Chapter 25: Encountering a Bear in the Dense Forest, Chu Feng's Inner Malice, and Wang Wei

The group stepped forward to get a closer look. A massive footprint was imprinted in the snow. It was deep, and by the looks of it, it had been left only moments ago. Sun Can tried to place his foot inside it, only to find that the print completely swallowed his boot.

"A bear... those are bear tracks..." Wang Wei’s voice trembled.

Du Cheng swallowed hard. It felt surreal that they had been discussing the possibility of encountering a bear just a moment ago, only to find its tracks the very next second.

"What do we do?" He looked to Chu Feng. At this moment, Chu Feng had become the pillar of strength for the three of them.

"Give me the map." Chu Feng took the parchment and studied it carefully. The dense forest was not large; once they passed through it, they would reach the deep heart of Yulong Mountain. However, if they turned west instead of pushing deeper, they could reach the upper reaches of the stream near Taoyuan Town.

Should they take the risk? If they turned back now, would they even make it? The bear’s location was unknown; it could be ahead of them or behind them. Judging by the direction of the tracks, it seemed to be heading north, toward the depths of Yulong Mountain.

"We go west!" Chu Feng made his decision quickly. They had no idea where the bear actually was. Besides, it was the dead of winter. By all accounts, the bear should be hibernating. Even if it had woken up, it would be lethargic and unlikely to attack unfamiliar prey without cause.

The three men chose to trust Chu Feng and did not back down. Fortune favors the bold; if they returned empty-handed now, they would never forgive themselves. Fortunately, as they headed west and eventually emerged from the dense forest, they did not see the bear. All four breathed a sigh of relief.

"We’ll have to take a detour on the way back to stay clear of the bear’s territory," Chu Feng said. The others had no objections; they followed his lead.

Continuing westward, they arrived at the outer perimeter of another part of Yulong Mountain. Below them lay Taoyuan Village. A stream, still flowing, appeared before them.

"It’s amazing. Why hasn't this stream frozen over?"

"Because it’s constantly flowing, or perhaps the temperature isn't low enough," Chu Feng speculated. The temperature on the outskirts of Yulong Mountain hovered around minus five degrees Celsius. If the water flow remained swift enough, it was difficult for it to freeze solid.

"Let's get started, brothers!" Sun Can grabbed his hoe and began walking along the stream. The frogs were hibernating; by digging through the small mounds of earth along the stream, they could easily find these sluggish creatures. As for the crawfish, they were harder to spot, which was exactly why they fetched two copper coins apiece. In the summer, crawfish were sold by the pound, not by the individual.

To this day, Chu Feng remained fascinated by the ecology of Yulong Mountain. It possessed not only the snowy mountain environment of the Northeast from his past life but even featured alpine organisms typical of the cold regions of the Northwest. If he had the chance in the future, he wanted to see what kind of world this truly was.

"Found one!" Wang Wei happily held up a dark-colored crawfish. He had found it by scraping away the snow near the stream. Two copper coins earned!

The four of them worked feverishly. After more than two hours of searching, the sky began to darken, and they finally stopped. When they gathered their baskets, each was half-full, containing over a dozen frogs and twenty-some crawfish each.

"That's enough. We need to go. If we head back after dark, it could be dangerous." A snow leopard was still roaming the outskirts of Yulong Mountain, and there was that recently awakened bear. The mountain remained far from safe. Most importantly, if they waited until dark, they would be forced to take the long way around through Taoyuan Village. While that path was safer and easier to walk, they wouldn't arrive home until noon the next day. Everyone wanted to reach home before full dark.

They shouldered their bamboo baskets and continued toward the edge of the forest. Perhaps the excitement of their harvest had dulled their vigilance. They didn't pay much attention to the dangers around them; even Chu Feng let his guard down. They weren't going through the center of the forest, but along its edge. It was a longer route, but at least it shouldn't lead them into the bear’s territory.

Until Chu Feng happened to look up and ahead.

"Stop."

"What is it?" Du Cheng asked, sounding puzzled.

Chu Feng’s face turned stern as he slowly unsheathed his axe. The three others froze, looked in the direction of Chu Feng’s gaze, and instantly gasped. A massive brown bear, only dozens of meters away, was staring at them unblinkingly.

The atmosphere grew rigid in an instant.

"Brother Feng... my legs... they’re a bit weak..." Sun Can’s voice trembled.

Chu Feng growled, "Stand straight! If you show weakness, that bear will charge and tear your head off!"

In his past life, Chu Feng had experienced many outdoor expeditions and faced numerous dangers, but truthfully, he had never actually encountered a bear. He knew all the theories, but this was his first time putting them into practice.

"Spread your arms, keep them wide! Make yourselves look big! Grip your hoes and axes, and keep walking forward!"

"Walk forward? Are you serious, Brother Feng?" Wang Wei asked.

"Do you think you can outrun a bear in the snow?" A charging bear could reach speeds of nearly fifty kilometers per hour—faster than Usain Bolt! Even on a clear track, they wouldn't stand a chance, let alone in deep snow. "Keep moving forward. We cannot let it think we are afraid!"

And so, the four men spread their arms, brandished their weapons, and began walking step by step toward the brown bear, shouting loudly as they went. Beads of sweat broke out on Chu Feng’s forehead. They were putting on a fierce front, but the bear did not back down.

As they drew closer, the bear’s appearance became clear. Its shoulder height exceeded one and a half meters, and it was likely over two meters long. It was a giant bear—and an incredibly vicious one at that. There was a notch in its ear, and it was blind in one eye. The other eye stared at them with a malice, mockery, and cruelty that Chu Feng could see with terrifying clarity.

The bear did not retreat; instead, it began to walk toward them.

*It’s over.* That was the first thought in Chu Feng’s mind. He looked at Wang Wei. Wang Wei was injured and the slowest of them all. If Chu Feng turned and ran now, he, Du Cheng, and Sun Can would surely survive. A bear waking from hibernation was simply hungry; one Wang Wei would be enough to satiate it.

Chu Feng didn't blame himself for thinking this. In a life-or-death situation, people were inherently selfish.

The bear drew closer. The four of them could even see it baring its teeth.

"Damn it! If we weren't here, Brother Feng, you could definitely have gotten away!" Wang Wei suddenly spoke up.

"What?"

"Listen, you three. If this bear charges, you run! I’ll hold it off! My injury hasn't healed, so I can't run anyway. If I hold it off, you three can definitely escape. Remember, don't look back! Whatever you do, don't look back!"

With that, Wang Wei gripped his hoe, stepped past the others, and walked toward the bear.