A Core Ship From The Start-Chapter 2395 - 1608: Narrow Encounter with a Nemesis (Starting from a Rolling Cat)

Chapter 2395: Chapter 1608: Narrow Encounter with a Nemesis (Starting from a Rolling Cat)

In the end, even Sakurajima Mai only allowed Duanmu Huai to sleep in the same bed — after all, this small room only had one bed.

Although Duanmu Huai half-jokingly told Sakurajima Mai that rubbing together generates heat and helps to keep warm, she just stared at him blankly and then directly turned over to sleep.

Duanmu Huai thought this joke was quite clever, he had a hard time coming up with it.

The next morning, Duanmu Huai was woken up by Sakurajima Mai.

To be precise, by Sakurajima Mai’s stomach.

"...I didn’t mean to."

Facing Duanmu Huai’s gaze, Sakurajima Mai turned away.

"Because we didn’t eat anything yesterday."

"That’s true..."

Originally, they were supposed to go back to the hotel to eat after filming was done, but due to the situation, they never got to have dinner. They were already hungry through the night, so they needed to eat something during the day, however...

"Did you bring any food? Don’t girls generally carry snacks on them?"

Duanmu Huai remembered Ruby’s pocket as a treasure chest; no matter the time, she could produce cookies, candy, gum, and even bread from it... things like that.

He never knew where she kept those.

"..."

Sakurajima Mai didn’t say anything but reached into her coat and took out... a few pieces of candy.

"As expected, girls’ pockets are like treasure bags."

"I sometimes use them to replenish sugar; after all, filming sessions can be long, and you need some energy."

While speaking, Sakurajima Mai glanced at Duanmu Huai. Filming is actually exhausting, so Hei Chuan Chi Yin’s comment about actors being manual laborers isn’t wrong. Because if a scene doesn’t work, it might be shot several times, even dozens or hundreds of times. In some respects, it’s more taxing than bricklaying.

At least bricklaying doesn’t require brainwork.

By the way, Duanmu Huai only realized after entering this field that stage play actors are genuinely top-tier in the entertainment world. In fact, many true renowned actors come from theater troupes.

The reason is simple, stage play actors are truly decathletes.

Singing and dancing are basics, performance as well, and unlike film and TV, there’s no retake in stage play — fail and it’s completely over, requiring high stability. Moreover, stage plays demand certain martial arts skills, like in the previous Tokyo Blade, where nearly everyone could handle themselves well, unlike pure models or idols, who merely flail around.

Indeed, many successful actors Duanmu Huai knew were theater troupe performers before, Hei Chuan Chi Yin is still a lead in troupe LALALAI, and Arima Kaname, Sakurajima Mai, and Feng Bin Hexiang had all joined children’s theater groups as kids. The fundamentals they learned there laid the foundation for their acting careers.

Stage actors transitioning to film and TV would be dominating.

Imagine playing a game where you must clear in one life, then using that technique for games where you can continue and save—it’s easy and effortless.

Of course, stage plays are also the most tiring and stressful.

Take Tokyo Blade — rehearsing for a month, performing for another month, and during that month, performing on stage daily. This is vastly different compared to movies. After filming, actors get holidays, but stage plays demand daily performances for a month. Honestly, Duanmu Huai found it a bit irritating.

Fortunately, he managed to endure that month.

However, Duanmu Huai declared he’d definitely never step onto a stage again—it’s deadly.

Some might enjoy repetitive challenges, but Duanmu Huai only likes games with novelty; once completed, they’re no longer interesting.

The same goes for stage plays.

Clearing once is enough, asking him to clear thirty times is truly exhausting.

Alright, let’s talk about now.

"Want some?"

Sakurajima Mai held out the candy in her hand towards Duanmu Huai.

"You eat it."

"I haven’t brushed yet."

"How to brush here, just bear with it."

Duanmu Huai stood up, stretched, and walked to the door.

"What are you doing? The snow hasn’t stopped."

"Going to find food."

"Now?"

"Judging by the situation, the snow will last a while longer; it’s not freezing to death but definitely can’t starve."

Duanmu Huai checked the small cabin’s supply box; it had some seasonings but no food. Certainly, this place hadn’t been used for a long time, even if food was stored, it likely wouldn’t be edible.

"I’ll go with you."

Just as Duanmu Huai reached the door, Sakurajima Mai stood up too.

"I don’t want to just sit here waiting."

"Suit yourself."

Outside, snow piled thickly, Duanmu Huai and Sakurajima Mai moved slowly on skis through the forest, not too fast given the heavy snowstorm.

"To be honest, I think we won’t find any food in this weather."

Wearing goggles, Sakurajima Mai turned and looked around; what met her eyes was pure white, pure white, pure white, and black tree branches.

As if aside from these, nothing else existed in this world.

