Chapter 97: Chapter 96: An Unlucky Soul Is an Unlucky Soul

It was hard to say whether the wolf was unlucky or fortunate. The second arrow still missed its vitals, but it struck its lower abdomen.

If it hadn’t turned just then, that arrow probably would have been fatal.

The hypothermia brought on by massive blood loss was deadly in a forest where the temperature was already dropping rapidly.

The black wolf’s front paws scrabbled at the ground as it tried to stand, but its lower body was completely unresponsive, as if it had lost all feeling.

Before long, the soil beneath it was stained dark red with blood.

Under the beam of the Hat Lamp, from a distance, it looked like it was lying in a pool of ink.

An unknown amount of time passed.

Lin Chen felt his limbs growing stiff from the cold, and it was a struggle to even curl his ten fingers.

He recalled a video he had watched before the competition about a simple method the Inuit of the Arctic use to determine their current stage of freezing.

You lift your palm and try to touch your thumb to your other four fingers.

If you can do it easily, your body is in good condition, and there’s nothing to worry about.

If you can’t touch your pinky, it means your body is on the verge of freezing, and continuing in that state could easily become life-threatening.

He tried it. He could complete all the movements, but when it came to his pinky, it was a noticeable struggle.

’No, I can’t stay in this tree. If I try to tough it out in the wild for a whole night, I’ll definitely freeze to death.’

The Hat Lamp’s battery life was also limited; it couldn’t stay on forever. Its brightness was already noticeably dimmer than before.

He quickly scanned his surroundings, focusing on the denser thickets, but he didn’t spot anything out of the ordinary.

He glanced at the nearby cliff and mentally mapped out a route.

If all went smoothly, he should be able to reach it in about five minutes.

But in his current state, it would probably take a few minutes longer.

What if, during that time, the cunning Wolf King and its pack suddenly appeared...

’There’s no more time for hesitation. Do I go, or not?’

The instant that thought surfaced, he had already swung down from the branch, kicked off the trunk, and dropped to the ground, expertly rolling to absorb the impact.

Ignoring the wolf carcasses on the ground and the arrows in the other two wolves, he wordlessly hoisted the back basket full of clay onto his shoulder, turned toward his shelter, and took off running.

His worries seemed to have been for naught. He made it back into his shelter without hearing any strange noises from behind him.

He hurried to start a fire and boil some water. He chopped up a dozen or so lamb ribs and threw them in to cook. He also sliced off a piece of rendered and frozen bear fat and quickly stir-fried a plate of porcini mushrooms and shredded potatoes to fill his stomach. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

With fat and carbohydrates in his system, warmed by the fire, he slowly felt his body temperature begin to rise.

Gazing at the lamb soup bubbling in the pot, Lin Chen stripped off all his clothes, pants, and boots, and hung them on branches to dry.

’I’ve decided. I’m not leaving the shelter for the next few days if I can help it. At most, I’ll just gather firewood nearby. I need to rest up for a few days, or the blisters on my feet could turn into frostbite.’

After today’s battle, the Wolf King, having gained no advantage and lost four of its pack, surely wouldn’t come after him again anytime soon.

’Wait, no. If I think about it from another perspective, having too many wolves in the pack makes it harder to find food. Maybe culling the numbers is actually a good thing for them?’

’Could it be that tonight was just the Wolf King testing me?’

Calming down and thinking it over, it seemed entirely possible.

He had trespassed right into their lair. If the Wolf King didn’t react, its authority within the pack would probably diminish.

But to them, a human was about the size of a Black Bear. Rashly attacking a creature of that size was too dangerous, which was why tonight’s situation unfolded as a probing attack.

If it really wanted to hunt him, there was no need to send only five wolves at the start. Wouldn’t sending the entire pack have guaranteed a higher chance of success?

Through the information brought back by the survivor of the five wolves, it could gauge its opponent’s approximate strength. Then, by leading the pack itself, it could both maintain its prestige and test his true abilities.

Seeing no advantage to be gained, it decisively led the retreat. This way, the other wolves wouldn’t complain, especially since they had witnessed several of their packmates being killed inexplicably.

Plus, fewer packmates meant a larger share of food...

’Interesting. I don’t know if I’m overthinking it, but respecting your opponent is a mandatory lesson in wilderness survival. It’s also a concept passed down through generations of us Da Xia People.’

To be honest, he had no intention of wiping out the wolf pack.

After all, the contestants were the intruders; the wild animals were the true masters of this forest.

Although hunting most wild animals was permitted during Wild Survival, the purpose was solely for survival.

If he were to slaughter an entire wolf pack when his own survival was no longer threatened, such an act would undoubtedly trigger protests from animal rights organizations. It would not only affect the show’s revenue but also tarnish the international reputation of the Da Xia People.

’As long as the pack leaves me alone, I won’t go looking for trouble with them either.’

The score for them tailing and trying to attack him was more or less settled by the four lives taken in return.

After eating and drinking his fill, he took the clay out of the bark basket, added some water, and kneaded it repeatedly until it became a smooth ball. He then mixed in some dry grass, stirred it thoroughly, and finally shaped it into a rustic earthen stove.

The stove was built just inside the entrance on the first floor. He had specially cut a smoke vent in the wooden wall just in case, which he could plug up when not needed.

Inside the stove, the flue pipe split in two. When the external vent was blocked, the thick smoke would flow through the other pipe, channeled in the direction of his sleeping area.

The next step was to build the flue channel for the base of the kang. He would then plaster it over with a thick layer of mud and dry grass. Once it dried, it would become a completely handmade heated bed, or kang.

However, he didn’t plan to finish the kang in the next two days. He would wait until after his second collaboration with Andre to start working on it.

Based on the clay stove alone, anyone who had never seen a kang would likely not guess that a bed could be built this way.

He used a small frying pan to scoop some water to wash his hands. After finishing off the fall-off-the-bone lamb ribs and soup, Lin Chen added a few thick logs to the stove and opened the smoke vent halfway.

"The most important thing when using a fire for indoor heating is to ensure proper ventilation. Never seal your doors and windows, or you might never wake up again."

He put on his now-dry clothes and pants, unzipped his sleeping bag, and crawled right in.

"To all my friends watching on screen, I’m not sure what time it is, but I’m exhausted. I’ll see you all tomorrow."

"Good night~"