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

Chapter 36 Caesar Catches Fish
After Guo Mi finished speaking, Caesar remained silent for a long time.

Of course, Guo Mi didn't expect Caesar to respond. Perhaps in the eyes of the male bear, her words were just harmless threats.

Little did anyone know that although Caesar said nothing, his gaze was fixed on the round-faced bear in front of him, his pupils shining brightly.

Guo Mi didn't want to dwell on the topic any longer, so she took the initiative to break the deadlock and stood by the lake first:
"Alright, let's not talk about that anymore. The game starts now. Whoever catches the most fish wins."

Caesar reminded her:
"But you didn't set an end time, didn't you set a time limit?"

After he finished speaking, he became excited and said enthusiastically:

"Then we can play this game together forever, until tomorrow morning..."

"No!" Guo Mi hurriedly interrupted him.

Just kidding, she's already exhausted after a long day. Even if this male bear doesn't sleep, she still needs to. A bear can go two days without food, but it absolutely cannot go a day without sleep!

Caesar was somewhat disappointed.

Guo Mi ignored his disappointment, looked up at the sky, and decided:
"The game will end when the sun meets the summit of the snow-capped mountain!"

Caesar looked up at the sky, somewhat displeased:

"Won't that be long now?"

Guo Mi remained unmoved and her attitude was very firm, so Caesar had no choice but to give in and reluctantly said:
"Alright, alright, let's end it when the sun aligns with the mountaintop."

However, after waiting for quite a while, Caesar showed no intention of going into the water, and Gomi looked at him with suspicion:
"what happened?"

Caesar calmly walked to Guo Mi's side, stood beside her, and asked:

"Are there any rules regarding the methods for catching fish?"

Guo Mi was completely confused:
"No."

Caesar then asked:
"Is there a rule that requires me to go to the lake to catch fish right away?"

"...No, not at all." Guo Mi was a little annoyed. Why ask that?
Caesar shook his still-damp fur and said in an exaggerated tone:

"It's too cold in the lake, I'll go down later."

He had seen Guo Mi catch fish, and she was much faster than the primitive methods they used.

Caesar decided to learn from Gomi.

Guo Mi squinted at the massive male bear in front of her, her eyes seemingly able to see through everything, and then chuckled:
"Ok."

Although Caesar often did things that she considered foolish, he wasn't unintelligent; she could see through his ulterior motives.

However, the hunting method is not a secret. The number of polar bears has been decreasing due to climate change. If learning her fishing method can help these big guys in the icy wilderness survive, Guo Mi, who used to work in an animal-related profession, would be happy to see this happen.

However, brown bears' fishing methods are all about speed, accuracy, and ruthlessness. Guo Mi spent a long time learning them, and she spent several hours figuring out how to catch fish in this lake.

There are at most two hours until sunset, and it remains to be seen whether Caesar can learn her fishing method and even surpass her in those two hours.

Guo Mi made no attempt to conceal herself. She found a spot along the lake that was a little further away from where she had been fishing earlier, and boldly lowered her head, placing her nose on the water's surface and rhythmically swaying it to attract the fish's attention.

Caesar followed Guo Mi's example, lowered his head, and shoved half of the bucket into the lake!
After a while, he couldn't hold his breath any longer. He strained to glance to the side and saw that Guo Mi's nose was still touching the surface of the water. So he stubbornly refused to lift his head to breathe and just endured it by following Guo Mi's movements.

Guo Mi noticed his movements and suppressed a laugh.

Her nose was only lightly touching the water's surface; when she wanted to breathe, she could easily breathe by simply lifting it slightly. The movement was so subtle that Caesar didn't notice.

Another half minute passed, and Caesar finally couldn't hold it in any longer. He suddenly raised his head and greedily inhaled the fresh air!

Looking to the side, they were stunned to find that Guo Mi still hadn't looked up!
Caesar looked Guo Mi up and down, secretly pondering:

Why was Guo Mi able to keep her nose submerged in water for so long and still look like she had plenty of energy left? Was it because of her unusual appearance?
Thinking of this, Caesar immediately recalled Guo Mi's agitated reaction when he had just touched her fur; she was clearly very resistant to having her fur touched.

At that moment, a terrible and horrible thought was born in Caesar's mind!

Guo Mi doesn't seem to be a polar bear after all. Could it be that this round-faced bear in front of us is actually a...

A bear-fish?!
Of course, Caesar had never seen any other "fish bears," but since Gomi could hold her breath like a fish in water, Caesar created a new name for her that was unique to her species!
Watching Guo Mi bury her nose in the lake for a long time without lifting her head, Caesar thought about it more and more and felt that his guess was very credible!
His gaze towards Guo Mi suddenly became intense, as if he wanted to pierce through her thick layer of fur!
No wonder they wouldn't let him pluck the fur; he was sure there were fish scales growing under that thick layer of fur on the round face!

