King of the Wilderness

This is the signal I’ve been waiting for! When chopping tree shafts earlier, Lin Yu’an deliberately left a T-shaped forked branch, and with a little refinement using the Hunting Knife, it became a perfect hook tool.

Grabbing this ”tree fork hook,” like a hunting leopard, he dashed towards the ice hole on the opposite bank! He had to control it before the long stick shifted due to uneven force!

Fourteen meters in distance, he reached there in just a few seconds.

Without hesitation, he dove to the ground, peeking into the hole. He saw the front end of the long stick, tightly pressed against the underside of the ice surface due to the lever’s rise, clearly visible!

He immediately extended the tree fork hook into the water. The T-shaped opening was a perfect tool born for grabbing cylindrical objects. With precise aim, he hooked the underwater long stick and powerfully pulled it upwards!

The front end of the long stick emerged successfully from the water, and there, securely tied to the tip, was the real target of his mission, the nylon guide rope!

Quickly, he untied the guide rope, using a short stick temporarily wedged on the ice hole to secure the end of the rope.

Then he returned to the other side of the ice hole, pulling out the long wooden pole bit by bit for contingency.

Seeing the securely fixed guide rope, his face broke into a deeply fatigued yet immensely satisfied smile.

He rested for a full five minutes, standing up only after his breath returned to normal.

Now, he possessed an unimpeded lifeline running beneath the ice world.

But this guide rope was too thin to bear the weight of the fishing net and the impact of the water flow; it was merely a lead rope. Now the real protagonist needed to be unveiled—the main rope.

Lin Yu’an approached the pile of commercial dragnet like a small mountain on the sleds, brought specially this morning. It wasn’t just a net; it was more like a material treasure trove.

Then, using the Hunting Knife, he cut off an intact section over thirty meters long from the thick frame rope of the dragnet.

This rope was as thick as his pinky finger, tightly woven from numerous finer nylon fibers, smooth and robust, the perfect material for the main rope.

He then walked to the first ice hole, firmly securing the thicker nylon main rope to the end of the guide rope.

Then he walked back to the opposite ice hole, removing the temporarily fixed short stick, and began pulling the guide rope evenly.

The thin rope easily penetrated the ice, gradually dragging the heavy main rope from the other side.

When the head of the main rope emerged from the water, a step that best demonstrated long-term planning began.

He didn’t stop there; instead, clutching the head of the main rope, he walked back along the ice surface to the first ice hole.

Now part of the main rope was underwater, connecting the two ice holes. The other part was entirely on the ice surface. He connected the two ends of the main rope with an extremely firm knot specifically designed for linking two thick ropes—a ”double fisherman’s knot.”

A gigantic, circling and maneuverable closed-loop rope circle was born! It was like an underwater conveyor belt, half running beneath the ice, half standing by on the ice!

Then, he once again approached that massive dragnet. What he needed wasn’t a gigantic net that could scoop up an entire water area in one go, but a section of the net with just the right mesh size—the ”stinging net.”

Lin Yu’an carefully searched, finally selecting a relatively intact net sheet away from damaged areas, with mesh about three fingers wide, perfect for the Arctic Red Spot Salmon.

This size allowed the fish’s head to easily enter, but the plump body and spread gills would be securely trapped.

He drew out the Hunting Knife and began cutting. The hard nylon net rope became brittle and tough in low temperatures, each slice needing immense force.

Accompanied by the squeaky cutting sounds, he eventually trimmed out a rectangular net sheet approximately fifteen meters long and one and a half meters high.

But this was only the first step. At this moment, the two sides of the net sheet were filled with countless loose threads due to cutting, extremely fragile in structure. With any force, they would completely unravel like a sweater losing its threads.

What needed to be done now was to reinforce these fragile sides as quickly and reliably as possible.

He didn’t bother with the countless loose threads, instead directly folding about three fingers wide section of the net sheet’s side inward once.

This way, all the loose threads were ”wrapped” inside the folded layer, no longer under direct force.

Next, he cut two nylon ropes about two meters long from the massive commercial dragnet, slightly thinner than the main rope to serve as new side ”Dragon Bones.”

Lin Yu’an tightly pressed one Dragon Bone rope along the freshly folded double-layered net edge, then dismantled finer nylon lines for use as ”binding straps.”

Without employing any intricate sewing knots, he opted for the simplest, most direct, and fastest ”penetrative binding method,” tying at intervals of about twenty centimeters, finally pulling each knot tight with a simple double knot.

This knot acted like a powerful ”staple,” integrating the double-layer netting and external dragon bone rope solidly into one.

With extreme speed, more than a dozen such knots were placed along both sides. The entire process took less than an hour. Although appearing rough, each binding point was exceptionally solid.