Live Streaming: Great Adventure in the Wilderness

“Can’t stay here anymore…”

Wrapped in oilcloth, Bi Fang hurried back to the camp with a deep frown against the pouring rain.

The shelter he had finally managed to build was destroyed by the torrential downpour, and his heart was filled with melancholy.

Outside the eaves, the rain was like a curtain, with mist mingling among the raindrops, reducing visibility to less than twenty meters; beyond thirty meters all was a white blur.

Raindrops collided and shattered in the air, splashing onto the ground, mixing water vapor and cold air, seeping through every crevice with relentless force.

Bi Fang stood under the eaves, the chilly air penetrating his body, causing him to shiver violently, but soon the undigested fox meat in his stomach turned into warm currents that revived his spirits.

Rain soaked his forehead and hair, dripping wet; he reached back with his hand to sweep it back, squeezing out just two wisps of hair from between his fingers to fall from his temples, the faint daylight casting a halo around his dark silhouette.

“It’s okay, we can rebuild the campsite. Just have to be careful not to catch a cold. Your health is capital for the revolution. Encountering such heavy rain is not unusual in the wild. Everyone doesn’t have to be too pessimistic. Neither humans nor animals tend to move much in this kind of weather. This is actually good news for us.”

The worse the weather, the less people want to go out, and bandit gangs are no different. For “vulnerable groups” like Bi Fang, it was an excellent opportunity to act.

With that thought, the unhappiness due to the destruction of the campsite was washed away by the rain. Bi Fang no longer felt cold but was reenergized, pondering where to scavenge for supplies next.

“We’ve already been to the south side of the industrial district. Let’s change directions and check out the east side next. I remember there’s a cooling tower there—the kind that’s shaped like a hyperbolic curve.”

Bi Fang gesticulated with his hands, outlining the curves. Cooling towers were actually quite common; as a kid watching movies, the showdown between Wolverine and Deadpool took place right at the edge of one.

Back then, he didn’t understand much, thinking that such towers were a hallmark of nuclear power plants, impressively mysterious and making him instinctively want to avoid them. It was only when he grew up that he found out large steel mills and power plants also had these structures, and they weren’t anything special.

“Cooling towers are different from the common tall and thin chimneys. They’re cooling equipment typically used in large factories, like chemical plants, steel mills, and power plants. There are all sorts of good stuff in these places. No matter the type, we should be able to collect things that are useful to us.”

Having determined the direction, Bi Fang wrapped himself tightly in the oilcloth and once again dashed into the rain.

Moving through the city has its advantages. Once you’re familiar with the surrounding environment, it becomes easy to recognize directions—an advantage not afforded by forests where, even when returning to a campsite, without markers and facing nearly identical trees, you’d have to discern directions all over again.

Stepping out of the factory, the way ahead was south, so naturally, the east was just a left turn from the entrance. After that, just keep moving in that direction.

Rainwater streamed across the streets.

Matthew Hall ran through the heavy rain, but he just couldn’t find that familiar figure.

Gradually, he couldn’t run anymore, his body felt as though it was filled with lead, a dizzying heaviness about to crush him. Raindrops fell in countless numbers, exploding on the ground all around him; he spun around, his gaze vacant, and in a daze, it seemed as if walls enclosed him from every side.

Yemen had been ravaged by war. Modern warfare is informational warfare, and signal towers are prime targets. Apart from satellite signals, other methods of communication were almost completely severed.

Matthew was fully aware of this. Du Ming had specifically brought a satellite phone for this reason, but the phone had gotten lost during a previous escape…

The last image from the live stream was of a campfire inside a factory. Beyond that, where he went was utterly unknown.

In a city reduced to ruins, was it even possible to find one man by sheer luck?

Matthew regretted his impulsive decision to quit an enviable job and return to the front lines, especially after learning of the other’s destination, choosing to go to the same city.

But having seen him, how could he not care?

He had witnessed tragedies countless times, was powerless against them countless times, and could only record the atrocities with his camera.

But that man was right here!

He must have a way!

…

Insects struggling to avoid drowning in a puddle flailed endlessly, with roads muddy and wet after the rain.

With each step, Bi Fang’s shoes gathered a layer of mud. He put down his oilcloth tarp, gave it a gentle shake, and water droplets rolled off of it. After folding it up, he took his online friends to observe the destination, feeling a hint of excitement in his heart.

Bi Fang had climbed over the fence ten minutes ago, intending to get inside the factory. However, he was once again stopped by a door. With no other option, he started looking for another way in, walking a full circle around the building, and unexpectedly made a discovery.

Inside the perimeter wall, the factory buildings were lined up closely together, and between the wide passages, exposed pipelines were laid bare on the outside of the wall.

