Chapter 991 - 10: Task Assignment

Fred also came to the front of the house upon hearing Chen Wen’s words.

He looked at the structure of the house and the construction method, nodding: "This is a lumberjack’s house. When lumberjacks arrive at a new work location here, they build a small cabin like this for themselves using trees. After the work is done, the cabin is left here."

As he spoke, Fred looked at the surrounding tree stumps with some sentiment: "When I was little, my father often did this. These little cabins are easy and effortless to build."

Chen Wen nodded and asked, "There shouldn’t be much inside it then, right? Do you have any special beliefs around here?"

Fred shook his head: "No, we move out after the work is done, and this place is essentially abandoned. But Chen Wen, I must remind you that cabins like these usually aren’t very sturdy. Once winter arrives, they leak air everywhere and the lumberjacks don’t stay here during winter."

Hearing this, Chen Wen laughed and said, "Don’t worry, I’m not interested in this house. Since it’s confirmed that the house is completely abandoned, let’s use it as the center to set up our camp around it."

Fred had no objections to this.

He nodded: "Alright, generally speaking, as long as it’s a shelter confirmed by the lumberjacks, the surrounding environment should be safe and suitable."

As they were talking, Chen Wen arrived at the side of the house.

The wooden door was already worn out, hanging loosely with a short iron chain.

Chen Wen said, "Let’s go in and take a look. I’ll open the door first."

As he spoke, Chen Wen gently pulled the iron chain and tugged at the wooden door.

But unexpectedly, as soon as he exerted force, the wooden door collapsed inward with cracking sounds, as if unable to bear the strength.

Bang!

A heavy muffled sound!

With the sound, clouds of dust began to fill the air.

Chen Wen instinctively stepped back, saying somewhat awkwardly: "The quality of this door is... really too poor, isn’t it?"

Fred chuckled and explained: "Such cabins can only stand for about half a year. After that, they lose all defense capability. This cabin has been here for at least two years, surely it’s already rotten."

As he spoke, seemingly to confirm Fred’s statement.

After the door collapsed, the cabin began to shake feebly, prompting Chen Wen and Fred to quickly step back.

Under their watchful eyes, the cabin swayed, the timber on the roof began to slide off, and the wooden planks on the side of the room emitted a strained creaking sound.

Crash...

Amidst continuous cracking and collapsing sounds, the cabin fell heavily.

Chen Wen and Fred exchanged glances, both feeling fortunate they didn’t go inside directly earlier.

Otherwise, if the house collapsed while they were inside, it would have been extremely dangerous for them!

The other companions also came over, looking at the collapsed cabin.

Gaston made a joke: "Well, now we certainly won’t lack firewood."

Chen Wen laughed.

Indeed, the materials from this small cabin were enough to provide firewood for several days.

After waiting a while and confirming that the cabin wouldn’t collapse further, Chen Wen said, "Let’s set this place as our main survival camp. We have a few urgent tasks ahead."

Upon hearing Chen Wen’s words, everyone looked over.

Chen Wen organized his thoughts and said, "Let’s use survival’s four main elements as our guidelines: First, water; later two people will go down to the lake with weapons to fetch water, Fred and Roland will go together."

When Fred arrived earlier, Chen Wen noticed that Fred seemed reluctant to work with Roland.

This isn’t good news for the team.

If there are conflicts among team members, it will greatly affect the cohesion going forward if not resolved.

Therefore, Chen Wen plans to devise some ways to let Roland and Fred have more contact and try to improve their relationship.

Fred nodded slightly upon hearing this.

Since it’s a team task, he naturally won’t refuse.

Then, Chen Wen said, "Second, fire; Later Adam will start a fire."

Adam nodded, as he’s good at this.

There’s plenty of firewood around, and a fire starter, so starting a fire isn’t difficult.

"Third, shelter; this one Gaston and I will handle, we’ll clear surrounding debris to make as much space as possible, so we have somewhere to stay by night."

Chen Wen said, feeling the weather again.

He himself could definitely sleep outdoors without issue, but that might not be the case for others.

Even with a fire, everyone risks getting colds by sleeping in the open.

Therefore, he continued: "In the afternoon, I plan to join Gaston to try building two simple temporary triangular shelters, so we have somewhere to rest tonight."

Hearing this, everyone nodded.

Gaston didn’t complain either, as after all, Chen Wen and he would tackle the task together.

"Fourth, food."

Chen Wen looked at Hua Yun, in a teasing tone, said: "This time is very aligned with your survival habits. The team now needs you to pick up the bow, and I will let the Golden Eagle be your viewfinder to aid your hunting."

Upon hearing this, Hua Yun instantly became energized.

She nodded earnestly, saying, "Leave this hunt to me!"

Chen Wen glanced at the Golden Eagle then joked, "Six mouths, all relying on you!"

Water, fire, food, shelter.

The four most basic elements of survival.

With these four, short-term survival surely poses no issue.

After considering Chen Wen’s arrangements, everyone saw no problem. These are indeed the most needed items right now.

But Roland and Fred, who were fetching water, and Adam, who was starting the fire, asked: "What should we do after finishing our tasks?"

Chen Wen thought for a moment, then based on the personal traits of the three said: "Adam, after that, go dig up beetle larvae, these are the easiest protein sources around, gather more!"

Adam is patient with quick and meticulous hands, so this job will be easy for him.

Adam nodded.

Then Chen Wen looked at Roland.

After some contemplation, he said: "Roland, think about how to build a shelter. I feel we should, like during our wilderness isolation at Great Slave Lake, try to build a sturdy stone shelter. You’ve seen wooden shelters; they’re not very secure."

Everyone nodded.

As participants of the previous wilderness isolation, they all knew how crucially Chen Wen and Roland’s stone shelter had supported them during survival.

Thus, Chen Wen said, "Your current task is only to construct the shelter."

Roland agreed without hesitation.

Then Chen Wen looked at Fred: "Fred, let’s chop wood, even a stone shelter requires lots of timber, you can chop more trees, no problem with it."

Fred smiled and nodded, he enjoys this work.

Before embarking on his survival career, Fred was a lumberjack.

Then Chen Wen looked at Hua Yun, or rather Golden Eagle beside her: "During the hunt, pay attention and see if there’s anything usable around."

Golden Eagle and Hua Yun nodded simultaneously.

With the tasks distributed, people and animals began busying themselves.

As for the Snowy Owl and the other animals, Chen Wen had additional plans.