The Top Fishing
Chapter 694 - 293: Building a Snow House_3

Chapter 694: Chapter 293: Building a Snow House_3

He assembled a simple broom from pine branches and swept the camp and the path to the lake to fetch water, but for the rest of the time, he felt directionless.

The snowfall in the challenge area affected not only him but also the other contestants who were still persisting, even more so.

While the snow accumulation was not significant, about six to seven centimeters, it covered many of the traps they had set. On the day of the first snow, Lin Yang, like everyone else, found that his traps had caught nothing.

But worse was yet to come.

After a clear day, the next few days brought nearly 24-hour snow, regardless of it being day or night.

Another night, the howling wind roared.

Although Lin Yang had gradually become familiar with the local climate, he was still shocked by the hefty snow that nearly blocked the doorway when he woke up in the morning.

Struggling to leave the shelter and take a walk around, he found that the snow on flat ground was knee-deep, and in some unprotected downwind areas, the snow was even over half a meter deep.

In such severe weather, it seemed that the best choice for all contestants was to stay in their shelters.

At this critical juncture, a pack of wolves lingering around the camp had done a mischievous act.

Lin Yang had forgotten to remove the ladder at the lakeside fish drying station after collecting the dried fish, and as a result, the thirty-some pieces of dried fish stored on the open platform were discovered and stolen by the wolves overnight.

Seeing the completely empty and disheveled food storage area, he could only shake his head helplessly.

With two weeks left until the challenge ended, the food stored in the cellar was enough, and it didn’t matter much that the dried fish were gone.

After the snowfall came a significant drop in temperature, and even his well-stocked shelter, consistently heated by burning wood, began to feel cold.

The cold could numb a person’s thinking. Lin Yang had been staying in the shelter for several days in a row and soon could not stand it anymore.

Even cats aren’t treated like this during the winter. If he continued like this, he would be ruined.

He couldn’t just stay put until the end of the contest.

With that thought, Lin Yang put on his thick clothes and bravely pushed open the door of the shelter.

On the 47th day of the challenge, he once again stood under the outdoor drone camera.

"Host, host, what are we doing today? Isn’t it cold outside?"

"Yes, even contestant number 8 has started to hibernate in the shelter."

"Contestant number 6, the Indian lady, has been hungry for two days. I think she will soon be eliminated."

Lin Yang stretched leisurely and said, "Hello everyone, I have been staying in the shelter for quite a few days, and my back is about to break."

The snow was too thick; hunting was no longer a viable option, and accidents were easily prone to happen. Taking advantage of the snowless opportunity, I planned to make a pair of snowshoes to walk around the campsite and also to train Little White with some bait training."

"Ah, used to the host’s various high-energy live streams, it feels a bit boring after the cooling and snowing recently."

"At least the host doesn’t have to worry about food and drink, and having Little White for company is definitely better than those who suffer from hunger and cold."

"Why doesn’t the host take us ice fishing? It’s better than staying bored in the shelter."

The speaker didn’t intend much, but upon hearing the words "ice fishing," Lin Yang immediately perked up.

Indeed, after the recent cooling, the ice on the lake was at least more than twenty centimeters thick, making it very easy to walk on.

Moreover, he had been eating smoked fish for several days, and the taste of fresh fish soup had also stirred up his cravings—a freshly caught live fish tasted much better than smoked fish.

"Alright, since you guys want to see ice fishing, I’ll take you ice fishing. But before that, we need to make a pair of snowshoes." Lin Yang found his direction and immediately got busy with enthusiasm.

Carrying an axe, he found a suitable pine tree. After chopping down two branches, he quickly brought them back to the shelter and bent them over the stove into the shape of a tennis racket.

The principle was actually quite simple: it increased the contact surface area, reducing the pressure on the snow and ice surface, and allowed one to walk without sinking deeply into it.

He used PE cord in addition to pine branches to make the framework. Then, he fixed the previously saved Wolf Weasel skin to the surface of the shoes, and used rabbit skin for the innermost layer, leaving a spot where he could step in securely—a pair of special shoes suitable for walking in snow, safe and warm, were thus made.

With these shoes, he could greatly increase his range of activity. Carrying a shovel, he strolled around the lake’s surface and quickly returned, excited.

The accumulated snow on the lake’s surface was thicker than anticipated, and with just a minor modification, Lin Yang was confident that he could effortlessly build a windproof, insulated snow shelter. Once built, he could fish inside the snow shelter and even bring a rudimentary clay stove to burn wood for warmth, which would absolutely be fantastic.

With an idea in mind, he immediately sprang into action.

After scouting around on the ice for a while, he identified a fishy area, marked it, and then Lin Yang rolled up his sleeves and got to work.

His method was simple but effective; he easily rolled up snowballs on the ice without disturbing the structure. The snowflakes could roll up into sizes even bigger than a person. As long as he could push, they could be as big as needed.

Lin Yang spent less than half a day to pile up more than ten huge snowballs in the chosen ice fishing area.

Now that he had the raw materials, it was time for the shovel to take the stage. He used these snowballs as building material and skillfully constructed an oval-shaped snow shelter, facing north to south, only leaving a small entrance for one person to enter and exit.

After sealing the top, he fetched water and sprinkled it back and forth several times, freezing the structure even more solidly. After less than two days of busy work, a neatly-constructed snow shelter stood on the lake surface.

Rediscovering the joy, Lin Yang brought all the bear and rabbit skins he had accumulated from previous hunting and trapping into the ice house.

During the earlier period of hunting and setting permanent traps, several rabbit skins a day didn’t feel like much; but, when he really dug through his stock, he discovered that he had accumulated over thirty skins in total.

Instantly, the ’cool factor’ of the ice house went up. At the very bottom were rabbit skins, and above them were the warm bear skins. Sitting on the ground was not cold at all, and moving the little stove in and lighting some pine wood made the temperature inside the shelter even higher than inside his main shelter. Lin Yang even felt the urge to take off his coat.

On the 48th day of the challenge, his ice fishing snow shelter officially started ’business’."

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.