King of the Wilderness

Chapter 335: Chapter 213: The Bureaucrats’ So-Called ”Natural Selection” (Ten-Thousand-Word Combined Chapter) [5]

Now, only a thin layer of clear and boiling wolf oil, like melted amber, remains in the pot.

Lin Yu’an glanced back at the little bear, and at the moment their eyes met, the little bear did not dodge, just quietly looked back.

Its gaze was as pure as an uncarved piece of black jade, reflecting the warm firelight of the fireplace and the busy figure of Lin Yu’an.

It seemed to be silently memorizing this creature that gave it warmth and safety.

Lin Yu’an’s heart was touched once again, and he softly added a segment of his analysis in front of the GoPro on his chest, with a barely noticeable sigh in his voice.

”You see, it’s just watching me, not making any noise, which is very unusual.”

”Healthy cubs at this age should be very active, even a bit noisy, using whines to demand food.”

”Its quietness is a learned behavior, a forced ’maturity.’”

He paused, linking previous observations with the current scene to form a complete logical chain.

”Before, when I placed it at the door and gave it fish, a scent it couldn’t resist, it still hesitated a lot and only dared to approach after I stepped back.”

”Knowing there is food, it still exhibited extreme caution and hesitation, what does this imply?”

”This implies that in its understanding, ’food,’ ’competition,’ and even ’danger’ are equated.”

”I can almost be certain, when it was with Mama Bear, it was definitely not the only cub; it likely had one or even two stronger siblings.”

”Each time it nursed, it had to wait until other cubs were full before it got its turn.”

”Moreover, in times of food scarcity, the mother bear, to ensure the survival of the species, would instinctively prioritize resources for the offspring with higher survival chances.”

”It was likely pushed away by the mother bear’s nose or even squeezed aside by stronger siblings.”

”So, it learned to wait and be quiet, not actively demanding, because it knew that noise and competition might not result in food, but rather exclusion by siblings and coldness from the mother.”

”Now it’s the same; it smells the aroma of food but doesn’t dare come over because it isn’t sure if it’s qualified to partake, only expressing its longing with its gaze.”

This speculation made Lin Yu’an’s mood become even heavier.

He looked at the little creature curled up on the sleeping bag, seemingly seeing a child deprived of the right to act spoiled and willful in a cruel world.

He took a deep breath, suppressing all emotions, and refocused all his attention on the operation at hand.

While refining the oil, he had already begun preparing another two key ingredients. He carefully took out the wolf’s heart he had preserved and a small piece of liver, placing them on the cutting board.

”The heart is pure muscle, with tough fibers, providing the highest quality protein, the basis for growth and development.”

”And the liver, rich in vitamin A and iron, is a natural nutrition treasury, which can be regarded as a multivitamin tablet in this recipe.”

”However, both must be processed to be the most digestible, in a nearly liquid form.” He whispered to the GoPro’s camera, explaining the principle of each step.

He used the sharp Hunting Knife to cut a small piece of muscle from the large, dark red wolf heart.

Intentionally avoiding the tough parts connected to the blood vessels and ventricles, he only took the most pure muscle tissue from the heart wall, slicing this piece of meat into extremely thin slices, then began repetitively pounding it.

”Thud... thud... thud...”

After pounding for a full five minutes, the once firm piece of meat had turned into a loose, dark red meat paste, but this was still not enough.

He angled the knife blade at a very small inclination, closely pressing against the cutting board, and scraped the smashed muscle tissue bit by bit.

Each pass of the knife would bring off a layer of fine, almost fiberless red meat paste.

The process was slow, requiring great patience and precise wrist control, but he did it meticulously.

Because any untreated coarse fiber could become a burden to this cub’s fragile intestines, even causing an intestinal blockage.

When he finished processing the heart, there was already a small pile of meat paste as delicate as red velvet on the cutting board.

Then he processed a smaller piece of liver using the same method, explaining into the camera once more.

”A little bear is not like an adult bear; an excess of vitamin A is toxic to any mammal, so wolf liver can only be added as a trace element, not more.”

The texture of the liver was much softer than the heart, needing almost no pounding; just a gentle scrape with the knife blade could lift off a layer of dark, paste-like substance.

Its color was darker, its texture more slippery, emitting a strong iron smell.

Once all the ingredients were ready, and the wolf oil in the pot had turned golden, he completely removed the pot from the fire pit, placing it on a relatively cooler stone nearby to let it cool naturally.

Every so often, he glanced at the little bear curled up on the sleeping bag; the little one was already surrounded by the aroma of food and warmth, sleeping much more peacefully, with a slight but steady rise and fall of the chest.

Scalding oil couldn’t be used as that would denature and coagulate the protein instantly, forming hard chunks that are difficult to digest. What’s needed is moderate warmth to allow all substances to perfectly meld together.