Inside the temporary camp.
Lin Yu'an carefully cleaned the grouse, marinated it simply with mixed spices he secretly brought and a little salt, then cooked half by steaming and the other half by grilling. Soon, the mouth-watering aroma filled the air, making him feel his mouth was watering.
By the time he finished cooking the grouse, the sky had already darkened, and he could seem to hear wolves howling in the distance. Of course, he couldn't be bothered with that now; he just wanted to taste the grouse quickly!
He tore off a tender drumstick, eagerly putting it into his mouth, then took a sip of the broth. The marinade was perfect; neither the broth nor the meat had any gamey taste! This gave his taste buds unprecedented satisfaction.
"This is surely tastier than any grouse cooked in a Michelin restaurant in the world!"
He praised it generously to the camera. Soon, he had devoured most of the grouse, with the remaining saved in the space, planning to film breakfast materials in the morning.
After finishing the feast, the sky had completely darkened. In the wilderness, without a phone, without the internet, without any entertainment facilities, sleeping early and waking up early was the only option. Lin Yu'an quickly fell into a dream, and the sense of achievement filled his entire being, making him sleep exceptionally peacefully that night.
Another day passed, quickly arriving in the morning. Lin Yu'an, facing the opened camera, started today's recording.
"Good morning, after enjoying that delicious roasted grouse last night, I feel full of strength now!"
"Today is a sunny day, perfect for continuing our project! The goal is — to heighten our stone wall a bit more and begin constructing the roof frame!"
With the efforts of the past two days, the back wall and the bottom half of the side gable walls of the shelter had taken shape. Lin Yu'an's main task today was to continue building upward and start considering the reserved positions for doors and windows.
"Building a stone wall is not just about piling the stones."
"The most important part is to ensure the stability and compactness of the wall, striving to make each stone interlock well with the surrounding stones, and then using my special adhesive, which is wet mud mixed with ashes of grass and wood, to fill the gaps between the stones."
Lin Yu'an constantly talked to the camera, partly to shoot footage and partly to combat the loneliness, constantly adjusting his mindset.
Throughout the day, Lin Yu'an was almost entirely focused on the final construction of the stone wall. With an awareness to position the door and window openings, he used longer and more regular pieces of stone and flat wooden planks as lintels to reserve space.
As the afterglow of dusk stained the sky red again, the four stone walls of the shelter had basically been enclosed, with only the outlines of a door and small window left, resembling the base of a sturdy stone fortress.
Lin Yu'an straightened his aching waist, looking at the shelter which had taken clear shape with genuine pride on his face: "Amazing! The main structure of my shelter is completed! Tomorrow, we will start setting up the wooden framework for the roof!"
In the following days, Lin Yu'an's life settled into a regular and fulfilling rhythm.
During the day, he spent a lot of time on the construction of the permanent shelter, with the wooden framework of the roof also beginning to take shape gradually. He meticulously selected each piece of wood for beams and rafters, using a logging axe and a multi-functional knife for detailed processing.
Every day, he would fish by the stream or check the traps. Although the traps' yield was unreliable, his fishing skills were improving, occasionally bringing back a few small fish caught in the fish basket trap to barely supplement his protein intake.
In the blink of an eye, it had been fifteen days since Lin Yu'an came to this lonely wilderness of Chilco Lake.
In this half month, each day felt like a battle with nature, loneliness, and his limits, all the while steadily realizing his initial plan one step at a time.
Luckily, his traps occasionally yielded results, and the local berry resources were relatively abundant, keeping him from having to cheat by using food from the Golden Finger Space due to hunger.
During this time, Lin Yu'an almost daily spent over half the day on chopping, transporting, and processing timber.
Without a saw, he could only rely on the logging axe to gradually chop the thick logs into suitable lengths and shapes, creating simple mortise and tenon structures or sufficiently flat connecting surfaces to better fix them with the stone wall and each other.
