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

Chapter 82 Facing the Shadows and Psychological Pressure

Caesar's guess was correct.

Although Guo Mi accepted the fact that he killed his own kind and did not harbor any ill feelings towards him, she temporarily gave up the idea of ​​reconnecting with him.

After all, the male bear never gave her a clear answer that he wouldn't hurt the cub, and once again revealed his brutal side in front of her.

Honestly, compared to other mother bears with cubs, Guo Mi is already quite bold and tolerant.

In the eyes of a normal female bear, a male bear like Caesar would avoid her at all costs, let alone let her get close, just by smelling him.

If they can't avoid the mother bear, she might hide her cubs like Kaya did, and then take the initiative to drive them away.

Guo Mi gave Caesar chance after chance, and even considered entrusting the bear to him at a critical moment.

But the level of danger Caesar displayed far exceeded her expectations of risk.

Although it's uncertain whether things will change in the future, at least for now, Guo Mi will no longer allow Caesar to get close.

Fortunately, Caesar, who had mostly gone against her wishes, seemed to have developed some kind of tacit understanding with her this time and never appeared again.

This relieved Guo Mi.

She spent two days leading the bear to a new burrow, then dug out a more suitable warehouse to transport the remaining dried fish there.

We couldn't find food for a while and had to use up our reserves frequently. Now the fish are almost gone.

Guo Mi counted them and found that there were only thirty-two left. One or two of them were not very big to begin with, and they shrank even more because of drying, looking about the same size as her paws.

The remaining fish couldn't even fill the stomachs of three bears once; they could only barely satisfy their hunger when they were extremely hungry.

Guo Mi counted the fish again and again, afraid that she might have missed one, but no matter how many she counted, the number did not increase by even one. Her heart grew heavier and heavier.

There was a saying back when we were still human: "If you have grain stored in your house, you won't panic."

Having backup resources is a person's confidence, so even though the dried fish she stored was extremely unpalatable, Guo Mi didn't mind carrying it back and forth again and again.

This meager stockpile is no longer enough to give Guo Mi confidence.

While she was pondering, she suddenly heard a series of hurried footsteps outside the cave. Guo Mi turned around and saw two bear cubs crawling in through the cave entrance, each with a flower in its mouth.

It can be considered a blessing in disguise, as the cave site that Guo Mi chose this time was even better than the last time!

It's not only well-ventilated, but it's also right next to a flower field.

The bright red flowers sway in the wind and have a very strong fragrance.

The scent is pleasant at first, but after a while it becomes pungent for some carnivores that hunt by smell.

Polar bears and foxes happened to be in this line.

Therefore, bears and foxes rarely come near here, making it an excellent warehouse location!
To prevent any accidents, Guo Mi specially instructed Little Bear to collect more flowers. Since there wasn't enough time to dry them, they were piled up at the entrance of the cave in the hope of masking the smell of the dried fish.

Guo Mi picked up the flowers that the little bear had brought back and placed them in several specific locations, which were already filled with flowers that the little bear had picked earlier.

The last place was the cave entrance. Guo Mi let the two little bears go out first, carrying flowers in their mouths and pulling their butts out first, and then covering the cave entrance with the flowers.

Beside the flower-filled cave entrance, there stood a strikingly conspicuous bunch of withered flowers—

It was the first bunch that Caesar brought back despite the swarms of mosquitoes.

These are the earliest flowers, spread out by Guo Mi on the drying platform. They are already half-dried and have long lost their vibrant color compared to the fresh flowers next to them, appearing rather dull.

When Guo Mi left the original cave, she paused for a moment and finally decided to take the bouquet of flowers to the new cave entrance, which meant she made an extra trip.

To be honest, she wasn't sure what drove her to go through all that trouble to return and bring this wilted bouquet of flowers here.

Perhaps... it's just a pity.

Guo Mi's round ears twitched twice. She put away her wild thoughts and placed the last bunch of brightly blooming flowers at the entrance of the cave, filling the last gap.

The two little bears finished their work and were resting in the flower bushes.

