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For Pacini, although the rain had an impact, it was still within an acceptable range.

Even though it was raining, today he was closer to a large prey than he had been recently.

He slowly parted the grass in front, squinting to see fresh hoof prints in the mud extending into the distance.

He was getting more and more excited.

He was wearing waterproof clothes provided by the production team, raindrops pattering on the brim of his hat, and his thick beard was soaked with water.

He licked his lips—humans may not have a keen sense of smell to track prey, but their intelligent brains grant them the ability to use clues to find trails.

It’s worth noting, a puma wouldn’t look at footprints on the ground.

His mutton was only enough for a few days, and he currently only had a sheep leg hanging in a specially constructed smokehouse.

Therefore, he must capture the next prey soon to maintain the possibility of winning.

Over three weeks had passed, almost four.

He believed that at least half of the contestants had already been eliminated, and those who remained were true wilderness survival experts.

Standing out among this group was not an easy task, he had confidence for a long time, but confidence didn’t mean becoming arrogant and stupid—God punishes the prideful.

Following the tracks on the ground, he held his bow and arrow and continued to move forward cautiously.

Finally, as he parted the next patch of grass, his eyes lit up, but he quickly crouched down, exposing only his eyes from the dense jungle, staring intently ahead.

He took a deep breath, suppressed the excitement within, and licked his lips.

After such a long chase, he finally caught up with a North American Blacktail Deer!

It appeared to be a mature blacktail deer, estimated to be over 1.5 meters long, about 1 meter high, and weighing at least 100 kilograms.

At this time, it was summer, and the deer’s fur was a rusty brown color.

Blacktail deer are widely distributed across North America, generally living at higher altitudes, so encountering one here was very surprising to Pacini.

He carefully opened the action camera and whispered: ”Folks, it’s a blacktail deer. God bless, I will succeed.”

He muttered a few words, gently drawing the bow and inching closer.

The blacktail deer had not yet noticed him.

About twenty or thirty meters away from the deer, it suddenly became alert—it stood up straight, its ears twitching cautiously.

Pacini cursed ”damn” under his breath, lucky that the sound of rain masked his movement, but he knew he couldn’t wait any longer, he had to shoot immediately.

He pulled the bowstring fully, and let an arrow fly.

Unfortunately, the arrow did not hit the deer, it almost brushed past its neck and embedded into the mud ahead of the deer.

However, this sudden arrow startled the deer completely.

The deer cried out and bolted.

Unwilling to let go of such an easy prey, Pacini notched another arrow onto his bow and chased after it.

Man and deer chased each other through the tall grass.

Pacini’s waterproof boots splashed thick mud, but as he ran, the prey got farther and farther away.

Pacini’s heart sank.

Near the lakeside marshes, he suddenly saw the deer ahead stumble.

Instantly delighted—it turned out the deer had hurriedly lost its way, tumbling into the mud.

He saw the deer struggling to get up, and Pacini pulled an arrow and shot at it again, but wasn’t sure if it hit.

The deer didn’t stop moving, but was slow in the thick mud.

Finally, before it could crawl out of the mud, Pacini reached about twenty meters from it, drew his bow and shot an arrow.

The rain continued to fall, showing no sign of letting up.

Pacini looked up, letting the rain hit his face, his lips curled slightly—no matter the weather, it was irrelevant; God will bless His people.

...

The next day, the rain finally stopped.

Li Younan had already started making a bathtub, deciding to finish it completely before continuing to hunt.

On rainy days, he had already crafted all the wooden boards needed to hoop the bathtub.

Compared to the small wooden bucket he made before, the boards for the bathtub were all over a meter long.

However, the hardest part wasn’t making the boards for the barrel, but the bottom board.

To be honest, as long as the hooping is tight enough, the barrel is not likely to leak, but the bottom of the bathtub poses some trouble.

The bottom of those small wooden buckets used a wooden disc sawed from a whole piece of wood, but the area of the bathtub’s bottom was too large.

Even if he could find a log with such a large diameter, it was impossible to saw it down with a portable saw.

If he used mortise and tenon to piece together a bottom panel, it would be very testing on craftsmanship.

Li Younan’s alternative was to make the bathtub bottom into a shape that was nearly oval.

The oval-shaped bottom is made from two wooden boards, each over 30 cm wide, joined together using a plywood sliding track method.

To ensure it is watertight, it must be made with perfect precision.

The final product is rather satisfying.

One board’s edge has a concave track. Although there is no chisel, the axe can be used to gouge it out bit by bit.

The other board’s convex track is similarly made using an axe and saw. The sliding track fits extremely tightly, needing to be hammered in bit by bit for more than ten cm, and finally set over the fire to hold its shape.

The finished product forms a seamless barrel bottom, as if it were a single wooden board.

Li Younan worked tirelessly until evening when he could finally start the actual hooping process.

