He lifted his head to look at the dark window not far away from him.

Atobe gave a heavy sigh.

Even if he was beaten to death, he would never admit that there was a day when he would actually do something as unglamorous as running to a girl's house every night to block her.

But …

He clicked on the terminal that he was holding. The message tab that he had set for Huaguo was still empty except for one day's worth of messages.

The time that he had received the message showed that it was from three days ago.

Unwilling to give up, he swiped again and again. After eliminating the possibility that he owed money and the terminal was broken, no matter how unwilling Atobe was, he could only conclude that the man was avoiding him.

But …

Why?

He turned to look at the dark window again. He could not see what was happening inside, and for some reason, it made him lose confidence.

But soon after, he couldn't help but sneer at himself who was worried about personal gains and losses.

This is really …

Not glamorous at all …

Ever since he left Zongxiang's home that night, Atobe had not received any messages from Huaguo.

Initially, he did not think that there was anything wrong.

After all, Huaguo had only replied to his previous messages once.

This time, he thought that it was the same as before.

Without replying, he simply explained his thoughts. Even though it was not a good idea to use a commanding tone, those who saw it would either respond positively or negatively.

Therefore, Atobe, who had always done his own thing, patiently sent messages every morning, noon, and night, but to his surprise, there was no reply.

It was fine for one or two days, but for three days, there was no reply.

After more than ten messages were tossed into the ocean, the calls were all directed to voicemail.

No matter how calm he was, he could not help but notice that something was not right.

Thinking back to the night before he left, the two of them were fine.

Could it be …

Huaguo was scolded by her brother?

Thinking back to the man that he ran into, Atobe flipped through the information on Zongxiang Lisi that he had received, and he started to have doubts.

This man was not simple.

Just from their first meeting, he had noticed it.

But no matter what.

If this continued like this, he really wouldn't be able to sit still.

With the intention to test the waters, Atobe sent one last message.

[Eight o 'clock. I'll come and find you.]

He secretly made up his mind.

If he did not receive a reply within an hour, he would have to go to Zongxiang's house no matter what.

This was also the reason why.

He couldn't restrain his thoughts. Half of it was fear and uneasiness, but the other half of it was open and aboveboard.

It was indeed not his habit to be overcautious. It was just that the feeling of his first awakening of love was too unfamiliar, so he couldn't make up his mind for a moment.

He was Atobe.

He had always faced Atobe head on, and he had always wanted to face them head-on.

He retracted his gaze from the window and looked at the screen that was slowly dimming.

It was not dazzling.

But on this street with only street lamps, it was especially dazzling.

On the screen of the terminal was a picture of the girl.

Mixed together with the information from the previous investigation, it was obvious that it was taken secretly, but it did not affect the appearance of the girl in the kimono at all.

A cold and distant smile bloomed on her face. Even though it was just a polite smile, it made her appear radiant and soft.

Atobe looked at the picture, and the anxiety in his heart slowly settled down.

That won't happen.

'I've already told her my true feelings.'

And that hug, even though it was sudden, it wasn't pushed away.

She's just shy.

She's probably just shy.

Calm down.

Thoughts like these quickly flashed through his mind.

The young man who stood under the door looked at the window that he had looked back at who knew how many times, and he was unwilling to leave.

This was an angle that he could not be more familiar with after meeting Huaguo.

At this time, the sky was no longer dusk.

The driver who stood not far behind Atobe, who had been standing with him for almost five hours, did not dare speak.

The sky darkened. They had stood there from dusk until the street lamps came on, and now, it was late into the night.

This was a private residential area, so it was already deserted. Due to the night, facing the closed door, it felt even more desolate.

The trees on both sides were shrouded in the darkness of the night.

Without the light of the moon, it was exceptionally dark.

Finally …

When the clock was about to turn, the young man who stared at the window said unwillingly, "Let's go back."

Unable to read his young master's mind, the driver did not dare say anything. Just as he said that, he opened the door like he was being pardoned.

.....

"You mean Huaguo is sick?"

No matter how low-key the Zongxiang family was, they would still choose a few important parties to attend every year's party.

Atobe, who had suffered multiple setbacks, did not care about his so-called modesty anymore. After he found out that there was a member from the Ritual Division who was attending the party, he did not hesitate to corral them in the corner.

By then, it was already the seventh day since they had lost contact with Huaguo.

The Atobe family was naturally from a prestigious family.

