Chapter 697 Water Flow
"return!"
Bifang pulled the reins in his hand and stopped the three idiots who were still sprinting, but due to inertia, the sled still slid forward for dozens of meters.
The choppy sea was visible to the naked eye not far away. After a day's journey, we finally arrived at the Greenland coast again. This was much faster than walking on foot.
Bifang took the tools that had been prepared long ago from the sled, untied the reins of Sansha, walked to the beach, and began to extract salt according to the same steps as before.
"I have refined it several times, still using the same old method: filtering, evaporating, precipitating, dissolving..."
It was late at night, and after extracting for several hours, Bifang finally collected half a pot of sea salt at one time, which was enough for survival.
After obtaining the necessities for survival and being tired after a day's work, Bifang prepared to build a temporary residence to rest.
After running for a whole day, it was already around seven o'clock in the evening when they reached the coast. If they wanted to rush back overnight, they would have to stay up all night, but Bifang had no plans to do so.
Moreover, obtaining salt was only the main purpose of this trip, but not the only purpose. Bifang also wanted to look around to see if he could catch some more prey, such as reindeer, musk oxen, or even puffins.
"But don't rest on the coast, it's very dangerous because you are likely to encounter seals, walruses or even polar bears coming ashore."
"There are about six species of seals along the west coast of Greenland and they are easy to spot if you take a boat trip through the fjords. They weigh between 100 and 300 kilograms, depending on the species."
"In addition, Greenland's walruses are also very large, and unlike seals, they are often found on the eastern coast bed or near the seashore of Greenland."
"Don't be fooled by the chubby, cute and honest images of animals in the world. In fact, walruses' tusks can grow to several meters long and can be used for defense. Males are more than three meters long and weigh between 1,200 and 3,000 kilograms."
"Although these guys move very slowly, believe me, if you encounter them while you are asleep, it will definitely be a disaster if you are caught off guard."
Bifang said seriously.
Weight is an extremely important reference indicator for judging whether an animal is fierce or not. The beasts he mentioned are all several times larger than humans.
Perhaps due to its own structural reasons, it is not very powerful for those who are prepared, but it should not be taken lightly.
[Oh my god, are walruses this fat? One to three tons?]
[My goodness, isn't this thing fatter than a musk ox? ]
[One can last for a long time, right? 】
[Eat, eat, eat. Just think about eating. Can’t you think about its ivory? (Dog head)]
[After all, it is an elephant in the sea. Although it is outrageous, it is not unacceptable. ]
Nearly one kilometer away from the coastline, Bifang set up camp and dug a "snow cave dug on the top and side" with the three idiots.
"Digging a snow cave from the top and sides at the same time sounds very impressive, and it actually means exactly what it says, a hole that can be dug from the top and sides at the same time."
"The final result is the same, that is, a tunnel connected to an arched cave. The depth of snow required for the cave is the same as that required for the snow cave, at least 1.5 meters deep, and a depth of more than 3 meters is better."
"The downside is that you need to cover the hole on top with snow blocks, and the process of making and placing snow blocks is much more complicated than digging a snow hole."
"However, compared to snow caves, the main advantage of top-side and side-side snow caves is that two people can dig at the same time, so the construction speed is faster, and there is no need to dig snow inside and then transport it out through the passage."
Although Bifang is the only one here, it doesn’t matter, he has three dogs!
As long as they are given a direction, a three-meter tunnel is just a piece of cake for them. In the end, only an area of about 1.8 meters square can accommodate two people.
Bifang finds the snow of suitable depth by detection, and then compacts the snow at the selected location with skis.
"The sleeping chamber should be located below this compacted area, and the compacted snow provides the basis for the capping snow blocks. If the compacted snow is relatively shallow, it is necessary to shovel snow from other places onto the compacted snow to increase the depth. However, we are in the Arctic, where snow is the most abundant. If it is in other places, it may be necessary to create a place to collect snow blocks."
"If the snow is shoveled from other places, you don't need to use boots to compact it, but you need to use a shovel to compact the snow. It's best to compact the snow as soon as you find a suitable location because you still need to build other parts, and you have to wait for a while for the compacted snow to freeze together. Only in this way can you dig a solid snow cave."
“After you smooth it out, don’t walk in the area or you’ll create cracks in the snow. This is another process that needs to be done early because the snow is more solid once it freezes.”
" For example, if you trample a path to a snow shelter the day before you move camp, you can carve out heavy, durable snow blocks from that path."
"Wait for the compacted snow to freeze solid, then dig a hole in the center of the compacted area above the future snow cave. The hole should not be too wide, just enough for a person to stand in it and shovel the snow out with a shovel. The smaller the hole, the easier it is to seal it with snow blocks."
"Be careful not to stand on hard snow immediately around the hole. If you do sink into the snow, use compacted snow to fill the accidental hole, and try not to put snow blocks over the vulnerable area afterwards. If the snow is too dry to be compacted to fill the accidental hole, you can quickly make an 'epoxy' out of water and snow."
"Dig down a few feet, then start digging sideways..."
While introducing the points to pay attention to, Bifang drew a circle and asked the three idiots to start digging with all their strength. From start to finish, it took less than an hour, and a camp that could accommodate one person and three dogs was built.
The next day, Bifang took the refined sea salt and got on a sled, heading home in a curve, trying to find more signs of animals.
We even saw a polar bear lying on the sea ice. The moment it saw Bifang, the polar bear did not react at all. Perhaps it felt that it was too far away and it could not catch up at all, so it just lay on the ground without caring anything, which made Bifang feel relieved.
Maybe this polar bear is staring at an ice cave, Bifang thought, recalling the polar bear's lazy appearance.
"laugh!"
A huge stream of water suddenly exploded on the flat ground, spraying high into the air. Bifang, who was standing on the sled, pulled the reins and couldn't help but look at it.
