Chapter 134

Chapter 134: “Little ones! How about a snowball fight?”

Lin Qianyu pinched the little snow leopard’s tail and slowly walked back.

The little snow leopard’s belly was round and full. The main group had gone out hunting early in the morning, so it must have eaten before returning.

The arctic wolves were lying in a patch where the snow was thin, sunbathing. Several wolves were huddled together, occasionally rolling over, and when they bumped into one another, they opened their mouths playfully to bite.

The little spotted seal was slowly crawling across the ground, carefully inspecting the large pile of sea fish. The stack of fish was nearly taller than it.

An arctic fox tilted its head back and swallowed the fish in its mouth, stretched lazily, “Yawn…”

Its big fluffy tail brushed back and forth against Lin Qianyu’s legs—she only had to lower her hand to touch it.

She sat down by the fire. Compared to the arctic wolves and polar bear, the arctic fox seemed to prefer the warmth of the fire.

The arctic fox laid its head on her lap, licked its lips, and rolled around with its head resting on her legs.

Lin Qianyu took off her gloves and placed her palm on the arctic fox’s neck, smoothing its fur. The roasted fish that had been skewered on branches and cooked over the fire didn’t seem to appeal at all to the rest of the fluffy bunch.

The roasted fish, warmed by the fire and wind, was still just barely warm to the touch.

Lin Qianyu pulled the branch out. “Tangyuan, here. This is for you.”

“Awo!” The little snow leopard opened its mouth and caught it in one bite.

The polar bear was waiting for canned food and didn’t even glance at the fish on the ground. It even tossed away the one already in its mouth.

When it saw Lin Qianyu sitting there without moving, it walked over and squatted down behind her. “Mmm…”

“Good, once the fish soup is ready, we’ll head back.” Lin Qianyu reached back to pat the polar bear’s head, then added another bundle of wood to the fire. She had removed quite a few branches earlier for fear the water would boil away.

Just drinking soup wouldn’t be enough to fill up. With that thought, Lin Qianyu roasted two more fish while the soup was cooking.

She picked larger, fatter sea fish, made a few deep cuts on both sides to help them cook faster.

Abalone pearls are rare on the market, and those with excellent quality are even rarer. The few that do exist are in collectors’ hands. So when a brief glimpse of the abalone pearl appeared on the livestream, it quickly shot to the trending searches. Many people were curious about what an abalone pearl actually was.

Quite a few viewers weren’t following the livestream but were interested in jewelry. After seeing the trending topic, they traced it back to Lin Qianyu’s stream.

The screenshot showed the abalone pearl resting on a wet glove, and compared to the velvet-lined displays in auction houses, the image had a powerful visual impact.

However, inside the livestream, all they saw was smoking grilled fish and fish soup bubbling in the pot.

The animals surrounding her were especially eye-catching.

【Isn’t this supposed to be a wilderness survival stream? Did I click the wrong one?】

【Wait a sec… is that a polar bear behind the streamer?】

【What about the abalone pearl? Didn’t someone say they picked up one as big as a palm?】

The rumors got more and more exaggerated.

Seeing the comments, Lin Qianyu couldn’t help but think—if this keeps going, people will be saying the abalone pearl weighs two pounds more than it actually does.

As she flipped the grilled fish without gloves, she took the abalone pearl out of her pocket. Her fair and slender fingers held it up. “It’s not palm-sized. That’s just ridiculous.”

What kind of abalone would it take to produce a pearl the size of a palm?【Ahhh! It really is an abalone pearl! The quality is even better than the one auctioned by WinKing last time!】

【Just looked it up… so this thing is really that rare? I saw the island master come out of the water holding the pearl—I thought she just casually picked it up underwater.】

【Checked the island master's livestream replay—she was making calls on her watch before going down and even brought swim trunks. She probably knew there was an abalone pearl here and went down specifically to get it.】

【No way it's just some bored abalone hanging out in the ocean that decided to swim to shore for a breath, opened its mouth, and got its pearl spotted by the island master.】

【Hahahahaha damn, hmm… why can’t it be that way.】

……

Lin Qianyu only took out the abalone pearl briefly to show on camera before putting it back into her pocket. All the fish on the ground had been cleaned, and both the grilled fish and fish soup were ready.

She tossed the last fish onto the wooden board, put her gloves back on, and said, “Let’s go home.”

The fish whose head had been eaten by the animals was piled with the others. The fish caught with the net were all fairly large, but compared to this one, they looked like small fry.

The polar bear yawned, slowly placed its front paw on the ground, stood up and followed, biting the rope on the ground and shaking its head.

It dragged the wooden board forward. If the fish bumped even slightly, they’d fall off.

They dropped into the snow and were silently buried.

But the arctic wolves, always watching, would immediately lunge—some even caught the fish mid-air before they hit the ground. They ran a few steps ahead to place the fish properly, then backed off to keep watching.

The arctic fox and little snow leopard got along well with the arctic wolf pack. After spending so long together at home, they were more than familiar with each other's scent.

