Chapter 1: Does It Resemble?

"I am Rein Sudar, not Li Ensu!"
"I am Rein Sudar, not Li Ensu!"
"I am Rein Sudar, not Li Ensu!"

The mirror reflected the young man's pale face. As his Adam's apple bobbed with difficulty, beads of sweat rolled down his temples and seeped into his soaked shirt.

Li Ensu... Rein stared at himself in the mirror, his self-suggestion echoing through the cramped bathroom like a mantra. Anyone who has ever assumed another person's identity knows that the detail most likely to expose you isn't a flaw in the forgery or a slip in appearance, but that momentary hesitation when someone calls your name.

For Rein, a transmigrator, since he had to steal a face and a name, he had to do it until he believed it himself.

"I am Rein..."

Finished with today's drill, Rein wiped his face and stepped out of the bathroom.

*Thwack!*

Drying the water from his face, he poured himself a glass of water, hydrating while reapplying his disguise.

One by one, scales were attached to his face and arms, resembling freckles or birthmarks. A blue horn, paired with a broken fragment, was affixed to his head so that the intact portion protruded from his hair.

The tail... he decided to skip that. Yesterday, it had dragged on the ground and been stepped on by a pack beast, nearly exposing him on the spot. Unless he was willing to insert it into a certain part of his anatomy, this kind of clip-on fake tail lacked any sense of control. In a world full of the real thing, it was far too obvious; it was better to pass himself off as a poor soul who had lost his tail.

"Tsk, why is it that other transmigrators arrive in another world with no language barriers, no appearance issues, and no identity problems, while I have to handle everything myself and nothing ever changes..."

Rein looked out the window at the bustling street below. There were people, yet they were beastmen. There were vehicles, yet they were steam-powered. There were horses, yet they were the Kuldans—the horse-girl equivalents—whizzing by.

If it were three months ago, he would have absolutely assumed this was a film set. The streets filled with beast ears and tails were a challenge to his worldview, making him wonder if he had stumbled into a live-action cosplay production of some mobile game. Werewolves, cat-people, elves, dwarves, angels, demons—everything was there, enough to fill an encyclopedia of fantasy races.

The most common inhabitants were various types of mixed-breed beastmen. What Rein found hardest to accept was that while his own body hadn't changed, he hadn't seen a single one of his own kind. It wasn't that they didn't exist—he had found a race in the library that matched his own physical traits, a "hairless monkey" race with no tail or beast ears—but in this world, it was a supreme taboo that no one dared to acknowledge.

"If it weren't for my usual caution, if I had just walked out onto the street, I'd probably be tied to a stake by now... or perhaps being dissected..."

*Knock, knock!*

The sudden pounding on the door interrupted his thoughts.

"Open up! Police inspection!"

The voice outside was muttering, sounding impatient and irritable.

"These mongrels..." Rein sighed, picked up the clothes hanging on the rack, and ducked back into the bathroom.

The cheap wooden door of the inn rattled under the knocking, yet there was no response from within.

Talia Stard, a female police officer of the local patrol division, was growing impatient. With short blonde hair and a cold, stern face, she looked like a tomboy, though her tank top struggled to contain a generous bust. Standing over six feet tall, the leopard-kin officer was visibly irritated. The muscles beneath her uniform were as fluid as a leopard's, her waist-to-hip ratio was stunning, and her muscular curves were explosive without appearing bulky. A taser ring was attached to the tip of her swaying tail.

The knocking was ignored because the person inside was busy "applying makeup."

When the door finally opened, the officer saw a well-dressed gentleman with a sour, annoyed expression. Rein knew that when you were truly hiding something, being too fawning or too weak was never a good thing.

"Is there a problem?" Rein asked, tapping his walking stick.

*A troublesome noble?* The officer, who immediately thought of complaints and docked pay, tapped the honey-colored tip of her leopard tail against her uniform in irritation. But duty was duty... She suddenly leaned in, and Rein was too slow to react.

*Sniff.*

The pretty nose that suddenly drew close took a sniff at Rein—a highly offensive gesture that made him shudder. He didn't move, because this was how predatory species recorded a target... and it was the prelude to an attack. Only then did he realize this was a "leopard," a rare and powerful race.

"Outsider?" Her leopard ears pricked up, and her vertical pupils narrowed into slits. It was a leopard's instinctive vigilance; she had smelled something off.

"Um... how did you know?"

"You smell like soil, but you lack the scent of diesel and the fishy odor of the local streets. Do you have identification?"

Rein quickly handed it over, but the photo made the visitor pause. The moment the document was handed out, the officer's eyes widened.

"Is this you?"

"Yes?"