The bear cubs love these brightly colored flowers, and the little guys don't care about the fragrance that bothers them.

Actually, given their usual personalities, they would be playing and frolicking in the flowerbeds now, but since that day, the two little ones seem to have less energy.

When the salmon returned, it was quiet for a long time, then it asked Guo Mi:

"Guo Mi, will we die too?" Guo Mi paused, then whispered:
"Yes, we will all die."

This answer didn't calm the salmon down, so she continued to ask:

"Will we be killed by other bears?"

She was very puzzled:

Why did you take us to see that?

The little one has always been very clever; she realized that Guo Mi actually knew everything they would see if they went with Slok, but she still took them there anyway.

Guo Mi lowered her head and licked her forehead, her voice full of apology:

"I'm sorry to use such an extreme method. We will all die, and no living being can escape the shackles of death, but we can delay its arrival."

“I don’t know if you will die under the teeth and claws of other bears in the future, but today is to reduce the possibility of you dying from attacks by your own kind.”

The salmon tilted its little head, glanced back at the fish skeleton still staring blankly beside it, and suddenly realized something. It whispered:
"I will be braver in the future. I will protect myself, protect the fishbone, and protect you!"

Guo Mi lowered her head, her nose touching the little one's forehead, and said gently:

"I believe you will."

It took Yugu several hours to recover before he could barely join Guomi in transporting fish.

Just before going to sleep, he suddenly said to Guo Mi:

"Guo Mi, I'll run really fast from now on!"

Guo Mi was stunned. Fishbone had been sitting next to her while she was talking to the salmon, and she thought he hadn't heard a word she said.

The little male bear seems to be still bothered by how he was so frightened he couldn't move. He sits there, seemingly reliving the scene over and over again, repeating to himself:
"I can run very fast!"

Guo Mi achieved her goal, but it seems she is still far from it.

She wanted the bears to confront their fears, but it seems that this approach has also put a lot of psychological pressure on them.

It seems we need something else.

Guo Mi waited patiently by the side, letting the bear cubs rest for a while before calling them to go hunting with her.

Although the bear cub is not in good condition, we can't waste any more time. We must find prey to fill our stomachs today!
The three-headed bear walked through the vibrant flowerbeds.

The water source where Caesar hunted reindeer is their destination today.

Ever since she saw Caesar hunting reindeer, Guo Mi had wanted to try it herself.

Luckily, when she arrived near the water source, she could smell the distinctive scent emanating from the reindeer, which meant that a herd of reindeer was drinking!
She stopped and looked back. The two bear cubs immediately spread out slightly as if by unspoken agreement, raising their noses to sniff the air.

Guo Mi carefully listened to the scents carried on the breeze, and only after confirming that there were no other bears around did she instruct the cub:
"I'll be quite a distance away from you during this hunt, so you need to be constantly aware of your surroundings. If you smell any other bears, don't worry about anything else, just run towards me, understand?"

The salmon, already exuding an aura of maturity, listened attentively to Guo Mi's words and replied:
"understood."

Guo Mi thought for a moment, then suddenly said:

"Watch closely. Once you've learned how to hunt, you'll have to help me hunt. I've raised you for so long, so you'd better feed me well from now on!"

The two bear cubs looked at each other, vaguely recalling the words Guo Mi had spoken when she adopted them.

At that time, Guo Mi had just given them fish, and then she lazily lay down by the pond, asking them to press hard on her back, euphemistically calling it a "massage".

The happy memories slightly eased the heavy atmosphere, and the salmon raised its little claws:
"I can give you a 'massage' now!"

Fishbone quickly sat up, raising its little paws high:

"Me too! I can do it too!"

Guo Mi coldly rejected the proposal:

"Actually, this massage isn't absolutely necessary."

The little bear cub has grown into a half-grown bear. If someone of that size were to jump on her, they'd be half-dead.

Fearing she would die young, Guo Mi quickly took two steps back.

The two little bears looked at each other and suddenly burst out laughing!
Guo Mi saw that it was almost time, so she gave one last reminder of what she had just been told before turning around and jogging towards the deer herd!
(End of this chapter)