From Robinson Crusoe

The efforts and waiting of fishermen often end in failure.

But that is in the country where “there are more people than fish”.

Wherever there is a small river, whether it is sunny or rainy, you can always see a group of anglers of different ages sitting on the river bank with their fishing rods, waiting for their small whitebait or "big fish" to be hooked. Even if they catch a two-pound carp, it can arouse the envy of others.

Being on the island, enjoying the abundant resources and benefits, and gradually honing his fishing skills, Chen Zhou rarely returns empty-handed.

Of course, due to the limitations of fishing and bait, and his lack of knowledge about large fish, he couldn't catch any big ones. At most, he could catch a few fish weighing three or five kilograms to satisfy his hunger, and let the cats and dogs at home share some of the catch.

……

On November 11, another reward arrived.

As usual, Chen Zhou carried his backpack and came to the beach with his longing for the "skill book".

Before he reached the wooden and stone wall, he was surprised to see the wooden pallet that broke the awning in the center of the reward point from a distance.

The reason is simple - this reward is actually a rare "big item".

The entire prize was packaged in a blue-painted container, which was placed on a wooden pallet.

However, the size of this container is not as big as the boxes loaded with bulk commodities on customs cargo ships. It is only about 1.5 meters long, 1 meter wide and 1.34 meters high.

It is not quite accurate to call it a container. It is also reasonable to regard it as a large iron box.

It has been nearly half a year since the safe was violently dismantled in June. Chen Zhou has not seen such a large reward. The moment he saw the pocket container, he was both happy and scared.

This joy is naturally due to the anticipation for the rewards in the box. After all, "bigger is better, more is beautiful". There is no need to mention what is in the box. This iron box itself is useful enough.

The moment he saw the iron box, Chen Zhou immediately thought of the most suitable application scenario for it -

Dig a separate hole in the bedroom floor that matches its size and place the box in it.

A layer of driftwood boards is laid on the wall of the box for insulation, glued together with fish bladder glue and occasionally mixed with foam.

Nest a few smaller square pottery jars in the box and arrange them neatly. Pour ice water into the spaces between the pottery jars. Isn't this a good refrigerator?

If you want it to be more beautiful and convenient, you can also design a waterproof baffle at the opening of the iron box and place the iron box inside the wall, so that it can be used just like a real refrigerator.

In the 17th century, it was extremely difficult to find a sturdy, waterproof box that was fully painted.

Moreover, even if it is not used to make containers, directly cutting the iron sheet of the box into iron sheets is also a rare and good material.

When Chen Zhou planned to deal with the cannibalistic natives, what he wanted most was a set of metal armor.

If there were enough iron sheets available, he would only need to weave a set of rattan armor, punch holes in the iron sheets, and tie them to the rattan armor. He would then be able to win against the natives who used wooden spears, stone knives, and bows and arrows.

Just thinking about the application scenarios of the iron box, Chen Zhou became excited. He almost took a big step and leaped into the wooden and stone wall to see what was inside the box.

But he has already been tortured twice by the Space-Time Administration, spending both physical and mental energy to solve two "puzzles".

Nowadays, Chen Zhou feels somewhat resistant to this kind of reward with the nature of a "blind box".

God knows if there is a lock on the opening of the iron box, and a line of big words printed on it -

"You must use your wisdom to unlock this lock, otherwise the reward inside will disappear."

If that were the case, he would obviously suffer again.

With mixed feelings of joy and fear, Chen Zhou deliberately slowed down his pace, stepped over the wooden and stone wall, tore off the torn canvas of the rainproof awning, walked around the big iron box, and observed whether there was a lock on its door.

……

Fortunately, the Space-Time Administration may not have figured out how to arrange the "third puzzle", and the door of this pocket container is not locked.

The lock box used to lock the door was open and there was no padlock inside.

The rubber pads on the upper and lower parts of the box for moisture and water resistance are intact, the door lock rod and hinge pin move freely, and even the paint has not fallen off much.

All this shows that the items in the box were given to him directly by the Space-Time Administration without any restrictions.

Such an abnormal situation could not help but arouse Chen Zhouxin's reverie——

Could it be that the reward this time is the container itself? Maybe there is nothing inside and it is empty?

Judging from the program crew's usual bad taste, this possibility is not low.

So he quietly lowered his expectations so as not to be too disappointed after opening the box and seeing the scene inside.

He pulled out the door lock lever neatly, bent down and opened the door. What appeared before him was a neatly arranged rectangular box that filled the entire container.

