After one night, Feng swore he’d rather die than camp by the river again.

The low-quality branches from the shrubs were useless. They couldn’t sustain a fire and had burned to ashes by midnight.

Without the fire for warmth, the temperature inside the tent plummeted.

Add to that the frigid wind that blew from the Ice River all night, and the tent’s canvas just shuddered, offering no real protection from the encroaching cold.

The entire tent was like an icebox. Every cubic inch of air was saturated with a biting chill.

Feng and Nash huddled in their sleeping bags, their breath forming pale white clouds in the air. Even wrapped tightly in animal hide blankets, they still shivered uncontrollably.

In the end, the cold became unbearable. One of them hugged Prince and the other hugged Princess, and that’s how they barely managed to survive the night.

The moment dawn broke and the first rays of sunlight touched the snow, the two men couldn’t wait to pack up their tent.

They left that godforsaken place without a second glance.

Back on their way, the pair had learned their lesson. They stayed far away from the riverbed, seeking out stretches of tundra with shrubbery.

「Four days later.」

When Feng finally saw the marker for Kevik Camp on his GPS, an indescribable excitement surged through him. He rushed to share the good news with Nash.

After their long and arduous trek, they were finally approaching their destination.

Their steps immediately grew lighter.

「Kevik Camp.」

Susan had only been out of the hospital for a few days, but against her family’s wishes, she had already rushed straight back to Kevik.

Of course, while she was in the hospital, she had received a message from Feng. The brown bear that had mauled her was dead. Looking at the photos, Susan was stunned by the bear’s sheer size and felt a new wave of gratitude for having survived the attack.

Returning to the camp, she was met with thick snow and buildings damaged by the bear.

Susan felt her body, which had grown sluggish in the hospital, spring back to life. But when she saw the nearly empty fuel storage tanks, she flew into a rage and started cursing at the heavens.

Don’t let the sparse population on the tundra fool you—there are plenty of thieves.

The camp had been unattended for over a month. To some people, the gasoline in those storage tanks was like a supermarket offering a five-finger discount, free for the taking.

It could have been passing Hunters, or maybe the local Indigenous People.

Fuel was an absolute necessity for surviving the winter at Kevik Camp. Unlike Crown Territory, which had vast forests for logging, this place was nothing but endless tundra. The only way to get heat was by burning fuel.

After surveying the entire camp, Susan did some quick math. She had lost at least 200,000 US dollars while she was out of commission.

It would be a lie to say it didn’t sting, but she had to face reality.

Pulling herself together, Susan immediately got to work. She drove a loader to clear the snow around the camp, contacted a supplier for an emergency delivery of two barrels of gasoline, and began repairing the radio equipment.

However, those two barrels—500 liters of gasoline—would cost 30,000 US dollars, including the exorbitant shipping fees.

「That day.」

Susan was driving her ATV, Little Red, towing a trailer of trash cleared from the camp. She was on her way to the dump site a kilometer away.

The desolate tundra was a vast, unending expanse of white snow.

At this time of year, the only creatures out on the tundra were reindeer, and the brown bears and Taiga Wolves that hunted them.

Just as she neared the dump site, Susan suddenly spotted a dark shape moving toward her through Little Red’s windshield. The biting wind was kicking up flurries, creating a curtain of snow that obscured her view, making it impossible to tell what it was.

’Could it be another brown bear?’

It wasn’t December yet, so the bears hadn’t officially begun to hibernate.

Even when winter set in and most brown bears went into hibernation, a few hungry adult males couldn’t. They would survive the winter by hunting reindeer and musk oxen, wandering about in a half-somnolent state.

’Don’t tell me another brown bear is planning a five-finger-discount raid on Kevik.’

The terror of her previous bear attack flooded her in an instant. Susan pulled out the shotgun she kept for self-defense and clutched it to her chest. As for getting out of the ATV’s cab to investigate, she thought better of it.

’With my crappy aim, I can’t even hit a Thunderbird from five meters away. Hitting a brown bear at this distance is out of the question.’

’Not unless God Himself steadied my hands.’

’It’s much safer to stay inside the cab.’

While Susan was huddled in her utility vehicle praying to God, Feng and Nash were trudging through the blizzard, step by step, toward Kevik Camp.

Thankfully, they had brought snowshoes, which allowed them to make headway through the meter-deep snow.

With each step, their snowshoes sank, but the special design provided enough support and flotation to keep them from getting hopelessly bogged down.

Prince and Princess, however, were having a grand time. They were sprawled out on the sled, enjoying a free ride.

Every now and then, their furry heads would poke out to gaze curiously at the vast, white landscape.

"Khilla, there’s something up ahead," Nash said, his face caked in frost. He squinted, his vision severely hampered by the swirling snow.

Still, he strained his eyes and managed to make out a faint red object in the distance through the heavy snowfall.

Feng stopped and raised a hand to wipe the icy fog from his goggles, trying to get a clearer view.

He looked carefully in the direction Nash was pointing. Through the haze, it looked like a vehicle.

Besides Kevik Camp, this was the middle of nowhere. It was rare to see a vehicle out here.

"It might be a vehicle Susan abandoned. Let’s go take a look!" Feng surmised.

The warmth of his breath fogged up through his face mask, instantly condensing into a white cloud in the frigid air.

The two men changed course and headed for the red vehicle.

Meanwhile, Susan, still hiding in the vehicle, had shut down the engine and all other systems, fearing the noise would attract the bear’s attention.

In the extreme cold, the temperature inside the cab dropped rapidly.

