King of the Wilderness

Lin Yu’an lifted the turquoise bamboo bucket that he used as a pot and scooped half a bucket of clear stream water. Then he returned to the fire pit that was still radiating residual heat.

"Alright, folks, the moment to witness a miracle has arrived." He said to the camera with a hint of a mysterious smile.

"Many people might think that placing a bamboo tube over the fire would instantly turn it into a piece of charred wood."

"Now I’m going to show you how ancient wisdom utilizes the most fundamental principles of physics."

He didn’t throw the bamboo pot directly into the fire pit but instead used a few stones to set up a simple stove by the fire.

Only then did he carefully and steadily place the bamboo pot on top, letting its bottom be primarily roasted by the hottest coals below.

"The core secret to boiling water with bamboo lies in the most magical substance on this planet beneath our feet—water." He began his science explanation while watching the heat.

"Simply put, water is a heat-absorbing demon. The heat transferred to the bamboo wall by the flame is instantly absorbed by the water inside, so fast that the bamboo itself has no time to burn."

"Secondly, it’s about the principle of heat balance." He used a small stick to gently poke the coals, allowing the heat to distribute more evenly.

"The ignition point of bamboo is around 250 to 300 degrees Celsius. But as long as there’s water in this bamboo pot, the boiling point of the water is 100 degrees."

"This means the temperature of the bamboo wall is forcibly kept around 100 degrees by the water inside, nowhere near its ignition point."

"So as long as the water doesn’t boil dry, the part of the bamboo wall in contact with water will never ignite."

As soon as he finished speaking, a marvelous scene unfolded.

The outer wall of the bamboo pot, under the grilling of the coals, started to slowly turn yellow and then blacken, releasing thin wisps of white steam—that was the bamboo’s own moisture being evaporated—but it didn’t catch fire.

Inside the bamboo pot, the clear stream water began to get restless. Small bubbles first appeared from the bottom of the pot, slowly rising like strings of pearls.

Soon, the bubbles grew larger and more numerous, accompanied by the sound of bubbling.

A few minutes later, the water inside the pot boiled completely! The rolling boiling water danced inside the turquoise bamboo pot, contrasting wondrously with the now blackened outer wall.

Lin Yu’an used two sticks to carefully remove the boiling bamboo pot from the fire and placed it on a stone nearby.

Using a banana leaf bowl, he scooped some of the scalding hot water, blew on the steam, and cautiously took a sip.

"Ah—"

A wave of warmth surged from his mouth to his stomach, instantly dispelling the chill from the mountain forest setting.

He let out a satisfied breath, his face brimming with an indescribable joy as if civilization had been reignited.

"See?" He showed the bamboo pot to the camera, with steam still rising from the water inside. "This is the power of knowledge. From today, we say goodbye to the days of only drinking dew."

"Having boiling water means we can kill most of the parasites and bacteria in the water, greatly reducing the risk of illness."

"It also means we can cook, make soup, and obtain more nutritious food."

Pouring the remaining boiling water from the banana leaf bowl back into the bamboo pot, that afternoon he not only crafted several containers but also added the most solid assurance for his upcoming survival challenges.

With the container problem thoroughly resolved, his gaze turned to the nettle-covered stream bank.

"Alright," he picked up an empty bamboo tube, standing up, "the pot for dinner has passed the test. Now, it’s time to hasten and prepare some fishing line."

Lin Yu’an strode briskly towards the nettle patch by the stream bank.

The light of the setting sun softened, casting a warm golden hue over the bamboo grove, making the white stinging hairs on the nettle leaves stand out clearly in the backlight.

Using the side of the Stone Spear, he gently pressed the half-human-high nettles in one direction.

Most of the sharp stinging hairs obediently pressed towards the ground, greatly reducing the risk of getting stung.

Then he picked up a piece of thick, dry tree bark from the ground, as though wearing an ancient cut-resistant glove, and gripped a few of the thickest nettle stems at their base.

With his heel braced against the base, he leaned backward, snapping them cleanly with a crisp crackling sound.

Dragging his bounty, he returned to a large stone slab by the stream that had been made incredibly smooth by water, which would be his fiber processing plant.

He half-jokingly said to the camera, "Processing nettles is like peeling a rather troublesome shrimp."

"The key is removing all the useless shells, namely the stinging hairs and the green outer skin on its surface, leaving only the shrimp meat—the tough fibers inside."

Lin Yu’an laid a nettle stem flat on the stone slab, picked up a sharp flint piece, but used its relatively rounded back.

Tilting the flint, he scraped along the stem in a motion similar to scaling a fish.

"Swish, swish, swish..."

The fine white stinging hairs and a thin layer of green outer skin peeled away under the scraping of the flint, revealing a paler bark underneath.

This process not only safely removed all the stinging weapons but also set the stage for the next step of fiber separation.

Then he picked up a fist-sized pebble, using it as a primitive wooden hammer.

Placing the scraped nettle stem on the stone slab, he rhythmically pounded it from end to end.

"Tap! Tap! Tap!"

The crisp sound of the tapping reverberated by the stream; the hard stem shattered fiber by fiber under his pounding, but the tough bark stayed intact.

Once the entire stem was pounded loose, he used his fingers to tear open a small slit at the top.

Then, like peeling a banana, he easily peeled away an entire strip of fiber-laden inner bark from the crumbly, sugarcane-like stem core.

Immersing the peeled strips in the clear, icy stream water, the debris was instantly rinsed away.

Retrieving the inner bark, he laid it flat on the stone slab underwater, raising the pebble once again.

"Thud! Thud! Thud!"

This time, the sound turned dull and filled with splashes. He wasn’t destroying; he was engaging in the retting process.

Each pounding shattered and squeezed out the green, non-fiber gel and cell tissues from the inner bark.

Clumps of light green sap spread in the clear stream water like watercolor paint and were quickly carried away by the flowing water.

Lin Yu’an repeatedly pounded, picked up, kneaded in the water, and pounded again...

This process was akin to washing clothes with a stick by the stream.

Gradually, the once coarse strips of inner bark in his hands became softer and softer, their color transforming from a bluish-white to an almost pure, linen-like milky white.

Finally, when he stopped, all that remained in his hands were bundles of pure inner fibers, drifting smoothly in the water like strands of hair.

All impurities had been washed away by the clear stream water and patient pounding.

"Look at this," he lifted the wet fiber bundle from the water, showing it to the camera. He grasped both ends of the fibers with his hands and swiftly pulled!

The fiber bundle emitted a tight, snapping sound as the water was further squeezed out, yet it showed no sign of breaking.

"This is natural Kevlar; once it’s half-dry, I can twist it into a strong enough fishing line."