These boxes are all made of wood, and are covered with a layer of plastic cloth to provide extremely strict protection for the items inside the boxes.

"So many? They can't be chopsticks or spoons in exquisite packaging, right?

I was very satisfied with the table knives delivered last time, why are you sending me tableware again? Do I look like someone who is in need of chopsticks?"

During the Chinese New Year in the past, Chen Zhou once bought a box of custom-made chicken-wing wood chopsticks with copper heads for his family. The packaging box of the chopsticks was about 70% similar to the rectangular wooden box in the photo.

This made him involuntarily think that the reward this time was most likely chopsticks.

"Forget it, let's take it out for a walk. Anyway, I have this container, no matter what's in it, I won't lose anything.

And as I said before, at worst, I can bring them back to Hyundai and sell them at a low price. They are all free gifts, so I can’t afford to lose them anyway.”

……

Chen Zhou pulled out a wooden box at random, and when he held it in his hand he realized that it was quite heavy. It was obviously unlikely that it contained wooden chopsticks.

I weighed it and there was no sound, but it just felt heavier in my hand.

"Wow, this box should weigh two kilograms. It's probably made of metal."

"Could it be that the Space-Time Administration has a change of heart and gave me a container of gold bars?"

Looking at the plastic cloth wrapped around the wooden box, he shook his head, denied his own fantastic guess, and directly opened the package to take a look at the true appearance of the items in the box.

Including the container and plastic sheeting, the items in each box are protected by three layers of packaging made of different materials.

Chen Zhou originally thought that under such strict protection, the items in the box should be fragile and easily damaged. However, when he opened the wooden box, he almost dropped his jaw in shock.

It was a piece of Damascus steel with patterns all over it. The whole thing looked like a steel ruler, about 25cm long, 8cm wide and about 4mm thick.

The patterns on the surface of the steel billets that have been stacked and forged in a special way are like a string of eyes connected in series, or like a whole row of tightly connected chains, reflecting a bright and cold luster under the sunlight, which is heart-moving.

“Oh shit, this box can’t be full of Damascus steel billets!
I have really messed with the Damascus steel billet. How could they send me so many of them? Did the show want to see me make a suit of armor with Damascus patterns?
Or do you want to see me make a gun out of a horse?

It's possible to make guns, but why don't you send me some seamless steel pipes? What's the use of just sending me a pile of steel billets? Can I still re-forge this thing?
Even if you bring me another ten tons of coal, I still can't heat treat this kind of steel!"

Malaysian steel billets are already finished steel products, and the most suitable processing method for them is cutting.

If heated rashly to around 300°, the steel will anneal and affect its quality. Chen Zhou is familiar with this basic knowledge.

While muttering to himself, he was thinking about what these steel billets could be used for. He closed the wooden box in his hand and took out a new wooden box - with so many boxes, there might be steel pipes or other shaped steel billets inside. It would be better to take a look sooner so that he would have an idea.

The item in the new wooden box was also a Damascus steel billet, exactly the same size as the previous one, but with a different surface pattern.

If the pattern on the surface of the previous piece of steel looked like a chain, then the pattern on the surface of this piece of steel looks like buttons.

Rhombuses are laid out closely from beginning to end, with four circles arranged inside the rhombuses, neatly and regularly.

According to Chen Zhou's understanding of Damascus steel billets, steel billets with beautiful and regular patterns like this are mostly custom-made by cold weapon enthusiasts from modern blacksmiths, and they are very expensive.

After all, this kind of steel is a finished product, having undergone complex folding and forging, and even using a three-piece process, with steel plates with different carbon contents sandwiched in the middle.

After forging, the steel is quenched, ground and pickled before its unique pattern emerges.

Such finished steel can be used to make excellent cold weapons by simply designing the shape and cutting it.

For example, the set of knives given as a mysterious reward last time were made by directly cutting from manufactured Damascus steel billets.

Of course, in terms of steel quality, Chen Zhou felt that all the steel in this container should be better than the material of that set of knives.

Because in the Damascus steel circle, the more regular and beautiful the pattern is, it often means that it has more layers, better the material, and more excellent the heat treatment process.

The steel used in that set of Malaysian knives has patterns, but the spacing between the patterns is too large and there is no regularity.

Taking into account the labor cost of making the knives and the brand value, the price of a set of knives may be equivalent to two or three Malaysian steel billets.

……

Judging from the value of the reward, this reward is undoubtedly very generous.

