CHAPTER 2 - WEIWEI
The sound came from inside her head.
Not outside. Not from the man standing at the edge of the pool. Not from the strange sky or the wind or anything in the world around her.
From inside.
Lin Wan pressed two fingers against her temple.
She looked at the man.
He was still looking at her with those dark steady eyes, water still dripping from his hair, three stripe marks on his arm catching the fading light. He had not moved. He had not spoken. He was just watching her with the particular patience of something that was used to waiting.
She looked away from him.
She stared at the ground.
"Okay," she said quietly, to no one. "Okay. I am just tired. I have been walking in the sun for hours. I cried until I ran out of tears. I have not eaten properly today. That is all this is."
Silence.
"I did not hear anything," she continued. "There was no sound. I imagined it."
[Host did not imagine it!]
Lin Wan went completely still.
The voice was bright. Cheerful. It sat inside her mind with the comfortable confidence of something that had always lived there and was only now choosing to introduce itself. Clear as a bell and entirely too enthusiastic for the situation.
[Host is not hallucinating,] the voice continued pleasantly. [Host is not experiencing a heat related episode. Host is fully conscious, adequately hydrated following recent water intake, and in stable condition. For now.]
Lin Wan's eye twitched.
"For now," she repeated slowly.
[Yes! Which is actually something we should discuss. My name is Weiwei. I am the Save The World By Bearing A Cub System, assigned specifically to Host for the completion of a very important mission. It is lovely to meet you!]
The silence that followed was not peaceful.
It was the silence of a person trying very hard to find a rational explanation for something that did not have one.
"Save the world," Lin Wan said.
[Yes!]
"By bearing a cub."
[Yes! Host catches on quickly. This is a good sign.]
Lin Wan pressed both hands flat against her thighs and breathed through her nose. She looked at the pool. She looked at the sky. She looked at the man who was still standing exactly where he had been, watching her talk to herself with an expression that had shifted from neutral to something that was almost, not quite, but almost curious.
"Weiwei," she said, keeping her voice very low and very calm.
[Yes Host!]
"Where am I."
[Host is currently located on the Beast Continent! A world parallel to Host's world of origin, inhabited primarily by beastmen who carry both human and beast forms. Host arrived approximately forty seven minutes ago through a natural convergence point, which is the pool directly behind the candidate currently standing in front of Host.]
Lin Wan looked at the pool.
Then at the man.
Then back at nothing, because Weiwei had no body to look at.
"I came through the pool," she said flatly.
[Not exactly through it. More beside it. The convergence point opened in the surrounding area due to a rare atmospheric alignment that occurs once every]
"Weiwei."
[Yes?]
"Is there a way back."
A pause. Shorter than she would have liked.
[That is a wonderful question that we can absolutely explore together at a later time! However Host should be aware that there is currently a more pressing matter.]
Something appeared in Lin Wan's vision.
An interface. Faint and glowing, visible only to her, hovering in the air in front of her face like a notification she had not asked for. Numbers at the center of it, large and red and counting downward with a calm indifference that made her stomach drop.
02:58:33
02:58:32
02:58:31
"What is that," she said.
[That is Host's countdown timer! The atmospheric composition of the Beast Continent is different from Host's world of origin. Host's body is currently processing this difference but it cannot do so indefinitely without support. In approximately two hours and fifty eight minutes, Host's system will begin to deteriorate. Symptoms will include severe fatigue, difficulty breathing, and if left unaddressed]
"Okay," Lin Wan said loudly. "I understand. What do I do."
[Host must complete the primary bonding requirement of the Save The World By Bearing A Cub System! By establishing a full mate bond with a compatible beastman, Host's body will adapt permanently to the Beast Continent's atmosphere, fully activating the system and ensuring Host's long term survival!]
The countdown ticked quietly in the corner of her vision.
02:57:44
"A mate bond," Lin Wan said.
[Yes!]
"With a beastman."
[Yes! And the wonderful news is that a fully compatible candidate has already been identified! In fact he is standing approximately two point three meters directly in front of Host right now!]
Something lit up in Lin Wan's vision. A soft highlight, like a tag, pointing directly at the man by the pool.
CANDIDATE DETECTED.
NAME: RIVEN.
COMPATIBILITY RATING: HIGH.
STATUS: UNMATED.
DISTANCE: 2.3 METERS.
Lin Wan stared at the glowing tag hovering over the head of the cold, stripe marked, half dressed stranger who had just walked out of a wild pool and had been watching her hold a one sided conversation with thin air for the past several minutes.
He was still watching her.
His expression had not changed.
His arms were crossed over his chest now.
Lin Wan looked at the countdown.
She looked at the candidate tag.
She looked at Riven.
She looked at the candidate tag again.
"You have got to be joking me," she whispered.
Riven's eyes narrowed. Just slightly. The movement was small and controlled and it was the first real change in his expression since he had stepped out of that pool, and somehow it managed to be less reassuring than no expression at all.
He did not speak.
He simply watched her. Patient and still and waiting, like he had all the time in the world and she was welcome to use as much of it as she needed.
Lin Wan looked at her countdown.
02:56:19
She looked at him.
He looked at her.
The Beast Continent spread out silently around them and the sky pressed down and Weiwei hummed a small cheerful sound inside her head that Lin Wan was already beginning to find deeply irritating.