Occasionally, while transporting particularly heavy logs or precisely placing wood beams onto the high stone walls, Lin Yu'an would fix the camera for a long shot, briefly step out of the camera's range, and then use the aid of the Golden Finger Space to complete some physically demanding tasks.
The semi-subterranean stone shelter had taken shape, with thick side stone walls standing firmly under the rock face. The reserved door and window openings had edges reinforced with wood.
The most time-consuming and labor-intensive wooden roof framework, consisting of several small fir logs as main beams supplemented by dense branch rafters, was also largely complete.
The hard work, as they say, is not for outsiders to understand.
Another dawn, Lin Yu'an rubbed his somewhat sleepy eyes and habitually greeted the camera.
"Today is a crucial day for building our permanent shelter! If everything goes well, we could completely seal the roof today and truly have a home that shelters from wind and rain!"
"Moreover, there's good news. The Jerusalem artichokes in that area will be ready for harvesting in a few days. By then, I won't have to worry about food for at least a week!"
"Alright, let's start today's work! Let's strive to complete my shelter today!"
The main task today was to lay the waterproof and insulating layers for the wooden roof.
Lin Yu'an had previously carried several large bundles of thick, tough birch bark he collected and dried from the creek side, along with a lot of dry moss and pine needles.
He carefully laid the birch bark on the roof rafters while explaining to the camera:
"Birch bark is a natural high-quality waterproof material with high oil content, which can effectively prevent rainwater permeation. I'll first lay a waterproof tarpaulin, then place birch bark on top, and cover it with a thick layer of moss and pine needles as insulation."
"Finally, I'll lay a layer of soil over it, topped with moss transplanted from nearby. This way, the 'living roof' will not only have good waterproof and insulation effects but also blend harmoniously with the surroundings, increasing the shelter's concealment."
This was a meticulous and cumbersome task, with mud covering his hands. He carefully pieced together each piece of birch bark, ensuring no large gaps, then laid layers of insulation material before evenly covering it with a mixture of small stones and soil.
Lin Yu'an worked while talking to the camera:
"You might not be able to imagine how tired I am! Without modern tools, simply processing these woods is extremely difficult! Because I didn't bring a saw, initially, I didn't regret it, thinking a saw would only be useful in the early stage."
"But coming here, you'll find out just how wrong that was! Saws have great utility even in the later stages. When collecting and processing wood fuel, a saw is far less labor-intensive than a logging axe."
"If it comes down to competing in enduring hunger, compared to contestants without a saw, those with a saw can conserve more energy, prolonging the stay."
"So I will try my best to remedy this mistake, preparing winter wood in advance while food supply is sufficient, to avoid quitting later due to a lack of energy for gathering wood, which would be an unforgivable mistake!"
When the last piece of sod was carefully pressed onto the roof, Lin Yu'an straightened up, looking at this sturdy yet simple stone house that blended almost entirely with the surrounding environment. A surge of indescribable pride and satisfaction filled his heart.
"It's complete! The roof of my new home shelter is finally completed!"
He excitedly stretched his arms towards the camera, loudly celebrating as if embracing the vast expanse of the earth!
He eagerly entered the stone house. Though not spacious, only about ten square meters, the thick walls and tight roof made it exceptionally quiet inside.
Sunlight streamed through the small reserved window opening, which he could block with stones at any time.
The huge physical effort over consecutive days accelerated the consumption of Jerusalem artichokes, consuming over twenty pounds.
Fortunately, there were many nuts to eat, and occasionally managing to shoot a grouse helped him complete the shelter in these eleven days without running out of food!
Next, he could focus most of his energy on finding food!
His gaze turned again to where the little stream ultimately flowed to Chilco Lake.
He said to the camera, "Although fishing by the lake seemed tough earlier, after observing for a few days, I've found a few good fishing spots."
"In some bends or places blocked by large rocks, the current is relatively calmer, and these places often have abundant aquatic plants, which likely attract schools of fish."
"Tomorrow morning, let's give it a try and see if we can catch some big ones!"
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(The stone shelter is roughly like this, but at a higher elevation.)