Chapter 52: The Sole Scapegoat

Before setting off, Xu Yi first used two long vines to tie up the fish trap.
This way, once the fish trap was thrown into the river, the other end of the vines could be secured to the riverbank.
Additionally, he tossed the old snakeskin water bag he had made earlier directly into the fish trap.
That snakeskin water bag was already starting to decay and carried a distinct, fishy stench.
Such a scent held tremendous attraction for fish.
Therefore, Xu Yi intended to use it as bait.
Back in his previous life, when he went camping with some friends, he had heard a fellow outdoor enthusiast mention something similar.
That person had submerged snake intestines in water, which ended up attracting countless small fish and crabs, filling an entire basin with small fish and another with crabs.
Xu Yi figured there was bound to be some exaggeration in that story, but it was true that carnivorous fish and crabs loved eating carrion.
Consequently, he held high expectations for what the fish trap might yield.
Perhaps for the next week or two, they would have to rely on the fish from the river to sustain themselves, providing them with essential proteins and fats.
After setting the fish trap in place, Xu Yi filled a bucket with river water and headed back to camp.

That evening, the two of them had roasted cassava for dinner once again.
After all, they had no other options left for the day.
The pebbles in the campfire had been heating continuously, so once they were retrieved and dropped into the water bucket, the water boiled in no time.
Taking advantage of the cooking time, Su Keke found herself with nothing to do, so she practiced writing the Chinese characters Xu Yi had taught her over the past few days on the ground.

Xu Yi picked up his stone knife and began carving the handle of a toothbrush, planning to make two first to test the results.
If everything went well, he could craft a few more to keep as spares.
Drawing on the experience from that morning, Xu Yi carved much faster this time.
He intentionally left the toothbrush head relatively thick since he lacked any adhesive, needing the extra thickness to ensure the bristles would stay firmly embedded.
Within a dozen minutes, Xu Yi had finished carving the toothbrush handle.
Next, he retrieved the makeshift file he had fashioned from the temple arm of a pair of eyeglasses out of his snakeskin shoulder bag.
A small, curved section remained at the end, which Xu Yi intended to snap off.
After a moment of thought, Xu Yi took the stone cleaver and laid it flat and steady.
Then, he placed the curved part of the eyeglass frame right onto the stone cleaver.

"Keke, come and help Daddy for a moment."
Xu Yi instructed Keke to hold the small file steady while he pressed the stone chopping knife against the exposed section of the eyeglass frame.
The viewers in the livestream had already guessed what Xu Yi was planning to do.

[Number One, that is an alloy! Trying to break it with a stone knife is way too unrealistic, right?]
[Flint has a very high hardness, and titanium is only slightly softer than flint. It might actually work.]
[Can stone really be tougher than metal?]

Amidst the audience's curiosity, Xu Yi brought a heavy stone down hard against the stone cleaver.
He checked the stone cleaver afterward and found it completely undamaged.

"Not bad."
Reassured, Xu Yi gripped the stone and smashed down forcefully several times.
After a dozen strikes, the eyeglass frame snapped and a piece flew off into the distance.
When Xu Yi picked up the stone knife, he noticed a tiny nick on the blade.
Fortunately, it was very small, otherwise, it would have broken his heart.

The eyeglass frame had broken off at a slanted angle, leaving the tip extremely sharp.
Using a stone, Xu Yi hammered the curved section until it straightened out.
"With this, we can make a hand drill to punch holes in the toothbrushes."
Xu Yi said cheerfully, picking up a piece of wood he had prepared earlier.
He sandwiched the metal piece tightly between the wood and bound it securely with cord, turning it into a miniature hand drill.
With this tool, any future drilling tasks would become much more convenient.
Furthermore, he could modify it further.
By taking another wooden board, piercing a hole through the center for the drill shaft, and attaching a cord, pressing it downward would make the shaft spin automatically—a vastly more efficient setup.
Of course, since it was already time for dinner, Xu Yi didn't rush to modify the hand drill just yet.

"Daddy, will our fish trap catch any fish?"
Su Keke asked while peeling the skin off a piece of cassava.
The cassava tasted quite good and was rather sweet.
Even so, Su Keke felt it would be even better if paired with fish soup and fish meat.
That would undoubtedly make the meal much more delicious.

"It definitely will. There are fish in the river, and we even put bait in it, so we're bound to catch something."
Xu Yi said, taking a bite of his cassava.
"By tomorrow morning, we'll definitely get to drink fish soup."

Su Keke nodded vigorously, as she always trusted Xu Yi's words implicitly.
Boiled water paired with cassava might have been a bit monotonous, but at least it filled their stomachs.
A person had to know when to be content.
This was the wilderness, and simply being able to eat one's fill was already a tremendous blessing.
There were still thousands of other challengers out there going to bed hungry or surviving on things like earthworms.

After finishing their meal, Xu Yi didn't rush to modify the hand drill.
Instead, he used a tool to fish out the glowing-red metal backing plate of the tablet device and immediately began hammering it with a stone.
Because it had been heated to a glowing red, the metal had softened considerably.
Xu Yi's stone blows easily altered its shape.
After hammering for a short while, the flat back panel was transformed into a bowl-sized mini wok.
The wok wasn't very deep, but it bore a distinct resemblance to an actual cooking pot.

"With this little wok, we can stir-fry things to eat."
Xu Yi felt quite pleased and was very satisfied with his handiwork.
Next, he tossed the mini wok back into the fire to heat it red-hot once again.
He wasn't trying to make it deeper or larger.
Rather, because it had been hammered out using raw stones, many areas were uneven, so it needed to be forged a few more times to smooth out the surface.

"Daddy, are we the very first people to have a cooking pot?"
Su Keke knew there were many other people out here in the wilderness just like them.
Xu Yi had talked with her about it and assured her that they would eventually be able to return home.
He had also told Su Keke that the longer they survived here, the greater the rewards they would receive.
If they stayed long enough, it could even make her grandmother young again.

"Mhm, we are the only ones with a metal pot."
In the livestream chat, viewers were already commenting that they were the sole contestants to have engineered a metal pot.

"Then if we have oil in the future, can we deep-fry cassava strips to eat?"
"Daddy, will fried cassava strips taste just as good as french fries?"

Hearing Su Keke's words, Xu Yi couldn't help but chuckle.
"We'll only know once we fry them, you little foodie."
Xu Yi gently tapped Su Keke on the nose before turning his attention back to modifying the hand drill.

By this time, Su Keke had finished writing her characters. Her thoughts drifting from fried cassava strips back to honey water, she picked up the remaining vines and prepared to weave a basket for harvesting honey.

Right at that moment, Xu Yi suddenly caught some movement.
Su Keke heard it too—the sound of some animal darting past nearby.
Instantly, Xu Yi activated his X-ray vision and swept his gaze toward the source of the noise.