By linking my account to the check-in system, I became a leisurely traveler.

Chapter 186 A Basket of Carbohydrates [First Update!]

Li Younan was very lucky; he was born in a relatively flat area, not far from the famous Lake Chilco in Canada.

This place is not in the Arctic Circle, so it's a bit of a shame that we couldn't see the spectacular aurora borealis.

However, to be fair, the places chosen by the production team are all places with extremely magnificent natural scenery.

Lake Chilco is Canada’s largest natural high-altitude freshwater lake, and its combination of volcanic rock formations and high-altitude glaciers creates a striking visual impact.

After the crew left, Li Younan eagerly turned on his action camera and said, "Okay, guys, let's officially begin our journey. I'm currently in a place quite close to the lake, let's go check out the lakeside first. The first step is to build our own shelter, I need to choose a place that is convenient for getting water and has a suitable terrain."

Afterwards, Li Younan carried his luggage and walked towards the lake.

He walked through a grove of trees and came to a meadow with many colorful wildflowers.

It's summer on the shores of Lake Chirko, and many flowers are in bloom.

Wildflowers also mean that there may be fruit.

Li Younan had already recognized many of the berries that wouldn't ripen for the next two months.

He then leisurely took out his camera and shot a series of video clips.

When he was shooting, he didn't just wave the camera around randomly. Instead, he paid attention to light and shadow, color, and composition. He kept his hand steady and pushed the camera horizontally, taking multiple angles.

For other athletes, the moment they land is when their energy is at its peak. At this time, they should try to make the most of every second to get things done. Carrying their packs is extremely unwise because it consumes too much energy.

But Li Younan wasn't in a hurry at all. With his mountaineering skills, his heavy pack felt like nothing to him—he only realized the true weight of his load when he reduced it by 50 kilograms.

The production team was very frugal; all the equipment combined weighed less than 50 kilograms.

As Li Younan walked towards the lake, he looked around with great interest.

Naturally, he didn't forget to take out his bow and arrows.

The program provided him with an American hunting bow. Compared to his 70-pound carbon fiber hunting bow, this bow was much worse in terms of both weight and material, weighing only 50 pounds, but it was enough for Li Younan.

The production team provided a total of 9 arrows, using specially made arrowheads, which were sufficient for hunting bears.

However, for the vast majority of ordinary athletes, bears are still quite frightening.

Black bears are frequently seen here and are highly aggressive. Li Younan remembered watching a program before where a female contestant was so frightened by a bear in the distance that she cried.

However, he was actually hoping that the bear would appear in his field of vision... that way, he could relax and get down to business right from the start.

That's right, Lee You-nam never considered survival as the main focus of the show.

For him, the important thing is to make the most of limited resources and enjoy a leisurely vacation.

The production team did not place the group too far from the lake, and Li Younan arrived at the lakeside in no time.

He took a quick look and was slightly pleased – he was currently on a steep cliff with many landslides and steep slopes below, and to enter the lake from the shallows, he would need to detour for several hundred meters.

In fact, if you want to fish during this season, you need to be on a steep bank to catch fish, especially rainbow trout. These large fish usually don't stay in shallow water, and the waters below such steep banks are their ideal habitat.

Li Younan began to think about biological information. As a zoologist in the true sense, he could easily visualize the fish species of Lake Chirko with a little thought: rainbow trout, bullfish, Dolivian sturgeon, mountain whitefish, large-scaled salmon... What is the texture and taste of these fish, and what are the techniques for fishing them? All this information swirled in his mind.

After walking forward and spending some time in this area, Li Younan decided to return to the grove he had just been in.

This will be an important source of protein for him, and he can enjoy fishing here, even if there's no one else to show off to, he can at least show it off to the camera.

However, he did not return the way he came. Instead, he stood on the steep bank of the fishing spot he had chosen and looked inland. Suddenly, he noticed a hillside.

There is a relatively flat area on the hillside, and further up is the mountainside rock wall.

The rock walls here were formed by glacial erosion over hundreds of millions of years and are exceptionally hard.

Since ancient times, Chinese people have always valued the location of houses when choosing a site that is close to mountains and water and has a gentle terrain. Li Younan carefully observed the hillside again—facing south and sunny—and it was indeed an ideal location for a shelter.

He pulled out his action camera and pointed it at the lens, saying, "Guys, look what I found! See that over there? I think that's a perfect spot to set up a shelter. From that location, we can have a clear view of the lakeshore. Okay, let's go check it out now."

Li Younan arrived at the lake shore in no time, which was only about one kilometer away.

Before he could even climb up, he heard a roaring sound of water. Looking closer, he saw a waterfall cascading down from a higher mountain in the woods. This waterfall was still some distance from the hillside he had just seen, and Li Younan thought to himself, "Now I have a place to get water."

Continuing forward, they needed to pass through a small grove of trees. Li Younan carefully observed the tree species, becoming more and more delighted with each look—after all, possessing woodworking skills, he knew the different types of trees like the back of his hand.

