Chapter 24: Standoff

“Encountered a black bear?”

As soon as Wang Weifeng opened the Shark Live streaming backstage, he saw this scene and was immediately intrigued. He couldn’t forget the anchor he had mentioned to his subordinates yesterday. Today, as soon as he arrived at work, he came in and joined the audience. Now it seemed that this newcomer was indeed interesting and could even be said to have given him a great surprise.

Last night, Wang Weifeng wasn’t idle; he had looked back at the clips of Bi Fang for the past two days, which indeed gave him great inspiration. As a director, what Wang Weifeng saw was not just a promising anchor but a new direction – a new path in outdoor live streaming!

Outdoor live streaming has always been a weak point of Shark Live, or rather the weak point of all live streaming platforms. It’s not as popular as other sections, with a lack of sufficiently attractive content. If he could get other outdoor hosts to lean in this direction…

Wang Weifeng was excited as he thought about it and watched with anticipation. He sat still in his seat, shouting directly at the door.

“Director, you’re looking for me?”

A young man pushed open the door, the same reporter from yesterday.

Wang Weifeng stood up immediately, patting the young man on the shoulder in praise: “Xiao Li, you did a great job reporting yesterday. You’ve made a significant contribution this time!”

“Ahaha!” Xiao Li scratched the back of his head, smiling happily. However, he didn’t think that Wang Weifeng had called him just to praise him, so he quickly asked, “Should I continue to follow up?”

“Of course, follow up, you must follow up!” Wang Weifeng said seriously, “Not only that, you should also contact Ling Xuefeng and ask him to check out the chat room!”

“Ah?” Xiao Li was stunned for a moment but quickly understood, and immediately promised to complete the task before hurriedly leaving.

There was no doubt that this was a sign of goodwill from the director toward this new anchor. They hadn’t signed a contract yet and couldn’t be given a recommendation, as it’s the rule. So Wang Weifeng arranged for a popular gaming anchor to visit Bi Fang’s chat room, boosting his popularity. With that, the contract talks would be easier when the time comes.

Bi Fang, out in the wilderness, felt incredibly restless at this moment. His fingers constantly tightened and loosened their grip on the wooden handle of the short spear. Once that audacious and terrifying plan surfaced in his mind, he could not shake it off.

As the balance continued to sway, a burst of electronic sound rang out, turning into the final weight that firmly resolved Bi Fang’s determination!

[Ding, congratulations to the host for triggering a side quest!]

Quest name: Snatch Food from a Bear’s Mouth!

Quest reward: Skill Upgrade Coupon

Do you accept?

A side quest has been triggered? And there’s a reward?

Upon hearing the prompt, Bi Fang was startled but immediately delighted.

Why not claim the reward?

Moreover, it was a skill upgrade coupon. With it, Bi Fang could completely upgrade his wilderness survival skill to purple!

A blue skill could help him survive in the primeval forest, so how powerful would a purple one be?

“Yes!”

Without hesitation, Bi Fang directly chose to accept the quest. He had originally leaned towards attempting the challenge, and now, the system quest bolstered his intentions!

Taking several deep breaths, Bi Fang revealed his plan to the audience. Undoubtedly, they all thought Bi Fang had gone mad.

A 200-kilogram black bear could kill me with a single slap…

Fang, everyone knows you’re awesome, but you really don’t need to take such a risk.

Alright, if it really doesn’t work, can’t he just climb a tree?

Don’t bother, I study biology, and I can tell you that almost all bears can climb trees. It’s not as simple as you think!

What? Even books can deceive people?

Who said everything written in books must be accurate? Books also claim that playing dead works!

What does Bi Fang have now? A few handmade short spears and a stone dagger to deal with a black bear weighing more than 200 kilograms?

Seeing the endless barrage of arguments, Bi Fang wasn’t irritated, knowing that his viewers were just concerned for his well-being.

But he had faith in his plan!

Ignoring the audience’s advice, Bi Fang extended his right hand and began to sense the wind direction with his fingertips.

The gentle forest breeze brushed past his fingertips and slipped through his finger gaps.

East, south, west, north.

A clear map emerged in Bi Fang’s mind, marking the location of the hidden food and entrails as well as his current position.

In the Y-shaped area, Bi Fang was at the tail end of the vertical line. If the black bear was on the left side of the Y burying its innards in the ground, as long as the wind blew towards him…

Yes, the wind was blowing downward!

Feeling the wind direction, Bi Fang clenched his fist in excitement; his plan was entirely feasible!

There was no time to waste. As soon as he confirmed the plan could work, Bi Fang immediately ran towards the place where the meat was hung, but not directly. Instead, he approached from a farther distance.

After all, nobody knew the exact location of the black bear. It had always been Bi Fang’s speculation, so it was better to be cautious.

“Black bears may look clumsy when they walk, as if they’re staggering, but in reality, they’re very agile. When walking, they put their entire foot down, called ‘plantigrade,’ which makes very little noise in the forest, and they can run very fast. So we have to be careful, and observe our surroundings as much as possible,” he explained.

Taking a detour, Bi Fang began to sneak closer to the hanging rabbit meat.

Before getting closer, he found several traces of the black bear’s presence.

In Qinling, not everywhere was muddy ground that easily left footprints like before. There were densely grown weeds and grass, and on such ground, it was difficult for footprints to leave a mark, so other methods for detecting the bear became crucial.

“You see that tree? The trunk shows obvious signs of being rubbed, and black bears like to rub themselves against trees because they can’t reach their backs with their claws. When they’re itchy, they do this movement to relieve the itch, which means that this black bear has been here before!” he said.

The rub marks were on a tree so large that it would take several people to embrace it. The trunk’s bark was almost entirely rubbed off at the base, indicating that the black bear’s size must be astonishing.

The size and strength of this bear were beyond human capabilities to fight.

Bi Fang was not stupid enough to face it head-on. The reason humans had come to dominate the animal kingdom was not because of sharp teeth or claws or raw power, but rather their far superior intelligence.

Walking against the wind, Bi Fang crouched forward, continually seeking shelter for cover.

Even though he hadn’t seen the black bear yet, it was better to be cautious.

When he got within a dozen meters from the hanging smoked rabbit, Bi Fang even began to crawl on all fours.

After finally being able to see the tree with meat hanging from it clearly, Bi Fang, lying on the ground, looked up and found that the smoked rabbit meat, bound tightly by reeds and vines, was still intact on the tree. At the bottom of the tree, however, there were many black fur and footprints, and the trunk was covered with scratch marks.

“It seems my guess was correct. The black bear indeed came here, but it couldn’t reach the smoked rabbit meat!”

Seeing that the situation matched his analysis, Bi Fang couldn’t help but feel a bit triumphant.

“This is also consistent with my speculation. Between me, the internal organs, and the smoked rabbit meat, there’s actually a progressive relationship. The further along, the more likely it is to attract the hungry black bear. If it can’t reach the smoked rabbit meat, it will retreat and look for the internal organs next, and finally come after me!”

However, the spectators who listened to Bi Fang’s analysis became even more nervous, but there was nothing they could do to help.

Since they could not persuade Bi Fang, all they could do was pray for his plan to run smoothly.

But in Bi Fang’s plan, almost every step was calculated based on the black bear’s activity timeline. If any mistakes were made, the price to pay could be his life!

On one side, there was the dominant predator in the jungle, and on the other side, an extremely experienced adventurer. Who will come out on top?

Who is the praying mantis, and who is the sparrow?

With this question in mind, every spectator was extremely tense, as if they were watching a performance of dancing on a knife’s edge.

One misstep…

Everyone shivered in fear!