Boonie Bears: Another World Fantasy

A withered leaf slowly falls onto the sparse grass, heralding the arrival of late autumn.

An Han was seventeen years old at that time.

My mother's body was placed in the black coffin made of high-quality wood in front of me, as if it had been soaked in black ink.

The funeral procession was very long, slowly "crawling" through waist-high deadwood.

Everything around her seemed so desolate; the sky was gray, and a few scattered birds hung in the air, creating an atmosphere of extreme oppression. Dressed in funeral attire, An Han stood beside her father, the double pressure making it hard for her to breathe; that familiar feeling of suffocation surged up once again.

"Hanhan!"

She finally couldn't take it anymore, wiped away her tears and rushed out of the group, stumbling and running through the dead woods.

An Shaohui, who was following behind, hurriedly caught up.

......

Beside the messy bed, Peng Fei's thoughts drifted, tossing and turning.

An Han was already asleep when he noticed a faint scar on her slender neck.

Bottles of red wine were placed on the bedside table, some empty and others half-empty.

What remained were piles of sleeping pill boxes.

"What exactly happened to you, Xiaohan?" Peng Fei asked to himself, somewhat incredulous, as he gazed at her sleeping body.

......

"You've arrived, Mr. Peng Fei."

Carl was alone in the workshop on the fifty-first floor, carefully wiping down a retro car model that Peng Fei couldn't name.

Seeing the two cups of coffee laid out on the table, he seemed to have known all along that he would come.

How is Hanhan?

"She...is asleep."

He didn't know if what he was doing was right, but he had already deeply hurt her in some way. The thought of her trying to pretend to be strong while tears kept falling made Peng Fei's heart ache.

The old butler observed all of this and kept working.

"Hanhan has mentioned you to me several times, saying that she would be very happy if you could work at Sunset."

Peng Fei opened his arms to Karl and said humorously:

"Here I am."

The rag was thrown into the bucket, and Carl turned on the tap at the sink next to him.

"In my opinion, the young lady just wants to possess you." He raised an eyebrow, breaking through the "window paper" that neither of them wanted to pierce.

"Let's not talk about that. You came to see me, probably because of that matter, right?"

Carl pulled out a chair and placed a stack of long-forgotten old newspapers on the table.

"What is this?" Peng Fei, unaware of the specifics, took it. It was a series of news articles published by the Shenzhen Daily seven years ago.

Why don't I remember this?

Peng Fei, who had worked at the newspaper for at least two years, could not recall any related memories after seeing the content published in the newspaper.

“Because these places were once sealed off by the setting sun.” Karl’s voice carried a hint of emotion.

"That was the most difficult time for her. For the sake of Sunset's reputation, the chairman had no choice but to do this..."

After listening, Peng Fei picked up the old newspapers scattered on the table, turned on the light, and touched the hidden darkness in the dim light.

……

seven years ago.

Shenzhen Central Theater.

In the center of the enormous stage, spotlights shone on seventeen-year-old An Han. Before the performance began, the girl had received a pain-relieving injection in her left leg despite objections, all for these few short minutes.

Years of hard work and sweat can't just be wasted like this...

At this moment, this is what An Han is thinking.

Some people mocked her, saying that with such a large family business and such a powerful father, why would she participate in such a worthless competition? They suspected that her victory was probably predetermined.

Faced with ridicule, the introverted girl simply lowered her head and remained silent.

An Han doesn't want to be defined, and doesn't want to be referred to as "Miss An" by others.

She knew that all of this should not have belonged to her in the first place, but was the result of the An couple's struggle for the inheritance of the sunset.

She was just an adopted puppet.

……

Like a black swan, An Han, dressed in a magnificent outfit, danced before the eyes of millions.

The gradually rising symphony, the majestic drumbeats, and the slowly swaying figures under the lights created a sufficiently shocking path to redemption.

She longed to present her story in this unique way—somewhat obscure yet subtly artistic. An Han has always been that kind of person; she never flaunts her family background or publicizes it; she simply is herself.

Now, there are no regrets, are there? An Han cast a grateful glance at her mother, who was seated in the first row. Although she wasn't her biological mother, her mother had given An Han enough support, something she had never received before.