Facing the person in front of him, the Ancestral Statue Ritual Officer pushed his glasses up without any courtesy and stared at the young man, who was a little taller than his peers but still looked a little immature.

But …

He was still too young.

Just by looking at him, she couldn't wait to replay the scene of that night in her mind.

The young man, who was as tall and straight as a pine tree, hugged the gentle girl in front of him like a treasure. Their fingers were tightly intertwined, and even though half of his face was shrouded in shadow, it was not difficult to guess what kind of gentle light was in his half-lowered eyes.

Seriously …

Such an eyesore.

The eyes hidden behind the lenses of the Ancestral Statue Ritual Master were dark and gloomy. Looking at the person in front of him who was much more outstanding than his peers, but was still a young man, he suddenly felt especially irritated.

The inexplicable throbbing from that morning, after not seeing Huaguo, clearly did not appear again.

Even though he, who was already an adult, understood what that feeling was, he would not be so obscene toward a young girl who was still underage.

It was because he had been too busy with work and neglected his physical and mental health. When he saw this young man who was obviously the same age as the young girl, he couldn't help but be stunned for a moment. There was even a vague sense of obscurity.

Ha …

Why would I be jealous of a young man who is still underage? I really am regressing with age.

"If Atobe-sama is close to Huaguo, you should know about her physical condition, right?"

The extreme emotion came too suddenly, but he had always been a calm person, so naturally, he quickly suppressed it.

He pulled out the reason that he had come up with earlier. "Something happened at Ice Emperor's school, and it caused her condition to worsen. We have already sent her to the hospital for treatment."

That was the most logical explanation.

"How is that possible?" Atobe, who had not heard of this before, had a hard time controlling his volume.

Zongxiang Lisi's dark eyes stared directly at the young man before him, and darkness flashed across his eyes. "How is that not possible?"

He obviously did not want to be involved with Atobe anymore. Before the young man before him recovered, he had already turned to leave.

He was already in a bad mood due to the lack of news from the lab.

The reason he had agreed to come to this party, other than his family, was because he wanted to take a break from work and that inexplicable emotion.

However, he did not expect that before he could figure it out, it would only get more complicated.

"CEO, are we going back now?"

"Yes."

His voice was low and hoarse. Once he escaped from the irrepressible atmosphere, he soon returned to his usual rationality and clarity.

Compared to these so-called love affairs, they had more important things to deal with now.

— —

When Huaguo woke up, she realized that she was lying in a bush.

At this moment, when she opened her eyes, she could still see the parachute hanging on the strange tree branch in front of her.

She had no idea what this place was.

She slowly sat up, and before she had the chance to look around, she heard a surprised yelp from behind her. "You're awake?"

To her surprise, she heard a familiar voice. Following a series of "???"

Because of the voice, Shimura was slowly approaching her. Even Huaguo could not help but be confused.

"Why are you here?"

That was not a strange question.

Originally, Wuji and Shimura had jumped down together, but she was the last one to slide down. Even though the process was fast, it had taken quite some time.

Even though she did not expect them to be that far away from each other, she did not expect them to be so close.

Furthermore … "Where is Wuji?"

She looked behind the boy several times to make sure that she did not see that familiar figure.

It seemed like it was the first time Shimura was alone with Huaguo. Other than the words that he had unconsciously shouted at the beginning, after hearing Huaguo's two questions, he looked down uncomfortably and avoided the girl's gaze.

Under the cover of the night and the surrounding environment, the faint pink on the tip of his ears could not be seen at all. "Wuji went to scout ahead."

Once the switch was switched on, what she had to say next instantly became simple.

"We landed first. Brother Wuji saw your parachute, so we slowly found our way here."

"Just now, he went to look for the backpack that fell with you, so he asked me to stay here and look after you."

As he spoke, he fiddled with the small bonfire in front of him to confirm that what he said was the truth.

Only then did Huaguo feel a little relieved. She noticed that he was dragging his calf. "Are you hurt?"

"No." Shimura shook his head like a rattle-drum. Obviously, he did not want to appear useless. "It's just that when I jumped down, the wound that was not healed tore again."

"Come here and let me take a look."

When the big stone in her heart was finally put down, Huaguo looked at the bandage that was randomly wrapped around Shimura's leg. The corner of her mouth could not help but twitch.

It would be strange if the wound was not infected with such a casual bandage.

She removed the bandage, and the wound inside was much lighter than she had initially thought.

