Boonie Bears: Another World Fantasy

Beside the damp highway, shocking cracks appeared on the newly paved asphalt road. Zhao Lin, who had been following the highway to this point, stopped and looked around carefully, approaching the cracks that looked like they had been etched into the ground by lightning.

"Was it an earthquake?" She crouched down, observing the areas where the cracks had collectively burst open with unease. The surrounding woods were eerily quiet; not a sound could be heard, not even the passing vehicles.

Zhao Lin tightened the straps of her backpack, hesitated for a moment, but still resolutely decided to continue. She wasn't far from the outskirts of Shenzhen. If she was lucky, she might be able to hail a taxi, and then she could probably reach the city center late at night.

As she walked, Zhao Lin's pace slowed down, until she finally stopped, as if an invisible force was pulling her along.

She knew it was her conscience acting up.

While Abu's words were certainly hard to accept, they were undeniably true. Zhao Lin struggled repeatedly with why he had said those things to her. She could have chosen to remain silent and deny everything, but ultimately she couldn't hide her feelings, and her defenses crumbled.

She shouldn't have developed these feelings for him...

In recent days, Zhao Lin has felt extremely irritable and anxious, and has even begun to give up on herself. Despite her continued efforts, she has not received any response from the other party.

But you didn't find anything... you idiot uncle...

With her thoughts in turmoil, Zhao Lin seemed to have suddenly made up her mind and strode forward. Perhaps the two of them should never have met, or perhaps he had simply offered her a sliver of warmth when she was heartbroken, and she had selfishly mistaken that feeling for love.

Zhao Lin hopes she will never look back.

From the depths of the woods not far from her, a series of chilling wolf howls suddenly echoed. The sound was particularly jarring in the otherwise silent place. Immediately afterwards, a rushing, thunderous roar followed—some enormous creature was charging into the depths of the forest.

The once-straight trees began to shake violently, struck by a powerful force. Their trunks snapped and cracked. The source of this force was a figure rapidly moving through the woods, so fast that it left a blurry, indistinct shadow behind it.

what?

Zhao Lin bent over and jogged a few steps forward. Then, gazing in the direction the figure had moved, a sense of foreboding welled up inside her.

......

"What do you smell, Faro?"

At the front of a series of incredibly large and conspicuous animal footprints on the ground, the owner of the footprints—a giant wolf with a bluish-gray coat—lowered its body, its copper-bell-like black eyes staring intently at the open area of ​​the forest. Fanny, riding on the back of the giant wolf, also lay down on its strong shoulder blades in cooperation.

The giant wolf growled softly, its sharp fangs peeking out from the corners of its mouth.

"The feast hasn't begun yet, Farrow. Guests... oh no, your food hasn't all arrived yet." Fanny nimbly leaped down from the wolf's back, stepped forward, patted Farrow's head, and said affectionately.

Like a little wolf, she stroked Farona's sharp, thorn-like fur, trying to calm its restless emotions.

A gentle breeze, carrying the fresh scent of earth and bark, ruffled Fanny's oversized suede coat. However, to Fanny, the smell was unpleasant. After all, in a few minutes, the air would be thick with the nauseating stench of blood.

Farrow seemed to understand Fanny's words; it sheathed its sharp fangs and retreated into a dark corner.

“However, it looks like someone’s lost here—” Fanny’s gaze followed Farrow’s line of sight, her slightly playful eyes lingering on the unsuspecting Zhao Lin, like a leisurely hunter intently watching the prey he had already captured.

"Let's warm up before that idiot Alston comes down yet!"

……

"How about it, Abu? Is there any trace of Zhao Lin's scent around here?" Na Ling nimbly darted among the tall trees, her sharp eyes not missing any clues.

"My nose seems to have stopped working; I can't smell anything now." Abu rubbed its nose in pain; the tip of its nose looked extremely red and swollen, clearly indicating that it had been affected by something.

