Help! I transmigrated to a Beast World-Chapter 94: Deja Vu

COLD water.

FREEZING water.

Xin Yi sank.

Deep.

Deeper.

The shock of the impact had knocked the air from her lungs. Her limbs flailed. Panic set in immediately.

What the hell. What the HELL. WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING?!

She kicked desperately, her lungs screaming for air. Finally, she broke the surface.

Gasping. Choking. Spluttering.

"What—what is going on?!" she screamed into the darkness. "SYSTEM! WHERE AM I?!"

[...]

Nothing.

No response.

No cheerful ding. No sarcastic commentary. No emoji faces.

"System?!" Her voice echoed. "SYSTEM?!"

Still nothing.

[...]

Xin Yi’s heart pounded. The System had NEVER been quiet before. It was always there. Always commenting. Always annoying her.

And now?

Nothing.

She was alone.

Completely alone.

In the dark.

In freezing water.

In an ancient temple underground.

"This is fine," she whispered to herself. "This is FINE. Everything is—"

BOOM.

The sound came from below, from the DEPTHS.

Xin Yi froze.

"Eh?"

She looked down, and through the surprisingly clear water, she saw IT.

Massive. Grotesque. Moving.

Tentacles.

At least eight of them. Maybe more. Writhing. Reaching. Coming UPWARD.

A kraken.

ANOTHER kraken.

"ARGHHHHHHH!" Xin Yi’s scream echoed off the stone walls. "NOT AGAIN! NOT ANOTHER ONE!"

She swam quickly, toward what she hoped was the edge of the pool. But the water was deep. So deep. And she was NOT a strong swimmer.

The tentacles got closer.

Closer.

One of them wrapped around her ankle.

"NO!" She kicked. Thrashed. "LET GO! LET GO!"

The grip tightened.

Started pulling her DOWN.

"NO NO NO NO—"

Calm down.

The voice came from everywhere and nowhere.

Soft. Female. Echoing.

"CALM DOWN?!" Xin Yi screamed. "I AM BEING DRAGGED TO MY DEATH BY A SEA MONSTER! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO—"

The tentacle YANKED.

Xin Yi was pulled under.

Down.

Down.

DOWN.

Her lungs burned. Her vision blurred. She tried to scream but only bubbles came out.

Suddenly, the tentacle swung her through the water like she weighed nothing.

Then—

She was OUT.

Flying through the air.

"AHHHHHH!"

She hit something.

But it wasn’t water.

It was.....ground?

DRY ground.

Xin Yi lay there. Coughing. Choking. Gasping for air.

Her entire body hurt. Her hair was plastered to her face, and her clothes were soaked.

But she was ALIVE.

And on dry land.

Somehow.

"What......" she coughed, rolling onto her back and staring up at the ceiling. "What the hell..."

She turned her head.

And froze.

The pool she had just been in was....weird.

It looked like it was INVERTED. Like the water was being held UP instead of down. Defying gravity.

She could see the kraken through the surface. Its massive form moving. Approaching.

"No," Xin Yi whispered. "No no no—"

The kraken JUMPED.

Out of the inverted water.

Through the air.

And landed on the dry ground beside her.

Xin Yi screamed, and scrambled backward. She tried to reach for her tiny useless knife but she was no longer with it.

"STAY BACK!"

But the kraken was already changing.

Tentacles retracting. Body shrinking. Shape shifting.

Within moments, where the monster had been, there was now a WOMAN.

A very beautiful woman.

She was tall. Elegant. With long, flowing silver-blue hair that moved like it was still underwater. Her skin had a faint shimmer to it, like scales that weren’t quite there. Her eyes were a deep ocean blue.

And she was smiling.

Warmly.

Like she HADN’T just dragged Xin Yi through an underwater nightmare.

"Welcome, I am Lan Yu," she said. Her voice was soft.

Xin Yi stared.

Then looked around. To her shock, she was in......a chamber.

