Live Streaming: Great Adventure in the Wilderness

Chapter 485: Chapter 482 Genetic Instinct

As expected, it still came as a surprise.

The makeshift rain shelter collapsed under the onslaught of the torrential downpour, sending a deluge of palm leaves crashing down with the rainwater. Fortunately, just as the rain began pouring through the rupture, Bi Fang leaped out in time.

Wearing a simple raincoat crafted from green palm leaves, Bi Fang kept the enormous conical hat on his head.

In less than half an hour, Bi Fang had successfully made a raincoat and a conical hat, which looked pretty convincing.

The colors were just a bit unusual, not the common yellow-brown but a pure green instead. Water flowed down the fresh palm leaves like little columns, dripping onto the straw sandals below.

“Actually, making a temporary raincoat isn’t that difficult,” said Bi Fang, lifting the brim of his hat to see the path ahead, water sliding off the brim and dripping to the ground along its contours.

A temporary raincoat doesn’t need to consider durability or storage; as long as it blocks the rain, that’s all that matters.

Bi Fang arranged the palm leaves in a circle, leaving a gap in the middle just big enough to fit his head through. Then, he tied all the leaf stems together with thread spun from palm fiber, roughly covering his entire body. He repeated the process several times, stacking layers upon layers.

Several layers of thin raincoat overlapped and added together formed a thick raincoat. By tightly interweaving them and tying off the bindings, patching up any gaps, it became hard for rainwater to penetrate.

As for the conical hat, Bi Fang crafted it using a technique similar to basket weaving.

First, he collected six flexible branches, made a slit in the middle of three branches, and inserted the other three branches at this point, forming a simple cross.

The cross’s four ends were then secured with fine thread, wrapping tightly around each set of three branches, repeating the process for each direction to prevent displacement and breakage.

After that, a large amount of vines were used to bind two branches together, extending and evenly spreading out the total of sixteen branches from the cross, thus forming a complete framework.

By controlling the distance between branches, a certain curvature was achieved, resulting in a funnel-shaped conical hat. Of course, this still wasn’t enough to secure the hat on the head.

Therefore, branches were inserted through the original gaps to create straps that would hang down, so when worn, it could be secured under the chin through these straps.

Conical hats commonly seen in rural areas were made this way, and the structure of Bi Fang’s hat was no different from theirs, albeit rougher, but on the surface, it looked the same.

When it came to waterproofing, with the framework in place, it became much simpler. The framework itself was woven very densely. After laying a layer of tied palm leaves on top and trimming the edges a bit, it was done.

Perfect.

“It’s just that it’s very heavy to wear, and it can’t be stored for long, probably rotting in two or three days,” he said.

To achieve better waterproofing, Bi Fang layered several coats, making it quite thick, which added to its weight. But the effect was very good.

At this moment, walking through the rainforest, he was completely isolated from the outside rain.

[Get a new skin for just 998, and take the rainforest walker home!]

[All in green]

[A grass skirt isn’t enough; you need a grass coat and a grass hat!]

With a large basket full of iron bacteria, Bi Fang suddenly had plenty of time.

The most difficult part of iron smelting, without a doubt, was finding materials.

Originally, Bi Fang planned to spend three days gathering materials. Now, with these three days saved, he could do much more.

At the very least, he didn’t have to rush to give up the salt mine. He could extend the time a bit more and go back on the ninth or even the tenth day.

[Master Fang: Having this kind of mindset in the wilderness is a big taboo. One must not rely on luck. If I don’t find anything today, I will head back to the starting point.]

[Hahaha, that’s hilarious]

[What do you know? Plans can’t keep up with changes. Making such a decision is perfectly reasonable! Dog’s Head Protection]

…

The eighth day.

The sky was still overcast.

Bi Fang had set up a temporary lean-to shelter. Waking up, he found the rain still falling, with puddles all around.

The rain was much lighter than the downpour when he first arrived, but it was more persistent, not stopping even after a night and even showing signs of continuing.

Bi Fang patted the conical hat and lowered the bark frame, lifting the cover to find nothing inside but a pile of yellow mud formed by iron bacteria, which was troubling.

There was no food left!

The grubs he had found were all eaten. Grilled briefly, they had a very strange texture and would burst, but surprisingly, they tasted good.

The konjac tubers were gone too. All that was left were a few handfuls of lemongrass he picked along the way, but that could only serve as a herb, not as food!

[The landlord’s family has run out of surplus too, huh]

[Where to find something to eat in this rainy weather?]

