American Hunting: Starting with Solitary Life in the Wilderness

Chapter 225 The Oppressive Feeling of the Dark Forest
Lin Yu'an raised his head, his gaze passing over the crisscrossing coniferous forest whose branches were bent by the weight of snow, and looked towards the horizon.

The sun had completely sunk below the distant, undulating mountain ridgeline. The pale gold that it had painted on the canvas of the sky was being eroded by indigo at a visible speed.

This is a clear signal that daylight has completely ended, foreshadowing the long, cold night that will soon reign over the land again.

The temperature was dropping rapidly, and every breath he exhaled condensed into white mist in an instant, as if the warmth of his life was silently fighting against the harsh cold outside.

Lin Yu'an could clearly feel the biting, icy wind in the air trying to penetrate every layer of clothing protecting him.

"Okay, now comes the part of the whole process that requires the most patience and skill, and also tests your decisiveness the most."

On the snow in front of Lin Yu'an lay his spoils of the day: a North American porcupine that was completely lifeless.

Its carcass was still warm, and in the diffused light reflected from the snow, the black and white thorns were still clearly defined, and the luster of the bone made it look like a fine work of art.

“I don’t have time to do the full cutting here. If we follow the standard slaughtering process, skinning, deboning, and cutting it into small pieces, it will take at least an hour.”

"That would be too slow and too dangerous. In an hour, the smell of blood would be enough to attract any carnivore, such as wolves, cougars, or even bears waking from hibernation."

"Therefore, I must process and extract the most valuable parts as quickly as possible before the natural light completely disappears, and then leave this place of trouble immediately."

Lin Yu'an calmly examined the prey before him, his brain working like a highly efficient processor, instantly completing a cost-benefit analysis and action plan.

He didn't touch the daunting thorns; any thought of trying to handle the porcupine from its back was labeled "stupid" in his mind.

He knew all too well that in the wilderness, where there were no antibiotics and surgical tools, an infection from a seemingly insignificant wound could develop into fatal sepsis.

This is one of the most crucial details in the survival rules, so he had to start with the safest and most valuable part: the abdomen.

He knelt on one knee, using his knee as a fulcrum and the spear shaft as a lever. He slowly and steadily turned the porcupine carcass over.

He proceeded with extreme caution and intense concentration, consistently avoiding the deadly areas on its back and tail. He only touched the inner sides of its limbs where the thorns were sparse and the fur was softer.

Finally, the porcupine's carcass was completely turned over. Its soft, quill-free belly, covered with short, grayish-white hair, was fully exposed to Lin Yu'an's eyes.

"When dealing with prey in the wild, always follow one principle: value first."

As he explained softly to the camera, he drew his Damascus hunting knife from its leather sheath at his waist.

On the blade, layers of forging patterns appeared and disappeared in the twilight, like flowing clouds, shimmering with the luster of metal.

"What is the most valuable thing to me right now? It's not meat, although meat is important. But right now, the most valuable thing is fat."

He gently touched the porcupine's soft belly with the tip of his knife. "And porcupines are rodents that feed on plant roots and bark."

"To survive the long winter, it accumulates a lot of fat in its body. Its best fat reserves are wrapped around its internal organs."

"The perirenal and mesenteric fat of porcupines is the highest quality fat in its body, its golden reserve, and a high-energy animal oil."

"So my first goal is to open it up and remove these precious fats, as well as the liver, which is also rich in trace elements and vitamins."

Lin Yu'an adjusted his posture, half-kneeling in the snow that was above his ankles. The icy chill seeped through his pants to his knees, but he didn't care.

Hold down one of the porcupine's forelegs with your left hand to firmly secure the carcass to the snow, while holding the Damascus hunting knife in reverse with the tip pointing vertically downwards.

He took a deep breath, the cold air filling his lungs and making his mind clearer.

Then, holding his breath, he made the precise cut at the end of the porcupine's breastbone, at the cartilage known as the "xiphoid process."

With the muscles in his arm taut, he carefully inserted the sharp blade with precise and steady force, then slicing down the midline of his abdomen with firmness and fluidity.

When the sharp blade cut through tough fur and skin, it encountered almost no resistance, producing only a very slight "sizzle" sound as the blade cleaved through the tissue.

The knife only cut through the tough outer layer of skin and the thick muscle layer underneath, never going deeper.

He can clearly judge the depth of the knife tip by touch, ensuring that it stays outside the peritoneum and never pierces the stomach and intestines that contain the internal organs.

Just as the incision was about to be completed, visibility in the forest plummeted. Without pausing, Lin Yu'an raised his free left hand and pressed the switch above his head.

Double-pressing the button switches to a high-brightness setting of 800 lumens, balancing brightness and battery life.

A beam of pure white light, focused through a TIR lens, instantly illuminated the operating area in front of him, revealing every detail.

As a result, the surrounding environment changed instantly. The blood that was originally gray on the snow now appeared bright red with a moist sheen under the lights.

