The Bear that Unbuckles Belts
Perhaps, he should run away with Meimei?
Head to the forest in the north, with his own abilities, those beasts would be no match for him. And so, a bear and a man would live a happy life together.
Although he couldn't stay in the brown bear's body forever, before leaving, it was probably possible to make a safe place for Meimei.
With the crude map in hand, Xiong Yu approached Meimei and pointed to the north.
The girl thought for two seconds, looked at the soldiers nearby, and whispered in Xiong Yu's ear, "Shall we go to the north together?"
She knew that these soldiers would not go to the north.
Xiong Yu nodded.
Meimei furrowed her eyebrows in hesitation for a moment and then nodded as well.
Now the future had changed, and Xiong Yu gained a new telepathic perception.
The telepathic perception told him that there were dangers in the north, similar to those in the south.
What kind of danger was it?
Xiong Yu didn't think there were any beasts that the top of the food chain, the brown bear, couldn't handle. Unless it was killer bees or diseases that couldn't be directly countered, the provisional government's troops wouldn't come from the north.
Perhaps the danger came from their surroundings.
Xiong Yu glanced at the soldiers of the Imperial Guard, who might not necessarily be good people. If he did not let them take Meimei away, he might be attacked.
With more than ten guns, Xiong Yu didn't feel he could withstand the fight in a head-to-head situation. He hadn't become so arrogant yet.
Shaking his bear paw, Xiong Yu decided not to go to the north.
Although Meimei didn't understand the situation, she still agreed. She picked up a honey jar from the side, and as the girl wanted to continue feeding the bear, Xiong Yu pressed the jar, indicating he didn't want to lick it now.
He sensed the danger level of the south once more, and it was similar to when he initially tested jumping off a four-story building. In other words, it was either death or disability.
As for the danger level in the west, it was certain death.
Xiong Yu already had the idea of retreat in his mind.
This wasn't his body; even if it died, he would only lose one slot. However, on the other hand, he had no right to decide to send the brown bear to its death.
Originally, he and Meimei didn't have much of a relationship. If it wasn't for the brown bear wanting to be close to the girl, he would have led the bear away long ago. Since the provisional government could do things like kidnapping people, they wouldn't be polite to him as a bear either. Anyway, the provisional government wasn't planning to kill the girl, so it was better not to get involved in this matter.
As he thought about it, the emotions of the brown bear changed. Xiong Yu could feel the angry roar of the bear.
It was because the brown bear sensed his reluctance and resisted.
After pondering for a while, Xiong Yu sent a fearful emotion to the brown bear, letting it know that the journey ahead meant death for the bear.
The brown bear's anger remained, unfazed by the fear.
Since the bear itself thought this way, Xiong Yu had no objections.
Hopefully, the telepathic perception could be reliable and escape all the dangers along the way.
If he had known earlier, he would have upgraded the telepathic perception level more, but it was too late now.
He couldn't leave the brown bear's body now, otherwise, who knew what dangerous actions the brown bear would take.
His main body was in Afang, and he had to fly to the Yao Guang, find the white cat, re-register the field, and then go to the white cat's body to start practicing his skills.
The white cat's bonus hadn't reached LV3 yet, and he couldn't quit halfway through the eight-hour period, which meant that it would take him at least ten hours to go back and forth, and the time was too long.
Similarly, if he were to seek help from the An family and the Yu family, let alone whether they could intervene in the area's war, even if they could, it would take days to do so.
He raised his head and glanced at the soldiers in the room, who were filling their bottles with water to prepare.
Three minutes later, the group set out on their journey.
The captain of the guard walked ahead, holding a compass and leading the way.
Xia Yu, Meimei, Awei, and Ahua walked in the middle, surrounded by soldiers.
Meimei had a good physical fitness, but she couldn't keep up with the soldiers, and after walking for three hours on the difficult mountain road, she started to pant.
Awei went up to the captain of the guard to discuss if they could make something like a stretcher. In a forced march, only a stretcher shared by four people would be reliable, and no one could carry another person on their own.
However, while no person could do it, the bear could.
As Awei and the captain of the guard were worrying about their inadequate considerations, they saw the brown bear, which had been standing and walking, lie down and let Meimei sit on its back.
There was nothing on the bear's back to help secure her position, so Meimei leaned over and hugged Xia Yu's neck, lying on the bear's back.
Could they really do this?
Awei and the rest were stunned, never expecting Xia Yu to have such diverse abilities.
After Xia Yu let out a roar, they came to their senses and continued onward, but they still occasionally looked at Xia Yu.
One of the soldiers took off his belt and handed it to Meimei, intending for her to use it as a reins.
Xia Yu revealed his sharp teeth, and the soldier quietly took back his hand.
Before he withdrew, Xia Yu snatched the belt, but he wasn't going to put it on himself – he just thought it might come in handy later.
One belt couldn't secure the bear's waist, so Xia Yu took another two, tied them together, and it barely made a belt for himself.
The team continued to move forward, and except for three soldiers who had to hold up their pants, there were no problems.
Two hours later, as evening approached, the team took a break.
Awei took out a map and estimated, "We should be here now, and at this pace, we should be out of the forest in another twenty hours."
"By now, even the dumbest temporary government troops should know that we're on the run, so the road ahead might not be easy," said the captain of the guard.
"It doesn't matter if it's not easy; they won't be able to track us in the forest. What I'm worried about is them anticipating which village we're heading to," Awei modified the plan, "We won't go to that village anymore, and we need to move quickly tonight."
"Walk at night, are you crazy?" said the captain of the guard. Night was when many hunters, like tigers, wolves, and bears, went out to hunt.
These animals had night vision, and encountering them at night would mean a massacre.
"Don't worry, we have a bear," Awei looked at Xia Yu.
The captain of the royal guards no longer had any objections.
After taking a short break, the group continued their journey.
As the sun was about to set, an alarm sounded in Xia Yu's heart.
He immediately hid behind Ah Wei with Mei Mei and looked around.
Ah Wei was startled, and the soldiers stopped and looked around, but they did not see anything.
They looked at Xia Yu in confusion, and Xia Yu was also puzzled. He indeed felt a sudden sense of danger, but it was relatively small and seemed to be far away.
As they continued on their way, the danger sensed in Xia Yu's heart remained distant, leaving him feeling clueless.
In the night, their pace inevitably slowed down. District 232 was a small area, incomparable to the larger districts ranked ahead of it. They only had first district civilian-grade flashlights on their bodies, without advanced night vision equipment.
Moreover, for fear of attracting enemies with light, they could not use their flashlights and had to rely on the starlight in the sky to grope their way.
They walked like this for another five hours and then stopped to rest until dawn.
The exhausted soldiers quickly fell asleep, leaving only Xia Yu and two others on night watch awake.
After an hour, as Xia Yu began to feel drowsy, the danger alarm in his heart suddenly intensified.