Chapter 387: Chapter 290: Good Luck (2)
Feng Mountain wasn’t idle, either.
He had to process the moose while its body was still warm. Otherwise, it would be much more difficult to handle once it grew completely cold.
So, he picked up his Hunting Knife again, cut open the moose’s abdomen, and pulled out the organs one by one, placing them on the snow beside him.
He didn’t plan on taking the moose’s organs back to camp this time. He would leave them in the forest as a meal for the other animals struggling to find food in this frozen wasteland. After all, nature is a cyclical food chain.
But first, he had to let the two White Wolves eat their fill. They had put in a lot of effort today and deserved a reward.
After removing the organs, the moose carcass still weighed over 600 pounds.
Getting it back to the temporary camp would also be a chore.
Feng Mountain stood up and surveyed his surroundings. His gaze quickly landed on a patch of Arctic Willows.
He walked over and selected two thick, curved branches, each about two meters long, from the willow grove. These would serve as the two runners for a sled.
Once he had the runners, he used his Hunting Knife to scrape off the bark and shaved one side as flat as possible to make it smoother.
He then gathered some smaller branches from the area and laid them across the two thick runners. Taking out the rope he had brought, he lashed them tightly together, and the basic frame of a simple sled began to take shape.
After finishing the sled, Feng Mountain walked over to a birch tree and rummaged through the snow for a moment, finding two relatively intact sheets of bark.
He wrapped these two sheets of bark around the front and back of the sled. This would reduce drag as it moved over the snow while also increasing its glide, making it relatively easier to haul the moose.
With the makeshift sled ready, Feng Mountain secured the moose onto it, carefully tying it down with rope to ensure it wouldn’t fall off during the journey. Only then did he straighten up, loop the tow rope over himself, and begin pulling the sled back to camp.
WHINE! WHINE!
Lao Liu circled the sled, occasionally grabbing the rope with his mouth as if to say he could help pull.
Feng Mountain tested the weight. It was definitely pullable, but walking in snowshoes made it a bit awkward.
Feng Mountain smiled at Lao Liu’s good intentions and waved a hand. "No need, I can pull it. Just lead the way."
Then he looked at the other White Wolf. "You go back to camp first and get the others. Have them bring the snowmobiles."
...
「The temporary camp.」
Nash and Yves were getting anxious. Feng Mountain had said he was just going for a walk, but more than two hours had passed, and he still hadn’t returned.
At first, neither of them had paid it much mind, but as time ticked by, they began to mutter to themselves, and a sense of worry slowly grew.
Unable to sit still any longer, they went out of the tent to check the situation.
They discovered that a pair of snowshoes was gone, and the two White Wolves that usually guarded the camp were also missing.
Now, the two of them felt even more uneasy.
After all, this was a deserted primeval forest. A blizzard was raging outside, visibility was extremely low, and looking into the distance revealed nothing but a sheet of white.
On top of that, the temperature was frigid, and the surrounding Snow Mountain Range blocked any cell signal.
In such harsh conditions, it would be easy to get lost wandering in the forest. And once lost, the consequences would be unimaginable.
At this thought, Nash could no longer sit still. Burning with anxiety, he grabbed his gear without a second thought, ready to go find Feng Mountain.
Seeing his impulsiveness, Yves quickly stepped forward to stop him, refusing to let him act so recklessly.
"The boss took the two white wolves with him. With them around, nothing should happen. Let’s not panic just yet. Let’s wait a little longer."
The key issue was that they didn’t even know which direction Feng Mountain had gone. Rushing out to search for him without a plan was just too risky. If something went wrong, they could end up in danger themselves, possibly even losing their own lives.
Director Roland, who was nearby, also chimed in, trying to persuade Nash to calm down first.
They definitely had to find him, but they needed a plan. This was a vast forest in winter. If all else failed, they could go back to the Crown Territory to get help. That would be a safer option.
But at this moment, Nash’s mind was filled only with thoughts of Khilla’s safety. He couldn’t hear a word they were saying.
If something happened to Khilla, according to his tribe’s customs, he wouldn’t be able to live on alone.
Just as they reached a stalemate, with Nash insisting on going out to search and Yves and Director Roland unable to talk him down...
Suddenly, a White Wolf burst into the tent.
The moment it entered, it let out a low growl at Nash, Yves, and Director Roland. The sound was deep but carried an urgent tone, as if it were trying to deliver an important message.
"It’s the White Wolf! The boss is back!"
Nash’s eyes lit up the moment he saw the White Wolf. The anxious, stubborn look on his face instantly turned to joyous surprise. Shouting, he eagerly ran out of the tent.
Hearing this, Yves and Director Roland hurried after him. The three of them rushed out of the tent.
But when they got outside, they found only the howling blizzard. The entire world was shrouded in white. They couldn’t see a person’s silhouette, let alone anything farther away. There was no sign of Feng Mountain.
WHINE! WHINE!
The White Wolf began to circle the snowmobiles. After one lap, it would run a few steps away, then quickly run back and circle them again. It repeated this back-and-forth action several times.
The three of them quickly understood its meaning: it wanted them to get on the snowmobiles and follow it.
"Director, you stay at the camp. This is a walkie-talkie. We’ll use it to stay in contact if anything comes up."
Yves reacted quickly, immediately pulling the walkie-talkie from his coat and handing it to Director Roland.
Director Roland had no experience in extreme wilderness environments. If he went with them, he wouldn’t be of any help and might even cause trouble. It was better to stay put in the tent, where he could communicate via the walkie-talkie if needed.
Taking the walkie-talkie, Director Roland also understood that this was no time for recklessness. He had no experience in extreme environments and would only be a burden if he went along.
"Then you two be careful! Contact me if anything happens!"
"Nash, let’s go."
Yves shouted, and the two of them quickly mounted the snowmobiles, skillfully starting the engines.
With a ROAR from the engines, the two snowmobiles shot off like arrows loosed from a bow, plunging into the blizzard. They soon vanished into the vast, snowy expanse, leaving only two deep tracks in the snow that were quickly covered by the wind and flakes.
「Meanwhile.」
Feng Mountain was struggling to drag the crude, makeshift sled through the dark forest.
The sled, after all, was a temporary creation with incredibly crude workmanship, so it had no shortage of problems during the haul.
It even fell apart once midway, and Feng Mountain had to put in a great deal of effort to repair it.
But even so, the sled was unreliable. After being dragged for a certain distance, parts like small branches would always fall off it.
Eventually, so many of the branches used to make the sled had fallen off that Feng Mountain was practically dragging the moose carcass through the snow by himself.
Feng Mountain was panting with exhaustion, but the thought of the moose he had worked so hard to hunt kept him going. He couldn’t just abandon it halfway. He had to grit his teeth and bring it back.
Fortunately, it wasn’t long before the sound of snowmobiles cut through the howling blizzard and reached Feng Mountain’s ears.
Hearing the sound, Feng Mountain breathed a sigh of relief. Like a deflating ball, he let go of the rope in exhaustion and flopped down onto the snow, too tired to even move.
Soon, two bright headlights appeared between the trees, looking particularly dazzling in the dim environment.
The White Wolf that had run back to the temporary camp for help also ran to Feng Mountain’s side. Its once-white fur was now covered in icicles from its frantic journey.
"Good work. You’ll get an extra meal when we get back." Feng Mountain looked at the wolf’s state and reached out to gently pat its head.
Just then, Nash and Yves arrived on their snowmobiles.
When they saw the moose lying in the snow, their eyes widened in astonishment. ’He just went out for a walk and managed to hunt a moose this big?’
’How bored do you have to be to do something like this?’
’He’s got a death wish!’
...
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