American Landowners: Starting with Hunting in Alaska

The roar of the tracked vehicle crushing the ice finally stopped, and the inertia caused the people inside the vehicle to lurch forward.

The engine shut off, and the surroundings became quiet, with only the faint crackling sound of the exhaust pipe cooling down.

The silence lasted less than two seconds before a strong, unique smell seeped in through the gap in the car door.

It wasn't the scent of pine resin, nor the crispness of ice and snow, but rather a stench of rust, disinfectant, and offal.

Blake pushed open the car door, and a biting cold wind rushed in, but it couldn't dispel the smell that filled his nostrils.

This is the official material recycling and processing center of the Hunter's Guild on Kodiak Island, or to put it more bluntly, a slaughterhouse.

Su Wei jumped out of the car, his boots landing on the hardened cement ground mixed with black ash and bloodstains.

Before me was a huge, semi-open factory building, with countless iron hooks and sliding rails hanging from the ceiling.

Even during the off-season when heavy snow closes the mountains, the lingering smell of blood still remains in the air.

Blake took off his sunglasses, casually draped them over his collar, and walked straight to a row of refrigerated cabinets in the corner.

"This is not just a place of killing."

He patted the heavy metal door, the echo reverberating through the empty factory.

"It only takes a hunter a second to fire a bullet, but that's the beginning of the responsibility, not the end. Bringing the meat back, cleaning it, serving it on the table, or sending it here to exchange for dollars—that's the complete cycle."

Eric covered his nose, his face full of resistance.

I feel like throwing up.

Eric said in a muffled voice.

"Swallow it back."

Blake said coldly.

He yanked open the cold storage door, the sliding rails screeching as they spun.

The four large items were carried out by staff using a trolley.

The four black-tailed deer, which had just been shot for population control, still had warm bodies and their limbs were not stiff.

Blake took a boning knife from the knife rack on the wall; the blade reflected a cold light under the lamp.

"The third and final assessment item: site cleanup."

He threw the knife onto the scratched stainless steel workbench.

"Each of you will have one. The requirements are simple: remove the internal organs, skin it, and cut it into quarters. You have forty minutes."

"There are only two scoring criteria: don't break the intestines and contaminate the meat, and don't waste good meat."

Blake stepped back, holding his notebook, and pressed the stopwatch.

"start."

The air inside the factory seemed to freeze.

Dennis was the first to move.

The old hunter, who had suffered a crushing defeat in the shooting competition, grabbed the skinning knife with the wooden handle. Without even touching the deer's body, he rubbed the blade against his leather apron twice.

Then, he grabbed the deer's hind leg with one hand, and with an extremely skillful tip of the knife, he pried open the skin at the Achilles tendon and slid it downwards.

With a tearing sound, the skin and flesh separated.

Aruk also got the hang of it.

Although this kid is usually loud and boisterous, as a local native, he has watched his elders process game since he was a child.

He mumbled some kind of tribal song that the Suwei couldn't understand. Although his movements were rough and wide, he was strong and didn't hesitate when tearing the fur.

Su Wei stood in front of his own control panel.

He gripped the slightly heavy boning knife, its surface cold and rough to the touch.

There was no system notification sound.

There is no pop-up window for opening the dissection module.

Killing fish and killing deer are vastly different in terms of operation, so it's normal that the system doesn't support them.

Su Wei took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the slight tension in his heart.

Although he had dissected a black-tailed deer before, this was different.

This is an assessment.

Moreover, his anatomical skills were not proficient to begin with.

However, although he lacked professional skills, he had other advantages.

The hand stability gained from Culinary Skill LV3, combined with the understanding of structural logic provided by Mechanical Repair.

He viewed the deer as a machine, with its skeleton as the frame, muscles as the transmission, and internal organs as the engine.

Once you understand the structure, disassembling it isn't much harder than disassembling the engine of that snowmobile.

Soviet troops have started operating.

Instead of showing off his backhand flick like Dennis, he opted for the safest forehand grip.

The knife tip pierced the soft tissue below the sternum.

The resistance was greater than expected; the toughness of the fur resisted the blades tenaciously.

Su Wei slightly turned his wrist, using the curve of the blade to make a small incision, then inserted his index and middle fingers into the incision to prop up the peritoneum and prevent the tip of the knife from piercing the stomach below.

If your hand shakes, the sharp blade could instantly slice your finger or pierce your stomach, which is filled with corrosive stomach acid.

But he was very steady.

Very stable.

The blade slid along the back of my fingers, like unzipping a smooth zipper.

The heat mixed with the stench of blood hit him, but Su Wei remained unfazed and quickly proceeded to the next step of the stripping process.

On the other side, Eric's table was a scene of disaster.

