"Die? Why?!" Bai Nuan hissed, her professional composure fraying at the edges. "I’ve survived a month in the Amazon with nothing but a tarp and a bad attitude. I’m not dying over an ankle sprain!"

[ Because it’s the Beast World, Host! And you are injured. ]

[ Collecting a powerful Alpha Mate will secure your survival. ]

She let out a long, weary sigh, glancing at the unconscious silver-haired giant sprawled next to her.

"I can survive on my own. I just need to get away from... this."

She gestured vaguely at his tail.

[ But you are worried for him, right, Host? ]

"Ah, actually—"

’Actually, I’m worried he’ll wake up and realize I’m the only thing on the menu that doesn’t have claws.’

[ I get it, Host! There is lamb meat in your inventory as a basic starter for this world. ]

[ Feed him and collect your mate’s trust. ]

’Hm. The typical ’Help the Injured Male Lead’ trope? Predictable. Sub-par writing, honestly.’

She looked at the wolf-man again.

’But if he wakes up starving and there’s no lamb... I’m the lamb. Logistics, Bai Nuan. Focus on the logistics.’

She looked back at the blue screen. "Fine. How do I get this meat again?"

The screen flickered, opening a grid of blurred, locked boxes. One of them glowed, showing a raw cut of lamb. As soon as she reached for it, the meat materialized in the air, dropping into her lap with a heavy thud.

"Ah! Oh... thanks," she muttered, surprised the ’Magic UI’ actually worked.

She grabbed her survival knife, the blade catching the dim light of the forest. With a few practiced, efficient strokes, she carved off a leg.

"Can you put this part back?" she asked the screen. "I’m not wasting a primary protein source in a survival situation. Saving is a must."

[ Sure, Host! Resource management is an excellent trait! ]

The leg vanished back into the digital void. Bai Nuan turned toward the wolf-man, gingerly placing the rest of the meat right under his nose.

’There. Eat the lamb, not the professional survivalist. We’re establishing a workplace boundary right now, buddy.’

The wolf-man’s nostrils flared. Even in his unconscious state, his nose began to twitch, catching the scent of the fresh kill.

[ Congratulations! Now, when he wakes up and sees that you provided him meat— ]

[ He will eat you!! In that way. ]

"No thanks! Hard pass!" Bai Nuan snapped, her face turning a shade of red that had nothing to do with her injury.

’Good. The temporary "Don’t Eat the Protagonist" treaty is established.’

[ Host!!! What about the task?! ]

"No," she said firmly.

She grunted, forcing herself to stand. The agony in her ankle flared up instantly, a sharp, white-hot needle that shot straight into her hip. She limped to the edge of the massive rock slab, looking down at the forest floor.

Gulp. ’Crap. That’s at least a five-meter drop.’

In any other situation, Bai Nuan would have handled a height like this with a standard drop-and-roll. But as she looked at her swollen, purple ankle, she began estimating the "all-possible-pain" index. If she jumped now, she’d be trading a sprain for a shattered tibia.

[ If you stay and collect your mate, there is a healing potion in the reward. ]

Bai Nuan paused, her hand hovering over her injured leg.

"Huh? Now we’re talking. Why didn’t you lead with the medical supplies?"

[ Go sit beside the hot beastman. ]

"No thanks. Just give me a length of rope and a climbing hook from that inventory of yours. I’ll get down on my own. I don’t need a ’mate’ to be my elevator."

[ No! ]

"What do you mean, no? You just said you were my helper!" she hissed at the screen, gesturing wildly. "Give it to me! I know you have it. I saw all those locked blocks in the inventory. Don’t tell me a ’Survival System’ doesn’t carry basic climbing gear!"

[ I am a Mating System, Host! Not a hardware store! ]

"Give it to me, or you can watch your ’Host’ become a pancake at the bottom of this rock! Your choice!"

[ Host behavior is outside the designated syllabus... ]

With a reluctant flicker, a heavy coil of climbing rope and a steel hook materialized at her feet.

"Good job, blue buddy! See? Cooperation isn’t that hard."

Bai ignored the System’s digital grumbling.

She worked quickly, anchoring the hook into a deep fissure in the stone with the practiced ease of someone who had done this a hundred times for the "B-roll" footage. She tossed the rope over the edge.

"Here I go."

She started the descent, but survival manuals never quite emphasized how much a "tactical descent" relied on having two functional ankles to push off the rock. Every time her injured foot brushed the stone, a fresh wave of nausea-inducing pain spiked through her leg.

"Ouch—dammit—son of a—"

With a final, undignified slide that left her arms scraped and stinging, her boots finally hit the soft forest floor.

"Phew... survived."

She didn’t waste a second. She turned around, ready to limp into the treeline and put as much distance between her and the ’Alpha’ as possible.

She took exactly one step before freezing.

The ’Alpha’—the one she had spent all that energy climbing away from—was standing right behind her. He was still very much naked, his head tilted in a look of pure, animalistic curiosity.

Around his neck, he had draped the lamb’s intestines like a macabre scarf, dripping sticky fluids down his chest. He was aggressively chewing a chunk of raw meat held in one hand, while one clawed hand was casually scratching his balls.

"Blughhh!!"

Bai Nuan nearly gagged, whipping her head away so fast she heard her neck crack.

’Absolutely not. Where is the majestic aura? Why is he scratching his balls with meat hands?!’