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

Chapter 38 Threats Succeed

After Guo Mi and the two bear cubs finished eating the fish, they left the lakeside.

She walked slowly in the snow, with two little bears trotting alongside her, occasionally using her as cover and playfully circling her body.

After being knocked over by the salmon's claw, the fishbone rolled over with difficulty before finally getting up from the ground.

Guo Mi looked at his rather weak movements and a trace of worry rose in her heart. She lowered her head and asked:

"Fishbone, are you still very hungry?"

I didn't catch enough fish today.

It's hard to see the fish moving in the water at night, and besides, Caesar had chased most of the fish away, so it would be difficult to catch any more to fill our stomachs.

Fishbone obediently followed at Guo Mi's feet and whispered in reply:

"I'm not hungry."

Guo Mi stopped and looked at him quietly.

The little furball bumped into her leg, looked up at her, then quickly looked down again. After a brief moment of awkward silence, it honestly said:
"...Actually, I'm a little hungry."

While he was eating fish, he secretly gave some of his fish to the salmon when Guo Mi wasn't looking.

Even so, the salmon still didn't seem to be full.

The salmon was stunned by his words, then quickly ran over and rubbed against him.

"Why did you give me the fish when you weren't full?"

Guo Mi paused for a moment, then the salmon's little head drooped down in guilt:
"Guo Mi, I'm sorry, I ate the fish with the fish bones."

Guo Mi looked at the two little furballs and knew she couldn't blame them; she was also feeling hungry.

She lowered her head and soothingly licked the little furball's forehead:

"Okay, it's alright, we'll come earlier tomorrow."

Caesar was right; catching fish alone couldn't sustain her and her two little bears any longer. Guo Mi secretly prayed that summer would come soon.

Without this layer of ice and snow, perhaps she could find more food.

Guo Mi took the bear cubs back to one of the caves, nestled on the soft, dry branches and leaves, and held the two little furballs in her arms, trying to use sleep to ease the hunger in her stomach.

I still woke up hungry in the middle of the night!
As Guo Mi opened her eyes and stared blankly at the few stars through the hole above her head, she suddenly heard a muffled breathing sound!
Her heart skipped a beat. She listened intently for a while and finally confirmed that it was indeed the sound of breathing, and it was very close...

The sound of a bear breathing.

Guo Mi's heart immediately jumped. She held up her nose and sniffed, the familiar scent mingling in the air.

Her expression instantly darkened. She gently released the two bear cubs, pushed herself up with her front paws, and stuck her head out of the hole, gripping the edge with her claws.

Under the pale moonlight, Caesar lay sprawled out in the snow, fast asleep, not far from the cave entrance!

His snoring rose and fell with the movement of his belly, sometimes louder, sometimes softer, and he even raised his paw to scratch his belly!

Guo Mi felt a headache coming on, so she quietly crawled out of the cave and walked up to Caesar.

The moonlight that was falling on the giant polar bear's body was blocked, and a round shadow of the bear's head was cast on his white belly.

She stood beside Caesar, looking down at him.

The snoring had stopped abruptly at some point.

The male bear seemed oblivious to the presence of another bear beside him, its eyes still closed and its belly still rhythmically heaving up and down.

She looks like she's sleeping soundly, but that's just an appearance.

Guo Mi sat to the side and waited for a while. Seeing that Caesar was still pretending, her patience finally ran out, and she raised her paw and slapped him!
Caesar was caught off guard and was hit. White fur flew through the air, and he almost jumped up, covering his nose and unable to let go of his claws.

Guo Mi raised her paw to her lips and blew on it before lowering it. She coldly watched Caesar cover his nose and look at her with resentful eyes, then asked in a low voice:

"What are you doing here? Are you trying to cheat me?"

Caesar loudly accuses:

"I don't!"

Seeing Guo Mi's disapproving look, he immediately said:

"You told me to leave the lakeside, not to stay away from you. This isn't me cheating!" Guo Mi: "..."

Upon closer reflection, it does seem to be true.

Tsk, it's her fault for not explaining things clearly back then, allowing that annoying male bear to take advantage of the situation.