He was clearly overwhelmed by the rising heat and the smell of blood, and with Blake watching him the whole time, his mental defenses completely collapsed.

He waved the knife wildly, trying to end this disgusting process quickly.

puff.

A muffled thud.

Immediately afterwards, a nauseating, sour stench exploded out, even overpowering the original bloody smell of the slaughterhouse.

Eric's knife plunged deep into the deer's rumen.

Yellowish-green semi-digested grass gushed out from the incision, instantly contaminating most of the abdominal cavity and the lean meat on the inside of the hind leg.

"Oh God..."

Eric gagged, threw the knife on the table, and backed away.

Blake's expression vanished instantly.

He quietly walked over, glanced at the mushy mess of meat, and then drew a huge X on Eric's grade column.

"Get out of here."

Blake pointed to the gate.

"Don't let your incompetence continue to insult this deer."

Eric blushed and tried to explain, but under Blake's murderous aura, he could only slink away into a corner.

Forty minutes later.

Stop.

Blake stopped the stopwatch.

Dennis had already started wiping his knife.

The deer in front of him had been perfectly butchered, its fur intact, the meat on its four legs neatly cut, and its back cleanly trimmed, leaving not a single scrap of meat on the bones.

The situation was slightly worse in Aruk's area; the table was covered in blood, and the pieces of meat were cut into varying sizes, but fortunately, the core parts were preserved, and nothing was wasted.

Su Wei put down the knife, let out a long breath, and felt a slight soreness in his wrist.

The finished product in front of him wasn't very appealing.

In some places, due to excessive caution, the cuts were not smooth enough, and even left many small knife marks.

The peeled skin was intact, but it had a lot of fat and meat on it, making it look rough.

Overall, it's not bad.

The entire abdominal cavity was thoroughly cleaned and free of any contaminants.

Blake walked over with his hands behind his back.

He lingered in front of Dennis's counter for a long time, even picking up a piece of hind leg meat to examine its texture.

"Textbook-level acid removal pretreatment."

Blake nodded, a rare occurrence, and wrote a number on the paper.

"100 points. Dennis, if you were twenty years younger, I would recruit you into my search and rescue team."

The old hunter straightened his back, and a hint of triumphant glow finally appeared on his weathered face.

Next was Aruk.

Blake disdainfully poked at the messy pile of meat chunks.

"Crude and poorly made. Did you gnaw on it with your teeth?"

Aruk chuckled and scratched his head.

"Anyway, they'll all end up in the meat grinder to be made into sausages, so the shape doesn't matter, sir."

"80 points. I'm only giving you a discount because you didn't get any shit on your body."

Finally, Blake stopped in front of Suwei.

He carefully examined the damage to the leather and looked at the slightly rough knife marks.

Su Wei nervously clenched her fingers.

Compared to his impressive shooting and tracking skills, he was indeed a complete novice in this area.

"That's interesting."

Blake pulled a rib that had been completely removed from the deer's chest cavity.

"You have no experience, you don't even know how to use force most efficiently. But your hands are very steady, and..."

He looked at Su Wei with a probing gaze.

"You remained calm. Even in an area you weren't good at, you didn't panic, but instead chose the simplest but safest method."

"This is even rarer than talent."

The pen tip rubs against the paper.

"70 points. Not outstanding, but enough for you to have a clean, hot meal in the wilderness."

Su Wei's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settled back into his stomach.

You passed.

This is enough.

Blake closed the notebook that would determine everyone's fate and turned to look at Eric, who was huddled in the corner.

"Eric, average score 51. Failing. You can go home and cry to your mom, or come back next year after you've practiced more."

Eric gritted his teeth and glared venomously at Suwei, seemingly attributing all his failures to Suwei's appearance disrupting his rhythm.

He said nothing, kicked the metal bucket next to him, and left angrily.

Only the remaining three people were left in the factory.

Blake tore off three temporary receipts bearing the guild's seal and slapped them onto the chests of the three men.

"Congratulations to you, newbies and veterans alike."

He put his sunglasses back on, and his tone returned to its original businesslike manner.

"Now, wash the blood off your hands and come back to the office with me."

"Go and get that plastic card that allows you to legally kill, and also legally die."

Su Wei looked down at the thin piece of paper in his hand.

The stamp on it wasn't completely dry yet, and the red ink looked particularly glaring in the dim light.

With this piece of paper in hand, the $160,000 debt finally had a beginning.

Aruk excitedly put his arm around Suvi's shoulder, completely ignoring the bloodstains still on his hands.

"Hey. Did you hear that, bro? We're about to strike it rich!"

Suwei shoved the excited brown bear away with disdain, but couldn't help but smile.