Chapter 1

As the light in the forest completely dimmed, the traveling beastmen found a moss-covered tree root to rest on. The dominant figures in this group were a dozen or so warrior beastmen from the fierce beast tribe. They were tall and robust like iron towers, with rough and wild appearances and voices like thunder, making them visually and audibly intimidating. Their presence was so imposing that the captives in the group trembled with fear and behaved as obediently as possible. These over a hundred captives were beastmen from several small, scattered tribes in the northern coniferous forest. They were primarily females with forms like squirrels, foxes, rabbits, ferrets, and badgers. They were generally small in stature, unlike the beastmen from the fierce beast tribe, whose forms were tigers, lions, leopards, and bears. Taken from their homes, they dared not resist or escape, knowing that the fierce beast tribe beastmen did not intend to kill them but to expand their tribe.

“We’ve been traveling for so long. We’re finally almost there. Once we get back to the tribe tomorrow night, we can relax!” said a beastman covered in black fur, sitting on a protruding tree root with a rough voice.

A slightly shorter bearded beastman was handling the prey they had hunted on the way, cutting off large chunks of bloody meat to roast over the fire, grinning: “Exactly, and we can bring back a female. Our tribe has too few female beastmen, not enough to go around!”

“One isn’t enough,” another beastman with eyes like copper bells said impatiently, tearing at raw meat with his hands and looking at the huddled captives. “They look so weak, they won’t last long. At least two.”

The strong beastmen laughed uproariously, their words becoming more explicit. The captives showed no reaction to their words. Small tribes constantly faced the threat of being annexed. If they could be accepted by a larger tribe and rely on stronger beastmen for sufficient food, life might be better than in a small tribe.

For the past few days, the fierce beast tribe’s beastmen stopped every night to rest and eat but did not share food with the captives. The captives could only find some tender shoots, fallen fruits, and small insects along the way to barely maintain their strength. By now, they were all exhausted and starving. Many captive beastmen looked longingly at the meat, swallowing their saliva.

Song Xu sat among the hungry captives, holding her empty stomach, looking around in confusion. She knew her name was Song Xu, and she remembered living in Xihai Huating, attending Jin City No. 1 High School, and scoring 108 on a math test that morning. She remembered everything from her eighteen years of life. But in the blink of an eye, she had become a squirrel beastman named ‘Song’ on this forest continent.

This ‘Song’ had just come of age. Her mother drove her out to live on her own, and after wandering around, she finally joined a small tribe of about thirty people, only to be captured by beastmen from the southern fierce beast tribe, and she was on her way to the fierce beast tribe.

‘Song’s’ memories were simple, not as clear as her own, like a long documentary. The sudden addition of hazy memories did not cause Song Xu to question her identity, but the sudden transmigration overwhelmed her. She was about to take the college entrance exam!!!

The well-fed beastmen, having nothing better to do, tore off a piece of meat and walked over to the captives for fun. A burly beastman with a lion-like mane dangled the meat above the captives’ heads: “Hey! Want to eat? Come and grab it!”

The crouching captives immediately leaped up, trying to snatch it, fighting among themselves, causing a commotion that made the lion beastman laugh heartily.

The center of the commotion was very close to Song Xu. Holding her stomach in despair, she was stepped on twice by the beastmen fighting for food. Song Xu suddenly felt that the joys and sorrows of beastmen were not the same. They were noisy, and she thought that the excitement was theirs, and she had nothing. Painfully, she squeezed out of the “can” and moved aside to let them have their fun.

Amid everyone scrambling to grab food, one person moving backward stood out, catching the eye of the lion beastman. Song Xu, in her current squirrel beastman form, was agile and cute even in human form, with big, bright eyes.

A notable trait of lion beastmen was their appreciation for beauty in all forms. Lion beastman Shiyou had never encountered this type of female beastman before, and his interest was piqued. He roughly pushed aside the captives, who were trying to snatch the meat from his hand, and walked over to Song Xu.

A large piece of meat slapped her head, covering her face in blood.

Song Xu looked up: “…”

The lion beastman grinned: “Eat up, and then come with me over there.”

Song Xu: Shit.

She had just come of age and wasn’t ready to enter the adult world so quickly!

First of all, she wasn’t into furries. The greasy and bloody mane, the tangled fur, and the smell worse than stinky tofu—who could stand that?