The little spotted seal followed behind, wanting to help too, but compared to the arctic wolves, it was clumsier both in size and movement. Before it could catch up, the arctic wolves had already picked up and placed the fallen fish.

“Ah ah!” The little seal cried out in frustration.

“Chirp—” The snowy owl didn’t join the main group on hunts. As a bird of prey, it had its own hunting habits.

Having once nearly been carried off by a snowy owl, the little seal instinctively shrank its neck at the bird call. But upon realizing it was the familiar snowy owl, it lifted its head and shouted aggressively, “Ah!”

Shut up!

The snowy owl swooped down and perched steadily on Lin Qianyu’s shoulder.

The moment their eyes met, the little seal blinked. “Ah…”

I mean I’ll shut up.

Hearing the seal’s immediate change of tone, Lin Qianyu burst out laughing. “Haha. A wise seal knows when to yield.”

The little seal flicked its tail. “Ah!”

--- Inside the base.

It was quiet and spacious, with no smoke rising from any fires.

At this hour, everyone was still out gathering supplies.

Lin Qianyu said, “Just leave the fish there. I’ll take care of it in a bit.”

“Mmm…”

Taking advantage of its distraction, Lin Qianyu reached out and rubbed the lead wolf’s cheek, then turned and entered the igloo.The lead wolf was still biting the rope and hadn’t let go. After being petted, it took a while to react—only then did its ears belatedly press back.

Little Nian lay flat on its belly, using its front legs to crawl forward with effort, inching its way closer to the lead wolf and quietly biting onto the lower half of the rope.

The lead wolf looked down slowly as it came back to its senses.

Little Nian lay on its paws, “Awoo, awooo!”

My turn, my turn!

……

As soon as Lin Qianyu returned, she opened a can for the polar bear and poured it into a small bowl. The edges of the can were sharp, so she poured it out to avoid the bear accidentally cutting its tongue on the syrup.

Lin Qianyu set the bowl down and said, “Here, Xuetuan, you eat first. I’m going to deliver something.”

“Awooo!” Xuetuan was completely captivated by the sweetness of the canned food and immediately bit into half a yellow peach.

After settling the fluffballs at home, Lin Qianyu took the steaming fish soup and grilled fish to Feng Jingye’s igloo and knocked.

“Mr. Feng.” Lin Qianyu held the grilled fish wrapped in leaves. The polar island didn’t have large leafy plants like other islands, so the few existing trees had sparse leaves—she had to wrap several layers to hold the food properly.

“Mm?” Feng Jingye, who opened the door, had already changed clothes, not a trace of dampness on his hair. “What is it?”

“My fishing net caught a lot of fish. Try the grilled fish this time and see how it tastes.” Lin Qianyu handed everything to him: a full box, plus two extra fish on top, and a separate box of medicine. Altogether, it looked like a heavy load.

Feng Jingye had often exchanged food with Lin Qianyu—grilled fish and fish soup were what he’d eaten the most. Smiling, he accepted it and said, “It smells great already.”

That wasn’t just flattery either. The leaves couldn’t fully contain the scent of chili and cumin. Standing under the arched entrance of the igloo, the smell was even more intense in the small enclosed space.

Feng Jingye glanced behind her and asked, “The polar bear didn’t come back with you?”

“Xuetuan’s at home eating canned food.” Lin Qianyu smiled faintly. “I really like that abalone pearl. Thank you.”

Feng Jingye had been about to tease the polar bear but froze when he heard that. His thin lips parted slightly but closed again as he said calmly, “As long as you like it.”

His fingertips gripping the lunchThe tug-of-war over the rope had entered an intense stage, with the lead wolf and the other Arctic wolves tangled in a scuffle.

Though Little Nian was also a strong Arctic wolf in terms of size, when it actually fought the lead wolf, it clearly fell into a disadvantage after just two rounds.

The lead wolf didn’t intend to hurt it—he bit Little Nian’s neck but didn’t use force.

“Awoo awoo awoo—” Little Nian stretched out its neck and howled.

Seeing this, the surrounding Arctic wolves rushed over as well.

“Awoo!” Little Nian paused mid-howl and started snapping at any wolf nearby.

It was called a fight, but it was more like a playful brawl.

You bite me, I kick you—it was a complete mess.

An injured Arctic wolf stood aside watching, ready to either join or retreat, even using its uninjured paw to scoop snow and toss it at them.

“Awoo?!” Little Nian got a face full of snow and immediately lunged at the injured Arctic wolf.

Lin Qianyu was on her way back and heard the nonstop howling from afar. As she got closer, she saw a bunch of white furballs all tangled together in a fight.

Little Nian was launching indiscriminate attacks, paws flinging snow everywhere, front legs digging fast, snow mixed with dirt flying in all directions.

Lin Qianyu looked at the wolves rolling in the snow, sidestepped to avoid a flying clump of dirt, bent down, and scooped up a handful of snow. “Hey, little ones!”

Upon hearing her voice, the Arctic wolves immediately froze, even Little Nian stopped digging and turned around.

Lin Qianyu quickly shaped the snow in her hands into a snowball. “How about a snowball fight?”

Author’s Note: Good night, sleep early, love every one of you.