Reborn in 1985, starting from the mountains of Northwest China

The tree hollow was empty!

It's said to be a bear inside, but there aren't even many bear hairs!

That's outrageous, absolutely outrageous!

The key point is that after the bear went out, it actually sealed the tree hole. Could it be that this beast has really gained intelligence and is playing tricks on them here?

That doesn't make sense either. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the creation of spirits was prohibited. Chen Feng stopped his wild thoughts and turned to look at Lao Huang, wanting to hear his thoughts.

Old Huang also found it strange. Where could the bear have gone amidst all this snow?

"Do you think it's possible that we've startled that bear too many times, and it's moved away?"

Chen Feng exhaled a puff of white breath and rubbed his hands, which were a little stiff from the cold.

Country folks usually wear woolen gloves when hunting, but Chen Feng didn't wear gloves because he was shooting.

Wearing gloves will reduce your ability to perceive guns.

In the dead of winter, searching for bears in this kind of forest, Chen Feng could only breathe on his hands from time to time to warm his frozen fingers.

After sweeping through a patch of snow again, the tracks were correct; the bear had indeed been there before.

Old Huang also had this question: Could it have been buried when it snowed?

"It's been snowing for a day and a night. If it had left footprints here last night, they would probably be completely covered by now."

He muttered to himself, but his eyes kept searching the ground.

Chen Feng's heart sank; what he said made sense.

On their previous visits, they went into the mountains immediately after the snow stopped, so their footprints were clearly visible.

This time it took a while; the snow that day was enough to bury all traces cleanly.

"What do we do then?" Old Huang was also starting to panic. "Are we just going to go back empty-handed?"

Chen Feng didn't reply; he looked up at the sky around him.

It was a hazy gray, with low-hanging clouds and a few snowflakes in the wind, making it hard to tell whether they were falling from the sky or blown from the trees.

He unconsciously turned around once, and then suddenly walked behind a rock that was sheltered from the wind.

According to the mountain-chasing manual given to him by his old man, even wild beasts aren't stupid; they'll find a sheltered spot to go.

In addition, sheltered areas usually receive less snow, so you might be able to spot some clues.

There aren't many rocks this big in this area. If he had any sense, he would naturally run this way.

As Chen Feng pondered this, he squatted down on the leeward side of the rock and reached out to brush away the snow floating on it.

The snow here is indeed thinner than elsewhere; the wind blew away most of it, leaving several deep scratches on the exposed ground.

His heart skipped a beat, and he bent down to take a closer look, holding his breath.

There were five ravines, neatly arranged, with three small indentations at the front, the marks left by claws.

A thin layer of ice had formed on the edge of the ravine, indicating that it wasn't newly formed today, but had been there for at least two or three days.

A few coarse brown hairs were still tangled in the cracks of the rocks, trembling gently in the wind. The roots of the hairs were oily and glistened in the dim light.

"Old Huang!" Chen Feng called out in a low voice, his throat trembling with excitement, "Come and see!"

Old Huang strode over, took the few hairs, held them up to the sunlight, sniffed them, and a smile immediately appeared on his face:

"It's bear fur! There's no mistake, you can smell that pungent odor from miles away. This beast rubbed itself here to scratch an itch, and all the fur came off."

Chen Feng carefully tucked the few hairs into his pocket, placing them close to his skin, as if he were carrying some precious treasure.

With this, at least we can prove that the bear did indeed roam this area, and its journey wasn't in vain.

He peered into the crevice in the rock again, but it was pitch black inside and he couldn't see what was inside.

He rolled up his sleeves and reached inside with his bare arms to feel around. He was startled by the cold, but he gritted his teeth and probed deeper.

His fingertips touched a hard, cold, and slightly prickly object. He pried it out and saw that it was a gnawed pine cone.

No, it's half a piece.

The pine cone was bitten open from the middle by something, and the pine nuts were stripped clean, with sticky saliva still clinging to the shells, which had frozen into transparent ice crystals.