Even the tiny ice crystals on the snow sparkled with a diamond-like brilliance under this light.

Beyond this artificial daylight, the darkness of the forest appears even more profound.

The surrounding trees, outside the beam of light, became silhouettes of various shapes, like a group of silent onlookers gathering from all directions, creating a sense of oppression.

Lin Yu'an's world seemed to be condensed into a stage isolated from the world by this beam of light!

He paid no attention to these things and continued to complete his work, still fast, accurate, and steady, without the slightest hesitation or fancy moves.

Soon, a clean and neat incision, 30 centimeters long, was perfectly made, running from the sternum to the pelvis.

The muscle layer turned slightly to the sides, revealing a glossy, milky-white peritoneum underneath.

He carefully placed the hunting knife on a clean piece of birch bark beside him, then took out a pair of nitrile gloves from his pocket and put them on.

Once he was ready, he tore open the peritoneum with his fingers and plunged his hands into the still-warm abdominal cavity without hesitation.

A strong, almost tangible smell, a mixture of rusty, fresh blood, the slightly acidic odor of fermenting hay in his stomach, and the distinctive fishy smell of the internal organs, instantly enveloped him.

For ordinary people, this smell would be nauseating, but for Lin Yu-an, it is the taste of life, the taste of calories and hope.

His fingers skillfully explored the warm, slippery abdominal cavity, just like a seasoned surgeon.

Bypassing the massive stomach and intricate intestines, and relying on extensive anatomical knowledge and countless practical experiences, they accurately located the liver.

It was a deep red organ with a smooth and delicate texture, and a firm yet elastic feel.

It is rich in vitamin A, which is essential for vision, iron, which is necessary for the synthesis of hemoglobin, and energy stored in the form of glycogen.

"In the wilderness, animal liver is a natural 'multivitamin tablet' for treating snow blindness and supplementing trace elements," he explained to the camera.

He skillfully peeled away the fascia and tiny blood vessels connecting the liver with his fingers, and then used a hunting knife to completely remove the liver along the connection between it and the surrounding tissues.

He carefully took out a piece of porcupine liver, which he estimated to weigh at least four or five hundred grams, and placed it on the birch bark next to him.

Under the headlamp, it appeared as a jewel-like dark red. For an animal weighing over ten kilograms, this was a rather astonishing size.

Next, he began searching for the real "gold" of his trip: all the visceral fat in his abdominal cavity.

"The liver provides vitamins and trace elements, but the real source of energy is this."

He spoke to the camera, raising his voice slightly, “The visceral fat in its abdominal cavity, first and foremost, consists of these two large, thick pieces of kidney fat surrounding the kidneys; this is the easiest part to obtain.”

"Then, there's this caul fat covering the intestines."

The massive digestive system was gently moved aside, a movement made with equal gentleness and care, for fear of causing any damage.

In an instant, everything went white before his eyes. Just as he had said, two thick, snow-white lumps of fat enveloped the bean-shaped kidneys, attached to the posterior wall of the abdominal cavity. On the surface of the intestines, a large, relatively thin, beautifully lace-like network of fatty tissue covered them.

Under the harsh beam of the headlamp, the pure white fat stood in stark contrast to the surrounding dark red internal organs.

It was like a treasure hidden deep within a chest, exuding a deadly allure. Lin Yu'an's eyes gleamed with barely suppressed joy.

His actions were decisive and efficient, fully demonstrating the prioritization of value under time constraints.

Ignoring the scattered small pieces of fat attached to the mesentery, he used his gloved fingers to tear off the two largest clumps of kidney fat in large pieces.

Next, grabbing a corner of the calyx, and with almost brutal efficiency, quickly peel it off completely from the intestinal surface.

He then found the heart and two kidneys, which were covered in kidney oil, and removed them one by one.

Ultimately, he collected these core spoils: a complete liver, heart, two kidneys, and everything else he could quickly obtain, totaling an estimated two kilograms of visceral fat.

Then, it was tightly wrapped in birch bark and put into a hiking backpack.

He looked up at the camera that was still faithfully recording, exhaled a thick puff of white breath, and said with a hint of relief in his voice, "The core of the mission is complete."

"No matter what happens next, even if I encounter a pack of wolves, I will be forced to abandon the remaining carcass of the porcupine."

"But as long as I can bring this package back, my actions today will have been a strategic success."

After doing all this, he took out the remaining stomach, intestines, spleen, and other internal organs that he did not intend to take with him, and placed them downwind, dozens of meters away from the corpse.

This was both to reduce the weight of the corpse so that it could be dragged later, and also to "drain" other carnivores in the forest.

This pile of pungent entrails will become a higher priority target, attracting some of the predator's attention and buying him valuable time and safety to escape.

This sacrifice was entirely worthwhile; he no longer needed to use his internal organs to make bait for fishing, and he now had enough protein stored up to last until the challenge ended.

