From Robinson Crusoe

Chapter 190 Cautious or Risky?
The third-anniversary rewards were divided into two piles.

On one side are massive building materials piled up like small mountains, and on the other side are small items of medium size.

Several of them were small gifts packaged in corrugated cardboard boxes.

Like the previous two anniversary gift packages, these small gifts were not industrial waste like electronic wooden fish or anal plugs. Even if they were cheap, they were still very useful to Chen Zhou.

There were two bags of seeds, one bag of tomato seeds and one bag of carrot seeds.

There were several large and heavy pieces of stained glass and several galvanized sand screens with different apertures, which seemed to be used to help him sift river sand and assist in the construction of reinforced concrete buildings.

There was also a pair of mechanical watches—something Chen Zhou had been longing for day and night.

The mechanical watch looks like a high-quality replica made in some workshops in the south. It looks very exquisite, but it's placed in a transparent plastic bag, which doesn't match the style of the dial and hands.

Wearing them on your wrist, you can feel their heavy weight and the cool sensation of the metal.

With the watch, Chen Zhou could calculate time more accurately.

Unfortunately, the time on these two watches was inaccurate, which prevented him from accurately determining the exact time on the island based on the time displayed on the dial.

Therefore, he could only wait until noon to set his watch to 12 o'clock and then use this vague time to establish the time for the next twenty years.

Of course, if he wanted a more precise time, he could also study the nautical instruments he had taken from the first mate's and captain's cabins and use them to calculate his latitude and longitude and which time zone he was in.

But Chen Zhou believes there is no need for this.

……

After unpacking the small gift bag, Chen Zhou arrived at the center of the rewards on the other side, where two large items, which looked like some kind of machinery, were wrapped in a waterproof cloth.

Having already sensed the special nature of this reward from the piles of building materials, and with a slightly excited heart, he unveiled the mystery of the items under the waterproof tarpaulin.

The nearest tarpaulin covered a rusty old machine tool that looked like an antique pulled from a military museum, with a rather unique design.

Chen Zhou observed the machine tool's mechanism for a while, personally wiping away the red rust, before finally figuring out its purpose.

This is not a machine tool that ordinary machinists can access.

It was a Swiss-made machine tool provided to China by the Great Britain (the United States) in the mid-20th century, during the Anti-Japanese War. It was a semi-automatic machine tool specifically designed for manufacturing bullets for the Chiang Kai-shek rifle and Czech light machine guns.

Despite its rust and nearly 100-year-old age, this is a genuine military-grade machine tool.

It has the capability to stamp copper plates into cartridge cases, machine bullets, and precisely drill primers.

It can be said that with this, along with the explosives manufacturing manual, all that is needed is enough brass to mass-produce bullets of the late 20th century level.

……

Standing in front of the machine tool, Chen Zhou felt a mix of joy and unease.

He felt that the mystery reward was not "random".

It's possible that the first Peppa Pig phone case reward in the first year was completely random, or perhaps it was just the Bureau's twisted sense of humor.

But since then, the rewards have become more and more in line with his needs.

In particular, he achieved basic self-sufficiency and began to look forward to the addition of labor, building larger and more comfortable shelters, and beginning to live the life of a farmer.

"This script, which is called a survival reality show, is getting more and more out of hand."

Stroking the mottled surface of the machine tool, Chen Zhou maintained a joyful expression, but his heart gradually calmed down. He began to recall the contents of previous rewards and wondered when the rewards had become increasingly "generous".

"The anniversary gift package is obviously no problem."

That box mainly contained tools for improving the quality of life.

For example, there were fire starters, soap, powerful flashlights, books teaching how to weave, and some seasonings. "Then, it seems that ever since I became dissatisfied with the status quo, started eyeing the natives, and began working towards that goal, the rewards started to go wrong."

"In March 1661, I received my first weapon of death, a spear."

Also in March, after finishing the 'Pure Blue Hell' puzzle, I received a box of TNT...

"This is just the beginning, until the second anniversary reward arrives."

The rewards I received on Sunday and Saturday, before they landed on the island, were almost blatant encouragement for me to attack the natives, indirectly helping me complete my adventurous mission.

The gift pack contained only six or seven rewards in total, including two weapons: nunchucks and arrows.

If it's random, the weapon selection rate is far too high.

"After I successfully rescued and tamed the natives, and began to focus on improving firearms, a mysterious reward delivered the crucial seamless steel pipe..."

Thinking about this, Chen Zhou felt he had grasped the pattern of the mysterious reward and the underlying logic—

As the sole protagonist of this "reality show," his direction influences the likelihood of the mysterious reward content.

From the initial Peppa Pig phone case to the subsequent "just right" or "timely" rewards.

Now, the "special compensation" that has been "upgraded" step by step is all designed to enable him to achieve his goals through methods that are ahead of their time, even when resources and equipment are scarce.

Throughout this process, the reward distributors have been fanning the flames, using seemingly random rewards to indirectly amplify the effect.

The real purpose of this powerful force, comparable to Aladdin's lamp, is certainly not to help him realize his dreams and live a better life, but to obtain better program effects.

Adventure represents the coexistence of risk and reward.

He could defeat the natives time and time again, or he might stumble and die in the challenge.

Either of these outcomes is more exciting than simply farming, herding, and building houses...

……

Thinking about this, Chen Zhou tried to put himself in the shoes of those "invisible spectators" to understand their thoughts.

In reality shows like "survival in extreme environments," the survivors that viewers love are the ones who can single-handedly kill a musk ox, fight a black bear, or trap and kill a wolverine.

Participants who rely on starvation to deplete their stored fat and endure a long period of time, even if they win, seem unworthy of the title.

The management bureau made no attempt to conceal the patterns in reward distribution, seemingly telling him—

By choosing to take risks, you will receive powerful assistance time and time again.

If you can keep winning, you will gain unimaginable wealth.

Choose the safe path, and phone cases and electronic wooden fish will return to your prize pool. At best, you can only get more seeds, become a promising farmer, or herd more goats.

……

As his thoughts raced through his mind, Chen Zhou's lips gradually curled into a smile, like a lovesick man encountering his ideal woman.

His fingers gently traced the surface of the bullet stamping machine, and he already had his answer.

"If it were me three years ago, I would definitely have chosen the safer option of getting 72."

'Oh, what's more important than your life?'

But right now all I want to say is—

Let the storm rage on!

(End of this chapter)