He even clearly saw a white stoat, but in the end, could only watch the S-shaped jumping tracks it left on the snow. There was no possibility of hunting it.

All of this proved that the forest was full of life, yet none was the answer he sought today.

He was not discouraged; patience is the most important quality for a Hunter. Large animals have broader ranges and more concealed movements, requiring more exploration to find clues.

Time slipped away second by second. Lin Yu’an glanced at the position of the sun; the cold light-emitting white disc had moved a considerable distance westward in the sky.

A deep sense of time is a Hunter’s essential skill. He estimated he had already used up half of the outbound time, and over an hour of the two-hour limit had passed.

A trace of barely noticeable anxiety flitted through his heart. If nothing was discovered soon, today would end in fruitless return.

An empty-handed afternoon meant he would have spent a day’s worth of energy without gaining any fat replenishment, further expanding his energy deficit.

Just as he took a deep breath, preparing to climb over the small ridge in front of him, covered with low shrubs, for one last fruitless exploration.

A minuscule detail, like a flash of lightning, struck his visual nerves, halting his steps abruptly.

He slowly took a half step back, returning to his previous position. His body was still, but his eyes were fixed on a tree on the side of the ridge.

It was a willow tree, slightly taller than a person, its branches bent and buried under heavy snow from the relentless blizzard, seemingly insignificant.

But on the sun-facing part of its exposed trunk, there was an area whose color starkly contrasted the dark brown bark encased in ice and snow around it.

It was a fresh milky white belonging to the new tissue of the wood!

This tiny "color difference" in this world dominated by monotonous white and dark brown was like an unignorable signal that instantly captured all of Lin Yu’an’s attention!

He squatted down immediately, resting the longbow lightly against his leg, lowering his center of gravity.

At this moment, he resembled a criminal investigation expert who had just arrived at the "crime scene," beginning a meticulous examination of this tiny clue.

He didn’t approach immediately but stayed where he was, squinting, observing the overall shape of the white mark.

"Gnaw marks..." he whispered in an almost inaudible voice, with a hint of uncontrollable excitement.

"But the gnaw marks are high, at least a meter off the ground."

"This wasn’t done by a rabbit." He drew his first conclusion.

"The Snowshoe Rabbit is the most common tree gnawer in this forest, but their reach doesn’t get this high. Also..."

He extended a gloved hand, brushed away a thin layer of snow from the mark to reveal a clear bite mark underneath.

"Look at these teeth marks." His voice was lowered further, as if afraid of disturbing something.

"Rabbit gnaw marks are fragmented, piece by piece, as if shaved off with a small planer."

"Whereas this one is broad and deep, the edges of the mark are neat and forceful, as though carved out with a sharp flat chisel, stroke by stroke."

"This is definitely left by a large rodent with extremely developed incisors that enjoys gnawing on bark."

He stood up, eyes sharp, no longer limited to that mark, but started to analyze all the surrounding environmental information with the tree as the center.

His mind operated like a high-speed computer, piecing together all the fragmented clues.

"Footprints... no footprints around..." he frowned at first, then immediately realized.

"No, it’s not that there aren’t any, they’re covered by new snow. The blizzard stopped last night, but there was a small snowfall afterward. This indicates the gnaw marks were left before that small snowfall."

He squatted again, pinched a bit of wood shavings from the edge of the gnaw marks, and sniffed them at the tip of his nose, detecting a fresh sap aroma with a slightly sweet and bitter taste.

"The color of the xylem fracture is still fresh, not oxidized and discolored due to long exposure to the air, and the scent of the sap hasn’t completely dissipated."

He collided all the clues logically in his brain, ultimately reaching a conclusion that made his heart start racing.

He began speaking to the camera, analyzing the profile of his mental "suspect" like an experienced criminal profiler:

"First, its size isn’t small, and it’s quite powerful, able to easily gnaw on hard bark."

"Second, it is a kind of rodent, evident from its chisel-like incisor impressions."

"Third, and most crucially, it must be a very slow-moving animal, not adept at long-distance pursuits."

He pointed to the surroundings, explaining, "Because no swift-moving animal would ever spend so much time eating in such an open, unshielded place."

Piecing these features together, a vague but extremely enticing image started to form in his mind.

He suppressed his inner excitement, "A fairly large, bark-gnawing, slow-moving rodent..."

"In winter, this creature’s range of activity becomes extremely small, usually only active around its den. So, its lair must be nearby! It definitely hasn’t gone far!"

Lin Yu’an’s adrenaline started pumping rapidly! A hunter’s unique focus and excitement spread through his body in an instant, dispelling all prior anxiety and fatigue!

He knew he had grasped the tail of a big catch! Surveying the surroundings, he quickly spotted more direct evidence verifying his speculation under another tree not far away!!

——————

(Brothers, guess what it is?)