Chen Feng examined the shell from all angles; the teeth marks were deep and large, definitely not left by a wild boar or badger.

"This is something that only comes out in autumn."

Old Huang took the pine cone, examined it, and then scratched at the frozen saliva with his fingernail. "It stored up food before hibernation. It ate half of it, but for some reason, it moved and took out the rest to gnaw on. Look at these teeth marks. It must have been very hungry; it even chewed up the shell."

Chen Feng tucked the pine cone into his clothes, stood up, and looked around.

Behind the rocks was a gentle slope with several old pine trees growing on it, their trunks so thick that one person couldn't wrap their arms around them.

The pine branches were heavy with snow, hanging down, some almost touching the ground.

The slope extends southward, gradually disappearing into a gray, misty forest.

The sentences in the journal were running through his mind.

"Winter beasts love sunny slopes".

In the dead of winter, even the wildest animals know to run to warm places.

The north slope is shady, with strong winds and thick snow, making it uncomfortable even for people, let alone a bear that has just woken up.

If it were to move, it would definitely head south.

The area under the pine trees is a good place; the canopy of the trees shelters you from the snow, and you can still see the sun underneath, making it much warmer than other places.

Chen Feng quickly calculated in his mind, and suddenly it dawned on him.

"Let's go, cross this ridge, and take a look at the south slope."

He lifted his foot and walked away, making a crunching sound as he stepped on the snow.

Old Huang followed him, and the two of them trudged through the snow, climbing up the ridge.

The higher you go, the steeper the slope becomes, and the thicker the snow gets. In some places, the snow goes up to your thighs when you step on it.

Chen Feng slung the gun behind his back, his hands gripping the snow crust as he arched upwards, his fingers frozen like carrots, making it difficult to bend or straighten them.

He stopped to catch his breath before he had climbed halfway up the mountain, white breath billowing from his mouth.

Looking back, he saw that Old Huang was more than ten steps behind him, using a dry tree branch to move uphill, his face flushed red.

"Old Huang, are you alright?"

"Sure...why not..." Old Huang panted heavily, "I've been hiking in the mountains for so many years, this little slope is nothing..."

Before he could finish speaking, his foot slipped, and he slid half a meter down the slope. Luckily, he managed to hold onto a small tree to keep his balance.

Chen Feng wanted to laugh, but held it back and reached out to pull him up.

The two continued climbing.

The higher you go, the stronger the wind becomes, so strong that you can't open your eyes. The snowflakes sting your face, like someone is throwing fine sand at your face.

Chen Feng tightened his collar and pulled his hat brim down, hunching over and arching forward step by step.

When we reached the halfway point of the mountain, the wind subsided a bit, and a relatively flat and open area came into view.

Ta Xue suddenly stopped, pricked up her ears, sniffed hard, and let out a low whimper.

Immediately afterwards, Chen Feng also smelled it.

A faint, fishy smell mingled with the icy air, drifting over from the other side of the mountain ridge.

The smell was very strong and unique. It wasn't the earthy smell of wild boar, nor the gamey smell of roe deer. It was the muttony smell that only large livestock with grease on their skin and fur have when they eat meat year-round.

The smell of rotting flesh, mud, and hay filled my nostrils.

Chen Feng felt a chill run down his spine.

He slowly took the gun off his shoulder, gripped it in his hand, and placed his finger on the trigger guard.

Old Huang also took out his gun. The two looked at each other, neither of them spoke, but they both slowed their pace.

Ta Xue's ears stood up like two small knives, and its nose twitched as it sniffed. Suddenly, it struggled with the rope and pulled eastward.

Chen Feng looked in the direction it was pointing—there was a dense pine forest, so dark that he couldn't see anything.

But that muttony smell was coming from over there.

Chen Feng licked his chapped lips, gripped the gun handle tightly, and walked step by step into the woods.