The gale-force winds, carrying ice crystals, lashed against the goggles.
Su Wei did not rush to take a step.
He crouched down, searching for clues in the snow-covered clearing.
Caesar had been gone for twenty minutes, but it weighed over a hundred pounds and was carrying a twenty-pound load, so its paws would be digging deeper into the snow than usual.
Su Wei closed his eyes briefly, and when he opened them again, his vision had changed.
[ Hunting Module LV2 is activated]
[Active Effect: Tracking Assistance Enabled.]
Before his eyes, intermittent golden glimmers appeared in the white world.
Those were the residual pheromones and physical traces that were revealed.
A faint golden dotted line extended from the porch, pointing towards the spruce forest in the southeast.
Su Wei crouched down and moved along the line.
He walked very slowly, testing the snow with his toes before each step to avoid breaking any dry branches and making a sound.
The wind direction is erratic.
Su Wei grabbed a handful of snow and threw it into the air.
The snow powder swirled in mid-air, sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right.
This turbulence causes odor molecules to spread everywhere, and if one is not careful, one's own scent will drift into Caesar's nose.
He must always be downwind or crosswind.
Following the golden trail, Su Wei entered the forest area.
The trees blocked some of the wind and snow, making the snow on the ground even softer and more difficult to walk on.
The golden thread suddenly broke between the two enormous fir trees.
Su Wei immediately stopped, pressed his body against a tree trunk, and reduced his breathing to a minimum.
Dead-end road.
Dogs can't fly.
Su Wei carefully observed the surrounding environment.
Ahead lay an open thicket of bushes with only a few protruding rocks.
If Caesar wanted to hide, that would be an excellent ambush point.
But he did not rush forward.
That beast is very clever.
Su Wei activated the Tracking Assistance deep scan.
Where the gold thread disappeared, he found traces of snow that had been backfilled.
It moves backwards.
Before entering the open area, Caesar deliberately turned back, stepping in his own footprints, and then jumped onto a rock to the side, changing his route from a higher position.
Su Wei looked up and, sure enough, on a protruding rock face to his right, he could once again spot that faint golden trail.
Since it went to such lengths to conceal its whereabouts, it means its real hiding place is nearby.
Su Wei took out a small bottle filled with talcum powder from his pocket and squeezed it gently.
The white powder was sprayed out and instantly blown to the left by the wind.
The wind has changed direction.
It's an east wind now.
If you approach from the right side of the rock face, the wind will carry his scent directly into the dog's nose.
Su Wei decisively abandoned the direct cutting route.
He made a huge semicircle, even though the snow was up to his thighs and he was expending his precious energy, he still had to get to the downwind side on the west side.
Ten minutes later.
Su Wei lay prone on the ridge of a snow slope.
The snow here had been hardened by the wind, enough to support his weight.
He buried himself in the snow, leaving only his eyes and the telescope's objective lens visible.
The golden trail eventually disappeared about thirty meters below and ahead, next to a fallen tree hollow.
Those were two giant trees that had fallen and become entangled together, forming a natural triangular shelter.
It is sheltered from the wind, has a wide field of vision, and only has this one blind spot.
If they hadn't taken the detour, Su Wei would have been exposed to Caesar by now, having followed the footprints.
But where is Caesar?
Su Wei did not see the black-backed male dog.
The tree hollow was empty, with only a corner of a canvas bag, half-covered by snow, peeking out.
It's a trap.
Place the bait in the open, then hunt from the shadows.
The dog that Black raised is just as cunning as he is.
Su Wei held his breath, ignoring the bone-chilling cold that was emanating from his limbs.
His eyes searched every shadow around the tree hole.
The system's golden trajectory can only display the path, not pinpoint the location of the living organism. Now it's up to him.
The wind howled.
Su Wei suddenly noticed that above the tree hole, on the horizontal branch of the tree trunk, there was a clump of snow with an odd shape.
The snow there was thicker than the surrounding area, and its edges, instead of being sharp and angular from the wind, had a rounded curve.
He slowly adjusted the focus of the telescope.
Beneath that patch of snow, two extremely faint points of light flashed and disappeared.
Those are Caesar's eyes.
Instead of hiding in the tree hole, it lay on the tree trunk two meters above the ground, its body completely covered by the snow, with only its eyes sticking out, staring intently at the only path below.
As soon as Su Wei gets close to the canvas bag, this ferocious beast weighing fifty kilograms will descend from the sky and lock its throat.
Distance: 42 meters.
Su Wei glanced at the tactical watch on his wrist and confirmed the ranging data.
Mission accomplished.
But he did not retreat immediately.
He prepared to take out his phone to take a photo as evidence.
Just as he took out his phone, the wind blew to the side from the snow slope where he was, instead of blowing directly at Caesar.
But such a faint odor disturbance is enough to attract the attention of a hunting dog of this caliber.
The clump of snow on the tree trunk moved.
Caesar abruptly raised his head, his black nostrils flaring wildly, his sharp gaze sweeping across the snow slope where Su Wei had laid out the beef jerky.
The place where Su Wei was hiding was not far away.
Su Wei remained completely still, not even blinking.
The deodorizing spray on him and the thick layer of snow provided the best camouflage.
Caesar stared at this spot with suspicion for a full ten seconds, but finding nothing amiss, he rested his chin on his front paws again and continued to stare at the canvas bag at the entrance of the tree hole.
It neither made a sound nor moved.
Su Wei breathed a sigh of relief and silently finished taking the next photo.
Then, it silently crawled backward, gradually retreating from the area.
Only after retreating more than a hundred meters away did he dare to stand up, brush the snow off his body, and stride towards the wooden house.
Push open the door.
The warmth of the room sent a shiver down his spine.
Black remained seated in the same spot, the cigar in his hand reduced to a tiny bit.
Forty-eight minutes.
Black glanced at the wall clock.
"Slower than I expected."
"It wasn't on the ground. It was lying on the crossbeam above the tree hole, covered in snow. The canvas bag was just a decoy."