Chapter 1: Resemblance

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

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

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

The mirror reflected the youth's pale face; as his Adam's apple rolled with difficulty, sweat beads slid from his temples into his soaked shirt.

Li Ensu, Li En, muttered the self-suggestion like a spell at his reflection in the small bathroom.

Those who have impersonated others know the detail most likely to expose you is not a flaw in the forged identity or appearance, but the momentary hesitation when someone calls your name.

For the transmigrator Li En, since he was to steal a face and change a name, he had to steal it until even he believed it.

"I am Li En."

Having finished today's lesson, Li En wiped his face and walked out of the bathroom.

"Click!"

Drying the water beads from his face, he poured himself a glass of water, rehydrating while applying his disguise.

Scale by scale, he stuck them to his face and arms, looking like freckles or birthmarks.

One blue horn, paired with a broken fragment, was inserted into his head, letting the intact part emerge from his hair.

The tail was out of the question; yesterday, dragging it on the ground, a beast of burden had stepped on it, nearly exposing him on the spot.

Unless he was willing to insert it into some part of his body, this external fake tail had no sense of control; in a world full of the real thing, it was too obvious, so it was better to pretend to be an unlucky one with a severed tail.

"Tsk, why do other transmigrators arrive in another world with no language issues, no appearance issues, no identity issues, while I have to fix everything myself and nothing changes..."

Li En looked out the window at the bustling street filled with people coming and going.

There were people, but they were beastmen.

There were vehicles, but they were steam locomotives.

There were horses, but they were racing horse girls—ah, Kurdans.

If it were three months ago, he would have absolutely thought it was a film set... this street full of beast ears and tails challenged his worldview so much he even suspected it was a live-action cosplay shoot for some mobile game.

Werewolves, cat-people, elves, dwarves, angels, demons; everything was there, enough to compile a bestiary of otherworldly races.

The most common locals were various mixed-blood beastmen, but what Li En could not accept was that while his own body had not changed, he saw not a single one of his own kind.

It wasn't that there were none at all; he had found a "hairless monkey" race in the library matching his physical features, but in this world, it was a super taboo no one dared acknowledge.

"If it weren't for my usual caution, stepping onto the street right now, I'd be tied to a stake for burning, uh, or maybe dissected..."

"Tap tap!"

A sudden knock interrupted Li En's thoughts.

"Open up! Police inspection!"

Outside, a mumble, somewhat hurried and somewhat dissatisfied.

"These stray dogs..." Li En sighed, picked up the clothes hanging on the rack, and walked back into the bathroom.

The cheap wooden door of the inn creaked under the knocking, but there was no response from inside for a long time.

Now, the female officer of the local Patrol Bureau, Talia Sdar, grew a bit impatient.

Short golden hair, a cold face; looking only at her face, she seemed like a tomboy, but looking down, her bust was too full for the vest to contain.

The leopard-female police officer, over 1.8 meters tall, wore a face full of impatience; the muscle lines under her uniform were as fluid as a hunting leopard, her waist-to-hip ratio was astonishing, her muscular curves full of explosive power yet not Clumsy and heavy, and the swaying tip of her tail was embedded with an electric shock ring.

The "tap tap" knocking was ignored because the person inside was "touching up their makeup."

When the door opened, the female officer saw a gentleman in a sharp suit and a grumpy face... Li En thought that when you truly have a problem, being too eager or too weak is not a good thing.

"Is there something you need?" he said, while Li En also touched his cane.

Was this a troublesome noble? The female officer, instantly reminded of complaints and wage deductions, had her honey-colored leopard-patterned tail tip tapping a restless rhythm under her military uniform.

But she had to do what she had to do; when she suddenly lunged forward, Li En was completely unable to react.

"Sniff."

The suddenly close, pretty nose sniffed Li En once; it was quite an offensive act, yet it made Li En shudder violently.

He did not move, because this was the method predatory species used to record a target, also the prelude to an attack.

Only then did he notice this was a "leopard," a rare and powerful race.

"Outsider?" The leopard ears stood up, the slit pupils contracted into a line; that was the leopard woman's instinct of alertness, she had smelled something amiss.

"Hmm, how did you know?"

"You smell of earth, but not much of the local street's diesel smell or fishy scent. Do you have identification?"

Li En hurriedly handed it over, but the photo made the outsider pause.

The moment the ID was handed out, the officer's eyes widened.

"This... is you?"

"Yes?"

"Is this f***ing you?!"

"Yes, back then, I was still very thin."

Speaking, Li En puffed out his cheeks, making a round, bulging face.

