Help! I transmigrated to a Beast World-Chapter 28: Kidnapped

[!!! ALERT !!! ALERT !!! (╬ Ò﹏Ó)]

[WAKE UP, HOST! WAKE UP!]

Xin Yi stirred, a groan escaping her lips. "Five more minutes..."

[NO! NO FIVE MINUTES! DANGER DETECTED!]

[The ’Snake King’ has bypassed the perimeter! He is currently inside the ventilation shaft— wait, you don’t have those— he’s in the ceiling! HE IS IN THE CEILING!]

[Host! Your Panther mate is in a deep ’Post-Mating’ coma! He isn’t waking up! WAKE UP! THE SCALY ONE IS APPROACHING!]

[WAKE UP!!!!!!]

Xin Yi’s eyes snapped open.

The first thing she registered was pain. Everything hurt. Her thighs ached. Her hips felt like they had been used as a punching bag. Even her hair hurt, which didn’t make anatomical sense but was somehow true.

The second thing she registered was Hei Yan’s arm draped over her waist like a giant, furry seatbelt. He was snoring softly, his face buried in her neck, looking completely blissed out and dead to the world.

The third thing she registered was the cold.

A damp, slithering cold that made the hair on the back of her neck stand straight up.

Xin Yi’s eyes darted upward.

Two glowing emerald eyes stared down at her from the shadows of the stone ceiling.

"Hello, pink skin," Qing Lin whispered, his voice a soft hiss that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once.

"AHHHHH!" Xin Yi screamed.

Hei Yan didn’t even twitch. He just let out a louder snore and tightened his grip on her waist.

[Told you! Post-Mating Coma! He’s not waking up even if you set off fireworks! (◕‿◕)]

"HEI YAN!" Xin Yi shook his shoulder frantically. "HEI YAN, WAKE UP! THERE’S A SNAKE IN THE CEILING!"

"Mmm.....five more cubs..." Hei Yan mumbled, nuzzling deeper into her hair.

"CUBS?! WE JUST— FOCUS!" She shook him harder. "WAKE UP, YOU OVERSIZED HOUSECAT!"

Nothing. He was out.

Qing Lin dropped from the ceiling with zero sound, landing in a crouch beside the bed like some kind of nightmare gymnast. Up close, he looked even more unsettling, his emerald eyes were slit-pupiled and glowing faintly in the dim firelight, and the silver scales along his cheekbones shimmered like crushed diamonds.

He was also, predictably, completely naked.

"Oh, for the love of—PUT ON SOME CLOTHES!" Xin Yi shrieked, trying to cover her eyes while also keeping one hand on Hei Yan’s very unconscious body.

"Clothes are unnecessary," Qing Lin said calmly, reaching for her.

"DON’T YOU DARE—"

Too late.

He plucked her right out of Hei Yan’s arms, furs and all, and slung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"PUT ME DOWN!" Xin Yi pounded her fists against his back. "I’M MARKED! HEI YAN WILL KILL YOU!"

"The mark is fresh," Qing Lin said, already moving toward the door with that eerie, silent grace. "Incomplete. It can still be.....contested."

"CONTESTED?! WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!"

He paused at the doorway, glancing back at the sleeping Panther Alpha. For a moment, something cold and vindictive flickered in his eyes. "It means, pink skin, that the Panther isn’t the only one with a claim to you."

"I’M NOT A PIECE OF PROPERTY!"

"Correct. You are much more valuable than property." He stepped out into the night. "You are a resource."

"THAT’S NOT BETTER!"

[DING! (⊙_⊙)]

[New Quest: Survive a Kidnapping by a Yandere Snake!]

[Objective: Don’t die. Don’t get eaten. Don’t accidentally start a war.]

[Reward: 100 System Points + Unlock "Diplomatic Negotiations" Skill]

[Note: He’s not going to hurt you. He’s just... emotionally constipated and this is how reptiles flirt. Good luck! ☆]

"SYSTEM, THIS IS NOT FLIRTING!" Xin Yi hissed under her breath.

Qing Lin’s hand slid up to rest possessively on the back of her thigh. "Who are you talking to?"

"MY EMOTIONAL SUPPORT HALLUCINATION!"

The clearing was eerily silent. The rest of the tribe was either passed out from the Mating Festival or.....busy in their own dwellings. Nobody noticed as the Snake King slipped through the shadows like a ghost, Xin Yi still slung over his shoulder and wrapped in furs.

"Where are you taking me?!" she demanded, trying to wriggle free.

"Home."

"YOUR HOME IS A SWAMP!"

"It’s a wetland habitat," he corrected, sounding almost offended. "And it’s far superior to this dusty, fur-covered wasteland the Panthers call a village."

"Hei Yan is going to murder you!"

"Let him try." Qing Lin’s voice dropped. "The Panthers took something from me once. I’m simply...returning the favor."

Xin Yi froze. "What did they take?"

Silence.

Then: "That is not your concern, pink skin."

They reached the edge of Panther territory. Qing Lin shifted mid-stride, his body rippling and elongating into a massive silver-and-green python, easily fifteen feet long and as thick as a tree trunk. Xin Yi found herself suddenly coiled in his serpent form, trapped in a cage of smooth, cool scales.

"Oh my god, oh my god, OH MY GOD—"

The python’s head rose up to look at her with those unblinking emerald eyes. His forked tongue flicked out, tasting the air near her face.

[Fun Fact: Snake tongues are how they smell! He’s literally sniffing you right now! (◕‿◕)]

"STOP SMELLING ME!"

The python made a sound that might have been a hiss or might have been a laugh. Then he was moving, slithering through the underbrush with terrifying speed.

Xin Yi squeezed her eyes shut and tried not to throw up.