King of the Wilderness

Chapter 380: Chapter 225: The Proper Way to Process a Porcupine (With Pictures)

He first inspected the stove built with soapstone. As he had expected, during the few hours of his absence, the charcoal used to produce smoke had burned out.

At the bottom of the stove was a thick layer of fine white ash, with a few nearly extinguished embers deep within.

”The cold smoking process almost got interrupted,” he muttered to the action camera hanging on his chest, his voice filled with unmistakable fatigue.

”I have to restart it immediately. If the semi-finished smoked fish gets moisture on the surface, it will be troublesome again.”

He turned around and quickly returned to the shelter entrance, reaching out to push the heavy wooden door. With a slight creak, the door was opened by a crack.

A flow of warm air, starkly different from the bitter cold outside, instantly surged through the door gap, enveloping him.

This airflow carried the warm aroma of burning wood, instantly soothing his nerves, tense from long exposure to the cold and alertness.

He squeezed sideways through the door, then gently closed it, sealing off the wind, snow, and cold from outside.

Inside the shelter, the only illumination came from the flickering flames in the fireplace. On a small cot near the fireplace, covered with thick wolf skin, a small white fur ball was startled by the sound of the door opening.

The white bear cub, December, was sleeping sprawled out, its little belly rising and falling.

Upon hearing the noise, one of its fluffy little ears twitched like a radar, unconsciously moving twice.

Soon after, its eyelids, covered with long white eyelashes, struggled to lift a tiny gap.

In its drowsy sight, the familiar, tall figure stood at the door, the outline clearly highlighted by the firelight from the fireplace behind.

”Mm-hmm...”

December let out a soft whimper, laden with a nasal tone. This sound carried both displeasure from being disturbed during sleep and irresistible delight and grievance.

Its brain seemed to have issued the command to ”get up, greet,” as the most important person had returned! Quick! Run over as usual, jump onto his leg, and let him hold you!

However, its body remained in a lazy ”offline” state.

It made an effort to push its chubby front paws against the ground, barely lifting its round upper body off the warm wolfskin blanket.

Its head wobbled, its obsidian-bright and pure eyes now appeared watery from sleepiness, clearly reflecting Lin Yu’an’s silhouette.

Yet the hind part of its body remained lazily lying in place, showing no intention of cooperation.

This ”front-drive engaged, rear-drive out of order” posture lasted only two seconds.

Eventually, its front paws softened, and its small body fell back with a soft ”poof,” its little head even bouncing slightly on the wolfskin blanket due to inertia.

A failed attempt.

It seemed December gave up struggling, simply resting its little head on its front paws again, tilting its head to gaze unblinkingly at Lin Yu’an with those watery black eyes.

The cute look of ”my enthusiasm has arrived, but my body is still on the way” made Lin Yu’an’s tense mood from the afternoon instantly soften.

Lin Yu’an’s lips involuntarily curled into a heartfelt smile.

He squatted down to maintain eye level with the little creature. Using the back of his clean, blood-free hand, he gently rubbed December’s furry little head.

He could clearly feel the dense, soft fur of the cub and the warmth transmitted through it. Bending his fingers, he lightly scratched its favorite spot under the chin with his knuckles.

December comfortably narrowed its eyes, a satisfied, purring sound like a small motor emanating from deep in its throat.

”Be good, sleep a little longer. I have some work to do.” He whispered softly.

After soothing the little one, he stood up and went to the fireplace, carefully poking aside the upper layer of flame and wood.

Then, from the depths of the fireplace, from the fully burned pile of glowing red charcoal, he picked a few scorching pieces and placed them into a metal bucket.

Carrying the bucket of charcoal, he exited the shelter again, braving the cold wind back to the igloo’s stove. Carefully, he poured the hot charcoal into the stove’s bottom.

Then from a nearby birch bark tube, he grabbed a large handful of wood chips and evenly covered the charcoal with them.

Soon, under the combined influence of the burning hot charcoal and the low-oxygen environment, the previously dwindling white smoke started billowing out again.

Flowing smoothly through the snow-made smoke duct he designed, the smoke gently entered the smokehouse’s interior.

The cold smoking process resumed.

Having dealt with the most urgent issue, Lin Yu’an now turned his attention to the main event of the night, the porcupine.

He decided to process it thoroughly outdoors overnight. Directly on the snow by the lake near the smokehouse, he cleared a clean, flat area.

Shoveling away the top layer of snow revealed a compacted snow layer underneath, hard as cement due to the cold. This was now his outdoor workstation for the night.

Then, he carried over a large bundle of pre-split birch logs from a woodpile next to the shelter.

A small bundle of resin-rich birch bark as tinder, a bundle of pencil-thick dry twigs as kindling, and a pile of birch logs arm-thick as the main fuel.