Chapter 121

Chapter 121: The Lead Wolf Did Not Abandon Its Missing Comrade.

Canned fruit was a bit too sweet to eat plain for Lin Qianyu, but it was just right for the polar bear.

Lin Qianyu poured out the canned peaches along with the syrup. Though the can looked small, it held quite a lot—an entire bowl full. “Here, all of this is yours.”

“Mmm!” The polar bear chewed the peach in its mouth and gave a happy shake of its head.

The meat and fish were placed on racks beside the firepit.

Lin Qianyu walked over and pinched one of them. After roasting for a while, the surface had already softened, covered with a thin layer of steam, but the inside was still hard.

“Roast it a bit longer, eat it when it softens.” As she spoke, Lin Qianyu added more firewood. “These two spots were originally meant for roasting sweet potatoes, but now they’re being used to thaw the meat.”

When she built the stove, every section had been planned ahead of time.

The treasure chests hidden by the production team on the island contained staple foods like sweet potatoes, but she hadn’t found any yet—at least the stove was getting use.

Looking at the snow owl dozing off nearby, Lin Qianyu cut a softened piece of seal meat into thin strips and leaned against the table. “Want to eat something?”

Judging by the time, the Arctic Owl had come last night to deliver the rabbit. From then till now, it hadn’t had a single drop of water or grain of food—it should be hungry by now.

But the snow owl kept its eyes closed, acting as if it hadn’t heard a thing.

Lin Qianyu stirred the meat in the bowl, picked up a strip and dangled it in front of the owl. “Really not going to eat?” The meat was cut into long strips to make it easier for the owl to eat.

Still, the snow owl ignored her. Owls can rotate their heads 270 degrees.

Every time Lin Qianyu brought meat near its beak, the owl would turn its head away, eyes still closed.

Lin Qianyu raised an eyebrow and sped up her movements. The snow owl responded by turning its head even more actively.

She paused for a moment, then couldn’t help but laugh out loud. “Haha... Are you not afraid you’ll twist your neck like that?”

The pretending-to-sleep snow owl opened its eyes and glared at her.

Lin Qianyu laughed, holding a piece of meat between her chopsticks in front of her. “Come on, take a bite. It’s fresh meat.”

The snow owl stared at the meat swinging in front of its eyes, its gaze following it. Then, all of a sudden, it darted its head forward and bit down, grabbing the meat strip in its beak in a flash.

Lin Qianyu picked up another piece of meat and whispered, “When owls eat, their wings work hard too.”

As the snow owl moved the meat into its mouth, its wings were slightly spread, fluttering unconsciously—each time it fed itself, its wings gave a little shake.

Lin Qianyu said, “This snow owl feels a lot bigger than I expected.”

It wasn’t so obvious when it was flying, but now, up close, the Arctic Owl’s size was imposing—almost catching up to a Rufous-tailed Hawk.

A really big bird.

She figured the meat in the bowl probably wasn’t enough. Luckily, the seal meat and fish were thawing quickly. Adding another fish should make it sufficient.

Next to the well-fed snow owl, she placed a bowl of water.

Whether owls need to drink water is hard to say, but they sometimes drink while bathing. That meant they do drink water—so Lin Qianyu just prepared it anyway.

【Alright, alright, so now you’re narrating the whole scene because you won’t show it, huh?】

【It’s just a snow owl, who hasn’t seen one up close before—okay fine, I haven’t, please let me see it, I’m begging you!】【When are you bringing the livestream gear back (full of resentment ver.)】

【That big owl must be super fun. I could poke the back of its head and watch it turn its neck all day.】

...

The polar bear finished its canned peaches and was now licking the bottom of the bowl. It looked at Lin Qianyu, then at its now-empty bowl.

Xue Tuan picked up its little bowl and held it up. “Awoo!”

“Hmm? Want more?” Lin Qianyu took the bowl. “Alright, this is the last can.”

There were only two cans in total. Since the polar bear liked them, she might as well let it have both.

“When the snowstorm stops, let’s go treasure hunting.” Lin Qianyu opened the can and said, “There are cans in the treasure.”

