King of the Wilderness

The southern coastline, with more rocks, has ice pressure ridges that pile up higher due to the terrain obstacles.

Here, he found the remains of an old wooden dock completely destroyed by the storm, with algae-covered wooden piles leaning askew and broken planks and crossbeams frozen between ice floes and gravel.

This place was like a graveyard of timber, but Lin Yu’an’s eyes were searching for something more valuable—metal!

His gaze quickly scanned through the decaying wood, and soon, on a huge broken crossbeam, he found what he was looking for.

It was a long metal rod sticking out from the wood, with one end fixed by a rusted bolt and square washer, firmly secured to the crossbeam.

”A structural connector, a tie bolt used for docks.” He immediately assessed its use and value.

He stepped forward, attempting to shake the metal rod with his hands, but it didn’t budge, locked tightly by the large bolt in the wood.

He carefully observed the hex nut, larger than his palm and rusted together with the washer, unable to be turned by hand.

”It’s impossible to remove it intact; without a wrench, it’s just not feasible to turn this giant nut rusted by saltwater.”

He chose not to waste time attempting the impossible and instead opted for a more direct destructive extraction.

Bracing himself, he struck the wood holding the bolt with the axe blade with force!

”Bang!”

A dull boom rang out! The seawater-eroded wood cracked open, splinters flying! He wasn’t aiming to chop down the entire crossbeam but to thoroughly destroy the wood structure around the bolt.

”Bang! Bang! Bang!”

He hammered continuously from different angles centered on the bolt.

Each axe swing carried a sense of precise power, cleanly stripping away the wood around the bolt.

The process was simple and brutal, yet highly efficient.

In just a few minutes, the wood around the metal rod, which had been firmly locked in place, was completely chopped away by him.

He dropped the axe, held the rod with both hands, and with a strong pull, with a creak, wrenched the whole rod along with the bolt and wooden debris from the broken crossbeam.

He lifted this heavy trophy, with the scent of seawater and rust, in front of the camera.

It was a solid steel rod about one meter long and over three centimeters in diameter.

He caressed the cold yet smooth rod with excitement glowing in his eyes, ”A perfectly straight long metal rod; if I can use it to forge an ice drill, I might not even need to straighten and flatten it.”

”Once back at the shelter, I’ll have time and methods to clean it up and then craft it into a structure that can connect with a wooden handle.”

He solemnly placed the heavy rod bolt into his backpack and continued his exploration to the south.

——

”The storm is indiscriminate; if there are so many good things to the north, the south won’t disappoint me either.”

”Moreover, according to my previous observations, the southern coastline has more rocks and deeper bays, which might hold different types of discoveries.”

”It’s about an hour until the lowest tide, the most stable time for the ice layer; I need to hurry.”

He stepped forward, pressing on southward. Unlike the relatively gentle gravel beach on the north side, the ”ice pressure ridges” on the south appeared taller and more chaotic.

Huge ice floes were pushed together, forming barriers like hills, increasing the difficulty of exploration.

He was no longer wandering aimlessly but consciously searching for areas piled with masses of black seaweed, shell fragments, and debris.

He knew these places were deposition zones where the storm’s energy weakened, making it easy for its ”cargo” to be left behind.

After walking about half a kilometer, he arrived at a natural bay formed by a massive ice floe marooned like a small mountain and land rock.

The terrain of this bay perfectly intercepted many things churned up from the seabed by the storm.

The first thing he noticed was the black, mine-like spherical objects densely scattered across the bottom of the bay.

They mixed with seaweed and crushed ice, most already smashed, yet their shapes remained distinctly discernible.

His eyes lit up instantly, ”Green sea urchins! And in great numbers!”

He stepped forward, crouched down, and carefully dug out a reasonably intact sea urchin with a dark olive green shell from beneath a heap of slippery seaweed.

He struck the spine-covered shell hard with his hunting knife, a ”pop” sound, and a crack appeared on the sea urchin.

He used the knife tip to widen the crack, revealing the insides arranged in five petals of golden yellow with a hint of orange-red roe-like substance.

He dipped a bit with his finger into his mouth, a taste mixed with the salty fragrance of seawater and creamy sweetness instantly dispelling the chill from his mouth.

He simply commented, ”These are green sea urchins, a gift from the cold waters of the North Atlantic Ocean; the storm scraped them off the deep water rocks in sheets. With sea urchins here, there must be more things below.”

The discovery filled him with immense motivation, and rather than hastily gathering these fragile sea urchins in large numbers, he continued delving deeper into this natural bay.

His gaze no longer lingered on the surface but instead explored the thick seaweed stacks, like a prospector.

”Thud, thud...” the axe handle struck the frozen seaweed, emitting muffled sounds.

Suddenly, a ”clink” sound came from the end of the stick, a hard, distinctly different feedback.