Scratching his head, Bi Fang looked around, unsure of when the rain would stop, so he simply sat inside the shelter to minimize energy consumption and chatted with the audience.

“Many large animals don’t take shelter from a light rain; they just keep doing what they do, only taking action when it’s pouring.”

“In situations where there’s no shelter from the downpour, animals like giraffes, elephants, and bison tend to stay put because vigorous movement would lead to a rapid loss of heat.”

“So, it’s better to do nothing and quietly enjoy the rare peace. In such stormy weather, even carnivores like lions and tigers temporarily give up hunting, and virtually all animals relax their vigilance.”

[So this is your excuse for loafing around in the shelter?]

[No wonder I don’t feel like moving when it rains. I must have the soul of a fierce beast inside me.]

[Awooo, awooo, awooo, the wild awakens.]

[Is this your excuse for not going to work?]

“What I’m saying primarily applies to mammals, not all animals, like how rainy days are actually peak activity periods for many snakes.” Bi Fang shifted his position and lay down on the ground.

The temperature had risen quite a bit over the past two days; it wasn’t as cold as the first time it rained, and with the straw raincoat adding further warmth, it was bearable.

[Why is that?]

[Snakes are the bane of my existence! Why do such terrifying creatures exist in the world?]

“Because the air pressure is very low before and after the rain, making it stuffy inside burrows, and the rain brings out frogs and mice, making it easier for snakes to fill their stomachs.”

Bi Fang was afraid of snakes too; they were slimy, covered in parasites, extremely good at camouflage, and many were highly venomous. If you didn’t spot one in time…

You’d be typing ‘gg’ outright.

Moreover, fear of snakes is actually an instinctive biological response.

“Our ancestors were once prey to carnivorous mammals and birds of prey, of course, this was a very long time ago, so long ago that humans were not yet humans.”

Bi Fang’s gaze seemed to grow more profound.

“Thankfully, at that time we evolved a system to recognize predators, which could quickly locate typical threats and help us escape, but when snakes appeared as one of the first predators, this system was completely ineffective.”

“Because they completely resemble sticks, unlike other predators, snakes move with the help of their specialized ribs and belly scales, and with a bit of camouflage, they can get very close to unsuspecting prey.”

[What happened next? Tell me more!]

[Afraid of snakes? Impossible, I’ll never be afraid of snakes in my life. Look at this five-paced snake, am I scared? Watch me take it down in minutes.]

[My fear of snakes is so intense that even the sight of a turtle scares me, because a turtle’s head and neck resemble a snake. Just picturing a snake makes me shudder and break out in goosebumps.]

[Why do we, who are afraid of snakes, click to find out why we are afraid of snakes?]

“Fortunately, eventually some primates evolved something akin to snake sensors, specialized neurons to locate snakes, which helped our monkey ancestors quickly avoid the creeping stick-like shapes and escape. Over time, these features were passed down to humans.”

“Observations of human brainwaves show that when we see an image of a snake, our brain performs significant activity, evaluating the danger. This activity is much greater than when we see images of other predators.”

Bi Fang still remembered a professor who had discussed this topic.

They were shown two sets of images, from blurry to clear; initially almost mosaic-like, and in the end, one was a clear picture of a snake, and the other, a clear image of a feline animal.

The moment the images were shown, everyone’s attention was first and foremost on the latter snake picture.

“Compared to recognizing other animals, our brains require far less visual information to identify a snake.”

That’s what the professor had said at the time, and now Bi Fang relayed it to the viewers in front of the screen.

“Some researchers even believe that our excellent color vision system evolved, to some extent, to help distinguish snakes.”

“Additionally, studies suggest that our sensitivity to snakes makes us more prone to fear them, but exactly why is still without a scientific conclusion. There’s no doubt, though, that our brains are very much aware of snakes!”

Bi Fang tapped his temple with his index finger as if there really was a snake coiled up inside.

[Damn, now I know why I get so nervous every time I see Master Fang capture snakes.]

[Shocking, due to the rain, the outdoor live streamer transforms into a science broadcaster!]

[By that logic, is my fear of long centipedes for the same reason?]

“Maybe.”

Bi Fang responded non-committally, reaching out to check the rain, noting it had decreased significantly. He casually grabbed his conical hat, placing it on his head and stepping towards the rainforest.

“Let’s go, the rain has eased up quite a bit. Let’s see if there’s anything we can find to fill our stomachs.”