Chapter 2

The Little Skeleton didn’t stay away for long. It soon returned, carrying something in its bony arms, which it gently placed in front of Mu Huiyue.

A few wrinkled, dried-up fruits that vaguely resembled apples and some strips of dried meat from an unknown creature, dark and muddy in color.

“These… are for me?” Mu Huiyue asked hesitantly. The appearance of the “food” wasn’t exactly appetizing, but at least it looked edible for a human.

The Little Skeleton nodded enthusiastically, pushing the food closer with its small hands, its hollow eyes full of anticipation.

Mu Huiyue swallowed nervously. She was, in fact, starving. Since falling into this mysterious realm, she hadn’t eaten anything. At first, she hadn’t fully felt the hunger due to the shock and pain, but now the gnawing sensation in her stomach was impossible to ignore. Her body was growing weaker, her injuries aching, and the blood loss and cold were rapidly draining her energy. She needed nourishment, no matter how little.

Picking up one of the shriveled fruits, she forced herself to take a bite, chewing it down slowly. It tasted terrible, but at least it didn’t have an odd aftertaste. She ate quickly, finishing the fruit before moving on to the dried meat.

Seeing the human girl eat what it had brought, the Little Skeleton seemed overjoyed. A swirl of dark mist formed around its feet, rising in a happy dance.

But then, out of nowhere, a deafening boom echoed through the castle, causing the very walls to tremble. The mist surrounding the Little Skeleton dissipated in the shockwave.

Mu Huiyue froze, her breath catching in her throat as the air around them grew heavy and icy, a cold so intense it almost felt tangible. A powerful presence was drawing near, slowly, steadily.

Boom…

Boom…

Each thud reverberated through the castle, and Mu Huiyue suddenly realized—those were footsteps. Massive footsteps, belonging to some high-ranking supernatural creature prowling through this eerie place.

The Little Skeleton’s teeth clattered nervously. It seemed to be saying something, but Mu Huiyue couldn’t understand.

Boom…

The footsteps drew closer and closer. The Little Skeleton began pacing in panicked circles before it suddenly darted toward Mu Huiyue. With a swift motion, it disassembled itself into hundreds of tiny bones, scattering them over her body, using its small form to shield her.

The dark mist surged upward, merging with the delicate white bones, covering Mu Huiyue entirely.

At that very moment, she felt a heavy gaze land on her, as if something immense had locked onto her presence.

Under the influence of the mist, Mu Huiyue’s body became rigid. She forced herself to move her eyes and caught sight of the source of that terrifying gaze—a giant, rotting eye peeking through a crack in the wall, its blood-red pupil swirling with black mist, staring unblinkingly into the room.

Mu Huiyue shut her eyes immediately, holding her breath as tightly as she could. The Little Skeleton’s skull rested over her heart, and the thick mist it conjured muffled the frantic beating. Cloaked in the eerie mist, her injured and weakened body now appeared as nothing more than a fresh corpse.

Time seemed to drag on endlessly, but at last, the overwhelming pressure lifted. The heavy footsteps slowly retreated, and when Mu Huiyue opened her eyes again, the monstrous eye was gone, the crack in the wall empty once more.

The scattered bones of the Little Skeleton reassembled themselves in front of her, and it let out a sigh of relief, lightly patting its hollow chest as if it had a heart to calm.

“Thank you. You saved me,” Mu Huiyue said softly, reaching out to gently pat the Little Skeleton’s head.

The Little Skeleton bashfully scratched its cheekbone, then pushed the remaining food closer to her.

Mu Huiyue forced herself to finish what little food the creature had brought.

But the meager portions were far from enough. Even after eating all of it, her body continued to weaken. The Little Skeleton tried to help, bringing her an old, tattered blanket when she started shivering from the cold. Mu Huiyue did her best to stop the bleeding and care for her wounds, but it wasn’t enough. She could feel herself slipping away.

“Broken bones, blood loss… maybe even infection,” she murmured with a pale smile, looking at the Little Skeleton. “Without modern medicine, a human like me is doomed, huh?”

Her smile grew weaker. “I wish I could ‘reassemble’ myself like you.”

Even the smallest supernatural beings had powers beyond the reach of ordinary humans.

The Little Skeleton stood frozen in place, helpless as Mu Huiyue’s voice grew weaker and weaker. It seemed so distraught that it was almost on the verge of tears—if skeletons could cry.

This was the first being it had ever met that was willing to talk to it, willing to accept its kindness. Whether she was its kind or a human didn’t matter. The Little Skeleton just wanted her to stay like this—to not turn into one of those mindless, rotting corpses driven by instinct.

“Click… click… click…” The Little Skeleton lifted its head, trembling with each movement of its fragile shoulders, as thick black mist gathered into tear-like droplets and vanished into the air before they could hit the ground.

It genuinely wanted to save her.

Mu Huiyue, wrapped weakly in the tattered blanket, wanted to reach out and pat the Little Skeleton on the head, but she couldn’t even manage such a simple gesture. Her broken bones had turned a ghastly purple, but the greater threat was blood loss. Her attempts at first aid hadn’t worked, and in this castle overrun with the undead, there was nothing that could help her heal.

The best chance she had was waiting for rescue, but based on past incidents, these sudden realms often sealed themselves off from the outside world during their initial phases. Some remained closed for days, others for decades—even centuries-old realms were still in isolation.

Even if the Bureau found a way to breach the realm, it wouldn’t happen for days. And in her current state, Mu Huiyue would be lucky to survive until dawn—by then, she might as well be a corpse, joining the Little Skeleton as one of the undead.

