Live Streaming: Great Adventure in the Wilderness-Chapter 729 - 726: Suddenly Encountering a Polar Bear

Bi Fang was highly action-oriented; after a brief respite, he began his "wall" project.

Actually, it was quite simple: just dig a trench around the cabin, then sprinkle it with a mixture of ice water mixed with sawdust.

In extreme temperatures, this mixture would almost instantly freeze into blocks of ice, quickly forming an impenetrable wall.

"Ice is a solid formed from water, and thin ice shatters like glass at the slightest touch, which ismmon knowledge. However, the fact that ice can be as hard as steel and as solid asncrete is something many people do not know," he explained.

"In fact, it’s quite simple to achieve this, just add some sawdust," he said.

"Adding sawdust to ice blocks may sound absurd, but it actually has a professional name: Pykrete, a type ofmposite material, similar to reinforcedncrete, which is ambination of cement and steel."

The audience didn’t know what Pykrete was, but as soon as Bi Fang mentioned reinforcedncrete, everyone had a clearncept.

Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freewebnσvel.cøm.

[How can this Pykretempare toncrete?]

The audience was skeptical:uld ice mixed with wood be as hard asncrete?

"If thenditions are right, it definitely can," Bi Fang asserted, once again making a startling statement.

"Pykrete is amposite material made by using approximately 14 percent by weight of sawdust or other cellulose, with 86 percent ice."

"During ’World War II,’ the Allied Forces mixed wooden fibers with water and let it freeze. The wood fibers would form a woody layer, making the ice harder to melt. This modified ice was as hard as steel," hentinued.

"A one-inch, or 2.5-centimeter-thick ice board can support the weight of six people; an ice board 10 centimeters thick can stop bullets."

"This type of ice board was invented by a man from the Central Country, Geoffrey Pyke, which is why the Allied Forces named this icempound ’Pykrete.’"

With Bi Fang’s explanation, the online friends also understood just how impressive this oddly-namedmposite material was and learned about its glorious history.

During the two World Wars, as Germany kept sinking transport ships, the Allied Forces wanted to create a ship thatuldn’t be destroyed by shells, bombs, or mines, and "Pykrete" became the ideal material for shipbuilding.

Later, the Allied Forces built a small transport ship using "Pykrete" as the material, measuring 60 feet long and 30 feet wide, which sailed for several days on water at 60 degrees Fahrenheit without melting.

That was at 60 degrees Fahrenheit, equivalent to 15 degrees Celsius, which is essentially the temperature of water in late spring or early summer. The fact that ituld hold up for several days under suchnditions was astounding.

Because World War II ended, "Pykrete" ships were notntinued, but they were also used as anti-tank obstacles, a sight not rare in Soviet Army textbooks from the 1940s.

The Central Country also had a project during the wars called Project Habakkuk, planning to build aircraft carriers with it tounter German submarines in the Atlantic Ocean.

However, when they began tonstruct an experimental ship in Canada, they found thatmposite ice materialsuld not support their own weight on large vessel bodies, and given disagreements in the design of the propulsion system, thenstruction plan was halted in 1943. Nonetheless, even so, the abandoned hull took three years tompletely melt away.

Ofurse, such actions seem rather absurd now, but a hundred years ago, people did in fact attempt it.

Seeing is believing. Bi Fang lifted the stone hammer in his hand and smashed it straight down on the solidified wall. With a thud, some surface ice chips fell off, but the wall remained undamaged.

[Holy crap, that’s badass]

[It looks solid]

The fence wasnstructed very quickly, and in just two days, Bi Fang hadmpletely enclosed the wooden house, reaching a height of one meter and sixty centimeters.

At such a height, polar bears would have to climb to get over, and while wolvesuld jump, it was enough to block their charge and allow for some degree ofunterattack.

In short, it was a full sense of security.

Another week passed, and the wolves hadn’t returned. Bi Fangmpletely let down his guard,ntinuing to ride his bicycle and dog sled around Greenland, looking for prey, or simply enjoying the Arctic scenery.

He felt the intense thrashing of the arctic char, tracked the majestic migration of reindeer, euntered various animals and environments unknown in the city, and fulfilled the audience’s every longing for Greenland.

Life went on like this until late December.

By then, even Bi Fang himselfuldn’t quite remember how many days he had survived, possibly over sixty, or perhaps more than seventy. In any case, there was about one last month left before survival would end, and perhaps before it did, he might witness the sun rising once again.

Under these circumstances, Bi Fang finally euntered another heavyweight predator of Greenland—the polar bear.

Maybe "finally" is not the right word, as Bi Fang had euntered them a few times before; only they had merely glanced at each other from afar and had notme this close like they did today.

"Really unlucky."

Bi Fang’s body stiffened. At this moment, he didn’t dare to move because, about twenty meters away, lay alossal creature.

At first glance, one might even mistake it for a small hill formed by packed dry snow, but then everyone saw the enormous head beneath the mound.

It was a chance eunter.

Bi Fang’s original target was an Arctic hare, but then unexpectedly, an Arctic fox sprang out, scaring off the hare.

If it was going to be an Arctic fox, then so be it. Bi Fang didn’t mind. However, as he followed it, he ended up trailing right behind the polar bear, and by the time he realized what was happening, they were only twenty meters apart.

The man and bear were almost locked in a stare-off.

This bear wasn’t like the emaciated ones seen innservation organization photos; instead, it was an unadulterated bruiser.

Since it was lying down, Bi Fanguldn’t tell how long the creature was, but judging by its height, it weighed at least five hundred kilograms!

The only good news, perhaps, was that his six dumb dogs hadn’t followed along. Their hunting skills were limited, and they would have only scared the prey away. Bi Fang had tied them up behind a not-too-distant ice mound, so there was no worry about them getting eaten by the bear.

In summer, when food is abundant, the Arctic fox stores some of its food in its den.

In winter, when the food stored in the den is depleted, the Arctic fox follows the polar bear, scavenging the leftovers from the bear’s meals.

Therefore, behind a polar bear, there are always two or three Arctic foxes quietly stalking it in winter. Ofurse, if the polar bear is extremely hungry, it will also attack the Arctic fox.

Bi Fang suspected he had stumbled upon just such a scenario.

Thelor of the polar bear is almost the same as the snow, and under thever of darkness, if not paying attention, it is very easy to overlook. Bi Fang had unwittingly fallen into this trap, and had it not been for a sudden alertness, he might have gotten even closer.