and filtered through crushed bones to be somewhat drinkable.
Here? Trees, Sunlight, Meat (hopefully unmutated), No radiation and definitely no blood rain.
She could work with this.
"Yeah…" she nodded slowly, motivation returning. "I can live here. In fact... I'm going to live damn well." What this place is, compared to that apocalyptic hell.
But with good news, there are always bad news too.
Because she had no idea where the river was. Or if this tribe even used water.
"Don't tell me these beasts are just dry wiping... I swear, if I walked into a no-bath society…"
She gagged again thinking of the meat pile in her cave. If that was the standard of hygiene here, she'd rather return to the apocalypse.
She kept walking slowly, Her arms stretched out like wings for balance, her thighs squeaking with every step. A couple of beast children ran past her, pointing and giggling.
"Hey! Big Auntie's moving!"
"She's wobbling like a fruit worm!"
Su Qinglan gave them a death glare.