Chapter 348 - 223: How Could It Possibly Be Made Into a Rope?

Chapter 348: Chapter 223: How Could It Possibly Be Made Into a Rope?

"Wow, only one piece? So stingy!"

Erica muttered subconsciously. She didn’t really take it to heart, but she couldn’t help staring at the tempting piece of meat, swallowing hard.

"What about the oyster sauce? You didn’t teach me how to make it. That must be the key, right?"

"It’s simple. Take fifty kilograms of shucked oyster meat, add water, and bring it to a boil. After ten minutes, take the meat out. Simmer the remaining water over low to medium heat until it’s concentrated to this consistency. That will make about two kilograms of oyster sauce. You can eat the leftover oyster meat yourself. This here was made from a five-kilogram batch."

To make the conversion easier for her, Lin Chen had specifically used kilograms.

"Five kilograms of pure oyster meat to make just this little bit of oyster sauce?"

Erica pointed at the tiny amount of sauce in the bamboo tube, her jaw dropping. She clearly hadn’t expected this delicious condiment to be made in such a way.

’Isn’t this just concentrated oyster soup!’

Now that she knew the whole recipe, she couldn’t sit still. She carefully placed the bamboo tube of oyster sauce on the ground and stood up.

"Okay, I’m off! I’m going back to dig up some oysters. Better than staying here drooling. When I make some, I’ll bring you a piece to try!"

"Alright, I’ll be waiting."

Although neither of them said it, they had reached a tacit, unspoken agreement.

They would each live their own lives.

Except for when she was lucky enough to run into him while he was cooking and he’d give her a pointer or two, Lin Chen had no intention of proactively visiting her camp.

Except to pick mangoes.

’If she wants to learn a skill, she needs to show the attitude of a student and come learn on her own.’

’There’s no reason for the teacher to make a house call.’

Since he had moved out, Erica had been perceptive enough not to mention them living together again. Perhaps she had realized he was preparing to reset his mindset and face the competition with Andre.

Seeing her actually leave just like that, Lin Chen breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

’It’s certainly easy on the eyes and pleasant to be around a beautiful woman, but this is a competition, after all. The cameras are rolling twenty-four hours a day, so I have to maintain a good image for the Da Xia People and avoid bringing shame to my country.’

’I came here to win, so I have to take this seriously!’

’As for everything else... we’ll see after the competition is over.’

A mouthful of the savory, fresh, and spicy iguana meat went down, leaving his mouth filled with umami. The long-missed flavor instantly whetted his appetite, and he began to devour it with gusto.

[Enjoying delicious stir-fried iguana on the Panama coast. Happiness +2]

"Just two points, as expected. If there were more meat, it probably would have been three. What a shame."

He had noticed it while eating. This thing tasted good, sure—not much different from stir-fried chicken-frames—but the problem was that it was too small. There was hardly any meat.

It would have been fine if he had a bowl of rice to go with it, but he didn’t, which left him feeling like something was missing.

One iguana down, and he felt like he hadn’t eaten anything at all. Without hesitation, he took out two handfuls of semi-dried oyster meat, soaked them in coconut water, and then stir-fried a plate of oyster meat using the same method.

The texture of the dried oyster meat was noticeably different. It was no longer tender like tofu as it was when fresh, but had gained a certain toughness and chewiness.

It was the same principle as how fresh abalone is crisp and springy, while dried abalone has a completely different texture.

After eating his fill and resting for a bit, he started working on his small bed.

First, he laid a banana leaf on the ground and lay down on it to determine the length and width. Then, he got a few bamboo poles and set them at the head and foot, marking their positions on the ground. He dug holes at the marks, setting the depth and the height of the bed.

Next, he scored a line at the same height on all four bamboo poles and chiseled out holes large enough for bamboo slats to be inserted.

Just making a hole on one side wasn’t enough; he had to punch it all the way through to the other side. Otherwise, the top of the slat would have too small of a surface area to bear weight and would easily twist and warp.

Two hours later.

