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

Chapter 99 Bear and Fruit
This was an unexpected yet logical answer, and the black bear quickly confirmed Guo Mi's conjecture:
"Polar bears, of course!"

After answering, he suddenly realized Guo Mi's doubts and looked at her with considerable disapproval:
"Is there anything strange about that? You're allowed to adopt polar bear cubs, but I can't be friends with polar bears?!"

Guo Mi realized why the black bear wasn't surprised at all when he saw her with two polar bear cubs; it turned out he was also a maverick bear.

The black bear kept bringing interesting information, and she became curious about the "polar bear friend" that the black bear mentioned.

A polar bear that can befriend a black bear...

In her memory, there seemed to be only one, but the area where this bear lived did not seem to match the area where the "polar bear friend" mentioned by the black bear lived.

Just to be on the safe side, Guo Mi still asked:
"Your polar bear friend isn't named Slok, is he?"

"Slok? Who's that?"

The black bear asked curiously, raising his nose:
"My friend's name is Dot!"

"Dian Dian?!"

Guo Mi was somewhat taken aback; she didn't recall any polar bear giving itself such a cute name.

But the black bear looked very proud:
"Isn't it nice? This is the name I gave him. His original name was... uh, I can't remember, but that doesn't matter! What matters is that I call him Dot!"

Guo Mi asked hesitantly:

"Is Dot a male bear?"

The black bear reaffirmed her question:
"Yes!"

……All right.

Regardless of who "Spot" in the black bear's mouth actually is, he should be a very good-tempered and amiable polar bear. Slok would probably be very happy to meet him.

Having satisfied her curiosity, Guo Mi looked at the black bear. He was in high spirits and relaxed because of the conversation, and was no longer as wary and cautious as before.

She actually quite liked this guy.

"Let's be friends. What's your name?"

Guo Mi introduced herself first in a very generous and open manner:

"My name is Guo Mi!"

Black Bear paused in his excited state as he talked about his friend, looking at Guo Mi with some disbelief:

"You want to be my friend?"

His reaction caught Guo Mi completely off guard.

The black bear muttered to Guo Mi:
“You brown bears are so annoying. Polar bears only attack me, but you not only attack me, you also laugh at me because of your size.”

Guo Mi opened her mouth slightly and let out an "Ah," she really didn't expect that she would be harmed because of the reputation of others in the Arctic while struggling to survive.

The black bear muttered for a while, then turned to look at Guo Mi, its gaze falling on the two bear cubs. Suddenly, it relented:

"Fine, you look much more normal compared to them. Okay, let's be friends."

He stood up, his expression solemn, a far cry from his previous arrogant and dismissive demeanor:

"My name is Bada."

After saying that, he immediately looked at Guo Mi suspiciously:

"Now that we're friends, you won't want to eat black bear meat anymore, will you?"

Guo Mi was both amused and exasperated by his thought process.

"I never intended to eat you in the first place!"

The black bear thought for a moment and realized that Guo Mi had indeed never truly intended to attack him from the beginning. He muttered "That's true," then looked around and, taking advantage of the situation, said to Guo Mi:
"Now that we're friends, can I eat these berries?"

They were so hungry that once the crisis was over, all they could think about was filling their stomachs.

Guo Mi, understanding Xiong's intentions, voluntarily moved aside:
"You eat it." A fierce glint flashed in Bada's eyes, not at Guo Mi and the little bear, but at the berries in the berry grove.

The two little bears were so focused on eating that they didn't care what the two big bears were saying. They were startled when a dark shadow rushed over. They didn't react until they saw that it was a black bear. They couldn't stand it anymore until they saw the bear stuffing everything into its mouth, big or small, green or ripe, without any discrimination!
The salmon rammed into him with its body:
"No, you can't eat like that!"

Bada, his mouth full of berries, couldn't speak and dismissed the little bear's words.

They're all fruits, you can just stuff them in your mouth, how else can you eat them?
Every bear driven mad by hunger is a force to be reckoned with.

No matter how much the salmon bumped into Bada, it couldn't stop him from stuffing large amounts of fruit into his mouth and swallowing them. The fish bones spun around beside him, and when they saw the short tail on Bada's rump, they made up their minds—

"Ow—"

The black bear's screams echoed through the berry grove.

Bada opened his mouth wide in pain, and the fruit that hadn't been bitten yet rolled out of his mouth through his teeth, clattering to the ground.

Seeing that he wasn't eating anymore, the fishbone quietly let go, and looking at his raised tail, it guiltily raised its paw and patted it.

This slap was even more devastating, and Bada let out another scream!
The fish bones huddled behind the salmon in fright.

The salmon didn't care about any of that and glared fiercely at Badar:

"How could you eat fruit like that? That's not how you eat fruit!"

Bada raised his paw to touch the tail on his rump, but no matter how far he stretched, he couldn't reach it. His eyes welled with tears as he glared at the two little ones, wanting to get angry but restrained by Guo Mi's imposing presence. He could only grit his teeth and swallow his anger, asking through gritted teeth:

"Then tell me, how should we eat the fruit?"

The salmon turned around and licked the fishbone's ear reassuringly, then stood up and walked to the berry grove, saying in a serious tone:

“You can’t eat all the fruit, otherwise there won’t be any seeds, and the berry vines won’t be able to produce as much fruit next year. We need to leave some of the stronger ones…”

Bada sat beside him, initially listening indifferently and perfunctorily, but eventually perked up his ears and listened intently.

Fishbone also came out from behind his sister and earnestly taught him how to distinguish between "male fruit" and "female fruit".

Bada said with some doubt:
"Do fruits have male and female varieties? Don't they all look the same?"

"How are they the same?!"

Fishbone loudly retorted:

"This one is small and has thick skin, while that one is big and juicy. How come they all look the same?!"

Bada looked and realized it was true, and immediately submitted. Halfway through, he suddenly remembered something and asked the two little bears:
"Who taught you this?"

The salmon raised its little head:

"Guo Mi taught it!"

Bada's questioning gaze instantly fell on Guo Mi:

"Do you still understand this?"

Guo Mi chuckled twice:
"I understand a little bit, I understand a little bit."

Bada continued to ask:
Are the male and female fruits real?

Guo Mi felt a little guilty. She didn't actually know whether or not berries were divided into categories, but since she had already taught her, dividing them was better than not dividing them at all, so she felt "full of confidence":
"of course it's true!"

Bada looked her up and down, then finally looked away.
"Ok."

He stayed by the bear's side, listening to the bear's instructions, keeping the healthier fruits, and carefully distinguishing them while enduring his hunger, eating only the edible ones.

All animals care a lot about food, but it is already commendable that Bada, as an adult bear, can patiently listen to the cubs and believe in them.

Perhaps because of their similar size and the presence of Guo Mi, the little bear did not show the same fear of Bada as it did of the male polar bear.

Guo Mi sat to the side watching the three bears huddle together and whisper to each other. A smile flashed in her eyes. She glanced to the side casually in the moonlight and suddenly froze.

(End of this chapter)