"The hell, this is you?!"

"Yes, that year, I was very thin." As he spoke, Rein puffed out his cheeks, mimicking a round, chubby face.

The female officer was so annoyed she laughed, then picked up the parchment to compare them directly. Left: lizard head. Right: human head.

"This is not you!"

Comparing the portraits, it wasn't even a question of whether it looked like him... the species were completely different!

Rein immediately put on a wronged expression, saying nothing.

"He's a 'receding-ear'..." his colleague quickly interjected, pointing to the man's deformed, uneven broken horns.

"A degenerate species... sorry, I don't mean to discriminate. Uh, I just couldn't find the right word."

The appearance of beastmen in this world, perhaps due to multiple cross-breedings, was mostly similar, usually just humans with one or two extra parts (beast ears, beast tails). But there were always lucky ones—the more beast-like, the more powerful—who were often respected within their tribes as "innate evolvers" (atavistic types), stronger than their peers from the start.

However, there were also the unlucky ones—those injured, sick, or cursed—who lost their racial characteristics and became what were known as "degenerate species." Such people were often cast out of their tribes.

"They say that for degenerate species, even the ears continue to shrink until they return to a semi-circular arc!"

His partner's explanation terrified the leopard officer, and being blunt, she blurted out, "Those super short half-ears? Wouldn't that look hideous?!"

"Don't point, don't point! Boss, do you want to be reported for racial discrimination again?!"

This charge was not a light one, and it scared the female officer.

"This is my family crest..." Rein sighed, pulling out a lizard-head emblem with knife marks scratched into it. Having something like this was an implication of his status.

"A noble? From where?"

"A former noble, the third son of Count Sudar, from the Storm Kingdoms."

"A desert lizard from the south... sorry, sorry, I'm not discriminating against desert types. Were you exiled?"

The imposing officer seemed a bit too direct; it was only after her partner tugged on her repeatedly that she realized it.

With this small interlude, the subsequent inspection went much more smoothly... In fact, from the moment Rein opened the door, there hadn't been much of an issue. The leopard-kin's sense of smell was excellent, especially when targeting specific goals. Rein was clean—at least, he considered himself clean.

After patrolling the room and confirming everything was in order, the officer duo prepared to leave.

"Be careful, the serial killer 'Tail Collector' has struck again... uh, you don't have a tail? That's lucky, I guess you won't be targeted."

(The colleague dragging her away: *Big sister, big sister! Stop, stop! Watch your choice of words! Don't you have enough complaints already?!*)

Although this unlucky "receding-ear" guy smelled of cat-kin fluids that should only be found in nightclubs, it was completely different from the victimized dog-kin; it was probably just a cat-girl maid from the hotel. Vice and crime suppression weren't her department anyway; she was investigating major felonies.

As soon as the two officers left, Rein let out a sigh of relief.

*Thwack!*

The door was knocked on again. When he opened it, it was the small, round-faced cat-kin officer who had been fawning earlier, along with the impatient leopard-kin in the hallway.

"Oh, right, we forgot something. Routine notification: you should know about this generation's Hero, the one known as the Light of the Kingdom."

"Hero? Never heard of her. I'm a desert man, only been here two days."

"Not knowing is fine, it's just a routine notice. Lady Leina is the Kingdom's strongest protector, but she went missing a while ago. Things are chaotic lately, and every country has issued search warrants. We're handing them out to travelers passing through..."

Saying this, she shoved a bounty notice into his hand and was dragged away by her impatient colleague.

Rein, who had just breathed a sigh of relief, opened his eyes wide the moment he glanced at the notice. He looked outside, confirmed no one was there, and quickly stepped into the bathroom.

An ancient book at his waist was flipped open. He chanted a few soft words, and the next moment, a small planar gate appeared in the cramped space.

It was a very long corridor, leading to who knows where. He walked for a full two minutes before reaching the end.

There, only an iron chair sat, with a person bound to it.

Tied tightly—blindfold, handcuffs, leg shackles, all present. Restraint chains bound the beautiful body, and a ball gag dripped liquid, leaving the floor beneath the iron throne already soaked.

"The hair color is a bit similar."

"The eye color is also a bit similar."

"That blade-like glare when she stares at someone... heh, also a bit similar, quite similar."

He picked up the portrait again, comparing the left image with the head in front of him, scrutinizing them carefully.

"Similar, truly similar, too similar. The face shape is very alike, and that beauty mark in the same spot under the right eye, the gems on the Hero's crown are identical, and oh, this knife mark... it's just too similar!"

Rein let out a dry, fake laugh.

"Oh my god, this is the same person!! Hero, what happened to you?!"