Live Streaming: Great Adventure in the Wilderness

An unexpected choice.

[Seriously, of all places, you just had to choose a factory, what’s the reasoning behind that, does Old Fang also want to be a factory worker?]

[Workers unite, worker soul, all workers are above others!]

[Shocking, famous live streamer actually wants to work regularly! Is it the platform’s coercion, or has the streamer’s morality degenerated?]

[What’s wrong with working? Look down on workers? 996 is a blessing (dog’s head)]

The audience chuckled, and Bi Fang coughed twice, as he unwrapped the bandages from his right hand and counter-questioned.

“If you were to find yourselves in Ruins City, what would you choose to do first?”

Run into the wilderness on your own?

Many viewers were stunned; they were used to watching live streams and had never considered such a situation. Suddenly being confronted with the question, they even felt a surge of excitement as though they were part of it.

It was as if by suggesting something, the Bi Fang visible on the screen would actually do it, giving them a sense of decision-making superiority.

[Should we start by hoarding food? Or go to the supermarket? Maybe the market?]

[I think we should find weapons first. Go to the police station? Searching for help is also an option, and if not, look for weapons there.]

[Bro, you’re ruthless. How could you think of such a thing? Fearless!]

[What’s so special about that? It’s just talk; if something really happened, I’d definitely prioritize self-preservation. There might be firearms in a police station, which would greatly increase my ability to protect myself.]

[We could also head to the hospital, hoard medicines, and maybe even strike it rich later.]

Quite a few viewers really thought this way. Just looking around at the desolation, the weeds in the corners, newspapers fluttering in the wind—it felt intensely apocalyptic. Plus, with the sky’s gloom, there was a natural greyish dark-light filter present, adding to the sense of horror, not much different from a disaster movie.

Under such circumstances, not having any tools at hand was indeed unsettling. It was somewhat different domestically; going to the police station was mostly for seeking shelter. Abroad, however, the primary intent was usually to obtain weapons.

After bandaging his right hand, Bi Fang smiled. The thoughts of his audience were not far off from his own guesses; how to survive in the apocalypse requires resources and power.

Supermarkets, hospitals, and police stations are excellent places to look, but hospitals are slightly less ideal. Those who understand know that while medicines may be even scarcer than food, they’re not easy to protect. Thus, in truth, securing them should come after obtaining weapons.

“So, these are all places we can’t go. If it was the first moment of the disaster, these places would definitely be key locations to target, akin to strategic points that armies contest over. But it’s been at least half a month since Yemen turned into this ghostly state. What you can think of, others can too—likely even more comprehensively and extensively.

Now, heading there would just be picking up scraps, and you’d likely get nothing. But factories are different. Did anyone suggest going to a factory just now? No, right? But what could one find inside a large factory?”

What could there be?

Hearing Bi Fang’s question, the viewers frowned in thought, now considering the advantages a factory might offer.

First, under normal circumstances, there would certainly be a lot of people, and where there are people, there has to be food, and also the need for order and organization…

A cafeteria and… a security office?

The quick-witted ones immediately typed this answer in the live streaming chat, enlightening others.

Damn, yeah, a large factory would definitely have a cafeteria and a security office. No need to say much about the cafeteria—it would naturally have rice and grain; the same with the security office.

It’s quite different here compared to other places; security guards have significant authority, especially in a country accustomed to war. To say that the security here doesn’t have anything equipped, nobody would believe that.

There must be some good stuff.

But half a month has passed; surely, even the slow-witted would have caught on by now, right?

Bi Fang nodded. He didn’t think highly of himself to assume he was the only intelligent one around. Certainly, others would consider heading to the factory, perhaps even the workers themselves.

“Surviving is never going to be smooth sailing; no doubt many smart people could think of this. But compared to supermarkets and police stations—the obvious choices for the average person—the possibility of finding supplies in a factory is undoubtedly higher. When has survival ever been a sure thing?

I have long said that to survive in the wilderness is to constantly choose from options that nature presents. You’re not the one setting the questions, so it’s impossible to know the answers. Therefore, you must choose the option with the highest probability of success. Moreover, we still don’t know what this factory actually produces; who knows, there might be some good things, right?”

Bi Fang leaped from the rooftop, arriving at a low-rise building. He quickly descended through the stairwell to the street level. Once there, he didn’t dare to run but cautiously searched around corners, investigating alleys before proceeding.

