The smoke cleared, and the little bear lay still on the ground.
Jiang Ye was cautious this time, clutching a grenade and waiting nervously. Would another, even smaller, bear emerge from the little bear's belly?
After five minutes, the little bear's corpse remained motionless.
Jiang Ye decided to go and face this bear cub!
He put on his two layers of cotton clothes, stuffed four grenades into his pockets, slung the bolt-action shotgun over his back, and held the pump-action shotgun in his hand. He pushed open the base door.
The wind wasn't as strong as it was at night, but it was still cuttingly cold.
Jiang Ye jogged forward, finding it warmer that way.
Soon, he reached the corpses of the three bears.
The alien bears were even more ugly and sinister than he had imagined. Their fur was jet black and shiny, as if they had been soaked in oil. They actually had four eyes, each a compound eye like that of a fly or dragonfly, cherry-red in color.
The grenades had blown open the bears' bodies, revealing fat as white as tofu beneath their hides. The largest of the giant bears had fat as thick as a fist. Then came the intricate network of blood vessels, purple, red, and black, still emitting a ghostly white steam.
Jiang Ye specifically went to look at the smallest bear.
Its belly was bulging, as if it contained something.
Jiang Ye took two steps back and fired the pump-action shotgun ferociously, emptying all five rounds into the bear's belly.
As expected, there was a bloody mass inside the bear's stomach. It hadn't fully formed yet, but he could vaguely make out a bear cub the size of a dog.
Are you Russian? Playing a nesting doll game with me? Jiang Ye chuckled.
He slung his shotgun behind his back, freed his hands, and pulled out the infant bear from the bear's belly.
The infant bear was entirely red flesh, like a skinned animal, looking somewhat terrifying.
It weighed about twenty pounds. Jiang Ye carried it by its leg and returned to the base.
He directly threw it into the trading pod for scanning.
He was eager to see what kind of nesting doll monster this was.
A moment later, information appeared on the screen:
[Item: Hui Xiong]
[Item Description: An extremely special bear species. It has a cub inside the mother bear, representing a mother-child relationship, much like the Chinese character "回" (huí). After the mother bear dies, the cub will break out of its body. Hui Xiong can nest up to five cubs. Their fur is an excellent material for making cold-weather clothing, their meat is extremely nourishing, and their fat can be used as fuel.]
[Estimated Value: 100,000 Yuan]
Jiang Ye's eyes lit up.
This thing is so useful?
Clothing, food, fuel – its entire body was a treasure!
The little cub in the trading pod, without fur, just a piece of meat, was worth a hundred thousand yuan.
Without hesitation, he clicked to sell.
His personal assets reached 923,000 yuan.
This money included what he had saved previously, as well as the profits distributed by the citizens of Cao County.
Jiang Ye rested for a moment, the corn in the pot had softened. He ate two cooled cobs. Then, he picked up his katana and pickaxe and headed to the corpses of the three giant bears.
He started by dissecting the largest of the giant bears.
The bear hide was tougher than he had expected. He had to first use the pickaxe to make an opening, then insert the katana and cut horizontally.
It took a full hour to skin the giant bear. Its body was so massive that Jiang Ye had to climb up and down.
Finally, the entire bear hide was peeled off and spread flat on the ground.
It looked incredibly large, almost enough to serve as a carpet for an entire living room.
The only drawback was that the shrapnel from the grenade had created many rents in the hide. Without these rents, it would have been a work of art.
Jiang Ye rolled up the giant bear hide and slung it over his shoulder. It weighed over sixty pounds, incredibly heavy.
He carried it back to the base and threw it into the trading pod.
[Item: Hui Xiong Hide]
[Item Description: A hot commodity in the fur market, a favorite of luxury furniture makers!]
[Estimated Value: 500,000 Yuan, or 400,000 Yuan plus a Hui Xiong stool]
Jiang Ye blinked and, after a slight hesitation, chose the latter.
Sell!
His personal assets rapidly increased by 400,000 yuan, reaching 1,323,000 yuan!
The bear hide in the trading pod disappeared, but then a flash of light appeared, and a small black stool materialized.
Jiang Ye picked up the stool. It was a tiny three-legged stool, like one for a kindergarten child. The legs were made of wood, and the seat was covered with bear fur, which felt soft and plush.
He placed the stool on the ground and sat on it.
It was very comfortable to sit on, soft and thick, and very warm. It was completely different from those hard stools that made your backside numb!
Jiang Ye was very satisfied. Although it was expensive, the item was truly excellent. Sitting on the fur stool, he felt like a Russian nobleman from the Tsarist era.
After a brief rest, he left the base again.
This time, he brought an empty pot and a shovel.
The giant bear carcass, stripped of its hide, was covered in thick layers of fat. In the sunlight, its entire body was snow-white, like a cream bear.
The fat had frozen solid in the wind, resembling viscous soap.
Many soaps were indeed made from fat: coconut oil from coastal regions, goat fat soap from Egypt, lard soap recorded by Sun Simiao in the Tang Dynasty, and even human fat soap from World War II.
Jiang Ye used the shovel to scrape off the bear fat and then dumped it into the pot. This was not an easy task, as there was an immense amount of fat.
In just ten minutes, he had filled an entire pot with white, glistening fat, emitting a strange fishy odor.
Jiang Ye took the pot back to the base and brought out another empty pot.
He continued scraping the fat!
It took him an hour and a half to scrape off most of the fat from the giant bear's entire body. The carcass had visibly shrunk.
The base was now filled with ten pots of bear fat!
To store all this fat, Jiang Ye had to buy seven more pots.
Conservatively, there was close to 150 pounds of bear oil, which was truly astonishing.
Having so much bear oil in the base was also a problem. Jiang Ye opened the Galaxy Mall and bought a new warehouse.
He set it up next to the fruit storage, and then moved all the pots of bear fat inside to store them. This warehouse would serve as his hunting trophy storage.
Jiang Ye intended to use this bear oil as fuel.
He used the shovel to scoop out about half a pound of fat, returned to the base's stove, lifted the lid, and poured it in.
As the fat came into contact with the burning coal, it ignited within seconds, and then flames spurted and flowed within the stove!
A roaring sound immediately filled the furnace, the sound of intensified combustion.
He could clearly feel a wave of heat rising from the stove!
Jiang Ye waited silently, observing the half-pound of bear oil in the stove. The fat shrank continuously, as if ice were placed in fire. It took about five minutes for half of it to burn.
It seemed that bear oil was quite combustible, truly excellent fuel!
The next step was to cut the bear meat.
The trading pod had evaluated the bear meat as highly nourishing!
Jiang Ye also wanted to nourish himself. In such cold weather, if he didn't replenish his strength, he feared he would soon become weak.
If nothing else, working outside all morning had left him stiff and cold.
It was just lunchtime. Jiang Ye used his katana to cut off about a pound of bear meat and carried it back to the base.
He placed an empty pot on the stove, without adding any water.
He sliced the bear meat into thin strips and threw them directly into the pot!
A sizzling sound immediately erupted, and a meaty aroma instantly wafted out.
Jiang Ye intended to pan-fry the meat.