Chapter Summaries

Su Wei offered to cook a hot meal for the freezing construction crew, then returned to the cabin to prepare a Chinese-spiced beef dish. He began selecting ingredients and spices to test his methods for handling coarse, strongly gamey meat.

• Su Wei decided the workers could taste-test his recipes and offered to make them an extra meal.
• Matt announced Su Wei’s offer, and the twelve workers cheered and threw aside their frozen lunches.
• Su Wei returned to the cabin, where Cotton Candy greeted him.
• Su Wei chose cheap frozen beef brisket and shank from the freezer and began thawing them under hot water.
• Su Wei rejected Western cooking methods and selected star anise, cassia bark, bay leaves, Sichuan peppercorns, and dried red chilies.

Su Wei cooked a huge meal of bear-fat-braised beef, potatoes, carrots, and rice while the construction workers waited outside, drawn by the aroma. After the pressure cooker finished, he carried the steaming basin out to the men.

• Su Wei cut the beef into cubes, blanched it, and seared it in caramelized bear fat with spices, soy sauce, and vodka.
• Su Wei transferred the beef to a pressure cooker with potatoes, carrots, and water, then cooked rice alongside it.
• Cotton Candy woke up and eagerly watched Su Wei cook after the bear fat filled the cabin with its rich aroma.
• Luke and the other eleven workers smelled the food and abandoned their cold lunches to gather outside the cabin window.
• After the pressure cooker finished, Su Wei carried the steaming basin outside and set it on the table.

Su Wei served the workers braised beef brisket with potatoes and rice, and its warmth and flavor impressed them. Matt saw the meal as the key to making his planned private hunting camp attractive to wealthy clients, and he messaged Old John that he had found the place.

• Su Wei served the twelve workers a large meal of braised beef brisket, potatoes, and rice.
• Luke and the other workers devoured the food, and a surge of warmth from the meal helped them withstand the cold.
• Matt admired Su Wei's cooking and realized that hot meals could make his planned private hunting camp appealing to wealthy hunters.
• Matt texted Old John at the Seattle Blackstone Yacht Club that he had found a paradise for his boss.

Su Wei reviewed the attention drawn by Cotton Candy and decided to keep his main channel focused on professional hunting while creating a separate account for the fox. He began editing Kodiak Island footage into a stark hunting documentary, leaving the story at an enlarged view of a giant footprint in the snow.

• Su Wei saw that Cotton Candy had overshadowed the Kodiak brown bear in the trailer's comments and viewership.
• Su Wei rejected turning his main channel into a pet channel or mixing pet and hunting content, choosing to build its hardcore hunter identity and make a separate pet account.
• Su Wei opened the Kodiak footage in his editing software and set up a 4K, 60fps sequence.
• Su Wei kept and amplified the snowmobile and wind audio, cut the slow opening travel footage, and added aerial footage of the snowy valley.
• Su Wei zoomed in on a footprint more than thirty-five centimeters wide in the middle of the valley.

Su Wei edited footage of his hunt for Missing Ear into a documentary, emphasizing the shot, his cautious wait, and the careful processing of the bear. The chapter left him adding subtitles and music to present the meat and hide in a way suitable for video platforms.

• Su Wei added captions explaining the boar tracks, Missing Ear’s territory marking, and the bear’s behavior.
• He edited the footage of Missing Ear’s appearance, his windage adjustments, and the shot that brought the bear down.
• Su Wei included a sped-up ten-minute watch on the bear before showing himself safely withdrawing with the rifle.
• He toned down the butchering footage, cutting out graphic details and focusing on precise cuts and meat processing.
• Su Wei added music and subtitles explaining how the hide, choice cuts, bear fat, and remaining meat would be used.

After publishing his Kodiak brown bear hunting documentary, Su Wei cooked bear meat with ginger and chilies, successfully masking its gamey flavor. He ate dinner while Cotton Candy ate raw beef, and the video’s reception remained unchecked.

• Su Wei noticed the YouTube notification confirming his documentary had been published, but left the dashboard unopened.
• Su Wei sliced the brown bear meat and stir-fried it with ginger, dried chilies, soy sauce, salt, and sugar.
• Su Wei gave Cotton Candy diced raw beef tenderloin.
• Su Wei ate the bear meat with two bowls of rice, triggering a system notice that his cold resistance would increase slightly for two hours.

Su Wei planned an elaborate bear banquet to impress Seattle’s wealthy socialites while his hunting video initially drew limited views. As he slept, the video gained a major boost from the Extreme Outdoors Channel and a verified creator, surpassing 10,000 likes.

• Su Wei checked his video’s slow-growing views and read mixed comments, including praise for the long-range shot and skepticism about its authenticity.
• Su Wei planned an all-bear banquet with an appetizer, clear game consommé, braised bear paw, and charcoal-grilled ribs.
• Su Wei cuddled Cotton Candy, then showered and went to bed exhausted.
• While Su Wei slept, TikTok recommended his video to the Extreme Outdoors Channel, Texas Gun King shared it, and its new likes surpassed 10,000.