She took out the ointment from her pocket and pressed Shimura to sit down. Using the faint moonlight that seeped through the gaps in the leaves above her head, she helped to bandage the wound again.

Although they were temporarily out of danger, this place seemed to be very different from what she had expected at the beginning.

Huaguo only realized that the three of them seemed to have jumped into a wild mountain forest after wrapping the bandage around it a few times and even tying a big bow on it for fun in the end.

Fortunately, when they alighted from the airship, the surrounding dense trees acted as a buffer.

Although the surface of the parachute was scratched beyond recognition, they didn't suffer too much damage.

The place they were in earlier was a relatively flat open space. It was not easy to find such a flat space in such a dense forest.

Huaguo did not plan to walk through the various unknown bushes and woods around her without knowing when Wuji would come back.

She looked at the surrounding scenery and felt that it was strange.

When she was in the restaurant, when she looked down at this area from above, she noticed that there were many lights around this area, and there were even many tall buildings.

How did it become a forest after jumping down?

When she was puzzled, she simply got up and approached the trees not far away.

The trees here were very thick and strong. The smallest tree looked like it had a diameter of three meters. Most of the trees had green moss growing on them, and there were also strange mushrooms growing under the roots.

Strange trees. She raised her arm and casually plucked a leaf that was half a body long and wide. She flipped it a few times, and after confirming that she had never seen such a tree before, she threw it aside.

No matter what.

It was not early now.

They might have to stay in this forest tonight.

Instead of thinking about where this place was, it was better to find a temporary place to settle down first.

She looked at the small fire burning in front of Shimura, and then looked at the open space where she was now.

"Wait for me."

She quickly climbed up the tree not far away with her parachute. While pulling the parachute down, she looked around the surrounding environment according to the height of the tree.

Apart from seeing more and more greenery and the surrounding vegetation becoming denser and denser, there were no caves or caves to be seen at all.

They seemed to be on a small hill.

In the case of not knowing the surrounding location, it was better not to walk around at night.

After packing up the parachute, she nodded to Shimura. "Do you want to give me a hand?"

She tied the rope on one side of the parachute to the tree next to her. "We might have to stay like this tonight. At least, we have to tie it up in a place that can shelter us from the wind and rain."

The trees here were very big, and although it was clearly the cold season, the branches and leaves on the trees were unexpectedly dense.

Huaguo carefully bent down, and after setting up a simple shed, he slowly walked inside and found that the ground inside was covered with a thick layer of withered leaves that had not yet corroded, exuding a rotten smell.

After thinking about it, she simply swept the leaves into a pile and added them all to the fire in front of Shimura.

The original flame suddenly weakened a lot.

It was very humid, and the smell of smoke was very strong.

After burning for a long while, the fire finally started to burn better.

She clapped her hands and made sure that she was almost done, then she pulled Shimura into the shed to sit down.

She did not know where Wuji went to look for his backpack, but he had not come back at this time.

She was not worried at first.

But as time gradually passed, the leaves in the fire were about to burn out, but she still did not see his shadow.

She and Shimura looked at each other, and she secretly suppressed the bad premonition in her heart.

It couldn't be that something went wrong, right?

She did not have much hope, but soon received a response.

It was just more shocking than the scene she had imagined at the beginning.

"Run —"

As soon as he saw the white smoke drifting over from afar, Wuji's heart thumped and he screamed that something was wrong.

He knew that Shimura was injured, so after provoking this monster, he had been intentionally or unintentionally running to the side.

But this monster seemed to be very smart, and it understood just by looking at the smoke.

There was someone else here besides him.

As a last resort, he did not care much and simply rushed here.

A huge monster appeared out of nowhere and chased closely behind Wuji, smelly saliva constantly dripping from both sides of its fangs.

Its fierce appearance seemed to regard Wuji, who was being chased in front of it, as its prey.

"Wuji — Come —!"

It just so happened that she could not vent her anger on the airship, and she was still holding it in!

Huaguo no longer hesitated.

This was not Meteor Street.

Nor was it an airship floating in the air.

Even if it was an unfamiliar mountain forest.

But to be honest.

As long as it was a place full of trees and vegetation, it was her home ground!

At the same time.

Beating up the enemy guest. In the dark room, Fatty's hand, which was holding the handbag, trembled.

The next moment, the red light on the monitor in front of him lit up.

[Warning: Intruder invading.]

[Warning: Intruder invading.]

[Warning: Intruder invading.]

Soon.

The scene in the mountain forest was transferred.