But not like any chamber she had ever seen.

The walls were covered in glowing crystals. Blue. Green. Purple. They pulsed with light, casting everything in an ethereal glow.

The ceiling was so high it disappeared into darkness. But she could see more symbols carved into it. Moving. Shifting. Alive.

And in the center of the chamber.....

A smaller temple.

No. Not just a temple.

THE temple.

Massive. Ancient. Built from white stone that seemed to glow from within. Pillars carved with serpents and lotuses. Steps leading up to an entrance that radiated power.

"Where....." Xin Yi’s voice was barely a whisper. "What is this... what are YOU..."

The woman, Lan Yu, smiled wider. "I am a mere servant of Mán Shū. Nothing more."

She stepped closer.

Xin Yi scrambled backward. "DON’T TOUCH ME!"

Lán Yù paused, tilting her head. She seemed confused. "Are you afraid?"

"YOU DRAGGED ME THROUGH WATER! GRABBED MY ANKLE! THREW ME LIKE A RAGDOLL!" Xin Yi’s voice was shaking. "THAT WAS TERRIFYING!"

"Ah." Lán Yù looked genuinely apologetic. "My apologies. It is simply the fastest way to transport marked ones through the gateway. I suppose I could have been... L...gentler?"

"YOU THINK?!"

Lán Yù’s eyes focused on Xin Yi’s ankle. On the glowing mark. "I see you have received the mark."

"Yes! From a kraken! Who tried to KILL me!"

Lán Yù’s expression shifted. Surprised. Almost.....sad. "Oh. I suppose another one of my kind would have been responsible for that mark."

"Well, he’s DEAD!" Xin Yi snapped. "The Wolf Alpha killed him!"

Lán Yù froze.

Completely froze.

"Oh," she said quietly.

Silence.

"I....I see." Her voice was softer now. Distant. "That is......unfortunate."

"Unfortunate?! He tried to KILL me!"

"Yes. That is how the marking works." Lán Yù looked at her. "We are drawn to transmigrators. To ’others.’ The pull is.....irresistible. We must mark them. It is our purpose. Our.....curse."

"What?"

"Never mind." Lán Yù shook her head. "Come. The goddess would want to see you."

"See me?!" Xin Yi’s voice went up several octaves. "WHAT?!"

"Yes. Mán Shū. She has been waiting."

"Waiting for WHAT?! I didn’t ask to be here! I didn’t ask to be MARKED! I didn’t ask to be dragged through an inverted pool by a KRAKEN!"

But Lán Yù was already moving. She grabbed Xin Yi’s hand with surprising gentleness and pulled her to her feet.

"Come. Do not waste her time."

"Wait—NO—"

But Lán Yù was stronger. MUCH stronger.

She pulled Xin Yi toward the temple. Up the glowing steps. Past the carved pillars.

To a door.

Massive. Made of that same white stone. Covered in the serpent and lotus symbol.

"Get in," Lán Yù said.

"NO!"

"Get in."

"That Zǐ Lán guardian didn’t tell me WHAT I was preparing for before he pushed me in!" Xin Yi pulled against her grip. "Or deceived me! Or WHATEVER! I have a right to know what I’m walking into!"

Lán Yù sighed like Xin Yi was being incredibly difficult.

"It is a direct link to Mán Shū," she explained with exaggerated patience. "You will enter. You will see a bright lotus. You will touch it. You will meet the goddess. Simple."

"That doesn’t sound SIMPLE! That sounds TERRIFYING!"

"It is both." Lán Yù pushed her toward the door. "Now go. She is waiting. And she does not like to be kept waiting."

The door opened on its own revealing darkness beyond.

Deep. Terrifying darkness.

"I’m not going in there," Xin Yi said firmly.

"Yes, you are."

"NO, I’m—"

Lán Yù PUSHED.

Xin Yi stumbled through the doorway.

The door slammed shut behind her.