I am a local in North America

Chapter 3 Ice Surface and Trimaran
In the simple shelter.

You can see a decent-looking stone fireplace, and a small wooden bed covered with thick withered moss and leaves.

The entire shelter was built with wood and stone, and the roof was covered with waterproof cloth, dry grass, leaves and several thick layers of moss. The gaps between the wooden planks in the walls were also filled with mud and moss to ensure that there was no draft.

After several heavy snowfalls, the exterior walls were covered in ice and snow, and the roof was also covered with a thick layer of frost, as was the woodpile not far away.

It's not easy to survive every day, so don't expect it to be clean and tidy. Lots of clutter are piled up haphazardly. If the fireplace stops burning for more than two or three hours, the cold air in the house will re-condense, and frost will first form on the walls and floors near the door.

After the fire is lit at night to thaw the ice, the ground is always wet, which is very uncomfortable and keeps the humidity in the house high. So I have to clean my shoes before entering the house and try not to bring the snow from my shoes into the house.

In early November, as temperatures began to drop in the area, Sujere renovated the humble cabin, filling in all the drafty gaps to ensure that most of the heat from the burning wood in the fireplace remained inside the shelter.

Otherwise, if it gets too cold at night to fall asleep, it can easily make people sick and eventually force them to withdraw from the competition.

Not far from the fireplace, on the wall, hung seven large smoked fish. These fish were so tough they could be used as weapons; when struck in a pot, they would make a clanging sound. They had to be boiled in water before they could be barely swallowed.

To prevent an accidental fire that could burn everything and destroy all chances of survival, Su Jerry stored many survival supplies outside the shelter, including a smoked deer leg, dried mushrooms, dried berries, and so on.

Living alone in the wild, without hospitals or medicine, you can't be too careful. With a million-dollar prize at stake, any small oversight could lead to lifelong regret.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Su Jierui slowly chewed the last pine nut to ensure it was fully absorbed in his intestines.

After putting his deerskin gloves back on, he continued to mutter to himself:
"Pine nuts taste great and can also give me some vitamins and other nutrients. Every 100 grams of pine nuts contains about 64 grams of fat and about 16 grams of protein. Unfortunately, the pine trees here are too tall, so I can only pick some by luck."

"There are some trees I could try to climb, but I don't have any tools, and the risk of falling is extremely high, so it wouldn't be worth it."

"So picking pine nuts is a last resort. I won't try it easily. Hopefully, a few strong winds will blow in the near future and cause more pine cones to fall naturally."

"I've heard that some people in Southeast Asia train monkeys to pick coconuts. If I could train a squirrel to help me pick pine cones, that would be perfect. Unfortunately, squirrels aren't as smart as monkeys, so I can't make them obey."

After a short rest.

Su Jierui, carrying a bow and arrow, a multi-functional dagger, bear repellent spray, and a fishing rod, walked confidently towards the lake to check the pre-set gillnets.

Yesterday, the lake water was frozen two or three hundred meters from the shore, and today it seems to have moved forward another hundred meters. The ice is about 15 centimeters thick, and people can stand on it. Any thinner and it would be dangerous.

To make it easier to set up gillnets and fish, he spent the first two months building a simple wooden dock that extended five or six meters into the lake.

It seems like a waste of effort now, as the area around the small pier has already frozen over and is no longer of any use.

I walked forward for a while on the ice.

After arriving at the safe location marked out the day before, Su Jie became increasingly cautious, unsure whether the ice ahead could support his weight.

He first tied homemade wooden sleds to his feet to increase the contact area on the ice before he arrived near the ice hole he had carved a few days earlier.

Seeing that the cave entrance was frozen over again, Su Jierui poked at it with a sharpened, thick wooden stick for a while before finally managing to pull out the barbed wire tied to the stick.

The gillnet was empty; for several days in a row, no fish had hit it.

He used to catch a lot of fish with this gillnet, but recently his catch has decreased sharply. No fish are coming to the cold shore anymore, which makes him a little disappointed, feeling that a major stable source of food has been lost.

If the calories consumed in hunting exceed the calories in the food itself, it means that all the effort has been wasted.

The beauty of gillnets is that when I placed them by the lake a while ago, I could catch fish myself, saving time and effort. Unfortunately, they are no longer of any use now.

If he could avoid going into the water, Su Jierui didn't want to risk his life. The unfrozen water was getting smaller and smaller, and the ice in some places was too brittle.

Back on shore, I first went to check the surrounding area, but the traps I had set were completely inactive, and some were already covered by snow.

After rearranging the traps and setting them up where there were animal footprints, he searched around for a while. The only thing he found was a grouse, standing on a high pine branch, tilting its head and sizing up this uninvited guest.

Upon discovering the grouse, Su Jerry held his breath and slowly removed the bow from his back; he desperately wanted some fresh meat.