He immediately perked up, starting to use both hands and the axe blade, like using a hoe, digging away the frozen crust on the seaweed pile surface.

He had to dig only a few centimeters deep before discovering what he was looking for.

Underneath the slippery seaweed, mixed with numerous shell fragments, a silver-white object with clear scales reflected the sunlight.

It’s a fish tail!

He continued digging downwards, and soon, a complete Atlantic cod, frozen rock-hard like a stone, appeared before his eyes.

This fish was enormous, estimated to be over 70 centimeters long, its body frozen into a rigid arc, perfectly maintaining its last pose before being swept ashore by the huge waves.

”Look at this! A perfect fish popsicle!” He excitedly held the heavy fish up to the lens.

”In a storm, any creature leaving the water will become like this in just over ten minutes, its freshness perfectly preserved.”

This discovery proved that his decision to change the search direction was absolutely correct.

He immediately made this spot the center of a more meticulous, carpet-style search.

No longer simply using his hands to scrape, he adopted a more efficient strategy. He first used an axe to segment a large frozen pile of seaweed into several blocks.

Then, like turning the earth, he used the axe as a lever to pry and lift the entire frozen seaweed along with the debris below.

This method truly worked! After lifting the second large block of seaweed, he saw more surprises.

Below, there were not only two smaller cod but also several deep-sea fish, with strange shapes he had never seen before.

One of them, extremely flat and diamond-shaped, was the Atlantic Large-eyed Flounder he recognized. Though not yet grown, it was nearly half a meter long.

Another one, with a unique orange-red body and large eyes, was a typical Deepwater Rockfish, often called Deepwater Redfish.

”What a great harvest!” he couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration.

”Large-eyed flounder and redfish are species that live in deeper and colder waters, usually impossible to see near the shore.”

”This storm, like a deep-sea clearance sale, brought everything up.”

He continued to dig and discovered besides fish, seven or eight gigantic Deep Sea Scallops, frozen rock-hard, with shells larger than his palm.

These deep-sea creatures weren’t neatly piled together but scattered randomly under the thick layer of seaweed and broken ice.

The discovery felt like the surprise of opening a blind box each time.

”The harvest is so abundant!”

He gathered all the fish popsicles, scallops, and dozens of the most intact sea urchins together.

Looking at this heap of abundant food, he couldn’t hide the joy on his face.

Now, a new problem arose, how to transport these trophies, possibly weighing over thirty kilograms and in various shapes, back to the shelter in one go?

He glanced at his large hiking backpack, feeling it should be able to hold everything.

Facing the camera, he said, ”I can’t leave them here, or they’ll soon attract all the scavengers of this land, from the smallest Arctic Fox to the largest Polar Bear. I must take them all away in one go.”

He immediately began to act. He first completely emptied the backpack and then started a professional packing operation.

”The core principle of packing is to place the heaviest, hardest objects as close as possible to the spine, between the shoulders.”

”This ensures stability, keeps the center of gravity close to the body, won’t sway while walking, and saves maximum energy.”

He first picked up the largest Atlantic cod weighing over ten kilograms. This fish popsicle was too long and hard to be directly inserted.

He placed it vertically, snugly against the backpack’s internal carrying system frame.

Its length was perfect; the rigid body acted like an extra support rod, enhancing the backpack’s stability.

Next, he picked up the equally hard but flat Large-eyed Flounder, placing it like a board against the other side of the large cod.

These two largest fish formed a stable and solid core in the center of the backpack.

”Then, use smaller and irregular-shaped items to fill the gaps around the core.”

He squeezed the smaller redfish and last small cod into the gaps beside the two large fish.

Now, the main compartment of the backpack was packed full with four frozen fish.

Next, he used a short spare string to string the gigantic scallops and sea urchins together and securely tied them to the compression straps on the top of the backpack.

He stuffed another portion of shellfish into the elastic side pockets of the backpack and used the side’s compression straps to tightly bind them, ensuring they wouldn’t fall off while walking.

When he finished, the previously empty hiking bag had transformed into a bulging backpack full of seafood.

He took a deep breath, performed a standard lifting motion, first hoisting the backpack onto his thigh, then turning around and swinging it onto his back.

The enormous weight instantly pressed onto his shoulders and pelvis, but for his physique now, this weight was easily manageable.

He quickly adjusted his breath and pace, stepping on snowshoes, making his way back to the shelter one step at a time.

At noon, as the sun’s glow began to soften, Lin Yu’an finally returned to his shelter, with smoke trailing from its chimney.

Then, carefully setting down the big load on his back, he dropped it heavily onto the snow, making a loud ”thud.”

Lin Yu’an looked satisfied, gazing at the heap of supreme ingredients that would allow him to luxuriate for a long time.

——————

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