Boonie Bears: Another World Fantasy

Flames flickered before their eyes. Zhao Lin and Sharp sat facing each other, their gazes fixed blankly on the dark thicket in the distance. Na Ling observed them quietly, without any intention of breaking the silence.

"Meow~ What's wrong with you guys? It's unusually quiet!" Abu teased sarcastically. However, no one responded.

Frustrated, Abu could only rub against Zhao Lin's feet, seeking the only sense of existence he could muster.

After a while, Na Ling picked up a shovel, covered the fire with a pile of soil, extinguished the flames, and strode away without hesitation.

Seeing this, Sharp dropped the emergency rations he was holding and jogged after him.

"Miss Na Ling, please wait a moment—"

Sharp pondered, deciding it was time to lay the truth on himself with the top leader. There was no need to pretend he knew nothing anymore, letting her believe his secret remained unknown.

"I know you have a lot of opinions about me, but please listen to me first..."

“If you know that, then why did you follow me?” Na Ling asked frankly, quickening her pace.

“I want to talk to you about Naya,” Sharp said bluntly, quickly catching up with Naling, who was heading towards the edge of the camp.

“Naya mentioned you to me more than once when we were in the Enchanted Forest.”

The sun was setting rapidly, and the forest was growing increasingly dark.

"She once thought you were dead."

The last sentence was probably enough to enrage Naling, but just in case she hadn't heard it clearly, Sharp resolutely crossed Naling's line, grabbing her shoulder suddenly while speaking.

Naling turned with lightning speed, catching Sharp off guard. She slammed him against the tree trunk, a sharp hand chop pressed against his throat. Startled, the birds in the tree took flight, emitting clear, melodious chirps.

Na Ling's voice was fierce and ruthless: "First, don't touch me again! Second, you have no right to mention the name Naya! Third, I will never tell you anything about my past, nor do I want to have anything to do with you—" Her gaze was like a cold arrow, piercing Sharp's eyes, and she gripped the hilt of the knife tightly in her hand, as if she was ready to stab him at any moment.

"As for your messy affairs, I know better than anyone. I don't need your worship or sympathy, I just want you to listen to me obediently. If you dare to mess around..." She tightened her grip a few more times, "I promise, I'll be the first person to kill you."

Sharp's heart pounded in his chest. The cold, sharp blade pressed against his neck, the chill seeping into his pores. The blade grazed lightly, leaving a shallow cut, and blood began to seep out.

"Do you understand?" Her voice carried an undeniable authority. The tense atmosphere in the air was suffocating.

Sharp remained silent for a moment, and finally, his expression revealed compromise and helplessness.

“I understand…” Sharp replied softly.

Naling glared at Sharp, slowly withdrew her hand, and turned her back.

"Take a break while you can. I'm nearby. If you hear anything, be quick on your feet." For some reason, Na Ling's tone suddenly softened considerably when she said this.

"I'm hungry, go get me something to eat." Nathaniel, who had been left standing by the river for quite some time, complained to Naling. The ground was covered in marks left by the prisoner's struggles. Naling ignored his request and instead asked directly, "Back at the service area, you called him a transmigrator, what did that mean?"

Seeing that Naling didn't react, Nathaniel continued, "Well... this kind of information has to come at a price."

Naling glanced at Nathaniel, then took out a pack of compressed biscuits and placed it in front of him. Nathaniel became excited upon seeing the food and tried to bite the biscuits, but Naling playfully moved them further away from him.

"Answer my question first."

“Hiss—didn’t you go to see Lefie? Didn’t she tell you?” he said impatiently. “It means exactly what it says, that kid doesn’t seem to be from around here…”

Upon hearing this, Na Ling frowned and said incredulously, "Nonsense, you believe what Lefève says?" She found this absurd assertion utterly laughable.

However, Nathaniel was not swayed by her rebuttal and continued to press: "Then tell me, why does Mus care so much about him? And why is he favored by the Golden Antlers?"

“I wouldn’t think so unless there’s absolute evidence that he’s that special,” she said dismissively, tossing the cookie in her hand to Nathaniel and firmly denying it.

Nathaniel took the biscuit, a sly glint in his eyes, and said, "There are quite a few people who can react to the Golden Antlers. It could just be an accident, or it could be that he is the chosen one... but I don't think so." He finished speaking with a slight smile, as if he was already confident.

After hearing this, Naren remained silent for a moment, then slowly stood up and paced back and forth beside Nathaniel.

“By the way, about that job involving me and your sister…” Nathaniel’s words were cut short by Naling:

“Don’t even think about it, Nathaniel. If all you want is to get my sister pregnant, I advise you to find someone else.” Naling’s tone carried a clear warning.

