Chapter 39: Chapter 39: New Harvest.
Editor: Henyee Translations
Xiao Hui finished eating,
and climbed beside the Grey White Little Wolf to start sleeping,
quietness soon fell upon the cave.
…
The next day.
Su Lin had been resting with his eyes closed in the cave all night,
and upon waking up, he first made his usual rounds inside the cave,
finding nothing unusual,
he let out a low howl, and came down from the cave with Xiao Hui.
Nowadays,
under the pitch-black polar night, Wolf Dad and Wolf Mom were certainly also facing a scarcity of food.
Su Lin originally planned to bring the remaining fish meat to Wolf Dad and Wolf Mom,
but when he woke up,
he saw Wolf Sister sleeping, still drooling next to the Arctic Salmon.
This made him abandon the idea.
After all, with the vast ice and the North Arctic Ocean, he could simply catch some more.
Su Lin, accompanied by Xiao Hui, went to the ice again.
Along the way, he let Xiao Hui hunt several Traveling Rats, to be used as bait for the spread of fresh blood,
hunting Traveling Rats was something Xiao Hui was already quite adept at.
There was no need for much instruction.
Soon enough,
several rat carcasses were triumphantly brought to Su Lin by Xiao Hui.
Next,
he and Xiao Hui once again arrived on the Arctic ice,
in the Arctic Circle,
where land constituted only a small part,
and the largest area was covered by the ice,
all around, there was nothing but the white snow and ice blocks.
It was also a paradise for various creatures.
Over on the ice, the beautiful Northern Lights flickered faintly.
This time on the ice, there were quite a few creatures living there.
Seals, sea lions, and various birds flying over the sea surface.
Many birds had migrated before the polar night set in,
so their numbers were not many, and they were not often seen under the polar night.
In regard to these prey,
Su Lin merely glanced at them before withdrawing his gaze.
They were difficult to hunt,
surviving under the polar night indicated their high level of alertness.
Su Lin looked around, and did not spot any sign of the Polar Bear.
He then asked Xiao Hui to stand on guard.
He proceeded to an opening in the ice, ready to continue fishing.
The meat of the fish, he imagined, was something even Wolf Dad and Wolf Mom might never have tasted in their many years in this region.
The North Arctic Ocean is abundant with herring and cod,
but only the more aggressive species of fish would be attracted by the scent of blood.
Su Lin used his sharp Wolf Claw to slit open the captured Traveling Rats, making their surfaces bleed profusely.
Then, he threw them into the ice opening.
The intense scent of fresh blood immediately spread out wide.
Under the vast North Arctic Ocean, there were untold numbers of Fish.
In just a short while, several fish lured by the blood appeared.
These fish were all not small in size,
with lengths of forty to fifty centimeters, the largest one measuring around sixty to seventy centimeters long.
The fish eagerly fought with each other to gobble up the rat carcasses.
Even the largest fish gave a flick of its tail, knocking aside an Arctic Salmon that was nearby.
It wanted to enjoy the feast all by itself.
But within moments, the fish that could be drawn by the scent of blood were all quite ferocious.
Soon, a few fish under the ice were struggling with each other for the food.
Su Lin quietly watched this scene, waiting for the best moment.
Before long,
the largest fish had driven away the others,
its sharp teeth bared as it bit into the rat carcass.
At that moment, a glint flashed in Su Lin’s eyes.
His sharp Wolf Claw emerged from its fur.
And then, he fiercely reached for the fish closest to the ice opening.
As the Wolf Claw entered the water,
ripples spread across the sea.
Su Lin, now experienced from before, made this catch rather smoothly.
His Wolf Claw brutally stabbed into the abdomen of the fish, which was mostly devoid of Scales,
Then, with a strong, forceful lift, he pulled up the fish that was sixty to seventy centimeters long.
Once out of the water, despite its struggles, the fish’s fate was sealed.
A few vicious smacks and the fish became motionless.
This was also a dogfish, only smaller than the one from yesterday.
Next,
the fish beneath the ice had scattered in all directions.
But Su Lin opened up another traveling rat, tossing its innards back into the ocean.
It’s said that a fish’s memory lasts only seven seconds.
In fact, their memory isn’t so short.
The few fish from earlier had learned of the danger here and didn’t come back.
But Su Lin was not in a hurry,
for the North Arctic Ocean was never short of fish species.
At this moment, Su Lin looked up at the vast ice layer above,
and noticed that apart from a few animals, there was also a lot of marine debris.
Marine debris drifting through the oceans,
would end up in the North Arctic Ocean and upon meeting the ice layer,
accumulated here as if it had entered a dead end.
Su Lin glanced at the corpse of the traveling rat and saw that it had yet to attract any fish.
He then moved to the outer edge of the ice layer to inspect the marine debris.
There was a variety of trash,
mostly plastic bags, cigarette butts, foam pieces, fishing nets, and glass bottles,
Among these marine debris,
Su Lin rummaged through and fetched out a small fishing net that was still intact.
The net could be used to hold the caught fish.
Otherwise,
carrying them in his mouth, he and Xiao Hui could at most catch two or three fish in one go.
If they had a net, they could catch more.
With the net, he returned to the ice hole where he had dropped the traveling rat’s body.
Su Lin checked and found that, within a short time, two new Arctic Salmon had appeared.
One of them was very close to the ice hole,
and that fish was nibbling on the dead traveling rat.
Without hesitation,
the sharp Wolf Claw flashed a cold light under the faint aurora.
It went into the water,
and Su Lin pulled up the small salmon, only thirty to forty centimeters long.
Then he tossed it into the net.
At this point,
the other animals on the ice,
watching Su Lin’s actions, were somewhat puzzled.
They were curious why the caught fish had to be placed in that broken net.
Of course,
their intelligence would never be able to comprehend what tools were.
Now, Su Lin also threw the previously caught dogfish into the net.
Next,
he continued to wait at the ice hole,
for the fish lured by the bait.
This traditional method of fishing,
still proved very effective for Su Lin at the moment.
In less than two hours,
he had used up all the hunting bait made from traveling rats.
Su Lin had also successfully caught seven fish of varying sizes.
The largest, being the dogfish he first caught,
weighed about thirty pounds.
The rest were salmon, thirty to fifty centimeters in size,
weighing about forty pounds in total,
which made over seventy pounds of fish meat combined,
surely bringing it as a gift to Wolf Dad and Wolf Mom would give them quite a surprise.
“Ao!”
After the bait was gone, Su Lin howled softly,
and Xiao Hui trotted over, ready to carry the fish,
“Smack!”
With a swat of his paw,
Su Lin didn’t let Xiao Hui carry the individual fish; he began teaching Xiao Hui how to carry the net.
Sometimes, for animals living in the wild,
a harsher approach can make them remember certain things faster.
“Ao!”
With intelligence superior to that of the common Wolf Clan, Xiao Hui learned to drag the net after being taught a few times by Su Lin,
and to his astonishment, found that by merely carrying a single small net line, several fish would follow.
It was as if a new world view had unfolded in Xiao Hui’s mind.