Chapter 142: Chapter 141: An Unexpected Cold Arrow

He’d been here for the better part of the day, and the Musk Ox herd had grown accustomed to his presence. Their defensive formation had long since dispersed, and they were now leisurely pawing at the snow, occasionally lowering their heads to nibble on the moss and turf beneath.

Lin Chen didn’t approach them directly. Instead, he first walked some distance away, then changed direction to re-approach the Musk Ox herd from a different angle.

His steps were light, his movements slowed to a crawl, doing his utmost to avoid drawing the attention of the Musk Oxen.

’I’ve already spent half the day here. What’s a few more minutes?’

His strategy seemed effective so far. He had specifically chosen an approach that was far from the bulls, but he didn’t dare get too close.

Creatures living on the Arctic Tundra were accustomed to open environments without cover, so their hearing was likely acute. Although the coniferous forest was filled with the distracting noise of the cold wind rustling through the trees, he was still worried that getting too close would alert them.

He found a tree and crouched behind it. He cleared away the nearby snow, then piled it up around him, creating a natural blind.

He drew an arrow, nocked it on the string, and peered out through the gap between his blind and the tree trunk.

His gaze swept over the strong Musk Oxen on the perimeter, then to the rest of the herd moving about inside the circle.

’There are a dozen or so with their backs to me. Three of them are at a good angle. I’ll ignore the ones farther away.’

He took the camera from his chest and placed it on top of the snowdrift, positioning it perfectly to capture the entire Musk Ox herd.

’The bow in my hands has a draw weight of about 50 to 60 pounds, the golden range for a standard American hunting bow. It’s mainly for medium-sized game, like wolves, which it can kill in a single shot.’

’It might not be a one-shot kill against large game, but it can definitely break through their defenses. Any lower draw weight and it probably wouldn’t work. I guess this is the draw weight the production team chose on purpose.’

Most contestants wouldn’t risk hunting large game, so a bow of this strength suited the mainstream preference. It could one-shot smaller targets, but you could still take a chance against bigger ones—a jack-of-all-trades choice, so to speak.

It just wasn’t very beginner-friendly, which was why his fingers had gotten cut so quickly when he was practicing with the bow earlier.

’I’m less than two hundred meters from the herd right now. At full draw, the arrow will be in the air for about two to three seconds. Before I shoot, I have to account for the parabolic arc and the effect of the wind speed.’

A sharp light glinted in his eyes as his mind raced, the instincts from his Basic Bow Mastery kicking in naturally.

He drew the bowstring slightly, tilting the bow upward. While sensing the wind’s direction and speed, he made minute adjustments to find the right angle.

This distance wouldn’t be a difficult shot for a seasoned archer, but he only had Basic Bow Mastery. To hit a vital spot on the Musk Ox with one arrow, he had to calculate every single factor perfectly.

He even had to predict the Musk Ox’s movements to avoid it suddenly raising or lowering its head, or even turning to walk away.

’Can’t aim for too long. The longer you aim, the less accurate you become.’

His eyes narrowed, his gaze locking onto a Musk Ox in the second row of the herd.

This one was positioned right between two others on the outer edge, its entire body perfectly exposed in his line of sight. It had just walked over from the side and was now constantly nudging the snow on the ground with its nose.

He exerted force with both hands simultaneously. The heel of his left palm pushed into the grip, while he hooked four fingers of his right hand onto the string and drew it back.

This was the first time he had used four fingers to draw the string. He put his full strength into it, tightening his core at the same time to distribute the pressure from his arms and keep them steady.

He held the pose for two or three seconds. The cold wind in the forest suddenly died down without warning. He kept his eyes locked on the Musk Ox and lowered the bow an almost imperceptible amount.

WHOOSH—

The bowstring, bent like a full moon, snapped back in an instant. The arrow carved a graceful arc through the air, flying straight toward the Musk Ox.

?!

The sudden sound of something slicing through the air startled Andre, who had been dozing against a tree trunk. The noise wasn’t loud, but to an experienced Hunter like him, it was the most sensitive of signals.

He hurriedly peeked out from behind the tree.

At almost the same moment, just as his gaze fell upon the Musk Ox herd, he saw a dark blur drop from the sky and accurately pierce the neck of one of the animals that was lowering its head to graze.

?????

His jaw dropped in shock. He blurted out instinctively, "Holy fuck, what’s going on?"

The struck Musk Ox spun around in a panic, looking in the direction of the attack. The other Musk Oxen, alarmed by the commotion, quickly gathered around it, scanning their surroundings vigilantly but finding no trace of an enemy.

They couldn’t see it, but to Andre’s eyes, it was glaringly obvious.

He spotted the unusually high pile of snow at a glance. Looking back at the herd, he estimated the distance.

’My God, a shot from about one hundred and eighty meters, a direct hit to a vital area. Is this kid some kind of archery prodigy?’

Remembering how the kid’s grip on the bow had been clearly wrong when he first saw him, Andre could hardly believe his eyes.

As he slowly calmed down, he began to realize what Lin Chen’s plan was.

’I get it. He’s trying to weaken the Musk Ox by hitting a vital spot. They’re too big and strong to be killed with one shot from a hunting bow, and shooting at them triggers their defensive formation.’

’If the arrow hits a vital area, whether it’s the neck or the limbs, it will affect its condition. In these low temperatures, it’ll just get weaker day by day until it dies.’

’He’s planning to fight a war of attrition!’

From his angle, the Musk Ox herd’s defensive line was at a ninety-degree angle to him, leaving the flanks and rear of the group completely exposed.