The polar bear might not care about treasure, but the mention of canned peaches lit up Xue Tuan’s eyes. “Mmm!”

Treasure!

“Yup, I haven’t found any treasure yet myself.” Lin Qianyu poured out another bowl and smiled, “This can was given by Mr. Feng.”

The polar bear froze for a moment just as it took the full bowl. “Awoo...”

Xue Tuan hesitated between canned peaches and the fact that it came from Feng Jingye.

The next second, it silently turned its back—“the bear doesn’t understand you…”

The words “covering its ears while stealing a bell” were practically written on its head.

Lin Qianyu curled her lips, trying to hold in her laughter. She cleared her throat and turned away to cut meat for the Arctic fox and snow leopard.

---They’d gotten up late, so brunch it was.

Lin Qianyu grilled a fish, casually eating while watching the livestream.

More animals appeared during the daytime broadcast than at night—maybe the smaller creatures were taking advantage of the relatively calm snow to forage.

The Arctic wolf pack moved in groups. Five wolves kept appearing on the stream one after another.

Lin Qianyu watched intently, when suddenly she felt a weight on her hand. Looking down past the grilled fish, she saw the little snow leopard in her arms gnawing on one side of the fish. When it noticed her looking, its beautiful beast eyes blinked and carried a guilty little grin.

Lin Qianyu rubbed the snow leopard’s belly and split the fish in half. “Tangyuan seems to like stronger flavors.”

Yesterday’s seasoned dried seal meat might’ve opened a whole new world for the little snow leopard.

【Hahaha the little snow leopard: what have I even been eating before this?!】

【Honestly, I don’t like bland food either.】

【Let it eat!!! So what if it’s got strong flavor? It’s fine to have some now and then. Why should the kids suffer!】

Even small animals can have different tastes.

Take seasoned food for instance—the little snow leopard clearly liked it more than the other fluffballs.

The polar bear wouldn’t even approach if it smelled seasoning on meat, let alone try to eat it. The only thing it could accept was food with salt—anything else was off-limits. The Arctic fox was the same.

The snow owl, after finishing its meat, stood silently at the edge of the table, still as a wooden carving.If not for the occasional breeze seeping in from the doorway ruffling its feathers, the beautiful large bird would look completely fake.

It must be tired—Lin Qianyu didn’t disturb it. Since she couldn’t go out lately and had more free time, she pulled out a comb. “Xue Tuan, come here.”

“Awoo!”

This comb was sent together with the milk powder by the rescue center.

The production team had also prepared one, but it was a small plastic comb. In low temperatures, it froze stiff and shattered at the slightest touch—not ideal for grooming small animals.

The comb from the rescue center was also meant for animals. As long as Lin Qianyu didn’t use it on herself, it wasn’t against the rules.

Xue Tuan sat down in front of her. Lin Qianyu combed from top to bottom, giving the tail a couple strokes too. “The polar bear sheds quite a bit, but it seems like it’s all surface fur—none of it’s visible around the house.”

Most households with cats have fur everywhere, some even invisible to the naked eye—until cleaning time, when it clumps up fast.

Lin Qianyu had combed off a fair amount of fur, yet it wasn’t all over the place.

She collected the bear fur and hugged the big, round white fluff ball. “Xue Tuan’s all warm and toasty now when I cuddle you.”

After standing outside for a while, even the bear’s fur had a chill to it. But now, indoors in the warmth, the polar bear was soft, warm, and wonderfully cozy to hold.

“Awoo!” The polar bear sat there quietly, letting her snuggle. It licked its fur, then lowered its head to give Lin Qianyu’s cheek a lick too.

Lin Qianyu gave the bear a good rubbing, kneading its little round ears before getting up. She leaned against the bear’s cushion and reached over to scoop up the little snow leopard.

The snow leopard was completely relaxed—even being lifted with all four paws dangling didn’t make it tense. But the downside of this relaxation was: as a feline made of water, it stretched out long, and its tail drooped low enough to touch the ground.

And yet the little snow leopard didn’t even notice. It looked up and licked her.