The dominant tree species here is the black pine; there are black pines all along the way.

The trunk of this tree is straight, the wood is relatively light and very tough, and it also has a certain degree of corrosion resistance, making it ideal for building house frames.

However, its better use is as fuel. Black pine contains natural oils, making it easier to ignite and particularly durable.

In addition, Li Younan also saw trees such as white cloud mountain pine, Douglas fir, and yellow pine in this forest. It has to be said that the tree species here seem to have natural durability, corrosion resistance and stability.

Li Younan excitedly held up the camera and said, "Guys, the trees here are such a delight for an old carpenter like me. Give me some time, and I can make a lot of interesting things with them."

He soon arrived at the hillside he had seen earlier and confirmed that the rock face was a syncline eroded into shape.

As those who frequently study geography know, anticlines form valleys, and synclines form mountains. The rock layers of a syncline are more compacted. After confirming that there was no risk of collapse here, Li Younan focused his attention on the area near the rock wall. If he used this place as a shelter site, he could get a flat area of ​​about several tens of square meters for activities, and standing on the edge of the hillside, he could have an unobstructed view of the beautiful Chirko Lake.

Li Younan even excitedly took out a camera and shot several sets of video footage that could be described as cinematic, using top-notch photography skills. Then, he said to the camera with satisfaction, "I've decided, this will be the location of the shelter."

If other players saw him wandering around for kilometers with his gear after arriving at the spawn point looking for shelter, they would definitely laugh at him to death—after all, when most players have plenty of energy on the first day, they will first find shelter and then focus their energy on finding food.

Li Younan's actions could be described as extremely extravagant, but he was already confident of success.

He then explored the area, searching along the rock face, and sure enough, found a small crevice near the intended location of the shelter.

Caves and crevices like these are common near the rock walls. They are difficult for people to hide in and sleep, but they are more than enough to store food and equipment.

Li Younan placed the equipment into the crevice in the rock, secured the edges with stones to prevent bears or other small animals from entering, then put on his camera equipment, bow and arrows, and the sharp hunting knife, and said to the camera: "Next, I will spend about three hours looking for food, and try to have lunch before noon."

Although Li Younan brought a bow and arrows and a hunting knife, he didn't actually plan to eat meat for his first meal; this was a matter of strategy.

Upon arriving at the survival location, the body does not actually lack protein and fat; what it lacks most at this time is carbohydrates.

Many people have a misconception about survival shows, thinking that some contestants could have health problems even though they have whole prey. This is because they haven't systematically studied nutrition. All human activities require energy, and the efficiency of converting protein and fat into energy is actually very low. The most direct and effective way to obtain energy is to supplement carbohydrates.

Without carbohydrates, the body will prioritize energy from muscle and other body tissues rather than from ingested protein when converting energy. This is why some athletes, even with a whole prey, still lose weight.

When Li Younan arrived, he had already noticed many wild berries deep in the woods.

But before that, he needs to do one more thing.

He took his camera and walked to a spot near some low-lying plants: "This tree is called a dwarf birch."

As he spoke, he cut off a tender branch with a knife. "In dwarf birch trees in tundra and subarctic regions, this tender branch is slender and elastic, and after drying, it has a moderate hardness, making it very suitable for weaving small baskets."

While cutting tender branches, Li Younan explained, "In high-altitude and cold regions, there are many cold-resistant plants with flexible branches or well-developed fibers that are suitable for making woven items. Of course, you must learn the theoretical knowledge before you start, because some of them are poisonous."

He then set up the camera and began weaving it with the collected twigs.

I learned this weaving skill from a local grandmother when I was learning about intangible cultural heritage last time, and I never expected it to come in handy so soon.

Because of the skill bonuses he received, his hands were very nimble. He was exceptionally skilled at weaving with this material in the wild for the first time, and in less than half an hour he wove a small basket that could hold a basketball.

In order to save time, the basket was not woven very well and did not even have handles.

Li Younan found some sturdy, tender branches, picked up stones to soften them, and wove them into a simple basket.

Carrying a basket, Li Younan quickly began searching through the woods. "To be honest, I find it hard to imagine how anyone could fail to survive in a place with such abundant resources."

He crouched down and picked up a cluster of blackberries from the grass. "The blackberry flowering season has just ended, so they should be just ripe now. These berries can last until September, and if you search patiently, you can eat them until September. Besides blackberries, there should also be blueberries, cloudberries, wild rice, and other carbohydrates here... but they're not ripe yet." As he spoke, he noted down the locations of the unripe edible plants he saw.

To Li Younan's surprise, while searching for berries, he found two pieces of wild ginger.

He cut it open with a knife and threw it into the basket: "This thing is scientifically known as Asarum rubrum. It tastes similar to regular ginger, but has a strong woody and earthy aroma. It can be used to make tea or as a seasoning."

Then they found a handful of sorrel and several pieces of starchy rhizomes.

He shook the full basket of carbohydrates: "This is enough to provide carbohydrates for at least three days."

(End of this chapter)