Chapter 7

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Starting a fire comes before eating.

The temperature in the mountain forest at night is particularly low, and there are all kinds of snakes, insects, and rodents.

Starting a fire can help maintain body temperature, reducing physical exhaustion, and can also drive away snakes, insects, and rodents.

Otherwise, if bitten by a venomous insect while sleeping at night, even if one eats a full meal, they won't have the strength to digest it.

While clearing the cave, he threw the stones inside out, disturbing three scorpions and two pairs of centipedes in the process.

This was the true goal of clearing the cave; making the sleeping area more comfortable was just a side benefit.

He killed the insects one by one, but Mu Canyang didn't throw away the scorpions. He found a thin blade of grass and threaded them into a string, thinking to himself: if he couldn't find any other food, he would have to make do with these...

Finally, he finished cleaning the cave and built a fire pit at the entrance. Without a moment's delay, Mu Canyang left the cave to search for food and kindling.

Without a lighter or a magnifying glass— even if he had a magnifying glass, there was no sun— in such a difficult situation, he could only use a relatively primitive method to start a fire.

Drill fire?

Drill fire is certainly the most primitive method, but to start a fire this way, even with the right materials, a considerable amount of skill is required.

Without sufficient experience and skill, one would need adequate auxiliary equipment, such as a sturdy rope to make a fire bow, or a sharp knife to carve out the necessary components.

However, Mu Canyang had none of these things...

Bear Grylls, when he goes out, at least carries his five essential items: a dagger, flint, a water bottle, his teeth, and a cameraman.

The only option left was to use flint to start a fire.

Fortunately, when cleaning the cave, Mu Canyang noticed several pieces of flint.

With the flint, all that was left was to find kindling and firewood.

He solved most of the kindling problem on the way down the mountain. Mu Canyang peeled bark from several dead trees, tore out the inner wood fibers, and collected dandelion fluff, stuffing it all into a dried wild gourd. He also picked some dry stinging nettle stems from the previous year...

These are all well-documented good kindling materials, but he had no wilderness survival experience, so he had to try them to see which worked best, and he didn't want to miss any.

The final result was...

"Clang!" Mu Canyang swung a piece of flint and struck it hard against the flint on the ground.

His arm shook violently, and the small piece of flint flew out of his hand.

The collision of the two stones produced a streak of sparks, which fell into the pile of fibers below.

However... there was no reaction, nothing worked.

The principle of starting a fire with flint is the same as with a drill fire, relying on the heat generated by impact and friction to ignite the kindling.

There is a necessary condition— temperature— which must exceed the ignition point.

A drill fire relies on continuous friction and the accumulation of heat, so it cannot be stopped; once it stops, it must start over. An untrained person almost cannot achieve this and needs the help of a fire bow.

With flint, the temperature of the sparks depends on the material and the force applied.

The harder the material and the greater the force, the larger the sparks and the higher the temperature.

That's why there are steel fire strikers.

However, Mu Canyang had neither a sufficiently hard material nor enough strength...

He had been striking the flint for half an hour, producing countless sparks, but not a single one produced any smoke.

He rubbed his red and swollen palms, feeling the numb, itchy, and painful sensation in his arms, and gave up in frustration. If he continued, his arms would be completely numb.

Outside, it was already dark, and it had started to rain, with lightning and thunder.

Fortunately, he still had the cave; otherwise...

Sighing, Mu Canyang dejectedly went to the cave entrance, reaching out with his right hand to retrieve the half-filled wild gourd, and incidentally drenched his entire arm in the rain as a cold compress to treat his injuries. With his left hand, he pulled out the string of scorpions.

He had already crushed the scorpions' stingers with a stone.

Looking at the dead scorpions' fierce mandibles, the patterns on their backs, and their claws, he gritted his teeth, threw one into his mouth, and swallowed it with water.

The scorpion was quite large, and it caused a painful sensation as it slid down his throat, seemingly cutting him. No wonder Bear Grylls chewed them before swallowing.

Having eaten the first one, he didn't hesitate to eat the second. He hadn't eaten anything all day and desperately needed to replenish his nutrients.

However, loneliness, fear, and helplessness— these negative emotions— weren't supposed to be in his vocabulary. When did they start...

Mu Canyang forced himself to eat the second scorpion, tearing it in half like a lamb skewer.

Immediately, a slippery, sticky, and bitter liquid filled his mouth.

"Ugh..." He involuntarily bent over and retched.

But he desperately covered his mouth with his hand.

His stomach was already empty; if he vomited, he would have even less!

Swallow it! Swallow it! Swallow it!

Mu Canyang covered his mouth, enduring the churning in his stomach and the acid rising to his mouth and nose, repeatedly telling himself, hypnotizing himself.

He won!

Everything went into his stomach, but two tears uncontrollably streamed down his cheeks.

After "eating," he used rainwater to rinse the bitterness from his mouth and staggered to the cleared soil bed, falling asleep.

However, from his back, it was clear that his body twitched occasionally, for a very long time...

He finally understood what the most severe punishment Taichi had given him was!

It wasn't being thrown into this exile place, nor was it being turned into an NPC. It was that after doing these things, Taichi gave him normal human emotions!

He originally had no emotions, due to a condition called logical autism, his mind was filled with calculations, data, analysis, and deductions. But now... he had them.

He knew pain, understood fear, felt loneliness, and experienced bitterness...

He didn't know how long it had been, but Mu Canyang finally fell into a daze and fell asleep.

He had a dream...

He dreamed that he was still in the control center, commanding with confidence, and the team followed his orders, fighting fiercely!

It was all just a dream; the nightmare would end, and everything would return to normal, as if nothing had happened.

Seeing those familiar scenes, even in his dream, Mu Canyang shed tears.

He knew it was a dream; the nightmare was real. His innate ability kept him rational even in his dreams.

But he wished he didn't have this ability, that he could stay in the dream forever, never waking up...

But dreams are just dreams.

At some point in the night, he was suddenly awakened by a rustling sound.

The night was stormy, and he hadn't slept well.

The rain had lessened, and the rustling sound, originally very distant, was slowly getting closer, approaching the cave.

It sounded like a living creature was gradually approaching the cave.

Mu Canyang turned over and sat up, alert. At that moment, a loud thunderclap split the sky, striking a nearby hill.

The bright white light illuminated everything around.

Mu Canyang's hair stood on end, and his scalp tingled!

Snake! Python! A python as thick as a thigh, of unknown length, was crawling into the cave!