Help! I transmigrated to a Beast World-Chapter 98: Protocol Can Go To Hell

The whiteness faded.

Reality crashed back.

Xin Yi gasped, coughed, stumbled.

She was back in the temple chamber. Back with the giant lotus. Back with the sleeping serpent.

And back with—

"Welcome back!" Lán Yù smiled warmly. "How was your meeting with—"

"YOU!"

Xin Yi whirled on the kraken woman. Her face was RED. Her fists clenched. Her entire body shaking with RAGE. She had found the goddess a little cute initially, but with everything sinking.....she was beginning to get angry.

Lán Yù blinked, surprised. "Me?"

"YES, YOU!" Xin Yi’s voice echoed through the chamber. "You PUSHED me! You THREW me into that—that THING! You dragged me through water like I was a—a RAGDOLL!"

"I.....I was just following protocol—"

"PROTOCOL?!" Xin Yi’s voice went up several octaves. "I NEARLY DROWNED!"

[DING! (⁠•⁠ ⁠▽⁠ ⁠•⁠;)]

[Host is VERY angry]

[Anger Level: CRITICAL]

[System recommends staying QUIET ☆]

"And YOU!" Xin Yi spun toward where she instinctively felt the System’s presence. "Don’t think I’ve forgotten about YOU! Now you can talk?? After leaving me all by myself?!"

[DING! (⊙_⊙)]

[Me?!]

[What did I do?!]

[I’m innocent! ☆]

"You are PART OF HER!" Xin Yi screamed. "You’re an extension of that PETTY, MANIPULATIVE, KIDNAPPING GODDESS!"

[DING! (⁠っ⁠˘̩⁠╭⁠╮⁠˘̩⁠)⁠っ]

[Technically true]

[But I have feelings too!]

[This hurts! ☆]

Xin Yi paced, her hands running through her hair and her breathing heavy.

Everything was beginning to explode in her head.

"So let me get this STRAIGHT," she said, her voice dangerously quiet. "I suffered a kraken attack. TWICE. TWICE!" She held up two fingers. "Once at the waterfall where I nearly DIED. And once HERE where I was dragged through INVERTED WATER."

Lán Yù opened her mouth.

"DON’T!" Xin Yi pointed at her. "Don’t you DARE try to explain!"

"But—"

"All of that. ALL OF THAT. The terror. The pain. The absolute NIGHTMARE of being grabbed by tentacles and pulled into the depths......" Xin Yi’s voice was shaking now. "Was because of a PETTY GODDESS throwing a DIVINE TANTRUM?!"

[DING! (⁠٥⁠↼⁠_⁠↼⁠)]

[When you put it like that...]

[It does sound bad]

[☆]

"IT IS BAD!" Xin Yi shrieked. "I was RIPPED out of my old life! I didn’t even get to say goodbye! I was just—just TAKING A DUMP and suddenly I’m NAKED in a FOREST being chased by a PANTHER!"

She was crying now, with angry tears streaming down her face.

"I didn’t ASK for this! I didn’t WANT this! I had a LIFE! A boring, normal, SAFE life! And she just—she just TOOK IT!"

Lan Yu stepped forward hesitantly. "Xin Yi—"

"I COULD HAVE DIED! MULTIPLE TIMES!"

"But you didn’t—"

"THAT’S NOT THE POINT!"

Xin Yi sank to her knees. The anger draining out of her...replaced by something worse.

Despair.

"Why me?" Her voice was small now. "Why did it have to be me? What did I do to deserve this?"

The chamber was silent.

Even the System had gone quiet.

Xin Yi looked up at the giant lotus. At the sleeping serpent. At the ancient temple around her.

"I’m just......I’m just a normal person," she whispered. "I wasn’t special. I wasn’t clever or brave or—or ANYTHING. I was just......me."

Tears fell more.

"And now I’m here. In this world. With these people. Expected to—to TEACH them? To CIVILIZE them? To change an entire world because a goddess wants to prove a point to her BROTHER?"

She laughed bitterly.

"How is that FAIR? How is ANY of this fair?"

Lán Yù knelt beside her, reaching out.

"Don’t touch me," Xin Yi said quietly.

The kraken woman pulled back.

"I’m sorry," Lán Yù said, her voice genuinely apologetic. "I know that doesn’t help. I know it doesn’t change anything. But......I am sorry."

"Everyone’s sorry," Xin Yi muttered. "But no one’s doing anything to FIX it."

She stood up abruptly, and wiped her tears, her expression hardening.

"I’m done."

[DING! (⊙_⊙)]

[Done?]

[What does Host mean by ’done’? ☆]

"I’m DONE," Xin Yi repeated. Louder. "I will NOT help with this anymore. I won’t be part of this—this GAME. This divine experiment."

She looked up at the ceiling. At where she knew Mán Shū was watching. Or suspected.

"You hear me?!" she screamed. "I am NOT doing this! You can find someone else to be your puppet!"

Silence.

Then—

The temperature in the chamber DROPPED.

The lotus stopped glowing.

The serpent’s eyes OPENED.

And a voice filled the space.

Ancient. Powerful. TERRIFYING.

"I MAY KNOW HOW TO CHANGE SHAPE AND FORM."