Seeing Caesar's smug look, Guo Mi's eyes twitched. Just as she was about to speak, the sound of a bear cub suddenly came from the cave behind her.

It must have been the smell of Caesar, combined with their loud noise, that woke up the two bear cubs.

Guo Mi glared at Caesar, turned around and walked to the cave entrance. She looked down and saw the two little furballs huddled together anxiously, trembling. Their little eyes searched for her everywhere. Only when they looked up and met her eyes did their tense expressions suddenly relax.

Signaling the two little furballs to stay obediently in the hole, Guo Mi turned her head and found Caesar staring at the hole entrance again. Her gaze immediately darkened, and she called out warningly:
"Caesar."

Caesar then withdrew his gaze from the cave entrance, turned to look at Guo Mi, and whispered before she could shoo him away:

"I won't kill those two little cubs."

Guo Mi paused, taken aback:
"what?"

Caesar took two steps back, remaining seated to demonstrate his non-aggression, and continued:
"If you're resisting my approach because of those two little brats, then I can promise you I won't bite them to death for now."

Guo Mi focused her attention on the two most crucial words:

"temporary?"

"Correct."

With such an uncertain answer and such an uncontrollable male bear, Guo Mi would never let her guard down:
"I'm different..."

"You have no choice but to agree!" Caesar interrupted her before she could finish speaking!

The bear, which had been behaving docilely all afternoon, seemed to have suddenly ripped off its disguise in the moonlight, reverting to its initial appearance. It stood up and approached Guo Mi, every word a threat:
"You can't stop me from getting closer, just like you can't protect two bear cubs from my claws at the same time. Now I'm telling you I won't hurt them, so you have to agree to my demands. Otherwise..."

He bared his teeth:
"I'll bite those two little brats to death."

His true colors were revealed, making Guo Mi realize that the afternoon they spent together was merely an illusion created by the male bear, and that the consequence of letting her guard down was that she now had to confront this beast head-on.

Animals also have the instinct to seek advantage and avoid harm. Whenever Guo Mi fights with other bears, she first bluffs, and only uses her full strength when she has no other choice.

Under her seemingly reckless attacks, some of her kind are intimidated by her aura and voluntarily withdraw from the fight.

Others, however, were simply no match for her and could only slink away in defeat.

After Guo Mi transformed into a bear, she has survived peacefully to this day by relying on her superb fighting ability and some "bluffing".

However, Caesar clearly does not fall into either of these categories.

First of all, his physical advantage alone is overwhelmingly superior to Guo Mi's, so there is no possibility that he cannot defeat Guo Mi.

In addition, there's his strong personality.

Guo Mi didn't know what the other polar bears were like, but the few times they fought, Caesar had already proven that he was not a bear that would back down for fear of getting hurt.

He was willing to risk having his claws bitten off to keep her firmly under control.

If it weren't for those reasons that Guo Mi is still unaware of, and the fact that he inexplicably let her go several times, Guo Mi might not have been able to get rid of him so easily.

This is the kind of opponent that Guo Mi fears most after she transforms into a bear.

Just as Guo Mi thought, she couldn't hysterically risk her life to bite like a real wild beast. Given other options, she would never choose the path that would hurt her.

The most important qualities in human society—rationality, emotional control, and the instinct for self-preservation—have now become shackles binding her in the world of wild beasts.

Faced with Caesar's threat, she had no choice but to follow his wishes, no matter how unwilling she was.

She knew that if she disagreed, Caesar would at least kill one of the bear cubs and leave her covered in wounds.

In the end, he will probably get his wish.

Caesar's threatening gaze suddenly relaxed upon seeing Guo Mi's silent compromise, and he smiled with satisfaction.
"Don't worry, I don't really like the taste of polar bear blood, and I'm not that interested in my own kind. I don't have much of an appetite for those two cubs right now either."

Guo Mi turned her head away, not wanting to look at Caesar anymore, and went back into the cave.

Once she got what she wanted, her indifference became insignificant to Caesar.

The male bear even swaggered away from its sleeping spot, which was originally farther from the cave entrance, and moved it right in front of the cave entrance, where it fell fast asleep again under the starlight.

(End of this chapter)