Balsa wood, also known as light wood, belongs to the Bombacaceae family and is native to the tropical rainforests of South America.
As its name suggests, this wood has a low density and is very light. It also has heat insulation, sound insulation, and shock absorption properties.
Its buoyancy is incredibly strong; it is said to be able to float up to eight times its own weight.
Ye Feng selected several trees, leaving the heavy lifting to the stronger individuals to cut them down...
The others split up to search for vines and wood to make oars.
Ye Feng gave some instructions to everyone, and then they split up to begin the search.
Time was of the essence. If Makuko didn't renege on his promise, the 50 men would have to start their operation in a few hours.
They have plenty of rattan, but there's no guarantee it won't be needed later, so they'll definitely stock up on any extras they can find.
More than half an hour passed in the blink of an eye...
The preparations were basically complete.
Ye Feng chopped down four straight logs, each about the thickness of a wrist, and is currently doing some light processing.
He planned to tie several small wooden sticks horizontally to one end, and then wrap the vines around the sticks according to their shape to achieve the propulsion effect of the oars.
The greatest truths are the simplest; such a paste will certainly not be perfect and will have many gaps.
But there's no other way; to save time, we'll just have to make it work.
Ye Feng needs to make four oars, two rafts, and four people on each raft.
There's nothing that can be done about it; the mangrove forests are intricate and complex, and dead tree trunks often emerge from underwater, hindering the raft's progress.
Most importantly, a raft that can carry eight people is enormous and can easily get stuck in certain areas...
Just like this mangrove forest, there are crooked and twisted mangroves everywhere, so it is difficult to move forward at full speed.
Staying still on the surface of water where crocodiles are present is not a good thing.
"ah!……"
Just as everyone was working hard and sweating profusely, a scream suddenly caught everyone's attention.
They all stopped what they were doing, exchanged glances, and immediately sensed something was wrong.
They quickly grabbed their weapons and ran toward the source of the sound.
That was Qi Xiaojie's voice; Ye Feng couldn't be mistaken.
After running a distance, the cries for help became clearer and clearer.
"Help! Help... Help me!"
At that moment, Qi Xiaojie was running for his life. When he saw Ye Feng and the others, he felt like he had met his saviors and shouted for help.
Ye Feng and the others ran quickly toward him, not even having time to ask what the reason was.
Then they saw a crocodile about 3.5 meters long chasing Qi Xiaojie.
It moved rapidly along its four short legs, making its signature V8-like spitting sound...
This sounded like someone extremely angry, as if they wanted to bite Qi Xiaojie to death.
This scene left Ye Feng stunned; he believed he knew enough about crocodiles.
But the scene before him was far beyond his comprehension.
Because crocodiles are very timid on land, especially black caimans.
Most of their hunting and feeding takes place in the water, so why would they chase after humans who are completely unknown to them?
Moreover, judging from Qi Xiaojie's sweaty appearance, it's clear that he's been sweating for quite some time.
However, he didn't have time to think about it now. As soon as he took down his bow, Tang Weiwei, Qi Xiaoyan, and Zhan Pengwu's arrows were already shot out.
Because it was running at high speed, the three arrows only hit the crocodile's back and leg respectively.
The crocodile, in pain, howled incessantly and slowed its pace somewhat...
However, he still relentlessly pursued Qi Xiaojie, as if he had encountered his father's killer.
This unusual behavior surprised everyone even more.
Ye Feng immediately drew his compound bow, aimed for a moment, and shot an arrow that struck the crocodile's head.
The crocodile died instantly, without moving at all, presumably from a fatal brain injury.
Ye Feng quickly ran over and met the panting Qi Xiaojie, and hurriedly asked:
"What did you do to this crocodile? Why is it chasing you like that?"
Qi Xiaojie took a few deep breaths, pondered for a while, and then understood the reason.
He opened his backpack and took out three large white eggs covered in mud.
Each egg is about the size of two chicken eggs…
It turns out that ten minutes earlier, Qi Xiaojie had accidentally wandered into a small embankment while searching for vines.
They discovered the female black caiman's nest there.
At that time, the female crocodile was resting with her eyes closed, as if she were incubating her eggs.
Qi Xiaojie knew that Ye Feng liked scrambled eggs, and at the same time, she herself was also craving them.
Originally, I was going to inform Ye Feng first, but just as I was about to leave, the crocodile left its den.
Seeing that the opportunity was rare, Qi Xiaojie quickly stepped forward to collect the eggs.
However, the crocodile's den was mostly made of branches, and in the process, he accidentally made a sound.
The female crocodile hadn't gone far, so he was unsurprisingly discovered.
The crocodile, having just given birth, is in a state of heightened maternal instinct and stress.
They generally don't leave their dens more than 20 meters away, precisely to guard against other wild animals.
At this point, any creature that enters this 20-meter range, regardless of whether it is there for the crocodile eggs or not, will be fiercely attacked by the female crocodile.
Not to mention having your eggs stolen...
After listening to Qi Xiaojie's stammering story, Ye Feng was very moved, but he still patted him on the head.
"You're lucky you ran fast. Do you know that female crocodiles can recognize the scent of their eggs?"
Even if you escape today, it can still track you down by scent. Next time something like this happens, don't act on your own; you could lose your life.
Qi Xiaojie scratched the back of his head and nodded sheepishly. How could he possibly know such things...?
He was only thinking about being able to eat eggs, and suddenly his mind went blank...
"Then...Brother Feng, what...what do we do with this egg?"
Ye Feng picked one up, shook it gently, and then smashed it...
The egg yolk and egg white fell to the ground...
He looked closely and found that the embryo was not yet formed, which meant that it had indeed been born recently.
He doesn't want to eat balut (fertilized duck egg), but it's a different story with good eggs.
Since they've practically delivered themselves to my doorstep, there's no reason for me to let them go...
Since the female crocodile is dead, there's no need to worry about anything else.
“David, come with me to retrieve the eggs. The rest of you, cut off the flesh from the female crocodile’s tail.”
Then I'll hurry back to work. Tonight, we'll have poached eggs.
After giving the instructions, everyone got back to work...
More than ten minutes later, Ye Feng had collected a total of 32 eggs.
He had a very fruitful time; he never expected that the food he had always wanted to eat would be satisfied during his escape.
After everything was ready, the group began building the raft.
The eight people were divided into two groups.
Everyone had experience building rafts, so they worked very efficiently.
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