Just as the old man was looking for Ai Haibara's traces with Chiayu, Ai Haibara was actually watching them with Mitsuhiko. At this moment, she didn't want to come out and recognize them like this.

"How could this idiot be with the murderer?" Haibara Ai looked at the old man beside Qianyu, and gritted his teeth and cursed Qianyu's unknown person.

...

About 30 minutes ago.

"Is there still no trace?" Haibara Ai looked at the barbed wire between the neutral area and the hunting area, and said to Mitsuhiko who was a little disgusted beside him.

"Yes, I didn't find it. God knows where Yuanta went." Mitsuhiko's expression was quite unhappy.

"If you can't do it well, he made the dirt here." Haibara Ai sighed a little, signaling Mitsuhiko to see what she was staring at - it was a piece of soil that also seemed to be from the soles of the shoe. "It's true, why do you always find this kind of thing for us..."

Just as Ai Haibara was looking at these with a troubled look, she and Mitsuhiko suddenly heard the rustling sound of grass stirring - a very close grass in the hunting area on the other side of the barbed wire.

The stirring sound was very short, as if a person accidentally made a noise and then stopped quickly.

"It should be Yuanta?" After exchanging eyes with Ai Haibara, Mitsuhiko immediately changed into an unhappy expression, climbed quietly on the wire mesh, preparing to pull Yuanta out of the grass - and Ai Haibara also decided to climb over together after thinking for a while.

[This guy actually made us waste so much time here, and we have to take the risk of joining the hunting area with him. He will have a good look later!] - This is the common view of Ai Haibara and Mitsuhiko.

Until they find out that they seem to have made a mistake.

"!?" Haibara Ai showed a surprised expression and subconsciously took a step back.

And Mitsuhiko's performance was even more surprising, and the reason why he did not take a step back in panic and surprise like Ai Haibara was the thing they were surprised by.

Just now, Mitsuhiko reached into the grass and tried to drag Yuanta out of the grass that was still shaking from time to time to teach a lesson, but it was not Yuanta who rushed out - the one pressing on Mitsuhiko is a little black bear that is not as big as the two of them.

"Haihara saves me! Bear! Bear!" Mitsuhiko had completely lost her judgment, and just used her hands and feet to slid her body backwards, trying to get rid of the bear on her body in such a ridiculous way.

Then, he saw Haibara Ai, who had stabilized his mind, hugging the bear from him with an unpredictable smile. "Don't worry, this is just a little guy - it seems like it's only a few months, right?"

After being picked up by Ai Haibara, the bear looked a little uneasy, but because it was really too small, it could not break free from Ai Haibara's arms - but it was probably not that small, so it seemed a bit difficult for Ai Haibara to hold it like this. In the end, she put the bear back on the ground. "Student Tubaya, don't be so nervous. You are still much stronger than this bear no matter what. You don't need to panic like this."

"I'm sorry!" Mitsuhiko quickly sat up, expression full of shame. "Yes, this thing is nothing scary..."

"No, panic is right, because such a small bear is not at the age of leaving his mother to survive alone," Haibara Ai described a rather amazing fact in a leisurely tone. "In other words, if there is such a small bear here, then a lot of big bears should be nearby. It may not be that trouble for adult men, but we are still children, so we must pay attention to this. Or if it is the worst case, maybe this big guy is watching us nearby-"

Just as we were talking about this, gunfire suddenly came.

"Bang!" The sound was very close, as if it was within a few dozen meters.

"Hunter?" Mitsuhiko's first reaction was a little excited.

"What animal is it?" But Ai Haibara cares about this. "It's not... its mother, right?"

Just as they were worried about this, the bear let out a low roar (of course, Ai Haibara even sounded a little funny because of his too weak body) and ran towards the direction where the gunfire came.

"Ah?" Ai Haibara's reaction was slower, and he couldn't hold on to the little bear who was running over there. "Don't! Come back quickly! If you go there, you will be killed!"

Of course, the bear must not understand human words, so after realizing how stupid his approach was, Haibara Ai chose to follow him quickly, preparing to pick up the bear and take it to a safe place.

[The sound of shooting is not very loud. If you say so, the distance should not be very close. If you move fast enough, you should be able to hug the little guy before the bear runs into the hunter's range.] Ai Haibara followed behind the bear, and while pulling the distance between him and the bear, she thought about how to take the bear to shelter next, but she soon realized that she was too naive to think.

Because just when she was about to catch the bear, splashing wood chips suddenly burst out from a tree not far ahead of her. "Pu!"

"!?" Haibara Ai was obviously not mentally prepared for the shooting and was startled. But Mitsuhiko behind him did not face the shooting directly, so he was much more calm. He just raised his hands and shouted loudly to the designer standing in an unknown place in front.

"Please don't shoot! We are humans, not bears!"

While Mitsuhiko was saying this, Haibara Ai quickly stepped forward and hugged the bear who had been hiding behind the tree that was shot in front for some reason, revealing only half of his butt. "Okay, little guy, let's leave here quickly, otherwise..."

When Haibara Ai walked behind the bear and tried to pick it up...

"Bang!" The second bullet rang out again without warning, and this time the bullet was almost less than 50 cm above Ai Haibara's head.

"!?" Ai Haibara's movement of hugging the bear froze, and he just looked at the bullet hole in the tree trunk directly above him in surprise.

[How could I... Didn't I see that we are humans?]

With such a question in mind, Ai Haibara looked in the direction where the gunshots came - this time she captured the position and image of the shooter.

It was an old hunter, and it seemed to be holding a gun and watching them - watching her and Mitsuhiko connect with a human, not a bear.

[Looking at us? That means he noticed us, but why would he shoot in this way?]

At this moment, the bear suddenly made some strange sounds, causing Ai Haibara to lower his head and look at the bear again.

Then she found that she must have found the reason why the shooter deliberately attacked the two humans.

It was constantly touched by the bear's black nose and gently scratched by its tongue, causing some of it to be peeled off from its entirety...

It is a male body that died of a gunshot.

"This..." Mitsuhiko also discovered the existence of the corpse and hurriedly looked at Ai Haibara. "This...we..."

"Run!"

———
Chapter completed!