Live Streaming: Great Adventure in the Wilderness - Chapter 388

Chapter 388: Chapter 386: Reserve a Spot

Please continue reading on ΒOXΝʘVEL.ϹΟM .

The sea was very calm, with warm yellow sunlight that made the shore shimmer brightly.

The waves slapped against the coast, leaving behind white foam.

Bi Fang’s palms were very slender; though calloused and rough, they appeared clean and beautiful. At this moment, those hands were gripping a wooden stick, vigorously rubbing it against another piece of wood, scattering a large amount of wood shavings produced by friction.

This was the second method that Bi Fang tried after his failure with Fire-Making by Wood-Drilling, the planing method. This method was the simplest and relied entirely on the user’s arm strength, using a sharpened stick to rub back and forth in a groove on a piece of wood.

At the bottom of the groove, some very fine wood shavings would appear. These shavings would accumulate, and eventually, when the temperature reached a certain level, they would ignite.

The continuous motion caused Bi Fang’s nose to gather a slight sweat. He dared not wipe it away, fearing that the slightest mistake would dissipate the heat he had just accumulated.

He had been rubbing for more than ten minutes, and his body was hot. He had even taken off one of his jackets.

On the island, there were too few plant choices, and no materials with the right softness or hardness. The local trees were generally too hard and not very suitable for making fire. Bi Fang could only make do with what was available, choosing the most passable materials.

At that moment, he had come to the center of the island, his legs clamping tightly onto the wooden board to prevent it from moving during the friction and cause the wood shavings in the groove to scatter, which would mean all previous efforts were in vain.

Several more minutes passed. The audience was on edge, yet Bi Fang remained calm, rubbing at a steady pace. The planer method for making fire was quite arduous, but its advantage was stability. The trick was not only the technique of rubbing but also maintaining a good mentality.

Bi Fang had spent the better part of the past six months living in the wild, and he had come to understand the principle behind it.

Finally, the heat permeated through the wooden board to Bi Fang’s leg skin, inspiring him with energy. He quickened the pace of rubbing, striking while the iron was hot.

Here it comes!

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Accompanied by faint white smoke, the audience’s spirits lifted—they almost wished they could replace Bi Fang and blow on the smoke to make it rise faster.

Watching the host make fire was like watching gamers acquire new gear. Although the process was repetitious, when gear finally dropped, the satisfaction was immense!

With the appearance of smoke, what followed was much easier. The wood groove darkened, and the audience could visibly see the finest fibers beginning to glow red and vanish. Just one final push was needed for the real flame to emerge.

First, the finest fibers gradually disappeared, followed by slightly coarser ones, and finally, the large clumps of wood shavings began to glow red and drift away.

It’s done!

Seeing this, Bi Fang was no longer panicked. He hastily put down the wooden board, shaped a piece of bark-tanned tinder into a nest, and placed it on top, blowing deeply and slowly to allow ample air to touch the embers.

The thin smoke turned to light smoke, which thickened and changed from white to yellow.

Sparks scattered as a small flame emerged from the thick smoke, dancing with abandon and captivating the viewers.

“Finally, we’ve got fire!”

Bi Fang raised his hand and wiped off the beads of sweat, flinging them aside. After striving for more than half an hour, he had finally produced a flame. It wasn’t easy.

[Planer method for fire-making, got √]

[giaogiaogiao, we have fire! The fire’s ignited!]

[Spread the word, it’s beyond calling, an example for us all!]

[Isn’t it time for some charcoal-grilled seafood?]

[Charcoal-grilled seafood, damn, I’m suddenly hungry. What do I do?]

Looking at the gentle flames, Bi Fang’s sense of achievement surged—it was the fruit of half an hour’s effort.

“Ancient humans used these primitive methods to make fire, relying on this skill for survival. There’s a special feeling when you learn this ancient skill, especially when you’ve worked hard for a long time to produce that first spark. Even after lighting fires countless times, you still feel a special sense of accomplishment.”

[Now let’s go up the mountain to do Fire-Making by Wood-Drilling]

[Set fire to the forest, and you’ll rot in jail!]

[Then why can the host do it?]

“Don’t copy me; I have permission from forestry authorities. You can’t generalize one person’s actions to everyone,” Bi Fang said with a laugh, genuinely afraid that some brainless netizens might imitate him.

With the fire ready, the rest was easy. Bi Fang quickly processed the mackerel, skewered it on a tree stick, and placed it over the fire to smoke and roast.

In wilderness survival, fat is justice, and any high-fat food could win Bi Fang’s favor. Mackerel was among the best of such foods. Unlike sesame mackerel, the Atlantic mackerel was rich in fat. Even without added oil and with just simple grilling, it could glisten with oil, especially in the winter when it accumulated fat—making it all the more delicious and unmissable.

As he watched the fish gradually change color and ooze oil under the intense heat of the grill, the aroma aggressively vied for his attention, causing Bi Fang to swallow involuntarily.

As the saying goes, barbecue may not be healthy, but it sure is delicious!

