National Survival: I Supported the Dragon Nation by Hunting Dinosaurs

Inside the cave, the campfire crackled and popped.

Zhang Li squatted on the ground, his hands covered in wet white clay.

The kaolin clay he brought back from the salt lake was now rapidly taking shape in his steady hands.

The skill of a "ceramic master" makes the movements of each of his fingers extremely coordinated.

Press with your thumb, push with your palm, and coordinate your ten fingers with precision down to the millimeter.

In just three minutes, the basic shape of a pottery jar was completed.

He then repeated the process, creating five pottery jars of different sizes in one go.

"The next step is crucial."

Zhang Li stood up and walked out of the cave.

With his "All-Seeing Eye" activated, the surrounding geological structure was laid bare, and he quickly located several pieces of black basalt.

He carried these fire-resistant stones back to the cave entrance and began to build a peculiar structure.

The base is made of three large stones arranged in a triangle to ensure ventilation.

The top is made of small basalt blocks stacked layer upon layer, gradually narrowing inwards.

A cone-shaped kiln, about one meter high and resembling a volcano, rose from the ground.

Zhang Li stuffed a large amount of firewood into the core of the kiln, and then completely sealed the firewood with moist mud, leaving only the ventilation opening at the bottom and the smoke exhaust hole at the top.

Finally, he piled a ring of dry firewood around the edge of the soil.

After doing this, he carefully placed the five pottery jar prototypes on the platform at the top of the kiln.

Then, the dozen or so prehistoric seashells brought back from the salt lake were evenly arranged among the pottery jars.

last step.

Zhang Li skewered several pieces of prepared Xiao Snake meat, most of a bird-eating dragon's hind leg, and the prepared Devil Frog meat onto sharpened wooden sticks and placed them high above the kiln.

The meat chunks were kept half a meter away from the top of the kiln, just enough to be completely enveloped by the thick smoke, but not directly charred by the intense heat.

Everything is ready.

Zhang Li lit the ignition source at the bottom of the kiln.

Flames shot wildly into the ventilation duct, instantly igniting the dry firewood on the outside, the orange-red flames reflecting on his focused face.

Thick smoke billowed from the top exhaust vents, engulfing the hanging chunks of meat.

……

Dragon Kingdom Command Center.

He Jiong stared at the cone-shaped building on the screen, his face full of question marks.

"What...what is this? Performance art?"

Academician Ma also frowned; this kind of engineering stuff was beyond his knowledge.

Just then, Professor Wang Zifei, a chemist, suddenly stood up and stared intently at the screen.

"This is a multi-functional integrated kiln!"

He Jiong was taken aback: "A kiln? For firing pottery?"

"Not only that!" Professor Li Zhengying, a physicist, pushed up his glasses and spoke very quickly:

"Look at the material! He used basalt!"

"Basalt has a melting point exceeding 1200 degrees Celsius, making it a top-grade natural fire-resistant material! The maximum temperature of a typical campfire is 800 degrees Celsius, which is simply not enough to fire pottery!"

"But this cone-shaped structure allows heat to concentrate upwards, forming a terrifyingly high-temperature zone!"

"Furthermore, the oxygen content in the prehistoric world exceeded 30%, resulting in a dramatic increase in combustion efficiency! The core temperature of this kiln can definitely break through 1000 degrees Celsius!"

Professor Wang Zifei continued the conversation:

"And he sealed the core of the firewood with wet mud!"

"This creates a high-temperature, oxygen-deficient environment! The wood will undergo incomplete combustion; this is the most primitive method of charcoal production!"

"His batch of pottery can produce both ceramic jars and a large quantity of high-quality charcoal!"

He Jiong felt like his brain wasn't working properly anymore.

"What about...the seashells?"

"Seashells!" Professor Wang's voice trembled slightly. "The main component is calcium carbonate, CaCO₃!"

"When calcined at temperatures above 900 degrees Celsius, it will decompose into calcium oxide and carbon dioxide!"

"Calcium oxide is just quicklime!"

"He wants to use quicklime to purify the coarse salt in the salt lake!"

Geologist Professor Chen pointed to the mass of flesh shrouded in thick smoke at the top of the screen, adding the final piece of the puzzle:

"And all that meat! He's smoking it!"

"Smoking dehydrates meat, and the phenolic compounds in the smoke act as natural preservatives!"

"Without a refrigerator, this is the most effective way to store meat for the long term! He's preparing for the long winter!"

He Jiong was completely petrified on the spot.