No... there's still one regret left unresolved.

He didn't come.

To be precise, I had lost contact with him and couldn't invite him to witness this exciting moment.

She glanced at the composer beside her, who was engrossed in playing the piano, during a brief pause in her movements. He was fair-skinned and elegant, and whether it was an inner drive or not, An Han found him increasingly resembling Peng Fei.

Stop, Anhan, you must focus on the dance now.

……

The song is over.

As the orchestral music subsided, An Han, drenched in cold sweat, endured the excruciating pain and, supporting her trembling body, completed the final movement.

One gentleman's manners are still missing.

The excruciating pain in her left leg made it almost impossible for her to complete the ceremony on her own. Her anxious mother disregarded her mother's objections and rushed onto the stage to hug her tightly.

An Han was somewhat surprised, but she accepted it immediately. Afterwards, she could only be helped to sit down in the audience seats with a limp.

The more than 60,000 spectators in the stadium gave thunderous applause that lasted for a long time.

An Han shed tears in her mother's arms.

It turns out that the happiest thing in life is to be sure that you are loved...?

……

"The only daughter of the chairman of Sunset Group has been kidnapped?"

Peng Fei silently read the bold headline of the newspaper to himself in disbelief.

"An...An Han?" As if confirming something, he widened his eyes and stared intently at Karl.

Why did she never mention it to me?

"If it were you, would you bring up past traumas with others?" The butler's words left Peng Fei speechless.

"No one wants to rub salt into a wound again and again. The fact that she has endured until now is enough to prove how strong she is."

Peng Fei's gaze returned to the newspaper in his hand. He dared not imagine what An Han had gone through that night.

.......

"Why didn't he come...?"

Slightly disappointed, she leaned against the passenger seat of the car, her performance costume neatly folded in her hands.

"Your dad is very busy, you know that."

The mother gazed intently into the distance, offering words of comfort.

"He definitely wanted to come, but..."

“No—he thinks I waste all my time doing this, of course he won’t come,” An Han said stubbornly. Mentioning her father always brought prejudice and arguments.

"He just wants his company to be handed over to me without any problems." She turned her head away in a huff, looking dejectedly at the rapidly passing street scene. "Anyway, I'm not his biological daughter."

"You can't talk to him like that, Xiaohan." Her mother wasn't angry; instead, she patiently comforted her.

But she never listened to these things, and over time, her relationship with her father deteriorated until it became completely strained.

"Your father—"

"Bang!!!"

In an instant, a loud bang was heard, and the moving vehicle was torn in two, with shattered windshield glass flying everywhere.

An Han's mind went blank for a moment.

......

Flames, still flames.

There were also screams and the mournful wail of sirens.

With blood streaming from her forehead, An Han crawled out of the wreckage of the car in a disheveled state, her white shirt stained crimson with blood.

Pain, anger, and helplessness swirled in An Han's heart. She wanted to seek help from others, but blood dripped into her eyes, and the crimson vision temporarily blinded her.

"mom?"

An Han wanted to know if she was alright, but the impact had just occurred in the driver's seat... so...

"Do not……"

In her despair, she heard footsteps shattering the glass and reaching her. The person said something An Han couldn't understand, and then deftly hoisted her up.

"let me go!"

An Han kept patting the stranger's back and unexpectedly touched the dagger that "he" had tucked into his waistband.

She instinctively pulled it out and slashed it hard against "his" back.

The man, in pain, threw her to the ground with an over-the-shoulder throw.

"leave me alone!"

Clutching the dagger tightly in her hand, she was terrified, her arms trembling uncontrollably, and tears welling in her eyes.

"You brat, do you know how much effort we put into capturing you?" Through the blur, another man walked over and gave instructions to the person in front of him.

"Don't hold back, Ling, you'll get used to it."

The person named "Ling" delivered a flying kick, knocking An Han's hand aside and seizing the opportunity to grab her.

"Bring back."

Unable to even kill a chicken, she was thrown into the prepared car. What awaited her was a nightmare that would haunt her for the rest of her life, a nightmare she could never erase.