Chapter 71

“Blackie, I just smelled something good!”

The man and the bear, out scavenging, had gathered a decent haul so far.

After reaching the spot where they’d left yesterday, not far from their last catch, they captured two more snow rabbits today.

But after securing the catch, Xiao Yi suddenly caught a curious scent, then smiled as he spoke to Blackie.

“Roar!”

Seeing Xiao Yi so happily amused, Blackie was puzzled—he’d spent over a dozen days beside this man, yet rarely saw such a gentle smile from him.

After all, the man’s usual smiles made Blackie and even his cunning older brother feel uneasy.

Blackie then let out a joyful roar—he knew that whenever this man was happy, life for the bear became much better.

But right now, Blackie was far more interested in the scent of the snow rabbits; hunting with this man had become addictive.

He remembered how he’d once ruled a stretch of this wilderness, the pride of the predator world—only his cunning older brother had ever bested him, and he’d never bowed to anyone.

Yet even then, he’d never reaped so many prey all at once.

Now, Blackie’s belief was firm: follow the human boss, eat well every day, bear life fulfilled.

Of course, Xiao Yi didn’t care what was going on in this dumb bear’s head—he walked straight ahead, following the scent.

Xiao Yi gently flared his nostrils, confirming it repeatedly, until he spotted a tiny hole nestled in the corner against a tree trunk.

“Blackie, come here—use your claws to dig here! Be careful, don’t damage what I want, or I’ll crush your bear skull, got it?”

As Blackie approached, Xiao Yi demonstrated the motion while giving orders.

Clearly, Blackie was slower than Doggie—he still needed Xiao Yi’s gestures to grasp the meaning of his words.

But once he understood, Blackie didn’t hesitate—he got right to work.

Xiao Yi actually liked this about Blackie: he obeyed.

“Squeak! Squeak!”

As Blackie dug deeper, a squirrel’s voice suddenly came from inside the hole.

Hearing it, Xiao Yi smiled faintly—sure enough, there was something here.

But the Arctic ground squirrel’s burrow was surprisingly deep; Blackie dug a full meter before revealing the full extent of the tunnel.

Yet when the tunnel was breached, the Arctic ground squirrel was already gone.

Clearly, Blackie’s digging had startled the hibernating squirrels—they’d fled through other exits the moment they sensed danger.

“Squeak! Squeak!”

Sure enough, soon after, three Arctic ground squirrels appeared on a nearby tree trunk, angrily scolding Xiao Yi and Blackie for their thief-like behavior.

“Roar! Roar!”

These little things dared to challenge him—Blackie was already furious.

With a single roar, the three squirrels, moments ago still squawking in protest, scattered in panic and vanished from Xiao Yi’s sight within moments.

Clearly, they knew they couldn’t match this man-and-bear duo, and chose to retreat and rebuild their nest elsewhere.

Neither Xiao Yi nor Blackie cared about the squirrels’ escape.

Sure, they were meat—but to Xiao Yi and Blackie, they weren’t even worth a snack. This was the arrogance of true carnivores.

Zhongyicheng “…”

Liu Hong “…”

Wu De “Sorry, I wandered into the wrong scene—I’m already eating my wife’s braised pork, no need for more meat.”

But what truly interested Xiao Yi was the pine nuts inside the squirrel’s burrow.

In this Arctic wilderness, the only place you could find pine nuts was in the burrows of Arctic ground squirrels—elsewhere, they were nearly impossible to find.

After all, the Arctic wilderness was too barren—even where Xiao Yi and his companions stood, at the very edge of the Arctic Circle, it remained just as desolate.

But these three squirrels were wealthy Arctic ground squirrels—their burrow held no small amount of pine nuts; Xiao Yi estimated half a basket’s worth.

Of course, mixed in were dried grasses and various plant seeds—all winter survival tools for the Arctic ground squirrels.

But now, all these good things belonged to Xiao Yi!

“Xiao Shen’s nose is too OP—I suggest Yinfu officially ban Xiao Shen’s nose.”

“Exactly, I support it—smelling large prey is one thing, but detecting pine nuts a meter underground? That’s insane.”

“My Xiao Shen is still the same Xiao Shen—his godlike moves never surprise me.”

“But honestly, my Xiao Shen’s actions are ruthless—these pine nuts are the squirrels’ entire year’s labor, and my Xiao Shen just takes them all. That’s worse than killing them.”

“What can you do? As long as they survive, that’s Xiao Shen being kind. Who else could punish Xiao Shen, the King of the Arctic Wilderness? Not even the Rabbit God!”

“By the way, does my Xiao Shen chase rabbits all day because of the Rabbit God? These snow rabbits are plump, sure, but there’s barely enough meat. Why not just fish instead?”

“Haha, brother, you see it but don’t say it! Who doesn’t know my Xiao Shen is a broad-minded man who hates killing?”

…

…

The half-basket of pine nuts forced Xiao Yi and Blackie to retrace their steps.

But Xiao Yi was in good spirits—he’d always liked nuts in his past life, and never expected to find pine nuts in this Arctic wilderness.

Still, turning these raw pine nuts into roasted ones would take some effort—but Xiao Yi was willing to put in the work.

…

…

“Roar!”

Sensing Xiao Yi’s return, Doggie, who’d been guarding home, was startled, then couldn’t help letting out a loud roar in greeting.

Watching Doggie, now lying in the bear den, staring at the rabbit pen, Xiao Yi nodded in approval—this dumb bear hadn’t slacked off.

But Xiao Yi ignored Doggie’s greeting and headed straight for the rabbit pen, while Blackie excitedly trotted over to Doggie’s side.

At the sight of Xiao Yi, the snow rabbits in the pen panicked and scrambled in all directions.

Every time this human appeared, some of their kind vanished—and none of those taken ever returned.

Xiao Yi opened the pen, ignored the terrified rabbits, tossed in the two new catches, then shut the pen and walked away.

He then carried the basket to the eaves of the wooden hut, planning to dry the pine nuts first before roasting them.

Watching Xiao Yi’s actions, both bears were baffled—why was this human so interested in these hard things?

They’d eaten similar things with soft shells before, but clearly, they preferred grass.