Chapter 161: The Red Dragon Chef

Vex tossed a bundle of fabric at her face.

“Catch,” he chirped.

Ren fumbled to grab it before it hit the wet ground. It was a large, oddly shaped piece of cloth made from raw sheep’s wool. It wasn’t quite a towel—it looked more like a sheep had exploded and someone had knitted the debris together—but it was dry and warm.

“Thanks,” Ren muttered, wrapping the scratchy but cozy wool around her shivering body.

She looked over at the fox.

Vex was currently bent over behind one of the massive limestone rocks, rummaging through a chaotic pile of furs, dried herbs, shiny rocks, and stolen trinkets.

“I know it is here somewhere,” Vex mumbled, tossing a jagged crystal over his shoulder.

Ren watched him, shaking her head.

’He is a hoarder,’ she realized. ’A messy, disorganized hoarder. I bet he has hideouts like this all over the forest, just filled with junk he’s too lazy to organize.’

As a chef who kept her kitchen organized with military precision—spices alphabetized, knives magnetized, sauces labeled—Vex’s chaos was triggering her OCD.

But as she watched him dig through the pile, her eyes drifted lower.

Because he was bent over, the water slicking off his muscular back was creating little rivulets that ran down his spine and pooled… well, lower.

His three fluffy tails were swishing enthusiastically, offering occasional glimpses of a very firm, very sculpted posterior.

’That is… a nice butt,’ Ren thought involuntarily. ’Like, objectively. It’s a solid 9 out of 10.’

She blinked, then frowned.

’What is wrong with me?’ Ren shook her head violently, looking away at a stalactite. ’I must be ovulating. Or maybe my period is near.’

At that thought, Ren froze.

She stopped drying her hair. The towel dropped slightly.

’My period.’

If her period came, that would mean she wasn’t pregnant. Which would be great. Fantastic, even.

But then the horror set in.

’My period… in this world?’

Ren looked down at the primitive wool towel.

’There are no tampons here. There are no pads. Do I have to free-bleed into a leaf?’

The sheer inconvenience of it terrified her more than anything.

’And when is it due?’ Ren wondered, panic rising. ’I don’t have a calendar. I don’t even know what day it is.’

As far as she could tell, the Beast World didn’t do “Tuesdays.” They had sunrise, sunset, dusk, and dawn. Future events were quoted in “nights” or “moons.”

’How long have I been here?’ Ren tried to count the days on her fingers, but between the chaos of her days, she had lost track completely.

[System: Would you like a Temporal Analysis, Host?]

The blue box popped up, interrupting her mental spiral.

’Yes,’ Ren thought desperately. ’How long has it been?’

[System: Time in the Beast World flows differently than in your home dimension. The temporal velocity here is accelerated.]

Ren frowned. ’Accelerated? What does that mean?’

[System: In your original world, it has been approximately 6 months since your disappearance. However, in the Beast World, only 2 months have passed.]

Ren’s jaw dropped.

“Six months?” she whispered aloud.

She stared at the glowing blue text.

For the first time since she opened her eyes, the reality of her situation truly hit her.

She had died.

“Wait,” Ren whispered, her voice trembling. “If I am here… physically… then what is back there?”

[System: Nothing, Host. You were transmigrated. Body and soul. One moment you were falling into the ravine, and the next you were here. You simply vanished from your world.]

Ren closed her eyes. That was almost worse.

She hadn’t left a body to be buried. She had just disappeared off the face of the Earth. A missing person case that would never be solved.

Ren pictured her mother.

She saw her mother standing in her living room, holding a flyer with her face on it. Her mother, who had always begged her to visit more, to work less. Her mother, who was now spending her twilight years wondering where her daughter had gone.

’She doesn’t even have a grave to visit,’ Ren realized, a cold hollowness spreading in her chest. ’She’s just… waiting. For a daughter who is never coming back.’

She thought about her life back on Earth.

She was Ren, the “Red Dragon Chef.” Famous for her fiery red hair and her even fierier temper.

She had Michelin stars. She had a hit TV show. She had money.

But she had no friends.

Her staff didn’t like her; they feared her. They jumped when she walked into the kitchen. They whispered about her “dragon breath” when she yelled about overcooked scallops.

’Even Dave,’ Ren thought bitterly. ’That clumsy idiot. I wouldn’t call him a friend. He was just a liability I tolerated.’

If she looked back at her disappearance, who would be heartbroken? Her mother. Maybe a few network executives checking their insurance policies. The tabloids would run a story about the “Mysterious Vanishing of the Red Dragon Chef,” and then… nothing.

She had disappeared alone.

“It’s quite pathetic, isn’t it?” Ren whispered, her voice cracking.

A tear slipped down her cheek, hot and fast. Then another. And another.

She stood there in the damp, beautiful cavern, wrapped in scratchy sheep’s wool, crying for a life she had wasted on truffle oil and yelling.

“Mom,” Ren sobbed softly. “I’m so sorry.”

She wiped her eyes furiously with the rough fabric.

’No,’ Ren thought, clenching her fists.

She sniffled, standing up straighter.

’I am not going to die alone in this world. I have a second chance. I have husbands. Husbands who are idiots, yes, but they would burn down a forest for me.’

A fire lit in her eyes—the same fire that had won her those Michelin stars, but this time, it was fueled by something warmer.

’I will live,’ Ren decided firmly. ’I will live my life to the fullest. I will cook amazing food. I will build a home. I will become the greatest chef this world has ever seen, and I will do it with my family.’

[System: That’s the spirit, Host! You go, girl! Live that best life! While having lots of babies!]

Ren rolled her eyes, a small, watery smile touching her lips.

’I’ll think about the babies part,’ she retorted mentally. ’Let’s focus on the survival part first.’

But as the System’s words echoed in her mind—lots of babies—Ren’s smile vanished.

She froze again.

Her brain did a quick, terrifying calculation.

’Wait.’

Two months had passed in the Beast World.

Back on Earth, she had been on a strict contraceptive injection cycle. But those shots only lasted three months. And she was due for her next one soon.

If it had been two months here… and she definitely hadn’t had a period since she arrived…

Her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.

’I missed it,’ Ren thought, her hand instinctively going to her flat stomach. ’I haven’t had a period in two months. And my birth control… it expired.’

The steam in the cavern suddenly felt suffocating.

’Wasn’t I… definitely pregnant?’

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep