Little White, who had performed a great service today, gobbled up a big crop again. Its head, face, and chest were all covered with rabbit blood, standing on the arm looking ferocious. From a side angle, its bulky body resembled a solid brick—any prey caught its gaze was doomed, even the oldest rabbits.
Back at camp, Lin Yang placed Little White on the perch and turned to fetch a shallow basin for water from inside the shelter.
He set Little White free by five feet, brought it to the basin and said, "Brothers, after these few days of hunting, Little White has successfully captured a total of 20 snow rabbits. By my standards, it has already reached excellence in Box Hunting.
Today, let’s give it a bloody coronation by bathing it in blood. If nothing goes wrong, starting tomorrow, we’ll begin advanced training. My ultimate goal is the Little Swans that we have recently encountered starting their seasonal migration."
"Damn, I was wondering, why cover such a beautiful falcon in blood? So, this is giving the falcon a crowning."
"Little White covered in blood looks even more terrifying, majestic, beautiful—it has a unique aura. I’m totally hooked!"
"The weather is getting colder. Shouldn’t the host stock up on food? The foreigners on the other channels, besides the Indian lady’s choice of fishing nets and catches, are finding it hard to get any fish from the lake."
"Watching those guys livestream is so dull. All day either starving or zoning out. The host’s way cooler. We’re using plates and bowls for eating while they’re still eating with their hands—just not on the same level of civilization."
"Channel 8, Claude, he’s not bad. The guy almost hunted a deer last time. If his luck were just a tad bit better, that deer would’ve been his."
Lin Yang smiled, "Aren’t you guys interested in my upcoming hunt and training plan? We’ve only eaten a small part of the bear meat in our cellar, and we also have plenty of fish reserves. With Little White around, we can also enjoy fresh rabbit. We should be quite comfortable until the end of the competition."
"I’ve been watching the livestream for so long now, I’m used to the surprises. You could tell me you’re taking Little White to catch elephants now, and I’d believe it."
"God damn, catch elephants!"
"Host, host, I have a question. Recently, Little White’s daily food intake has clearly increased, and its stamina is getting better, aren’t you afraid that it might recover its peak strength and run away?"
"Nice question from upstairs, I was wondering the same thing."
"Let’s hear it, I’m interested too. Sounds a bit magical."
Lin Yang played with the water in the basin, deliberately wetting Little White’s talons with a splash of water. Little White seemed intrigued by the basin but still hesitated a bit.
In the next few seconds, he repeated the action, quickly enticing Little White into the basin, where it happily started bathing.
Seeing Little White busy bathing as if no one else was around, Lin Yang breathed a sigh of relief, and a bit late, answered, "The brother upstairs asked a good, in-depth question. Before answering, let me ask everyone, why do you think I’m encouraging Little White to bathe? Here’s a hint: think from the perspective of an animal, not a human."
"Isn’t bathing just for cleaning?"
"Sure, cleaning is definitely a factor, but it’s probably not the main reason. It’s been more than ten days, and this is the first time I see you intentionally getting Little White dirty just to give it a bath."
"Is it to test for affection? I have a little sun parrot at home, and it’s only close to my wife. It never bathes in front of me."
And indeed, among the masses, there are experts, and the audience just hit the nail on the head.
Lin Yang nodded, "What ’Fishing by the Pond’ Brother said is correct, bathing is beyond cleaning, it’s also an indirect reflection of trust.
What does this mean?
Birds of prey aren’t waterfowl, their feathers repel water just passably. Getting their feathers wet in the wild is dangerous as it could severely weaken their flying ability in the short term. That’s why most birds of prey hastily bathe in the wild and avoid getting all their feathers soaked.
To dare bathe in front of a Hunter indicates that it doesn’t perceive you as a threat subconsciously, which means it has accepted the affinity it shares with you—in the ancient art of falconry that I’ve learned, this is a prerequisite for training falcons to hunt in the sky.
If Little White were hesitant to get wet in front of me today, it would mean that our previous efforts were still insufficient. If we were overconfident and started training it to fly at large ranges and catch avian prey, the risk of losing the bird of prey would be very great."
"Having explained that, let’s return to the viewer’s earlier question: once it gains weight, aren’t you afraid of losing control and it running away?
The answer is, I am afraid.
But I have no choice but to proceed this way. No matter how high the affinity between the bird of prey and the Hunter, one must always be vigilant, or else you can only watch them fly away with tears in your eyes.
To catch flying prey, the physical demands on a falcon are much higher than for Box Hunting. If the bird doesn’t have enough strength, it definitely won’t catch anything, and a slower speed means it can’t keep up, easily losing the will to chase.
On the other hand, daily interactions between a Hunter and a falcon also build up some level of trust. With sufficient trust, and once the weight reaches a relatively high level, the chances of losing the falcon decrease significantly. Only a falcon that has undergone the whole set of hunting training and shown long-term stability can be considered fully trained. Our current progress is roughly equivalent to just graduating from high school."
"What? After performing so well, just graduated from high school? Aren’t you being a bit conservative with your evaluation, host?"