Chapter 55: Fire by Friction

Of the three methods of fire-by-friction, the least labor-intensive is naturally the bow-drill method. Since I currently have a bow and string, all I need is to find a drill rod, drill board, and drill cap to use the bow-drill method to make fire.

Qin Yun walked as he spoke, searching along the way for tools suitable for the bow-drill method.

After obtaining the bowstring, his main targets were the drill rod, drill board, and drill cap. He picked up a straight, dry hardwood stick for the drill rod, about two centimeters in diameter and roughly the same length as his bow.

Then came the drill board and drill cap—both were simple; anything would do as a substitute.

After walking a distance, he pointed to a herbaceous plant on the ground: "This is perilla. We can use it to replace scallions and ginger to remove fishy odors—it's a decent natural herb that eliminates stench and enhances aroma. There must be Sichuan pepper here too; let's keep an eye out, maybe we'll find some."

He gathered the items, looked up at the sky, and continued speaking to the camera: "The bow-drill method uses the back-and-forth motion of the bowstring to drive the drill rod into rapid rotation, generating heat through friction on the drill board to produce fire—an ancient technique. This method is far more efficient than hand-drilling and represents the wisdom of ancient humanity."

After walking further, Qin Yun suddenly crouched down to examine a pile of feces on the ground, as the camera zoomed in: "See this? It's wolf droppings. Judging by the weathering, it's no more than three days old—meaning a wolf passed through here within the last three days."

"Holy shit, there are wolves too? First wild boars, now wolves? Is the streamer really that unlucky?"

"Whoa, we've got to watch, we've got to watch! We missed last time when Second Senior Brother chased the streamer—this time we absolutely can't miss him being chased by wolves."

"The guy upstairs has no humanity—but I like it."

Looking at these comments, Qin Yun laughed and sighed: "You guys aren't even human anymore? This is a wolf. Wolves are usually pack animals—they appear in groups of four or five at minimum."

"Judging by the streamer's calm demeanor, he clearly has a plan. We shouldn't ruin the mood."

"Exactly. Streamer is the best."

"Fight the wolf, fight the wolf, dinosaur fights wolf."

Qin Yun shook his head, carefully observing the ground, and felt a slight relief—it wasn't a wolf pack, just a lone wolf.

Wolves are animals with both great fear and great boldness, especially lone wolves. As long as they still have meat on their bellies, they won't take excessive risks. But wolf packs are different—through coordinated teamwork, their courage can rival the heavens.

Compared to encountering a wolf pack—which he couldn't avoid if it happened—he preferred to meet a lone wolf.

Of course, the best scenario would be a lone wolf that's already full—then there'd be no conflict between them.

Qin Yun continued forward, and not long after, his luck truly held out—he found a patch of sparse vegetation, within a ten-meter radius, only a single raised cave.

He sniffed the air—no strong scent of large predators. The cave entrance was covered in spiderwebs, clearly indicating no animal had taken residence inside. This puzzled him.

"Did everyone see that? That's a cave. Naturally, such a cave should've been occupied by animals long ago. But look at the spiderwebs at the entrance—clearly no large animals dwell inside. That's extremely abnormal."

Qin Yun crouched low at a distance, lowering his voice, and didn't rush inside.

"What should the streamer do? Could there be venomous snakes inside?"

"Maybe the inside isn't suitable for animals to live in—just looks good from outside."

"True. Animals aren't stupid. Even venomous creatures can't deter large predators. I think it's definitely unsafe inside."

Qin Yun glanced at the comments and nodded: "You're right. So I'm going to fly my other drone inside to check."

He pulled out the secondary drone from his backpack, powered it on, and launched it, controlling it toward the cave.

The livestream feed switched to the secondary drone's view. Viewers watched the scene grow closer, all growing tense. After all, humans naturally feel anxiety and fear toward the unknown.

It's the same when watching movies—when following the protagonist's viewpoint, you always hold your breath.

Right now, their feelings were identical.

Following the drone's lens, the screen first went dark, then Qin Yun switched to night vision mode—suddenly, the interior of the cave appeared on camera.

The cave was shallow, easily visible from entrance to back. But what lay coiled inside shocked everyone in the livestream—even Qin Yun—his hand trembled slightly.

"Holy shit, that snake's huge… is this real?"

"Props?"

"This… this is as thick as an adult's waist—scared the hell out of me."

On screen, coiled inside the cave was a massive brown-black snake. Its full length was unknown—it was curled up—but its thickness was unmistakably as wide as an adult's waist, utterly terrifying.

But soon, Qin Yun noticed something odd: the brown-black snake was merely a shed skin, not the living creature.

"It's a shed skin—not the real thing! Scared me half to death." Qin Yun patted his chest, his voice relaxed. "No wonder no animals dared enter—even just the shed skin's scent is enough to scare off predators. Animals' sense of smell is countless times keener than humans'."

Qin Yun flew the drone around the cave interior, confirmed it was safe, then moved inside.

"Friends, tonight I won't freeze. I can safely build a fire here, and with the influence of this giant snake's shed skin, I don't have to worry about large predators attacking me—I can sleep soundly."

Qin Yun entered the cave, approached the shed skin, and silently whistled—the snake was at least thirteen meters long.

"This is a cinnamon python, also called a reticulated python. Based on length, it's about thirteen meters. The current Guinness World Record holder is a reticulated python even longer and thicker than this one. I never expected one to exist in our country—truly a wonder of the world."

"The world is vast, full of wonders. Streamer's luck is insane."

"Thank goodness it's just a shed skin—if it were alive, the streamer wouldn't even be enough for one bite."

"Hahaha, I looked it up—these kinds of pythons are common in the Amazon. They call them anacondas there."