Frost began to creep across the windows, a white veil that gradually blurred the line between the inside of the cab and the world outside.

Susan huddled inside, wrapped in every warm thing she could find.

’I just hope the bear hasn’t spotted Little Red and will just turn around and leave.’

’Run.’

’Impossible.’

’A brown bear could easily catch Little Red, tip it over, smash the windshield, and drag me out to eat me.’

As Feng and Nash approached, they saw it was a red all-terrain vehicle. Its body was covered in snow and the windows were frosted over, obscuring any view of the cab’s interior.

’Probably empty.’

Feng circled the ATV. He didn’t see anything wrong, but he noted the layer of snow on it was rather thin. If it had been abandoned for a long time, the accumulation would be much thicker. It meant the vehicle hadn’t been here long.

He grabbed a handrail, hopped up onto the vehicle’s track, and made his way to the cab. He wiped the snow from the windshield, revealing a solid layer of ice underneath. He raised his hand and smacked the glass hard, trying to shatter the ice so he could see inside.

Hiding in the cab and clutching her shotgun, Susan could only see a large, hulking shadow moving in front of the iced-over windshield.

’It looked just like a brown bear.’

’And now it’s hitting the glass! Did it smell me?’

The agonizing memory of her recent bear attack flashed through Susan’s mind, and her heart began to pound.

’You’re forcing my hand.’

’We’re less than a meter apart. I don’t need God’s help to make this shot.’

Susan fought to stay calm. She quietly flicked the shotgun’s safety off and slowly placed her finger on the trigger.

The next moment...

Feng was suddenly struck by a terrifying premonition. The Witchcraft Bone Ring on his right hand flared with a sharp pain, and he instinctively leaped to the side.

The instant he jumped, a deafening BANG erupted.

Panicking, Susan had pulled the trigger. The shotgun blast obliterated the windshield, sending shards of glass flying in all directions.

MOTHERFUCKER!!

’I just got shot at.’

Feng, who rarely cursed, couldn’t stop himself from letting one fly.

In mid-air, sharp fragments of glass flew like razors, slashing his face and cheeks.

He hit the ground, rolled, and sprang back to his feet, shouting at the cab.

"Don’t shoot! We’re people!"

He yelled with his hands raised high, stopping Nash from returning fire.

Inside the vehicle, Susan was still reeling from the shock. Hearing Feng’s voice, she tried to steady her trembling hands and calm herself down.

She shakily opened the door. When she saw Feng and Nash, she realized what a terrible mistake she had nearly made.

"Feng? Is that you?"

"Fuck, Susan! You almost took my head off!" Feng complained, exasperated.

As he said it, he felt a coldness on his face. He reached up and wiped away a mixture of bloody ice crystals.

Susan climbed awkwardly out of the cab. Seeing Feng’s injuries, she said guiltily, "Buddy, you shouldn’t just walk up and start banging on a strange vehicle, especially out on the tundra. You don’t approach it, whether you think it’s occupied or not. That’s common sense."

’So it’s my fault, huh?’

’I almost got sent to meet my maker.’

Feng unbuttoned his hide coat, letting the frigid wind cool his racing heart.

"We thought it was abandoned. We came over because we were worried someone might be in trouble."

An awkward expression crossed Susan’s face. She stammered, "I thought I saw a brown bear, so I shut everything down. I was afraid the noise would attract it... You know I was just attacked by one."

’Fine.’

’So I took that blast for nothing!’

Feng resentfully buttoned his coat back up and went to inspect the windshield. When he saw the basin-sized hole blown through it, his expression darkened.

’Thank god the Witchcraft Bone Ring gave me that warning. Otherwise, a shotgun blast at this range...’

’They’d be holding my funeral banquet back in Crown Territory by now.’

’I wonder if they could even fill three tables.’

’Foreigners don’t give gift money at funerals, do they?’

’Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!!’

Feng quickly shook his head, trying to clear it of those morbid thoughts, and turned to Susan.

"Can the engine still start?"

"Yes." Susan climbed back into the driver’s seat and started the ATV.

Feng hitched the sled to the ATV’s tow hook, motioned for Nash to hop into the back, and slapped the roof of the cab. "Back to the camp. My face needs to be treated."

The ATV slowly trundled back toward the camp.

Kevik Camp was much cleaner than the last time he’d been here. The door to the container building that the bear had damaged had also been repaired.

The vehicle came to a stop.

Susan hurriedly pulled Feng into an arched shelter and fetched a first-aid kit.

The shelter used an oil-fueled underfloor heating system, keeping the indoor temperature at around minus five degrees Celsius.

While still cold, compared to the thirty-below-zero temperatures outside, this place was a warm sanctuary.

Feng sat on a chair and took off his hide coat. When he pulled off his face mask, he saw it had been slashed in several places by the glass. The warmth caused his frozen wounds to thaw and begin bleeding again.

Susan brought over a jar of green ointment. When she opened it, there was a smell of animal fat. She scooped some out and applied it to the cuts on Feng’s face.

"It’s made from poplar catkins boiled in reindeer fat," she explained. "It helps wounds heal and prevents frostbite."

"Alright, Susan. You owe me a shot," Feng said with a deliberate smile.

After applying the ointment, Susan, still not at ease, added a bandage over the wound. She then pointed to the shotgun by the door. "The gun’s right there. There’s your shot."

Feng was left speechless and scratched his head in embarrassment.

"Thank you!" At that, Susan opened her arms and hugged Feng tightly.

...