Having eaten raw food for several days in a row, Bi Fang couldn’t wait to tear off a piece of the mackerel’s crisping skin as soon as it started to show signs of charring, regardless of the scalding heat, and popped it into his mouth.

The intense heat combined with that specific salty fragrance left by dried seawater exploded on Bi Fang’s taste buds like a culinary bomb!

“Ah!”

Bi Fang opened his mouth, white heat billowing out as he hastily chewed a few times before eagerly swallowing, feeling the scorching sensation slide down his throat.

“Delicious!”

[Mommy, looks so good, it’s like grilled saury!]

[I can even hear the crispiness of the fish skin; it’s like a cookie.]

[Grilled fish skin, yyds!]

[Old Fang knows how to live.]

After having a taste, Bi Fang couldn’t stop himself. He methodically finished off the rest of the fish skin. After the considerable energy expenditure from the previous night till now, he was in urgent need of food.

So, as soon as the surface layer was cooked through, Bi Fang ate all the meat off the top, and he even fashioned a pair of thin tree sticks as chopsticks to make the experience more enjoyable.

After a tiring week, a celebratory meal of charcoal-grilled seafood was well-deserved.

When the fish was thoroughly cooked, nearly the entire fish had been eaten. Bi Fang didn’t waste even the last of the bones, toasting them until crispy and crunching them down as if they were crackers.

Having eaten the whole fish, he was barely satisfied.

Energy +10

Patting his belly, Bi Fang lay down on the shore to digest his meal, basking in the warm sun which made his slightly tanned face even more comfortable.

[Stranded on a deserted island×, holiday resort√]

[Full belly, basking in the sun, I’m envious of this life.]

[Merely thinking about it makes me feel the stench in the middle of the night!]

[Um, middle of the night? Bro, where are you from? The time difference is huge? It’s only the afternoon here?]

[Hawaii]

[WTF? What the hell is Ha-wei-yi? Are you freaking vacationing? Could you say that with a clear conscience?]

[Leaves behind tears of poverty]

Lying on the beach for a good while, enjoying the sun and the sand, and listening to the rolling waves, Bi Fang felt utterly relaxed. Yet, he hadn’t forgotten his mission – surviving on the island for twenty-one days, knowing full well that one couldn’t win by just lying around.

The island was too small, and besides plants, it hardly had any other life forms to provide sustenance. Of the two big fish, one had been eaten, the hairfin anchovies couldn’t be eaten as they needed to be saved for bait, which meant Bi Fang’s food reserves were down to just one squid and one fish, making him anxious once again.

Without food in hand, the mind races with worry.

With this thought, Bi Fang sat up abruptly, scratched his head, and continued to wander around the island. It was important to pick up things on the beach because sometimes you could find many unexpected items.

And as an adventurer with aspirations, it was impossible to stay on a small island indefinitely.

If it had been a big island, Bi Fang certainly would have settled down and spent the remaining days there, but the size of this island was doubtful to even be two hundred square meters. Bi Fang could at most use it as a temporary base; he preferred to find an actual continent. That would be true “Riding the Wind and Waves.”

The assessment of the mission would definitely be higher, there was no doubt about that.

From his previous experiences, Bi Fang had gotten a clear sense of what the System wanted, which was for him to take initiative. If he did only the bare minimum for each task, that would undoubtedly be problematic and severely impact the speed of his self-improvement. And he was a man who aspired to climb Mount Everest!

In preparation for the next ten or so days, Bi Fang definitely needed to make adequate preparations, using up all usable resources on the island. The first step was to free up the squid container.

The head of the squid could hold ink, but that wasn’t a long-term solution and was prone to spill. Bi Fang needed a plastic bottle, and places like islands were very likely to have ocean refuse stranded on them.

Especially plastic, which can last for decades or even centuries. In his past life, many people who watched Bear Grylls and Grandpa De videos often thought the plastics they picked up were planted, but in fact, they weren’t.

Plastic trash had long been scattered across the oceans.

Bi Fang shook his head slightly and, after carefully finishing his tour around the entire island with his thoughts, he indeed found two plastic bottles, the common soda type. To be cautious, he still took them into the sea for a thorough wash before pouring the ink into the cleaned bottles.

Some ink remained stuck to the head of the squid, to which Bi Fang added a bit of seawater before pouring it in as well.

Edible squid inventory +1

With a bit more food in reserve, Bi Fang felt slightly reassured, but an even more important task awaited him—building a raft!

Building a raft?

The audience was taken aback upon hearing this idea.

[Why build a raft? Is Old Fang going to continue drifting?]

“Exactly,” Bi Fang nodded, “I hope to find a piece of real land, not just clung to this tiny island that’s not even as large as a villa’s yard.”

[Not surprised at all, I’ve gotten used to it. Even if Old Fang now tells me he’s going to wrestle with whales, I’d just think, is that all?]

[Already familiar with the routine, hahaha.]

[Charge on, dammit!]

