The Bodyguard System

"Aaargh!"

Scarlet groaned as she opened her eyes. She was still feeling dizzy, with pain in the area around her neck.

She used a lot of effort in order to be able to open them. She was still feeling that her head was quite heavy. A headache was also there, but it was quite mild.

The moment that she finally observed her surrounding areas, she was completely flabbergasted. She hurriedly managed to get up, and sit down.

She was extremely dumbfounded the moment that she realized that she was inside a bush. So, she panicked for a moment, before she finally began remembering what had happened.

She could clearly remember that previously, they had gone out to window shop together with Jaden and Sylvia. But when they were leaving, she had just entered into the car, when she suddenly passed out.

And now, she was opening her eyes, only to find herself here. And in the broken memories that she was having, she could remember that there was someone inside her car, but she could not pick out that person's identity, considering that he was covering the face.

Despite feeling anxious in her heart about where she currently was, she managed to remain calm. She did not shout, and neither did she start rushing out of the bush.

Instead, after taking a deep breath, she approached the outer areas of the bushes, while pushing the leaves aside. Then, she realized that she was actually inside something like a forest.

When she looked around, she could not see anything that indicated that there was human activities in this area. So, her heart suddenly began thumping rapidly.

'Could it be that I was kidnapped only to be thrown in the forest? Could it be that they wanted me to be eaten by wild animals?' Several questions suddenly emerged in her mind.

She did not have an answer to any of the questions, but she understood one thing, she had to get out of here. So, she got on her feet, before preparing to leave the bushes.

Tsii! Tsii!

It was then that he suddenly heard the sound of hissing. Scarlet's brain nearly shut down the moment that she heard that. Of course, she could easily tell who the owner of the sound was.

With a stiff neck, she turned her head to the left, and realized that there was a big green snake that was looking at her, with its tongue coming out of the mouth occasionally.

The blood Inside Scarlet's body nearly got frozen from the fear that she was experiencing at this point. Even though she was extremely brave in front of others, and when it came to things related to fighting, to something like a snake, she was just like other ordinary girls.

Of course, she was currently scared out of her wits, especially considering that the snake that she was seeing in front of her was not small at all. By estimation, the snake should be about 3 m long, with its body having a diameter of about 8 cm.

This was by far the biggest snake that she has ever seen in her entire life, in reality. Even though she had seen many bigger snakes like the anaconda in movies and so on, but this was reality.

The snake on the other hand simply gazed at her, and began approaching. This made Scarlet to stagger and fall on the ground, as she began pulling herself backwards, trying to get away from the snake.

She could have just run away, but due to the fear that she was experiencing, it was impossible for her to do that. At least, her mind was not thinking in that direction at all.

Bam!

Scarlet did not know what had happened. All that she could remember was that as the snake was approaching her, a figure suddenly appeared, before kicking away the snake.

The snake was easily thrown away, as if it was a soccer ball. It disappeared in the thick vegetation around them, not to be seen.

"Are you okay?"

It was only when that question was asked that she finally came back to her senses. She looked up, seeing the face of the person that was asking the question, only to her relief to find out that it was Jaden.

At this instance, even if it was not Jaden, but instead, the person who had kidnapped her who had come over and saved her from the snake, she would be relieved, even if it was just momentarily.

"I- I'm okay. T-Thank you." Scarlet stuttered as she said those words.

Jaden extended his hand, before pulling scarlet back to her feet. Then, he observed her, and was relieved when he realized that she was okay.

But, there was one thing that had not been dealt with. That was the fact that he was still afraid of the snake, even though it was not around anymore.

"You don't have to worry about that snake. Even though it is big in size, it actually does not bite people. It can be said to be one of the most gentle snakes in the world." Jaden stated, using the limited knowledge that he possessed, trying to calm Scarlet down.

As for what he had said being true or not, who cares? He had not even seen the snake clearly, considering that the moment that he saw it when he was coming over, he rushed and kicked it away. Right now, he wanted Scarlet to regain her confidence.

Upon hearing those words, Scarlet finally began calming down. But, she still found it difficult to be able to calm down completely, and forget about the snake.

"Let's get going. We have to go back. I'm pretty sure that your father is currently looking for you." Jaden stated.

He had yet to call Clifford, to inform him about the current situation. The phone was inside his car, so, they would have to go back to his car in order to be able to get his phone.

"Okay." Scarlet responded mindlessly.

Then, the two of them walked through the forest, before arriving outside the wooden cabin. Scarlet was surprised to see the cabin that was currently in shambles.

"Where are we? And, what happened? I remember that we were strolling around the mall, before deciding to leave. Then, I found myself here." Scarlet voiced out her confusion.

"Well, you were kidnapped. I don't know who it was that might be involved with this, but we should be able to get enough clues soon." Jaden responded.

This was expected, the mercenary that he had just dealt with before coming over had no idea about who it was that had issued the mission. In any case, in the dark web, only a mission was offered, before part of the payment was made.

After that, with the completion of the mission, the rest of the payment would be done. It was only occasionally that one who had posted the mission on the dark web would meet with the mercenaries taking the mission.

Nonetheless, Jaden believed that he would be able to get that information soon. With the connections that the Johnson family possessed, together with Matthew, Jaden did not believe that it was going to be impossible for him to be able to dig up that piece of information.

Of course, he did not need that much information about the incident, but who was linked to this. With that, he would be able to use the names of the people that he had any kind of feud with, to see if there was any of them that was related or linked to posting the mission on the dark web.

"Okay." Scarlet responded, even though she was still confused.

When he saw her expression that indicated confusion, Jaden said, "You don't have to worry that much. Let's get out of here first. After that, we will talk about what really happened here."

"Yeah." Scarlet responded. When it came to leaving this place, it was definitely something that she was having in mind. She was still a little traumatized by the snake that she had encountered back then.

So, the two of them got inside Jaden's BMW. It was impossible for Scarlet to be able to drive in her current condition, so, Jaden would have to take her back. As for her car, it would be retrieved later on.

After entering into the car, Jaden took the phone that was on the dashboard, before making a call to Clifford.

No sooner had the phone began ringing, did Clifford respond. He sounded calm, even though his voice was trembling a little. "Jaden, where are you right now? Have you found Scarlet?"

"I will send you the current location, because I'm not really sure about where we are, but we are inside a forest. Scarlet is okay, just a little traumatized." Jaden responded while feeling guilty.

At the end of it all, even if Scarlet was okay at this moment, he was definitely the one to blame. He was the one that was assigned with the duty of protecting her, but he had been careless, leading to her being kidnapped.

"That's good. Send me the current location, and come back as soon as possible. I will send people to come over there, to do the investigation about the ones that are involved with kidnapping Scarlet." Clifford responded in a relieved voice.

"I will do that immediately." Jaden responded, before hanging up. Then, he prepared himself to start the car, so that they could leave. But it was then that a prompt appeared in front of him, together with the system's voice in his mind.