King of the Wilderness

The twenty-third day, early morning.

When Lin Yu’an woke up, the air inside the shelter was cold and fresh, with the flames in the fireplace long extinguished, leaving only a pile of still-warm ashes.

He got up calmly, first reheating the broth that he had boiled with crab shells last night, pairing it with a few pieces of steamed sea urchin roe, solving a simple but nutritionally balanced breakfast.

He sat by the fire, sipping the hot soup while planning the day’s activities.

He spoke to the camera in a calm and determined tone: ”The coastal areas near the shelter on both the north and south sides have basically been thoroughly searched by me.”

”The first and most plentiful wave of rewards brought by the storm has been pocketed by me, but this doesn’t mean the end of exploration.” ℴ

”Tides and currents are continuous, and there will always be some items that got missed, or things pushed ashore again by subsequent tides.”

”Today, my goal is to conduct a detailed search to fill in the gaps, progressing along the southern coastline, heading toward farther and more secluded areas.”

”I don’t expect to have breakthrough discoveries like the past couple of days, but any extra finding is a major harvest for our survival reserves.”

He dressed neatly, carrying only the nearly empty backpack, bringing water and the most basic tools, and once again entered the ice-sealed world that appeared light blue under the morning light.

He did not linger in previously explored areas but headed directly south into the ”maze” formed by the more complex terrain of black rocks.

The roads here were extremely difficult to navigate, with large ice blocks jostling each other, forming steep ice walls and narrow passages.

Sometimes he needed to climb like rock climbing, using both hands and feet, while other times he had to cautiously cross slippery ice bridges.

It took him nearly an hour to advance less than two kilometers.

As he expected, the discoveries here became sporadic and scarce. In a shallow bay covered with seaweed, he found a small group of Hairy Scale Fish washed ashore, not many, probably enough to fill half of a side pocket of his backpack.

Besides that, there were no other noteworthy discoveries.

He could clearly feel that the storm’s gifts were rapidly fading, and the potential of this closest coastline had been nearly exhausted by him.

”It seems the good days of scavenging are over.”

He stood on a high floating ice block, gazing at the endless ice fields further south, contemplating the next survival strategy.

Passively waiting for the sea’s next gift is tantamount to leaving destiny to chance.

He had to turn to more proactive, pioneering survival methods. Perhaps challenging under-ice fishing, or conducting a long-distance inland expedition to track and hunt...

As he was pondering, an unusual object in an extremely hidden corner at the end of his line of sight attracted his attention.

It was an area almost completely enclosed by a giant piece of driftwood.

And in that small space formed by the drift ice and driftwood, a dark green object with a straight edge was wedged between the drift ice and driftwood.

It didn’t look like a natural rock, much less a crumpled fishing net or rope. The hard lines and orderly shape clearly indicated its man-made identity.

Lin Yu’an instantly perked up! He cautiously glided down from the height and proceeded in that direction.

Navigating this chaotic area proved more physically demanding than anticipated. When he finally saw the full view of the object, even his steady breathing became a little hurried.

It was a professional-grade military or scientific hard plastic waterproof safety case.

The case was about half a meter long and thirty centimeters wide, completely in a dull dark green.

The surface of the case was covered with deep scratches left by violent collisions with ice and rocks during the storm, with some areas of plastic scraped into white fringes, enough to testify to its hardships.

But remarkably, despite the abuses, the box’s overall structure remained perfectly intact.

Four extremely sturdy wide-body latches still clamped tightly, firmly locking the thick lid to the case body.

The metal plaque on the front of the case had long been ground blurred, but the solid industrial design silently spoke of its extraordinary origin.

”A professional safety case...” Lin Yu’an crouched down, stroking the cold and rough surface with his gloved hand.

”This thing has much more room for imagination than any of the supplies I’ve found.”

His gaze finally fixated on the unique lock in the center of the case.

It didn’t have the keyhole of a traditional padlock, but instead, there was a combination lock with four black rollers embedded in the case.

Each roller was clearly marked with numbers 0 to 9, and below the rollers was a small but equally sturdy metal toggle switch.