Lin Qianyu softly purred as she rubbed its fluffy belly, then lowered her head and gave the little furry head a kiss. “Good girl.”

She placed the snow leopard on her lap, held its tail, and waved it in front of the cub’s face. The fur brushed its nose, and the little snow leopard squinted and sneezed. “Mrr!”

It snapped back to awareness and immediately bit the twitching tail, still not satisfied—its paws joined in.

“When the snowstorm eases a bit, how about we go build a snowman?” Lin Qianyu said while brushing its fur. “We can make some animal shapes.”

【Good idea, but I highly suggest you bring the livestream equipment back before you do.】

【She’s right!!! If you build snow-animal figures and we miss it, I swear I’ll cry for real...】

【Who gets it, fam, I’ve got the official stream running on two screens already—hoping to catch a glimpse of some fluff.】

【Am I the only one noticing that Lin-jie is grooming the fluffballs? Can those brushed-out tufts maybe be... needle-felted?!】

“I’m planning to make a blanket out of all this fur,” Lin Qianyu said, having already gathered a big pile in no time. “A sleeping bag’s a bit inconvenient. The ice hut gets warm inside, so just a light quilt would do.”

Just something to drape over—no need for much thickness. After all, at night she was surrounded by a pile of small animals.

Not getting overheated was already lucky.

After grooming, the little snow leopard had puffed up round like a ball. Lin Qianyu scooped up the fluff and rubbed it against her chest to flatten the fur a bit, then waved to the little fox. “Xue Qiu, your turn.”

“Ying...” The Arctic fox yawned, shook out its fur, and lifted its fluffy tail high as it walked over to rub against Lin Qianyu.

Lin Qianyu scratched its chin. “The scent of the shampoo’s faded a lot. How about a bath in a few days?”

The Arctic fox, which had been rubbing against her nonstop, suddenly froze.Lin Qianyu smiled as she scooped it up. “Next time—we’re not doing a bath this time, just brushing.”

Hearing that, the Arctic fox's tail started wagging again.

“The little fox’s tail is really huge, almost as big as the adult Arctic fox’s.” Its tail fur was thick and long, not deliberately trimmed, yet still beautiful.

That snow-white, fluffy tail looked incredibly warm.

The comb passed through the fur, leaving a faint trail that quickly disappeared.

The Arctic fox squinted its eyes in comfort.

Although the little spotted seal was also furry, its fur was short and didn’t need brushing.

As for the snowy owl... Lin Qianyu glanced over and saw it still sleeping, so she put the comb away. “This much fur is enough to spin a whole skein of thread.”

The fluffballs shed a lot of fur, yet it never showed—none of them were in their awkward shedding phases right now. They all still looked like round, fluffy puffballs.

Lin Qianyu patted the fur off her clothes and stood up, just then noticing a pop-up on her phone. Another red blizzard warning had been issued in the group. “Looks like we won’t be able to go out tonight either.”

Yesterday was only an orange warning. Today’s red warning probably meant it would be almost impossible to take a single step outside.

Lin Qianyu packed away the collected fur. “I’m going to reinforce the fridge.”

The new fridge was something she’d set up temporarily in yesterday’s storm. Without reinforcement, she didn’t feel quite secure about it.

With that thought, Lin Qianyu put on her down jacket and headed out.

The moment the door opened, snow and wind blew directly into her face.

The temperature inside and outside the cabin were like two completely different worlds. Going back and forth too many times in this kind of drastic temperature difference would definitely lead to a cold sooner or later.

Lin Qianyu zipped her coat all the way up and went out to add a few more heavy layers onto the fridge.

As soon as she stepped outside, all the fluffballs inside poked their heads out to watch.

The arched doorway was small—too many of them trying to get out together would cause a jam.

Noticing their movement, Lin Qianyu said, “Don’t come out. If snow gets on your fur, you’re all getting a bath tonight.”

The little snow leopard, who had been pawing excitedly at the doorway, instantly froze mid-step.

The Arctic fox, already halfway out the door, quickly backed up.

Lin Qianyu smiled with her eyes, gently pushing the polar bear back too. “Wait for me inside. I’ll be right back. Be good.”

