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

Chapter 61 The Special Place

The two bear cubs were startled and quickly turned around. Apart from some bloodstains and blood-stained bird feathers, there was no sign of the goose on the bare rock!
The little furball had a bad feeling and quickly turned around to look at Guo Mi with pleading eyes.

Guo Mi is about to explode! Who stole the goose she risked her life to catch?!

Who on earth is this?! They're incredibly audacious!
Fishbone quickly said:
"I...I can find it again..."

He can smell it!

"No!" Guo Mi said seriously.
"I'll find it myself!"

With the warming climate and the fact that Guo Mi has been in the Arctic for some time, his damaged sense of smell has basically recovered. Brown bears may not be as good as polar bears, but they are not without reason.

Guo Mi lowered her head, sniffing the air for a faint, sweet-smelling scent of blood. The smell was still fresh, so the person couldn't have gone far.

So she lifted her feet and chased after the direction from which the scent was coming!
The culprit was quickly found: it was the Arctic fox again!

In the distance, a small black and white fox with uneven fur was seen biting the neck of a goose, dragging it along with great effort, while making shrill cries to scare away its companions who wanted a share of the goose's food.

Four or five foxes surrounded it, eager to tear a piece of meat off the goose.

Arctic foxes often appear around bears, usually just looking for opportunities to scavenge scraps, but most of the time they keep their distance to prevent the bears from suddenly wanting a snack after their meal.

Two days ago, Guo Mi noticed that one or two little foxes would often follow them. As a result, she chased after them several times because she had her eye on them. In addition, she and the little bear really didn't have much left for them to eat, so they left early.

I never expected there to be foxes lurking in the shadows, and they were even bold enough to steal prey at close range with so many polar bears right in front of them!

The bear was too big to hide in such a place. Guo Mi and the two bear cubs suddenly appeared like a drop of water falling into a pot of boiling oil!
The foxes that had gathered together scattered instantly, disappearing into the gaps between the stones with a few leaps. Another fox looked at the fox dragging the goose, hesitated for a moment, and then also squeezed into the gap.

Only the little fox who initially stole the goose seemed unwilling to give up the food it had in its mouth, and was still struggling to drag the goose along, trying to pull it into the crevice as well.

Guo Mi was not about to let it succeed. She quickly walked over and pressed down with her bear paw. The goose that could have been dragged stopped instantly, and the little fox, which had half its body hidden in the gap, let out a frightened scream!
They seemed surprised that Guo Mi, such a round bear, could run so fast!

It no longer dared to be greedy and care about the goose. It quickly let go and tried to squeeze into the gap, but it found it was too late!
Two bear cubs were already blocking the gap from the left and right, and they dragged the fox, who was already halfway inside, out of the gap by biting its hind legs!

So today's lunch included not only a goose but also an Arctic fox.

Guo Mi threw the goose to the two bear cubs.

Despite eating so many birds in the summer, the two bear cubs still have a particular fondness for this prey.

They always patiently remove the bird's feathers before they begin to enjoy their prey.

The cubs are always like this, with endless energy and a desire to explore. The only thing that surprised Guo Mi was that the two little furballs never fought over food, and always tacitly distributed the food fairly.

Even more so, in the past, Fishbone would give food to the salmon, but now that the two little guys are growing, Fishbone, being a male bear, has grown much bigger. When he was a cub, he was shorter than the salmon, but now he is a whole size bigger than the salmon.

He gets hungry faster than the salmon, so the salmon will share their food with him.

Guo Mi watched all this and sometimes really felt that they would break free from the constraints of polar bears' lifestyle and become a family that would truly depend on each other for life.

Even when threatened or unwilling to face the threat, the little bear still cowers behind its older sister. Despite being a larger bear, it curls up and hides in front of the smaller salmon.

Guo Mi always found him adorable, but she couldn't help worrying about him. What would he do without salmon? Slok, on the other hand, was doing quite well, thanks in no small part to Caesar, but he had said that Caesar hadn't taken such good care of him in the past.

It seems necessary to find time to talk to Slok again and see if he can teach the little bear something else.

The two bear cubs, who were sharing the goose, noticed Guo Mi's gaze and looked at each other in bewilderment.

Fishbone walked over, looked up, and asked:
"Guo Mi, what's wrong?"

Guo Mi dismissed her wild thoughts and said with a smile:
"fine."

Fishbone seemed a little hesitant, but quickly looked around and whispered:
"Guo Mi, there are so many foxes here!"

Guo Mi was somewhat surprised. The area was filled with a mixture of scents: flowers, birds, fish, insects, birds flying in the sky, the smell of foxes, and the smell of other small animals.

Without careful discernment, it's difficult to accurately find what you're looking for among these scents.

But the little furball was able to distinguish that there were many foxes.

As if sensing Guo Mi's confusion, the fishbone whispered:

"The fox smells very distinctive, a bit pungent. There are many of them hidden in the crevices of the broken stones."

He seemed very confident, and Guo Mi believed him without hesitation! But...

They've hidden themselves?

Logically speaking, seeing them here, and having just killed a fox, the remaining foxes should have kept their distance. Why would they rather hide and stay?
And they left so many foxes here!

Could there be something else here besides the leftover food they'll have later that could attract them?
Guo Mi started to get excited; what attracts animals the most is, of course, food!

She looked around at her surroundings and felt there was nothing special about it. It was the same place as before, with tall stone walls and even fewer birds than before.

What's so special about it?
Guo Mi observed for a long time but found nothing.

Just as I was about to give up, I glanced at the sky and finally noticed the difference.

There are many nests on the cliff face in this area, and these nests look familiar. They are the nests of the geese whose necks were bitten off by Guo Mi!

Compared to the chaotic flock of birds just now, the flock here is mostly composed of the geese from before!
Guo Mi was surprised, but even more puzzled.

Even geese and foxes can't climb up the mountain wall to steal eggs, so what is it that attracts them?
She began to observe the nests without moving, and soon discovered that a small number of geese, after flying out of the nests, did not spread their wings and fly into the sky, but instead swooped down to the ground at high speed.

But just before touching the ground, it spreads its wings and flies back into the sky.

It's like a game, or maybe some kind of ritual.

Just as she was engrossed in watching, something suddenly fell from the mountainside next to her and crashed to the ground with a "bang"!
You might be wondering why the Arctic foxes I depict have uneven black and white fur. Actually, Arctic foxes have two phases throughout the year. In winter, their fur is indeed fluffy and white, just as you might imagine. In summer, they enter an awkward molting period, so their fur becomes uneven and their bodies become much thinner.

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(End of this chapter)