King of the Wilderness

Day Five

At 6:30 in the early morning, the sky was still a deep navy blue, with only a faint grayish-white light emerging from the distant horizon in the east.

Lin Yu’an had completed his routine check. The tripwire traps he had set along the coastline were still silent, leaving not even a single hair.

An empty-handed day, as expected, yet he was not discouraged.

In early November on the Labrador Coastline, land animal activity had greatly decreased, making the traps inefficient by nature.

His true granary lay within the turbulent tides of the sea.

Taking advantage of the golden window of the morning low tide, he made another trip to the bountiful rocky area.

This time, his goal was clear, and his actions more efficient, once again harvesting over eighty pounds of plump mussels.

He placed these heavy ”black gold” into the natural holding pool he had transformed with his own hands.

Seeing the dense and fairly considerable number of live reserves at the bottom of the pool, he felt no anxiety about food.

For at least the next week, he would not need to distract himself with worries about daily meals.

After finishing this, he drank some water, ate a few leftover roasted mussels from last night, and with regained strength, headed straight to the location he had long chosen, which was about to become his new shelter.

He stood before the impregnable granite wall, with a gentle slope slanting south beneath his feet.

He reconfirmed the precise location and orientation of the shelter, then picked up a sharp stone from the ground and marked a clear rectangular outline approximately four meters long and three meters wide on the tundra.

”Let’s get to work.”

Lin Yu’an murmured to himself, then took off his heavy windbreaker, wearing only a fitted fleece.

His first step wasn’t excavation but fire prevention.

The method he planned to use for breaking ground was efficient—fire attack! But before using fire, absolute safety had to be ensured.

He intended to use the axe to clear all the surface vegetation moss, low shrubs, and weeds within about a one-meter wide range outside the freshly marked rectangular outline, cleanly.

”Harder than expected.”

He frowned as the continuous sunny weather in recent days had allowed the nighttime low temperatures to start seeping the cold downward from the surface.

Because not only did he need to cut the vegetation, but needed to scrape off the turf along with the root system until the non-flammable dark brown soil beneath was exposed. This clear firebreak would serve as the first line of defense to control the fire.

After exerting all his strength to clear the firebreak, only then did he begin to clear the vegetation on the surface layer within the rectangular area, swiftly cleaning the area of vegetation.

He turned and walked to the edge of the forest to collect a large amount of relatively dry dead branches and driftwood. He did not choose those thick logs because he did not need long-duration concentrated high temperatures.

Instead, he aimed for a ground fire that could evenly cover the entire pit area and burn long enough.

Like a diligent worker ant, he repeatedly traveled back and forth between the forest and the site.

An hour later, he dispersed enough fuel to burn all afternoon evenly across the exposed plot surrounded by the firebreak.

He spread with skill: fine, easily combustible twigs at the bottom, medium-sized wood blocks in the middle, and a few thicker pieces of driftwood on top to ensure prolonged and stable combustion.

He took out the magnesium rod and scraper from his pocket.

”Scratch! Scratch!”

A few forceful rubs, bright and extremely hot magnesium sparks sprayed onto the birch bark tinder prepared long ago, instantly igniting the oil-rich birch bark into a small orange flame.

He carefully placed this fire source under the fuel pile; the dry twigs quickly caught fire, crackling.

The fire spread quickly with the help of the stable sea breeze, soon covering the entire rectangular area with a layer of dancing flames!

Lin Yu’an didn’t leave but picked up a long branch, occasionally poking the burning wood, pushing the fast-burning edge wood towards the center, and spreading the fully burnt ashes to allow the heat below to contact the soil more directly.

He could clearly hear the ”seeping” sound from the ground, which was the sound of moisture in the soil evaporating under the high temperature.

A distinctive scent mixed with ashes of grass and wood and baked soil permeated the air as the fire burned from morning until afternoon.

When all the fuel had turned into a thick, intensely hot layer of red charcoal, the first heating stage was completed. What was needed now was ”stew burning.”

He walked to the pile of soil he had dug when he was stripping turf, using a large wooden board as a temporary shovel, began to cover the red-hot charcoal with shovels of moist soil one by one.

”Puff—”

The moist soil came into contact with the hot charcoal and immediately released a large amount of white steam.

He worked quickly, soon covering the entire fire pile with a thick layer of soil, creating a structure akin to a primitive earth kiln.

He explained to the camera, ”The purpose of doing this is to prevent the heat from dissipating too rapidly into the air.”