Immediately, the female police officer laughed in anger, picked up the parchment, and compared it directly.

Left: lizard head.

Right: human head.

"This is not you!!"

Comparing the portraits, this wasn't even a matter of resemblance; the species were different!

Immediately, Li En showed a aggrieved expression but said nothing.

"He is a Retired-Ear..." a colleague quickly said, while pointing to the other's long-and-short deformed broken horns.

"De-evolved kind, I'm sorry, I don't mean to discriminate. Uh, I just couldn't find the right word at once."

The appearance of orcs in this world, likely due to multiple mixed bloodlines, is mostly similar; they are often just human subspecies with one or two extra parts (beast ears, beast tails).

But there are always some lucky ones; the more beast-like they are, the stronger they become, and they are often respected more within their clan, called innate evolved kinds (atavism kinds), being far stronger than their fellow clansmen from the start.

Yet there are also some unlucky souls, either injured or sick, or cursed and punished, who have lost their racial traits and become the so-called de-evolved kinds.

Such people are often expelled from their clan.

"It is said that de-evolved kinds even have their ears constantly shrinking, eventually retreating to a semi-circular ear arc!"

The companion's explanation suddenly scared the leopard officer; she, being straightforward and speaking her mind, blurted it out.

"That super-short half-ear? Isn't that hideous?!"

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

This charge was not light, instantly frightening the female officer.

"This is my clan badge." Li En sighed and took out a lizard-head chest badge scarred with knife marks.

Possessing such a thing also hints at one's identity.

"Noble? Where from?"

"Former noble, the third son of Count Sudar's family, from the Storm Kingdom."

"From the southern desert lizard—sorry, sorry, I don't mean to discriminate against desert kinds. Were you exiled?"

The domineering-looking officer seemed a bit too direct; only after being repeatedly tugged by her companion did she realize her mistake.

With this little interlude, the subsequent inspection went much more smoothly. Actually, from the moment Li En opened the door, there wasn't much of a problem.

The leopard clan's sense of smell is quite good, especially when targeting specific individuals.

Li En was very clean, or at least he thought he was.

After patrolling the room once and confirming there were no issues, 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 truly lucky; you shouldn't be targeted."

(Her companion dragging her to walk faster: Big sister, big sister! No, no, no, watch your words! Do you still not think there are enough complaints?!)

Although this de-eared unlucky soul carried some cat-tribe bodily fluid scents that should only appear in nightclubs, it was completely different from the victimized dog-tribe; she was probably a cat-maid from the hotel.

And suppressing vice and cracking down on illegal activities was not something for her, the person in charge of investigating major cases, to handle.

Just as the two officers left, Li En had just let out a sigh of relief.

"Bang!"

The door was knocked again, bang-bang. Opening it revealed the round-faced cat officer who had been smiling apologetically just now, and the impatient leopard woman from the hallway.

"Oh right, I forgot something. Routine announcement: you should know about this current Heroine, the one called the Light of the Kingdom."

"Heroine? Never heard of her. I'm from the desert, only been here two days."

"Not knowing is fine; it's just a routine notification. Lady Laina is the Kingdom's strongest guardian, but she went missing some time ago. The situation has been chaotic recently; all nations have issued search documents, and we need to hand them to passing travelers."

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

Li En, who had just sighed in relief again, glanced at the document once and widened his eyes.

He looked outside, confirmed no one was there, and quickly walked into the restroom.

An ancient book at his waist was opened; he murmured two lines, and the next moment, a small portal appeared in the cramped space.

It was a very long passage, leading who knows where; it took a full two minutes of walking before reaching the end.

There, there was only an iron chair, with a person bound upon it.

Bound very tightly; an eye mask, handcuffs, and leg chains, none missing. Binding chains restrained her beautiful body, a gag constantly dripping liquid, and the area beneath the Iron Throne was already soaked.

"The hair color is a bit similar."

"The eye color is a bit similar too."

"The knife-like gaze when glaring, hmm, that's a bit similar too, a bit similar."

He picked up the portrait again, left portrait, right person, and compared them carefully.

"Similar, truly similar, too similar. This face shape is very similar, and the beauty mark under the right eye in the same spot, the gem on the Heroine's crown above the head are exactly the same. Oh right, and this knife scar... it's really too similar!"

Li En forced a dry, fake laugh twice.

"Whoa, this is literally the same person!! My Lord Heroine, what happened to you?!"

Uh, we're back.

Uh, this is the first fantasy novel after the Mad Lich's Experiment Log, considered a return to the genre we are best at; hope everyone likes it.

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(End of this chapter)