Chapter Summaries

Su Wei repaired a fractured tine on a set of antlers using bone powder and epoxy, impressing Old Hope with the seamless result. The repair upgraded Su Wei’s Crafting Module, and Old Hope acknowledged his skill.

• Old Hope showed Su Wei a hidden fracture in the antlers and warned that the tine would eventually break off.
• Su Wei used Bone Cleaning LV2’s Touch of X-Ray Vision to assess the damage and decided to fill it with bone-based material.
• Su Wei collected antler and skull powder, mixed it with bone collagen and epoxy, then filled and cured the crack.
• Su Wei polished the repair until it blended into the antler, gaining Crafting Module experience and upgrading it to LV2.
• Old Hope inspected the repaired tine and found the crack and repair indistinguishable from the natural bone.

Su Wei bought the chemicals Old Hope needed to soften the bear hide, then received an urgent call from Black about taking Laurent's bounty. Black challenged Su Wei's confidence, leaving their conversation unresolved.

• Old Hope gave Su Wei a list of chemicals for softening the bear hide and told him to buy them for five hundred dollars and return before two.
• Su Wei went to The Alchemist and bought the chemicals for five hundred and twenty dollars in cash.
• Su Wei noticed five missed calls from Black and called him back from his truck.
• Black told Su Wei that Aruk had informed him about Laurent's bounty and asked whether killing a large brown bear had made Su Wei think he was king of Kodiak.

Su Wei insisted he was ready to hunt a brown bear alone, but Black demanded one final test at his hunting cabin before he went. Su Wei then delivered tanning chemicals to Old Hope, who noticed his distraction.

• Black warned Su Wei that late-season brown bears were dangerous and challenged his confidence in hunting alone.
• Su Wei said he needed money and wanted to make a name for himself, but Black ordered him to bring his Browning and gear to the hunting cabin at four the next morning for a final assessment.
• Su Wei drove through the worsening snow to Old Hope's workshop and paid him $520 for three tanning chemicals.
• Old Hope checked the softening oil, praised its quality, and locked all three bottles away.
• Old Hope noticed Su Wei staring distractedly at the steaming tanning vat and asked what was wrong.

Su Wei visited Old Hope to discuss the crown antlers and learned the bear hide still needed several days of processing. He headed home through the muddy construction road after receiving Matt’s warning, while preparing to meet Black at four the next morning.

• Su Wei told Old Hope that Black had arranged to meet him at four the next morning, and Old Hope warned him that Black’s special training would be harsh.
• Old Hope showed Su Wei the restored crown antlers, and Su Wei explained his plan to embed them in a stone fireplace so winter-solstice sunlight would cast their shadows across the room.
• Old Hope agreed to polish the antlers and told Su Wei the bear hide needed three more days in acid before further processing.
• Su Wei received Matt’s message about the muddy road and possible construction delays, then drove toward Pillar Mountain through the narrow lane marked with stakes.

Su Wei prepared for his 4 a.m. meeting with Black by eating dinner and carefully checking his hunting equipment. He finished organizing his gear and mentally rehearsing two combat plans as the meeting approached.

• Su Wei returned to his cabin, where Cotton Candy greeted him, and cooked venison for dinner.
• Su Wei remembered that Black had scheduled their meeting for four in the morning and began preparing for the journey.
• Su Wei cleaned and checked his Browning rifle, scope, ammunition, Ruger revolver, knives, and other equipment.
• Su Wei packed survival supplies and planned for either a long-range shot or a close encounter.

Su Wei prepared for Old Devil’s trial, then drove through a heavy snowstorm toward Black’s home. He found a deliberately felled spruce blocking the road and began setting up his truck’s winch to move it.

• Su Wei washed with scent-eliminating soap, changed into hunting clothes, and went to sleep before the trial.
• At three in the morning, Su Wei got dressed, sprayed scent eliminator, fed Cotton Candy, and set out in his Ford Raptor.
• Su Wei drove through deep snow toward Black’s home on a rough forest road near Pillar Mountain.
• Su Wei stopped when he found a large Sitka spruce deliberately cut down across the road.
• Su Wei opened the Raptor’s winch and trudged through the snow to attach its cable near the spruce’s center of gravity.

Su Wei used his truck’s winch and a pulley to clear a fallen spruce, then raced through the snow to Black’s cabin before the appointed time. Black and his five hunting dogs met him at the porch, and Black told him he had passed.

• Su Wei rigged a pulley to a roadside birch and winched the spruce diagonally away from the road.
• When the trunk caught on a rock, Su Wei combined the winch with the Raptor’s reverse power to free it and open a gap.
• Su Wei drove at full speed through the storm, scraping the truck against the spruce as he passed.
• Su Wei reached Black’s cabin at 3:59 and stopped just short of the porch.
• Black stood with Caesar and four other hunting dogs and told Su Wei that his truck was good and that he had passed.

