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

Chapter 96 "The Bush Passage"

Caesar's tone was dry:

"nothing."

Then he lowered his head to smell the scent left by the black bear, looked at the bushes where he had disappeared, his eyes darkened, and he turned and walked towards the berry grove.

Guo Mi was somewhat confused as the two bears returned to the berry forest one after the other.

The little bear's curious gaze fell on the two big bears, while Caesar had already consciously returned to the berry grove that "belonged to him".

After he left, the salmon approached Guo Mi and whispered:
"Guo Mi, what's wrong?"

The fishbone also tilted its little head:
"Did you catch the ground squirrel?"

Guo Mi wanted to shake her head, but then she remembered that the two little bears couldn't understand, so she whispered:
"No, it's just..."

She paused for a moment, and then the salmon sensibly said:
"Can't you tell me?"

"of course not."

Guo Mi thought for a moment, then lay down in the berry grove and used a more appropriate way of putting it:

"We encountered a bear that shouldn't be here."

When she was little, she would always ask her parents out of curiosity, and most of the time she would get the reply, "Children shouldn't meddle in adult matters or say anything." To call it a childhood trauma would be a bit of an overreaction, but Guo Mi still vividly remembers the disappointment she felt at that time.

So she always avoided giving this disappointment to the little bear.

Her words instantly piqued the interest of the two bear cubs, who placed their tiny, fishbone-like paws on Guo Mi's front paws, filled with curiosity:

"Why a bear that shouldn't be here?"

"Because he was dark-skinned, had yellow hair around his mouth, and was quite small..."

Guo Mi described the black bear's appearance, and the two bear cubs listened with increasingly bright eyes, excitedly asking:

Do bears like that really exist?

The two bears' answer further confirmed Guo Mi's conjecture, and she shifted her gaze to Caesar without making a sound.

The male bear sat with its legs spread out in the berry grove, staring blankly ahead, looking dazed and absent-minded.

The cub had never seen a black bear before because it was too young, and Caesar, judging from his appearance, also seemed to be seeing a black bear for the first time.

This summer, in search of food, she took her cub on a long journey, covering at least hundreds of kilometers over several months.

Slok often talks about his childhood, and according to him, he and his brother would go up to the ice floes early in the summer and spend the summer on the ice.

I only stayed on the island for a year during the summer when I was little, and I went hungry a lot during that year.

If they could starve to the point of not being able to find any food, it meant they hadn't traveled that far.

The brothers Slok and Caesar came to this land with her this year, and they said the flowers here are more beautiful than any they have ever seen before.

However, Caesar was skilled at hunting reindeer and identifying berries. Although reindeer were still present in their original habitat, the growing environment for berries was very demanding. In extremely cold temperatures, the number of varieties that could grow would be greatly reduced if the temperature dropped by four or five degrees.

The variety of berries at the foot of the snow-capped mountains is not as abundant as here, yet he is so familiar with distinguishing berries, which suggests that he may not be visiting this place for the first time as Slok claimed.

However, there is an element of chance involved.

Caesar was already an adult bear, and even he had never seen a black bear, which could only mean that the black bear had only come here a handful of times.

Guo Mi sighed softly. That black bear had probably reached its limit by getting to this tundra.

She was lucky; she just happened to run into it.

Unable to contain her curiosity, Fishbone eagerly asked Guo Mi:
"Guo Mi, can we see that black bear too?"

Guo Mi pondered for a moment and replied:

"It should work."

She had something to ask the black bear and was already preparing to set off to find him.

As she spoke, she suddenly felt a strong gaze upon her, and Guo Mi knew it was Caesar.

He no longer concealed his peeping; his dazed gaze fell directly on Guo Mi, who could see him looking at her with a suspicious expression the moment she turned her head. "..."

Guo Mi looked away. She naturally didn't expect that Caesar was still agonizing over her breed. After all, they had been together for so long, and she thought Caesar no longer cared about this.

Little did anyone know that the male bear only had a brief moment of doubt before firmly believing that she was a rather round polar bear.

However, Caesar's gaze had already dissuaded her from going to find the black bear now.

Because Caesar was clearly also interested in the black bear, his sense of smell was much sharper, and given his visible aggression towards the bear, Guo Mi was even more worried that Caesar would kill the bear before she even had a chance to ask.

So we can only wait until tonight.

To Guo Mi's surprise, Caesar did not stay until evening. He stared at her absentmindedly until the afternoon, then suddenly stood up and staggered away through the bushes.

Guo Mi was overjoyed and had no time to dwell on what was wrong with him. She immediately set off for the place where Caesar and the black bear were fighting.

The remaining scent was diluted by the wind, but traces could still be found.

Guo Mi pressed her nose tightly against the grass and inhaled deeply, following the scent as she went. When she saw a bush, she closed her eyes and went straight in!

The bushes had been broken in many places by the black bear, leaving behind many sharp spikes and broken edges created by the bear.

Guo Mi was bigger than him, and when she crawled in, there was another "crackling" sound of splinters breaking.

The thick fur covered most of the area, but some splinters still poked at my skin, causing a slight stinging sensation.

With Guo Mi leading the way, the two bear cubs followed without hindrance, looking up with curiosity at the surrounding "shrub corridor," and after running a couple of steps, they bumped into Guo Mi's hind leg with a "thud."

Fortunately, the bushes were relatively low in height, and only a small section of them covered Guo Mi's head. Guo Mi quickly squeezed through, and the remaining bushes only reached a little above her belly.

The little bear was a little disappointed when it came out, and reluctantly looked back at the "hole" behind it.

Guo Mi stood in the bushes, her nose twitching. The more open the environment, the less the scent would be, so she needed to be more careful.

But she stopped quickly, thought for a moment, and suddenly said:

"Let's go back."

The salmon asked curiously:
"why?"

Guo Mi seemed to be deep in thought, then smiled and said:
"Maybe we won't need to look for him; we'll be able to meet him soon."

The little guy, mimicking Guo Mi's thoughtful expression, twitched his little ears and said:
"Ok."

Guo Mi smiled and prepared to walk out of the bushes and return to the berry grove via a more open path, but Fishbone suddenly called out to her:

"Guo Mi".

The little male bear stood beside the bushes from before and said excitedly:

"Can we go back from here?"

The little guy still couldn't forget the amazing experience he'd just had and wanted to crawl back into that narrow bear-made burrow.

Guo Mi's lips twitched, but she finally agreed.

"Alright, but this time it's your turn to go first with the salmon!"

Fishbone was even more excited and immediately agreed:
"it is good!"

He also volunteered:

"Let me help you and the salmon break the branch!"

Actually, Guo Mi had already enlarged the tree hole when she left, so there was no need for the little bear to clear the way. However, she still said with great seriousness:
"Really? Wow, Fishbone is going to protect me now? I'll have to leave it to you!"

So Fishbone strode ahead, leading Guo Mi and the salmon back into the bushes.

During this time, Guo Mi even deliberately picked a branch that was relatively prominent, stood in front of the branch, and hummed twice.

The little bear immediately ran back and carefully cleared away the branches. Guo Mi suppressed her laughter and followed the two little bears back to the berry grove.

(End of this chapter)