The dawn of the thirtieth day arrived in a kind of frozen silence.

Lin Yu’an woke up in the cold morning light, even earlier than the previous days.

He didn’t get up immediately but listened carefully to the sounds outside the shelter; there was nothing but the sound of the wind.

Slowly sliding away the door bolt blocking the entrance, the first thing he did was check the snow outside that he had carefully smoothed over.

"All is as usual, no new footprints; this doesn’t represent safety."

Returning to the shelter, he prepared breakfast while analyzing gravely in front of the camera.

"The visit of the wolf yesterday wasn’t a random passage, but a very clear scouting action."

"It successfully confirmed two key pieces of information: firstly, there might be food here. Secondly, it didn’t encounter any threats during the entire scouting process and left safely."

"For a highly intelligent predator like a wolf, a successful risk-free scouting is almost equivalent to an invitation."

"It will definitely come back again, using further actions to obtain food."

Lin Yu’an fried a slice of lake trout and a small pinch of roe with the fish oil refined yesterday. He enjoyed a luxurious pre-war breakfast made entirely of high protein and high fat.

After breakfast, he began to arm himself.

Putting on clothes that wouldn’t produce any friction sound, he carefully inserted the two wide-headed arrows he had sharpened to perfection into the most convenient position in the quiver.

Then, picking up the newly completed flint spear, gleaming with primitive aura, he walked out of the shelter.

This morning’s primary task wasn’t directly to track the massive lone wolf; without new clues, doing so is like finding a needle in a haystack, only wasting strength in vain.

"Alright, mates, a new day has begun." He said in a calm yet determined tone, facing the biting cold wind.

"Before finding the new traces of the wolf, let me check my trap line first. Let’s see if besides that big guy, there were any other visitors last night."

Inspecting the trap line was his daily routine, not just related to food, but more importantly, it provided the most timely information on the activity of all animals in this area.

Stepping steadily in snowshoes, he walked towards the first trap point along the familiar route.

From afar, he saw a patch of the snow there was a mess, sharply contrasting with the surrounding smooth snow surface.

He halted, his pupils slightly contracted, and his right hand instinctively grasped the handle of the logging axe hanging at his waist.

His heart sank abruptly, and he quickened his pace. A scene made his expression instantly cold, with uncontrollable anger starting to burn in his eyes.

The "guiding fence" he had carefully built using a large amount of sharpened branches was now violently destroyed.

Several thick branches were broken in half, scattered helter-skelter on the snow, revealing the chaotic trampled snow layer beneath.

And at the only gap he left for guiding prey through, the lasso twisted from multiple strands of steel tripwire wasn’t empty as he had expected.

The lasso was pulled tight, but what it locked wasn’t the fox’s neck, but an already bloodied, completely severed fox’s front paw!

The entire paw, along with a small portion of fur, was deeply strangled into the flesh by the steel wire, and even the stark white bone stump was visible.

This proved that a fierce struggle for survival had taken place here.

The snow was covered with splattered and dragged dark red bloodstains, eye-catching against the pure white snow.

Numerous red fox hairs mixed with blood were scattered, and there were even a few small pieces of internal organs ripped out, frozen into dark red ice blocks, forming a scene of slaughter aftermath.

And amidst this bloody chaos, clearly imprinted was a series of huge, deep wolf footprints.

These footprints arrogantly trampled over the fox’s struggle traces, showing signs of prolonged stay in the most blood-soaked areas.

Lin Yu’an squatted down and put on his gloves, opting not to touch the severed paw, but instead pinched a tuft of red fox hair from the snow with his fingers. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Facing the camera, he analyzed: "This is neck guard hair and the stiff hair of the back, indicating the fox fiercely resisted when attacked, with the attack mainly concentrating on its neck and back."

Then, he touched the severed paw with his fingertip. It was already frozen hard, yet the blood at the cut hadn’t completely solidified into ice crystals.

"Judging from the degree of blood coagulation and the scene traces, the event occurred between 4 AM and 5 AM today."

"My trap is designed to ensnare the neck, using the animal’s forward rush to lock swiftly, causing suffocation, but now, it’s the front paw that was trapped."

"The fox likely smelled something, trying to pull the lasso using its paw and accidentally triggered it."

"It was trapped, its cries and the scent of blood attracted the lone wolf lingering nearby."

Lin Yu’an stood up, pointing at the snow traces, continuing his explanation to the camera.

"Look here, the wolf footprints are very deep, yet there’s nearly no sign of fox fighting nearby, only unilateral struggling traces."

"This indicates it exerted hardly any effort to kill this fox trapped in the snare."

"Then, instead of dragging the entire prey away immediately, it enjoyed most of the blood and flesh right there, even crushing the head and leaving only scattered bone fragments."