Chapter 323: Chapter 210: No Waste Prey (Part 2)

"My method is to cut it into thin slices the size of a pinky fingernail. Then, use a tripwire to make a drying net and place it next to the fireplace inside the shelter.

"I won’t roast it directly over the fire as that would destroy most of the B vitamins. What I want to use is the constant dry heat flow produced by the fireplace when it burns."

"The rising warm air will gently and quickly remove moisture from the liver slices without damaging the vitamins due to excessive heat."

"Using this fireplace drying method, I estimate that it will only take one night for these fresh liver slices to become hard liver jerky, which is several times faster than natural air drying."

"A large piece of fresh liver makes it hard to determine how much you’ve actually eaten. The total vitamin A content of an adult Forest Wolf’s liver is roughly between 100,000 and 300,000 IU."

"Although this value is far lower than the millions found in Polar Bears, it is still a highly dangerous toxic dose for humans."

Lin Yu’an put down the piece of liver and continued to analyze seriously: "The whole liver I acquired weighs about 1.5 pounds, let’s calculate it as 700 grams."

"By dividing a total of 300,000 IU by 700 grams, it turns out that each gram of fresh liver contains roughly 430 IU of vitamin A."

"I cut it into slices weighing approximately 2 to 3 grams, so each fresh liver slice contains about 1000 IU of vitamin A."

"After a night of drying, it will lose most of its moisture, reducing its weight to approximately one-third of its original weight."

"But the total vitamin A content will remain almost unchanged, with each liver slice still containing about 1000 IU."

"For an adult male, without enough vitamin A supplementation, the safe daily intake limit can reach 10,000 IU. So, I will consume up to four liver slices a day."

"The total dosage is about 4400 IU. This dose is enough to quickly restore my vitamin A levels to normal while leaving more than double the safety margin below the safe upper limit."

"Next, the kidneys."

He picked out two bean-shaped organs, "the kidneys, which are also highly nutritious and taste good when cleaned."

Then he picked up a piece of intestine wrapped in thick fat, "And this, this is the intestinal lining fat, one of the premium fats inside the animal that I will scrape off and render into oil."

He took the entire segment of fatty intestine and rubbed it vigorously with a large handful of clean, fluffy snow, like sanding with sandpaper.

He explained, "Snow is the best natural cleaning agent, inhibiting bacterial growth, and its tiny crystalline particles effectively scrape off surface blood stains, mucus, and any potential contaminants leaked from the intestines."

After several rounds of meticulous snow washing, the segment of intestinal fat became snow-white and clean, and he laid the cleaned fat flat on a piece of clean rock.

"Alright, folks, this is the critical step. Many people heat or laboriously scrape to process intestinal fat."

"But at minus twenty degrees, we have a smarter way. All I have to do is wait."

"The biting cold wind will carry away the last bits of heat from the fat, causing that layer of white fat to solidify and harden at a speed visible to the naked eye."

"The membrane connecting it, rich in moisture, will become fragile by freezing.

About ten minutes later, he picked up the segment of fat that had become as solid as a piece of hard wax.

"Now, the fat and the fascia have undergone a huge difference due to the low temperature."

He didn’t use a knife but carefully began to peel the hardened fat layer by layer from the fragile frozen intestinal mesentery at the edges.

"Crack... crackle..."

The sound was crisp, like tearing open a piece of wet paper that has frozen.

"Look, this is the low-temperature peeling method." He displayed the white, pure, and impurity-free block of hard fat in his hand.

"Using the cold to differentiate the physical properties of different tissues, making it easy to separate them, this method has almost zero waste."

"As for what’s left..."

He pointed to the huge intestines, large intestines, and spleen that had been stripped of fat, leaving only a thin membrane.

"Theoretically, they are all edible, but without sufficient clean water sources and seasonings, the risk and reward of processing them are out of proportion. So, I’ll leave these parts to the forest."

He paused for a moment, weighing the hard block of intestinal fat in his hand.

"Oh, there’s one thing to note about the fat rendered from intestines. Its taste is completely different from fat rendered from subcutaneous fat or abdominal suet."

"The oil rendered from subcutaneous fat has a relatively pure taste, mainly the savory aroma of animal fat."

"But intestinal fat, because it is near the internal organs, will have a very strong and unpleasant gamey taste, no matter how clean it is rendered, making it hard to accept."

"However, for me, this taste must be overcome because this type of oil is a scarce fat in the wilderness."

After sorting the organs, he began the most critical and time-consuming task—skinning.

"Now, I need to get this perfect Wolf pelt. It will be my top-notch material for making winter clothes, gloves, and even snow camouflage gear in the future."

"A top-quality Northern Forest Wolf pelt is worth a fair amount on the market, but out here, its value is beyond monetary measure."

"Skinning on the ground, especially in the snow, faces many issues."

Lin Yu’an said while pulling out a long nylon cord from his backpack, "You would be hunched over the whole time, and it consumes a lot of energy."

"Also, the fur can easily get bloodstains on it, making post-cleaning very troublesome. So, I need to leverage gravity."

He found a nearby sturdy pine tree, tossed one end of the nylon cord upwards, and looped it over a strong branch about two meters above the ground, then pulled both ends of the cord back down.

Returning to the Wolf’s body, he used the Hunting Knife to cut open the skin and flesh at the ankles of the Wolf’s hind legs, revealing the sturdy Achilles tendons.

He then threaded the ends of the cord through the tendons of both legs, tying a secure knot.

After doing all this, he returned under the tree and grabbed the rope with both hands, pulling down hard.

"Hup!"

Accompanied by his low growl, he hoisted the hollowed-out Wolf carcass head-first into the air, hanging it from the tree.

"This way, I can work standing up, greatly conserving energy. During skinning, bloodstains won’t contaminate most of the skin."

"Most importantly, I can use the body’s own weight to make skinning easier."

He skillfully began using the "tube skinning method" with the Hunting Knife.

The first cut started from the ankle where the rope was tied.

Carefully, he used the tip of the knife to cut along the inside of the leg, all the way down to the midline abdominal cut made during the gutting.

The knife blade sliced the cold skin and already coagulating subcutaneous fat layer, making a slight, wax-cutting-like "sizzling" sound.

There was no warm steam, only a cold, intense smell mixed with blood and animal fur emanating from the incision.

Using the same method, he treated the other three legs, connecting all auxiliary cuts to the main incision.

Now, all the main cuts were completed, he sheathed the Hunting Knife and started the real peeling.

From the incision on the hind leg, he used his fingers, stiffened by the cold, to tear a small hole between the skin and the underlying muscle tissue, then began to pull down forcefully.

In areas where the skin was tightly connected to the body, he used the Hunting Knife as a "skinning tool," inserting it between the skin and muscle to cut and scrape away the attached white membrane tissues.

In most areas where the connection was loose, he only needed to use his fist to "punch" downward, using the blunt force of his fist and gravity to shake large pieces of fur off the body.

"Sizzle... sizzle..."

That was the sound of the membrane being continually peeled off.

————

(Processing prey is both bloody and necessary. I’ve mostly been watching dissection videos for these past two months; I might have to watch anatomy lectures next.) 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

(PS: There are two days until the prize draw, remember to vote more in the monthly vote, looking forward to the appearance of the King of Luck! I’ll synchronize the prize group number with everyone in a single Chapter.)