”A locked box with a combination lock, this is interesting.”

The case might contain anything, perhaps high-tech tools, medicines, high-energy food, firearms that could completely change his survival situation...

But maybe it’s empty, just an empty box, or in the worst case, it might contain something useless or even troublesome for him.

But no matter what, he had to open this ”mystery box.”

He first tried the most direct approach, pulling the box forcefully from the crevice and placing it on a relatively flat ice surface.

Then he grabbed one of the clasps, exerting his full strength to pry it open, but the clasp didn’t budge at all. It fit tightly with the box, not even a knife blade could slide through.

”The structural strength is very high.”

He then raised his Forest Axe, took a deep breath, and with the thick back of the axe, aimed at the connection of one of the clasps and smashed down hard!

”Clang!”

A crisp metallic sound echoed along the silent coastline, and the massive recoil traveled through the axe handle back to his arm, numbing his hand.

He looked down at the clasp he struck, and only a slight white mark was left on it, while the box itself was untouched.

He changed his approach, aiming at the side connection of the combination lock, and hammered it a few more times, but other than leaving a few harmless dents, the precise combination lock mechanism remained as steady as Mount Tai.

”Brute force won’t work.” He decisively stopped the futile effort and placed the axe back at his waist.

He knew very well that the design of such a professional box was meant to withstand the harshest environments and abnormal opening methods.

Its material durability and structural strength far exceeded the destructive limits of ordinary tools.

He didn’t attempt any more pointless tries but dragged the box back to the towering ice floe where he had stayed earlier.

”It still has some weight, which means there’s definitely something inside this box.”

He crouched down again, examining the combination lock closely.

Four dials, ten thousand combinations.

If this was a completely random code, he could give up immediately.

Without any hints, guessing one number out of ten thousand was nearly impossible, and he didn’t have the time for such a foolish attempt.

”But...” He began his logical reasoning in front of the camera.

”People who use such professional equipment are usually not ordinary folks. They might be soldiers, scientists, or professional explorers.”

”For these people, in wild environments, the primary principle of a password is not absolute secrecy, but reliability and memorability.”

”A researcher with numb fingers in the icy wilderness would never set themselves a random, hard-to-recall password.”

”What they need is a number they can quickly remember in any emergency. So, this password is likely not a random number but follows some simple logic.”

He began his first attempt, the simplest and most common password.

He sequentially set the four dials to ”0...0...0...0.” He pressed the switch.

No reaction. The switch was locked, unable to move.

He tried ”1...2...3...4” again.

Still no reaction.

He wasn’t discouraged, as he anticipated this, closing his eyes to construct a profile of the box’s original owner in his mind.

”Assume it’s a research team. What is their job content? Recording data. So, what number is most important to them? The year?”

He immediately sat up straight and began trying recent years, adjusting the dials to enter this year’s year, no reaction. Last year’s year, no reaction. He even tried ”2000,” still failed.

”Looks like it’s not a year.” He shook his head.

He thought of another possibility.

”Or perhaps some globally significant numbers related to science or geography? Like the first four digits of Pi ’3141’? Or the golden ratio ’1618’?”

He tried these numbers one by one, but without exception, all failed.

The small metal switch remained as motionless as a silent taunt, refusing him entry.

Time ticked away, the sun slowly moving across the sky. Lin Yu’an wasn’t impatient, submerged in the enjoyment of solving such a puzzle.

He abandoned these aimless guesses, turning instead to a more human and cultural perspective.

”A Western scientist or explorer working in the polar regions... what is their cultural background? What would they revere?”

”What kind of number would be both a tacit ’meme’ among their intellectual group, and special enough not to be easily guessed by outsiders?”

His thoughts wandered through numerous cultural symbols, when suddenly, a number, a piece of work, a symbol with a special place in the Western intellectual world, struck his mind like lightning!

A number that both serves as a warning from the past and symbolizes contemplation of the future!

His breath paused for a moment, a glint of understanding flashed in his eyes.

”Could it be... that?”