The volcanic ash that had just drifted over interfered with Abu's sense of smell and masked most of the odors.

"How could Zhao Lin just leave like that?" Na Ling slid down from the tree empty-handed, her mood growing increasingly agitated, and she bit her lip anxiously.

"How long will it take to get back to Shenzhen from here?" Sharp, who had also returned empty-handed, emerged from the bushes and asked.

Na Ling looked up at the sky and estimated, "If we choose to walk, it will take at least half a day, but if we take a car, it will take about two and a half hours."

As time passed, the sun gradually sank in the west, completely obscured by the distant mountains. Na Ling knew that their time was running out.

But that wasn't her biggest worry. What truly troubled Naling was the lack of activity from Mus's side for quite some time. Naling remained uneasy, so she decided to detain Sharp and the others there to eliminate any potential threats lurking within Deep City.

"Can't you two just listen to me? Why do you have to cause me trouble..." Na Ling muttered in a low voice, then gritted her teeth and continued walking forward.

“Wait, Naling…” Sharp followed somewhat guiltily. The surrounding environment seemed to be having some strange effect on him, causing the luminous energy within his body to flow abnormally. “Naling, have you felt this? Ever since we arrived here, there’s been a strange feeling.”

After hearing this, Na Ling suddenly stretched out a hand and blocked Sharp's path, remaining completely still.

She slowly bent down and plucked a small tuft of gray hair from the bushes in front of her that had been flattened by some force.

"What is this?" Abu's tail, which had been standing upright like an antenna, seemed to sense the abnormality and slowly lowered.

Na Ling brought the tuft of fur close to her nose and sniffed it carefully.

"There's blood on the ground..." Sharp pointed to the pile of scattered leaves at his feet. Patches of deep red marks covered the surface, a shocking sight.

“This is wolf fur, but there shouldn’t be any wolves around here.” Na Ling gestured for them not to move, and then went forward to examine it.

The further they went, the stronger the stench of blood became. Na Ling saw several broken limbs and huge claw marks deliberately left on the surface of the trees.

This is clearly not something an ordinary wild beast could do; in fact, it could be said that she had entered the territory of an apex predator.

"Go back!" Na Ling hissed, swinging her right arm back to urge Abu and Sharp to leave as quickly as possible.

At this moment, Na Ling could only pray that the severed limbs didn't belong to Zhao Lin. If she were to die unjustly in the wolf's belly, Na Ling feared she would never forgive herself for the rest of her life…

……

"thump!"

Exhausted, Zhao Lin finally collapsed uncontrollably beside a babbling brook. Her already severely injured thigh was struck again, and blood gushed out like a fountain, instantly staining the surrounding stream red, creating a shocking sight.

The smell of blood plasma quickly spread, stimulating the olfactory nerves of the surrounding creatures.

"Get away! Get away from me!" Zhao Lin was terrified, tears blurring her vision. She sobbed as she desperately kicked at the approaching giant wolf. She had never seen such a huge wolf in her life. Even the alpha wolf, the leader of a pack, couldn't grow to such a size as an adult.

However, at that moment, she had no time to consider any of that; her mind was filled only with overwhelming fear and the instinct for survival. The wolf kept extending its sharp teeth, trying to hook onto her trouser leg and carry her away. Zhao Lin struggled with all her might, but she was already at her limit.

"Fanny, didn't we agree not to involve innocent people?" Alston, who had just landed, slashed his parachute in half, vigorously dusted himself off, and stared coldly at Zhao Lin.

"Innocent?" Fanny chuckled dismissively, yawned, and slowly emerged from behind Faro.

She walked over to Zhao Lin, gently patted her pale cheeks from blood loss, and teased her in a playful tone, "First lesson in wilderness survival: never stray from the group!"

"What do you want? Are you going to throw me to your husky as food?" Despite being filled with fear, Zhao Lin stubbornly maintained her defiant stance.

