53Chapter 52 Temperature Rise
Translator: 549690339 |
The sky was cloudless, and amidst the endless mountain ranges, a tiny human figure trudged on through the white snow. Every now and then, a cold, biting wind would sweep through, and the snowflakes it carried would land on the figure’s shoulders.
Bi Fang patted his shoulder, the accumulated snow falling off in a rustle. The weather was cold enough that snowflakes wouldn’t melt immediately upon touching his clothes, or even his face.
After walking through the snow-covered forest for over an hour, he was beginning to feel the strain.
Bi Fang stopped, looked at the sun, and narrowed his eyes slightly.
He had a bad feeling since a while ago, as if something significant was about to happen.
The sky was devoid of any clouds, it even seemed a bit darker, and the harsh cold wind was noticeably weaker than the day before. He was heating up with sweat from all the walking, which was strange even considering the temperature rise towards midday.
Hopefully, nothing would go wrong…
Bi Fang prayed internally, unzipped his coat to prevent sweating, and reassessed his direction.
Lacking landmarks, it was as easy to lose one’s way in the snowy forest as in the desert. It was often necessary to stop and reassess the direction.
Otherwise, what you thought was a straight line could turn out to be a giant circle because human legs aren’t exactly the same length, causing an involuntary veering to one side. If you push ahead without looking, you’ll just end up walking in a huge loop.
The physical exertion of a person in the snow is several times that of on normal ground, not only due to the difficulty of traveling but also the heat loss brought about by the cold. Therefore, we must not waste effort and must ensure the correctness of our forward direction,” Bi Fang said.
Bi Fang looked back at the mountains. Despite walking so long, their size appeared unchanged, as if they had always been there for thousands of years, stretching across the earth beneath the vast sky, never altering.
It’s like running out of steam before reaching the mountains you see from afar.
Bi Fang glanced at the increasingly dense larch forest, and his anxious heart leapt with excitement.
The forest was dense and many of the treetops still had leaves on them, which hadn’t even turned yellow. This meant he was very close to a water source!
“In the woods, if the trees in a certain area bud early or yellow late, it indicates that there’s either groundwater or it’s very close to a water source!”
B1 Fang sprinted down the mountain, while pricking up his ears, listening carefully for any sound of a stream or waterfall nearby.
About one or two hundred meters later, he began to hear some additional sounds…
“Rustle rustle.”
It was the sound of flowing water! Just ahead!
Bi Fang’s eyes sparkled like stars as he strode forward and in no time at all, he saw a frozen river!
[There really is a river!]
[Wow, that’s divine. Is this what a pro looks like? Shuddering in awe.] [It feels like Master Fang is truly badass, sticking to a direction unwaveringly and always able to find what he’s looking for.]
[This is called confidence. Without some skills, do you think you could really survive in the wilderness? Like a duck being forced onto a perch, it looks totally fake.]
[Lu Wentao: Stop reading off my ID!]
Both banks of the frozen river were lined with gray rocks topped with a layer of snow and soaked in water. Day and night cycles of thawing and freezing had encrusted them with a thick layer of icy rubble which was bone-chillingly cold and incredibly smooth to the touch.
The river flowed from northeast to southwest, only three or four meters wide, but Bi Fang guessed that there must be a main channel. If he could find it, perhaps he could find a way out along the river, just like the last time.
You should know that since the establishment of the country, most of the sleepers needed for the construction of the railways have come from the Greater Khingan Range. At the peak of production, three and a half out of every ten logs in the country came from here.
It can be said that every family is inseparable from the Greater Khingan Range. However, the problem that arises is that, after so many years of development, all that remains of the original forest resources in places like Mohe, which are very close to the border, is almost nonexistent.
What are widely distributed are man-made forests and secondary forests, and there are a lot of rangers, so this time, following the river should be much easier than before.
[Damn, are there that many? Has it not been completely stripped?]
[Momma, the Khingan Range is so big.]
[Suddenly, I feel like humans are so excessive…]
Bi Fang traveled along the riverbank, while also keeping an eye on the conditions in the river.
The flowing riverbed had little silt but was instead covered with rocks, which made his search more difficult. This couldn’t help but make Bi Fang feel anxious as he looked up at the sky again, only hoping that his previous guess was wrong…
“Fish are different from mammals, amphibians, and reptiles that are completely paralyzed in winter, as they don’t truly hibernate. They only reduce or even stop eating, and their breathing becomes faint. During this time, they usually hide among aquatic plants or in the crevices of rocks.”
Although fish don’t hibernate, they still become very ‘lethargic.’ If we don’t have a fishing rod, we can also make a spear. Even without experience, it’s relatively easy to spear a fish.”
[With such cold, won’t the fish freeze to death?]
[Lol, how could that be possible? According to you, wouldn’t there be no fish left in the Heilonghe and Yalu River? Doesn’t it hit minus ten or twenty degrees every winter there?]
“You don’t need to worry about this at all, fish have a special ‘antifreeze glycoprotein’ in their bodies, so even below zero, they won’t freeze. And generally, we categorize fish into three types: cold-water, warm-water, and temperate. The temperature tolerance of these three types of fish is different, like the grass carp and silver carp we often eat are temperate water fish.”
Bi Fang held a knife in one hand while sharpening one end of the long stick he had picked up earlier into a simple spear with the other.
It has to be said that humans really are animals that heavily rely on tools; no matter how sharp natural flint is, it’s nowhere near as useful as a steel knife produced by mechanical processing.
“Fish that live in high-latitude areas are generally cold-water species, able to withstand temperatures as low as negative 20° Celsius but cannot endure temperatures above 20° Celsius. Commonly in China’s Heilonghe and Yalu River, such as rainbow trout, kaluga sturgeon, black-spotted pond loach, and broad whitefish, all belong to the cold-water category.”
[Awesome, I learned something new.]
[Little Sunflower Daddy’s class is starting!]
[I love watching Master Fang’s livestreams, not for anything else, but to learn something so I can show off in front of others!]
[The guy above is a legend, exactly what I was thinking. Last time I went camping with my colleagues, I told them how to find a river, and they were all dumbfounded. The way they looked at me, I’ll never forget!]
[Pete Not Pitt gifted the host an airship*!—Thumbs up for the host’s knowledge!]
[Ben Invisible gifted the host a yacht*i-Learned something, now off to show
off, ah no, to reveal my brilliance in front of others!]
Bi Fang, watching the lively livestream, also gave a knowing smile. One of his goals was precisely to teach people something during his streams.
In rivers like this one that flow, we can look for places with strong currents, such as bends, where fish tend to linger near the whirlpools, especially in winter. Because of the river’s flow, these places have the highest oxygen content, very suitable for ‘lethargic’ fish to breathe!”
Following the river, Bi Fang finally found a spot where the river curved sharply, climbed onto a rock, and carefully examined the situation on the riverbed.
Because it was a turning point, silt had accumulated at the mouth of the river, providing a perfect hiding place for small fish and shrimp, which in turn attracted larger fish. This was an excellent hunting spot!
If all went well, they would have fish to eat this time!