The hard-shell case for the stag antlers was relatively simple, secured to the side of the carriage opposite the bear skeleton with two sets of elastic ropes.
It's installed.
Su Wei jumped out of the carriage and closed the tailgate.
Old Hope stood at the factory gate, his hands in the pockets of his leather apron.
Su Wei walked over.
"They're gone."
Old Hope snorted, saying nothing more.
Su Wei turned and walked towards the Raptor.
After taking three steps, I heard Old Hope's voice behind me.
"Kid."
Su Wei stopped.
"Use expansion bolts, not regular screws, for the hooks above the fireplace."
"Basalt is very hard; ordinary screws can't support the weight of deer antlers."
"Knew."
"Besides."
There was a rare hesitation in Old Hope's voice.
"After you've set up the bear king, send me a photo."
Su Wei turned and glanced at him.
The old man had already turned and walked into the factory, his hunched back disappearing behind the rusty iron gate.
Su Wei got on the bus.
A black Raptor led the way, followed by a dark blue heavy truck.
The convoy traveled along inland state roads.
The road is narrow and winding, but the road conditions are much safer than the coastal highway.
Su Wei kept his speed at forty miles per hour, checking his rearview mirror to make sure the truck was following him around each bend.
One and a half hours.
The outline of the Emerald Lake Territory emerges from the edge of the fir forest.
Su Wei drove to the front of the exhibition hall, got out of the car, and opened the gate.
The warmth was overwhelming.
The exhibition hall's 24-hour circulating system keeps the room temperature stable at a comfortable level.
The basalt fireplace in the lobby on the first floor stands quietly in the center, its two-meter diameter opening empty, while the hooks above it have been waiting for a long time.
The sound of water in the valley comes from the right, while the low-frequency waves from the tidal pool come from the left.
The two voices intertwined, creating a continuous, low background sound in the empty hall.
The truck's hydraulic lift platform was lowered outside the door.
Su Wei first took the deer king's antlers.
The hard-shell box was carried into the hall by two workers and placed on the floor in front of the fireplace.
Su Wei unpacked the cotton felt and bubble wrap, and opened the box lid.
The antlers lay nestled in custom-made sponge grooves.
The dark brown bone gleamed with a subtle, oily sheen under the full-spectrum lighting of the hall.
The resin and soil seeped into the bone over many years, forming a patina that covered the surface of each branch with a light amber-colored film.
Su Wei put on gloves, supported the bottom of the main beam with both hands, and took the stag antlers out of the box.
Sink.
The thick main beam is thicker than an adult man's forearm, and its two brow fins curve forward with their tips polished to a high shine.
Su Wei moved an aluminum ladder over and leaned it against the fireplace.
Holding the deer antlers in one hand and gripping the ladder with the other, he climbed up step by step.
The hooks directly above the fireplace were pre-installed by Matt's workers.
Two M12 stainless steel expansion bolts were driven into the basalt rock wall to a depth of eight centimeters, and forged iron hooks were welded to the bolt plates.
Su Wei aligned the skull base of the antlers with the hook and slowly lowered it.
The sound of metal contacting bone is extremely faint, almost inaudible.
It's stuck.
Su Wei released his grip.
The antlers hang directly above the fireplace, with seven pairs of branches spreading out to both sides, occupying a width of nearly two meters.
Looking up from directly below, the forked silhouette casts an interlaced, bony shadow on the ceiling.
Then, the air changed.
It's neither a change in temperature nor a fluctuation in humidity.
It's the smell.
An extremely delicate woody scent seeped from the bone surface of the antlers, like heated pine needles falling into the morning dew.
The aura spread very quickly, filling a three-meter radius around the fireplace in less than ten seconds.
Su Wei stood on the ladder, his nostrils filled with this smell.
Not greasy, not pungent.
It's the smell of pine needles and decaying leaves clinging to your trousers after a whole day of walking in the old forest.
But it's cleaner, purer, without the dampness of the soil, only the warmth of the wood itself.
Golden characters emerged from the edge of the field of vision.
[ Woodland Call) activated. Effect range: 500 meters in radius centered on the Deer King's Antlers.]
Su Wei climbed down the ladder.
The scent of raw wood was still spreading, having already crossed the fireplace area and was reaching towards the valley and the tidal pool.
Two truck drivers were standing in the lobby, one of them sniffing hard.
"What's that smell? It smells so nice."
Another one was also smelling it.
"Like wood? But not quite. I can't quite put my finger on it."
Su Wei did not explain.
"It's time to process the bear king specimen."
This is the real challenge.
The skeleton, plus the steel frame, weighs 600 kilograms, with a total weight exceeding 700 kilograms.
The hydraulic trolley pushed the base out of the cargo box, and the four wheels made a dull metallic clang as they rolled over the threshold of the exhibition hall.
Su Wei had laid out a prefabricated reinforced base three meters in front of the fireplace.
The base was cast by Matt, reinforced concrete, and covered with dark gray granite slabs, matching the basalt color of the fireplace.
The three people worked together to push the skeleton onto the base.
Su Wei used a level to calibrate the angle of the base plate, adjusting it twice to ensure that the front of the frame was precisely facing the entrance of the hall.
Eight expansion bolts secure the steel support base plate to the pedestal.
Su Wei lay on the ground, tightening each bolt to the calibrated value with a torque wrench.
Stand up.
Take five steps back.
The skeleton of a 600-kilogram Kodiak brown bear king, with its hind legs upright and its forepaws raised high above its head.
Anyone who walks in from the entrance of the hall will see this bear as the first thing they see.
It stands in front of the fireplace, with flames burning behind it.
The head faced the entrance, with two Dragon's Fury embedded in its eye sockets.
Under the dual illumination of full-spectrum lighting and fireplace flames, the burnt brown irises wove together layers of dark red threads.
It's watching you.
No matter where you stand in the lobby, those eyes are watching you.
Su Wei was preparing to check the final fixation of the skeleton when a series of cracking claw sounds came from the doorway.