Chapter 51: The Carpenter Girl and the Three Elements of the Trap
In doomsday survival, ropes are particularly important.
The teacher collected a lot of ropes and stored them in the building. She was a very far-sighted and foresighted person. When Banxia was a child, she didn't know it. When she grew up, Banxia realized how powerful the teacher was. She found that the teacher had considered and arranged every point. In the most chaotic and difficult days, she dragged the young Banxia to collect supplies bit by bit, and built Building 11 of Plum Blossom Villa into a solid fortress bit by bit.
Finally, she was buried under the green grass downstairs. Although the girl was alone, she was still well protected.
Banxia put two bundles of green nylon ropes on both shoulders, one with a diameter of 8 mm and the other with a diameter of 10 mm, both of which were very sturdy, and then went downstairs.
Setting traps is also a science. Animals are smarter than humans think. Don’t underestimate the wisdom of other creatures. This is one of the survival rules taught by the teacher.
Banxia didn't know what the uninvited guest who broke into Meihua Villa was. It could be a jackal, a leopard, or even a brown bear. Anyway, it was a very dangerous creature. Meihua Villa was not a very good habitat. Since the teacher was still alive, they had been cleaning the environment inside the community regularly. Due to human activities, herbivorous animals did not approach here, so large predators rarely came to the community.
Banxia still remembers the first time she noticed that thing. It was the last time she went out fishing and was followed on her way home at night.
Did it invade the community that night?
Or had it been lurking here long before that?
Meihua Villa is adjacent to the wide Alfalfa Garden Street to the west, Haiyue Garden Community to the north, Houbiaying Road to the south, and the dormitory of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation No. 28 Institute to the east. In other words, its west and south are separated by the road, while its north and east are connected to other residential areas. At this time, the residential areas have long been completely covered by vegetation and are no different from jungles, so the dangerous creature may have come from Zijin Mountain in the northwest.
The girl was sitting on the stairs on the first floor of Unit 11, humming a song leisurely, stretching her long legs together, holding a sharp dagger in one hand and a small piece of log in the other.
She is whittling wood.
Banxia pushed the back of the knife with her left thumb, shaving off the wood chips one piece at a time. She was a skilled carpenter and had obviously done this many times. She was carving a square notch out of the palm-sized log.
This is the trigger for the trap.
The teacher said that all traps can be simplified into three parts: power, traction and trigger.
The so-called trigger is the hub that keeps the trap balanced and still when there is no prey, and triggers the trap to start when prey is present. It is the core mechanism of the trap and is quite critical.
The most commonly used and simplest trigger is two hooks that fit together, just like a person's two hands put together with four fingers bent and hooked together. These two hooks can be made of wood.
Two pieces of wood of similar size are cut into hooks with a knife.
The girl spent more than half an hour digging square grooves in the centers of the two wooden blocks, making both of them concave shapes. Then she tried to hook them together and pulled them hard.
Very strong.
After some further polishing and refinement, he squinted his eyes and looked at it against the light.
Trigger done!
One third of the trap has been completed. Among the three major elements, the trigger needs to be made by yourself, and the traction relies on a strong nylon rope. The rope is responsible for connecting the various components of the trap and also for transmitting force.
Finally, motivation.
The source of power is natural and also the most easily available, that is, trees.
Banxia wrapped herself tightly in a plastic raincoat, wearing a hood and gloves, and wearing plastic rain boots on her feet. This was to prevent her own scent from remaining. Some animals have a keen sense of smell. If there is human scent on the trap, they will remain alert and will not be fooled.
The girl crawled into the grass and walked deeper into the bushes, lowering her head to look for any signs of animal movement.
On both sides are mottled residential buildings, with green vines hanging down from the roofs, covering the dark windows.
These high-rise buildings have been uninhabited for more than ten years. If a building is vacant for ten or twenty years in a normal society or an uninhabited environment, the final result will be completely different - there is no place with no people and full of vitality in a normal society. The evacuated Chernobyl may meet the first condition, but Pripyat, where it is located, is located in northern Ukraine, above 50 degrees north latitude, with a dry and cold climate. The Plum Blossom Villa in the doomsday era is more like a building parachuted into the middle of the Amazon rainforest, deserted and isolated from the world, and then vacant for another twenty years.
Most of the buildings here are no longer habitable. The humid climate and plant erosion have caused cracks in the exterior walls of the buildings. Some residential buildings have severe cracks, with deep cracks visible to the naked eye.
The girl emerged from the bushes and stepped onto the road.
Except for the asphalt road, other places in the community are covered with dense and overgrown weeds.
The green belts in the community in the past are now covered with lush vegetation, not only grass, but also shrubs, vines, and newly grown trees. They are tightly entangled together like a thick wall, and the old residential buildings are located behind the wall.
The more green a community is, the faster it is swallowed up by nature. Only the hardened road surface paved with tiles or asphalt is still resisting.
As long as they are not broken, plant seeds cannot germinate there. Without plants, it is not considered the territory of nature. All the hardened roads paved with tiles and asphalt without weeds in the world are the territory of Pinellia ternata. She and nature have nothing to do with each other.
The girl found a suitable tree.
It grew in the grass by the roadside. It might be a Quercus acutissima. It was about as tall as a floor. Its trunk was as thick as a bowl and grew straight, becoming thinner as it went up.
The tree serves as the power source of the trap, providing elastic force, or elastic potential energy. This is the most easily available energy and the simplest and most practical way to utilize energy. Both trees and bamboos will do, they are found all over the world, and can be bent to store energy. Just be careful not to make the tree too thick or too thin. If it is too thick, it cannot be bent, and if it is too thin, it will break if you bend it.
Banxia threw her backpack on the ground, held the knife in her mouth, jumped up with all her strength, clamped her legs tightly around the tree trunk, and climbed up as nimbly as a monkey. She pulled out her knife and cut off the extra branches one by one, leaving only the main trunk in the middle.
She grabbed the tip of the trunk again, jumped down lightly, pulled the top of the tree to the ground, and bent the tree with her weight.
The newly grown, water-rich oak trees were extremely elastic. The girl pulled the originally straight trunk down and bent it into an N shape without breaking.
She let go and the trunk snapped back.
Very good and suitable.
Banxia clapped her hands. She was very satisfied. This tree was very suitable as a power source for the trap.
She had to deal with the dangerous visitor.
The best way is to hang it on the top of a tree.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
