The arrow hissed past his ear, the bowstring vibrating intensely.

Driven by immense force, the sharp arrowhead easily pierced the giant rat’s body, knocking it down with a single shot.

"SQUEAK SQUEAK!"

The large rat suddenly sprang back to life. It struggled ceaselessly as it fell, trying several times to get back up, only to fail.

Even so, it hadn’t given up the will to live. Its two pink paws scrabbled at the dirt, dragging itself in a specific direction and leaving a trail of claw marks in the mud.

’This thing has a strong will to live, huh?’

Although he didn’t know what species of large rat this was, seeing it up close made Lin Chen suck in a sharp breath.

Just by looking, he could estimate its weight at around four kilograms—almost as big as the toy poodle his mom owned.

Its long, pointed snout opened and closed slightly, revealing two rows of sharp teeth. As it struggled, dark red blood oozed out continuously.

Based on looks alone, the creature was truly unsettling. If it were let loose on a city street back home, it would probably cause mass panic.

He drew another arrow from his quiver and nocked it. His eyes narrowed as he aimed at the large rat’s head from three or four meters away.

THWIP.

The sound of the arrow piercing flesh was clearly audible in the silent forest.

"Squeak..."

The large rat let out a faint, miserable cry. Its head was pinned to the ground, pierced clean through. Within a few breaths, it stopped moving.

Strangely, its eyes remained fixed on something ahead, showing no interest in the giant hunter behind it.

At first, Lin Chen didn’t find it particularly odd. After all, he’d never caught a rat with his bare hands before, and many creatures don’t close their eyes when they die.

Just as he stepped on the giant rat’s corpse to pull out his arrow and reach for his prize, a series of black shapes suddenly scurried out from the direction the rat had been staring. They came from the trunk of the large tree where it had previously been hiding.

A closer look revealed them to be seven or eight much smaller rats!

The little ones were much cuter than their mother. Squeaking and chirping, they clambered all over the giant rat’s slowly cooling corpse. Some even wriggled underneath it to nurse.

Seeing this, the smile on Lin Chen’s face slowly froze, and his mood grew heavy.

He turned and pulled the camera away to avoid filming the poignant scene.

Sympathy was one thing, but rats were rats, no matter the species. They were natural enemies of crops, and exterminating them was absolutely a good thing, especially in a wild forest where the strong preyed on the weak.

He let out an almost imperceptible sigh, nocked another blood-stained arrow, and took aim at the pups scurrying about.

FWOOSH—

FWOOSH—

FWOOSH—

Ten arrows in a row.

The forest fell into a deathly silence once more.

’An eighty percent hit rate... Looks like I still need more practice.’

To miss twice at such a close range was unacceptable. In a critical moment, who knew how many more he might miss.

"A family’s got to stay together. Since your mother is gone, you wouldn’t have survived anyway. Might as well reunite now."

He pulled all the arrows from the ground, bundled them up, and tossed the dead rats into his basket before continuing toward the Yukon River.

He wasn’t far from the riverbank, maybe a seven or eight-minute walk. But this time he’d learned his lesson. Instead of foolishly walking straight out, he hid behind a relatively thick tree trunk and poked half his head out to scan the riverbank cautiously.

The spot where the brown bear had been "bathing" yesterday was empty, with only the remains of salmon littering the ground.

Most of their bodies were intact, but their bellies had been ripped open, the organs inside completely gouged out and eaten.

’Is it trying to get more vitamins?’

He clearly remembered that brown bears loved to eat salmon. When they started eating only the organs like this, it generally meant they had stored up enough fat. Eating more was optional, so they prioritized supplementing their vitamin intake instead.

In the wild, besides various berries, animal organs had the highest concentration of vitamins.

’Looks like it’s gone.’

After scanning the area and seeing no sign of the brown bear, Lin Chen breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Only then did he get up, walk to the riverbank, and begin washing the bloodstains from his arrows.

The usual hustle and bustle of the Yukon River was gone, replaced by a quiet calm. As far as the eye could see, there were hardly any salmon.

’Has the salmon run finally ended?’

This was not good news. Without a stable food source, he would have to spend more energy hunting.

During this period, it wasn’t just him; all the carnivores were foraging more frequently in preparation for the snowfall that could arrive at any moment.

The average nighttime temperature in Alaska was already below minus ten degrees Celsius. As long as there was enough humidity, it could snow at any second.

Even another rain shower could freeze solid and turn into snow.

He washed all the blood-stained arrows and cleaned the giant rat. The pups were too small and numerous for him to bother with, so he decided to use them as bait for his traps, hoping for an unexpected catch.

He followed the riverbank upstream, heading toward the spot where he had met Andre. He kept an arrow nocked on his bowstring the entire time, vigilantly observing his surroundings.

Maybe his consecutive encounters with the wolves and the brown bear had used up all his bad luck, because today his journey was surprisingly smooth. He reached the river fork safely.

He glanced at the large, isolated island in the middle of the river but suppressed the urge to check it out today. Instead, he headed toward the traps Andre had left behind.

Before leaving, Andre had specifically told him that the traps he left were trigger-based, made from branches, bark, and weeds. Once sprung, they would bind the prey tightly.

On the tree trunks near the traps, Andre had carved white marks with a stone. As long as you were near a trap, you could spot the mark with a quick glance.

He soon found the first trap. It was an ingenious little device constructed from several highly flexible twigs, but the bait that should have been in the bark snare was long gone.

Instead of rushing to the next location, Lin Chen studied the trap intently. After examining it several times, he finally grasped the basic principle behind it.

To test his theory, he picked up a random stick and gently tapped the trap with it.

SWISH—

The twigs snapped up instantly, and the bark snare tightened, firmly binding the stick in his hand.

"Just as I thought."

After a few more tries, drawing upon the extensive hands-on experience from the *Complete Collection of Outdoor Tools* in his mind, he quickly and perfectly replicated the trap. He then placed one of the small rats under the bark snare as bait.

"This trap is actually quite simple. I have eight pieces of bait, plus the organs from the big one. Setting up a dozen or so traps should be no problem."