Yue Yue was still in shock. Her head was already splitting apart, and now the system kept throwing one notification after another. Her brain felt like it was going to explode.
The warnings didn't stop.
Warning: Polluted Bee Swarm approaching… Estimated arrival: 7 minutes.
She wanted to cry.
Why me? Why here? What even is this place?
She immediately shouted in her mind: "Hey! System! Help me! Do something!"
But no one answered. Not even a slight response, and she felt like she was the insane one for talking to someone she couldn't even see.
Her anger shot straight to the sky.
"You dead idiot! Are you dead or what?! At least give me some strength to stand up! Why am I even in this condition?!"
She yelled inside her mind so loudly it hurt.
Finally, the system responded, but not with words. A cold mechanical panel opened in her mind like a drone flickering to life.
Strength Restoration: +30 Points
Cost: 10 Affection Points
Note: Points will be deducted from the Host.
Yue Yue almost fainted.
"Then just give it to me! I need it right now!" she shouted urgently.
She didn't care about costs, repayment, anything. Something horrible was coming, and if she stayed lying like a dead corpse, she really would die.
The system calmly responded:
Current Points: 0
Yue Yue's whole soul froze.
"Then lend me! I will repay it back!" she screamed desperately.
There was a short pause.
Then:
Loan Approved.
Right after that message, something small and round suddenly appeared in her mouth. It was a pill judging by its shape. It melted instantly, turning into a warm wave flowing through her veins.
Instantly her numb muscles twitched. Her fingers trembled. Her chest finally expanded with a strong breath.
Strength returned to her body like a sudden spark of life. She gasped, and finally, finally, her eyes snapped open.
The sight stunned her.
She wasn't in a forest. She wasn't on the ground she remembered injuring herself on.
She was inside a strange… chamber?
The walls were made of some unknown material. They were smooth, hard, glowing faintly from inside. There was no sunlight, no windows, yet the whole place shone brightly. The light had no source. It was just there, floating in the air.
"What kind of place is this…" she muttered.
Before she could think further, another sound echoed.
Buzz! Buzz!
It was so loud that it made her skull ache; she nearly jumped in fright.
Something was coming. Ahh! It must be those damn beasts.
She scrambled up from the ground instantly. Her legs were shaky, but she forced herself to move. Thinking could wait. Crying could wait. Understanding this insane world could wait.
Right now… she had to survive.
She didn't doubt the system even for a second. This wasn't the first time she had heard of systems… her mother had one too. Except her mother's system was pretty good… not like hers… a loudspeaker that only knew how to shout warnings and nothing else.
But that didn't matter now.
Yue Yue quickly scanned the area, remembering the direction the men had come from. She hurried toward that side, half-limping, half-stumbling.
But there was no opening in sight. She was pretty sure they had come from this direction; it was directly facing her back.
"How did those two even get out?" she whispered in frustration.
She pushed forward until she reached something… a tall, smooth surface with strange lines running through it. A giant panel.
She didn't know it was a high-tech automatic gate.
She reached out to touch it, and then her skin crawled with fear.
A loud, terrifying buzzing sound came from behind her.
When she turned around…
A storm of Polluted Bees with black bodies, metal-like wings, and glowing red eyes was rushing straight toward her like a dark tornado.
Her whole soul almost left her body.
Yue Yue really wanted to cry.
She felt like… what kind of scene had she actually come into?!
If her mommy and daddy were here, she would have already grabbed their clothes and whispered:
"Mommy… Daddy… please help me once… then she will never do anything mischievous…"
As she looked around again, she confirmed it. Yes. This place was strange. So strange that she doubted her own life.
And those Polluted Bees, those horrifying flying monsters, were even worse. Just one look at them made her legs weaken like jelly. It wasn't like she had never seen ferocious beasts before, but these ones were… different. They were way huge and terrifying. And covered in some hard rock shield.
Back home, her family always protected her like a little princess. She was the youngest in the entire family, the apple of everyone's eye. She never needed to fight, never needed to struggle for life, never needed to deal with monsters bigger than a buffalo.
And now she was actually here alone.
The first Polluted Bee swooped toward her…
And Yue Yue did the only thing her panicking soul could think of. She immediately dodged… but the damn huge bee was hell-bent on eating her.
And why was it opening its mouth? Did it directly want to gobble her up? Just looking at the countless tiny razor-sharp teeth in its mouth as strange saliva dropped on the ground, she shuddered in disgust.
But the Polluted Beast didn't care about her disgust; its eyes were shining, and finally, it could have a delicious meal. It opened its mouth wider, wanting to directly bite her neck.
Crunch!
Ahh! But it only bit air as the delivery meat disappeared from its mouth.
Poof!
On the other hand, her body suddenly shrank and turned into a small white snake.
A very small snake.
The bees froze. Their food had suddenly disappeared. All the giant bees looked left, right, up, down.
But Yue Yue was gone.
Or rather, she was crawling like a tiny noodle near the corner of the wall.
Her tiny white body wriggled quickly, hiding between fallen debris, strange items, shattered metallic pieces, and cracked floor tiles. She squeezed under a big chunk of metal, her new snake tail trembling with fear.
Above her, the bees went crazy.
Since the "food" vanished, they buzzed angrily, spinning in circles. Some of them crashed into each other. Some started fighting like children fighting over snacks. Others rammed into the walls, sending sparks everywhere.
They were furious, thinking someone had eaten the food before them.
Yue Yue looked out from her hiding place with wide snake eyes.
Their savage fighting skills terrified her.
Just watching them made her swallow hard, her tiny pink tongue flickering nervously.
If one of them landed on me… I won't even have a whole body left…
She shuddered hard.
Not wanting to become bee snacks, she crawled faster, her tiny snake form slithering as quickly as she could.
She had to get away. She had to find a safe corner.
Those two men said this inside place was dangerous. Maybe the outside was safer. Maybe she could escape.
She slid along the wall, trying to find any kind of opening. A crack… a hole… a hidden door… anything.
She didn't know where she was. She didn't know what she had become. But she knew one thing: She needed to get out of this terrifying place.