Gu Mengmeng thought for very long and could only say, "You better not like me."
Barete was stunned, but he immediately grabbed onto Gu Mengmeng's hand that she wanted to retract, "I'm very strong, I won't lose."
Gu Mengmeng shook her head, "I'm not doubting your ability, I just don't want to implicate you. Like what you said, I'm still a young underage female. No matter how angry Nina's partner is, he won't harm me. You shouldn't take on the risk for my sake, fists don't have eyes grown on them, there's always not a definite winner when it comes to battles."
Barete wanted to add something but Gu Mengmeng tugged onto her lips and revealed a sly smile, "And anyway, I was already planning to leave. I'm sure Nina's partner would not abandon her when she's injured just to chase me wherever I went right?"
"You're... still leaving?" Barete was a little disappointed. He thought that Gu Mengmeng liked him but she still preferred to leave alone than to give him a chance to fight for her.
"I don't belong here. I'll have to leave sooner or later," Gu Mengmeng dusted her butt after standing up, leaning on Barete's shoulder to whisper to him, "Shield me."
Barete did not have the time to respond when he saw Gu Mengmeng clutching on her stomach, groaning out in pain, "Ouch, ouch, my stomach is very painful."
"Mengmeng!" Barete was worried to death. Just as he was about to carry her up and head over to Lea, he saw Gu Mengmeng sending him a message by twitching her eyes with all her might.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. I just have to find somewhere to settle my business." Although using feces excretion was not a bright idea, it was good enough for her plan.
"Oh....oh ok, " Barete finally understood Gu Mengmeng's idea after contemplating long. He hesitated for a moment but still nodded his head, eventually.
Males are not supposed to defy the desires of females.
"Off you go, I will be guarding you," Barete clenched his fists tightly, straining every nerve to suppress the impulse to pull Gu Mengmeng back into his embrace as he could only say, "Be careful, don't walk too far."
I will go and find you.
This sentence was cried out as loudly as Barete could in his heart.
Gu Mengmeng nodded her head, smiled at Barete in return and scurried away urgently as if her backside was set on fire.
The three males that was guarding Gu Mengmeng wanted to chase after her but was stopped by Barete. He did not say anything as he just looked at the elephant-ear leaf in silence, his expression blank but no words came out.
Gu Mengmeng ran for a distance and upon realizing nobody was after her, she heaved a sigh of relief. She sprawled out on her back lying on the floor, gasping heavily in deep breaths like a fish out of water. After she finally caught her breath and was about to get up to advance further, she realized that she did not know where she was.
The sky already turned pitch black and her surroundings were filled with towering old trees. Gu Mengmeng could not differentiate where she was heading. She originally wanted to return to the stream where she was discovered by Elvis to see if there were any clues for her to return to the present world but now, she was completely lost.
Moreover, this ancient forest was scarily quiet. Let alone the sounds of birds chirping or insects creaking, even the blowing of wind could not be heard.
She was too occupied with running away earlier and did not seem to realize that this dark forest was absolutely terrifying when it was quiet. Listening to her deafening heartbeat, Gu Mengmeng forced out a smile to embolden herself, "It's alright, it's alright..."
Snap.
Something broke.
Amidst this complete thick silence, this trivial sound sent a chill down Gu Mengmeng's spine as she broke out in cold sweat.
"Who? Whos' there?! I saw you!" Gu Mengmeng tried to put on a bold front.
A pair of glimmering green eyes appeared amongst the complete dark curtain. Gu Mengmeng's sight was almost fully blinded in this setting and she was unable to see the other party's features. She could only figure out the other party's build from the position of its eyes. This height... a bear?!