Lord of The Mysterious: She Comes from the Chaos Sea

Pain... Excruciating pain...

Zhou Mingxiang's head throbbed. He tried to rub it, but his arms wouldn't move, seemingly bound to his sides.

"Sleep paralysis?" he wondered.

His eyelids felt heavy. With effort, he opened them, only to be blinded by the harsh sunlight. Tears involuntarily streamed down his face.

Through blurry vision, he could make out a figure standing before him. Zhou Mingxiang tilted his head slightly, letting the tall silhouette block the scorching sun.

As his eyes adjusted, he realized with horror that it wasn't a person at all, but an enormous bipedal wolf! Its gaze was manic and mocking.

Zhou Mingxiang suddenly became aware that the giant Demonic Wolfwas clutching his body tightly, its sharp claws digging into his skull. He looked like prey about to be devoured.

"This must be a dream..." Zhou Mingxiang thought to himself.

In an instant, a flood of memories rushed in - memories belonging to a woman named Hermione.

He saw dragons, phoenixes, werewolves, demons, and other monstrous creatures freely hunting humans in the wilderness. Some humans found refuge with giants, elves, vampires, and other races, forming tribes. But even then, humans were treated as vassals or slaves by these more powerful beings.

This was a world where humans struggled to survive amidst superior lifeforms. A world incredibly hostile to human existence...

"Sister, this human female is crying," the giant Demonic Wolfsneered, revealing its vicious fangs. Beside it stood a similar-looking female werewolf.

"This woman is quite famous among human tribes. She's a rare survivor who has consumed extraordinary characteristics," the female wereDemonic Wolfremarked, eyeing Zhou Mingxiang greedily. "She's uniquely mastered abilities like 'hypnosis', 'mind-reading', and 'dream-walking'. But these powers are far weaker than those of dragons and can't affect us."

The giant wolf's eyes lit up with understanding, its desire to devour Zhou Mingxiang intensifying. "No wonder she smells so delicious. A rare human carrier of extraordinary abilities... truly worth savoring slowly."

As the jumbled memories washed over him, Zhou Mingxiang's mind reeled. Though he vaguely heard the monsters discussing how to eat him, he felt drunk, unable to think clearly or find a way to save himself.

Just as the giant Demonic Wolfwas about to string Zhou Mingxiang up to toy with, a cool voice drifted over: "This is prey allocated to me by the 'King'. You siblings so crudely manhandling what belongs to me... are you challenging me?"

For some reason, hearing this female voice snapped Zhou Mingxiang out of his daze. He struggled to turn his head toward the sound and saw an elegant woman in a black dress approaching. Though she resembled a human, she had two extra pairs of arms protruding from her ribcage and waist, covered in short black fur like the werewolves.

These physical traits revealed her monstrous nature, yet she exuded a beauty that made one's heart skip a beat.

Drawn by some mysterious attraction, Zhou Mingxiang felt an overwhelming desire to see this monster woman's face clearly. As he strained his eyes, her features seemed veiled by layers of gauze - hazy, yet exquisitely beautiful.

As Zhou Mingxiang was lost in this inexplicable emotion, an unconscious change came over him. Golden scales began slowly sprouting from his exposed skin, and his black eyes took on an eerie golden glow, the pupils narrowing to slits.

"Misfortune..." the giant Demonic Wolfmuttered, clearly wary. It tossed the transforming Zhou Mingxiang toward the six-armed monster woman called "Misfortune", stammering excuses: "Here, take her back. I was just curious and wanted to play. I never intended to eat your prey."

The six-armed monster woman made no move to catch Zhou Mingxiang, letting her fall to the ground and roll through the weeds.

Lying on the earth, Zhou Mingxiang curled up in agony. But this pain didn't come from being thrown - it came from within, as if something inside was trying to tear through her skin and break free...

Some time later, when Zhou Mingxiang awoke, he saw the veiled woman in black crouching beside her. The woman no longer had six monstrous arms, and her face wasn't as ethereal as before.

She sat very close, her gaze fixed on Zhou Mingxiang even as he regained consciousness. Her cool stare was unreadable, as if she was recalling something through Zhou Mingxiang's appearance.

"Hello. Thank you for saving me," Zhou Mingxiang said haltingly yet fluently in the dragon language, but the woman ignored him.

"This monster woman couldn't be planning to eat me too, could she?" Zhou Mingxiang thought with a bitter smile.

In his mind now, Zhou Mingxiang's memories had perfectly merged with Hermione's, as if they were one and the same.

In Zhou Mingxiang's memories, his last impression on Earth was watching a short video titled "Speed-reading 'Lord of the Mysteries' in 10 Minutes". The main character in the video shared a name with his brother Zhou Mingrui, making Zhou Mingxiang wonder if it was a prank by someone he knew.

Just as Zhou Mingxiang was about to forward the video to Zhou Mingrui, the end introduced a mysterious "good luck ritual". Zhou Mingxiang watched the ritual while trying to send the whole video to Zhou Mingrui, but the network seemed poor and the forwarding failed twice.

Zhou Mingxiang planned to show Zhou Mingrui the video later. But then he recalled that in the video's summary, the story of "Lord of the Mysteries" also began with a ritual.

Considering his recent career setbacks and curious about mystical forces, the idle Zhou Mingxiang decided to try the ritual from the end of the video, which differed from the one in the story.

And then... when he next regained consciousness, he had become her!

Damn!

Zhou Mingxiang from Earth had become Hermione in the world of "Lord of the Mysteries"!

Yes, after comparing Hermione's memories with the video, Zhou Mingxiang was almost certain he had entered the mysterious, fantastical, and insane supernatural world from the story!

"Your dragon language is very standard..." the veiled woman suddenly spoke, her voice cool and crisp, also in the dragon tongue. "Who taught you?"