He waited patiently for more than ten minutes, his muscles starting to ache from maintaining the ready position. However, the pine tree was covered with branches, and he never had a chance to make a move. In the end, the grouse flapped its wings and flew away, leaving only a few fallen feathers behind.

"Well, looks like I'm out of luck with food again today." He sighed, the disappointment more biting than the Canadian wind, which meant dinner would probably be those smoked fish so hard they could be used as sticks again.

He waited a few more minutes, but when the plump grouse didn't return, he sighed deeply, regretting that he had missed out on the delicious and juicy beggar's chicken. It had been three weeks since he last tasted it.

Su Jerry stepped onto the solid ice again, walked to the safe zone he had marked yesterday, and first used a dry branch to make a clear arrow pointing to the place where he had stored emergency supplies, including—

A bundle of dry firewood and tinder wrapped in a waterproof cloth, a magnesium flint and steel, and a set of neatly folded dry clothes and socks.

Take a deep breath of the crisp air and securely tie a long rope made of paracord to the knot at the front of the raft.

This trimaran, which he painstakingly built, is made of three flattened spruce logs placed side by side, with additional driftwood on both sides for reinforcement.

Su Jierui circled around to the back of the raft, placed his feet firmly on the relatively thick ice that had been tested before, then bent down, braced his shoulders against the stern of the raft, and suddenly exerted force with his legs. The raft made a creaking friction sound and began to slowly glide forward.

He dared not let the raft go too fast, and from time to time he would tap the ice in front of him with a long wooden stick to test the thickness of the ice layer on the lake.

Throughout the entire process, his center of gravity remained on the ice surface of the safe zone behind him.

Walk forward for over a hundred meters.

As the stick struck the ice in front of him again, a crisp cracking sound made him quickly and carefully take a few steps back.

The weight of the raft's bow broke through the last ice barrier, causing the entire bow to sink downwards before being lifted by the buoyancy of the water and floating steadily on the dark surface.

A small piece of ice was knocked apart and swayed gently on the water's surface.

The most crucial step has been completed.

He tightened the rope in his hands, controlling the raft on the shore. Then he bent down, lowered his center of gravity to the lowest point, almost crawling, so that his chest and abdomen touched the raft first, and then slowly pulled his legs onto the raft.

The raft rocked slightly, but the trimaran structure provided excellent stability.

He picked up the fishing rod that had been placed on the raft, finally breathed a sigh of relief, and began preparing to fish.

Having absolute confidence in his fishing catch, and having initially secured shelter and food two months ago, Su Jerry spent several days building this raft using tools such as a saw and a dagger.

The main frame uses a simple mortise and tenon structure passed down from our ancestors, and is fixed with umbrella ropes and vines, making it quite sturdy and durable.

Except for rainy days, Su Jerry pushed the raft out of the water almost every day without any accidents. He caught at least 40 fish with it, and the fishy smell on his body was almost like pickling. The raft was indispensable in keeping him alive for 80 days.

Looking around, the nearby water area appears to be getting smaller and smaller.

Judging from the temperature drop in the past few days, it is estimated that the entire lake will be frozen over in just a few nights, making it impossible to catch fish.

After making sure everything was okay, he spoke again to the action camera:
"There's an old Chinese saying: 'If you walk the dark road too often, you'll eventually run into a ghost.' Today should be the last time I go into the water. I really can't take any more risks."

"Pah! Pah! Pah! It seems like you can't just say things like that?"

"In movies, retired detectives always seem to get into trouble, and hitmen who say they'll quit after one last job also end up getting into trouble and losing their lives."

"Never mind what I said, the seven big fish I kept are enough for me to eat for three days on average. They and the deer leg can last me for about a month, plus a jar of deer oil to prevent me from losing weight too quickly."

"I don't want to use them unless absolutely necessary, lest I lose my sense of security. The real challenge now comes from the extreme cold."

The fishing rod was very simple, and the bait was a lure made of grouse feathers, paracord, leather belt, etc., with a small piece of a can lid that was picked up as a spinner, which made it easier to attract the attention of certain fish.

Before the temperature started to drop in the area, Sujere used fly bait made from deer hair, deer intestines, and grouse feathers. Although the workmanship was a bit rough, it worked very well, mainly because the area was rich in resources and few people came to fish for freshwater fish.

Since the weather turned cold and the fish started biting less, I switched to a homemade lure. The smoked fish near the fireplace were all caught with it. The small fish ate it all in advance, while the big fish kept it as a reserve.

His eyes were fixed on the lake, and he didn't rush to cast his line, as if he was lost in thought.

This reality TV show can put enormous psychological and physical pressure on the contestants, and the source of food is often the biggest problem.

In addition, the production team kept all information confidential, not knowing how many contestants were left, nor whether others had successfully hunted large prey such as moose and bears. They could only wait anxiously for the outcome to be revealed.
(End of this chapter)