Su Wei woke to find his bear-hunt documentary had gone viral, earning millions of views, praise from firearms enthusiasts, and $3,200. Laurent Laroche then called to warn that Charles had arrived early and wanted a meal that captured Alaska, leaving Su Wei facing an urgent request.

• Su Wei discovered his video had reached 1,285,400 views, with viewers praising his hunting skills and donating $500.
• Su Wei traced part of the video’s traffic to the Northwest Gun Enthusiasts Club, where members debated his marksmanship and background.
• Su Wei saw his earnings reach $3,200 and promised Cotton Candy an extra treat.
• Laurent Laroche called Su Wei and said Charles’s private jet had landed ahead of schedule.
• Laurent told Su Wei that Charles wanted to eat something that would let him feel Alaska’s pulse that day.

With Charles arriving early, Su Wei scrapped the slow-braised bear paw and devised a faster menu for the all-bear feast. He told Laurent to replace it with high-pressure bear-bone broth and open-flame charcoal-grilled bear ribs, leaving the rest of the dinner preparations unsettled.

• Su Wei prepared venison for Cotton Candy and collected wild chaga, Sitka spruce needles, and dried arctic blackberries from storage.
• Su Wei realized Charles’s early arrival left too little time to slow-braise the bear paw, so he planned to make broth in a pressure cooker and flash-roast the bear ribs.
• Su Wei arrived at the Chart Room restaurant, where Laurent and Pierre were struggling to prepare for Charles’s dinner.
• Su Wei told Laurent to drop the red-wine-braised bear paw, serve high-pressure bear-bone broth with charcoal-grilled bear ribs, and keep the Song of Ice and Fire appetizer.

Su Wei took control of the kitchen and began preparing bear meat for Charles with an unconventional charcoal-grilled menu and a stock made from Alaskan ingredients. Laurent ordered backup dishes prepared as a precaution while Su Wei explained the flavors he intended to bring to the soup.

• Su Wei expertly broke down a fifty-jin slab of bear meat, impressing Pierre, the apprentices, and Laurent.
• Laurent put the kitchen under Su Wei's direction, and Su Wei assigned Pierre and the apprentices their first tasks.
• Laurent prepared backup dishes with wagyu and lobster and insisted that the bear paw also be braised in red wine as another option.
• Su Wei cracked the bear bones, blanched them, and replaced the water before adding chaga, spruce needles, and Arctic blackberries in a seasoning bag.
• Su Wei explained to Laurent how the Alaskan ingredients would give the soup a woody base and the chill of the ice fields.

Su Wei and Laurent raced to prepare a whole-bear feast after Mr. Charles’s butler demanded that the Kodiak bear’s hunter tell the story at four o’clock. Su Wei began grilling a bear steak and finished pressure-cooking the bones, while the kitchen staff hurried to prepare the rest of the meal.

• Mr. Charles’s butler called Laurent and demanded the meal and a firsthand account of the hunt from the person who fired the shot by four o’clock.
• Laurent panicked over the shortened preparation time, but Su Wei said they had enough time and urged him to get the kitchen moving.
• Su Wei trimmed and seasoned a bear steak, then seared it over intense charcoal heat and moved it to the grill’s cooler zone to finish cooking.
• The pressure cooker’s forty-minute countdown ended, and Su Wei turned off the burner.

Su Wei served his Wilderness Consommé alongside Laurent’s all-bear banquet dishes, and Laurent discovered that the broth was remarkably flavorful and invigorating. The chapter ended with Pierre tasting it and freezing in disbelief.

• Laurent and Pierre finished preparing the all-bear banquet’s eight dishes before banker Charles arrived.
• Su Wei opened the pressure cooker and served his clear golden Wilderness Consommé, then mixed a cocktail he called Crimson Storm.
• Laurent tasted his bear liver confit and approved of its preparation.
• Laurent tasted Su Wei’s consommé and experienced its intense flavor and the Woodland Echo effect.
• Laurent drank a full bowl of the broth, rebuked Pierre, and challenged him to taste it.
• Pierre sampled the consommé and froze in disbelief at its taste.

Laurent and Pierre tasted Su Wei’s bear steak and were overwhelmed by its flavor, while the kitchen learned that Charles had arrived. Laurent brought Su Wei to meet Charles and introduced him as the hunter who supplied the ingredients and the co-chef behind the dinner’s preparations.

• Laurent cut into the bear steak and found its exterior crisp and its center perfectly pink and juicy.
• Laurent tasted the steak and praised Su Wei’s primal approach to cooking the giant beast.
• Pierre secretly tasted the steak and found himself unable to criticize it or feel interested in his prized wagyu.
• The front-of-house manager announced that Charles had arrived and was heading to the private room.
• Laurent and Su Wei entered the private room, where Laurent introduced Su Wei to Charles as the hunter and co-chef responsible for the meal.

Su Wei served Charles a whole-bear feast, beginning with thin slices of bear tenderloin flash-seared on hot volcanic rock. As Charles ate, he asked Su Wei to recount the hunt, and Su Wei began describing how he tracked and shot the bear called Missing Ear.