"A single kiln... capable of simultaneously performing four tasks: pottery making, charcoal firing, calcium refining, and meat smoking?"

"This...this isn't just about survival, this is about scaling the tech tree!"

The live stream went viral.

"Holy crap! One stove, four functions! I'm dumbfounded! This guy's a master of time management!"

"I hereby announce that today's physics and chemistry classes will be taught by Rishin himself! He'll explain things much more clearly than my teacher!"

"My mom asked me why I was kneeling while watching the live stream, and I said I was listening to Li Shen's lecture!"

"@Academician Ma, what's your opinion?"

Academician Ma shook his head with a wry smile.

"I don't have anything left to see."

"All I know is that Zhang Li is definitely not an ordinary college student."

"His knowledge base, his practical skills, his mental fortitude..."

The old man's voice was incredibly clear.

"He's like... the ultimate weapon born for the apocalypse."

……

Inside the cave.

Zhang Li leaned against the warm rock wall, feeling the heat emanating from the kiln.

The firing process takes time, which gives him a chance to rest.

The twitching in his calf muscles today reminded him that his body's electrolytes were beginning to become unbalanced.

Salt must be replenished as soon as possible.

Moreover, the rewards for hunting small dinosaurs are too low, and the roulette wheel rewards only provide a negligible boost to attributes.

"We must hunt down medium to large dinosaurs."

Zhang Li opened his eyes, his gaze deep and unfathomable.

But today's encounter with a Tyrannosaurus Rex also proves that the risk is extremely high.

He glanced at the eight alloy crossbow bolts remaining in the quiver.

"We must be more cautious and more efficient."

He closed his eyes and began to conserve his energy and recover his strength.

……

Dragon Kingdom Command Center.

Seeing Zhang Li begin to rest, He Jiong finally breathed a sigh of relief and switched the camera to the other contestants.

Leng Feng used a composite crossbow to hunt down another small dinosaur.

Master Huang Guozhong, on the other hand, used a long sword to spear fish by the river and had a very good catch.

However, when the camera switched to Dragon Kingdom No. 86's live stream, everyone's heart tightened!

In the video, a tall, slender, and dashing woman is seen using the dense ferns to traverse the forest at high speed.

She is none other than Huang Xiaoying, the female captain of the Dragon Kingdom's bodyguard team!

But at this moment, her face was full of solemnity, and her breathing was rapid, clearly indicating that she was being chased!

"Was she being targeted by a dinosaur?"

"No! Look behind you!"

The camera zooms out, revealing a burly Black man wielding a heavy crossbow with a cruel smile on his face.

"It's Sang Biao from the Wildebeest Kingdom! He was lucky on the first day, ranking 98th and getting the crossbow!"

A member of the audience who understood foreign languages ​​immediately translated his words.

He said, "Stop running. Hand over all your supplies, and I might consider making you my slave to gather food for me."

"Holy shit! That beast!"

He Jiong's face instantly turned ashen, and he slammed his fist on the table!

"Ungrateful bastards! Who was it that provided them with food and infrastructure in the first place?!"

The viewers from the Dragon Kingdom in the live stream room instantly flooded into the Wild Horse Kingdom's live stream room, and angry comments overwhelmed everything.

But the other party didn't care at all.

"Power is the rule! Our Sang Biao is simply enforcing the laws of nature!"

"You Chinese are so hypocritical! This is just a survival game!"

……

The prehistoric world.

Huang Xiaoying clenched her teeth, her lungs burning with pain.

Her initial weapon was a shovel, which was useless against dinosaurs. She ranked last on the first day and didn't receive any airdrops.

They were completely outmatched in terms of strength, equipment, and physical stamina.

"Damn it..."

She never imagined that what was more terrifying than dinosaurs was the human heart without the restraint of the law.

Just then.

The view ahead suddenly opened up.

A wide expanse of riverbank came into view.

In the middle of the riverbank, a huge Triceratops carcass was being devoured by countless insects, a horrifying scene.

Some sharp-eyed viewers recognized it instantly.

"Holy crap! Isn't that the Triceratops that got killed by the Tyrannosaurus Rex during the day?"

"Huang Xiaoying has run into Li Shen's hunting grounds!"

When Huang Xiaoying saw the corpse, her heart sank. This meant that there were apex predators in the vicinity.

A vicious wolf is in front, and a fierce tiger is behind!

In that instant of hesitation.

A cruel voice came from behind, with a mocking tone like a cat toying with a mouse.

"The game is over, prey!"