A simple frame for a bamboo bed had taken shape. All that was left was to pile bamboo slats onto the frame.

"I’m tired from working all day, so I’ll just sleep on it like this for now. I’ll upgrade the bed tomorrow after I’ve recovered my energy."

The *Complete Collection of Outdoor Tools* described many methods for making bamboo tools. Although a bed wasn’t a tool, he could borrow some of its structural designs.

The simplest and most practical of these was the bamboo bending method. You would saw three-quarters of the way through a whole bamboo pole at the desired spot, then heat the remaining part over a fire to soften it, allowing it to bend naturally.

After bending, it could be directly fitted onto the surface of another bamboo pole, forming a smooth, perfect right angle.

This method was not only aesthetically pleasing but also very sturdy. He wouldn’t have to worry about the bed frame falling apart, as it would be joined together from whole bamboo pieces.

It was a good method, but its only drawback without a saw was that it was time-consuming.

He would have to repeatedly pierce the bamboo with his military knife, then chop at it bit by bit with a bamboo knife, or even mimic the action of a saw by pulling back and forth to gradually cut through the tough bamboo.

After laying all the bamboo slats on top, the simple bamboo bed was more or less complete.

He was a still sleeper—whatever position he fell asleep in was the same one he woke up in. So, he didn’t need to secure the slats, which was good news.

When he lay down on the bamboo bed, the slight, unique springiness of the slats was so much more comfortable than the hard, cold ground that a satisfied groan escaped his throat involuntarily.

’What do I need to do tomorrow... Oh, right. I have to chop more bamboo, then split it to make bamboo strips. Then I’ll upgrade the bed. If there’s extra time, I’ll keep splitting bamboo. Five poles is no easy task. It’ll take at least two days, right?’

After running through tomorrow’s to-do list in his head, he closed his eyes in reassurance and soon fell into a deep sleep.

...

"Lin’s recovered?"

Andre sat at the mouth of his cave, a charcoal fire burning quietly before him.

Seeing the subtitles flash across his watch screen, he visibly relaxed.

He normally didn’t have the habit of reading the live comments, but because Lin had a fever the past two days, he had been forced to use this method to secretly keep an eye on his condition.

"Not only has he recovered, but he’s also chopped down a lot of bamboo and used it to make a bed and rope?"

"Wait a second. Bamboo... made into rope?"

At first, he was a little dismissive. After all, building a bed in the wild wasn’t particularly difficult.

But when he read about making rope from bamboo, he couldn’t sit still anymore. He began to pace in circles around the fire.

’How can something as hard as bamboo be made into rope? It doesn’t make sense. Could there be some process to soften it?’

’If I need to soften it, I guess I could try soaking it in water and then heating it over the fire. But rope should be something very thin... Does that mean I have to split the bamboo into small strips before heating it?’

The climate in North America is harsh and cold, dominated by coniferous forests. Wild bamboo groves were rare, at least around his hometown.

As far as he knew, bamboo forests in North America were almost all located in the southeast, near Central America. Furthermore, the native bamboo species had low economic value and grew in small clusters, giving them little practical use. Naturally, no bamboo-related industries or crafts had developed there.

He had also been worried about his lack of rope. He never would have expected to learn such a crucial piece of information from the viewer comments.

Since it was a livestream, there was no way to restrict the flow of information. In a sense, this forced the contestants’ unique skills and experiences to be shared, narrowing the gap between them.

This was one of the reasons the production team introduced prey into the competition. It would likely be impossible to determine a winner based on shelter-building alone, since the audience could openly assist and "cheat" for them.

Andre stopped reading the comments. He knew full well that if he asked, the viewers would definitely tell him the detailed steps.

But that would be copying.

Now that he knew bamboo could be made into rope, he could figure it out himself through trial and error. Only then could he use the knowledge with a clear conscience.

"Looks like I’ll have to go chop some bamboo tomorrow. I don’t just need to try making rope; it’s also time to upgrade my shelter. I won’t get many points just for living in a simple cave."