“Wonder if being the first transmigrator to die on arrival would earn me some sort of award for being the worst?” Mu Huiyue thought with bitter humor. She looked at the Little Skeleton, who seemed close to tears, and wanted to smile, but even lifting the corners of her mouth felt impossibly heavy.

She wasn’t ready to face death, not yet.

Especially not when she had just arrived in such a fascinating world—a world with extraordinary creatures, where people could bond with them and become Beastmasters. She wanted to live, to see more beings like the Little Skeleton.

Beastmasters…

A flicker of memory passed through her mind. Beastmasters, thanks to their contracts and the connection with their beast spaces, had much greater physical resilience than ordinary humans. Even a newly awakened Beastmaster wouldn’t find themselves in a life-threatening situation from injuries like hers.

If she could awaken as a Beastmaster, Mu Huiyue might be able to survive on her own and escape this cursed castle.

But awakening wasn’t that simple. Even with modern advances, only about 60% of the population could achieve it. Many spent their entire lives without ever awakening.

Humans who had the talent for it typically awakened between the ages of fifteen and eighteen. There were rare cases of younger individuals, but those who passed eighteen without awakening had little to no hope after that.

Mu Huiyue was already seventeen. Her chance for spontaneous awakening was slim, and she had been anxious about it, researching alternative methods for forced awakening.

Among the various theories—enhanced meditation, brainwave stimulation—there was one approach that involved absorbing the core resources of a realm to forcibly trigger an awakening. Humans originally gained access to the Beast Space through exposure to realm energy, and while there had been rare success stories with this method, most ordinary people couldn’t handle the energy of a realm core. The power would overwhelm and kill them before they had the chance to awaken.

The original Mu Huiyue had dismissed this as too dangerous, and besides, realm cores were not something ordinary people had access to. But now, here she was—inside a realm, on the verge of death. If she did nothing, death was certain.

“If that’s the case, I might as well take the risk… Right, Little Skeleton?” Mu Huiyue forced herself to stay conscious, turning to the tearful creature. “Can you… find something like the realm core for me?”

She did her best to explain, and the Little Skeleton listened quietly. The dark mist swirling around its feet sank to the floor. It looked back at her, resolute, then nodded firmly and ran off, its little legs clicking as it went.

Who knows how much it understood…

Mu Huiyue huddled against the wall, wrapping herself tightly in the blanket. Her stomach was wet with blood, the pain and cold unbearable. The blood loss was starting to make her dizzy, her thoughts blurring.

Sending the Little Skeleton to find the realm core—it was asking too much. Even if she didn’t know the rating of this undead castle, the creature guarding the core was likely two whole tiers stronger than the Little Skeleton. There was no way it could handle such a task alone.

“I’m sorry, Little Skeleton… but I just don’t know what else to do.”

Mu Huiyue’s mind drifted, fragments of random memories flashing by, like a preview of her life before the end.

Would she return to her original world after she died?

And what about the original Mu Huiyue? If she was here, had the original taken her place back there?

If that were the case, the original Mu Huiyue was probably happier. After all, she had despised this world of extraordinary creatures and Beastmasters.

In this world, Mu Huiyue’s parents were both legendary Beastmasters, famous and powerful. As their daughter, she had been under immense pressure, expected to follow in their footsteps. She had never slacked off, excelling academically and winning countless Beastmaster competitions, securing first place at one of the top Beastmaster schools in the nation. Everyone was waiting for her to awaken before graduation and carry on her parents’ legacy.

Yet, despite her perfect record, Mu Huiyue had still not awakened, even as she neared her eighteenth birthday.

No one believed that the daughter of two legendary Beastmasters could fail to awaken. But as her eighteenth birthday approached, and with no signs of awakening, the whispers of doubt grew louder. Her father’s disappointed gaze pierced through her like a dagger, wounding her deeply.

At a time like this, the final blow came from her younger “sister”—a girl with whom her relationship had always been strained and who was often deemed inferior to her by others. Yet, it was this sister who awakened as a Beastmaster before her.

That was the last straw for Mu Huiyue. If this accident hadn’t happened, she probably would have done whatever it took to find the realm core, risking her young life for the slim chance of awakening.

Her memories were filled with the determination to be the best. A girl as proud and competitive as the original Mu Huiyue was likely better suited for that world—a world where there were no parental expectations or restrictions, only the need to fight and forge ahead through the trials of life.

If that were true, then the Mu Huiyue lying on the brink of death in this world… might no longer have a place to return to.

Her consciousness began to fade, and Mu Huiyue felt the icy cold seeping deeper into her bones. She curled up tighter, trying to hold on a little longer.

The original Mu Huiyue’s memories were filled with disdain, but she liked this place. She loved the magical creatures stored in the original’s memories.

She wanted to talk to the Little Skeleton more. The small creature seemed so lonely, yet it had been so earnest in helping her, even though they had just met.

She wanted to live.

If possible.

If…

“Click, click…” came the faint sound of bones knocking together, followed by a gentle poke against her body.

Mu Huiyue summoned every ounce of strength she had left to open her eyes. Through her blurry vision, she saw the Little Skeleton, its body still wrapped in swirling black mist. In one bony hand, it held two delicate flower petals glowing with an eerie blue light, like wisps of cold fire.

Though the petals were small, their energy was far more potent than that of the decaying monster she had encountered earlier. The blue glow pushed away the thick, cold darkness hanging in the air, and strangely, it brought Mu Huiyue a sensation that almost felt… warm, despite its lack of heat.

She closed her eyes again, and as the Little Skeleton gently fed her the petals, she swallowed them.