The voice came from everywhere and nowhere.

"BUT I AM STILL A GODDESS."

Xin Yi’s blood ran cold.

"AND YOU WILL RESPECT ME."

But Xin Yi’s anger was stronger than her fear.

"NO!" she screamed back. "You are EVIL! You’re selfish and manipulative and—and CRUEL! Take me back! Take me back HOME!"

"I will do no such thing."

"You pulled me here for your PETTY DESIRES! For your stupid sibling rivalry! I didn’t ask for this! I don’t WANT this!"

Silence.

Long.

Heavy.

Then Mán Shū’s voice came again. Quieter now. Almost......sad.

"I cannot send you back."

Xin Yi’s heart stopped. "What?"

"The transmigration is... permanent. Once you cross worlds, you cannot return. The barriers... they only open one way."

"No." Xin Yi shook her head. "No, you’re lying. You’re—"

"I am many things. But I am not lying about this."

Oh...

She couldn’t go back.

She could NEVER go back.

This was her life now.

Forever.

"No," Xin Yi whispered. "No no no—"

Her legs gave out, and she collapsed.

"Why?" Xin Yi’s voice was barely audible. "If you wanted me here so badly, why put me through all that? Why the krakens? Why the attacks? Why make it so HARD?"

"The krakens are my favorite design. They have a direct connection to my divine essence. They sense transmigrators automatically. They mark them."

A pause.

"I... did not consider how terrifying it would be for you. I thought.....I thought it would be quick. Painless. I was wrong."

"That’s ALL?!" Xin Yi screamed. "You didn’t THINK about it?! You are a GODDESS! You’re supposed to be WISE! POWERFUL! And you just—you just didn’t THINK?!"

No response.

"I hate this," Xin Yi whispered. "I hate this world. I hate the Beastmen. I hate the System. I hate YOU."

[DING! (╥﹏╥)]

[Host doesn’t mean that]

[Host is just upset]

[Right? ☆]

Xin Yi said nothing.

She just sat there.

Lost.

Alone.

Lán Yù tried again. "Xin Yi—"

"Don’t TOUCH me!" Xin Yi scrambled away. "Just—just don’t!"

"Please—"

"TAKE ME BACK!" Xin Yi screamed. "Take me back to the surface! To Sha Chen! To—to ANYWHERE but here!"

"But the goddess—"

"I DON’T CARE WHAT SHE WANTS!" Xin Yi’s voice echoed. "TAKE. ME. BACK!"

Lán Yù looked torn and conflicted.

Then she sighed. "Alright."

"Really?"

"Really." Lán Yù stood, offering her hand. "Come. I’ll return you to the surface."

Xin Yi ignored the hand, and stood on her own.

"Good."

They walked back to the inverted pool in silence.

[DING! (...)]

[Host is very angry]

[System is... sorry]

[For what it’s worth ☆]

Xin Yi said nothing.

Lán Yù gestured to the water. "Just......jump in. It will take you back."

Xin Yi approached the edge.

Looked down at the impossible, gravity-defying water.

"If I die," she said quietly, "I am haunting ALL of you."

Then she jumped.

The water was freezing.

She was pulled. Twisted. Spun.

Then—

FWOOSH.

She was FLYING.

Through the air.

Out of—

She looked around wildly.

She was in the COURTYARD.

Flying through the air.

Falling from the CEILING somehow.

"WHAT—"

CRASH.

She landed directly on top of someone.

"OW!" A familiar voice groaned. "What—"

Xin Yi scrambled off.

It was Zǐ Lán.

The snow leopard guardian was sprawled on the ground, looking dazed.

"You," Xin Yi said.

"Me?" He blinked up at her.

SLAP.

Her palm connected with his face.

"OW! What was that for?!"

"You’re the reason I got into this!" Xin Yi screamed. "You KNEW what was down there and you just—you just SMILED and said ’see ya’!"

"I—I was just following—"

"PROTOCOL?!" Xin Yi’s voice was shrill. "Everyone keeps saying PROTOCOL! Well your protocol SUCKS!"

She stormed past him.

Toward the temple entrance.

Toward the steps leading down.

[DING! (...)]

[Sha Chen is waiting below]

[He’s been very worried]

[Maybe Host should calm down first? ☆]

"I don’t CARE about Sha Chen!" Xin Yi snapped. "I don’t care about ANYONE right now!"

She reached the steps and started descending.

Sha Chen was there. At the bottom. Still in wolf form. His shoulder bandaged from the snow leopard’s bite.

His white eyes lit up when he saw her, relief flooding his features.

He started to approach, to shift back to human form. Until he saw her face, and froze.

Her expression was... terrifying.

Fury. Pain. Resentment. All mixed together in a look that could kill.

"Oh," he said quietly.

His ears flattened.

His tail lowered.

He took a step back.

Xin Yi walked past him without a word.

"Xin Yi—" he tried.

"Don’t," she said. Her voice dead. "Just... don’t."

She kept walking.

Down the temple steps.

Away from the ancient structure.

Away from the goddess.

Away from everything.

Sha Chen and Ài Yún exchanged a look.

What happened in there?

They didn’t know.

But whatever it was...

It had broken something in her.