"Little girl, this isn't the tone you'd use to beg for mercy." Fanny revealed a contemptuous smile, then raised her foot and stomped heavily on Zhao Lin's injured thigh without any mercy.

Zhao Lin immediately let out a shrill scream; the excruciating pain almost made her faint.

“Don’t go too far. Let’s wait for Mus to come over before handing her over to the other Templars.” Alston said as he removed his heavy armor and weapons, leaving him in only his signature sorcerer’s robe.

Watching Zhao Lin writhe in pain on the ground, Fanny licked her sharp "claws," then took out a bottle of alcohol from her waist and deliberately waved it in front of Zhao Lin.

“The wolf fangs are poisonous. If you don’t get the antidote in time, your leg will rot from head to toe within half an hour,” Fanny said calmly.

Then, Fanny pulled out a sharp dagger and brandished it in the air. "Or, would you like me to use this knife to scrape the poison out for you? But that might hurt a lot... so much that you'd want to bite your tongue and kill yourself."

"Choose one of the two, which one do you want to experience?" She stared at Zhao Lin, anticipating her answer.

Faced with the threat of this demon, Zhao Lin glared fiercely at her.

“You scum of the deer clan…you only know how to indiscriminately kill innocent people…you are bloodthirsty by nature,” she said through gritted teeth.

"What goes around comes around. Your underhanded actions are perfectly befitting of these words you invented." Fanny said, cutting away the torn fabric near Zhao Lin's wound with a knife, but unfortunately, Zhao Lin's identification documents also fell out of her pants pocket.

“Zhao…Lin? A reporter from the Daily News?” Fanny looked at the ID on the ground and softly read the name on it. After recognizing all the characters, Fanny suddenly broke into a joyful smile.

“So you’re a journalist, that’s great.” She murmured with a smile. “Muss will value you highly. He likes people who can speak clearly for him, especially when dealing with your society.”

Upon hearing this, Zhao Lin immediately understood the other party's intention, and she refused without hesitation: "Don't even think about me becoming your undercover agent—"

However, Fanny disagreed, sneering, "That's not up to you."

As soon as she finished speaking, Fanny pressed down on Zhao Lin's legs and poured every last drop of alcohol into her deep, bone-revealing wound.

"Ah—you! You bastard!!!" Zhao Lin let out a heart-wrenching scream. The intense pain was unbearable, and she struggled violently. But Fanny held her down firmly, giving her no chance to escape.

……

"thump."

"thump."

"thump."

That's the sound of a heartbeat, slow yet powerful.

She sat quietly in the darkness, isolated from the outside world.

I witnessed everything that was happening before my eyes, every detail was clearly visible, and nothing was missed.

"Tick."

A soft sound broke the silence, the lights came on, and her gaze was drawn back to reality.

"We meet again, Naya." Short-haired Sharp appeared in front of her with a faint smile on his face.

She stood up from her seat, and the surroundings began to change.

“You lied to me…” Naya’s eyes were filled with anger and grief. “You transformed into the Deer God and Sharp just to make me believe that I was dead!”

Although she was unwilling to admit it to his face, she couldn't help but feel sad when she saw Sharp, Zhao Lin, her sister, and others in danger.

“This is just one of my missions, Naya. I’m protecting you,” he said bluntly.

“You’ve imprisoned my spirit in this place, making them think I’m dead…” She stared helplessly at her hands, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.

“Compared to Sharp, you are indeed the more important link, but please don’t doubt me. I have tried thousands of times for you, but this is the only time I don’t know the outcome…” A relieved smile appeared on Sharp’s short-haired face. He knew that this time might be the best chance of success.

"But I don't understand... You're always like this, never telling me anything, treating me like an idiot..." Naya said, feeling wronged. She covered her face with her hands and buried her head between her knees.

Even though the person in front of her wasn't the real Sharp, Naya felt like she'd seen a similar figure in her fragmented memories...

That memory is like a severed piece, forever missing.

"thump."

"thump."

My heart is still pounding.