After calming the fluffballs down, she half-closed the door behind her.

Lin Qianyu had just reached the freezer and lifted one of the wooden boards halfway when she noticed someone approaching from the distance. She raised her brows in surprise. “You just got back?”

Feng Jingye brushed the snow off his body. “Yeah. The snow and wind let up a little this morning, so I went out for a couple of rounds.”

He stepped up to help her lay the wooden board back down and said, “The weather’s been changing fast lately—don’t go out unless absolutely necessary.”

“Mm.” Lin Qianyu pointed to the fridge. “I’ve stocked up a lot of fish. If your food runs low, you can come get some from me.”

She hadn’t pulled the nets yet from the ice hole she baited before. After a whole night, there was probably a decent catch waiting. If they couldn’t get out for a few days, there’d likely be even more fish by then.

“Alright.” Feng Jingye smiled. “Then I’ll head back for now.”As soon as he left, a few boxes of canned food appeared on the wooden boards where he had just been standing.

Lin Qianyu paused her hand pushing the boards and quickly called out, “Mr. Feng? You forgot your canned food.”

Feng Jingye waved a hand without even turning back. “It’s for you. I don’t like sweets.”

“But…”

Feng Jingye could already guess what Lin Qianyu wanted to say. He raised his voice, “Consider it a trade for the fish—you made really good fish soup last time.”

Lin Qianyu held the canned food, looking at Feng Jingye’s departing figure, and shook her head with a smile.

Several layers of wooden boards were stacked on the freezer.

Once she finished, she carefully stuffed and packed snow into the gaps to seal them. The freezer no longer looked sharply angular, but it should hold up under the red-level blizzard warning.

Lin Qianyu wiped the sweat from her forehead. Her hands were starting to feel cold, so she didn’t linger outside and quickly headed back inside.

The fluffballs that had been peeking out quickly retreated as soon as they saw her return.

Lin Qianyu shut the door behind her, sealing out the wind and snow.

Late night.

The most direct way to feel how bad the weather outside was, was through the increasingly distinct sound of the wind.

It was a noise that couldn’t be blocked out even from inside the house.

Lin Qianyu was shaving wood with an axe, planning to make a pair of knitting needles. But the axe wasn’t ideal for fine work, so she had to scrape bit by bit.

【Feels like the auto-cleaning on the livestream camera can’t keep up.】

【Yeah, the screen’s getting blurry on my end too. Thought I messed up the resolution setting. Looks like the storm's gotten even worse tonight.】

【It’s terrifying—desolate wilderness, howling snowstorm, dim lighting… If it were me out there, I’d probably pass out on the spot.】

【Where are the Arctic wolves? Don’t they come back this way after hunting?】

Previously, the stream had captured footage of a pack of Arctic wolves going out to hunt. Based on the time they returned last night, they should have been back by now.

But up to now, there wasn’t even a trace of wolf fur.

Lin Qianyu said, “The wolves we saw were probably just a small pack, all young adults. Maybe their hunt got delayed.”

Arctic wolves form packs of 5–10, though some extended family groups can have 20–30 members.

What they saw was clearly the former.

Plus, with the camera lens nearly covered in snow, even if Arctic wolves had run by, they might’ve just been mistaken for drifting snow.

Maybe they were already home—just that no one saw them.

Lin Qianyu blew the wood shavings off her hands and threw the scraps into the fire pit.

The stockpiled firewood at home could keep the pit burning strongly for three or four days.

There were also trees nearby—if supplies ran low, she could chop more wood during a lull in the storm. So she wasn’t worried about running out.

In the warm, cozy environment, with enough food and water, the fluffballs played until they were tired, then curled up somewhere to sleep on their own.For a moment, the house was so quiet that only the occasional crackling from the fire pit could be heard.

Lin Qianyu set down the finished knitting needles, picked up the backpack filled with animal fur, and was just about to start twisting thread when the figure of an Arctic wolf appeared on the livestream feed.

