Deep affection knows no origin; remember the polar bear's love for you.

Chapter 29 Swimming Instruction!

Life seemed to return to normal. Guo Mi went about her daily routine, taking the bear cub out of its den to the lake on time, and then taking it back to the cave at sunset.

The only little incident each day seems to happen when the little bear is sniffing the entrance to the burrow.

The smell gradually faded from some of the cave entrances, and then the caves were filled with wind and snow, requiring Guo Mi to clean out the things that had fallen inside.

Some of the cave entrances smelled of other bears, but it seemed that they only looked out of curiosity and did not stay for long.

At some cave entrances, the scent of Caesar, which had almost dissipated, would suddenly become very strong!
Although the male bear hadn't appeared in front of Guo Mi for a long time, it seemed to be reminding her that he was still nearby.

Guo Mi was helpless in this situation. She had no power to drive Caesar away, nor could she give up the lake, so she could only live like this, day after day.

During this period, the bear that frequently appeared changed to a different one!
The mother bear would always appear with her cubs when Guo Mi led her two little furballs fishing, but they always kept a distance and never came close.

This disappointed Guo Mi somewhat. She had thought that since the mother bear had come over when the salmon fell into the water that day, they wouldn't be so distant afterward.

However, the mother bear's cubs didn't seem to think so. The little guy always looked at the salmon and fish bones with longing eyes, as if he wanted to come over and play with them.

Unfortunately, polar bears don't have the custom of mothers walking their cubs together, so the little guy could only stay by his mother's side and watch longingly.

Guo Mi stood by the lake, looking at the deep blue surface of the lake before her. She swallowed hard, stretched out her paw, and then slowly placed it into the water.

She took what the mother bear said to heart: polar bears spend most of their lives on ice floes, so not being able to swim is definitely not an option.

She can swim, but she doesn't have the cold-weather protection of a polar bear, so the frigid Arctic water is the primary problem she must overcome!

These past few days, I've gotten used to the cold of the icy lake by catching fish claws, so soaking in the water isn't so unbearable now. This shows that prolonged immersion in water can help one get used to the water temperature.

Guo Mi cheered herself up, then pushed off with her hind paws, and the whole bear plunged into the water!

The wet and cool seawater quickly soaked all of Guo Mi's fur, which then adhered to the skin hidden beneath it.

Guo Mi shivered in the water from the piercing chill, and ripples spread out around her body with each tremor.

She resisted the urge to climb up, using all four limbs to paddle in the lake, and began to count silently in her mind. Last time she managed to count to five hundred, this time she would count to at least eight hundred!
When she counted to 450, Guo Mi couldn't help but open her eyes, her gaze falling on the lake shore that was so close at hand; when she counted to 500, Guo Mi had already shakily stretched out her claws toward the lake shore, but in the end she still managed to control herself and retract her claws.

On the 550th, she suddenly had a feeling that she was about to drown!
My limbs felt increasingly heavy, and it was already very difficult to maintain the paddling motion. I felt a strong pressure on my chest and couldn't even breathe properly.

Her vision was getting blurrier and blurrier. She stretched her neck and tried her best to keep her nostrils above the water as she swam desperately toward the shore!

Finally, at the last second, I used all my strength to climb ashore!
The two bear cubs rushed over and looked at her with concern.

Guo Mi lay exhausted on the snow, her limbs outstretched, panting heavily, too weak even to shake off the water.

The icy air rushed into my nostrils and into my body. Because I hadn't shaken off all the water, it clung tightly to the snow, and over time, a thin layer of ice formed on my abdomen.

Guo Mi felt pain all over her body and it took her a long time to catch her breath. When she came to her senses, she was filled with lingering fear, realizing that she had almost drowned in the icy lake.

Looking at the deep blue sea again, I suddenly felt that I didn't have the courage to go down anymore, and in the end I could only sit by the lake and struggle with this dilemma.

She had to withstand the extremely low water temperature while swimming, which was incredibly physically demanding; it was clearly impossible for her to sustain herself for such a short time. So how did the polar bear manage to do it?

Is it really just because of differences in body structure?
Guo Mi was somewhat desperate. Brown bears and polar bears are close relatives, but the difference between them is the result of generations of evolution adapted to local conditions over thousands of years.

These seemingly insignificant gaps would take her hundreds or thousands of years to bridge; there is absolutely no way to make up for them in a short time!

Just then, I suddenly heard a splash in the water from afar!

Guo Mi looked in the direction of the sound and found that the mother bear on the other side of the lake had entered the water.

The mother bear floated on the surface of the water, swimming leisurely and gracefully. Her massive body appeared exceptionally agile as she flipped and turned with ease, occasionally diving down without seeming to exert any effort at all.

She didn't go fishing; she just stayed in the lake for a long time, many times longer than Guo Mi!
Guo Mi's gaze involuntarily followed her, and she suddenly realized that she was being taught. Feeling grateful, she watched even more attentively.

We were too far away; most of the mother bear's body was submerged in the water, with only her head above water, so we could only see a limited amount of what she was looking at.

Guo Mi's gaze fell back on the deep blue lake surface. She gritted her teeth and jumped into the lake!
It's impossible to see the mother bear's movements in the lake from such a distance. She jumped into the water simply because she thought that this way, by getting close to the mother bear, she could make her less wary.

After all, swimming to the other side in the water and then breaking through the mother bear's defenses to grab the cubs on the shore is something a bear with poor swimming skills like her can't do.

The mother bear watched from the water as Guo Mi struggled to paddle her way towards them, but surprisingly, she didn't make a threatening sound to stop her.

She floated quietly on the water, waiting for Guo Mi to swim over on her own.

Guo Mi mustered her strength and swam across the entire lake, finally reaching the mother bear and giving her a grateful look.

There was nothing she could do; she simply didn't have the strength to speak.

The mother bear's gaze swept over her for a moment, then she uttered two words briefly:
"Look at me."

Guo Mi obediently focused her gaze on her, and then tried her best to imitate her movements, raising her front paws and crossing her hind legs together.

As soon as she finished the movement, she lost her balance and veered to the side!

Guo Mi was startled. She used her legs and claws to struggle and barely managed to keep her body afloat before she managed to get her head back above the water.

The mother bear's eyes immediately filled with disgust as she looked at her, so she had to explain more clearly:
"Relax a bit. How can you maintain your balance if your whole body is tense?"

"Okay, okay." Guo Mi quickly did as instructed.

Strangely enough, when the tense muscles relax, you can clearly feel a sudden lightness around you, as if your body is being lifted by a buoyancy force, making you feel much lighter instantly!

The mother bear glanced at it, then looked away, muttering to herself:
"I knew it! How could a bear that's already so fat and round not be able to float?!"

The sound was very soft, but it went straight into Guo Mi's ears!
Her limbs, which were slowly sliding with the water, suddenly stiffened. An awkward look flashed in her eyes, and she gave a dry, forced laugh.

(End of this chapter)