The Great Awakening

Hu Lingyu, General Administrative Office, North China Branch of the Beast Control Bureau. Administrative clerk. Three years of service. Species: red fox. Lu Qi, Action Squad, North China Branch of the Beast Control Bureau. Squad leader. Three years of service. Species: sika deer. A red fox working as an office clerk: the normal career path. A deer leading an action squad: Are you freaking kidding me?! Lu Qi is exactly that kind of dazzling presence. Since the Beast Control Bureau was founded, he’s been the first deer to join the Action Squad. In just three years, he rose to become its leader, earning the respect of all his ferocious subordinates, including but not limited to jackals, wolves, tigers, leopards, birds of prey, and venomous snakes. Hu Lingyu was proud of Lu Qi as a fellow alumnus who graduated from the same university at the same time, even though the two had barely crossed paths either in college or at the Bureau. Squad Leader Lu had no idea who he was. During an operation to arrest a criminal organization dealing in beast-transformation genes, Hu Lingyu was temporarily assigned to support the Action Squad with perimeter security. By sheer chance, he followed a criminal and stumbled upon a key member of the organization making his escape. Then he was thrown into the sea from a cliff. No one knew what he saw in his final moments. Can you believe the esteemed Action Squad leader actually helped a criminal escape?! Can you believe a group of key members from the criminal organization treated Lu Qi with such deference?! Hu Lingyu: So much for the perfect person existing in this world. If a deer is exceptionally handsome, refined, gentle, mild-mannered, and ridiculously strong, then he must be a criminal. He woke up after falling into the sea and, in an instant, was reborn seven years in the past. North China Fourth University of Beast-Transformation Awakening, first-year student Hu Lingyu: ??? What do you do when you accidentally get reborn? Obviously, seize the initiative, catch the criminals, and let the light of justice shine... Beast-Transformation Awakening instructor: Hu Lingyu, you’re the only one in the whole year who still hasn’t passed the Wildness Power assessment. Biology instructor: Hu Lingyu, you’re the only one in the class who still hasn’t handed in your response to The Awakened Planet, the assignment I gave you. Animal Tracking instructor: Hu Lingyu, about your last assignment, “Similarities and Differences Between Fox and Wolf Tracks”... The fox clerk, now used to drinking tea and slacking off every day: I don’t want to be the light of justice anymore. Can I just graduate right now? I’m exhausted. Lu Qi (sika deer gong) & Hu Lingyu (red fox shou) [Setting] Thirty years after the Great Fog, Earth’s society has been completely transformed. From birth, people are divided into two groups: “ordinary awakened” and “beast-transformation awakened.” Ordinary awakened: They possess some motor functions or behavioral habits similar to those of the animal species they awakened as, but their bodies remain human. Beast-transformation awakened: They can transform their bodies into animals and back into humans. But there’s actually a third, more advanced form of awakening: partial transformation. By studying, one of the core courses at universities of beast-transformation awakening, beast-shifters can keep their bodies between human and animal forms. For example, they can retain a human body while growing animal ears and a tail. In this partially transformed state, the awakened can combine the strengths of both their human and animal forms, maximizing their abilities. Theme: Protecting animals is everyone’s responsibility.