I don't know if this will work, after all, it's ridiculous that I would lose a tool like a lighter one day.

But we still have to give it a try. In this unfamiliar territory, who knows what wild beasts might roam the towering primeval forests after dark? Without firearms, humans are no better off than lambs in this wilderness.

Fire has been the primary guardian of humankind's safety in the wild for tens of thousands of years. Without fire, human combat capabilities would be reduced by more than half.

I used a heavy, relatively flat rock to try to create a flat surface between the two pieces of dry wood. Since I didn't have any wood ash, I could only mix some very fine sand into the tinder.

I know that high-speed friction between sand particles can generate a lot of heat, but I don't know if it can reach the ignition point of tinder.

After rolling up the tinder, I started using the piece of wood to hold the tinder and began rubbing it back and forth quickly.

I don't know how long I rubbed it, but several times I saw a little bit of smoke rising. However, when I took it out to check, there wasn't a single spark, let alone enough to light the firewood.

Indeed, a skill cannot be mastered easily without a large accumulation of experience.

As darkness approached, my heart felt like it was hanging on a cliff. I could faintly hear the deep roars of beasts coming from the dense primeval forest.

Although I can't be sure what it was, judging from the sound, I don't think it was a cow or a sheep. It could be a bear, or even a tiger or leopard.

Now, no matter what kind of wild beast it is, to me who has nothing in my hands, it's just like fish on a chopping board that I can throw to them to slaughter.

Everything had gone smoothly until I failed at the very step of starting the fire. I tried a few more times, but in the end, I decided to give up on the idea.

It was already getting dark, and I estimated it would be completely dark in less than half an hour. At that point, I would be in an even more passive position without light, since wild animals could see me, but I might not be able to see them.

I took the wild berries and willow branches with me. Since there was no fire to cook the crabs, I left them where I was. There are plenty of these crabs in the stream; I can get more tomorrow.

I found a fairly tall tree with a dense canopy nearby and climbed it, taking my wild fruit and the bundle of willow branches with me.

I originally planned to use this bundle of willow branches to make myself a grass skirt and cloak for sun protection. But since we couldn't light a fire today, we'll have to spend the night in the tree, and these willow branches will have to be used to weave a bed for now.

However, don't think I'd use these willow branches to weave a hammock. First of all, I don't have the time to do that. Besides, I'm not confident that a hammock made of these willow branches can support my weight of over 100 pounds.

If I were to fall from a tree more than ten meters high, I would most likely not die on the spot, but rather suffer multiple fractures and be unable to move, and then wait for those wild beasts drawn by the scent of blood to give me my final judgment.

I have no idea these inhuman beasts would carry me to the hospital. At most, they'll take me a short distance, probably to their lair, where there are still a bunch of their hungry chicks.

I hung the wild berries on the tree branch, and that was the start of my race against time.

My father was an excellent fisherman until he was thirty, after which he became a bricklayer to make a living. When they were building scaffolding on construction sites, they often used bamboo for support, and cable ties were used to secure the bamboo.

My own house was built brick by brick by my father himself, so after working as a helper for a few months, I naturally became familiar with this kind of work on construction sites.

I didn't have any cable ties, but the willow branches I had were soft and usable. Although they weren't as sturdy and durable as the cable ties used on construction sites, the tree had many branches in its canopy, unlike the single pillars on construction scaffolding.

As dusk approached, I could barely see anything anymore. Fortunately, my months of helping out hadn't been in vain. I grabbed a tree branch with one hand and pulled out a willow branch with the other, using the cross-knotting method I used on construction sites to quickly weave a net bed in the tree canopy that could support my weight.

I estimate this bed will be ready in less than ten minutes. Since I only considered that I could lie down on most of my body, the distance between the tree canopy weaves is probably no more than 1.6 meters long and less than 1 meter wide.

To prevent myself from falling when I roll over, I deliberately wove the part near the center line lower, so that it's like setting up a simple stretcher on the tree canopy. I just need to lie in the sunken stretcher and no matter how I roll over, I won't fall off the tree.

After doing all that, I wasn't satisfied. Before it got completely dark, I slid down from the tree again.

Because I heard animal roars coming from the primeval forest before, I'm not sure if there are any felines like leopards in there.

Even if I climbed the tree, it wouldn't help, because felines like leopards can drag prey of similar weight up the tree to eat.

If a leopard comes up to me while I'm asleep in the tree, it'll save itself the trouble of dragging its prey up the tree. I've even thoughtfully prepared a comfortable net bed for it, so it can have a good sleep after it's had its fill.

Thinking about this sent chills down my spine. I need to speed things up and set up some traps around this tree!

I had no knife, nor did I have time to sharpen the branches. After breaking off a few sections of dry branch with a stone, I placed the sharpest end upwards and buried the lower half in the ground.

Using the tree as the center, about one meter away from the tree, I planted six concentric circles of spikes, each less than half a meter apart, around it.

You might think these things aren't even sharp, and that using them against felines with excellent night vision would be like lighting a toilet to commit suicide.

But what happened next proved that my decision was right; those seemingly unsharp spikes actually saved my life.

After doing all that, I started to pull out a few strands of willow twigs from my mouth and used the remaining thin branches to tie them around the tree on the ground.

I tied a loop every half meter, and there were four loops in total, up to the top of my head. It looked like a precarious bird's nest.

I used a green vine I found to tie the four willow branches that I used to secure the bird's nest to the vine, just as I used green vine to tie the crabs together.

As for its uses, you'll soon discover its amazing features.

By the time I finished, it was already dark. I picked up a relatively straight stick that was lying next to the tree, held the vine in my mouth, and started climbing. When I passed the bird's nest, I made sure to avoid them so as not to damage the mechanism I had worked so hard to build.