Chapter 1025 - 44: Footprints

Regarding the construction of the shelter, Chen Wen actually divided the whole process into several steps and informed everyone in advance.

But judging by their expressions now, they seem to have forgotten most of it.

Chen Wen helplessly repeated: "The first step, we need to lay a solid foundation. Without a firm foundation, everything will collapse. Without a stable foundation, our shelter won’t last long, so Adam, Roland, and I are responsible for the foundation."

This grouping has some rationale behind it.

Chen Wen is very strong in shelter construction and is at a top-level standard.

Roland is almost the same.

Adam is meticulous and pays attention to details, so he is also responsible for the foundation.

"The second step, building walls; we are not building walls entirely out of stone, we still need to mix in wood, so Fred and Gaston go and saw the wood, process the wood into suitable shapes. Fred, do you still remember how to saw wood?"

Upon hearing Chen Wen’s words.

Fred nodded and said, "I remember, it’s actually similar to processing planks."

Seeing Fred remembered, Chen Wen didn’t say much: "As for Hua Yun, go look around, and if there’s a chance, find some clay. If there’s no clay, it’s fine, just find some moss."

Hua Yun nodded.

Chen Wen said, "This is also about building the walls. Once we have the walls built, the third step is roofing, the fourth step is sealing the door, the fifth step is interior setup, and the sixth and final step is reinforcement."

Everyone recalled the plan.

After reaffirming the task flow, Chen Wen clapped his hands: "Now that everyone knows what to do, let’s get moving! Let’s aim to have the two shelters built within three days!"

Hearing this, everyone perked up.

They didn’t want to sleep in the wilderness anymore.

Day by day passed, and the weather gradually cooled down.

This morning, Gaston had to blow his nose, looking as if he caught a cold.

...

Laying the foundation for the stone shelter is quite a troublesome task.

After discussing with Roland, Chen Wen decided to build the shelter’s foundation with a combination of wood and stone.

They planned to dig a shallow trench along the markings Chen Wen drew earlier.

The depth would be around 10-20 cm, with a width slightly greater than the planned width of the wall.

This shallow trench is for constructing the foundation.

The foundation requires four wooden beams for support at the four corners, making it easier to lay stones later.

At the same time, Chen Wen and Roland planned to lay the first layer with stones, then fill it with gravel and sand. If there’s clay, they can also use clay for the foundation.

Chen Wen, with a shovel in hand, buried his head in digging.

His movements were swift, and as he dug, a shallow trench gradually appeared on the ground.

Adam piled the dirt dug by Chen Wen to the side.

Roland began selecting wood, looking for suitable beams.

After a few minutes, seeing Chen Wen’s digging was slow, Roland used the wood to make a simple shovel to help Chen Wen dig ditches.

The two worked for over ten minutes and finally dug out the foundation for the first shelter.

Then they started setting up the main beams.

Roland chose woods that were free of pests and were tough.

As he set the wood up in the corners of the dug foundation, Chen Wen and Adam immediately fixed it with stones and sand.

Then the two of them tamped the soil tightly.

"Keep some space, in case Hua Yun finds clay later, we have to leave room for it."

Chen Wen reminded everyone.

Hearing this, Roland left a gap for the foundation he originally intended to seal.

The setup of the main beams went relatively smoothly.

In about ten minutes, the crew set up the main beams.

Chen Wen also started marking lines and digging for the second shelter.

They planned to dig this shelter out while waiting for Hua Yun’s return.

...

In the forest.

Hua Yun was constantly looking for traces of clay.

Clay is actually a soil composed mainly of fine clay particles with a diameter less than 0.001 mm.

This kind of soil is relatively common in the world.

In many places, if you search patiently, it’s not difficult to find.

Lake Baikal is such a place.

As Hua Yun searched continuously in the forest, soon, about half an hour from the camp, Hua Yun found clay.

The location of this clay was near a dried riverbed, considered a lowland, with very fine soil inside.

Hua Yun reached out and, with difficulty, dug some out with a dagger.

She rubbed the soil with her hand, and a hint of joy flashed in her eyes.

This is clay!

And it’s of very good quality!

After confirming the location, Hua Yun quickly started taking action.

She kept digging and soon collected a large pile, carrying the soil back to the camp with some effort.

When Hua Yun returned, Chen Wen and the others had already set up the main beams for the second shelter.

Seeing Hua Yun carrying back clay.

Chen Wen happily said, "Perfect timing for the clay, you’re back just in time!"

He helped Hua Yun unload the clay and processed it.

The processing involved adding two to three parts sand, along with some plant fibers.

Sand was easy to find, abundant around the area.

For plant fibers, Chen Wen used dried grass and other dead vegetation found nearby.

Mixing these additives and repeatedly stirring the clay until the mixture became uniform, resilient, and reached a thickness similar to thick peanut butter.

Once this step was completed, the clay could be used as cement.

Chen Wen and Roland worked together to use this clay to reinforce the foundation.

Meanwhile, Chen Wen instructed the idle Gaston to go to the clay location found by Hua Yun and continue digging for clay.

The shelter construction requires a large amount of clay.

Hua Yun, on the other hand, was responsible for finding dried vegetation.

Fortunately, being autumn, such dried vegetation was relatively easy to find.

With that, by midday, the main beams were already constructed.

Additionally, the foundation had been laid.

For the foundation, they used the method of laying a layer of stone and then adding the mixed clay to build the foundation.

Although it was a bit more complex, once the clay dried, it was incredibly solid!

Safety should never be compromised, everyone knew this well.

So, despite the fatigue, nobody had any complaints.

At noon, Chen Wen instructed the animals to go hunting and fend for their food.

Gaston took the chance to handle two dead Wolf Minks by the lakeside.

He casually tossed the inedible innards to the lakeside, where they had previously tossed them.

However, as Gaston cleaned the Wolf Minks and brought back the meat and skins, he suddenly noticed the pile of innards seemed to have diminished.

He had originally tossed the innards here for future fishing use.

But now...

Gaston circled the area several times, soon, his expression changed slightly.

He didn’t dare to linger, quickly returning to the camp.