In the Arctic summer, there’s 24 hours of daylight, while in the Arctic winter, it’s 24 hours of darkness.
Any perception of time here is not accurate, and the circadian rhythm becomes blurred under the night sky’s aurora.
Spring and autumn usually mean more unpredictable weather, accompanied by storms and various cloud conditions.
Fortunately, over the past ten days, Bi Fang encountered only one blizzard that lasted four days.
At 7 a.m., most regions are already bright with daylight, yet the Arctic sky is still dotted with stars.
Today, the starry sky did not show the aurora; amid the deep forest, Bi Fang gathered dry twigs into a pyramid shape, stuffed a smoky tuft of dry grass in the middle, blew on it, and soon sparks floated out from the grass, producing a small flame.
The tiny flame climbed along the fibers, spreading and growing, igniting the entire pyramid of dry wood.
Starting a simple bonfire, Bi Fang placed a pot of ice water above it, tearing the lichen he had collected the day before into small pieces, soaked them, and waited for it to boil.
"This lichen is called Reindeer Moss because it’s an important food for reindeer, it’s also known as Reindeer Lichen, mainly found in the alpine permafrost regions, extremely cold-resistant."
"Reindeer Moss is an ancestral secret recipe of the Menba people in the high mountain regions of the Eastern Himalayas for removing kidney stones. The inland Tanana people crush the dried Reindeer Moss and boil it in hot water until soft to use as food. They also make a soup with Reindeer Moss as a diarrheal medication."
[Can this thing really treat kidney stones?]
[Damn, I think I got this last time I went to gather herbs.]
[This is in traditional Chinese medicine.]
"However, since it contains acidic substances inside, it may cause stomach discomfort, especially when it’s not cooked, so you must patiently wait for it to be fully cooked before consuming."
Bi Fang submerged the Reindeer Moss with chopsticks, waited for it to soften and sink, then covered it with a wooden lid.
"Reindeer Moss grows very slowly; when it gets overgrazed, burned, trampled, or depleted, it usually takes decades to recover, so if you find it, don’t pull it out by the roots. It’s better to cut a part of it."
Bi Fang stood up, plunged a thick stick into the bonfire, and tied one end with a rope made from tree fibers—a loose structure that would allow the torch to burn longer.
If he could coat it with animal fat, it would burn even better, but for Bi Fang, who was still in a state of basic survival, that was luxury.
After waiting for the torch to burn properly, Bi Fang lifted it and walked into the forest.
Before preparing for hunting, Bi Fang had a lot of preparation work to do, like making weapons, ropes, sleds, and so forth.
[A sled, Wu Hu, getting ready to ski?]
[Can you even ski on these snowfields?]
Bi Fang shook his head: "I’m not preparing a sled for skiing, but for dragging the game easily later on."
Having found such a good valley, he would definitely make it his base—the most critical thing was the availability of combustible material.
If he hunted a musk oxen, he’d naturally want to bring it back here; but with an average one weighing three hundred kilograms and after removing the bones and unnecessary fat, there’d still be at least two hundred kilograms.
Two hundred kilograms, the weight of three adults, was too much for Bi Fang to carry – he would have to drag it, and a sled would save some effort.
Bi Fang, holding the torch, picked his way through the forest for a while until he had collected enough materials, then returned to the side of the bonfire and began to carve with a knife.
Quickly, Darts, Short Spears, and Bi Fang fitted his favorite weapons with sharpened stones, and finally, three long sled boards.
"For the sled boards, we don’t need them to be too well-made; just having a rough prototype is sufficient for use," he said.
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Although he lacked a plane, Bi Fang had gained a fair bit of experience in how to carve hardwood with a dagger, and he had completed all the preparations before the sun rose.
By now, the reindeer moss in the pot was fully cooked. Bi Fang, along with some fish, simply filled his stomach and then erased any traces of having made fire.
Bi Fang wrapped all the short spears with a few turns of rope over his shoulder, tying them to his back, then put on his backpack, took less than his supply of rations, managed a kettle of boiling water, and set off following the initial tracks of the musk oxen.
The sun had just risen and the temperature of the earth had not yet increased; the scalding boiling water brought a bit of warmth through the kettle and his clothes, dispelling a little coldness.
Following the remaining traces and scents on the ground, Bi Fang gradually moved toward a direction away from the forest.
The deep gouges on the trees also allowed the audience, who had yet to see a musk ox, to envision its massive and fearsome form in their minds.
However...
Almost all the tracks seemed not to exceed the height of Bi Fang’s waist, and the highest was just up to his chest; in comparison to its weight, it seemed unexpectedly short?
[It seems like this ox has kind of short legs.]
[Three hundred kilograms of short legs, isn’t that a potato?]
[Bulldozer!]
"Musk oxen do have somewhat short legs, and when it comes to the morphology of endothermic animals, there’s something in zoology called Allen’s rule.
It suggests that among members of the same species or closely related species, those living in cold regions, as compared to those living in warm regions, have a tendency for shorter extremities, which is an adaptation to reduce heat loss," Bi Fang explained as he looked at the comments.
"In comparison with serows, which belong to the same family, musk oxen with their short tails, short legs, and small ears are indeed a confirmation of Allen’s rule," he continued.
"Additionally, there’s Bergmann’s rule, which states that among members of the same species or closely related species, those living in colder environments tend to have a relatively larger body size. And indeed, musk oxen are substantially larger compared to serows," Bi Fang explained in detail.
[Note-taking intensifies.]
[I always learn something new each time.]
[The most knowledgeable and hardcore in Wilderness Survivalist.]
[I remember Old Fang once said that the higher the latitude, the larger the size of wolves becomes. So, are Arctic wolves particularly big?] Explore stories on Freewebnovel
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Bi Fang nodded, "Yes, the Arctic wolf is the largest member of the wild canine family in the world, with adults weighing over forty kilograms. There was once an adult male specimen that weighed up to 68 kilograms, which is significantly larger than all other wolf species I’ve encountered before."
It was only on a Discovery Channel program that Bi Fang had once faced a pack of wolves alone, but those were timber wolves, with a median latitude, and much smaller than Arctic wolves.
Facing a pack of Arctic wolves alone, with a body size close to that of humans, would still be quite dangerous for Bi Fang, as Arctic wolves typically form packs of 5–10 individuals, and each family has about 20–30 members.
If the pack encountered a famine, it was possible for the whole clan to be on the move, just as it had happened in Mohe.
[Yikes, that number is a bit terrifying.]
[That many?]
[Wouldn’t a person be devoured alone?]
"But there’s no need to fear, it’s not a wise choice to stop moving forward just because we haven’t come across them yet. Let’s think about how to deal with the musk oxen instead," Bi Fang said.
Bi Fang, wearing his brand-new snowshoes, walked into the flying snow.
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