He slipped two fingers inside, carefully avoiding the stomach sac holding the digestive contents, and cut upward along the midline of the abdomen.
The blade sliced easily through the warm flesh, all the way to the breastbone.
Then he reached into the warm chest cavity, felt around for the large blood vessels near the spine, hooked them with his fingers, and cut hard.
Warm blood gushed out at once.
He rolled the deer onto its side, and dark red blood gurgled from the opening in its chest. It quickly pooled on the snow, and the thick smell of blood filled the air in an instant.
Cotton Candy came over, growing somewhat restless at the smell of blood.
Su Wei shot him a stern, warning look.
"Stay put and keep watch."
The little fox whimpered and obediently ran to the edge of the hollow, watching the surroundings alertly for any movement.
Su Wei didn't sit idle during the few minutes he waited for the blood to drain.
He unscrewed his water bottle and took a swig, but his eyes warily scanned every patch of dense forest around him, missing neither a stir of wind nor a rustle of grass.
A mountain wind blew past, carrying an ineradicable smell of blood amid the crisp chill particular to coniferous forests.
I have to hurry.
Once he confirmed that most of the blood had drained, it was time for the next crucial step: removing the internal organs.
This was essential to preserving the quality of the venison. If the organs ruptured and digestive contents and feces contaminated the meat, the deer would be practically ruined.
He first made a circular cut around the pelvis, carefully separated the rectum and urethra from it, then tightly bound their ends with the ties he carried.
Only after all that did he begin working from the chest cavity.
He reached inside, where everything felt slick and warm.
Heart, lungs, liver.
He removed them one by one, carefully placing the heart and liver on clean snow nearby, letting the natural cold keep them fresh.
Then he pulled gently downward, dragging the entire stomach sac and intestines out intact.
His movements remained steady and precise throughout, and he was clearly very familiar with the procedure.
The bloody scene didn't make him uncomfortable in the least. Right now, he had only one word on his mind.
Efficiency.
Once he had removed all the organs, the enormous abdominal and chest cavities were left empty.
Su Wei took a spare clean cloth and carefully wiped away the remaining blood and bodily fluids inside.
By the time he finished, he had worked up a sweat.
Even in the twenty-below-zero cold, sweat had soaked the hair on his forehead, and every white breath he exhaled was like a cloud of thick fog.
He straightened up and looked at the result of his work.
A dressed black-tailed deer lay quietly on the snow.
He had to get the most valuable parts back to camp before dark.
As for the rest, he could only bury it on the spot and pray no one found it.
The tenderloins, the tender, finest part of the deer.
The hindquarter meat, firm and plentiful.
And of course, the heart and liver.
As for the stomach and intestines, he wouldn't keep them.
Su Wei drew his hunting knife and began butchering.
He first cut two whole tenderloins precisely away from the spine.
The two cuts weighed at least seven or eight pounds and would be his dinner tonight.
Then he started on the two thick hind legs.
Separating the joints and cutting through the fascia was delicate work.
Time passed, minute by minute, second by second.
Bit by bit, Su Wei butchered out all the various cuts of venison.
Looking at the separated cuts laid out on the ground, Su Wei breathed out, and his warm breath quickly turned to mist in the cold.
Even the subzero temperature in the negative teens couldn't stop sweat from beading on his forehead.
Once he had finished separating and butchering the cuts, he also skinned off an intact black-tailed deer hide.
Su Wei thought it over carefully, then took the sealed waterproof bags he had prepared from the backpack he carried.
He put the heart and liver into separate bags. These two were golden organs, worth quite a bit.
Next, he took out a large bag and packed the tenderloins and hindquarter meat into it as well.
Another half hour or so passed.
Su Wei had buried all the remaining venison he couldn't carry.
As for the rest, he was already loaded down with it.
Four or five bags hung from his waist.
Two more hung in front of his chest.
This was the limit of what he could carry.
For the rest, he could only come back tomorrow.
He could only hope this flesh and blood wouldn't be discovered.
Next came the question of how to get back to camp safely.
Chapter 20: Spoils on the Tongue, a Feast in the Wilderness
Su Wei hung all the venison he could carry on himself. Wrapped in several heavy waterproof bags, he looked every bit like a walking butcher shop.
Every step he took sank deep.
The snow completely covered his ankles.
The heavy load forced his center of gravity forward.
Out in the Alaskan wilderness, especially with night approaching,
this was actually a dangerous thing to do.
But Su Wei chose to do it anyway, simply because he didn't want to waste his prey.
The sky darkened rapidly.
The last rays of the setting sun stained the snow orange-red, only to be swiftly swallowed by the spreading blue gloom.
The wind howled through the woods, whipping up loose snow and scattering it everywhere.
Soon, scattered snowflakes covered Su Wei's face and body.
Cotton Candy followed close at his feet. The little fellow was exhausted too and no longer bounced about. He only looked back from time to time, letting out a low whimper in his throat to urge Su Wei on.
When the bright orange tent finally came into view, Su Wei's nerves, which had been taut all afternoon, eased slightly.
Only once he was back at camp could he consider himself in a temporary safe zone.
He took the bags hanging from his body off one by one.
The heavy bags of meat landed on the waterproof sheet with a series of dull thuds.
The moment the burden left him, he even felt an ache in the joints of his back.
Su Wei didn't rest. He grabbed his rifle and made a wary circuit of the camp.
The smell of blood mingled with the wind; he had brought it back himself.
In the darkness, that smell could easily attract predators.
After confirming there was no immediate danger, he began dealing with his precious spoils.
Leaving them directly on the ground overnight would be no different from delivering takeout to bears and wolverines.
He found the bundle of sturdy nylon rope, tied one end to a heavy bag of meat, and tossed the other over a thick spruce branch overhead.
Gritting his teeth, he used the little strength he had left after the return journey to hoist the bag of hindquarter meat and tenderloins into the air, bit by bit.
Until it was more than four meters off the ground.
A standard "bear bag" was complete.
That way, animals on the ground wouldn't be able to reach it.
Next came the freshly skinned black-tailed deer hide.
He spread it flat on another clean waterproof sheet, fur side down, then drew his hunting knife and carefully scraped the remaining fat and fascia from the flesh side.
He grabbed a large bag of coarse salt and spread a thick layer over the entire flesh side, missing not a single corner.
Salt could quickly absorb moisture, preventing bacterial growth from causing rot.