Deep affection knows no origin; remember the polar bear's love for you.

Chapter 128: Useless Effort

"Fish bones, let's not catch them, let's dig a hole in it!"

The salmon spoke with unwavering certainty, while the fishbone stared blankly at her, somewhat uncertain.
"Can it be done?"

The salmon is very confident:
"Of course it can work. Don't you think they look more like ground squirrels than reindeer?"

She spoke with great confidence, quickly stirring up Fishbone's emotions as well. The little male bear, no longer wanting to rest on the ground, got up and said energetically:
Which one should we dig?

So the two little bears carefully selected one of the caves, and finally chose it:

"These are the biggest and fattest rabbits in these burrows, let's dig this one!"

After confirming that all the rabbits had been driven into the burrow, the two bear cubs looked at each other, then stood on either side of the entrance, their paws flying up and down, and soon each of them had built a small mound of earth behind them!

Summer watched them digging a hole from a distance, then turned back to Guo Mi with great interest and asked:

"You taught them?"

Guo Mi didn't say anything and silently looked away.

She didn't teach them, but she often ordered the bear cubs to dig holes!

The little bear has dug dozens, if not hundreds, of holes. How could it not be skilled?

Summer sighed softly:
"It is indeed a good idea, but..."

Her gaze fell on another hole not far away, where rabbits were running out one after another.

A cunning rabbit has three burrows. Rabbits live in large groups, and their underground burrows are exceptionally large, so it's impossible for them to have only one exit.

Before long, all the rabbits had run away, and no more rabbits came out.

The two bear cubs were completely unaware that the hole they were digging had been emptied, and they continued digging with great enthusiasm.

As time went on, the little bear even had the illusion that its claws were worn down. Fishbone panted and said:
"This hole is bigger than a ground squirrel's hole."

Salmon, don't pant so hard:

"Of course, rabbits are much bigger than ground squirrels!"

This is why they are unwilling to put in the effort to dig burrows for ground squirrels, but are willing to empty the entire burrow for rabbits, because one rabbit is worth ten ground squirrels!

As the two bear cubs dug deeper and deeper, the tunnel under their paws grew larger and larger until it became a large cavity!

The bottom of the burrow was covered with dry grass and leaves, just like the nest dug by Guo Mi. It looked like a breeding ground for rabbits.

The little bear stopped its paws, and the fishbone lowered its head, gesturing with its head a couple of times, and affirmed:
"My head could fit inside!"

This discovery delighted the little bears, who felt they were close to finding the rabbit, and they dug even harder!
The rabbit hole, inhabited by a large group of rabbits, is like an underground castle, with a complex network of tunnels connecting various cavities.

These cavities serve different purposes: some are specifically for resting, some are for temporarily storing leftover food, some are simply empty and serve no other purpose, and others...

With a swipe of its tentacle, another cavity appeared, and a thick, foul stench, as if freed from its shackles, instantly filled the air!

The exposed cavity was filled with dense rabbit droppings. The top layer still showed granules, but the bottom layer was unrecognizable, a sticky, mushy mass that accumulated in the hole. As the salmon dug the opening, the viscous substance slowly and gradually flowed down.

The smell of various kinds of feces fermenting together rose straight into the sky, and even the three bears secretly observing from a distance could smell it.

Summer endured the stench, while Big White took two steps back in disgust. Finally, forgetting its grudge, it pressed its little face against Summer's thick fur, trying to block some of the stench.

Guo Mi couldn't stand the stench either and gagged a couple of times. If even they were like that, you can imagine how shocked the two little bears were by the stench.

The fish bones rolled their eyes from the fumes, and the salmon's eyes were forced to water. Ignoring everything else, they quickly raised their claws and dug around the hole, then filled the hole back in.

Even after blocking the source of the odor, the smell in the air lingered for a long time.

The bear had to stop digging, but fearing the rabbit might take the opportunity to escape, it could only endure the stench and stay at the entrance of the burrow.

Finally, whether its nose had gone numb or it had gotten used to it, the salmon lowered its claws, mustered its courage, sniffed, and turned to ask the fishbone:
Can you still smell the stench?

Fishbone's eyes were vacant:

"I can't seem to smell it anymore."

The salmon wanted to take a deep breath, but remembering the pile of droppings it had just seen, it suddenly felt the air was filled with even more invisible rabbit droppings, so it tightly closed its mouth and mumbled:
"Should we continue digging?"

Since things have already come to this, wouldn't all the hard work and suffering we endured be for nothing if we didn't dig deeper into the past?!

Fishbone gritted his teeth and stood up:
"dig!"

The two little bear paws started thrashing around again, but having learned from their previous experience, they were much more cautious when using their claws this time.

Even so, they still dug out two more cavities filled with excrement, and waves of stench swept over them.

Summer sat at a distance watching the two bear cubs busily making their way around, and said with regret:
"If we work so hard and then find nothing at the end, it will be a huge blow."

As expected, she saw the heartache and hesitation in Guo Mi's eyes, and her voice suddenly lowered:
"However, such a blow cannot be avoided."

Guo Mi knew she was right. It was perfectly normal for bear hunts in the wild to fail. Putting in a lot of effort but not getting results was the norm in the world.

If you've always had a smooth life and never experienced disappointment, it's easy to give up the will to survive when you encounter setbacks.

All she can do now is stand by and watch quietly.

The little bear dug from sunrise to sunset until the last cavern was opened.

Looking at the empty cave, the little bear persisted in trying to find other cave passages, only to discover that there were none left.

Only now have they had to admit that they had done nothing of value.

Actually, they had already discovered that the rabbit hole had another exit when they were digging it, but since they had been digging for so long, the two little bears were still hoping that there might be a rabbit inside.

So no one spoke, and they dug in silence until the very end.

But reality can't keep giving them hope forever; the truth is, in the end, they found absolutely nothing!
Rabbits don't hoard food like ground squirrels, and even if they do, they eat it quickly. Plus, their population is huge, so all the little bear got from this burrow were withered branches and leaves, and several vomits of foul-smelling droppings.

They couldn't even get the berries from the warehouse to offer any solace, unlike before when they dug up the squirrel's nest.

But because of wishful thinking, they did so much useless work and wasted a lot of energy that they shouldn't have.

I have no energy at all now. I can't even walk properly, let alone catch rabbits.

The little bears knew they had done something foolish. With no food, no fruit, and nothing at all, they realized that surviving on their own was far more difficult than they had imagined!
Fishbone wanted to cry again, but found that she didn't even have the strength to cry anymore.

The salmon had lost all its energy and sat slumped in place.

The sun was still setting, and darkness once again enveloped the land. The little bear, who had worked hard all day, endured his exhaustion, frustration, and hunger, and thus drifted into a deep sleep.