Chapter 185: Man and Nature (Please support, follow for updates, and send power)

Eating steaming-hot food, drinking a bowl of fish soup—if it weren't for how harsh the surroundings looked, one could say Qin Yun was on a leisurely vacation.

He leaned against a spruce tree; overhead, birch trunks were slanted upward, propping up a space that shielded from wind and rain. To his right was a stove built from stacked stones, with flames leaping merrily inside, and on top rested a stone trough and a stone slab Qin Yun had casually made.

Thus, warmth drifted over from the fire, and before long the inside of the shelter had grown warm.

On the stone slab, snow rabbit meat sizzled with oil; in the stone trough sat two prepared Arctic grayling, their fresh fragrance filling the air.

"Qin Ye's food show is back on air—watching it really whets the appetite."

"If Qin Ye did mukbang, he'd definitely blow up too."

"Yeah, watching Qin Ye eat is practically a pleasure."

"Compared to the others, Qin Ye really doesn't look like he's surviving in the wild. The hardships he should've suffered, he didn't; the dangers he should've met, he didn't. Don't even mention those so-called dangers that pose zero threat to Qin Ye."

"The wolf king under Qin Ye's butt is wailing its eyes out."

By now it was already 6 p. m. in Canada; the sky had long since gone completely dark. Looking out through the trees, no stars could be seen—clearly a layer of cloud still hung over the sky.

Meanwhile, over at the main livestream room, the remaining forty contestants had all successfully reached the PEP, completing the first week of wilderness survival.

Quite a few were exhausted all over, and once the sky darkened they chatted casually at the camera for a few lines before signing off.

Fewer than ten viewers remained online in the stream.

Qin Yun lounged lazily against the tree trunk, took a sip of fish soup, and planned to sign off too. He intended to head outside and take precautions, just in case some animal snuck over during the night—even though the odds weren't great.

"The first week went smoothly; I didn't run into any danger…"

The stream's viewers immediately started complaining.

"Damn, swap in anyone else for your situations and they probably wouldn't last two days."

"Heh, and he calls that no danger."

"666, for Qin Ye it really is basic operation."

"Qin Ye doesn't just adventure, he puts on a show too—the production team really got lucky inviting him."

Qin Yun naturally couldn't see the comment section; he went on: "I think the first week was just the production team letting us adapt. Starting next week it'll definitely get harder…"

He babbled on for a while, just about to sign off, when suddenly his ear twitched and his voice stopped at once.

"Crack—!"

That was the sound of branches breaking—and not all at once, but a continuous rustling of something moving closer.

His expression shifted, a Grave look settling on his face.

"Holy crap, Qin Ye ran into something again?"

"Don't tell me some ghost is coming to feed itself to him again."

"What did Qin Ye hear?"

Qin Yun said quietly, "I just heard the sound of dry branches being snapped. Some animal is slowly making its way toward me."

After speaking, he set the drone on a birch trunk, then quickly picked out a tree and climbed up it with ease.

In no time, the sound drew closer, and before long the people in the stream could hear it too.

On TikTok's side, viewers' hearts leapt into their throats.

"OMG, Qin Zhen's so unlucky—what do you think it is? A snake or some kind of rabbit?"

"Snakes are hibernating, there's no way one would come out in the dead of winter."

"Grouse aren't impossible either, and Arctic foxes are still active."

"Could it not be a bear?"

"Haha, bears hibernate too. Any bear still awake at this time must be an unlucky one."

As time passed, Qin Yun's action camera aimed at the direction the sound was coming from. The sound grew closer and closer; after a full ten minutes or so, a small, dark little figure barged into his camp, appearing within the firelight's reach.

When the action camera captured the visitor in full view, everyone—domestic and abroad—was stunned.

"Holy shit, a black bear?"

"Damn, it really is a bear?"

"Jesus, and it's a cub too—wow, so cute."

"This bear really looks unlucky, born in winter."

"If there's a cub, that means there's a mother bear. What if Qin Ye slaughters this cub and brings the mother down on him?"

"Qin Ye isn't some cold-blooded brute—how could he just kill a harmless little cub like that?"

The moment Qin Yun saw the cub, he got a fright too.

"Judging by the size, this is a three-month-old black bear cub; it should be hibernating." Qin Yun observed for a moment. "Look—its long black fur is basically fully grown, and it can walk and run. It looks just like a little black dog."

After the little black bear barged into Qin Yun's camp, it was clearly full of curiosity. Its small eyes sized up the burning fire, its nose twitched, and once it realized the aroma was coming from above, it didn't hesitate and shuffled right toward the fire.

Qin Yun thought it over; he still didn't move.

"This little black bear must be leaving its den for the first time. Looks like it's hungry, so the smell of food from the nest lured it over and woke it up from hibernation."

His voice was very soft, kept extremely low—just enough for the stream to hear.

Under the camera, the little black bear came up to the fire and looked up at the sizzling snow rabbit and the stone trough.

At the snow rabbit it glanced once, showing no interest, but at the fish soup in the stone trough its eyes lit up.

"Black bears absolutely love fish, but right now it's January, Lake Atlin is frozen over, and black bears are hibernating, so they can't get any fish at all. In summer and fall, when the salmon run, they head to streams and lakes to catch fish—it's an instinct baked into their DNA."

His tone carried a hint of worry: "But my pot of fish soup has been sitting over the flame, and if this little black bear isn't careful it could get scalded. I'm debating whether to go down."

As soon as he finished, a cry came through the camera: "Owoo—!"