Su Wei explained his plan to hunt a dangerous brown bear to Black, who questioned whether the risk was worth taking. Black had already treated Su Wei’s journey through the storm as a test, and he continued evaluating the hunter’s preparation and resolve.

• Su Wei entered Black’s cabin, where Caesar recognized him, and Black offered him coffee.
• Black revealed that Su Wei’s trek through the storm had been a test and challenged him about pursuing a male brown bear alone.
• Su Wei used Kash’s sighting, ranger reports, weather records, and food sources to identify where the bear was likely to be on Pillar Mountain.
• Su Wei described his plan to watch the bear from an upwind cliff and shoot from within three hundred meters.
• Su Wei explained that if his rifle shots failed and the bear closed in, he would use his Ruger Super Redhawk at close range.

Black warned Su Wei that Missing Ear was a cunning brown bear that hunted people, and Su Wei devised a plan to lure it into a rocky choke point. Black then tested Su Wei’s fieldcraft by sending Caesar into the snowy night with bait and ordering Su Wei to find the dog unseen; Su Wei went out to begin the test.

• Black told Su Wei how Missing Ear had been wounded by a hunter and killed two dogs, and warned that it tracked gunfire toward its target.
• Su Wei proposed acting as bait and ambushing the bear at a narrow rocky passage in a V-shaped valley.
• Black questioned Su Wei’s medical supplies, then said plans alone would not prepare him for the dangers of a close encounter.
• Black gave Caesar a bag of venison and sent the dog outside to hide it in the snow.
• Black ordered Su Wei to find Caesar without a gun and approach within fifty meters without being noticed, or lose his chance to hunt on the north slope.
• At four thirty-five, Su Wei dressed for the storm and walked out into the wind and snow to search for Caesar.

Su Wei used the Hunting Module’s tracking assistance to follow Caesar through the snowy woods and discovered the dog had concealed himself above a hollow, using a canvas bag as bait. Su Wei returned to the cabin with a photo and reported Caesar’s ambush to Black.

• Su Wei activated Tracking Assistance and followed Caesar’s faint trail into the spruce forest.
• Su Wei spotted Caesar’s false tracks and circled downwind to approach the dog’s hiding place safely.
• Su Wei saw that Caesar was concealed beneath snow on a fallen tree above the hollow, while a canvas bag served as bait.
• Caesar noticed a faint disturbance but failed to locate Su Wei, who took a photo and quietly withdrew.
• Su Wei returned to the cabin after forty-eight minutes and told Black where Caesar was hiding.

Su Wei passed Black’s tracking test, but Black immediately tested his marksmanship in a blizzard. Su Wei’s first shot missed because he relied on the Hunting Module’s calculations instead of sensing the changing wind, and Black ordered him to take off his gloves.

• Su Wei returned from his tracking test, and Black counted it as a pass, earning Su Wei Hunting Module experience.
• Black took Su Wei outside to practice shooting in strong winds and extreme cold.
• Black tossed a brass cartridge case onto a slab of basalt more than a hundred meters away and told Su Wei to shoot it.
• Su Wei used the Hunting Module’s ballistic correction and fired, but his shot struck the basalt half a meter from the case.
• Black criticized Su Wei for relying on rigid calculations and failing to feel the wind, then ordered him to take off his gloves.

Black trained Su Wei to read the wind by feel and shoot a moving target without relying on the system’s trajectory data. After Su Wei shattered a windblown piece of birch bark, Black warned that the real test would come after a grueling crawl through deep snow and sent him into the woods.

• Black made Su Wei remove his gloves, close his eyes, and identify the wind by feeling it against his skin.
• Black threw a piece of birch bark into the gale and told Su Wei to shoot it.
• Su Wei ignored the system’s shifting trajectory lines, predicted how a gust would move the bark, and shattered it with a shot.
• Black cautioned Su Wei that the shot could have been luck and questioned whether he could read the wind while exhausted and facing a bear.
• Black told Su Wei to put his gloves back on and go into the woods, taking red cloth strips from a wicker basket.

Su Wei completed Black’s exhausting shooting drill in the snow, hitting a hidden red-cloth target while running, but Black judged his fitness inadequate. Black then began the next test by giving Su Wei a 400-jin sand bundle to represent the bear he wanted to hunt alone.

• Black ordered Su Wei to sprint through the snowy woods and shoot hidden targets within three seconds, or do push-ups.
• Su Wei struggled through the terrain but stopped and shot a red strip of cloth between two pines.
• Black criticized Su Wei’s fitness while acknowledging that he had improved his feel for the rifle.
• At the cabin, Black told Su Wei he had to become stronger before he could kill the bear alone.
• Black presented Su Wei with a 400-jin bundle of wet sand and a towing rope as the next training test.

