After a night passed, by early morning the next day, the rain had stopped.
When Li Younan got up, he first glanced at the space about the size of a palm in the temporary shelter. Luckily, he had dug a drainage ditch in advance, so the water didn’t overflow inside.
Thanks to his experience helping renovate his grandfather’s old house, he didn’t make such basic mistakes.
After getting up, Li Younan immediately went outside to check the framework of the new house. Fortunately, although it rained last night, there wasn’t much wind, and the constructed beam frame was still as solid as new.
The place he chose already had a natural drainage effect, so he wasn’t worried about water stagnating after rain. However, there was still some mud in certain areas.
Li Younan began to think that maybe when he had time later, he could lay a layer of gravel in the area he lived to enhance drainage.
But that was something to be dealt with later.
Li Younan went over to check the foundation again, confirming there were no signs of collapse, which gave him some peace of mind.
Nighttime is always reflective, but when morning comes, all thoughts are swept away.
At this time, the day hadn’t fully broken yet, but Li Younan had already started a fire. It’s worth mentioning that because the area’s forests were mostly pine trees, which have plenty of natural resins, even wet wood could ignite. The only concern was ensuring that the kindling must remain dry since the spark from striking is only a split-second’s heat.
Black pine wood is relatively soft and easy to split into slats. Most contestants choose to use black pine for temporary shelters since the wood, while not as strong as the spruce Younan used, was good enough for a temporary shelter.
In Li Younan’s view, black pine’s best use is for starting fires. It’s oily, ignites easily, burns steadily, and splits well — it’s practically meant to be firewood.
At this moment, Li Younan came under the new house and started a fire with the fireplace he built yesterday. This fireplace was indeed very useful.
Once the fire was going, Li Younan set the pot on top to brew himself some ginger tea, followed by brushing his teeth and having breakfast.
It’s worth noting that even in such an environment, skilled in outdoor survival, Li Younan did not forget to shave. The hunting knife in his hands could accomplish many things.
The show’s production team had indeed invested in quality equipment — whether it was the axe, hunting knife, or saw, they were made of top-grade carbon steel with excellent strength and toughness. This hunting knife was so sharp, shaving was a breeze; for Li Younan, it was not just a hunting knife but also a kitchen and shaving knife.
The food Li Younan stored was enough for him not to venture out for three days, and his plan during these three days was to finish building the rammed earth walls.
After a whole night’s rain yesterday, the wooden barrel outside was now filled with water. The collection effect seemed quite good; though it looked ugly, it was indeed useful.
Taking advantage of the now damp soil, Li Younan hurried to start making rammed earth blocks. But before that, he had an important task to do.
Li Younan looked up at the roof of his house. The rafters were bare, so after it rained yesterday, water dripped directly through the gaps.
Li Younan went into the forest to find some birch trees, not abundant, which he had discovered previously while searching for corms. He had noted their location at the time.
Arriving at the birch trees, Li Younan knew these trees had bark that could be peeled off in whole sheets, making them excellent roofing materials. He spent about three hours gathering enough birch bark, brought it back to the camp, and laid two uniform layers on the roof.
With this, although a waterproof sheet couldn’t be laid temporarily and there were no tiles, it could nonetheless temporarily shield against the wind and rain so the rammed earth walls wouldn’t be immediately destroyed.
The next tasks were rather monotonous and tedious, but Li Younan did not forget to film the process, showcasing this ancient skill before the camera.
The first step was making two lengthy mold boards, shaping the wood to the required form. Without a power saw, this was quite time-consuming and labor-intensive. It took Li Younan half a day to make two boards approximately 80 cm long to be used as molds.
The outer edges didn’t matter; what was essential was smoothness inside.
Then, Li Younan inserted marker poles to establish the base stakes at the planned location of the rammed earth wall, then began layering and compressing the earth wall. This wall was more than 20 cm thick, quite substantial. It was a very time-consuming task, and by working the whole day, Li Younan only managed to complete the bottom layer.
And with this layer of earthen blocks, combined with the stakes embedded in them, the whole house now had a tangible outline.
