Help! I transmigrated to a Beast World

Chapter 121: Hyena Delivery: Now With Extra Drool

Wan Ning did not walk like a normal beast, she stomped. And with every massive, earth-shaking stomp, Xin Yi’s stomach slammed against the lioness’s rock-hard shoulder.

"Put me down!" Xin Yi yelled for the hundredth time, her voice completely hoarse. "I have rights! I am the Chief Architect of the Neutral Zone! You cannot just kidnap a diplomat because you’re jealous!"

"Shut up, twig," Wan Ning grunted, not even breaking a sweat. "Diplomat? Is that a type of bird? You talk too much for prey."

"I am not prey! And Jin Xuan doesn’t even like you!"

That was the wrong thing to say.

Wan Ning let out a furious roar, her grip tightening around Xin Yi’s legs until she felt her circulation completely cut off.

"He will like me when you are gone!" Wan Ning argued with flawless, unhinged beastman logic. "He is just confused by your weird flower magic! Once the hyenas eat your face, the magic will break!"

"That is not how magic works! That is not how anything works!" Xin Yi screamed, kicking her legs wildly. It was like kicking a brick wall.

[Ding!]

[Host is currently experiencing ’Primitive Kidnapping’.]

[Please keep your arms and legs inside the kidnapper’s grip at all times to avoid losing them on jagged rocks!]

Do something! Xin Yi screamed in her mind, feeling the blood rush to her head. Give me a weapon! Give me super strength! Call the snake!

[System is currently buffering. Initiating ’Hyena Fun Facts’ to prepare Host for her new environment!]

[Did you know? Beast-world Hyenas have a bite force strong enough to crush a femur into powder in exactly three seconds! (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)]

I am going to uninstall you.

The golden, waving grass of the savanna slowly vanished, replaced by a bleak, terrifying landscape. The ground turned into cracked, gray earth, and jagged, sharp rocks jutted out of the ground like broken teeth.

And the smell. Oh, the smell.

It was a putrid mixture of rotting meat, stale mud, and wet dog. Xin Yi gagged, aggressively covering her nose with her hands.

Wan Ning finally came to a sudden halt.

With a careless, brutal toss, the lioness hurled Xin Yi off her shoulder.

Xin Yi hit the dusty ground hard, scraping her elbows and tumbling in the dirt. She scrambled to her feet, coughing on the dust, completely ready to throw hands, even if those hands belonged to an Amazonian lioness.

But when she looked around, her anger instantly evaporated into paralyzing dread.

They were standing at the edge of a massive, bowl-shaped crater. The walls of the pit were steep, completely smooth stone, making itimpossible to climb out. At the bottom of the pit lay a graveyard of massive, sun-bleached bones, rotting carcasses, and stagnant puddles of filthy water.

It was a literal death trap.

Wan Ning stood at the edge, crossing her massive arms over her chest. A victorious, cruel grin stretched across her mud-caked face.

"Look down, hairless twig," Wan Ning ordered, pointing at the pit. "This is the Scavenger’s Bowl. The Lions throw our garbage here. And the hyenas clean it up."

"Wan Ning, let’s be reasonable," Xin Yi reasoned, taking a very slow, very careful step backward. "If you throw me in there, Jin Xuan will be furious with you. My Alphas will be furious with you. Qing Lin will literally turn your entire tribe into a swamp!"

"Lions respect strength!" Wan Ning laughed, beating a fist against her chest. "When they see you were too weak to survive the pit, they will forget you! Jin Xuan will see that I am the only female strong enough to bear his cubs!"

Xin Yi stared at her. "You are deeply unwell."

"Goodbye, twig!"

Before Xin Yi could even turn to run, Wan Ning lunged forward. A massive hand planted itself squarely in the center of Xin Yi’s back, and with a brutal, terrifying shove, pushed her straight over the edge of the cliff.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!"

Xin Yi plummeted. The wind rushed past her ears as she fell down the steep, rocky slope of the crater.

[BEEP! BEEP!]

[Emergency Fall Damage Mitigation Protocol Activated!]

A sudden, faint blue dome of light wrapped around Xin Yi’s body right before she hit the ground.