Bi Fang held a steel rod and struck the steel pipes, making a clanging sound that was clear and lingered on. He arrived at a metal box and, with the ease of someone well-versed in this, inserted the steel rod and pried it open.

“These metal boxes aren’t actually very sturdy, just a thin layer of iron sheet, which is quite easy to pry open. However, everyone should be careful. It’s likely that the contents are flammable and explosive gases. Don’t apply too much force and cause a tragedy.”

He inserted the steel rod into the gap and the metal creaked. Soon, with a loud bang, the iron door twisted out of shape and broke free.

He pulled open the iron door to reveal two large steel cylinders.

Bi Fang wiped the label and pointed excitedly at the two big cylinders, “It’s acetylene and oxygen!”

He looked up at the massive factory, “This type of gas pipe setup on the outside of a building isn’t common. They must be for the convenience of the workers. I think this is a steel factory, because the combination of acetylene and oxygen is commonly used in gas welding. Acetylene is a combustible gas, oxygen is an oxidizing gas; when mixed and ignited, the temperature can reach up to three thousand degrees, easily melting steel.”

As soon as Bi Fang mentioned gas welding, quite a few Shuiyou were startled.

[Damn, we did this in our metalworking practicum at the start of the semester, the temperature is insanely high, I directly melted a metal box.]

[Holy shit, no wonder it looked so familiar, it’s gas welding!]

[Can this thing still be used?]

[Whether it can be used or not is one thing, what I really want to know is if it will explode (dog’s head).]

Bi Fang stepped back two paces and looked at the orderly arranged pipes. A bold idea came to his mind and he clapped his fist to his palm.

“Acetylene mixed with oxygen is very unstable, highly volatile, but at the same time, if you know what you’re doing, you can put it to good use. What can a bunch of combustibles mixed together do?”

What can they do?

They can easily explode!

Without Bi Fang spelling it out, the audience naturally came to this conclusion. Just think about all those gas cylinder explosion incidents; isn’t it the same principle?

The power of acetylene might even be greater!

[Old Fang, are you going to make a bomb?]

[You’ve come a long way, Master Fang]

[Success on the horizon!]

[Insist that the officials use satellites to monitor every move of Master Fang, and never let him out of surveillance, otherwise the danger is tremendous (dog’s head)]

[Are you Hojiro Houma?]

Bi Fang chuckled and began to twist the knob on the steel bottle. Perhaps because of the long passage of time, some rust had formed on the knob, making a creaking sound as it turned. The audience watched with trepidation, terrified that the moment he finished twisting, an explosion would occur.

“I was just looking for a ventilation duct to enter the factory, but now it seems unnecessary. We can keep it simple, find a simpler way to enter.

There is ample evidence that many flammable materials can actually be made into makeshift bombs, but this is absolutely a specialized field. Everyone should not try this lightly. Just watch for fun, so don’t miss out. I’m going to demonstrate it live just this once, miss it and you’ll have to catch the replay.”

Bi Fang joked with the audience, also aiming to keep them engaged. After all, aside from catching a fox, he hadn’t had much business today.

The officials were very cooperative, as Wolf Fang and MeTuBe obligingly sent out a push notification again, with the headline: Ruins City: Bi Fang Blasts the Gate.

The catchy title quickly drew more viewers to the live stream, with the audience count shooting up in just ten minutes by a hundred thousand!

[A loud smack, that was quick! I came in as soon as I saw the title, hearing there’d be blasting, hoping Master Fang delivers and isn’t just clickbaiting]

[Same here, is this really going to be a blast? Did Old Fang get his hands on some explosives?]

[I was just at work, but I had to come in when I saw this title, not wanting to miss out.]

[No explosives, but there is a bottle of acetylene]

Seeing the new influx of viewers, Bi Fang once again explained his situation and objectives, leaving the Shuiyou electrified and eager to see what a real blast looks like.

While he spoke, a small steel bottle shorter than a meter had already been unscrewed. Bi Fang weighed it; it was heavy, but the weight was mostly from the bottle itself.

Carrying the steel bottle to a side door of the steel plant, Bi Fang began collecting some other materials from the area.

For soldiers and spies, entering a building is a vitally important strategic and survival Skill. Special forces are trained in bomb disposal, and naturally, Bi Fang understood it well, and even more extensively, since many situations also involved sophisticated chemical knowledge.

The key to blasting a door and conducting a controlled demolition is how to direct the explosive force to blow the door off.

Bi Fang looked around and spotted a large iron box, over a meter tall and two meters wide. It was locked with a small padlock, but with a simple pry, the box was opened, revealing a mix of various items inside, mostly heavy tarpaulins and oilcloths that were of little use.

Many factories stock up on tarpaulins and oilcloths so they can cover things to protect them from rain, preventing lots of objects from getting wet and losing their function.

