Boonie Bears: Another World Fantasy

Sharp had a dream in which he returned to the day they first met.

At that moment, Sharp lay unconscious under a lone tree, like a lost kitten in the forest, utterly alone. Just then, Naya appeared beside him like an angel descending to earth. She carefully tended to the unconscious Sharp.

During his unconscious state, Sharp could clearly feel a pair of warm hands holding him tightly, giving him endless comfort and strength. These hands were like the sun at night, radiating a soft light that made him feel safer than ever before.

“Sharp…” Suddenly, a soft, hoarse voice reached his ears. Although the voice was not loud, it deeply touched the softest corner of Sharp’s heart.

"I'm leaving..." As he uttered those words, a strange sadness welled up inside him. Sharp tried to open his eyes, to hold onto the departing figure, but his body was too heavy to move.

As the dream faded, Sharp slowly awoke. He subconsciously touched his cheek, finding it damp with sweat. It was just a dream... but the unforgettable feeling lingered in his heart, refusing to dissipate.

The door opened. A gust of cold wind blew in, and the weak Sharp slowly opened his eyes, licking his chapped lips.

Two days of drowsiness had left him with aches and pains all over his body, not to mention the recurrence of his old injury in his lower back.

He had never felt so close to death.

After trying to figure out where I was, memories from before I fell into a deep sleep flooded back, and that bad feeling started acting up again.

Naya was nowhere to be seen in the empty hospital room.

"Ah—you're finally awake."

The woman who arrived was the same one in the work jacket I had met at the coffee shop not long ago. She seemed relieved at the moment, but then became anxious again.

“We met at the coffee shop, do you remember?” Zhao Lin said as she approached him. “I passed you a note.”

Sharp nodded. He was more concerned about Naya's situation than her identity.

"What about that girl? The one who's always been with me, the one with the markings on her face—" He tried to sit up and explain, but his whole body was restrained, and his range of motion was very limited.

"Don't move! Don't move! Your wound!"

Seeing this, Zhao Lin immediately went over and pressed him back onto the hospital bed. Sharp noticed that she had heavy dark circles under her eyes, as if she hadn't slept well last night.

"I..." Zhao Lin was speechless for a moment, not knowing how to answer his question.

"She's gone... I've been looking for her all morning."

The conch shell she was holding rolled onto the bed sheet; it was the only proof that she had ever existed.

"Why?" he asked, puzzled.

However, no one could answer the question. Sharp picked up the conch shell and held it in his hands, wanting to feel the lingering warmth Naya had left on it.

"Maybe she just isn't used to life here and went back?" she tried to comfort Sharp, trying to think positively.

"She can't go back," Sharp said calmly. "There's a terrifyingly powerful madman trying to capture her..."

These words undoubtedly revealed a tragic truth. Zhao Lin wondered if knowing the truth now would provoke his resentment.

"listen--"

Zhao Lin sat down slowly, her face solemn, facing him.

“I’m worried about her too, but before that, I need to know what’s really going on behind the scenes.” She fixed her gaze on Sharp and tried to keep a humble tone as she spoke.

"Then how can I be sure you're not in cahoots with them?" he pressed, his face full of suspicion. "I know you don't trust me," Zhao Lin replied softly, then pulled out her work ID from the Shenzhen Daily and placed it in front of him. "I'm a reporter, working for the Shenzhen Daily."

Looking at the work ID, Sharp's expression turned quite surprised. For some reason, with his so-called "God's-eye view," he felt that Zhao Lin bore a resemblance to Dudu from the movie *Boonie Bears: The Adventurers*. Time flies; that little girl who used to cry and whine must have grown up by now. Could it really be her? On a whim, Sharp mustered his courage and asked, "Were you called Dudu when you were little?"

Faced with this sudden question, Zhao Lin was clearly caught off guard. "Wh...what?" She instinctively shook her head in denial. "Who is Dudu?"

"Isn't it her?" Sharp couldn't help but sigh inwardly, a sense of loss welling up inside him, but he quickly changed the subject to avoid an awkward situation.

She was clearly not one of all the old characters Sharp knew. This unique timeline almost completely bypassed everything Sharp knew about this place—the plot, the characters, and even things he had never met.

Excessive questioning might arouse her suspicion. Everything was in complete chaos. Sharp clutched his forehead, sinking into despair.

"You're the one who brought me to the hospital, aren't you?"

The two remained silent for a while before Sharp broke the deadlock.

“Yes…but it’s my fault too. I didn’t explain my purpose to you; I was only focused on collecting evidence,” she said remorsefully. “And then that happened.”

"What evidence?"

"Some evidence that proves Naya is a member of the Deer Clan, but I doubt many people can see it, right?"

Just as I thought... It seems they were after her. "Now you've proven it, so what? Are you going to expose it?" Although it wasn't a pleasant thing to say, Sharp had no choice but to say it before knowing her true purpose.

"Don't worry, I absolutely don't have such thoughts." She suddenly turned her head, her gaze fixed on the door of the ward, as if she were on guard against something. "I've already spoken with Naya, and I know what's going on with her."

"Uncle—haven't I gained your trust after all I've said?"