[Giaogiaogiao, Master Fang is freaking awesome!]

“Life rafts are just too unstable. The slightest puncture could lead to the danger of sinking, which really doesn’t give me a sense of safety.”

Bi Fang pointed to the life raft not far away, and many viewers nodded repeatedly. Indeed, not to mention encountering sharks, even a slightly larger fish could potentially bite and deflate a life raft, and then it would be completely over without any recourse.

But rafts were different. A good raft could effectively float on the sea, and even if it encountered a larger shark than usual, it wouldn’t matter. Reality is not a movie; the great white sharks from the movies don’t exist in reality. Most of them just take a bite to try and if it’s not appetizing, they leave. What life rafts fear is exactly that one bite.

“Building a sea raft depends on the materials you can find at hand, as well as the conditions of the waters you plan to drift in, and how long you plan to be adrift.

There are no fixed rules here. With common sense, good tying skills, and some buoyant materials, you can construct a pretty decent raft.”

“For this, we need to gather enough logs or bamboo of roughly equal length, arrange them into the shape of a raft on the ground.

Carve a groove at a distance of 1 meter from each end of a log or bamboo, stacking them on top of each other, to create ‘pressure’ between them.

If you’re using bamboo, you can drill a hole through each piece to substitute for the groove. Thread the bamboo through the holes, ensuring they’re tightly strapped together.”

Bi Fang squatted on the ground and started picking up stones. The island’s resources consisted of twenty-three large trees. He didn’t need that many. The trunk of one tree could be chopped into four or five sections, and there were also many thinner branches that could be used. Probably about five trees would be sufficient.

If all the trees were cut down, it would be uncertain whether trees could continue to grow on this island. Without the shelter of large trees, it would be difficult for saplings to grow. Cutting down five wouldn’t make a difference, though.

However, even though it wouldn’t make a difference, Bi Fang still silently apologized in his heart. For the sake of his rafting plan, he had to chop down trees.

[How are you going to chop down the trees? With a stone axe?]

[That stone doesn’t seem as good as flint, it’s just the ordinary kind]

“It’s pretty ordinary, but it’s good enough, and I don’t plan to make a stone axe,”

Bi Fang tossed the stone in his hand. Stone axes aren’t reliable and are hard to sharpen. Since trees are thick, the stone axe could easily break upon sharpening and chopping. If it isn’t sharp, it’s useless for chopping. Therefore, he planned to use a chisel to cut down the trees.

What he needed was a stone chisel and a stone hammer, both easy to make. Tree bark is rich in fiber and can be twisted into rope, binding a rock to one end of a tree stick to make a stone hammer.

“But for sturdiness, we need to do a bit of processing. First, we’ll split one end of the tree stick, then fit the stone into it. That way, it’ll be more secure when tied,”

Bi Fang stood the tree stick upright, with the sharp end facing up. He lined up the rock and struck the tail end of the stone chisel. The tree stick split as expected. He pried open the crack, slotted the stone in, and then tied it with rope, producing a high-quality stone hammer.

After swinging it a couple of times, Bi Fang nodded in satisfaction; it was very handy.

[Seeing Old Fang with a weapon in hand puts my mind at ease]

[Top-notch lumberjack logs on]

[Charge!]

With tools ready, the major task of cutting trees began. Bi Fang first drew a line at the base of the tree, then ground out a notch to hold the chisel steady. Standing up, he lined up the blow, then raised the stone hammer and struck down hard at the end of the stone chisel!

The chisel, originally not very sturdy, plunged about a centimeter into the tree and became exceptionally secure.

It seemed effective.

Bi Fang nodded, swinging the stone hammer more vigorously, generating a whoosh with each strike. After the chisel had sunk halfway, he grabbed it and rocked it from side to side, pulling it out.

“When chopping trees this way, remember not to drive the chisel in more than half, or you’ll struggle to pull it out. About half is enough, then you switch to the other side, and repeat a few times until the tree can be chiseled through,”

Bi Fang shifted his angle and inserted the chisel into the crack, swinging the stone hammer in the same manner. Soon, the base of the tree was torn open, and it started to wobble. With a kick, he broke it outright.

Got too caught up in the game and didn’t finish writing, just marking a spot here.

Update in the early morning.

Better go to sleep early.

…

Not many people are following the serial, and probably no one is watching right now…

The sound of the wooden stem snapping roared as the tall tree slowly fell to the ground, the entire island trembled with it.

Looking at the tree at his feet, viewers gasped in amazement. Was the efficiency really so high?

Bi Fang wiped off the sweat and moved towards the second tree.

Throughout the afternoon, viewers watched Bi Fang chop down trees, with each one making the entire island shake.

After four trees were chopped down, Bi Fang decided to start constructing to see if four were enough. The method was the same: he broke down the trees into logs, roughly two meters each.

This process continued until nightfall, and Bi Fang had only finished breaking down three large trees, with one last to go. But it wasn’t over yet; after the processing was done, what came next was even more important.

He was going to build a raft!