Watching the house slowly take shape, Li Younan felt an indescribable sense of satisfaction, spurring him to work even harder.
After completing one layer of the earthen blocks for the house, he needed to wait for the bottom to dry slightly and set before continuing to build upward.
Luckily, with the structure of base stakes, the earthen walls were very sturdy.
Since he had to wait for it to dry, on the first day, Li Younan only laid two layers and didn’t dare to build higher, although he reckoned the third layer could still hold. But to be safe, he decided to wait until the lower layers hardened a bit more before continuing upward.
Thanks to the eaves, even if it rains now, as long as there isn’t an exceptionally strong wind, he doesn’t need to worry too much about the earthen walls being soaked and ruined.
Time quickly moved to the seventh day.
Fortunately, although the past few days were cloudy, it didn’t rain.
Li Younan’s earthen wall had been rammed more than a meter high, with the wooden posts and piles used to stabilize the structure perfectly integrating with the earthen wall, giving it a solid and sturdy aesthetic.
However, after waking up this morning, Li Younan didn’t rush to fetch water to make the earthen wall nor hurry to find food, but patiently waited at the camp—today is the time for the first health checkup and submission of the memory card.
The program crew has become very experienced in ensuring the safety of subsequent contestants in this season.
Each contestant must carry a GPS locator, and there are also drones patrolling intermittently in the sky to check the condition of each contestant.
Moreover, if a contestant makes a satellite phone call, the program crew can quickly send people to provide medical assistance.
During the health checkup, the staff will take away their video storage card, replace it with a new one, and check their filming equipment, satellite phone, and solar charging panel to ensure proper functionality.
Today is the first health checkup since arrival. Li Younan waited somewhat idly, with a sense of reflection over the fact that a whole week had unknowingly passed.
This week, he has roughly established a foothold in this wilderness.
Besides the temporary shelter, described as the most luxurious in the program’s history, he has rebuilt it to be much better than it was at the beginning.
The temporary shelter can be further modified later to become a toilet or a storage place for supplies.
In addition, the rabbit he hunted on that day has become very soft through the brain-tanning technique for its fur.
Li Younan used it as padding over the tree bark fibers to make a small pillow.
The biggest harvest is still inside the temporary shelter—he collected three big baskets of blocky roots; as for the blackberries he previously gathered, he had already eaten them all. After building the shelter, he plans to pick more and make some jam to store.
The previous rabbit and fish meat has been completely eaten, starving is out of the question.
So after the health checkup, Li Younan plans to go out to forage again.
This time, he plans to go farther to see if he can hunt some larger animals.
Across this small forest and further into the depths is a hill; climbing up it seems to lead to a rather large plain. Maybe there could be surprising discoveries there.
While thinking this, the program crew’s staff was already approaching.
The program crew has a team consisting of a cameraman, a doctor, and two additional staff members.
The white staff member named John smiled and said, "Who would’ve thought, he turned out to be the first to be eliminated, I thought he could last a little longer."
Jack said somewhat emotionally, "This shows that Wilderness Survival is indeed a very difficult task, luck plays a big part too!"
"Buddy, are you just realizing this now? The show has aired quite a few seasons. Who would have thought the first person eliminated got scratched by a lynx?"
"Who’s next, let me see, oh, it’s that guy from China."
"Is it? Hey, don’t rush, let’s make a bet. What do you think the current state of the guy from China is?"
"This question is too general, what kind of state are you talking about?"
"I mean, do you think his shelter is built? How much food does he have left? Or how do you think he has spent these past few days?"
Jack seriously thought for a moment, then smiled and said, "It’s only the seventh day, the contestants are still in the adaptation period. Except for Pacini, who hunted a goat from the start, I heard other groups say their contestants mostly survived on berries and cattail roots... I think the guy from China probably did the same."
"Oh, you think so? Don’t forget his archery skills are the best among all contestants."
"But I still stand by my view. Hunting requires good archery skills and quite a bit of luck—encountering prey is harder than hitting it."
While they were chatting, they had already climbed the hill.
What came into view next was Li Younan’s almost completed house.

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