The incident from yesterday was a bloody lesson, indicating that Yemen hadn’t completely turned into Ghost City, but was still fraught with thugs roaming about.

Half an hour later.

A faint stench of decay assaulted Bi Fang’s nostrils, making him frown. His first reaction was the smell of rotting corpses, a inherent part of the battlefield’s harsh reality, but a closer sniff revealed it was different.

The stench of human decay is an overwhelmingly strong odor that can even induce vomiting in many seasoned forensic experts caught off-guard, and it carries a distinct, faintly sour note.

This is why in films and TV shows, when someone dies in a building, the neighbors on either side, above and below, can all smell the decay.

But the foul smell here was somewhat different, yet Bi Fang couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was.

Often, recognizing a smell doesn’t mean you know what it is. That requires long-term training.

It was not until he passed three streets and a pale green “river” appeared behind the factory that Bi Fang understood the source of the stench.

Walking along the riverbank, he saw a half-meter-thick water pipe that had long since dried out, but the viscous green material inside it was a stark reminder to everyone that the source of the river’s odor really did spread from here.

“This kind of factory wastewater must never be drunk. It’s dirtier than stagnant water in the wilderness, containing a plethora of chemical substances. Even many bacteria can’t survive in it, and drinking it is almost certain death.”

Bi Fang’s face twisted in disgust from the stench, almost wanting to vomit, but he managed to hold back.

“After being roasted by the fire yesterday and going a day without water, my throat is practically smoked dry. But the tap water in all the residential buildings has practically stopped.

Without water, without electricity, even a city is nothing but a steel jungle. What’s worse is that most urban water sources can’t be directly consumed due to various kinds of industrial pollution. The water in city rivers might even be dirtier than the stagnant water outside. Drinking water from the wilderness might at most cause diarrhea, but water here can be lethal.

Even evaporation and purification are useless. Even through distillation, toxic substances can vaporize at high temperatures and mix with the distilled water.”

Bi Fang furrowed his brows tightly. Water was indeed a big issue, and he had actually forgotten to collect some rainwater yesterday.

“Regardless, let’s go into the factory and take a look first.”

[All this talk, just to enter the factory, Dog’s head to save my life, emoji.]

[This is exactly like a post-apocalyptic crisis. It’s my first time seeing such a city, without a single person, without a sound. Reminds me of The Quiet Place.]

[Shoot a film with the location right here.]

[Movies wouldn’t dare shoot here, would they? It’s too risky, a careless move could lead to disaster.]

[They’d abduct the actress to squeeze her dry as a lady of pressure, haha.]

[So, how do we find water? There’s no tap water, aren’t we going to die of thirst? Is there any point in going in?]

“While domestic and industrial water both come from the water plant, they’re actually two separate systems. Often when the domestic water supply stops, the industrial one doesn’t. Let’s go in and see first. If there’s a water source, we might even catch some game.”

Bi Fang adjusted his mood and optimistically began searching through the factory. At the entrance, he casually picked up a piece of rebar. This was one of the advantages of urban survival—many common items could easily become makeshift weapons.

The rebar was about as thick as a little finger and over half a meter long. It appeared to have been cut, with a sharp fracture and a blob of cement attached.

He struck it hard against the wall. The cement shattered, exposing the rebar. After swinging it a couple of times, he found its weight and length to be quite suitable.

[That’s it, that’s it, the tree stick has actually upgraded to an iron stick, incredible!]

[The Artifact·Tree of Life Stick evolves, Super Artifact·Red Origin Divine Iron Stick!]

[Miying Pingzong sent a gift of Spaceship*1 to the host— I think Wolf Fang could create a special set of live-stream gifts for Master Fang, like sending tree sticks, iron sticks, silver sticks, gold sticks and the like (laugh)]

[Lecherous stick? Where’s the lecherous stick?]

While the viewers were causing a ruckus, Bi Fang approached the factory gate, noting the tightly closed iron doors with a standard lock hanging on them.

Seeing this, Bi Fang inserted the rebar and, rolling up his sleeves, grabbed both ends of the rebar. The veins popped on his muscular forearms as he twisted the rebar.

There was a screeching sound of the lock being torqued, the lock head deforming and stretching until, with a snap, it broke off!

“Squeak.”

Pushing open the gate, Bi Fang entered with a slightly labored breath, looking at the astonished viewers.

Was it really that simple to enter?

It seems, after all, that they may have learned something quite extraordinary.