It’s a pity that Chen Zhou doesn’t have the tools to process this kind of steel, let alone weld them together. He can only rely on the help of the super-time and space cutting machine to make the steel into the shape he wants with the ultra-low efficiency of once every 15 days.

……

That day, after dismantling the wooden and stone walls, Chen Zhou took out all the wooden boxes and moved them to the camp at the foot of the mountain for temporary storage.

Then he cut down trees, peeled off the bark to make simple logs, and stuffed them under the container, moving the heavy container off the beach little by little.

The empty container is still very heavy, and it is impossible to move it directly by manpower as before.

Chen Zhou planned to slowly work on this box later. Now he had to continue building the wooden and stone walls to prepare for the next cutting.

……

time flies.

Since receiving the Malaysian steel billets, Chen Zhou was forced to temporarily put aside other work and, like a hardworking little ant, he carried the Malaysian steel billets up the mountain bit by bit.

The space in the storage room became even more limited, so he had no choice but to take all the steel billets out of the wooden boxes, cover them with plastic sheets and place them directly on high wooden shelves to avoid wasting space.

He originally wanted to move the container to the mountain in one go.

However, the mountain is sloped, and using rollers to move it little by little is too inefficient.

After working for two days, he gave up the idea and decided to wait until the timber-laying technology matured, then customize a flatbed truck for the container and pull it up the mountain.

Now that the pottery-making technology has been cracked, steam-bending wood can be officially put on the agenda.

He believes that with his own efforts, he will soon own his first "private car" in the challenge.

……

The slow-moving container was dumped on the north side of the camp, and Chen Zhou built a simple rain shelter for it.

Of course, this is actually a bit unnecessary - the container is painted, and as long as there are no bumps or paint loss, it will not rot into scrap metal if it is left here for three to five years.

……

Although he already had sufficient and high-quality materials, Chen Zhou had not figured out how to use them.

He didn't want his plans to be disrupted by the sudden arrival of steel, so he decided to continue with his routine, first to improve his booming pottery business, and then consider other things.

After the first success, subsequent failures become less and less frequent.

Chen Zhou gradually developed his own understanding of how to make suitable pottery blanks and how to judge the temperature in the kiln based on experience.

If there were enough charcoal kilns, he would have tried to make porcelain.

……

After mastering the technique, he first made two ceramic basins for himself, one for washing his face and the other for washing his feet.

He then made enough water storage containers and collected enough drinking water for half a month and stored it in the cave.

During the dry season, crops lack water and need to be watered from time to time. Adequate water reserves allow him to put his mind at ease and work hard.

Finally, he devoted himself to the research and development of wood.

Like pottery making, this is a skill that gradually improves and matures through continuous practice and summary.

However, Chen Zhou did not receive any guidance from the forum elders on this skill. He only knew one sentence:

"A piece of wood is straight and in line with a rope. It can be bent to make a wheel. Its curve is in line with the circle. It is made so by bending."

Although this sentence summarized the method of bending wood into a wheel, the really important details were not mentioned at all, which caused him to take countless detours and finally even resorted to the obsolete method of bending wood over fire.

In this busy manner, December 12th came in the blink of an eye.

Before the 29th reward arrived, Chen Zhou put aside the wood-laying work that bothered and annoyed him, and turned to digging the cave that he was tired of before.

There is no progress in research, so I need to do some mindless work occasionally to relax.

And the reason why he stopped the wood bending work was because there was a big difference between wood bending and pottery making.

Not only does the wood need to be fumigated to soften it, but it also requires waiting for a while to see if it will deform or crack later.

It is not like making pottery, where you put the pottery into the kiln and burn it in a fierce fire. You can tell at a glance whether it is good or bad when it comes out.

Using the newly built "steam fumigation wood table", it is now no problem to soften the wood and press it onto the iron can to make a semicircle.

What troubled Chen Zhou was that this wet semicircular wooden strip would always deform within a few days no matter whether it was dried in the shade, roasted over a fire, or placed in the sun to dry.

According to his statistics, it takes more than fifty pieces of wood to find one that is not deformed. This pass rate is really too low.

Now, what he wants to solve most is the problem of wood qualification rate.

To this end, he read through an entire book on rattan weaving, trying to find appropriate methods or get inspiration from the experience of traditional craftsmen.

However, he kept thinking about the wood these days, and his head was dizzy. His originally flexible thinking seemed to be rusted, and he read all the books but couldn't come up with any good ideas. (End of this chapter)