After carefully securing the spear, Lin Yang whittled a similar wooden long spear out of pine as a backup. With the addition of the axe and iron shovel he already possessed, he had armed himself to the teeth.
Using the emergency light, he checked his equipment several times to ensure everything was correct, before snuggling into his sleeping bag and closing his eyes.
The entire camp was quiet, a silence that spanned just a few dozen meters. If the bear fell into the trap, Lin Yang was confident that he would hear it, without a doubt.
The instinct for wilderness survival had been activated, with tense nerves at the ready, detecting even the slightest rustles or disturbances.
The first half of the night passed without incident. Lin Yang got up as usual to tend to the fire in the fireplace, adding a log. As he was returning to his sleeping bag to continue his rest, a dull roar came from afar.
The sound came from the direction of the trap. He instantly woke up, grabbing his weapons, launching the drone, and running toward the trap.
"Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, did the streamer start broadcasting? Is the bear here?"
"I was thinking about this before I fell asleep, even dreamed the bear had come, and sure enough, he’s started broadcasting. Go, go, go!"
"Where is it? Where is it? Where’s the bear? Is that huffing and puffing sound the bear?"
"There’s a sound of water too. My freaking god, it actually happened as predicted."
Adrenaline surged through Lin Yang at that moment, he could no longer afford to respond to inquiries from his live streaming viewers, his hands gripped the spear as he walked swiftly toward the vicinity of the trap.
Circling the trap, he found the fish head and deliberately scattered innards gone, along with several large footprints.
The pit was now filled with constant struggling roars and sounds of mud being churned.
He mustered his courage and swept the inside of the pit with his emergency light, revealing a pair of eyes glowing with a ghostly light, as big as copper bells, while the bear roared and paced back and forth at the bottom of the trap.
Traces of the black bear’s claws scratching and attempting to climb the pit walls were barely visible, but all attempts had failed; the bear kept sliding back down.
Adding water to the pit proved to be a brilliant move, as the soil, soaked by the water, became slippery, and despite several attempts, it was rendered even smoother, greatly reducing friction and making it difficult for the prey inside to escape.
Lin Yang maneuvered the drone above the trap, providing a bird’s-eye view.
"Brothers, we’ve caught one, an adult black bear. The water has soaked the soil, so it can’t climb out. Dare to disturb me in the middle of the night, nearly destroy my shelter, now I’ll take your life."
With a fierce spit, Lin Yang tightly gripped the pine spear and stabbed down at the black bear at the bottom of the pit.
Ao!
The sharp dagger pierced through the skin as the bear let out an angry howl.
A series of grating, teeth-clenching sounds crackled, as the bear’s teeth and the metal blade violently scraped together.
The black bear’s reaction was much faster than Lin Yang had anticipated. After being stabbed once, the ferocious animal began to fight back, biting down on the blade.
Lin Yang gripped the pine handle tightly and quickly retracted it, freeing the weapon before stabbing again.
The light from the emergency lamp was limited, and he couldn’t tell where he had stabbed, but judging by the bear’s roaring, it was clearly hurt.
Under the camera of the live stream, all the fans who were still awake tensed up. This hardcore hunting maneuver was something most people would never witness in their lifetime.
After a series of stabs, he lost count of how many times he had struck, so focused was he on the task at hand that he lost all sense of time.
Time passed, and eventually, the black bear in the pit seemed to stop moving.
Lin Yang poked the bear several times with his spear, but there was no response. Only then did he come back to his senses.
"Uh, seems like I’ve stabbed it to death?" Lin Yang muttered to himself, peering intently into the pit.
The bear in the trap lay slumped against the earthen wall in the muddy water, motionless. The dark red blood mixed with the muddy water, the black fur matted with mud, made the scene look unsightly rather than bloody. Even from above the pit, the strong smell of blood was unmistakable.
He prodded the black bear with another wooden spear, and indeed it did not move.
Upon confirming his victory, Lin Yang heaved a sigh of relief and sat down on the ground at the edge of the pit.
Once he sat down, he could not get up again; the aftereffects of the adrenaline rush became apparent.
His lips turned pale, his face flushed, his heart hammered uncontrollably, his hands and feet trembled involuntarily, his muscles felt weak, and he struggled to rise several times without success. He took deep breaths, and it took a long while before his condition slightly improved.
In the darkness, the fans in the live chat room had followed Lin Yang from start to finish as he killed the black bear. At this moment, everyone’s nerves were stretched tight, and they held their breath in tension.
"Damn, that was so freaking thrilling."
"Is the black bear dead? What’s next? You gonna get some tools to lift it out?"
"I want to see what the bear looks like too. The emergency light only shows a rough outline; it’s too dark."
Lin Yang exhaled deeply and glanced at the chat: "I exerted myself too much, I’m severely drained now. It’s dark at night, and there’s blood and water below, so I won’t be showcasing the prey for now. The process is over, too, so those of you who should rest, continue to rest, and thanks to all the viewers who came to support this late at night."
"Ah, understandable, take care of yourself, streamer."