Chapter 501: Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust
Metalworking is an extremely ancient craft, with origins predating even recorded history.
Until thousands of years ago, humans had almost no knowledge of iron, the most abundant metal element on Earth.
The ancient Egyptians and Sumerians believed that iron could only come from meteors and was a gift from the gods in heaven.
Although later civilizations discovered how to smelt iron and entered the so-called Iron Age, they still did not know how to consistently produce strong, non-brittle iron.
But iron is too fragile, soft and not sharp, and is not as useful as copper.
Until a great nation discovered steel. They used the hammers in their hands, shed sweat and blood again and again, and forged steel that was stable enough.
This piece of black metal has finally officially become the protagonist.
But its production is too expensive and too rare. From mining to transportation, to smelting and forging, each iron sword consumes countless manpower and resources.
Finally, during the Industrial Revolution, people discovered how to make iron that was strong, durable, and even cheap.
Now, high-quality steel can be found everywhere, in high-rise buildings, cars and ships, railways and trains, bridges and towers, and you can get a pound of iron at a scrap yard for less than two pieces.
Black metal completes the transformation from mysterious to ordinary.
Human beings have long lost the mystery of iron and have become accustomed to it. The steel industry has become a wonder of the new era.
The majestic blast furnaces, as tall as several stories, run non-stop for 24 hours, with temperatures reaching thousands of degrees Celsius. No living creatures or moisture can survive in the scorching hot molten iron, and the collaboration of a large number of engineering personnel is required.
The entire steel plant was like an insatiable giant monster, devouring ore, coal and lime.
The products produced by modern steel mills are of such high and stable quality that the ancients regarded them as miracles: superb works that could only be achieved by craftsmen with the help of the gods.
Now, everyone has forgotten that the history of the development of black metal was still hard-won even half a century ago.
Until this time, a man, an almost naked man, in the most primitive and wild rainforest, used mud and stone to create something from nothing, and accomplished a miracle that made people remember it again.
Oh, so this is how the original iron and steel were made.
He refined iron, turned it into more stable steel, and finally turned the steel into a sharp blade.
He is an adventurer, a nature lover, and a man full of madness.
This condensed process of human history was completed in front of an audience of more than ten million people.
At this moment, six million spectators were watching, shouting and screaming wildly, and they responded to this moment with the most excitement.
[Ao Jing presents the anchor with a yacht*1. ——Fang Shen is awesome! Humans are awesome! 】
[Gift of ashtray to change the anchor spaceship *1.00——niu～～～bi～～]
[Fuck, when will Langya be able to post pictures again? ]
[No, you just sketched , hahahaha]
[Prince Mu gave the anchor a spaceship*1.0——It can be used as a treasure of the store]
[It's you! Yao Jun, you profiteer! I spent three hundred yuan to buy bamboo, but I couldn't make a fire once, wuwuwuwu]
[Mr. Yao is a real genius in some aspects. Every time I buy something, I feel like a big victim, you black-hearted maggot! ]
[Evil businessmen! Evil businessmen! Black businessmen! (Ma Chao's three consecutive sentences)]
What happened to Yao Jun? Why are people so resentful of him?
Bifang looked confused, but he believed that Yao Jun would not mess around in the club.
The scalding hot sand distorted the heat.
Imperceptible changes are taking place at the microscopic level, with the grains becoming finer, denser and tighter, like twisted tendons.
It would be a good knife.
Bifang collapsed to the ground, closed his eyes and enjoyed the moment.
Finally succeeded.
Next, just install the handle and polish it, and you have a dagger.
A steel knife.
A sharp blade that can complete tasks more efficiently than the iron knife required by the system.
Gradually, snoring began to sound.
The audience was stunned. At first they thought it was some strange sound. After a while they realized it was coming from the microphone. They saw Bifang lying on his back with his eyes closed.
Everyone then remembered that in order to catch up with the progress, Bifang had not had enough rest for several days in a row. He had not slept the entire night before, working all night, and coupled with the intense physical exertion, he was already extremely tired. When he finally got a chance to relax, he actually fell asleep.
[Damn, is he asleep? ]
[You can’t stop sleeping here. The helicopter will arrive in three or four hours.]
[Oh my god, get up quickly]
…
[Lao Fang, get up quickly. It’s past five o’clock.]
【It’s six o’clock! 】
[Helicopter is coming]
In the setting sun, the audience kept shouting, but Bifang had already fallen asleep.
A moment later, a helicopter flew over and the electronic sound that had not been heard for a month rang out again.
[Ding, main mission three failed, the completion rate is low. ]
"Um?"
Bifang woke up suddenly, sat up dazedly, and then covered his swollen head.
It hurts so much.