The final hooping step is actually quite simple; the difficulty lies in ensuring the dimensions of the barrel body and bottom tightly match.

For hooping, drill holes along the edges of the boards and insert wooden wedges, connecting them in pairs.

Li Younan’s preliminary work was extremely clever, and when the boards were hammered firmly together, there were no visible gaps to the naked eye.

Next, he used thick vines found in the forest to secure the barrel, hammered bit by bit into the base.

These vines gradually shrink and tighten as they dry, providing greater tenacity than bamboo, making them a natural hoop-making tool.

As long as it doesn’t leak when first made, it will become increasingly sturdy and durable over time.

Li Younan secured two vines, one at the base and the other at the opening of the bathing barrel.

Thus, a bathing barrel with a bottom narrowed to a diameter of about 60 cm, nearly 1.2 meters in length, and over a meter in height was completed. Li Younan recalled an episode of ”Alone in the Wilderness” he once watched—an overly confident contestant found an old barrel upon entering the wilderness, got carried away and filled it with water, then boiled it over fire for a hot bath.

However, before he could rejoice, he was eliminated for losing his magnesium fire starter, becoming a comedic highlight of that episode.

This incident shows how lucky it is for wilderness survival contestants to be able to take a bath.

Li Younan didn’t suffer from body odor, yet after daily work, he ended up drenched in sweat and needed to strip and wipe his body with a hot water towel. Other contestants likely didn’t have conditions like his.

Imagine not bathing for a few months—the smell on one’s body would be intensely sour.

The next morning, Li Younan prepared to set out for hunting.

Before leaving, he filled his largest clay pot with water and set it on the stove. He filled it with firewood and adjusted the stones controlling the vent to the lowest position to ensure the fire burned longer. The pot could boil about 20 liters of water and was specially made by Li Younan for heating water.

As long as the fire in the stove doesn’t go out, by keeping the clay pot on top, there’s always boiling water ready for drinking during the day.

Li Younan planned that by the time he returned from hunting, the water would have boiled, and by mixing in cold water, he could comfortably enjoy a hot bath.

By mixing cold water in a ratio of 1:2, he could have about 60 liters of hot water, enough for a bath, since his bathing barrel could hold about 70 liters of water.

Yet, overall, it took up quite some space. With only one stove, if he wished to enjoy hot baths regularly without waiting, a larger water heating stove was needed.

Meanwhile, Li Younan considered crafting a larger clay pot, although the difficulty far exceeded that of a smaller pot, making it quite hard with current conditions.

Perhaps other methods could achieve the same functionality, though that was something to consider later.

Li Younan packed all his gear, donned his faithful backpack, and secured the small ewe in its little wooden enclosure.

The little creature initially resisted, trying hard to squeeze into the house, until Li Younan tapped its head, begrudgingly prompting it into its little wooden shelter.

Li Younan secured the wooden stakes around the ewe’s enclosure, ensuring there were no safety hazards at home before he set off.

By now, he traveled that path with ease, reaching the highland again in about two hours.

This time, he was stunned—when climbing up the slope, just beyond the opposite hillside, there were at least dozens of wild cattle!

Li Younan’s heart started to race uncontrollably.

Under such circumstances, it was indeed thrilling.

He slowly opened his sports camera to capture this astonishing scene—these were not just wild cattle, but walking bags of beef!

Remember, in the wild, irrespective of the prey whether deer, goats, porcupines, or wild rabbits, none are comparable to cattle.

First talking about taste, one reason beef is one of the world’s most popular meats isn’t due to its mild temperament or its manageability, but simply because beef tastes great.

Li Younan firmly believed that whether it’s meat or fruit, those peculiar and niche things definitely don’t taste as good as the most common and widely consumed ones.

A simple logic is after thousands of years or even longer of human selection, if something were truly delicious, it would have already been widely promoted.

The reason something remains niche is because it doesn’t taste good.

Besides taste, the main advantage of beef over other meat is its high-fat content.

The fat proportion in beef can exceed 10%, among the highest in mainstream meat for humans, except possibly pork.

In civilized societies, high-fat content might not be favorable, but in the wilderness, fat is an important energy source besides carbohydrates.

One could even say, in extreme conditions, fat is more crucial than protein.

If he could hunt a wild cow, Li Younan could extract at least dozens of kilograms of beef tallow.

Yet, Li Younan soon calmed himself, narrowing his eyes at the herd of wild cattle.

Cattle are herd animals with thick hides and tough muscles, making hunting one a formidable task.

Furthermore, the most troubling issue is their large size—no matter how strong he is, he cannot immediately transport the entire cow home after a kill.

Since it’s not yet winter, a slaughtered cow left untreated quickly rots and smells—all potentially happening overnight.

Thus, how to proceed with the hunt requires serious contemplation.