”This layer of soil acts like an insulating cover, allowing the residual heat from the charcoal to slowly and continuously conduct downwards and into the deeper surrounding soil over the next few hours, which is much more efficient than roasting with an open flame directly.”

After doing all this, he was finally able to sit down and rest.

He took out a bottle of mineral water from his backpack and drank it in large gulps, feeling the heat waves emanating from the earth kiln.

About an hour and a half later, he judged that the time for ”smoldering” was sufficient.

He stood up again, and with a long branch, carefully brushed away the already dried layer of soil covering the surface.

The charcoal below had long been extinguished, leaving only a thick layer of white ashes.

He used a wooden plank to clear away all these ashes and the dry topsoil to one side.

When the heat-treated land fully presented itself before him, a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

The previously hard root soil layer was now dry and loose, showing a dark gray color.

Many fine plant roots had been carbonized and became fragile and brittle.

He stomped on it with his foot; the ground no longer felt hard, but rather like stepping into a plowed field, with a soft, sinking sensation.

The effect of the fire technique was immediate!

During the fire technique process, he found a young birch deadwood that met all the criteria.

First, he used the Hunting Knife to scrape off all the remaining bark on the trunk, revealing the smooth and solid light yellow wood underneath.

Next, at a gentle angle, he patiently carved a twenty-centimeter long conical shape, resembling a spearhead, on one end of the rod.

Then, he placed the tip of the rod about five centimeters above the charcoal fire, where the heat radiation was strongest but did not directly contact the open flame, the golden zone.

He could clearly see white steam being forced out of the wood’s pores during roasting, making a slight ”sizzling” sound.

The color of the rod’s tip gradually changed from the original light yellow to a light brown after the first roast, then to a dark brown after the third roast, finally presenting a rich, roasted-coffee-bean-like oily dark brown.

Every one or two minutes of roasting, he would withdraw the rod and use a flat sandstone to sand off the overly loose carbonized layer on the surface, exposing the hard, smooth dark wood underneath while it was still hot.

He repeated this roasting and sanding cycle four or five times.

Finally, after he completed the treatment, the tip of the Excavation Rod became hard, with a smooth and dense surface.

Now was the time to put the tool to use; he gripped the rod tightly with both hands, aimed the flame-hardened tip at the soil, and with all his might, thrust it down!

”Puff!”

A dull yet crisp sound rang out as the hard tip effortlessly pierced through the carbonized layer of plant roots, deeply wedging into the internal fibers!

He held the other end of the rod with both hands, used the ground as a fulcrum, and pried with force, breaking the plant root system that had entrenched the underground for countless years!

”Effective!”

His heart leaped with joy, and he immediately began a strategically planned, step-by-step efficient excavation process.

First was breaking the roots; he used the tip of the Excavation Rod like an elongated chisel to constantly strike and pry apart all the hidden plant root systems beneath the soil layer.

Second was loosening the soil; after removing the main root system obstacles, he changed the usage of the Excavation Rod.

He no longer stabbed vertically downwards but instead inserted the rod tip at a thirty-degree angle about twenty centimeters below the soil layer, and lifted it upward forcefully, neatly overturning and loosening a large clump of soil!

Thus, row by row, line by line, he systematically loosened the entire four-meter by three-meter area.

Last was clearing; he temporarily put down the Excavation Rod, picked up a flat wooden board, and meticulously shoveled out the loosened soil. He executed this process with precise planning.

He carefully sorted the cleared materials into two piles, neatly stacking them at the southern edge of the pit, convenient for use but without hindering subsequent construction.

The first pile was the stone heap; all suitably sized granite stones encountered during excavation were singled out by him. These stones, hard in texture and varying in shape, were excellent materials for future fireplace and chimney construction.

The second pile was the clean soil heap; those relatively pure, deep brown soils with fewer roots and stones were piled together. These soils would serve as the most important insulation material, covering his future roof.

All afternoon, he repeated this task. Without the struggle against hard frozen soil and stubborn root systems, his physical energy consumption significantly decreased, and the excavation progress was rapid.

When the last glimmer of sunset disappeared from the horizon, he finally stopped his work and straightened his aching back.

A neat pit, about forty centimeters deep and measuring four meters by three meters with vertical walls and a flat bottom, was perfectly presented below the granite wall.

Lin Yu’an stood in the pit, stomped the solid pit bottom with his foot, surveying his day’s labor achievements.

Though covered in soil and utterly exhausted, his heart was brimming with a sense of accomplishment in controlling the overall situation!

————

(Beijing Time 7:05, good morning~ Remember to have breakfast.)