It was like magma was flowing in the narrow cerebral blood vessels, burning the thin blood vessels, flowing into the brain, and finally cracking and rubbing along the bone joints of the skull, turning into charcoal under the high temperature.
Thinking of the nightmare he just had, Bifang forced his eyelids open wide and asked the audience how long he had slept.
[It's just over half an hour. It's a little after three o'clock now, not even four o'clock.]
"Phew, sorry, I was so sleepy. I fell asleep as soon as I relaxed a little."
Bifang propped himself up and stood up, took a few deep breaths, and finally bent down and touched his toes. After about ten seconds, he stood up again. He was obviously much more energetic when he stood up again.
But the tiredness is still there, just not as sleepy anymore.
"If you feel sleepy and want to wake up quickly, you can try the action I just did. When you lower your head, blood will be concentrated in the brain in a short period of time, allowing the brain to obtain a lot of oxygen and nutrients, so that the brain will be active again."
"You can also take a deep breath before doing it to briefly increase the oxygen content in your blood. It works wonders. When I was sleepy in class before, I would 'accidentally' drop my pen under the table, and then bend over to pick it up for ten seconds."
[When I feel sleepy in class, I sleep. When Lao Fang feels sleepy, he picks up his pen. No wonder I can’t understand anything when I watch a live broadcast now, while Lao Fang is getting more and more awesome]
[Hahaha, this is so real]
What to do when you run an office?
"There is a way to do this in the office. You can straighten your back, raise your feet flat, and tense them."
Bifang sat on a stone. The whole movement was like pausing in the middle of a sit-up. The abdominal muscles were tense and the serratus anterior muscles on the ribs rose and fell like shark gills.
"Many people feel sore after holding on for more than ten seconds. In short, it's quite tiring. The principle of this movement is that when the muscles are active, it will make your sympathetic nerves excited, activate the 'hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenaline' system, secrete adrenaline, and actively give your body a boost."
Half a minute later, after completing two sets of movements, Bifang felt refreshed and energetic. He came to the blast furnace, moved the stones away, and stirred the hot sand with a branch.
After half an hour of cooling, the hot sand is no longer hot.
[By the way, where did Lao Fang get this sand...]
[Damn, I also discovered where the sand in the rainforest came from]
"Where there is soil, it is easy to get sand. You will know once you understand the principle of soil desertification."
The vegetation, dead branches and leaves, crust, etc. that protect the soil surface will be broken up, and the exposed soil will dry quickly under the influence of sunlight and monsoon, and the original granular structure will be destroyed and lose its adhesion effect.
Fine particles and other nutrients will be carried away by wind or precipitation, while coarse particles without nutrients remain, forming desertification.
"What can be done naturally can be done more quickly by drying it artificially. All you need to do is remove dead branches, leaves and stones from the soil, heat it repeatedly, rinse it, and heat it again, and you'll get a soil that's like crushed sand."
Bifang poked it with a branch, found the dagger, and fished it out.
After shaking off the sand, the steel dagger finally revealed its full appearance.
But……
It doesn't look good.
It was not as cold and bright as the audience imagined, but rather it was pitch black, reflecting blue light in the sun...
Bifang doesn't care . It's like this when it's just processed. After polishing, it will be shiny and bright.
He took out a piece of polished log, cut it into two even halves, and then used it to imprint the thin handle of the dagger. After the mark was left, he grabbed the dagger and cut on the mark, cutting a groove each way to accommodate the thin handle.
The two logs are continuously closed, and when they are of the right size to fit in but not too loose, the collected rubber resin, or latex, is smeared on them.
"Natural latex has very good viscosity after it dries naturally. If conditions permit, it can be vulcanized, which will make the viscosity even higher. But I don't have enough time and need to install the wooden handle as soon as possible."
Glue two semicircular logs together and wait for them to dry and stick firmly. Then Bifang takes out the stone dagger and quickly carves the handle into an oval curve. After making a rough shape, he takes out the smooth raw stone and rubs it to grind the burrs on the wood smooth and even.
The last step is to evenly wrap the slender rattan around the wooden handle, fix it again, put it in latex, and make the final adhesion.
Vines were wrapped around the wooden handle, spitting out six black blades, with the tip flashing with cold light.
Now, all the work is done and the dagger is completely formed.
Bifang looked at the shelter and blast furnace behind him, and every detail of the past twenty-one days flashed through his mind. Finally, he grasped the only remaining stone hammer, stood in the sun and stared for a long time.
The stone hammer hit the chimney hard, and cracks spread like a spider web.
The cracks gradually spread, turned into fissures, and broke with a loud bang. The three-meter-high chimney fell to the ground, shaking the earth.
The water monitor lizard trembled slightly, quickly climbed down from the tree, crawled into the cave, and hid in the deepest part.
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