Viewers stared at the shed skin on screen, discussing it, voicing their amazement and awe.

Qin Yun didn't touch the shed skin. He cleaned the cave's interior, then went outside to gather dry grass and dead branches, placing each bow-drill fire-making item on the ground, positioning the drone, and preparing to make fire.

"Alright, I'm starting fire-by-friction. Wish me success."

Outside, the sky was slowly darkening. Everyone knew the streamer's broadcast wouldn't last much longer.

Qin Yun placed dry grass down beside the drill board, wrapped the bowstring twice around the drill rod, then used his foot to secure the drill board so it wouldn't slip. One hand gripped the bow, the other pressed the drill cap onto the top of the rod, and he began pulling the bow—the drill rod began spinning.

"666… the streamer's movements are incredibly smooth."

"Good job. Wish the streamer success."

Qin Yun increased his speed—the drill rod spun rapidly, and soon, grayish smoke rose from the friction point.

"Holy shit, it's actually smoking!"

"Streamer is awesome. Both the bow and fire-by-friction—he made everything from scratch."

"Almost there, almost there."

Seeing the smoke thicken, the wood shavings carbonize, and tiny sparks appear, Qin Yun quickly moved the dry grass near the sparks and blew hard, increasing the surface area exposed to oxygen.

Soon, more sparks appeared, smoke filled the air, and with a 'Boom—', the dry grass ignited, golden light spreading across the camera. The once-dark cave instantly brightened.

Qin Yun immediately placed the burning grass beneath the prearranged dry grass and dead branches, gave it a gentle puff—and soon, flames roared to life.

Success!

"Streamer is badass, he got it lit, got it lit!"

"Oh my god, if it were me I'd probably go hungry again tonight, but the streamer can already eat bunny."

"Haha, the streamer struggled like crazy to light the fire, but I just press a lighter and it comes out."

"You're sick!"

Immediately, a bunch of gifts floated across the screen. Qin Yun thanked everyone, then said with a smile, "Fire and water are essential for human survival. With fire, we no longer have to eat raw meat and drink blood."

"Lucky for me, I had the foresight last night to dig a big pit and store quite a bit of water. Although I've used a fair amount along the way, using it to kill a rabbit and wash it, then make a roast wild rabbit shouldn't be a problem."

The moment Qin Yun finished speaking, a swarm of trolls suddenly flooded the screen:

"Fuck, you stupid streamer, you've got a lighter but you don't use it, insist on acting like a caveman, rubbing sticks to make fire — fuck off."

"This streamer is brain-dead. Hope you get eaten by wolves tonight."

"What are you trying to show off? Living a perfectly fine life but you run out into the wild instead. When you go missing, the firefighters will have to deal with your shit. Trash."

"You upstairs idiot, did your wife cheat on you? Coming here to embarrass yourself."

Where there are trolls, naturally there are fans defending him — right away, netizens started cursing back.

"Oh look, the bodyguards have arrived."

"You fucking—"

Qin Yun furrowed his brow, ready to mute all the trolls who had cursed him earlier. But just then, a string of Carnivals suddenly swept across the entire screen, covering up all the comments.

"Bo Lang Ge has gifted ten Carnivals…"

"Holy shit, that's real money. Just a few hours ago he dropped ten Carnivals, and now again — the streamer is making bank."

"Another thirty thousand, badass, respect."

"The world of the rich — I want to experience it too."

"Thanks to Bo Lang Ge for the Carnivals, thank you, way too generous." Qin Yun was thrilled inside — who the hell wouldn't be happy receiving gifts? Isn't streaming all about making money?

"Don't bother with the trolls." Bo Lang Ge replied with one message.

Qin Yun smiled. He didn't care about any trolls or not — as long as they didn't affect his stream, it was fine.

"If you don't like the streamer, you can just leave. There's no need to stick around and flame me — that only shows how low your character is, and proves nothing else."

He fired back at one troll, then got to work.

To avoid getting banned, he only pointed the camera at himself, cleaning the fur and innards while talking.

"For this wilderness trip, besides the streaming gear, I only brought two changes of clothes — nothing else. So don't even mention seasonings. But no worries, we picked quite a few wild herbs along the way. They can't replace salt, but at least I won't have to smell the fishy stink. The taste probably can't be that bad no matter what."

In no time at all, Qin Yun carefully used the water to roughly wash the rabbit, then simply skewered it with an arrow and set it over the campfire.

Qin Yun pulled the camera back to include both the campfire and himself in the frame.

"It's already completely dark. The time now is six-thirty, and the temperature is starting to drop. But because we're inside the cave, it's much better than outside, and it blocks the wind. Plus I'm right next to the fire, so I can't feel a single bit of cold."

Watching the rabbit meat sizzling with oil on camera, some people in the stream started drooling.

"Even though without salt it definitely won't taste that great, just looking at the scene, it looks really delicious."

"Hahaha, I'm craving it too. But I've already ordered a roast duck — I'll wrap myself in it for dinner later."

"I'm eating instant noodles, and it's even worse than what the streamer is eating. Life is too miserable."

Qin Yun sprinkled a bit of Sichuan pepper on top, and an irresistible aroma immediately hit his nose. He could hardly wait.

He tore off a rabbit leg, looked at the golden rabbit meat on it, took a big bite, and a look of satisfaction immediately spread across his face.

"Ah, finally got some meat. These past two days I've only eaten bugs and wild fruit — I was starving to death."

The moment his words fell, a sudden roar rang out.

"Awooo—!"

Instantly, Qin Yun froze mid-motion. The stream's comments first paused, then immediately started flooding in crazily.

"Holy shit, what was that sound?"

"Is that a wolf howl? Damn, there really are wolves?"

"Streamer, run—!"