Live Streaming: Great Adventure in the Wilderness

The skyscrapers in the business district appeared from afar like square cages woven out of light, beyond which lay a vast lake. Adjacent to the lake, the elevated road was bustling with cars, their headlights merging into a flowing river of light.

In front of the floor-to-ceiling window, Matthew felt that every point of light in this flow was a living firefly, trapped within the curving, slender elevated road, compelled to rush forward in search of an exit.

He wondered where his own exit was and thought of the struggling goose.

After watching Bi Fang’s live broadcast in the afternoon, Matthew’s mind was filled with the impulse to embark on an adventure in Nature, much like intestines writhing in pain during a bout of roundworm infection, unstoppable once it begins to hurt.

Gazing down at the city beneath his feet, Matthew took a deep breath and, observing the city under the night sky as if standing on a cliff, felt both perilous and light, like a bird that had flown high on the wind.

Here he was free, casually savoring the changing scents of wind, daylight, and the shifting seasons in the city, sometimes its iris flowers, sometimes leaves, and sometimes the sweet fragrance of oranges being sold in the street below.

But it always seemed like something was missing. Matthew recalled the time he was a war correspondent; every day was a heart-pounding experience, his first act upon waking was to touch his chest just to make sure his flesh was still pulsating with life. Despite the danger, he could clearly feel that he was alive.

Now, it was work, clock in, work, clock in—life was like stagnant water, utterly waveless.

The emptiness inside him felt as if tapping on his chest would produce a hollow sound.

“Hurry, hurry, you lazy bums! We are the most professional newspaper, I want to see all the papers printed before dawn tonight, and then have them appear on every newsstand’s doorstep!”

Fitz adjusted his tie, came up next to Matthew, and together they admired the night view, “Matthew, you are truly a genius. No one understands the news better than you, this is definitely the most touching news this month. It has already been pushed online, and the print version is also being rush-printed. It’ll be delivered to everyone’s homes first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Fitz, I want to quit.”

“WHAT?”

Fitz thought he might have been overworked; something must be wrong with his ears, or maybe the person in front of him was not Matthew but some alien in human skin.

“I said I want to quit.”

Now Fitz was sure he had heard correctly, and he stared in astonishment, “Are you sick or something? What kind of joke is this? Look at you, you’ve achieved success and fame, and now you’re talking about quitting? I’m sorry, but if you’re serious, Matthew, then I suggest you see a doctor!”

“I was just saying,” Matthew laughed, “Maybe by tomorrow morning I’ll have forgotten all about this.”

“I hope so.”

On the elevated road, a car drove out of the exit and slowly stopped beside the lake.

Johnny opened the car door, stepped out, and lit a cigarette, then shouted to his colleague in the passenger seat, “You drive, I’m going to get some sleep.”

Andrew had been driving all day, exhausted in both body and mind, but he coughed twice as he looked at Johnny surrounded by smoke.

“I think, let’s just drop it. If we go back now and tell them we got the report wrong and grant their permit, they won’t pursue this any further. It’s just a bunch of birds, let them relocate.”

Andrew had warned Johnny when he’d wanted to fudge the report; it wasn’t the first time Johnny had done such a thing, but no one had expected things to blow up to this extent, becoming almost public knowledge.

In the past, even if they used fake reports to deceive, no one would make a fuss, and there were actually people who believed their tests were substandard and willingly paid for a satisfactory report.

Over time, no one felt uncomfortable about it, but this time the issue had become a major problem, and not only could Johnny be in trouble, but even Andrew might not be able to extricate himself so easily.

As an inspection agency exposed for issuing false reports, nobody dared to imagine the consequences. Even Johnny’s father couldn’t shield him; it was certain he would end up inside.

Johnny did not respond, and the cigarette visibly shortened in his hand, a faint glow emanating from within the dark interior of the car.

Seeing that Johnny offered no reply, Andrew began to grumble, “I warned you before that this wasn’t good, but you never listened. If you had listened to me back then…”

“Enough!” Johnny roared, the long ash breaking off and scattering across the carpet, “If I tell you to drive, just fucking drive!”

“Do you think you’d be fine if I’m screwed? Don’t be naive! None of you will get away with it. What you need to do now is drive, just drive, drive! Then go after them, catch them, and execute those damn geese with a gun!”

Johnny finished the cigarette in one drag, flicked the butt onto the car mat, and stomped it out viciously.

Andrew’s fingers turned white on the steering wheel. Without a word, he twisted the key to start the engine, turned the car around, and drove back onto the elevated road.

Like fireflies, they strained forwards, searching for an exit.

…

[Can stars measure latitude and longitude?]

[Is this for real? So exaggerated? Observing the stars at night, a modern Zhuge Liang?]