CRASH!

She landed directly into a massive pile of dry, brittle bones. The blue shield shattered like glass, absorbing the brunt of the impact, but the landing still knocked the wind completely out of her lungs.

"Ughh," Xin Yi groaned, rolling off the pile of ribs and clutching her bruised ribs.

High above, at the rim of the crater, Wan Ning let out a victorious, booming roar before turning around and stomping away, leaving Xin Yi entirely alone in the pit.

Silence descended.

It was dark at the bottom of the crater. The light barely reached through the jagged rocks above.

Xin Yi slowly pushed herself up onto her hands and knees.

"Okay," she whispered, her voice trembling slightly. "I’m alive. The System shielded me. I just need to wait here. The Alphas will realize I’m missing. Qing Lin’s nose is basically a GPS. Hei Yan will track my scent. I just need to sit very still and—"

Hehehe.

Xin Yi froze.

The hair on the back of her neck stood straight up.

Hehe.....hahaha!

Crunch. Snap.

Out of the shadows, glowing, sickly yellow eyes began to appear.

First two. Then four. Then a dozen.

From behind the piles of rotting carcasses, the inhabitants of the pit began to step into the moonlight.

They were beastmen, but barely. They walked on two legs, but their spines were severely hunched forward. Their bodies were covered in patchy, dirty spotted fur. Their arms were long and gangly, ending in sharp, dirt-caked claws.

But their faces were the stuff of nightmares. Snouts stretched wide, lips pulled back to reveal rows of bone-crushing, yellowed fangs. Thick, foul-smelling drool dripped from their jaws, sizzling as it hit the dirt.

They looked at Xin Yi not as a female, and definitely not as a mate.

They looked at her like a fresh, completely unblemished piece of prime wagyu beef.

[Ding!]

[WARNING! (⁠๑⁠•⁠﹏⁠•⁠)]

[Host has entered the Spotted Hyena Territory!]

[Average Intelligence: 5. Hunger Level: 100%.]

[Objective: DO NOT GET EATEN!]

"Hehehe... fresh meat," the largest hyena beastman cackled, his voice incredibly scratchy. He took a lopsided step forward, snapping his jaws together with a sickening clack. "Not garbage. Fresh."

"Stay back!" Xin Yi yelled, scrambling to her feet and backing up until her shoulders hit the sheer stone wall of the crater.

The hyenas began to circle her, their manic cackling growing louder, completely drowning out the sound of her racing heart. There were at least fifteen of them.

"Meat. Soft meat," another hyena giggled, wiping drool from his chin.

"I am not meat! I am toxic! I am highly poisonous!" Xin Yi lied desperately, feeling along the stone wall for any kind of handhold to climb. There was nothing. It was completely smooth.

The leader of the pack lunged forward, snapping his jaws mere inches from her knee.

Xin Yi shrieked, kicking dirt into his face.

Okay, fine! Xin Yi thought, her panic shifting into pure survival mode. If I have to fight my way out, I will! I took down the Lion Prince! I can take down a bunch of laughing dogs!

She planted her feet, glaring at the approaching pack.

"System! Inventory!" Xin Yi commanded out loud, reaching her right hand into the air. "Give me the frying pan! Give me the heavy cast-iron skillet right now!"

She waited for the familiar flash of blue light. She waited for the reassuring, heavy weight of her ultimate weapon to drop into her palm.

Nothing happened.

Xin Yi blinked. "System? Frying pan! Now!"

[Ding!]

[(⁠⊙⁠_⁠⊙⁠) Error: Cannot retrieve item!]

[Host, do you not remember? When the scary lioness attacked you by the river, you were not holding the pan!]

Xin Yi’s blood ran completely ice cold.

[The ’Cast-Iron Frying Pan (Rare)’ is currently sitting inside your woven basket... which is sitting by the riverbed.....exactly five miles away from your current location.]

Xin Yi slowly lowered her empty hand.

She stared at the fifteen drooling, manic, bone-crushing hyenas slowly closing the circle around her. She looked at her small, completely empty, weaponless hands.

The hyenas bared their fangs, crouching low to pounce.

"Oh no."