This was why Bi Fang could so easily find oilcloth; in industrial parks, these items are the least scarce.

Convinced there was nothing valuable inside, Bi Fang grabbed the edge of the iron box and began dragging it toward the door, explaining as he went.

“Sometimes blasting is the only way into a sealed building. The key is to place a huge and heavy ballast in front of the blast target to stop shrapnel from flying this way and instead direct the blast force at the target. Here, the focus is the lock and the hinges on the door.

Actually, this is similar to firing a bullet, where the firearm uses the barrel to restrict the direction of the bullet, making it fly toward the intended path and hit the target. The same principle applies here, but this ballast isn’t heavy enough. We can stuff some stones or clods inside to increase its weight, to prevent it from being blown apart by the explosion.

As for the actual design of the blasting part….”

Having blocked the door, Bi Fang paused to catch his breath, smiled at the eagerly waiting Shuiyou, and said, “That’s something I won’t tell you. In our line of work, many tricks can’t be spread rashly. If something goes wrong and they trace it back to me, that’d be dreadful. But I’m quite confident that blasting this door open won’t be difficult at all.”

The Shuiyou were somewhat disappointed by the first part of his statement, even feeling it was bait and switch, but upon hearing the second part, they smiled understandingly.

“You just teach, I won’t blame you if something goes wrong (Dog’s head)”

“Bang bang bang, open the door, I’m here to read the meter”

“Open the door, your delivery has arrived, quickly sign for it”

“One dares to teach, another dares to learn”

“Alright, we can begin now.”

Using an iron box to block the side door, Bi Fang picked up the acetylene tank and placed it between the ballast and the side door, wedging it firmly in the middle. He then set down his backpack and took out the bottle of antifreeze they had seen earlier. The viewers might remember it contained ethylene glycol, which is dangerous as it can burn and explode when exposed to an open flame.

“Ethylene glycol can burn and explode when it comes into contact with an open flame, which is actually similar to gasoline. We can stuff a strip of cloth into it, soak it well, and it will serve as a fuse,” he explained.

Bi Fang stuffed a thin strip of cloth into the bottle to soak up the ethylene glycol, then pulled it out again, wrapping one end around the mouth of the acetylene tank, and trailing the other end outside, beyond the ballast.

Next, it was time to light the fuse.

“In Ruins City, fire-making by wood-drilling is difficult. As you might have seen earlier, it took me a lot of effort to start a fire, and since there has just been a heavy rain, dry wood is even harder to find, which increases the difficulty of making fire. However, after entering the factory, I found something great that can help us quickly start a fire,” he said.

Bi Fang dug through his backpack and pulled out a small bottle. Under the dim light, it seemed filled with black powder.

Potassium permanganate!

Many long-time viewers immediately recognized this familiar substance: it was the potassium permanganate found earlier in the medical kit.

But wasn’t this stuff meant for disinfection and marking?

The viewers with good memory might remember that Bi Fang had said it was indeed for disinfection and marking, but the marking was to be done in the snow. What did it have to do with making fire now?

“The connection is huge. You see, you weren’t good in chemistry class. Potassium permanganate is a strong oxidizing agent, and as soon as it encounters a reducing agent, it will decompose automatically, releasing a large amount of heat. This heat gathered together makes the best igniter, and fire starting becomes very convenient. As for the reducing agent, we actually have one…” he said, before reaching again into the bag and pulling out a larger bottle, grinning as he showed it to his online friends.

And this reagent was also recognized by the viewers—it was the medical alcohol!

“Ethanol is one of the reducing agents that can cause it to decompose through oxidation, but unfortunately, it seems that not many people realize it,” he said.

On this survival journey, Bi Fang had brought only one backpack, and everything inside was previously collected, with which the viewers were familiar. However, few could connect them and utilize them effectively.

With these materials, making a fire was very simple. First, Bi Fang tore off a piece of sponge padding. He had anticipated the possibility that he might need to start a fire, so he had earlier taken some sponge from the car interior and placed it in his backpack.

The sponge was fluffy and soft, can trapping a lot of air, and also dry and flammable, making it a suitable igniter.

Bi Fang started by placing some weeds on top of the fuse as a layer, then he put the sponge padding on top of the weeds. A layer of green grass would prevent the sponge from burning too fast. After that, he poured a bit of potassium permanganate on the sponge, followed by a bit of medical alcohol, and stirred thoroughly with a piece of wire.

In no time, plumes of white smoke began to rise.

Seeing this, Bi Fang immediately stopped what he was doing and went to the acetylene tank, quickly turning on the valve. Instantly, a hissing sound of gas leaking could be heard.

He didn’t dare to turn it too much as there was a risk of an immediate explosion. Once the gas was leaking, Bi Fang ran about ten meters away and hid behind a large tree, covering his ears.

The explosion was about to happen!