Chapter 113: Chapter 111: Igloo
Jiang Si pointed to the map. "Let’s go check out this spot. It was marked as a hot spring, but I’m not sure if it’s frozen over now that it’s fifty or sixty degrees below zero."
"If it hasn’t, the temperature there will definitely be a bit warmer."
’Even a ten-degree difference would make working outside much more comfortable.’
Everyone unanimously agreed to head for Hot Spring Bay. After traveling for about half the day, they soon reached their destination.
To accommodate tourists, a small dock had been built at Hot Spring Bay, despite its small size.
Unfortunately, after being ravaged by blizzards, it was impossible to see where the dock had been.
There was nothing but vast, white snow.
With no internet, Jiang Si couldn’t look up any information to compare. They could only drop anchor first, then take a mooring line and search for a bollard or welded cleat to secure the Icebreaker.
Qin Shen disembarked first. After observing the surroundings, he pinpointed the likely location of a mooring bollard.
He immediately gestured to Jiang Si on the ship. "Toss me the mooring line and the shovels!"
Jiang Si tossed the mooring line to him. Once he caught it, she grabbed two military shovels and climbed off the ship.
The others remained on deck, standing guard in different directions and scanning for danger.
The snow was several meters deep. Aside from the loose powder on top, the snow underneath had been packed solid.
The military shovel couldn’t even break through it. The recoil just made Jiang Si’s hand go numb.
Jiang Si said to Qin Shen, "I’ll go get the drill."
Qin Shen shook his head. "Don’t bother with all that."
He stood up straight, gripped the military shovel with both hands, and abruptly, with all his might, struck at the frozen surface.
"CRACK CRACK CRACK~"
Jiang Si felt a tremor under her feet. A closer look revealed that Qin Shen, with just one strike of the shovel, had sent several cracks spiderwebbing through the solid surface.
But that wasn’t nearly enough. Qin Shen struck the same spot again and again, using the same motion to drive the shovel into the ice.
The fissures grew wider and wider until, with a loud CRACK, the ice broke into several pieces, perfectly exposing the mooring bollard at the center.
Jiang Si’s eyes lit up with joy. "You’re just incredible!"
’Even though I know how formidable Qin Shen’s strength is, he manages to surprise and astound me every time.’
Qin Shen smiled, took the mooring line from her, and began to tie it securely.
Jiang Si stood frozen in place. ’There was a hint of tenderness in his smile just now.’
Jiang Linhai shouted from the deck, "Sisi, is it working out? Do you need us to come down and help?"
Jiang Si snapped back to reality and quickly waved her hands. "No need, we’ve got it! We’ll be right up."
"Alright!"
Back inside the cabin, Jiang Linhai said excitedly, "Sisi, your uncle and I saw what looks like a forest to the east. We’re planning to go gather some firewood!"
The supplies on the ship, and those in Jiang Si’s storage space, were all consumable. You never knew when something might happen that required using a large amount, and then they’d be gone.
Besides, they needed to hone their survival skills for when they had no access to supplies.
In this extreme cold, they had to be like those famously tough northern peoples, stockpiling huge amounts of wood for heating, cooking, and boiling water for daily use.
Jiang Si had also looked in that direction earlier. There was indeed a forest to the east, but it was covered by a thick blanket of snow.
The trees had either collapsed, or they were in a state where cutting one down could trigger an avalanche and bury you. It was very dangerous.
Jiang Si thought for a moment. "It’s best to dig up trees that have already fallen. Don’t cut any standing ones."
Jiang Linhai laughed. "We know. We were also planning to build an icehouse nearby. That way, if a blizzard suddenly hits while we’re gathering wood, we’ll have a temporary shelter."
’An icehouse is a good choice. The Inuit live in the Arctic and stay in icehouses, which are built from local materials and have excellent insulating properties.’
Jiang Si nodded. "Yes, you could build a few. That way, anyone who goes ashore will have a place to stay. You could designate them for different purposes, like sleeping, storing supplies, or stacking firewood."
Niu Niu was a little confused. "Jiang Si, an icehouse sounds so cold. Won’t we be cold if we stay inside?"
Jiang Si shook her head. "An icehouse is warmer than you’d think. Even without a fire, the temperature inside can stay around ten-odd degrees below zero."
"An icehouse is like a hemisphere, with a round roof and arched walls. The entrance is built below ground level, often with a trench dug for a tunnel. This makes the icehouse very sturdy while also ensuring the cold wind can’t blow in, keeping it much warmer inside."
Niu Niu asked again, full of curiosity, "But if you light a fire inside, won’t the house melt?"
"When the Inuit, who live in the Arctic, light a fire inside, the temperature in the icehouse will rise, reaching as high as twenty degrees. But because of the principle that hot air rises and cold air sinks, even with a fire going, the excess heat escapes through a vent. This prevents a large amount of hot air from building up against the ice walls and causing the icehouse to melt."
Aside from Qin Shen, everyone else looked as bewildered as Niu Niu, only half-grasping the concept.
’They knew you could build an icehouse to stay warm, but they never thought there would be so many complex principles involved.’
’Being educated really makes a difference.’
Shen Baoying then asked, "But if you build the house out of ice blocks, there will be gaps, right? Won’t it be drafty?"
Jiang Si laughed. "Nope. You just plaster more snow on the outside. The sun hits it for a bit, and it freezes rock-solid."
Now that everyone roughly understood the principles of an icehouse, they were eager to try building one.
Jiang Si said, "Building an icehouse is a bit harder than you think. Let’s build one on deck first. Once we’ve mastered the technique, we can go build them on shore."
That way, if anyone gets too cold, they can go right back into the cabin.
Everyone changed their clothes, put on face masks, goggles, and hoods, and came out onto the deck with an assortment of tools.
The snow on the deck hadn’t been cleared for several days. There was a thick layer, frozen solid underneath but still fluffy on top.
Jiang Si said to everyone, "Before we build the icehouse, we first need to make snow bricks. The bricks need to be made from snow that’s been blown around by the wind and then settled into drifts. This kind of snow isn’t loose like snowflakes, but it’s also not as heavy or brittle as ice. It’s denser and doesn’t fall apart easily."
Everyone was surprised. ’So it’s not something you can just casually build, after all.’
Jiang Si pointed to the snowdrifts on the deck. "This is perfect for cutting into snow bricks."
The others went up to feel it for themselves. Then, under Jiang Si’s direction, they began cutting the snow into large bricks.
Once they had prepared enough snow bricks, it was time to start building.
Jiang Si said, "The bottom layer of snow bricks needs to be pressed down into the snow. That’s what ensures the icehouse’s stability."
"Since we’re on the deck, we’ll just do a rough build for now. Sinking it about one brick’s depth will be good enough."
Lu Zhifeng and Jiang Linhai laid the bottom layer of snow bricks. Everyone started laughing; it didn’t seem all that difficult.
But Jiang Si said, "The bottom layer doesn’t need to be angled in a spiral, so of course it’s simple. Now we have to build upwards to create the dome. That means we have to shape the snow bricks to have a slope and stack them one by one from the inside."
Shaping the slope and stacking them in a spiral sounded quite difficult, but for Jiang Linhai, who had been a construction foreman for half his life, it was a piece of cake.
In no time at all, he grasped the key principles, and his stacking already looked quite professional.
