The farther away the target of his divination, the blurrier the results.

Since the poachers were operating within the Crown Territory, four silhouettes appeared directly in Feng Shan’s mind after he performed the divination.

Although he couldn’t make out their faces, their silhouettes were enough for him to confirm the number of poachers and their approximate location.

Six snowmobiles sped across the snow, kicking up plumes of snowflakes.

As the snowmobiles sped along, the snow danced wildly, churned up by the tracks and blasted by the airflow.

Flakes of pure white snow seemed to come alive, leaping and tumbling in midair. Some were tossed high into the sky, where they glittered under the headlights.

「Meanwhile.」

Four poachers were sitting by a campfire, eating roasted reindeer meat, drinking steaming coffee, and telling dirty jokes. The flickering flames illuminated their smug faces.

Behind them, the tarps on their sleds bulged. Blood seeping through the gaps had frozen into dark-red ice crystals in the extreme cold.

"Daniel, we’re gonna make a fortune this trip," a man bundled up from head to toe, his face covered in pimples, yelled out. His eyes glinted with greed, as if he could already see himself pocketing a wad of Franklins.

"I never thought the Crown Territory had so many animals. We don’t even have to search; they’re everywhere," another man in a red winter hat said, sighing contentedly after a sip of coffee.

The poacher eating meat beside them seemed to lose his appetite. The roasted reindeer in his hands suddenly tasted bland. He glanced around uneasily, his eyes filled with suspicion, and a hint of anxiety crept into his voice.

"Let’s do one more run tonight and head back. I keep getting a bad feeling, like something’s watching us."

The last poacher was a man with a thick beard. He was tearing into a piece of roast reindeer, the grease congealing into white specks on his whiskers.

He mumbled indistinctly while chewing the delicious roast reindeer, "What’s there to be scared of? A blizzard just blew through yesterday. Who’s gonna know we’re out here hunting?"

The Red Hat Man gulped down the rest of his coffee, tossed another piece of wood onto the fire, and a contemptuous smile spread across his face.

"Parker, my cousin, you’re way too cautious. I asked around before we came. That old Chinese guy is long dead. His nephew from China inherited the Crown Territory. I hear he’s still living over at the RV park. You know the Chinese have never even seen a gun. If he dares to give us any trouble... heh heh."

The flames leaped across the fresh wood, illuminating his red winter hat and his smug expression.

The pimply-faced man was flushed with excitement, and the firelight made the blemishes on his face look even more grotesque.

"That’s right, relax. I’ve done the math. On this run alone, we’ll each clear at least 20,000 US dollars. If we stay a few more days, we could even double that."

Tempted by the enormous profits, the four men completely forgot they were engaged in illegal poaching. Their minds were filled with nothing but the immense wealth almost within their grasp.

The wind howled around the campfire, as if offering a silent condemnation of their greed.

But the poachers were completely oblivious, still lost in their fantasies of wealth.

Little did they know, their actions had already drawn attention. An invisible net was closing in.

"I still feel uneasy." The anxious poacher, Parker, put down his food and picked up a crucial piece of gear for this hunt: an infrared thermal imaging device.

It was the polar night in the Far North Tundra, with less than two hours of daylight each day, which severely hampered visibility for hunting.

The animals also took shelter in relatively safe places to escape the blizzards and other dangers.

For the poachers, hunting in these conditions was much more difficult. Previously, they had to rely on faint light and experience to predict where animals might be.

This time, they were equipped with an infrared thermal imaging device.

By tracking heat signatures, the thermal imager could detect an organism’s infrared radiation. Even in complete darkness, the outline and movement of a heat source were clearly visible.

On their very first day, thanks to the infrared thermal imaging device, they had already made a huge haul.

Reindeer, moose, bobcats, wolverines, and foxes already filled their sleds.

The Red Hat Man looked around with an air of mystery, then lowered his voice.

"Guys, I know a spot in the Crown Territory where there’s a herd of muskoxen. On the black market right now, a single muskox hide can sell for 20,000 US dollars. If we wipe out that herd..."

Twenty thousand US dollars for a single muskox hide.

And there was a whole herd of them.

The eyes of the other three men instantly lit up with greed.

Even though muskoxen were a protected species in Alaska, and only Indigenous People were qualified to apply for hunting quotas, the four of them were poachers. As long as they weren’t caught, who cared if it was illegal? You can’t argue with that kind of money, can you?

"What are we waiting for? Let’s go now! We pull this one job, and we get the hell out of the Crown Territory."

"20,000 US dollars... if that herd has more than ten animals, we’ll be rich!"

"G-Guys... you’d better take a look at this," the most timid of the group, Parker, stammered, holding the infrared thermal imaging device.

"Look at what? What, are we surrounded or something?" The man with the beard impatiently tossed aside his meat. He wiped his greasy hands on his winter jacket, then held one out irritably. "Give it here."

The other two shot the timid Parker a disdainful look.

If he weren’t Red Hat Gordon’s cousin, they never would have brought him on this trip. He was a coward, greedy, and didn’t even have the guts to fire a gun.

Red Hat Gordon glared at his good-for-nothing cousin. "Give the imager to Abbot. That thing costs 5,000 US dollars. If you break it, it’s coming out of your cut."

Abbot took the thermal imager and raised it to his eye, unconcerned.