Chapter 127: The Original Owner And The System’s Return!
Neve remembered the day he came to this world.
He had been in his former body. A human body. Working as an intern at a zoo. And then suddenly, he found himself in this red panda’s body. In this beastman’s body.
But this red panda was not dead, was he?
This red panda was also a beastman with his own life. His own identity. His own existence that had been going on before Neve arrived.
That means Neve had stolen the life of the red panda. He had taken over his body. He had pushed the original owner aside and taken control.
Maybe he was indeed a thief like the voice in his head claimed him to be.
"Are you the owner of this body?" Neve asked softly, speaking to the voice inside his mind.
"Who do you think it belongs to? You?" the voice shouted in his head.
Neve winced, grabbing his head with both hands. The sudden loud noise was making his headache worse.
"Can you be not loud? My headache could get worse," Neve said, trying to keep his voice down.
"Do I look like I care about your headache?" the voice asked rudely, with no sympathy.
"But it’s your body," Neve reminded the voice. "You should care about what happens to it."
The voice was silent for some seconds.
"It sure is mine, but you’ve done things I couldn’t imagine," the voice finally said, its tone shifting slightly. "I would have been dead if you hadn’t came in contact with a magical item. I would have been lost forever."
"Magical item?" Neve asked, confused. He was already overwhelmed by everything that had happened today. All he wanted to do was cook and not have a conversation with the original owner of his body. He was trying to reduce his voice so others outside the kitchen would not think he was going mad.
He picked the vegetable up from the floor where he had dropped it and started cooking as the conversation with the original owner continued.
"You touched the gift given to you by the dragon king, didn’t you?" the voice asked.
"Yes. He’s my... I mean, he’s our mate," Neve said, washing the vegetables carefully and beginning to chop them.
"Our?" the voice laughed, a sound that was both bitter and confused. "Don’t put me together with you! I do not have men as mates. That’s not who I am."
The voice paused.
"And I do not care who you are or where you’re from," it continued coldly. "You have one day to get out of my head. One day to find a way to leave this body and let me have control again."
"That’s impossible!" Neve almost shouted, forgetting to keep his voice down.
He caught himself and looked around nervously to make sure no one had heard.
"I guess I’ll just have to show you how possible it can get," the voice said ominously.
And then everything went silent.
Neve felt his head become empty. The voice was gone. The presence that had been inside his mind just disappeared completely.
Popi rushed into the kitchen suddenly.
"What’s impossible?" she asked, clearly having heard Neve’s outburst.
Neve’s heart was racing. He had to think of something quick. Something believable.
"Uh... I can’t handle all of this myself," Neve said, letting out a nervous laugh that he hoped sounded natural. He just had to tell a lie so Popi would believe him and not ask more questions.
"You should have let Cael handle this," Popi said. "Even though his food doesn’t taste as good as yours."
"I’m not even three months pregnant yet," Neve said, trying to sound confident. "It’s just a few weeks. I can handle it myself. I need to keep moving. I need to stay busy."
"Right," Popi said and did not argue anymore.
She seemed satisfied with his answer and decided to help him with the cooking.
.
Neve handled most of the task, still thinking about the voice in his head.
The original owner of the body. The red panda beastman whose life he had stolen. Who was he? What was his name? What had his life been like before Neve arrived and took over?
These questions swirled in Neve’s mind as he continued preparing the meal.
Just when he blinked and looked up, something changed.
The system came back online.
The screen was no longer glitching. The letters were no longer scrambled. Everything was clear and functional again.
{Welcome back, Host!}
The system was available again. It was responding normally like it had never been gone.
Neve did not understand why it was so. He did not understand the connection between the voice disappearing and the system coming back online. It was too much of a coincidence.
He wished he could ask the system directly about what had just happened. But he did not want to mention anything about the voice in his head. He did not want to reveal that the original owner of his body was conscious. Aware. Angry.
Even if the system knew everything about him, it would not know about the real owner of his body. Right?
He did not want to make assumptions about how much the system actually knew.
"I don’t know how to use this. It looks sharp," Popi said suddenly, snapping his attention back to the present.
She was holding a small knife. She was staring at it like it was a dangerous weapon she had no idea how to operate.
"You’ve never held a knife before?" Neve asked, surprised.
Popi shook her head.
"My father had a lot of servants and we mostly eat raw meat," she said like it was common knowledge. "I never had to cook for myself."
Neve understood. He just turned his head to the other side, trying not to gag at the thought of it. Raw meat. These beastmen had different dietary habits than he was used to.
He showed Popi how to hold the knife properly. How to chop the vegetables safely. How to avoid cutting her fingers.
As they worked together in the kitchen, Popi suddenly asked a question that made Neve’s stomach clench.
"What are you going to do about Soren if he summons you?" she asked.
Neve had not even thought of it. He had been trying to avoid thinking about it.
He did not want to think of what would happen if Soren called for him. Would Soren force him to get marked as his mate? Would Soren try to claim Neve sexually? Would Soren hurt him or the cubs if Neve refused?
The possibilities were terrifying.
He just shut his eyes and opened them slowly, trying to calm himself.
"I guess I’ll find out once it’s time," Neve said finally.