King of the Wilderness

The first ray of dawn, like the sharpest stone knife, sliced through the dense darkness deep in the Ailao Valley.

Lin Yu’an opened his eyes almost the moment the light appeared.

No alarm, no bird song, it was the instinctive vigilance ingrained deep in his genes to changes in the environment that awoke him.

Outside the shelter, the fire had ceased to burn. After a night of consumption and the heavy moisture in the valley, the outermost layer of charcoal had completely extinguished, covered with a thin layer of white frost and glistening dewdrops.

Yet a breeze passed by, and in the depths of that seemingly lifeless ash heap, there was still a faint red glow stubbornly flickering.

The air in the valley was cold and damp, with a temperature possibly around 5 degrees Celsius. Each breath inhaled brought a chill into his lungs, waking him fully.

"Good morning, folks." He spoke to the Action 3 camera already turned on on his chest, his voice slightly hoarse from the chilly morning, "I’m in Ailao Mountain, successfully survived the first night."

He didn’t get up immediately but first showed his viewers how he spent the night.

He pulled away the quilt covering him, which was the Archaeopteryx Beta SV hardshell jacket.

The camera zoomed in for a close-up, revealing countless fine water droplets beading on the DWR-treated GORE-TEX PRO fabric of the jacket, rolling off like dewdrops on a lotus leaf, while the inside remained absolutely dry.

"Look," he showed the jacket’s interior to the camera, "this is the power of technology. Without a sleeping bag, a top-tier hardshell jacket is your final line of defense against hypothermia."

"It can’t generate heat on its own, but it performs two critical tasks."

"First, it isolates moisture, expelling the body’s evaporated moisture while perfectly blocking external heavy dew and dampness, keeping my core area dry."

"Second, it blocks convection, forming an enclosed space that traps the heat emitted by my body between the jacket and myself, significantly slowing down heat loss."

"Although I still feel cold, without it, I might be in real trouble due to hypothermia."

After speaking, he put the life-saving jacket back on and zipped up the waterproof zipper. Instantly, the pervasive damp chill was shut out, and his core body temperature began to gradually rise.

Then, the first thing he did was to rekindle the fire that was about to go out.

He didn’t go outside to pick up new firewood because everything outside was dampened by a night’s dew. Instead, he turned and walked into the simple shelter formed by rock walls and banana leaves.

Pointing the camera at a clean corner inside the shelter, a neatly stacked small pile of firewood could be seen.

The firewood was carefully categorized by size, from the thinnest kindling to finger-thick sticks, then to wrist-thick main fuel, clearly layered.

He pointed to the pile of firewood, speaking with a hint of foresighted composure, "This was my work before going to sleep last night, preparing new wood for the next day’s fire."

"In an environment like Ailao Mountain, you can never count on easily finding dry firewood the next morning."

"So, during the night when the fire was most vigorous, use its heat to thoroughly dry enough wood for the next day’s kindling and early burning, then store them in the driest part of the shelter. This is a habit you must develop."

He took a small handful of kindling and a few pieces of dry bark from the pile of new wood. Then, from his pants pocket, he pulled out a clump of dry, fluffy material.

"This is moss," he showed it to the camera, "but not just any moss, it must be very dry. I scraped it off a rock exposed to the sun while searching for a campsite yesterday."

"Golden ferns are protected plants. Although I have a collecting permit, the number found here is too few. If over-collected, it might harm their population, so I continuously seek alternative kindling material."

Returning to the fire pit, he brushed aside the charcoal and ash that had been wetted by dew, revealing embers still flickering with a weak red glow.

He gently placed the dry moss clump on the embers.

"Huh..."

He bent down and blew gently onto the moss, and the dry plant fibers ignited instantly as they contacted the heat, releasing a wisp of faint earthy-smelling smoke.

Quickly, he arranged the pre-prepared dry twigs and dry bark in a pyramid structure on top of the smoldering moss, ensuring air could flow smoothly from below.

"Huh... Huh..."

A faint, orange-yellow flame peeked out from the gaps in the twigs! With ample oxygen and a supply of dry fuel, the flame quickly grew.

With a crackling sound, a warm fire was once again ablaze in the morning mist.

"Alright, we have fire again." A faint smile of relief finally appeared on Lin Yu’an’s face, "See? Last night’s preparations saved us countless unknown hours this morning. Efficiency in survival in the wild is the most important mandatory lesson."

"Now, let’s go have a look at the other gift Ailao Mountain prepared for us last night."

The second task he undertook was to check the dew collection device set up the night before.