As he stared at the tense Musk Oxen, a bold idea began to form in his mind.

’Should I take this chance to bag one for myself?’

He’d hunted plenty of Musk Oxen before, but always with a rifle. He’d never actually tried it with a bow.

’If I use Lin Chen’s method, it might actually work.’

But he didn’t plan to act immediately. This was Lin Chen’s time to shine. Since they hadn’t agreed to cooperate, making a rash move could be deemed a violation, potentially getting his collaboration rights for the week revoked.

Drops of dark red blood from the wounded Musk Ox splattered onto the white snow, leaving a trail of crimson holes.

At first, it walked back and forth as if nothing was wrong, but gradually, its steps began to grow unsteady.

Lin Chen didn’t rush to reveal himself, nor did he intend to fire a second arrow. He remained hidden behind the snowdrift, observing the situation through the gap.

His view was blocked by the herd, so he couldn’t see what was happening behind them. For now, all he could do was wait patiently.

After another ten minutes or so, he couldn’t stay hidden any longer. He crouched down and backed away, retracing his steps to where his sled was. On the way, he also gathered some firewood.

Making a fire with the hand drill was much easier the second time. With the experience he’d gained, it only took him a few minutes to get the campfire going again.

More and more Musk Oxen joined the defensive formation, forming an almost perfect semicircle that completely sealed off his direction.

But at such a great distance, he hadn’t crossed their alert line, so they wouldn’t attack preemptively. With their level of intelligence, they probably couldn’t even figure out where the attack had come from.

The sky gradually darkened, and the temperature dropped imperceptibly.

For Lin Chen, who had already been in the snow for nearly ten hours, it wasn’t a big deal. As long as he had a campfire, the night wouldn’t be too hard to endure.

He didn’t plan on eating. Conserving energy was the key to maintaining his stamina.

After collecting enough firewood to last the whole night, with nothing else to do, he began to pile up the surrounding snow, building it up along the edge where it had already frozen into a layer of ice.

The snow here hadn’t melted into water but had instead frozen into ice. This meant the heat from the campfire had reached a critical point at this location, perfectly balancing with the melted snow to create a zero-degree threshold.

He piled the snow layer by layer, quietly watching it melt and refreeze.

The ice wall grew little by little, rising from ankle height to his shins, his knees, his thighs...

When it was high enough that he could barely see outside when sitting down, the surrounding cold wind suddenly vanished completely. The heat from the campfire seemed to create a circulating, insulating effect within the space.

’So this is how an igloo works?’

He had intentionally left himself an exit. The moment he crawled out, a blast of cold air hit him, sending a shiver through his entire body, and he quickly retreated back inside.

Andre had left long ago. He knew the struggle between them wouldn’t end anytime soon, so he had slipped away quietly when Lin Chen started building his fire again.

...

「Day Forty.」

Lin Chen was woken by the glare of the sun.

He was curled up on the wooden boards of his sled, having propped up the remaining half of yesterday’s tree trunk to use as a backrest. He had made do like this for the night.

He hadn’t slept well all night. He was worried that wild wolves might appear at any moment, and on top of that, he had drunk so much snowmelt that he had to use the bathroom almost every hour. It wasn’t until the latter half of the night that he finally succumbed to exhaustion and fell asleep.

As it turned out, his worries were for nothing. While the smell of blood might attract a wolf pack, the scent of so many Musk Oxen was much stronger. No pack leader would be stupid enough to provoke these huge beasts.

He climbed out of his ice pit and took a moment to acclimate to the outside temperature before turning his head to look at the distant Musk Ox herd.

After a full night’s rest, the Musk Ox herd was no longer on alert. Almost all of them were now lying in the snow, sleeping.

To conserve energy, the herd spent most of their time lying down, even when grazing.

Among the numerous, nearly identical figures, he quickly spotted the unlucky one with an arrow sticking out of its neck.

He wasn’t sure if it was because of the extreme cold, but there wasn’t much blood left on the snow. The blood around the wound that hadn’t had a chance to flow out had frozen solid. After a night of oxidation, it looked like a black ring.

The Musk Ox was still alive. Clearly, that one arrow hadn’t been enough to kill it.

Hitting its neck from such a distance was already an extraordinary feat; he hadn’t expected to sever its trachea with that single shot.

’No matter. I can just shoot it again.’

He returned to the spot where he had shot from yesterday, found a similar angle and feel, and sensed the wind’s force and direction again. This time, he tilted the bow up just a little bit less.

WHOOSH—

The familiar sound of something slicing through the air instantly woke many of the Musk Oxen that weren’t asleep. They scrambled to their feet in alarm.

The unlucky one that had already been shot reacted instinctively to the sound, struggling to get up. But the wound in its neck had robbed it of most of its strength; even lifting its head was an effort.

Perhaps because it was lying down, the target area was smaller. This arrow missed, grazing its fur by a hair’s breadth before burying itself in the snow.

’A little high? No problem, I’ll try again.’

Lin Chen muttered to himself and raised his bow for another shot.

This time, he even accounted for the possibility of the Musk Ox raising its head, and the arrow hit its mark precisely.

Yesterday’s arrow had been shot while it was standing; now it was lying down. The two arrows pierced its neck from completely different angles, forming an almost perfect cross.

The two successive shots finally caused a commotion in the herd. They all scrambled up from the ground and once again surrounded the injured Musk Ox.

Lin Chen smiled faintly, crouched down, and silently retreated under the cover of the snowdrift.