Lin Feng stumbled back to the pond, muttering under his breath the entire way. The weight of the deer barely registered anymore, but his stomach growled loud enough to scare him.
"Alright, priority one: fire. Priority two: food. Priority three: complain about my Isekai," he announced, dumping the deer onto a flat rock near the water. The pond shimmered in the noon sunlight, and the same spot where he'd roasted fish earlier still had the remnants of his makeshift fire pit.
"See? Progress!" he said, dusting his hands and setting to work gathering sticks. "Lin Feng never goes hungry. Never. Except maybe that one time I tried intermittent fasting. Worst decision ever. But now? Now I'm practically Bear Grylls with claws. Who needs knives when you've got these bad boys?"
He flexed his sharp nails again, accidentally nicking a twig in half. "Okay, maybe I need to work on control. Note to self: don't high-five anyone.
Soon, he had a fire roaring, and the skinned deer sat skewered over the flames. The smell of roasting meat filled the air, making his mouth water. He poked the deer with a stick, grinning as fat sizzled into the fire. "Look at me! Gourmet cooking, no Gordon Ramsay insults required. Lin Feng never burns dinner. Except... most of the time."
As he sat by the fire, he kept talking, his voice echoing in the quiet forest. "You know, in any other story, I'd be the cool anti-hero right now. Lone wolf, tragic backstory, badass cape that drinks blood. But nooo, I'm out here like some kind of furry with zero clue what's my plot. Seriously, what is going on? Why am I here?
He tore into the cooked meat with gusto, stuffing his face like a man who hadn't eaten in days. "Mmm! Okay, I take it back. Cape, you're forgiven. You drain the blood, I get juicy meat, and everyone's happy.
By the time the sun set the deer was gone. Every scrap, every morsel devoured, even the bones. Lin Feng sat back, patting his stomach with a satisfied sigh. "Man, I'm a genius. Gourmet chef, master hunter, and now full. What could go wrong?"
Sleep took over as he drifted into sleep, the campfire now faintly burning only embers left.
At the sharp middle of the night, the moon up high, his stomach suddenly growled.
He woke up from his own stomach growling, froze, blinking. "Wait. What?" He looked around, it was a moonlit night. His stomach growled again. " What the hell? No. Nope. I ate an entire deer."
The growling grew louder, and a cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He glanced down at his cape, which hung innocently around his shoulders. "Oh no. Oh no, no, no. This is your fault, isn't it?" He grabbed at the blood bead, shaking it as if it would answer him. "You cursed piece of vampire curse! What did you do to me?"
Panic set in as he scrambled to his feet, pacing back and forth. "Okay, okay, think, Lin Feng. You've been Isekaied. Weird stuff happens. But this? This is next-level cursed item territory! I mean, sure, the claws were kind of cool, and the blood-sucking thing saved me some cleanup, but this? This is not normal!"
He clawed at the cape, trying to pull it off. The furcape didn't budge. It clung to him like a second skin, the blood bead glowing faintly as if mocking him.
"Get off! I don't care if you're custom-made, designer-level evil! Lin Feng never—NEVER—wears cursed accessories!" He tugged harder, grunting with effort. "Why is this thing stuck? Is there a manual? A cheat code? Do I need to feed it more blood to unlock the 'let go' feature?"
His stomach growled again, louder this time, and he stumbled, clutching his midsection. "Oh, come on! I just ate an entire deer for the whole day! What more do you want from me?!"
He fell to his knees, glaring at the cape. "If this is your way of asking for dessert, I swear I'll—"
A sudden flash of heat pulsed from the blood bead, silencing him mid-rant. Lin Feng's heart raced as the warmth spread through his chest, a faint voice whispering at the edge of his consciousness.
"What the hell was that?!" He scrambled back, eyes darting around the empty forest. "Okay, no. Nope. We're done. Lin Feng never deals with ghost capes. I am taking this thing off if it's the last thing I do!"
Grabbing a sharp stick from the ground, he started jabbing at the clasp, muttering furiously. "Stupid bead, stupid cape, stupid everything! Why couldn't I just be reborn as a farmer? Or a lapdog? Dogs don't have to deal with this nonsense!"
The cape, as usual, offered no reply, its faint glow fading as Lin Feng's frustration reached new heights.
Lin Feng gave the blood bead clasp another forceful jab with his new claws, huffing and puffing as his patience wore thin. "I swear, I'll take you off if I have to tear through my own—"
He froze mid-rant, his sharp nails paused. A chill crept down his spine, his newly heightened senses prickling like static on the skin. Voices carried through the darkness, far clearer than they should be.
"There. Some idiot's making a fire in the middle, is someone here in the Crimson Veil Secret Realm for leisure. Looks like fresh prey." The voice was cold, authoritative.
"Bold or stupid, doesn't matter. Anyone not from the major factions is just fodder for us anyway." A second voice, gruffer and cruder.
Lin Feng's heart hammered in his chest. He crouched lower, instinctively skating away from his fire. "Oh great, just what I needed. Murder hobos with fancy titles," he whispered to himself.
"Keep your voice down, Bao," a sharp, feminine voice cut in. "What if they're not alone? We're still in the outer zones. Plenty of traps, even before you reach the good treasures."
"We're fine," the first voice responded. "The outer zones are crawling with weaklings and opportunists. Anyone smart enough to be a threat has already moved deeper into the realm. Besides, this treasure hunt isn't just about finding relics. It's about clearing the competition."