King of the Wilderness

”After heavy snow, animals’ activity ranges sharply decrease, especially for small herbivores like rabbits.”

”They hide in warm nests, minimizing energy consumption, emerging only when extremely hungry, and usually not straying far from their nests.”

He continued toward the next one, the remaining three rabbit traps were exactly the same, with no prey passing by.

After inspecting the last rabbit trap, he concluded: ”It’s all as expected, it seems the rabbits in this area won’t be coming out anytime soon. This trap line probably won’t yield any results before the next weather change.”

He didn’t dismantle these traps, in the wilderness, any functioning device can bring unexpected surprises.

He merely confirmed their status, then changed direction, heading toward the more distant area where yesterday he arranged brand new ’sure-death traps’ targeting Thunderbirds.”

The journey to that area was longer, and the snow was deeper.

But with snowshoes, his traveling speed was several times faster than before, and he could clearly sense his physical energy consumption greatly reduced.

About twenty minutes later, he arrived at the observation point of the first ’forced bowing’ trap.

He hid behind a giant spruce Tree, carefully peeking out to observe the situation several meters away.

From a distance, he saw the camouflaged lasso he meticulously arranged, still quietly hanging under the Crossbeam of the bush path, untriggered.

He wasn’t immediately disappointed, but continued to maintain absolute silence, like a statue, observing for a full five minutes.

After all, this area wasn’t his regular patrol range; he needed to confirm if other predators were lurking nearby, waiting to reap where they didn’t sow.

Once he had confirmed safety, he then stepped forward, squatted down, and began to carefully ’read’ the snow around the trap.

”Look here.”

He pointed to a series of tiny footprints on the snow, speaking in a barely audible whisper: ”Something has been here, judging by the shape of the footprints and the shallow marks it left on the snow surface, it should be a weasel, a very small but extremely fierce predator.”

”It was very interested in my trap, sniffing around here for quite some time. This reminds me to collect the prey promptly; otherwise, these little guys might beat me to it.”

He then pointed to another area, where there were clearer three-toed claw prints.

”And here, is the footprint of our target Thunderbird. It came to about a meter away from the trap before stopping.”

”You see, there are marks here from repetitive treading and compacting of the snow, indicating it hesitated here for a long time, possibly even craned its neck to observe the passage.”

”Ultimately, it didn’t choose to pass through this seemingly easiest passage, but instead turned and squeezed past the deeper and denser bush thicket beside it, where a few white feathers it shed during its struggle still hang.”

He stood up, looked at the perfect trap, lost in thought.

”It seems this one’s vigilance is very high; trap arrangements never have a hundred percent success rate. Sometimes, you can only admire the prey’s intuition.”

He didn’t touch this trap, only used a twig to carefully erase the footprints he left behind, then turned and headed toward the next target.

In a circular area with a diameter of about two to three meters centered around the trap, the snow surface looked like it had been plowed over heavily with a rake!

Numerous chaotic, fan-shaped scratches were deeply etched into the snow, clearly recording a desperate and futile struggle.

”This trap caught one! It’s a Thunderbird!”

A rush of excitement and anticipation instantly surged through his body! He immediately rushed out from behind the rock, quickening his pace, almost sprinting to the trap.

The sight before him took his breath away.

In the narrow passage made of dead branches constructed by him, a snow-white lyrebird was tightly strangled by the three-finger wide lasso, with its body limp on the snow.

Its wings were still outstretched in the pose of its last struggle, its body already stiff and cold in the night’s cold.

He squatted down to carefully examine his work.

The lasso was drawn very tight, the wire deeply cut into the bird’s neck amidst its dense feathers; this Thunderbird likely didn’t suffer much after being trapped.

He felt a great joy surge in his heart, not just the joy of acquiring food, but also the satisfaction a Hunter feels seeing their carefully crafted traps working perfectly.

After untying the already locked wire knot, he placed the Thunderbird in his backpack, prepared to immediately reset this prestigious trap.

With his enhanced hearing, he keenly captured a faint ’rustling’ sound of snow being disturbed.

The sound originated from the direction of the third trap he had set, dozens of meters away!

He immediately lowered his body, quietly approaching the source of the sound.

When he rounded a dense juniper cluster, the scene before him made him jubilant!

At the third trap, another Thunderbird was trapped, still engaged in its last weak struggle!

Its wings flapped feebly, but each struggle only tightened the wire more around its neck.

Lin Yu’an hesitated not even for a second, with one swift step he dashed forward, promptly pressed down the still struggling Thunderbird, efficiently ended its suffering.

He held the two heavy and almost identical plump Thunderbirds in his hand, feeling their astonishing weight, and revealed an irrepressible beaming smile to the camera.

”Double strike! Unbelievable! My new strategy succeeded! This proves my judgment was spot on!”

He excitedly continued: ”The design of the guiding fences and forced bowing is deadly for ground-dwelling bird species like the Thunderbird!”

Lin Yu’an didn’t let the immense joy cloud his judgment; this area was a fixed activity zone for Thunderbirds. As long as the traps remain, there might be more gains.

He must immediately restore the traps to their best state and erase all traces he left.

Lin Yu’an meticulously restored the two triggered traps to perfect standby status.

He rearranged the guiding branches, adjusted the lasso to the most perfect size and position, and lightly supported the bottom of the lasso with a thin stalk of dead grass.

Having completed all this, he glanced at the two hefty Thunderbirds in his backpack, then cast his eyes toward the deeper forest in the distance.

”Though the bird flock was scattered, their activity range is fixed.”

He strapped the backpack securely, then pointed toward where the first trap was: ”The one that escaped this morning, along with the companions of these two, must be nearby. Since the strategy works, I should strike while the iron is hot and expand the number of my traps.”

Lin Yu’an didn’t tread back along his original path but instead donned his snowshoes, continuing to explore deeper into the forest.

He carefully observed the tracks in the snow, searching for more bush pathways Thunderbirds might use.

Every footprint, every fallen feather, every plant bud pecked by the birds in the snow was revealing information to him.

He found two more excellent spots; these locations were more concealed than before, two natural bottlenecks between large rocks, where any creature wanting to take a shortcut must pass through.

Lin Yu’an immediately took out wires from his backpack and used the same method as before, constructing guiding fences with surrounding dead branches, setting a conspicuous Crossbeam for forced bowing, and arranging a three-finger wide, white cloth camouflaged lasso.

”Alright, now my trap line has expanded from three to five.”

”Traps are like investments; the more you arrange, the wider area you cover, the higher your return rate. Of course, you have to find the right hotspot, otherwise, it’s just a waste of time and money.”

”Now, this ’Thunderbird automatic harvesting line’ is already beginning to take shape.”

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