I Rise in the Beast World by Smelling Desires - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

When I opened my eyes, half of my face was buried in the snow.

The biting cold seeped into the marrow of my bones, my stomach cramped from emptiness, and my throat tasted of rusted blood.

Someone was cursing at me.

“She’s awake? Her life is quite tenacious.”

“What’s the use of being tenacious? She can’t smell a mate’s scent and can’t give birth to strong cubs. The tribe has wasted years supporting her.”

“The Priest Lord said it himself: a Forsaken Female is not permitted to stay in the Inner Circle.”

I lifted my head and saw a circle of Beastfolk standing at the edge of the snowy clearing.

Wolf ears, leopard tails, eagle wings-all mixed together like a savage and grand trial.

But what truly made my skin crawl wasn’t their Beast Features.

It was their scents.

From some, the sour smell of hunger wafted out.

From others, a damp, moldy stench of malice drifted.

And then there were several thick, lewd odors, like overripe fruit rotting in the snow, coiling around me.

My stomach churned, and I nearly vomited on the spot.

I wasn’t the original “her.”

Three minutes ago, I was on my way home from working overtime.

Three minutes later, I had become a “Useless Female” in a tribe of the Beast World, just as she was being cast out of her nest.

Fragmented memories belonging to the original owner of this body surged into my mind.

This place was called the Northern Wastes Tribe.

Winter was only halfway through, the granaries were nearly empty, and cubs were falling ill one after another.

Everyone was looking for a scapegoat.

The original owner was born unable to smell the Mating Scent of Beastfolk, meaning she couldn’t help High-Rank Males stabilize their Frenzy Period. Thus, she was naturally pushed forward to become the one “disliked by the gods.”

An Altar stood at the end of the snowfield.

On the highest step stood a man. His white robes brushed the ground, his silver hair was tied behind him, and his back was as straight as if carved by a blade.

He had an excessively cold face with a sharp brow, yet a hint of weariness weighed down the corners of his eyes.

His beast ears were white, and his tail hung behind his robes, as clean as the snow.

He looked like a Divine Statue standing amidst the wind and frost.

I knew who he was.

Su Zhichuan.

The strongest White Tiger Priest of the Northern Wastes Tribe, and the man who had personally judged the original owner as “useless.”

The surrounding Beastfolk were all waiting to see how I would die.

But what I smelled was not what was written on their faces.

Ming Xingye, the Black Wolf Guard standing at the very front, smelled of metallic alertness mixed with a very faint trace of anxiety.

He didn’t want me to die.

The leopard male on the left, who always followed the Witch Doctor Cen Linxing, was shouting the loudest, but the scent on him was sickeningly sweet.

That was the smell of a lie.

And of lust.

I followed the scent and looked over, meeting his gaze before he could pull it away.

In an instant, it felt like a needle pricked my brain, and I actually saw fragments of a memory.

Inside a dim granary, he was stuffing a bag of Beast Bone Powder into his shirt. When he turned around, he even flashed a smile at the original owner.

It wasn’t a hallucination.

It was a new ability developed by this body.

I abruptly looked up toward the high platform.

The wind swirled down from the top of the Altar, and Su Zhichuan’s scent finally reached my nostrils.

Cold, pure, like cedar and frost.

But beneath that surface was a heat that was almost scalding.

It wasn’t a lewd desire.

It was a sense of possession pushed to the absolute limit.

Like a predator using the last of its rationality to press its fangs against a prey’s throat, desperately restraining itself from biting down.

My back went numb.

At the same time, the Witch Doctor Cen Linxing stepped out from the side of the stairs, holding a Bone Bell in her hands. Her voice was soft and sweet.

“Fuyin, don’t resent the tribe.”

“This year’s disastrous winter is too severe; food can only be kept for those who are useful.”

“You have no luck with mates and no talent for soothing. Staying in the Inner Circle will only lead everyone to their deaths.”

She spoke gently, but the scent on her was a damp, fishy sweetness.

Jealousy.

Relief.

And a bit of dark, hidden scheming.

I pushed myself up from the snow. My knees were weak, but my voice was not low.

“I can survive.”

The crowd fell silent for a moment, then erupted into laughter.

“Survive with what?”

“By crying?”

“Or by seduction?”

I stared at the leopard male who had stolen the food and spoke word by word.

“By helping you find out who stole the Beast Bone Powder from the granary.”

The laughter stopped abruptly.

The leopard male’s face turned pale instantly.

On the high platform, Su Zhichuan finally lowered his gaze to look at me.

His eyes were as cold as blades.

But I smelled that scalding heat suddenly intensify.

It was as if the predator deep within the wind and snow had finally opened its eyes.