Alaska Gold Rush Diary

Chapter 12 The Boy Who Cried Wolf

Soaking in a steaming hot spring amidst snow-covered forests is an incredibly pleasant experience.

Zhou Xin felt his fatigue disappear quickly, and a feeling of indescribable comfort washed over him.

This gave him the illusion that he wasn't there to strike it rich, but rather to go on vacation.

I must say, the idea of ​​taking a hot bath was very successful. Although the water temperature dropped quickly, it was still no problem to soak for ten or fifteen minutes.

"I've heard there are many volcanic hot springs in this mountainous area. I wonder if there are any nearby," Zhou Xin wondered.

If you could find a volcanic hot spring, you'd have the luxury of taking a hot bath anytime.

Gold mining is hard work, but Zhou Xin still hopes to make himself as comfortable as possible in this tough and tedious job.

He didn't get up until the water temperature dropped to a point where it wasn't warm anymore, and then he quickly ran back to the cabin.

As soon as he stood up, the cold wind made him shiver, almost blowing away the benefits of the bath.

Fortunately, he had already turned up the fire before going into the water, so the cabin was very warm.

Even though we were still naked after entering the cabin, we didn't feel cold.

After drying myself off and getting dressed, I felt refreshed and comfortable.

The sun had already set, and he began preparing dinner.

After eating fish for several days in a row, he decided to treat himself to something nice today.

He first found a straight and uniformly thick wooden stick from the woodpile and carefully smoothed its surface.

He then took a little of the remaining luncheon meat and bacon, diced them, added a little minced ginger and garlic and chili sauce, and mixed them into a filling.

Take out a little more flour, add water and knead into a dough. Divide the dough into small balls and roll them out into wrappers with a wooden stick.

Then, he began the most popular part of the Spring Festival Gala for Chinese people—making dumplings.

Although the dumpling filling was rather bland, it smelled quite nice.

However, the technique of rolling out dumpling wrappers was too clumsy, resulting in uneven thickness and size, making them barely shaped.

They carefully wrapped dumplings of varying sizes and odd shapes.

Looking at the dumplings neatly arranged on the small table, Zhou Xin felt very satisfied.

He was even a little proud to be able to make dumplings in such a foreign land, in the wilderness and snowfields.

Bring water to a boil in a pot, then add the dumplings.

Fortunately, the frying pan he brought was quite deep, so cooking dumplings wasn't a problem.

The plump, white dumplings were bobbing in the boiling water, and Zhou Xin felt like it was New Year's Day.

After a short but long wait, we can finally eat!

Adjusting to the most comfortable sitting position, and then turning on the seemingly mindless "Iron Man" movie, Zhou Xin contentedly picked up a dumpling and took a bite.

The bacon oil bursts in your mouth, and the luncheon meat, minced ginger and garlic, and the relatively thick dumpling skin combine to create a unique aroma that is very satisfying to chew.

Dumplings are definitely the best food, it's a pity I didn't bring vinegar.

They ate them one after another; in the movie, Tony hadn't even escaped the cave before the whole pot of dumplings was gone.

Too lazy to even clean the pot, Zhou Xin added a few large pieces of firewood to the stove, crawled into his sleeping bag, and continued watching the movie.

Just as the movie was about to end, a rustling sound suddenly came from outside the cabin.

During my time living here, the nights were extremely quiet, with almost no other sounds except for the howling wind and the sound of snow falling from the branches.

Zhou Xin was used to the quiet, so even though the noise outside wasn't loud, he immediately sensed something was wrong.

A chill ran down my spine and up to the top of my head, and every hair on my body stood on end.

Although he had always been a staunch materialist, anyone would feel fear if they suddenly heard what sounded like other living creatures while living alone in the wilderness.

He turned off his phone, held his breath, and listened carefully to make sure he hadn't misheard.

Judging from the direction of the sound, it should be the snowdrift where the frozen fish were buried.

Could it be a bear?

It's possible that bears are ending their hibernation period now.

During this time, he was very worried that a bear might break into the camp. Although he had a double-barreled shotgun, he was not confident.

He quietly got up, went to the wooden wall next to the refrigerator, and pressed his ear against the wall to listen.

There was indeed the sound of something breaking through the snowdrift, mixed with a low whistling sound.

That was the sound coming from something outside, a bit like a dog's bark.

It's a wolf!

Zhou Xin was absolutely certain that what was outside was a wolf.

However, judging from the intensity of the movement, it should be a lone wolf.

Although wolves are social animals, some wolves are abandoned by their packs for various reasons and become lone wolves.

For example, the very famous internet celebrity wolf from Kekexili.

Zhou Xin secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

If a pack of wolves comes, you will be in great danger if you are discovered.

Wolf packs work together to deal with animals much larger than themselves; even tigers and lions may not be their match.

However, lone wolves are not so scary. They can be regarded as dogs with explosive fighting power, but the strength of ordinary wolves is not even as good as large dogs such as Tibetan Mastiffs.

With the instrument of equality for all beings in hand, the advantage lies with me.

Thinking of this, Zhou Xin felt much more at ease.

He quietly put on his winter coat, took out his CZ G2 double-barreled shotgun, and prepared to meet this uninvited guest.

I've never eaten wolf meat before. It should taste better than fish, right?

Moreover, wolf pelts are very warm and can be used to make scarves or something similar.

He tiptoed to the door and carefully pushed it open.

The snow piled up to bury the fish was on the right side of the wooden house. He walked along the wooden wall to the corner and peered out.

Although he had a gun in his hand, he was still quite nervous because he was facing a cold and ruthless beast, and his hands were covered in sweat.

Under the moonlight, a huge but emaciated gray wolf could be seen digging through the snow and greedily eating frozen fish.

Zhou Xin recognized it at a glance: it was the most common tundra wolf in Alaska, and the largest of the existing gray wolf subspecies in the world.

This wolf must have been very hungry. Its cautious nature had completely disregarded its guard as it chewed on the hard, frozen fish, making crunching sounds as if it were chewing an ice pop.

Zhou Xin held his breath and aimed the gun at it.

Just then, the wolf seemed to realize the danger and suddenly raised its head to look at Zhou Xin!

In his emerald green eyes, there was ferocity, but even more so, fear.

The next moment, Zhou Xin pulled the trigger.

Almost at the same moment, the wolf snatched a frozen fish, turned, and fled into the forest.

Bah!

The piercing gunshot shattered the tranquility of the Alaskan wilderness night. The wolf howled in pain, shot in the right hind leg, and fell to the ground in the snow.

Zhou Xin gasped for breath, his heart pounding, and took off after him.

The wolf struggled painfully to its feet and limped off into the woods.

And it still held the frozen fish tightly in its mouth.

"What a hungry wolf! It would rather die than let go of the food it has in its mouth."

Zhou Xin's killing intent was made up, and he raised his hand to fire another shot.

Unfortunately, the shot missed.

After all, he didn't have much shooting experience, and hitting a moving target like that was too difficult for him.

But Zhou Xin knew that one of its legs had been broken, and it couldn't run very far in this snow-covered forest.

So he followed closely behind, intending to wait until it could run out of steam before delivering the fatal blow.