"Let’s go check by the river, maybe we can catch some fish."

"Fishing in this weather?"

"Don’t you know? For a fishing man, the weather is never a problem. If he finds the perfect fishing spot, he’d sign divorce papers there in a blizzard."

"Why?"

"He’d never give up that spot to anyone else."

"......Xiao Ai, do you like fishing?"

"It’s just okay, I prefer frying fish."

"Frying fish?"

"You’ll see."

Luckily, the river wasn’t far from the cabin, and Duanmu Huai and Sakurajima Mai reached the riverbank. They soon saw the water flowing amidst the white snow.

"Alright, leave it to me now."

Duanmu Huai loosened up a bit, then walked to the river. Sakurajima Mai followed curiously behind him, and then she saw Duanmu Huai extend his hand—lifting a rock as big as half a small car.

"Watch this!"

Duanmu Huai shouted and then lifted the rock, hurling it into the river with force!

"Boom!!!!"

The giant rock plummeted into the river like a cannonball, and the water exploded, splashing everywhere. Then, fish started flying out, landing on the surrounding banks and flapping desperately, trying to escape this sudden calamity.

"..........."

Seeing this, Sakurajima Mai was completely dumbfounded.

"I must be dreaming."

"You can dream when we get back, first collect these fish!"

Fortunately, the weather was cold, so the fish that had been blown ashore flapped a few times and were basically frozen. Mai and Duanmu Huai split up and gathered the frozen fish, placing them into their backpacks.

"Alright, with these fish, we should have enough to eat for one or two meals."

Looking at the four or five fish in the backpack, Duanmu Huai nodded.

"Let’s head back, staying longer could be dangerous."

Just as Sakurajima Mai turned around, she froze on the spot.

"What’s wrong?"

"...........It seems like we’re already in danger."

Duanmu Huai followed Sakurajima Mai’s gaze and saw a bear standing not far away in the blizzard, glaring fiercely at them.

"Hey, talk about a narrow encounter."

Seeing the bear, Duanmu Huai squinted his eyes, clenched his fists, and revealed a grim smile. He was pretty sure it was the same one that had been chasing after Sakurajima Mai earlier.

The reason was simple: in the dead of winter, there’s probably only one bear in these mountains stupid enough not to hibernate and go foraging.

"Roar--------!!"

The bear stood up, raising both arms and letting out a roar. At this moment, Sakurajima Mai was pale and shaking.

"Xiao Ai, what do we do?"

"What do we do? What else can we do?"

Duanmu Huai clenched his fists and stepped in front of Sakurajima Mai, glaring fiercely at the bear.

"Just right, I was thinking the fish weren’t enough. Since you’re coming at us yourself, then I’m determined to have bear paw tonight!"

With these words, Duanmu Huai leapt up, kicked off a tree, and before Sakurajima Mai could say anything, shot towards the bear like an arrow released from a bow!

"Roar---------!"

Simultaneously, the bear charged at Duanmu Huai, its massive body tossing aside the thick snow like a snowplow. The bear charged towards Duanmu Huai with its mouth wide open, fully unleashing its predatory instincts.

Sakurajima Mai still couldn’t move, frozen by instinctual fear of a creature more powerful than herself. Time seemed to stretch infinitely as she watched that small figure confront the bear; the bear swung its right paw, and Duanmu Huai clenched his right fist, punching straight at the bear.

Suddenly, a memory popped into Sakurajima Mai’s mind—it was something she once read online: a bear’s swipe can exert a force of up to 1600 kilograms, capable of knocking a person unconscious or even killing them. It could even crush the hood of a car.

Faced with such a beast, can Xiao Ai really...?

Before Sakurajima Mai could finish her thought, Duanmu Huai’s right fist collided with the bear’s right paw in midair, and immediately...

"Oowwwww———!"

With a wailing cry, the bear flew backward, leaving a deep rut in the snow, slamming into a nearby tree—a crash that split the tree in half with a "crack."

"..........."

Sakurajima Mai’s eyes widened in shock, her mind went blank, unable to utter a word. Meanwhile, Duanmu Huai leapt onto the bear, grabbed its head, and pinned it down. The bear violently struggled but was out of strength, pinned into the snow by Duanmu Huai. Yet it continued to howl and frantically claw at the air.

Duanmu Huai cursed, "Scoundrel! Still making noise!" and raised his fist, punching the bear repeatedly on its face, cracking its eye socket and dislodging its eyeball. Another punch on the skull resounded like a full temple’s worth of drums. Blood burst from the bear’s eyes, mouth, nose, and ears. When Duanmu Huai looked again, he saw the bear lying still on the ground, breath only in, not out, completely motionless.

When Sakurajima Mai came over, she saw Duanmu Huai sitting proudly atop the dead bear, smiling at her.

"Today, we’re having bear paw for dinner!"