The little black bear touched the stone trough, and the high temperature scalded it; it scrambled back several steps in fright, its curious little eyes now full of terror.

As if sizing up something dangerous.

Qin Yun didn't hesitate any longer—he climbed straight down from the tree and landed heavily on the ground.

The huge sound immediately startled the little black bear; it whipped around and saw a massive creature staring at it.

At first glance, the little black bear saw Qin Yun and showed no fear, instead curiously sizing him up.

"Wow, so cute, those little eyes really make me want to pet it."

"Kawaii."

"Its legs are so short, its body short and chubby, too fun, I really want to keep one at home."

Qin Yun tentatively took two steps forward; the little black bear still showed no fear, just tilted its head and looked up at him, as if sizing up some novel thing.

"Haha." Qin Yun chuckled lightly. "Looks like this little black bear hasn't yet developed a survival-of-the-fittest mentality, and its mother hasn't taught it how to survive either."

As he spoke, he moved closer to the little black bear.

"Black bears aren't like brown bears; for humans, they're actually not that dangerous. Even if you run into an adult black bear, as long as you don't attack it first, it won't come eat you — their aggression isn't high."

"But… if what you run into is a mother bear with cubs, then you have to be careful."

Qin Yun walked past the little black bear, came to the fire, picked up the stone trough, poured out a little fish soup and fish meat beside it. Then he gestured to the little black bear, telling it to come eat.

The little black bear understood, and shuffled over step by step.

With this weather, this temperature, the fish soup was no longer scalding once it hit the ground. The little black bear lapped a couple of mouthfuls and got hooked, eating big mouthful after big mouthful with great relish.

After finishing, it even looked up at Qin Yun with an expression that said it wanted more.

Qin Yun wasn't stingy either, and poured out some more.

After thinking for a moment, he took a whole Arctic grayling from his backpack and placed it on the stone slab. After the little black bear had eaten nearly enough, he put the thawed Arctic grayling right in front of it.

Then he casually stroked its head and body.

The viewers in the livestream were green with envy.

"Black bears may not be very aggressive, but that doesn't mean they don't eat people." Qin Yun watched the little black bear squat on the ground eating fish, and said, "If you run into a bear in the wild, no matter what kind, never play dead."

"When I was little, my textbook said if you meet a bear, play dead, and the bear will fall for it."

"Hahaha, my textbook said the same thing when I was little."

"Isn't that right?"

"Bears are omnivores." Qin Yun poured a bowl of fish soup, leaned against the spruce tree, and watched the little bear. "If it's hungry, it won't care whether you're dead or not. And bears are also very playful animals — even if you're playing dead, they'll still swat, lick, and sit on the person playing dead. So never play dead, especially with black bears."

"Let me teach you all a method: when you run into an animal like a black bear, don't run right away. Back away slowly, and don't stare it down. If it's too close, spread open your jacket to make yourself look bigger, and talk loudly, then back away little by little."

At this moment, this scene was faithfully recorded by the drone.

Qin Yun sat leisurely against the spruce, a fire built beside him, and beside the fire squatted a black bear, eating fish with great relish.

Man and nature were in quite harmonious accord at this moment.

But Qin Yun hadn't forgotten — somewhere in this dark forest, an adult mother bear was still hibernating, and who knew when she might suddenly wake because her cub was gone.

Once the mother bear woke and found the cub missing, she'd surely go crazy.

Qin Yun patted the little black bear's head. The little black bear looked up at him in surprise, as if asking: what're you doing?

Seeing Qin Yun say nothing, the little black bear lowered its head and kept gnawing on the fish — it had never tasted anything this delicious in its bear life.

"Eat and then go, otherwise when your mom can't find you, she'll come looking for me."

Hearing Qin Yun say this, the netizens burst out laughing.

"Haha, even Qin Ye has something to fear."

"That's a bear, who wouldn't be afraid."

"Qin Ye is exactly this kind of guy who bullies the weak and fears the tough — when he met the little wolves, he threw a heavy punch; when he meets bears and tigers, he turns tail and runs."

"What little wolves, those six wolves I feel could take down a black bear."

"A brown bear, Qin Ye might still be wary, but a black bear, Qin Ye probably isn't afraid of."

Qin Yun indeed wasn't afraid of black bears. An adult male black bear weighs only about 180 kg or so; although he couldn't match its strength, in Lin Zi he was confident it couldn't catch him either.

But being chased by a black bear in the middle of the night — that would be too unlucky.

Soon, the fish in the little black bear's mouth was finished by it; such a small body stuffed with such a big fish, it looked a bit overstuffed.

Qin Yun poured it a little more fish soup to help it digest. After it finished, he patted its rear.

"Alright, you've eaten and you've drunk, time to head back."

The little black bear wobbled its body, as if it understood Qin Yun's words, and actually started walking back the way it came.

But it kept looking back every step, seeming a bit reluctant to part.

However, once the little black bear was out of his sight, Qin Yun got up and followed.

Trailing far behind the little black bear, Qin Yun walked the whole way. A quarter-hour later, beneath a tree hollow not far from the PEP, the little black bear crawled inside.

After waiting a while longer and confirming there was no movement, Qin Yun finally headed back.

"Hope the little black bear just goes to sleep and doesn't wake up, otherwise out there it won't run into someone as kind as me."

Qin Yun returned to the shelter, chatted a couple more sentences, then ended the stream. Then he quickly made some simple traps and warning mechanisms outside the shelter, so that if any animal approached, he could react at the first moment.