Su Wei endured Black’s grueling snow-dragging trial and then had to mark the cuts for processing a bear under a strict time limit. He finished the final line just as time ran out, and Black began inspecting his work.

• Black gave Su Wei forty minutes to drag the sandbags one kilometer through deep snow.
• Su Wei hauled the load uphill despite exhaustion, reaching the crest and collapsing in the snow.
• Black ordered Su Wei to simulate skinning and butchering a bear by drawing cutting lines on the oilcloth within twenty minutes.
• Su Wei marked the neck, abdomen, paws, and skull cuts while his hands went numb.
• Black stopped the stopwatch as Su Wei finished his final stroke, then inspected the lines with a flashlight.

Su Wei survived Black’s trial and learned that the bear on the north slope used ambushes, then returned home to recover with Cotton Candy. Emily called to tell him that her thesis had been approved and her defense moved to Friday.

• Black gave Su Wei water and beef, warned him about the cunning bear, and left him to face the trial alone.
• Su Wei received confirmation that he had passed Black’s trial and gained 45 Hunting Module experience.
• Su Wei returned to the Emerald Lake property and relaxed on the couch with Cotton Candy.
• Emily told Su Wei that her thesis had been approved and that her defense was scheduled for Friday.

Su Wei promised Emily he would attend her December 15 graduation ceremony, despite his dangerous commission and planned showdown with a brown bear. Emily hinted that her career plans might change because officials were reassessing hunting grounds, including Kodiak Island.

• Emily noticed Su Wei sounded exhausted and questioned him about his condition, but he said Black had put him through special training and denied being hurt.
• Su Wei asked when Emily would graduate, and she told him the ceremony and graduation ball would take place on December 15.
• Emily invited Su Wei to attend, and he promised he would come despite the risks he faced over the coming month.
• Emily described plans for his travel, formal clothes, and a celebratory dinner, then said she might not take the Anchorage institute position her advisor had offered.
• Emily revealed that officials were considering reassessing hunting grounds such as Kodiak Island, and Su Wei began to understand what that could mean.

After speaking with Emily, Su Wei resolved to face the bear on the northern slope before the December graduation ball. Exhausted from the storm and his training, he reflected on his butchering skills and made a protein-rich breakfast.

• Emily told Su Wei that a confidential development might bring them together more often, then warned him to care for his injuries.
• After the call, Su Wei stood and gripped his Browning .300 Winchester Magnum rifle, thinking of the bear waiting on the northern slope.
• Su Wei rested with Cotton Candy and recalled how training with Old Hope had improved his ability to skin and butcher prey.
• Hungry and sore, Su Wei went to the kitchen and cooked two beef steaks in butter with rosemary.

After recovering from a hunt with a system-enhanced meal, Su Wei used the blizzard-bound downtime to plan high-end videos for his hunting club and wilderness account. He committed to buying professional filming gear, then chose expedited shipping for his order.

• Su Wei ate steak and eggs, and the Life Module accelerated his muscle recovery for four hours.
• With the blizzard halting construction and Black keeping him out of the mountains, Su Wei researched cinema cameras for his hunting videos.
• Su Wei selected a Sony FX3, two lenses, microphones, a drone, and supporting equipment, bringing the cart total to $21,850.
• Remembering the potential value of filming the hunt for the Missing Ear brown bear, Su Wei resolved to make the investment.
• Su Wei entered his Kodiak Town address and selected expedited air shipping.

Su Wei planned a filmed hunt for the brown bear on the North Slope and prepared to recover before pursuing it. The next morning, Matt postponed construction because of dangerous snowfall, and Su Wei made a warm meal while waiting for the weather to ease.

• Su Wei paid extra for expedited shipping of filming equipment and outlined a video about hunting the North Slope bear.
• Su Wei reassured Cotton Candy that he would bring back the bear and promised her the fattest piece.
• Su Wei read Matt's message that heavy snow and small road slides had delayed the construction crew in town.
• Su Wei woke Cotton Candy, washed up, and began making dough and venison-tendon broth for breakfast.

Su Wei prepared his weapons, snowmobile, and supplies for a brown bear hunt while waiting out the blizzard. After waking, he learned that five expedited packages had arrived at the Kodiak Town air cargo station and needed to be collected in person.

• Su Wei cooked venison hot soup noodles, gaining a warming effect, and shared broth and meat with Cotton Candy.
• Su Wei cleaned and checked his Browning rifle and Ruger revolver, then organized ammunition and packed emergency supplies.
• Su Wei inspected his Arctic Cat snowmobile and prepared a tarp and homemade energy bars for the hunt.
• Su Wei arranged his hunting gear and slept beside the fireplace with Cotton Candy while the storm weakened overnight.
• Su Wei answered a call from the Kodiak Town air cargo station and learned that five packages were ready for pickup, though the cleared road remained difficult to travel.