Chapter 374: Chapter 223: Quite a Thorny Problem

"Ura la la! Look what we’ve discovered!"

Lin Yu’an quickly walked over and used the end of a birch spear shaft to brush away the loose snow in that area. As the snow was brushed aside, more "evidence" was revealed.

There were several things scattered on the snow, of varying lengths, black and white like sharp spines.

He carefully picked up the longest one, bringing it close to his eyes for a closer look. It was about ten centimeters long, an extremely hard, hollow keratinized spine.

The base of the spine was milky white, with a jet-black tip. The surface was smooth, but in the sunlight, structures like fishhook barbs could be seen.

"North American Porcupine!" Lin Yu’an finally confirmed the target he was tracking, and a determined smile appeared on his face.

"These are the quills shed while it was moving in the trees or rubbing against bushes. It looks like my luck today is truly good."

He held the quill up to the GoPro camera for a detailed scientific explanation. "This thing is the North American Porcupine’s most famous and deadly weapon of defense."

"Many people have a misconception that it can ’shoot’ its quills like arrows to attack enemies."

"This is actually incorrect. Its defense mechanism is a passive but extremely efficient physical trap."

"First of all, these quills are actually specialized hairs, and they connect very loosely with the skin at their base."

"When it senses a threat, it contracts the muscles in its skin, making all the quills stand upright, turning it into a spiny ball, with real danger in contact."

"When predators attack the porcupine with their mouths or paws, just a light touch and these quills will immediately detach from the porcupine and embed firmly into the attacker’s skin."

"It also actively attacks, with its main offensive action being to spin around and viciously lash out with its tail, which is covered in quills and has extremely powerful muscles."

"This motion is very quick, and when the tail hits an enemy, numerous quills will instantly pierce into the other’s body."

"And it’s precisely because of this fast lashing motion that many people mistakenly believe the quills are ’shot’ out."

He carefully pinched the base of the quill with his gloved fingers, pointing the tip towards the camera.

"Now look at why this thing is so deadly. The key lies in the tip’s structure. To the naked eye, it seems just like a regular blackened point."

"But under a microscope, the tip is covered with hundreds of tiny rearward-facing barbs, just like a fishhook."

"This structure makes it very difficult to remove, and as the victim’s muscles naturally contract and move, these barbs will cause the quill to burrow deeper into the body."

"But that’s not the most terrifying part. The most terrifying thing is that this thing can ’move’ on its own."

"Imagine these barbs piercing into the predator’s leg muscles. When this muscle moves normally and contracts, the strong muscle forces will compress the quill in all directions."

"Due to these barbs, the quill cannot slide outward. Thus, the only direction the muscle’s contraction can push the quill is deeper into the body."

"Every breath, every step, every slightest muscle twitch works like a one-way ratchet, pushing the quill further inward bit by bit."

"It will never retreat, only advance. This is the so-called ’quill migration,’ so a quill initially embedded in the leg’s surface tissue might, after weeks or months,"

"be driven by continued muscle movement into the abdominal cavity, eventually piercing the intestines, liver, or other important organs, causing fatal internal bleeding and infection."

"If a predator is unfortunate enough to be quilled in the mouth or face, the pain and infection may prevent it from eating, leading to starvation in despair."

He concluded, "So, the porcupine is truly a master of defense. It doesn’t need to waste energy on active attacks; it just waits for enemies to make mistakes."

"Once you make contact with it, its deadly armor automatically does all the remaining work."

After the science lesson, Lin Yu’an carefully stowed the quill. He knew he was about to face an opponent with whom no mistakes could be made.

But at the same time, his heartbeat began to accelerate uncontrollably. The porcupine, slow-moving, strong in defense but weak in aggression.

More importantly, it accumulates a thick, extremely valuable layer of fat under its skin and around its organs to prepare for winter!

This is exactly what he dreams of, the "energy gold" that can reverse his body’s energy deficit!

"Now that we’ve confirmed the suspect’s identity, the next step is to find its den."

Lin Yu’an immediately centered his search on the tree where he found the quill, beginning the part he excelled at and enjoyed the most—carpet-style tracking.

No longer performing wide spiral searches as before, he narrowed down the area, using this tree as a base point to start a more meticulous fan-shaped area check.

His body language also changed, with each step landing on the softest snow where it’s least likely to make a sound, always avoiding stepping on brittle branches that could snap with a "crack."

His knees remained slightly bent, his body’s center of gravity kept very low, allowing him to seamlessly switch between moving and being still at any moment.

He was like a lynx stealthily hunting in the snowy woods, his eyes no longer gazing into the distance but scanning the ground inch by inch like a scanner, missing no traces.