• Su Wei introduced himself to Charles and presented the bear feast as a taste of Alaska’s wildness.
• Laurent unveiled the first dish: thinly sliced bear tenderloin seared on a volcanic rock slab and seasoned with spruce needles and wild blueberries.
• Charles tasted the meat and asked Su Wei to describe the hunt in a bloody, truthful account while he ate.
• Laurent played a cello recording that evoked a blizzard, and Su Wei described Missing Ear and the hunt on Pillar Mountain.
• Su Wei recounted tracking the bear through deep snow and shooting it through the chest with a .300 Winchester Magnum, while Charles reacted strongly to the story and food.

Charles experienced a dramatic surge of youthful vigor after eating Su Wei’s bear meat and demanded the rest of the meal. As Laurent prepared to open the pressure cooker, he stepped in to interrupt Charles’s intense focus.

• Charles sprang up after eating the bear meat, and his bodyguard reached for his gun before Charles ordered him to stand down.
• Charles praised Su Wei’s cooking and described the meat as fighting back with the strength and will of the bear.
• Charles demanded the main course and ordered Su Wei to tell him how the bear had been hunted and butchered.
• Su Wei rose as Laurent approached the pressure cooker of Wilderness Consommé.
• Laurent stepped forward to interrupt Charles’s fixation on the pressure cooker.

Laurent served Charles a carefully prepared bear liver confit, but Charles found it too mild after tasting the bear’s resistance and wildness. Laurent ordered Pierre to serve the third dish immediately, yielding the table to Su Wei.

• Laurent presented North Slope bear liver confit with Kodiak glacier water chestnuts and explained how he had prepared it.
• Charles tasted the bear liver but felt no heat, excitement, or urge to hunt, and called the dish too weak.
• Charles said the dish had cooled the excitement he had felt and tossed his napkin onto the table.
• Laurent ordered Pierre to serve the third dish and stepped aside, handing the lead to Su Wei.

Su Wei served Charles Wilderness Consommé, whose restorative Woodland Echo effect revived him and cleared his mind. Energized, Charles demanded that the giant beast be brought out, and Laurent unveiled a charcoal-grilled bear steak as the main course.

• Su Wei explained how he had used an Alaska Harpoon Survival Knife and pressure cooking to prepare the bear-bone consommé.
• Charles drank the soup and experienced Woodland Echo, which eased his aches and fatigue and brought him a vivid vision of Kodiak Island’s wilderness.
• Charles praised the soup as the wind of Alaska and demanded that the giant beast be brought out without further pauses.
• Laurent pushed out a serving cart and revealed a five-pound charcoal-grilled tomahawk bear steak.

Su Wei served Charles chargrilled bear steak, and its Life Module effect filled the aging financier with a surge of strength and savagery. Charles tore into the meat and drove his bodyguards back, while Su Wei watched him experience renewed vitality.

• Su Wei explained that he had seasoned the bear’s back muscles only with sea salt and black pepper and chargrilled them over applewood.
• Charles grabbed the steak with his hands and ate a chunk, triggering the Life Module’s Breath of Berserk effect.
• Charles felt his strength and senses surge as he tore off his tie and napkin and pounded the table.
• The bald bodyguard approached with his Glock, but Charles ordered him to back away and threatened anyone who came closer.
• Charles devoured the tomahawk steak with his hands while Su Wei watched him embrace the wildness and vitality the meat had awakened.

Charles offered Su Wei an open-ended sum to leave Kodiak and cook for him in Seattle, but Su Wei weighed the wealth against losing the freedom and wild privileges of his current life. The chapter left Su Wei considering whether to accept Charles's offer.

• After the meal, Charles praised it as the most brutal and satisfying meal of his life.
• Charles placed a checkbook on the table and offered Su Wei any price to quit his work in Kodiak and return to Seattle with him.
• Charles promised Su Wei access to his estate's top kitchen and the ingredients needed to recreate the meal whenever he wished.
• Laurent stayed silent as Charles's bodyguards watched Su Wei for a reaction.
• Su Wei considered the money and comfort Charles offered, but recognized that accepting would mean giving up his life as a hunter.

Su Wei declined Charles’s offer to become his personal cook, explaining that the wilderness was essential to the bear meat’s appeal. He then proposed that Charles instead bring his future meals—and himself—to a high-end wilderness club on Su Wei’s private land.

• Su Wei rejected Charles’s invitation, shocking Laurent and putting Charles’s bodyguard on alert.
• Su Wei explained that Alaska’s cold and storm made the bear meat appealing, and that shipping it to Charles’s comfortable estate would strip away its wildness.
• Charles reconsidered Su Wei’s explanation and gradually relaxed his grip on his pen.
• Su Wei offered to host Charles at a wilderness club he was preparing to open on his private land, where guests would experience a primal struggle for survival.
• Laurent realized Su Wei was presenting Charles with an ambitious business proposal, and Charles leaned back to consider it.