Guo Mi was unaware that the male bear beside her was filled with outrageous thoughts; she only noticed his intensely noticeable gaze. After a moment, she sighed inwardly and deliberately made her head lift to breathe more noticeably!
Caesar, who had been staring at Guo Mi, finally got his wish and saw her take a breath, and naturally realized that his previous thoughts were all a misunderstanding.

Strangely, the male bear didn't seem relieved at all; instead, it appeared somewhat... disappointed?
Caesar realized his mistake and obediently sat back on the shore, bowing his head along with Guo Mi. This time, he did not shove half of his mouth bucket into the lake.

However, he still didn't understand what they were doing and could only blindly imitate Guo Mi's actions.

He sat by the lake, immersing his nose in the water for more than 10 minutes. Just as Caesar was about to lose his patience, a splashing sound came from the side!

Caesar looked up quickly, only to see a fish struggling in mid-air before crashing heavily onto the lake shore, while Guo Mi slowly lowered her wet claws, concealing her merit and fame.

The male bear was dumbfounded.

Before he could even figure out why he had to put his nose in the water, Guo Mi had already caught the fish!
Guo Mi glanced at him sideways, raised her head, and exhaled white mist from her nostrils, as if mocking the male bear.

Caesar, refusing to believe it, immediately put his nose back into the water, but his eyes were fixed on Guo Mi's every move.

Guo Mi didn't hold back either, deliberately carrying the fish to a spot where Caesar could see it, and then bending down to tear it apart.

She bit off the fattiest piece of meat where the fish head and belly connected, chewed it in her mouth, and then spat it into the lake water, sitting on the shore quietly waiting.

Caesar was completely bewildered by the series of actions, and finally simply swaggered over and sat down with Guo Mi, looking down at the rotting flesh rising and falling in the water.

Guo Mi didn't try to drive him away, and just let him sit there.

The snow-white fish meat swayed in and out of the water, and the fishy smell gradually dissolved into the water with the flow.

Before long, Caesar noticed that there were more fish in the water. After a while, some fish swam over and pecked at the rotten flesh, sucking small pieces of meat into their mouths.

Guo Mi did not immediately move her claws, but silently watched Caesar beside her.

The male bear's attention was completely drawn to the fish that had gathered on the surface of the water, and he stretched his neck and watched intently.

Guo Mi soon realized that he was consciously controlling his movements, trying to make as little noise as possible so as not to scare away the fish that had gathered together.

This surprised her.

She originally thought that, given Caesar's wicked nature, he would spare no effort in causing trouble.

It seems she doesn't know enough about this male bear.

When the fish that are feeding on the fish gather to a certain extent on the surface of the water, Guo Mi's claws strike out like lightning!
A blur flashed by, and in the blink of an eye, three fish were already hopping and struggling on the shore!
Guo Mi was very satisfied with the results. Usually, she would bite into the fish meat and make it into bait to attract schools of fish. She could usually catch at most two fish, and three fish was a very rare occurrence.

However, these three fish were much smaller than the fish that Guo Mi usually caught, so as long as she was careful when she extended her claws, she could still catch them.

After all, she and Caesar were competing on the number of fish they caught, not the size of the fish.

When Guo Mi threw the fish meat into the water, she omitted the action of touching her nose to the water's surface. Caesar, with his strong hunting talent, had already discovered that touching the nose to the water's surface was a way to attract fish.

He quickly got up, returned to his original position, put his nose back into the water, and began to wait patiently.

The fish that had gathered in front of Guo Mi had now scattered. She scooped up the remaining fish meat from the lake with her paws and put it in her mouth, slowly searching along the lakeside.

After choosing a new spot, they didn't rush to put the bait in, but instead focused their attention on Caesar.

Realizing what he was doing, Caesar recalled Guo Mi's actions and began to consciously move his nose, trying to make it appear harmless in order to attract the fish.

This time he was very patient and persisted even after a long time.

Fifteen minutes later, a fish finally responded to his patience and swam slowly over, but did not approach, hesitating not far from Caesar's nose.

Just when Guo Mi thought he would succeed, an accident happened!
To everyone's surprise, Caesar saw that the fish couldn't control its emotions and was so delighted that he couldn't help but blow two bubbles from his nose, which was close to the water's surface. The fish, which had finally managed to get close, turned around and fled, disappearing without a trace in no time!

Guo Mi finally couldn't help but laugh. Caesar was a little exasperated. He slapped the water with his bear paws and finally sat down on the shore in frustration.

The male bear tried twice more, but he no longer had the patience he had the first time.

Guo Mi shook her head inwardly. The most important thing for a fisherman is patience, and the same goes for a bear fishing. Without patience, there is no way to catch a fish.

After failing to attract fish once again, the male bear started to use his cunning. He secretly observed Guo Mi, and after confirming that she hadn't noticed him, he stealthily ran to the snowdrift where he had first buried the fish bones and started digging.

(End of this chapter)