【They’re finally back!!!】

【Wuwuwu even though it’s only been a day, I already feel attached. I couldn’t sleep last night from worrying they wouldn’t make it back.】

【I kept rewinding and checking the footage, even started guessing if a random snowflake that flashed by was actually an Arctic wolf.】

The livestream equipment’s self-cleaning feature kept running—every time the lens was covered in snow, it would be cleared, and this clarity lasted for about three to four minutes.

Because of that, everyone saw the Arctic wolves dashing out.

Their forms running against the blizzard stirred something fierce and passionate in everyone watching.

But Lin Qianyu narrowed her eyes. “The one running in front doesn’t seem like the lead wolf.”

Though their size wasn’t much different, she felt something was off compared to what she saw yesterday.

But then she recalled that when wolf packs are on the move, the lead wolf usually patrols from within the group—both to keep weaker wolves from falling behind and to watch for threats.

So it wasn’t unusual that the lead wolf wasn’t at the front.

However, after three Arctic wolves passed by, the fourth and fifth were still nowhere to be seen.

This wasn’t exactly good news for a species that moved in packs.

Lin Qianyu furrowed her brow and sent a message to Su Yuxing: 【Has the positioning come back online?】

Su Yuxing: 【It shows it’s doing a second reboot, should be about ten more minutes. What’s wrong? There’s a red blizzard warning tonight—why are you asking about that?】

The director instantly tensed up.

Lin Qianyu thought for a moment. 【Nothing, just curious.】

Su Yuxing: 【I’m stationed outside. No guests are allowed to leave the base tonight.】

Lin Qianyu didn’t reply to that. Instead, she asked again: 【In ten minutes, will I be able to see the livestream device’s location directly?】

Su Yuxing: 【Yes. But don’t change the subject. Promise me you’re not going anywhere tonight. Swear it!!!】

【Mm, swear it.】 Lin Qianyu sent the message and set down her phone. Looking at the still-empty part of the livestream, she pressed her lips together and softly said, “Hope they all make it back safely.”

She had originally planned to go to sleep after seeing the wolves return.

Now, with two Arctic wolves still missing, Lin Qianyu’s heart was tight with worry.

Hopefully, it was just that they caught something too big and fell behind a little—rather than anything worse...

【Smile gradually fading.】

【Don’t do this—I just finished naming all five of them!】

【Once you give an animal a name, it’s no longer just an animal. You’ve already started seeing it as a friend, a companion.】

The livestream chat, which had been casually chatting about the snowy scenery, now fell into silence because of the two missing Arctic wolves.

In the top-right corner, the minutes ticked by. Everyone watching knew: the longer it took, the less likely those two wolves were coming back.The natural enemies of Arctic wolves on Polar Island—polar bears barely count as one—but the greater threat is still the harsh environment.

Now, with this blizzard, the chances for those two Arctic wolves are looking grim.

Lin Qianyu kept glancing at the livestream tracker, eyes lowered, deep in thought.

……

Just as the livestream camera was once again buried in snow, then cleaned by the self-cleaning function, melted snow slid off the lens—and at the edge, faint traces of an Arctic wolf appeared.

【Ahhh?!!!】

【They’re back!】

Noticing this, everyone became excited.

The gloom that had lingered in the livestream was instantly swept away.

But the next moment, the Arctic wolf was seen dragging something, pulling hard.

And the wolf being dragged was covered in blood—snow falling on its body melted into crimson, leaving a long trail of blood across the ground.

Through the screen, it was impossible to tell if it was dead or alive. The lead wolf had not abandoned its injured companion, and in the raging storm, it kept dragging it forward, step by determined step, toward home.

In that instant, the livestream chat fell silent.

No one typed. No one spoke.

Beep! A sharp, piercing alert suddenly rang out.

At the same time, the livestream tracker came back online.

Seeing the flashing location marker appear on the map, Lin Qianyu stood up without a word and took down the down jacket hanging by the door.

Her sudden movement startled the sleeping polar bear. It squinted, “Wuu…”

Lin Qianyu put on her goggles and pushed open the door. The bitter wind and snow tossed her long hair into the air—but without hesitation, she stepped into the storm. “Xuetuan, let’s go!”

The polar bear sprang to its feet. “Roar——!”

Author's note: I'm here, I'm here~