In less than fifteen minutes, the porcupine had lost at least a third of its weight.

Now, he needs to bring the rest of this still troublesome "thorny subject" back entirely.

Carrying him directly on his back is impossible; those thorns would teach him a lesson. Dragging him also requires dealing with the friction and potential dangers posed by the thorns.

He stood up, looked around, and the beam of his headlamp swept across the dark forest before his gaze finally settled on a few tall, silvery-white birch trees not far away.

He walked over quickly, took the short-handled logging axe from the side of his backpack, and selected a young birch tree that was about the thickness of his wrist.

"Dang! Dang! Dang!"

Facing the camera, he adjusted his breathing as he explained his choice, "I need a lot of birch bark to wrap this porcupine."

"Of course I could peel the bark directly from those big trees, but that would be too inefficient, and it would be difficult to get the whole piece of bark I need from a single tree."

"More importantly, if I peeled off a ring of bark around the trunk, the tree wouldn't survive either. So it's better to just sacrifice one birch tree."

"In this way, I can not only easily obtain all the tree bark I need, but also maximize the resource return with every energy expenditure in the wilderness. That is efficiency."

The crisp, powerful sound of chopping echoed through the silent forest. In less than ten strokes, accompanied by a snapping sound, the sapling fell, sending up a flurry of snowflakes.

Drag the fallen tree to an open area, cleanly and neatly cut off the branches with an axe, and then make several vertical cuts on it with the tip of a knife.

The bark, as supple as parchment, was easily peeled off in whole pieces. The entire process was fluid and efficient, several times faster than working on an upright tree.

Lin Yu'an returned to the porcupine carcass. The bitter cold had already begun to stiffen the body, a sign that they had to act quickly.

Without any unnecessary movements, he directly used a piece of paracord to violently retract the porcupine's limbs.

Next, they used several thick layers of birch bark to wrap the porcupine carcass, which weighed over ten kilograms, tightly, layer after layer, until all the thorns were completely covered.

Finally, the entire package was bound together with nylon rope, making it look like a giant mummy.

"Wrapping it up like this completely isolates it from the thorns, forming a strong protective layer. It prevents me from being accidentally pricked during transportation."

By the time the porcupine carcass, wrapped in birch bark, was bound into a compact and sturdy cylinder, it was completely dark.

By the time he finished this step, it was completely dark, and the beam of his headlamp could only cast a pale, weak dot on it.

All sounds in the forest vanished; this extreme silence itself served as a warning.

We can't delay any longer; we must begin loading and returning immediately.

He picked up the birch bark bundle, which weighed over ten kilograms; it was cold and hard, feeling like a huge rock.

Then the heavy cylinder was vertically stuffed into the main compartment of the backpack, making the backpack bulge.

The return journey has begun.

He took heavy steps, but his snowshoes still kept him from sinking deep into the snow.

Lin Yu'an did not switch or replace his headlamp. Instead, he adjusted the beam angle to make the center of the light spot extend from his feet to more than ten meters ahead, illuminating his way forward.

Gone was the cautious and slow process of arriving, when he needed to remain silent and bend over to search for traces. His only goal now was to return to the shelter as quickly as possible.

The forest at night is a completely different world from the one during the day.

Cold is no longer simply low temperature, but a continuous and pervasive energy deprivation.

The surrounding trees cast various distorted and elongated shadows under the constantly swaying headlamp, which swayed violently with the movement of the light, creating a dynamic and oppressive atmosphere.

In the dead silence, the occasional cracking sound of snow breaking tree branches could be heard from afar, sounding particularly abrupt in the empty forest.

Lin Yu'an walked for a long time, so long that he felt his thigh muscles were not just sore, but burning.

Each time I lifted my leg, it felt as heavy as pulling myself out of a quagmire, and my lungs began to feel a burning pain from continuously and violently inhaling the cold, dry air.

Finally, just as he felt his body was about to break down, he struggled through the last small patch of dense spruce forest.

Suddenly, everything became clear before his eyes!
At the end of the headlamp beam, he saw that familiar, large mushroom that seemed to have grown naturally from the snow.

That was the snow-covered smoking room he built himself to smoke dried fish and meat.

Not far from the fumigation room, a faint, warm yellow light was emanating from the ventilation opening of the semi-subterranean shelter.

That was the firelight from the fireplace, filtering through the cracks in the chimney and casting its glow on the falling snow. But for him, it was a safe, warm, and final destination where he could finally unload all his burdens.

He finally arrived home safely.

A sense of exhaustion from the long journey and a feeling of relief collided and intertwined violently within him.

These two diametrically opposed sensations eventually intertwined into a strange physiological reaction that almost overwhelmed his entire body.

But his heavy steps did not falter at all; he resolutely walked the last few dozen meters toward the direction of the light.

Finally, he stood next to the snow house and smokehouse that he had built himself.

(End of this chapter)