Live Streaming: Great Adventure in the Wilderness-Chapter 811 - 807 Golden Scorpion

In the desert, Bi Fang used a flat stone to shovel the sand and manually dug a hole at a width that fit a person, using it as his shelter for the night.

"Building a shelter, you need to avoid direct sunlight so you can rest, and also protect yourself from the wind and the cold temperatures at night."

"To conserve energy and fluids, it's best to construct your shelter during the cooler nights. Building walls with stones can keep out wind and sand, and you could use the walls of dry river beds too. But be aware of river beds that might experience sudden heavy rains or frequent intermittent flooding."

This chapt𝒆r is updated by frёewebηovel.cѳm.

"Building a tent with fabric, you should loosen and roll up the bottom edge during the day to increase air flow, and secure it with rocks at night. Don't lie directly on the hot ground. You need to raise your sleeping area so that air can circulate underneath."

"If you are a lost traveler, don't stay in vehicles or airplanes with metal exteriors. In the blazing sun, the temperatures inside can quickly become unbearable."

"But they make good materials for constructing shelters. You can support a shelter with them, build under the shade of airplane wings, or dig a large pit under a car, making full use of rock outcroppings and the cool areas in dry river beds, employing double-layer hollow methods for insulation and cooling."

"The car under the sun will heat up so much it could twist you out of shape."

"Exactly."

"The ground temperature in the Sahara must reach sixty or seventy degrees, right?"

"Frying an egg would definitely not be a problem."

Casting out a handful of fine sand from the pit, Bi Fang exhaled a breath of hot air and neatly stacked the stones on the bottom.

The sandy soil was naturally easy to dig but constructing a shelter in it posed the risk of collapsing and slipping, therefore it was essential to support it with sturdy beams.

"It could be wood or stones, as long as the structure is solid."

"Just make sure when you're moving stones not to reach directly with your hand. First, tap it with a long stick, then flip it over to avoid disturbing any small animals that might be hiding underneath."

"Many animals that live in sandy areas hide below the surface during the day because it is cool during the day and warm at night, so be careful of scorpions and such crawling onto your hands while you dig."

"The more extreme the environment, the more aggressive the creatures that live under it, as they must seek opportunities to kill in one strike; otherwise, they are very likely to die of starvation."

"There's no digging tunnels in the sandy ground—you must have supportive materials. Hey, wait... We are in luck."

While busily building his shelter for the night, Bi Fang stopped, levered a stone with a tree stick, exposing its shadow under the last rays of the evening sun.

"What happened?"

"What, what is it?"

"I bet fifty cents there's a shoe under that stone!"

The sand was a dark red, perhaps an effect of the light and shadow or maybe because the opponent was too well hidden; many people glanced over and didn't notice anything at first.

Bi Fang kneeled on the ground, propped himself up on his elbows, bringing his gaze extremely close.

At this moment, the audience all saw it clearly and were suddenly unnerved, for less than thirty centimeters in front of Bi Fang was an enormous Golden Scorpion!

Normally, the scorpions one sees are only one to two centimeters, but the one in front of him was the size of half a palm!

Its color was also very similar to the surrounding sand, almost identical, and many could not have spotted it if Bi Fang hadn't pointed it out specifically.

"We are in luck, the Israeli Golden Scorpion. This type of scorpion is semi-transparent and yellow, one of the most venomous animals in the Sahara Desert and the entire world."

"They may look small and fragile, but they are extremely dangerous. Their venom is a mixture of several neurotoxins. Although the amount of venom usually isn't enough to kill an adult, it's absolutely lethal for children and the elderly."

"Interestingly, this guy's venom is very valuable. One gallon, which is about four liters, is worth around 40 million Ugly Gold, which is nearly 300 million Huaxia currency. It contains Scorpion Chlorotoxin, a component that helps in developing new medications for treating brain and spinal cancer cells."

[???]

[Damn, that's expensive?]

[That price is a bit outrageous, isn't it?]

[Is it still possible to start farming them now?]

[Wishful thinking, if it were that easy, why hasn't anyone gotten rich from it?]

"Indeed, one gallon, four liters. First of all, the process of obtaining the venom isn't easy, and each Golden Scorpion can only produce a maximum of two milligrams at a time. That means you'd need to extract venom 2.64 million times to possibly collect one gallon of venom."

[That settles it then.]

[Better stick to an honest job.]

Bi Fang carefully observed the Golden Scorpion, gesturing with his finger.

"The male Golden Scorpions usually measure seven to eight centimeters, while females are a bit larger, about eight to ten centimeters. This one in front of us is likely a female, given its size."

Bi Fang pulled out a dagger, flipped the scorpion over, and pressed down on it, then looked at its abdomen to confirm his judgement.

"The abdomen of a scorpion has a pair of feather-like segmented organs. Males have more, females less. We can identify their sex by counting the number of segments on their abdomen."

"Also, there are other indicators like the ratio of the trunk width to the tail segment width—males are less than 2, females more than 2; limb length—males have short, toothy limbs; females have long, smooth limbs; and finally the hardness of the reproductive cover plate—males are hard, females are soft."

[Useless knowledge increased]

[I bet fifty cents this will be Master Fang's dinner tonight.]

[I bet one yuan he'll let it go because it's a protected species.]

[I'll add a pack of spicy strips to the bet!]

[Stay away from gambling, cherish life.]

"Ha ha ha, someone guessed right. It is indeed going to be my dinner. This critter is widely distributed. Just from its name, the Israeli Golden Scorpion, an Asian name, yet it's found all over Africa."

"However, it's very quick and aggressive, so if you're not familiar with its attack methods and behaviors, I suggest using a long iron clamp for capture, just to be safe."

"After all, even if you're a well-built adult male, a bite is likely not fatal, but coupled with the Sahara environment, that likelihood becomes a certainty."

Under the shining silver dagger, the Golden Scorpion struggled continuously, its golden claws clasping the blade, its long tail piercing swiftly through the air, all in vain.

"Scorpion venom is a protein, which only needs high heat to denature and deactivate, so if we roast it over a fire, it will definitely be a delicacy."

"Although Golden Scorpions are solitary and each digs its own burrow, they often congregate in one area, each digging a hole. We can look around some more, maybe we'll find a few more."

As the evening grew darker, Bi Fang dug up his dinner for the evening.