"Alright, so what exactly do you want to know?" Sharp realized that this quirky girl would definitely get to the bottom of things, and without her help, he might already be dead. So he decided to stop hiding anything about Naya.

"Also, please stop calling me 'uncle,' I'm nowhere near that old," he said, disgruntled.

Zhao Lin shrugged playfully, a nonchalant expression on her face.

"Then let's start the story from where you first found her."

......

Naya dragged her exhausted body slowly along the winding mountain road, each step a struggle. The cold, dry air stung her nose and lungs like sharp blades, making it almost impossible for her to breathe. The hard earth beneath her feet crunched and groaned, as if mocking her weakness and perseverance.

The winding road cut through a dense forest, sunlight filtering through the leaves and casting dappled patterns on the ground. Naya, imagining Sharp's possible anxiety upon waking to find himself missing, gritted her teeth and resolutely continued southward, her destination White Bear Mountain.

The powerful energy emanating from the golden antlers surged within her, like a wild horse, guiding her step by step towards that mysterious and unknown realm. For many years, Naya had firmly believed that the golden antlers possessed boundless power, especially after personally witnessing its miraculous restoration of the fantasy forest, this belief became even stronger.

However, not long ago, when she faced the critically ill Sharp and attempted to save him using the power of the Golden Antlers, she encountered an unprecedented setback—the Golden Antlers remained completely unresponsive. What was going on? Was it because she lacked the ability to control this power?

Just as Naya was lost in thought, a truck loaded with goods slowly drove up from the end of the road and honked its horn. Naya snapped out of her reverie and quickly stretched out her arm to flag down the truck.

The truck slowly pulled up to the side of the road, and the windows were rolled down.

"Hey, young lady, are you in trouble?" the driver, wearing sunglasses, asked with interest.

"Excuse me, does this road lead to White Bear Mountain?"

"I suppose so." His gaze slowly swept from Naya's head to her feet, carefully examining the woman before him. Naya was wearing only a thin garment, so light it seemed a gentle breeze could carry it away. Her arms and legs were bare, her skin as white as snow, as smooth as silk, shimmering softly in the sunlight. Such thin clothing made one worry whether she was cold, but judging from her calm expression, she seemed unconcerned about the chill.

"Could you please give me a ride? I'm a little lost..."

"Of course! Where do you want to go?" Perhaps it was Naya's pitiful appearance that made people feel sorry for her, because the driver agreed without thinking.

"Thank you." Naya opened the car door and sat in the passenger seat. "Just keep going like this, just drop me off at the foot of the snow mountain."

Throw her away? Who would make such a strange request! The driver stared wide-eyed at the woman before him, started the car, and muttered to himself, "This is truly bizarre." Seeing her distraught, tear-filled appearance, it was as if she had just experienced a devastating tragedy. At this moment, the driver could only offer her a small token of his concern. However, faced with such a bizarre yet heartbreaking request, he felt utterly helpless…

Is she here to commit suicide?

During the roughly half-hour journey, Naya had no interest in admiring the scenery along the way, so she rested by the window for a while. But the closer they got to White Bear Mountain, the stronger the response from the Golden Deer Antler became, as if it were responding to something.

What exactly are you trying to tell me?

A rumbling sound came from not far away, attracting Naya's attention. Looking around, she saw several enormous creatures perched on the undulating mountainside, their strangely shaped "mouths" slowly gnawing at the mountainside. Rocks continued to tumble down. On the congested mountain road, vehicles several times larger than the truck, loaded with gravel, were orderly leaving.

"That's a tower crane excavator, it looks huge, doesn't it?" The driver followed her gaze and said irritably. "They're digging this and that all day long, they're going to dig up the whole mountain."

"Why are they digging up these mountains?" she asked curiously.

"It's just building the foundation. There's a scarcity of usable flat land here, and the rest is too expensive, so we can only use machinery to excavate."

Naya's gaze remained fixed on the monstrous, gigantic machine.

The car turned a corner along the road and came to a makeshift bridge made of haphazardly laid steel frames. The tremors, like a heartbeat, grew stronger and stronger.

"Hey, you're in luck, you're going to have a feast for the eyes." Suddenly, he pointed excitedly at the distant sky and said.

"There's a commercial rocket launch site up ahead; they come here about every few weeks. You just happened to run into it today—"

"Fire...arrow?" she repeated the unfamiliar term haltingly.

Naya gazed silently at the sky. Suddenly, a bright light streaked across the heavens. Accompanied by a slight tremor, a massive object slowly rose into the air. It shone like a dazzling pearl, radiating brilliant light.

A massive plume of flame erupted from its tail, pushing aside the enveloping smoke to form a dazzling tongue of fire that seemed poised to ignite the entire sky. Propelled by its immense force, it surged upwards, hurtling towards the clouds, leaving a long trail like a roaring fire dragon. Naya pressed herself against the window, her eyes fixed on this magnificent sight. She was deeply awestruck by the spectacle, a profound and indescribable awe welling within her.

As the rocket ascended higher and higher, its light grew brighter and brighter, illuminating the entire skyline.

How many other things in this world could possibly evoke such amazement in her?