[Amazing, it’s late at night, how can a stick cast a shadow when it’s stuck in the ground?]

“It’s not about using shadows. Have you heard of a sextant? It’s an optical instrument used to measure the angle between two distant objects, a principle first proposed by Newton.”

“In the wild, we can make a simple sextant to measure latitude and longitude. We only need a clear night to see Polaris, a piece of paper, a string, and a small stone.”

Bi Fang secured the airplane’s crossbar and began to operate. First, he took out a sheet of paper and drew a quarter circle with a pen as the radius at one corner. Then, he carefully tore along the edge to obtain a quarter-circle paper piece.

After that, Bi Fang carefully marked the scale on it, bisecting the center to indicate forty-five degrees.

“The accuracy of the scale markings relates to the precision of the sextant; the higher the accuracy, the more precise our positioning. Here, we can use the bisection method and then gradually mark the other scales.”

Once he finished marking the scale, Bi Fang pulled out a small stone from nowhere, tied one end of the string around it, and anchored the other end at the center of the circle.

“We let the arc of the circle hang down naturally, use the weight of the stone to stretch the string straight, align it with the numbers marked on the scale, and then align the center of the circle and the mother line on the edge to form a straight line. This straight line’s end should align with Polaris.”

Bi Fang aligned with Polaris, letting the stone hang naturally, and the taut string fell neatly on a scale.

Following his line of sight, the audience could see from the edge of the circle piece, following this straight line, the very top was the shining Polaris.

“At this moment, the celestial height and the latitude of your location are actually determined. Remember, only Polaris can be used. You can’t calculate latitude using the sun with this method because the sun’s height changes with the seasons. Having the celestial height and latitude, the method for finding longitude is just as I described earlier, very simple.”

Bi Fang knew this method had errors, but it was sufficient to determine the general direction; he would at least not fly out of Denmark.

[Incredibly… simple?]

[Holy shit, why does this feel familiar? It reminds me of that scene from a Stallone prison break movie, where he also made a sextant.]

[I know that one, Escape Plan!]

[Isn’t it different, though? I feel like Old Fang’s method seems simpler, and it doesn’t even require a mirror.]

Seeing the comments from netizens, Bi Fang was startled—this world also had that movie?

He had seen that movie too. It told the story of Stallone, a master of prison escapes, who was framed and then broke out. He remembered it well: “That’s right, the principles are similar, but movies are always just movies.”

In the movie, the prison Stallone was locked in was a moving cruise ship, and to find out his location so someone could meet him, he made a DIY sextant and had another inmate measure the data on deck, from which they calculated the longitude and latitude.

“In the movie, the protractor, like mine, was drawn by hand, but his sextant used the reflection of two plane mirrors to superimpose the image of the star with the image of the sea level. Not to mention where the plane mirrors came from, the bigger issue is, the mirrors in the movie were made from glasses!”

“Without reflective coating, let alone being flat, all connections would end up shaky. Even if they were tight, they hadn’t been calibrated before use. Also, one would need to see the sea level, could the Arab in that kind of well-like place see the sea level?”

“Moreover, Nogo even asked if it was the Southern Hemisphere or the Northern Hemisphere, which is quite redundant. As I just said, you can’t see Polaris from the south. However, the movie’s method of determining hemispheres by observing water vortexes was quite interesting.”

[Damn, impressive!]

[Just keep bragging. If you’re so good, why don’t you do it? What? You’re Master Fang? Then no worries.]

[I strongly suggest that directors of these kinds of movies should hire Master Fang as a consultant. That’s a true survival master!]

[I think Master Fang could make his own movie… handsome and fierce?]

[Why make a movie? I feel like I’m already watching one.]

[What if you have nothing on hand?]

“It’s no problem if you have nothing.”

A master is distinguished by doing what others cannot. If you don’t have paper and pen, you should at least have hands, right?

If you don’t even have hands, Bi Fang had to say frankly, it would be difficult for him to survive in the wilderness as well. It would be better to dig a hole and then call it a night.

Bi Fang extended a hand, stretching it as far as he could, extending the index finger: “An amateur astronomer can easily measure celestial heights with fingers, knuckles, and the palm, with accuracy I estimate to be about the same as the simple sextant in the movie.”

“First, we stretch our arm out as far as possible, index finger pointing out, the width of the fingertip is 1 degree, hook the index finger, the widths of the three knuckles are 2, 3, and 5 degrees respectively, make a fist with the palm, with the thumb not tightly held, the width of the fist is about 10 degrees, make the fist with the thumb held tight, the width is about 8 degrees, make a ‘6’ gesture with the hand, the width from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the little finger is about 20 degrees.”

“Using this method, you can also measure latitude. The accuracy may vary from person to person, but it’s simple and convenient, with an error of about five percent.”