Ped opened his mouth, but he did not say anything.
Now, Bell’s team only had Ped and the thin man. There were three people in total. Although the number of people had decreased, the speed of their advance was much faster.
They quickened their pace and soon arrived at the tree line.
This was not a place name, but a geographical phenomenon.
In the range of the Arctic Circle, there were no trees. Most of them were mossy plants.
However, there were some plants growing outside the Arctic.
The area where these plants grew densely was called the tree line.
It was like the dividing line between the Arctic and the inland of Alaska.
After passing through this place, it would be Alaska.
Because of the delay with Jack, it was already two in the afternoon when they arrived. The trees on the way became more and more dense.
At the same time, the snow on the ground became heavier.
The three of them quickly passed through a white birch forest, and a flat area appeared in front of Bell.
Looking at this area, Bell was excited.
“Hey, everyone, we found a lake.
However, it is covered by a thick layer of ice.
Such lakes are common in the Arctic Circle.
Moreover, due to the climate, it will only thaw for a few months every year.
The rest of the time, it will be covered by ice like now. ”
“The lake in front of us is not small. It looks to be more than ten kilometers wide.
It is already two in the afternoon. Crossing this lake now is not too likely.
For safety’s sake, we will build a suitable shelter in this white birch forest.
However, the good news is that if this lake is used properly, we should be able to get some food.
The dried trees in the white birch forest can also be used to start a fire to prevent us from being attacked by the cold.”
Bell put down his backpack and took out his dagger. He cut a few strips of fabric about five to six meters long from the parachute and held them in his hand.
“We don’t have any tools. We can use this cloth as a fishing line. If we’re lucky, we should be able to catch some rainbow trout and northern lampreys.”
These are both cold water fish that usually move under the ice. ”
As he spoke, Bell looked around and found a few branches. He sharpened the thorns with his dagger and tied a parachute rope around it. The fishing tools were ready.
Ped and the thin man also copied Bell.
Because no one was disturbing them, the operation went very smoothly.
They each made two fishing rods.
However, although the fishing rods were completed, they were missing something.
Bell looked around.
“We need a decent bait.”
Suddenly, Bell focused on a dead white birch tree in the distance.
He walked forward and stabbed the dagger into the tree bark, then cut it.
After a while, they finally found a few squirming insects.
“Are we going to use this as bait?”
Ped leaned over.
“That’s right. If it were any other time, I might treat them as food, but I think we should use them to get bigger prey.”
“Moreover, the three of us won’t fill our stomachs with these little worms.”
Ped breathed a sigh of relief.
Although he had also done wilderness survival before, he had mostly relied on some leaves to survive.
He did not think he could eat insects raw.
But before participating in the show, Ped had watched Bell’s show and knew his style. He knew that eating insects raw was nothing to Bell.
He thought that he would probably encounter it today, but he did not expect there to be a turn in events.
“Alright, don’t just stand there. If you want to have something to eat, it will take some more effort.”
Bell threw the insect to Ped.
“Come on, dig a few holes so we can start fishing.”
With Bell’s demonstration, the three of them spent ten minutes creating several fist-sized ice holes.
They could put the hook and bait in.
Bell did not wait there directly. Instead, he used the snow to seal the hole.
“The goal is to avoid the hole from freezing again.
We just have to wait here patiently, but we can’t just sit here forever.
I have to finish building the shelter during this time. ”
Bell fastened the fishing pole to the ground to prevent the fish from taking the bait and dragging the pole into the water.
Then, Bell began to consider the shelter.
It was impossible to build an igloo like the one they made on the snowy mountain.
Firstly, it was impossible to use to get any warmth. Secondly, the snow here was not as hard as on the snowy mountain. Once it was built, it would most likely collapse.
After thinking for a long time, Bell decided to build an igloo like the one the Inuit lived in.
In this kind of igloo, they could start a fire and keep themselves warm.
They might even be able to increase the temperature to zero and above.
This was already very rare in this kind of situation.
Many people believed that the temperature in such a house made of snow could not exceed zero degrees. This would cause the snow to melt and the house to collapse.
But in fact, this was a misunderstanding.
There were three main aspects to heat transmission: radiation, transmission, and convection.
Once a fire was started in the igloo, the temperature would indeed melt the snow on the surface, but the ice did not transmit heat, so the heat would not penetrate the ice and completely melt the igloo.
Once the outside of the igloo was lower than -50°C, the ice would condense before it could melt.
As for radiation, the white ice shell in the igloo would reflect the heat emitted by the fire.
Under these factors, the igloo could still maintain a high temperature of zero degrees Celsius.
Human’s creativity was truly amazing.
After arranging everything, Bell found a relatively empty area.
“We need to dig a snow pit first.”
“Because there are three of us now, the snow pit needs to be slightly bigger, about three meters in diameter.”
Ped and the thin man joined in.
The two of them knew that they were students, so they did not dare to slack off on Bell’s instructions.
More than half a meter of snow accumulated to the side. The few of them dug all the way to the ground before stopping.
Bell found a few long wooden sticks and stabbed them into the snow, forming a triangular roof.
Then, he took out his parachute.
After cutting the ropes and putting them back in the bag, he opened the parachute and placed it on the roof.