Day Sixty-Seven, the Devastating Blow (Part Two)

Speaking of ways to start a fire, I actually have no idea why it suddenly came to mind.

I once saw a colleague do it with my own eyes. That time was because we were working overtime on a weekend, and during our lunch break, we saw an interesting experiment video on our Moments feed.

He was the kind of person who took everything extremely seriously. After watching it, he insisted on trying it out. After buying the materials from the convenience store downstairs, he gave it a shot. I didn't pay close attention to his preparation process in the beginning.

As for how long the whole thing took to set up, since I hadn't been paying much attention, I wasn't really sure—maybe thirty minutes? Maybe an hour? I couldn't say for certain.

But in the end, he excitedly called me over, and when I went to look, he had indeed managed to get the fire going.

That memory is very faint in my mind. If it hadn't suddenly surfaced just now, I probably never would have recalled it at all.

The materials weren't really that complicated. I took stock of what I had and realized I basically had everything needed. The only thing left to do was to slowly try it myself.

Inside the flashlight were three large batteries, none of which had gotten wet from the flooding. After taking one battery out, I set the rest on the table. Yes, it was one of the most essential materials for starting the fire. The second material took me a long while to figure out. My colleague had used gum wrapper foil back then, but I didn't have any of that. Eventually, though, I thought of a substitute—the foil from inside a cigarette pack!

The two were made of the same material, so my chances of success were very high. The cigarettes were all piled on the table to dry out; they hadn't gotten all that damp to begin with. I'd only opened one pack so far, and the others were still sealed. Plus, because they'd been wrapped up in the bedding, they hadn't absorbed any moisture at all.

The sun was already well past its peak, and the bedding looked just about dry. The tinder I'd gathered had long since dried out in the sun. Of course, those arm-thick branches wouldn't dry that quickly, but even if they were still a little damp, I could place them at the edge of the fire and, once they'd dried out, use them as fuel to keep the fire going...

But thinking about all that was a bit premature, since I hadn't even gotten a fire started yet. If this method worked, then starting fires would no longer be a problem from now on. At that thought, I began to feel excited all over again.

I gathered up the dried twigs, leaves, and tinder into a pile and carried them over. The critical moment had arrived. If I could make this work, then at the very least, I wouldn't have to endure the torment of darkness any longer.

The battery didn't need any preparation, but the foil from the cigarette pack did. I remembered that the middle of the foil had to be cut fairly narrow. I took the pack I'd already opened and brought it over. The cigarettes inside had gotten slightly damp, but they were dry now—though the taste probably wouldn't be as good as before.

There was a small pair of scissors on the Swiss Army knife. After measuring the battery's length, I used the scissors to cut a piece of foil from the cigarette pack. The whole piece was about two centimeters wide. Since this was an experiment after all, I deliberately cut it a bit larger.

In the middle of the foil, I used the scissors to cut away a section from both the top and bottom, leaving a strip roughly one centimeter wide in the center. The next step was the actual attempt. According to my colleague, this method worked by exploiting the battery's short-circuit effect, which would cause the middle of the foil to ignite.

Because I hadn't been particularly interested back then, I had no idea what the overall width of the foil needed to be, or how wide the middle section should be. I'd just have to keep trying.

I pressed the foil against the battery's two terminals, holding it firmly with my thumb and index finger, and waited for the middle to catch fire.

Before long, I felt my thumb and index finger gradually growing hot. My heart was pounding with anxiety at that moment—and also with fear. I was afraid my fingers would get burned by the rapidly rising temperature, and afraid the battery might explode from the short circuit, though I wasn't sure if batteries could actually explode.

Maybe ten seconds passed, and I saw white smoke rising from the middle of the foil. I was just about to cheer when it all ended...

No fire had appeared at all. The temperature coming off the battery terminals kept climbing higher and higher, but after the white smoke disappeared, nothing else happened. So I set the battery down and prepared to try again.

I'd let go at just the right time. Aside from feeling a bit hot, my fingers weren't burned. Not wanting to waste time, I got ready for a second attempt. This time, I would cut the middle of the foil even narrower. After a few snips with the scissors, I estimated the middle was now less than half a centimeter wide—that is, less than five millimeters.

This time it should work, right? I was getting excited!

I pressed my hands together, brought them to my lips, breathed a warm breath into them to give myself a bit of luck, and then picked up the battery again. The second experiment began. The modified foil was pressed on once more!

Two seconds! After just two seconds, smoke appeared!

Five seconds! Only about five seconds must have passed when I saw sparks. I was thrilled! Soon I'd be able to relight the fire!

The spark instantly burned through the narrow middle of the foil. I tried to bring the foil, still carrying a faint ember, to the tinder—but it went out before making contact... Nothing happened!

Reality was like a bucket of cold water, drenching me completely!

I'd been so confident, and now I just stood there stunned! I couldn't understand why, with what seemed like the exact same procedure, my colleague had managed to get the foil burning while I couldn't! If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would have given up entirely, or just concluded that the person in the video was an edited fake.

Luckily, I didn't completely lose my composure. After a few deep breaths, I pulled myself together and cut another piece of foil. This time, I adjusted the width again, changing it from the original two centimeters to about one and a half. Of course, these were all rough estimates—I wasn't being all that precise.

The width of the middle section I changed to about 0.7 centimeters—slightly wider than last time. I was hoping to get the foil itself to catch fire, rather than just burning through it.

This time, I was even more nervous. The consecutive failures had me worried. What if they all failed... what would I do tonight?

Worry didn't stop my movements, though. The new piece of foil was already pressed against the battery. Three seconds later, white smoke started rising from the middle. Just as I was feeling frustrated and about to toss the foil away, fire—fire! It appeared, sudden and utterly unexpected.

"Yes!" I was so excited I almost flashed a peace sign...

Of course, I didn't actually do that. I barely even noticed how scorching hot the battery was. Immediately I held the foil upright to let the flame spread, then quickly brought it over to the tinder.

"Crackle." The flammable materials I'd prepared all caught fire. I began gradually laying the smaller twigs on top. The fire was alive again. Tonight would not be a cold, dark one after all!