I became a little tiger?

Cold, suffocating.

And a strange sensation of being wrapped in thick fur.

Lin Mo's consciousness struggled to surface from a void of chaotic darkness. The first thing he felt was a furry paw, muddy and smelling faintly of milk, planted firmly on his face, nearly pressing his entire head into the coarse hay beneath him.

"Ugh... damn it... who is it... at this hour..."

He instinctively wanted to curse, but his throat only emitted a weak, hoarse, and peculiar sound—somewhere between a whimper and a cough—that was nothing like the human language he knew.

The suffocation grew more intense. Survival instinct drove him to lift his limp, powerless "hand" and shove the heavy paw off his face with all his might.

"Haa—huff—"

He gasped for air, opening his eyes in a daze.

Then, he froze.

Before him was not the familiar ceiling of his dormitory, nor the rows of bookshelves in the library, but a swaying expanse of orange and black stripes of varying depths. Several furry, round figures were jostling around him. The air was thick with the pungent scent of animals, the smell of fermenting hay, and... a faint, lingering trace of milk.

He turned his stiff neck to look at the "hand" he had just used to push the paw away.

That was no hand.

It was a tiger paw covered in white downy fur, complete with pink paw pads that looked soft, yet tipped with sharp, translucent claws.

Lin Mo: "???"

He looked down abruptly, and what met his eyes was the same white, slightly dirty fur covering a small, round body that was nonetheless so thin he could feel his own ribs.

It wasn't a dream!

He twisted his body like he'd been electrocuted, trying to get a full look at himself. His four-legged posture felt incredibly awkward, and a long tail with black ringed stripes was twitching and slapping against the hay involuntarily.

He stumbled and scrambled his way to the edge of the Animal Pen—there was a trough for the beasts to drink from, made of rough material, with a few bits of grass floating on the surface of the water.

Reflected in the water was the slightly blurry face of a young beast.

A round head, the markings on the forehead not yet fully developed, and a pair of amber eyes that should have been filled with wildness were now brimming with shock, confusion, and stupidity. What made his heart stop, however, was that between the white fur on his back, there were two symmetrical, fingernail-sized lumps, slightly bulging and revealing an unnatural...

"Roar—! (Damn it!)"

A milky, yet terrified tiger roar erupted from his throat.

He wasn't human anymore!

He had turned into a tiger! A... white tiger that didn't seem to be of a normal breed? What were those things on his back? Tumors? Deformities?

His brain was instantly bombarded by countless fragments of information: the dizziness from pulling an all-nighter in the library, the sudden, sharp pain in his heart... and then, darkness.

So, did I... die of overwork? And then my soul transmigrated into... a tiger cub?

"Roar-ow!" (What kind of hellish start is this?!)

The internal collapse was like a tsunami, manifesting as a series of "aww-woo" sounds he couldn't even understand himself. He, Lin Mo, a diligent (occasionally lazy) college student of the 21st century, a future corporate slave-in-waiting, how did he end up like this? When others transmigrate, they either get a zero-to-hero arc or become a noble young master. He, on the other hand, had crossed species! He wasn't even human anymore!

Just as he was immersed in the massive shock of his identity crisis, a force from the side sent him stumbling.

The one who bumped into him was an orange-black cub a full size sturdier than him. The cub glanced at him, its amber eyes filled with naked rejection and disdain, and let out a low growl, as if driving away something filthy.

Only then did Lin Mo fully snap out of it and carefully observe his "peers."

There were five or six cubs in total, each with sleek, glossy fur in the standard orange-and-black jungle pattern. Although they were only about two or three months old, they already showed the budding form of predators, full of power as they wrestled and bit each other.

Only he was different.

His out-of-place white fur stood out starkly among this group of "normal" cubs. Because of this difference, he had been isolated in the corner of the Animal Pen, even being stepped on just moments ago. He looked down at his own scrawny body and then at the round "brothers" around him, and it hit him instantly.

No wonder he was so weak! He was being bullied and couldn't get any food!

Is the world of beasts this straightforward? Just because his fur color was different?

The immense pressure of survival instantly overwhelmed his fear and desire to complain about the transmigration.

Survive! He had to survive first!

At that moment, his nose keenly caught the source of the milky scent—at the other end of the pen, a rough stone trough was filled with a pool of milky white liquid, exuding an enticing aroma. Several sturdy cubs were crowded around the trough, burying their heads and lapping it up with "slurp, slurp" sounds, emitting satisfied grunts.

Hunger swept through his stomach and reason like a wildfire.

What human dignity? What dignity of a college student? In the face of survival, that was all bullshit!

"Roar!"

Lin Mo let out a low growl to psych himself up (though it still sounded milky), and using all four limbs, he charged toward the stone trough!

His small, thin body erupted with surprising potential, like a white bullet, stumbling yet determined as he rushed toward the "milk source."

"Bang!"

He forcefully used his head and shoulders to shove a gap open, squeezing into the circle of furry bodies. Immediately, dissatisfied, threatening growls erupted around him, and some claws even began to scratch his back and flanks.

It hurt! A burning, stinging pain!

But Lin Mo couldn't care less! He plunged his head into the stone trough and greedily stuck out his tongue, lapping frantically.

The beast milk had a rich, gamey smell, and the taste wasn't exactly great, but the moment it hit his empty stomach, a warm energy seemed to flow through his limbs and bones, dispelling a portion of his weakness and the cold.

It tastes so good! This is practically nectar from the heavens!

He gulped it down with everything he had, ignoring everything else while using his small body to desperately brace against the force constantly pushing in from the side.

In the scramble, an exceptionally strong tiger cub seemed provoked by his "lack of tact," letting out a low growl before opening its mouth to snap at Lin Mo's front leg!

Lin Mo instinctively wanted to pull back his paw to dodge, but his body's reaction was a beat too slow—or perhaps, the human combat instincts deep in his bones hadn't fully adapted to this body yet.

"Rip—"

A sharp pain shot through his front leg. Although the other cub's baby teeth weren't particularly sharp, the force of the bite still tore through his white fur, leaving behind several bloody scratches.

Almost simultaneously, the moment the pain struck, a faint, barely perceptible warmth suddenly surged from deep within Lin Mo's body, spreading like a trickling stream down his injured front leg.

Wherever this warmth passed, the pain seemed to ease slightly, and an indescribable, instinctual craving quietly arose—not a craving for the milk, but for... something from within the other cub, triggered by that very bite?

The warmth vanished in a flash, so quickly it felt like an illusion.

But Lin Mo's licking motion came to an abrupt halt, his amber tiger eyes wide open.

What... was that just now?

Injury... warmth... craving...

An incredible thought exploded in his mind like a thunderclap.

Could it be... that this is my... golden finger?