Chapter 376: Chapter 223: Extremely Troublesome

He was preparing to devise a plan to "lure" the prey out of its lair!

He circled to the side of the rock pile, still remaining in the leeward position. Without approaching the main entrance he had already identified, he began to carefully observe the entire structure of the rock pile.

"A nest of such a large rodent usually won’t have just one exit."

"To cope with emergencies, they often dig at least one alternate escape passage. My task is to find it."

Like a fox searching for a crevice, he silently traversed the base of the rock pile. Finally, beneath a tangle of bushy roots, he discovered a small entrance almost completely covered.

"Found it!"

His plan was simple, create enough commotion at the main entrance to force the startled porcupine to flee through this escape exit he had anticipated.

And at this exit, he would wait and give it a fatal blow!

He gathered a few medium-sized stones and tucked them into his arms. Then he moved to a position about ten meters diagonally in front of the escape exit.

Here stood a sturdy spruce tree, the perfect ambush point and cover.

He completely hid his body behind the trunk, peeking out with only half of his head, his gaze locked firmly on the inconspicuous opening.

Once ready, he grabbed a stone from his arms and, with all his might, threw it violently towards the direction of the main entrance on the other side of the rock pile!

The stone arced through the air and hit the rock above the main entrance with a "bang," ringing crisply and dislodging a small patch of snow.

From deep within the cave, a commotion sounded instantly! Following that, a "click-clack" sound came from inside the cave!

It was the porcupine creating a warning sound by rubbing its molars quickly when feeling extremely threatened! The sound was dense and loud, seemingly saying, "Intruder, leave at once!"

Lin Yu’an immediately threw out a second, then a third stone, creating an illusion of a continuous invasion attempt at the main entrance.

The noise inside the cave became more agitated and uneasy.

Suddenly, at the escape exit which Lin Yu’an’s gaze was fixed, the bush branches were abruptly pushed from inside out!

A plump, dark head cautiously poked out from the opening.

It first twitched its nose warily, greedily inhaling the fresh air outside the cave, its beady black eyes carefully scanning the surroundings, seeming to verify whether the environment was safe.

It was a gigantic North American Porcupine, even fatter than he anticipated, weighing at least fifteen kilograms.

Its body was encased in black-and-white armor, its long quills glinting with a chilling light under the slanted afternoon sun, making it particularly conspicuous in the snowy terrain.

Lin Yu’an’s breath nearly halted; this was the walking fat that he had desperately been hunting for!

Once it confirmed no danger, it slowly crawled out completely, instinctively aiming to escape deeper into the forest!

At the instant it squeezed its entire body out of the hole, exposing its vulnerable flank to Lin Yu’an, he moved!

"Now!"

He burst out from behind the tree! The snowshoes underfoot exploded with strong gripping power, taking just a few strides to cross the final, life-and-death distance!

The porcupine had just escaped the hole and hadn’t yet discerned the direction before a violent disturbance of the snow behind it was heard. It turned its head in terror.

But it was too late; as it turned its head and saw Lin Yu’an’s figure, like a Celestial God descending.

The long spear in Lin Yu’an’s hand had already, with his entire body’s weight and tremendous forward inertia, arced a deadly trajectory and thrust fiercely!

"Pfft—!"

A sound of the flint spearhead piercing through flesh and bone. The spearhead accurately penetrated deeply into the porcupine’s chest cavity from the vital spot connecting its neck and front limb!

The intense pain and impact caused the porcupine’s entire body to tremor violently, releasing an extremely sharp, piercing wail: "Ee-yaaah—!"

The scream, filled with anguish and fear, shattered the forest’s stillness.

At the moment it was pierced, its previously slightly fluffy "armor," as though triggered by some mechanism, suddenly "exploded"! Its entire skin and muscles contracted intensely!

Thousands of black and white quills bristled instantaneously, making its formerly rotund body abruptly transform into a significantly larger deadly spiked ball!

Meanwhile, its muscle-packed tail, covered with the thickest and longest quills.

As if by reflex, under the stimulus of intense pain, it flailed wildly and aimlessly backward, producing a "whooshing" wind-breaking sound, trying to strike the enemy that had inflicted fatal injury upon it.

But all efforts were in vain.

Lin Yu’an’s movements were calm, precise, filled with absolute distance control. The 1.8-meter birch spear provided him with a perfect safety boundary.

After landing the hit and feeling that solid sensation of cutting through flesh from the spear tip, he neither hesitated nor lingered, nor did he retreat even a step.

He merely released the tightly gripped spear shaft, letting the deadly weapon remain in the prey’s body.

The body, lowered due to the forward rush, naturally straightened up, the snowshoes underfoot firmly planted in the snow like rooted trees.

The deadly spiked tail swept futilely a meter away, the gust it stirred even lifting the loose snow on his pant leg.

Yet it was still a considerable distance from being any real threat to him.

With an almost cold gaze, he watched the beast engage in its final death throes. Fighting with a wounded porcupine is the most foolish and deadly act of a hunter.

Each convulsion and roll before its death could cause those loosely connected quills to fall and shoot out like bullets.

Approaching it was tantamount to stepping into a possible bursting rain of needles; once pierced by those barbed quills, the consequences were unthinkable.

The spear deeply embedded in the porcupine’s body, like a deadly wedge, caused it to lose all coordination in an instant, its nervous system shattered by the chest cavity piercing.

It didn’t take a single step but collapsed to the side like a puppet drained of all its bones, falling to the ground on the spot!

Lin Yu’an drew out the spear, and blood quickly gushed out from the wound at its neck, staining the pristine snow an alarming deep red. Wisps of heat even rose from it.

Its body was violently twitching in the snow, its limbs weakly, instinctively scraping the ground, kicking up patches of snowflakes.

This wasn’t an escape, but merely the last neural reflex beyond cerebral control as life dissipated.

With each convulsion, a few quills fell from its body, scattering around the pool of blood.

Eventually, its movements grew smaller and smaller, down to faint tremors until it ceased completely.

The pair of bead-like black eyes lost all their luster, turning dull and lifeless.

Lin Yu’an didn’t approach immediately.

He maintained a stance with the spear in hand, standing at a safe distance, like a solidified statue, observing for a full minute calmly.

He watched the porcupine’s chest and abdomen closely, ensuring there was no rise or fall of breath.

Simultaneously, he listened closely to the surroundings, ensuring no other dangerous animals were approaching, attracted by the scent of blood and cries.

After confirming that everything had settled, he exhaled a long plume of white breath, relaxing muscles that had been taut to the extreme from the adrenaline surge.

The slight trembling after the battle, mixed with the enormous joy of a successful hunt, instantly filled his entire being.

He walked over to the massive porcupine, silently expressing gratitude in his heart.

Then, he straightened, faced the camera, and said in a voice suppressed with excitement yet still steady, "Success. A perfect ambush!"

"This porcupine will provide me with high-energy fat for at least over two weeks, temporarily resolving my food crisis!"

He glanced at the sky, the sun was almost touching the distant ridge. He must hurry and start facing the next challenging task.

How to safely and efficiently process this "spiky treasure."