Nathaniel seemed unfazed by Naling's attitude, and continued, "See? You've sidelined her like this, interfering in all her affairs. You're suppressing her abilities." His words were full of dissatisfaction.

Na Ling's face darkened further upon hearing this: "If you want to live a few more days, then shut up."

"Hmph, do you think that kid is more suitable than me? My future sister-in-law?" Nathaniel deliberately provoked in a smug tone.

"I've really had enough of you." Naren had reached her limit and chose to gag Nathaniel again and drag him back to the camp.

……

Inside the tent at the campsite.

“I don’t know if it’s just my imagination, but Na Ling seems to be hostile towards you.” Zhao Lin looked up at the tent ceiling and said to Sharp beside her.

Without the light of the campfire, Zhao Lin could only use the dim light from her phone to illuminate a corner of the tent, where the two people and the cat squeezed together.

"If it were me, I would too. After all, it's heartbreaking for an older sister to have her younger sister kidnapped." Upon hearing this gossip, Abu immediately perked up. It jumped out of Zhao Lin's arms, squatted between the two of them, and stared at them with bright eyes.

Sharp didn't answer, remaining silent. He knew, of course, why Na Ling was hostile towards him, but he didn't want to explain. He felt these were private matters between him and Na Ling, and shouldn't be known by others. Furthermore, he didn't want Zhao Lin to misunderstand, so he chose to say nothing.

Seeing that Sharp didn't speak, Zhao Lin assumed he had agreed with her. She asked curiously, "Just now...did you and her have a fight?"

“No, don’t think like that. Na Ling isn’t a bad person. She doesn’t need any reason to do this.” Sharp hesitated for a moment, but still decided to tell Zhao Lin something. He said, “Na Ling thinks I killed Na Ya. Although she hasn’t said anything on the surface, I can tell.”

After hearing this, Zhao Lin suddenly realized what was going on.

Those wonderful times spent with Naya seem like they were just yesterday. But as time has passed, everything has changed.

In the darkness, Sharp silently pondered his thoughts. He knew he had a long way to go to gain Naling's trust, but he still didn't know how to face her in the future.

Should I offer an explanation, or continue to evade the issue?

Sharp hated his own cowardice, and he was filled with remorse whenever he recalled the moment Naya collapsed. At that time, he couldn't even bear to look at her gruesome body, let alone dig a grave for her. In the end, he could only watch helplessly as her remains were taken away by those so-called researchers and then brutally dismembered.

He simply couldn't imagine it any longer.

Feeling Sharp's body trembling involuntarily, Zhao Lin reached out and, after a moment's hesitation, gently placed her hand on his back.

"Alright, stop torturing yourself. Nobody wants to see you like this, and Naya certainly doesn't want to either..." Zhao Lin's voice remained as gentle as ever, but within that gentleness lay a barely perceptible resentment and the painful emotions she was desperately suppressing.

At that moment, Sharp felt utterly ashamed. If it weren't for Zhao Lin's unwavering persistence and hard work, he probably wouldn't have made it this far. This reporter had sacrificed so much to salvage this broken situation.

"Why did things get so sad while we were talking, meow?" Abu clearly didn't want the atmosphere, which had just started to improve, to take another sharp turn for the worse.

"Alright, alright, you little kitten, stop trying to be a peacemaker. Go to sleep." Zhao Lin gently rubbed Abu's head, her tone relaxed, but seemingly hiding a hint of a smile.

"Thank you, Zhao Lin." Suddenly, Sharp's voice came from the darkness, carrying an indescribable seriousness.

Zhao Lin paused slightly, then lowered her eyes and smiled, "You're welcome, Uncle."

A brief silence fell over the room, broken only by Abu's snoring. Lost in thought, Zhao Lin's mind drifted off into the distance once more.

Sharp turned over, his back to Zhao Lin, but he still couldn't fall asleep.

Just then, Zhao Lin suddenly turned off the light on her phone screen, plunging the tent into complete darkness. She sat quietly next to Sharp, as if waiting for something.

Sharp sensed the change in Zhao Lin, and his heart began to beat faster.

"I always felt that the older man wasn't very good at making girls happy," Zhao Lin said somewhat dejectedly, as if talking to herself, or perhaps to Sharp.

Sharp was taken aback. He wanted to refute, but found himself unable to find any suitable words. So he could only nod silently in agreement.

Zhao Lin couldn't help but laugh. She sighed and continued, "However, I just like honest people."

Sharp's heart skipped a beat. He wanted to turn around, but he couldn't see Zhao Lin's expression in the darkness, and he was afraid of breaking the beautiful tranquility.

"Shh—" Zhao Lin held up a finger, signaling Sharp to be quiet. Then, she gently patted Abu to calm it down.

"Go to sleep, and everything will be alright after a good night's sleep..."

She said so.