Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
There were many small trees around, most of which were malnourished because the bigger trees kept the soil from them. Soon, Wang Kui had picked several ‘weaklings’ to start with and raised his stone chisel, aiming it straight at the roots and smashing it down heavily.
Crack!
Rustle!
Crack!
Rustle!
Each smash would leave a centimeter-deep crack into the tree branch, while the thinner branches and leaves above would rustle.
“In terms of hardness, pinewood is rated around 300, which means that they are very soft. You can cut it with stones without needing blades, which is also another reason I picked this place.”
“On the other hand, the hardness of the Chinese Juniper over to the west is around 400 to 600, almost twice as hard. It would therefore take double the time we need to build a shelter!”
Between each sentence, Wang Kui would take a breath in between each firm pounding.
[80! 80! 80!1] (1)
[If a sledgehammer is 80, wouldn’t small hammers be 40? Or does the middleman earn that price difference?]
[Am I actually learning something online, and on Tigerfish?]
[Ding-ding! Time’s up!]
Wang Kui had finally cut down the small lacebark pine in around eight minutes. After removing its branches, he placed it over the two other trees, and a roof pillar that resembled a laundry rod was hence complete.
After that, he started searching for many dried branches and snapped them into a meter long, which he then stabbed into the ground and leaned on the roof pillar before using wild grass to tie the three pillars together with dead knots.
The wild grass out in the wild were growing fertilely, rich in fiber and highly malleable. After he had tied everything together, a stable triangular frame had been built.
At the same time, he did not have many exchanges with his livestream channel since he was focused on building the shack, and he could only spare a glance at his smartwatch screen, responding only when he had the time.
It was fortunate that everyone enjoyed watching him seriously build a camp.
Although there were many outdoor streamers on Tigerfish, not many could match Wang Kui in terms of practical skills when they were out in the wild.
Watching his livestream was just like playing a real survival game, and it was most certainly thrilling.
“The frame is done, but we still need to make it windproof, not forgetting to spread something on the ground. Since these wild grass, dry leaves, and whatnot don’t cost anything, we can use as much as we want!”
Wang Kui then used the edge of his rock and gently ground it against the roots of the wild grass, cutting it easily and sparing himself the strength needed to drag it out by force.
There were dried leaves strewn all over the ground as well.
He swept them up and piled them together, pushing everything into his shack.
His shelter was now complete!
The whole process had taken forty minutes.
When Wang Kui looked up to the west, the last rays of the sun were departing, almost like a woman reluctantly sending off her husband at a train platform, as the sun tried its best to hang on to its last moments with the land.
“Now, we’re ready to start a fire!”
Wang Kui took off his jacket. “Starting a fire is hard work, and you will definitely be sweating all over since the materials of an outdoor jacket have poor ventilation. If you don’t take it off, you will have to sleep with breezy sweat all over your body, which makes it easy to catch a cold.”
“As for the method, everyone would perhaps immediately think of starting a fire by drilling wood. However, that takes a lot of practice, or you could easily hurt your palm if you whirled the wood too slowly.”
“Here, I will teach everyone a simpler method. It uses repetitive movement as well, but it is more efficient than drilling through wood!”
Could it be magic?
Nonetheless, many viewers were curious as to how Wang Kui would start a fire.
After all, the sun was already setting.
From the perspective of the camera lens, the entire forest was already pitch-black aside from the twilight red in the distance, and it was a little frightening.
To put it in a classic line, “The clock is ticking!”.
Still, Wang Kui chuckled unhurriedly, his eyes calmly looking around the forest floor, before picking out two dried pieces of wood, some dried leaves, and dry twigs.
One of the dry pieces of wood was larger and basically a chunk of roundwood, although half of it was missing, perhaps due to insect damage.
The smaller one was dozens of centimeters long and as thick as a finger.
[Doesn’t it look like drilling through wood to start a fire anyway?]
[Yeah, doesn’t feel all that different.]
Grabbing the dry leaves, Wang Kui firmly crumbled them into tiny pieces in the shape of a bird nest. “No hurry—we need to make tinder before you start a fire. Otherwise, even if you did start a fire, the sparks won’t ignite the branches without the tinder connecting the fire.]
With that, the tinder was ready.
He then picked up the large roundwood and placed it at a nearby tree root before dropping to his knees.
[What’s going on here? Wishing your grandparents a happy new year?]
[Are you going for the mystics, Old Kui?]
[Hahaha! Is this the fire cult?]
Wang Kui ignored the comment screen. He adjusted the position of the roundwood so that the part eaten by insects faced up, while he kept the entire wood pinned at the tree root on one end with his knee cap holding it steady on the other.
“This is called fire plowing. As its name suggests, you plow the wood over another piece of wood as you would plow land, though the only thing to take note of is to keep the plowed wood steady.”
“It is also very important to open a groove for plowing, and this can be done using knives or rocks.”
As he spoke, he picked up his stone chisel and carved out a gap with a cracking sound.
Stones cut less swiftly than knives, so Wang Kui had to firmly stab it multiple times.
“Now, it’s simple: pick up a short branch and rub it repetitively on the plowing groove!”
With those words, he gripped the branch on both ends, placed it on the plowing groove, and began to roll it front and back.
Whirl—! Whirl—!
It was a little unsteady at first since Wang Kui was not used to it, but as he quickened and put in more strength, the rough wood was ground and became much smoother, building a positive cycle so that he could grind it even quicker!
Whirl-whirl-whirl!
At the same time, Wang Kui ha placed his camera on a tripod at a corner, using a wide angle to easily capture himself fully.
[Woah! Was that sleight of hand trained from twenty years of being single?]
[Rub, rub, miracles come from strength!]
[Harder! Quicker!]
[You can’t do anything else, but you’re the best at lewd jokes!]
[Blacklist! Blacklist!]
The live audience then noticed that as Wang Kui kept rubbing quicker, the tip of the branch that was in contact with the plow groove was blackening before being grinded off.
Meanwhile, time flew by.
The last ray of twilight was disappearing at a visible rate. The entire farm was darkening, almost as if a pair of hands was slowly covering one’s eyes sinisterly.
However, Wang Kui did not notice it at all and focused entirely on starting the fire.
The wooden chips that were ground off began piling.
Slowly, faint smoke started billowing from the plowing groove under the starlight of the night.
[Look! It’s smoking!]
[Isn’t that a little fast?]
[Dear husband, would you just look at his speed!]
The sky had turned dark completely.
However, it was precisely because of the contrast against the pitch-black environment that everyone could clearly see the orange-redness that suddenly appeared over the round wood!
Sparks were flying!