Live Streaming: Great Adventure in the Wilderness

The vast expanse of land was enveloped by a grey blizzard, obscuring everything. Black felt strips danced in the fierce wind, as snow in large clumps buried the felt only to be quickly swept away by the subsequent gales, again and again.

What was even worse, among the wind and snow, were sharp sandstones mixed in.

In the grip of winds exceeding thirty meters per second, the sandstones unleashed an unbelievable force, easily slicing through delicate skin and leaving behind wounds—shallow yet white-marked gashes by the thousands.

Bi Fang retracted his hand back into the felt, and just for an instant, he felt as if his skin had been peeled off, leaving numerous white marks on it.

A hundred years ago, bands of brave men stepped foot on this land, only to fall one by one. Packs of wild wolves, fierce land bears, and hidden crevasses in the glaciers beneath the snow—all counted for nothing.

The harsh climate.

That was the true danger.

Here, no one could save another; surviving on one’s own was already no easy feat. It was so cold that blood could freeze into ice chunks, and survival depended solely on the heat of flowing blood and courage in one’s heart.

Without courage, an adventurer’s blood would flow slower and slower; nothing could keep the body warm any longer, and death was just a matter of time.

Whoosh.

Bi Fang didn’t know how many times he had adjusted his breathing now, but his muscles were indeed beginning to ache, and his body was starting to sweat.

That’s right, in the forty degrees below zero temperatures, Bi Fang was actually feeling warm. Both the musk ox skin and the heat naturally emitted by the sled dogs made the insulation effect of this enclosed space excellent, not to mention that he was constantly moving.

Another scoop of dry snow was shoveled out; no need to shake it off, it was quickly dispersed by the violent wind as soon as it was thrown out.

A hemispherical pit gradually appeared beneath Bi Fang, significantly expanding the space, enough so as not to be crushed to death by the three silly dogs.

It was clear that under the atrocious weather of the blizzard and dust storm, Bi Fang was not sitting idly by to meet his fate. He had moved several sled boards aside to expose the ground beneath and then started to dig a pit, attempting to carve out a shelter once again and to expand the cramped space.

Each dog had nearly the size of an adult human. Although musk oxen are indeed large, trying to fit four people was too much of a stretch. Not long after, Bi Fang started feeling a bit short of breath and thus had to begin digging. After ten some minutes, he finally managed to create a space where he could sit cross-legged and breathe freely.

Both Fugui and Wangcai were smart; given a bit of space to maneuver, they both busied themselves helping Bi Fang dig. It must be said that, as dogs, their talent for digging was extraordinary. They soon enlarged the space, which could barely fit a person sitting cross-legged, to a point where one could kneel on one knee.

Only Goudan had no awareness of digging. Perhaps as the "Lead Dog," it felt that such labor was beneath it. It buried its head downward, peering through a slim gap to the outside world, longing for its lost Horn Helmet.

Before long, it seemed to feel a bit embarrassed about doing nothing.

Goudan squatted in the pit, lifted its right leg to its neck, kicked vigorously, and after sniffing its underside, it looked around. Then it stood up, paced back and forth as if finally making up its mind, and suddenly crouched down.

Bi Fang’s face darkened in an instant; he knew exactly what this creature was about to do.

[Damn, is this…]

[My God, it’s starting already?]

[Looks like it really ate too much.]

Sure enough, after a bit of straining, a lump of black something dropped from underneath Goudan’s rear—quite a large lump.

A faint stench began to spread in the confined space, and both Fugui and Wangcai immediately stopped what they were doing and covered their noses.

Bi Fang: "..."

Blizzards last for days on end, and even though he knew such situations were inevitable, Bi Fang was still very annoyed.

After eating so much, and considering that a dog’s esophagus is short and digestion is quick, it wouldn’t be long before it had to defecate.

Bi Fang pinched the nape of Goudan’s neck, curled his middle finger, flicked it hard on the forehead, and then pinched his nose to cover the big clump with snow.

Dry snow could act like coal dust, covering the smell and clinging to form clumps, making it less disgusting to shovel and more convenient.

[Raising a dog is like this, you’ll get used to it (dog’s head)]

[Old shoveling officer.]

[You’ll get the hang of it gradually]

The audience unleashed relentless mockery, Bi Fang slapped his forehead, thinking it’s okay to do this now, just as long as it’s not in the middle of the night when he had to wake up to do it.

Nevertheless, going to the toilet is indeed a problem. Everyone has physiological needs like eating, drinking, and excreting. Under normal circumstances, these are relatively easy to deal with, but in such extreme environments, physiological needs like going to the toilet can be much more difficult.

"In Inuit people’s homes, there usually aren’t any toilets, so they have to go outside to take care of business. And the temperature outside compared to inside the house can be a lot lower. If it’s summer, it’s not too bad since the temperatures are relatively mild. But in winter, the temperature can drop very low. Therefore, when they go to the toilet, they must be as quick as possible, otherwise they might get frostbite from the cold."

"This must be one of the hardest things about polar survival, right?"

As Bi Fang continued shoveling snow and chatting, after digging nearly a meter and a half, the thick layer of snow was finally broken through, exposing the frozen ground beneath.

But even after reaching the ground, the space started to get a bit tight. Thinking about spending the next few days here, Bi Fang continued digging downward.

Wangcai and Fugui worked hard as well, but after digging through half a meter of soil, the color of the frozen earth suddenly changed. Bi Fang stopped his motion, picked up a handful of frozen earth, and began to carefully rub it between his fingers. The dirt, which looked like tan-colored ice granules, slipped from his fingertips, and Bi Fang’s face showed a look of shock.

This color and texture, and even the smell...

"Is this... peat soil!?"

[Peat mud?]

[What’s the difference?]

Most of the audience had never heard of it and didn’t know what it was.

"Haha, luck turns at last!"

The audience was clueless, but Bi Fang knew very well and was visibly excited. He quickly took out wood and fire-starting tools from his backpack, and while starting the fire, he also offered a simple explanation.

"Peat soil refers to soil that forms a peat layer in certain river and lake sediments, low-lying plains, and mountain valleys where, due to long-term waterlogging and dense aquatic vegetation, a large amount of incompletely decomposed plant debris accumulates under anaerobic conditions."

Bi Fang gave a lengthy explanation, but the audience did not understand it very well, and they still did not know what it was good for.

[Uh, can you eat it?]

"Of course, you can’t eat it; it’s just soil."

[Then what’s it good for?]

[Is it fertile? Can it be used to grow vegetables?]

[Surviving a hundred days in the Arctic by farming, I think it’s doable (funny)]

"As long as you dry this kind of mud, it can be burned directly."