Seeing Song Xu not moving, the lion beastman was puzzled: “You don’t want to eat? Then come with me now.” He grabbed her arm with a dirty, bloody paw to lift her up, and Song Xu’s expression changed.

The other fierce beast tribe beastmen watched the scene with interest while the captive beastmen looked enviously at the meat, swallowing their saliva. Suddenly, Song Xu lay down on the ground, her limbs twitching, making retching sounds, looking like she had a sudden illness. The last time she used such superb acting skills was at twelve, to stop her dad from marrying a stepmother, rolling on the ground and convulsing, scaring her dad into thinking she had epilepsy.

Although it didn’t work at that time, it works now. The lion beastman, having never encountered someone faking illness, was genuinely fooled and let go of her arm.

“Is she having a seizure?”

“Did she eat something poisonous? I’ve seen someone die from poison before.”

“She looks like she’s about to die.”

The surrounding captive beastmen whispered, cautiously observing their companion. The lion beastman regretfully looked at Song Xu twitching on the ground, ate the meat himself, and returned to the other fierce beastmen, seemingly losing interest in doing anything else.

As the area gradually quieted down, Song Xu stopped her performance, lying in the corner, wiping her mouth, and cursing.

Damn, this place is unbearable.

In the early morning, as soon as there was a bit of light in the forest, the beastmen got up to continue their journey. The lion beastman remembered the female beastman from last night, wondering if she had died, and glanced over at the captives. He immediately noticed something wrong. The female beastman had run away!

Like a big cat annoyed by a small animal escaping from its paw, the lion’s angry roar echoed through the forest.

“Ran away?” The fierce beast tribe beastmen were surprised, as their presence usually intimidated the weaker beastmen into submission, let alone escaping. They led the way, and the captive beastmen followed obediently, not daring to fall behind. This one dared to run, which was new.

“Forget it, Shiyou, it’s just a squirrel beastman. Wild beasts soon kill and eat her in this forest.”

“No, her escape is a challenge to me. I must catch her.” Shiyou snorted in displeasure.

“Hey, Shiyou!”

His companions watched as the lion beastman transformed, sniffed the scent left by the female beastman, and quickly chased after her, ignoring their calls.

“Forget it. Let him chase. We’re almost at the tribe’s forest. Nothing will happen.”

At this time, Song Xu was jumping through the trees. She had spent the night familiarizing herself with this beastman body, learning to transform into beast form, and skillfully using her limbs and tail.

Fleeing indeed brings out one’s potential. Watching her skillfully leap between branches, who would know she wasn’t a native squirrel but a halfway squirrel?

After running for a while, Song Xu felt she was out of danger and was about to slow down to rest her nearly sparking paws when she heard a faint lion’s roar.

The roar conveyed a message only beastmen could understand, roughly meaning: “Don’t run! When I catch you, you’re dead!”

Song Xu: Aren’t you a lion? Why are you chasing like a mad dog?!

To avoid being caught, she had to speed up, unknowingly entering a denser part of the forest. The rising sunlight couldn’t fully penetrate here, making it dark and quiet. The tree trunks were thick, almost all requiring several people to encircle them, with tangled vines hanging down to the ground. The ground had almost no shrubs, only a variety of mosses, liverworts, and ferns.

Song Xu couldn’t distinguish the boundaries between forests or feel the subtle territorial divisions and was too busy escaping to notice the strange, slippery feeling of the “vines” under her feet.

Following her trail, Shiyou hesitated at the edge of the forest. This forest was home to a snake half-beastman named Wumu. After being expelled from the fierce beast tribe due to incomplete evolution, Wumu occupied this forest. Even though Shiyou was a renowned warrior in the fierce beast tribe, he felt a tinge of fear facing Wumu, especially since he wasn’t sure if Wumu still retained his sanity.

If Wumu had fully transformed into a beast, he might have attacked Shiyou for invading his territory. Thinking about the escaped female beastman, Shiyou shook his big head in frustration and tentatively stepped onto the wet, soft green moss.

A nearby “vine” hanging from a tree moved slightly. As the dangerous hissing sound echoed, Shiyou smelled a fishy wind nearby and quickly jumped back. The snake’s hiss was both a warning and a signal for attack. Shiyou hesitated only for a moment before deciding to turn away from the forest.