Help! I transmigrated to a Beast World

Chapter 122: Local Woman Attempts Gaslighting

The golden sun was beginning to dip lower in the sky.

Jin Xuan walked through the tall grass, his chest puffed out with pride. In his massive hands, he carried his latest prize: a perfectly round, incredibly shiny white rock he had found near the watering hole.

It was a beautiful rock. It was smooth. It was heavy. Surely, the tiny female would appreciate this much more than the bloody ostrich. Females liked shiny things, right?

"Tiny female!" Jin Xuan called out, his deep voice rumbling. "I brought you a rock! It is much better than your flat black rock!"

He wandered toward the edge of the camp, sniffing the air. He could faintly catch the lingering, intoxicating scent of wild lavender, but it was getting weak.

Following the scent trail toward the river path, Jin Xuan stopped dead in his tracks.

Sitting in the middle of a dusty clearing, right where the elephant grass met the riverbank, were the three most terrifying apex predators in the known Beast World.

And they were currently sitting in the dirt like a pack of obedient, scolded cubs.

Hei Yan, the massive Black Panther Alpha, was pacing back and forth, his tail flicking aggressively, kicking up clouds of dust.

Qing Lin, the Azure Snake King, was sitting perfectly cross-legged on a large stone, his eyes closed, though his jaw was clenched so tightly a vein was visibly throbbing in his pale forehead.

Sha Chen, the Arctic Wolf, was leaning against a dead tree, casually using a piece of animal hide to polish his terrifying spear, though his eyes kept darting toward the river path every three seconds.

Jin Xuan blinked, completely bewildered. He walked up to them, tossing his shiny rock in the air and catching it.

"What are you doing?" Jin Xuan asked, genuinely confused. "Are you playing a game? Where is the tiny female?"

Qing Lin’s green eyes snapped open, glaring daggers at the lion. "If you refer to her as ’the tiny female’ one more time, overgrown feline, I will swallow you whole."

"Her name is Xin Yi," Hei Yan growled, stopping his pacing to bare his fangs. "And we are waiting. She commanded us to stay here."

Jin Xuan stared at them. Then, he threw his head back and burst into a booming, chest-deep laugh.

"You are waiting?!" Jin Xuan roared, slapping his thigh. "You are Alphas! The strongest males! And you are sitting in the dirt because a hairless, soft female told you to?! Did she hit all of you with the flat black rock?!"

"It is called respecting boundaries, you uncultured savage," Sha Chen sneered, not even looking up from his spear. "She requested peace. We are providing it. It is a civilized concept you would not understand."

"It is stupid," Jin Xuan declared proudly, puffing his chest out. "A strong male goes where he wants! If I want to look at my mate, I will go look at her!"

"Take one step toward that river, Lion," Qing Lin hissed, a dangerous, venomous hiss that made the grass tremble. "And I will ensure you never take a step again."

Jin Xuan pouted, crossing his massive arms. These males were entirely too possessive. But since they were guarding the path to the river, and he didn’t feel like getting strangled by the giant snake again today, Jin Xuan decided to just sit down in the grass with them.

"Fine. I will wait," Jin Xuan huffed. "But when she comes back, she is sitting on my lap. I am the warmest."

"I will peel your skin off," Hei Yan snarled.

"Get in line, Panther," Sha Chen drawled.

~

Jin Xuan watched a beetle crawl across the dirt. He looked at the sky. He looked at the shiny rock in his hand.

"It has been a long time," Jin Xuan complained. "She takes a long time to wash her face."

Hei Yan stopped pacing, his panther ears twitching. He frowned, sniffing the air. "Her scent... it hasn’t moved from the river in a while. But it’s fading."

Qing Lin stood up smoothly, dusting off his robes, his eyes narrowing. "I am going to check on her. If she yells at me, I will gladly accept the punishment."

Before Qing Lin could take a single step toward the river path, the tall grass violently rustled from the opposite direction.

Heavy, stomping footsteps approached.

Out of the brush emerged Wan Ning. The towering, heavily scarred lioness was completely covered in fresh sweat and dust. She was panting heavily, her yellowish eyes darting around wildly as she clutched her chest, attempting to look incredibly distressed.

"Jin Xuan!" Wan Ning cried out, her raspy voice feigning panic. "Terrible news! The worst news!"

Jin Xuan stood up, frowning. "Wan Ning? Why are you covered in gray dust? You look like a dirty warthog."

Wan Ning’s eye twitched with irritation, but she quickly forced her distressed expression back onto her face.

"It is the hairless twig!" Wan Ning gasped, dramatically throwing a hand to her forehead. "The weird female! I went to the river to get water, and I saw her!"

Instantly, the three Alphas froze. Their casual, bickering demeanor vanished completely.

"Where is she?" Hei Yan demanded, his voice dropping to a guttural rumble.

"She ran away!" Wan Ning announced loudly, looking at Jin Xuan. "I tried to stop her! I told her the savanna was dangerous! But she said she hated it here! She said she was completely done with all of you, and she ran off into the wilderness forever!"

Jin Xuan gasped, his golden eyes widening in shock. "She left?! Without my shiny rock?!"

Wan Ning nodded eagerly. "Yes! She is gone! She said she never wants to see any of you again! It is a tragedy! But do not worry, Jin Xuan, I am still here to be your mate!"

Jin Xuan looked genuinely heartbroken, his lower lip jutting out.

But the other three men?

They didn’t look heartbroken. They didn’t look sad.

They looked terrifyingly deadpan.

"She ran into the wilderness," Qing Lin repeated.

"Yes!" Wan Ning nodded aggressively.

Hei Yan tilted his head, his purple eyes locking onto the lioness. "Xin Yi. Ran."

"Very fast!" Wan Ning insisted.

"That is a lie," Sha Chen stated plainly.

Wan Ning blinked, taking a step back as the air pressure in the clearing suddenly dropped. "What?"

"Xin Yi complains when she has to walk from the bed to the cooking fire," Qing Lin hissed, stepping forward, his fangs slowly beginning to descend. "She despises sweating. She would rather let Hei Yan carry her than jog."

"Furthermore," Hei Yan growled, his muscles bulging as his beast form threatened to rip through his skin. "Her scent is not on the wilderness path. The only scent coming from the badlands right now.....is yours."

Wan Ning’s confident smirk completely vanished. Cold fear suddenly gripped her heart. She looked at the three Alphas, finally realizing that she wasn’t dealing with simple, gullible lions like Jin Xuan.

"I—I am telling the truth!" Wan Ning stammered, taking another step back. "She ran! You cannot catch her!"

Sha Chen didn’t say a word.

With a speed that completely defied logic, Sha Chen vanished from his spot by the dead tree.

Before Wan Ning could even blink, a massive, unyielding force slammed directly into her chest.

CRASH!

The towering, heavily muscled lioness was thrown backward, slamming violently into the dirt. Dust exploded into the air as the wind was entirely knocked out of her lungs.

Sha Chen stood over her, his knee pressed agonizingly hard into the center of her chest, pinning her to the ground.

He pressed the razor-sharp tip of hisspear directly against the pulse point on Wan Ning’s thick neck, drawing a single, thin bead of blood.

Jin Xuan froze, his jaw dropping in shock at the display of power.

Sha Chen looked down at the trembling lioness, his hair casting a dark shadow over his murderous eyes.

"I will not ask twice, you filthy feline," Sha Chen whispered, his voice colder than the northern winds. "Where is Xin Yi?"