From Robinson Crusoe

Without containers, boiling water using only puddles and heated stones is time-consuming and laborious.

While waiting, Chen Zhou had to constantly use a long wooden stick to remove the cooled stones and then add new ones.

Paul, holding a wooden spear, squatted by the river, spearing fish.

Freshwater fish rarely carry toxins. For example, poisonous fish such as yellow catfish, tilapia, and mandarin fish have toxins mostly distributed in the spines on their backs. In addition to the spines, catfish also have toxins in their eggs and internal organs. There is basically only one type of fish like pufferfish that carries toxins all over its body.

Although neither of them was familiar with prehistoric fish, they were able to identify which modern fish they were ancestors of by observing their physical characteristics, thus avoiding consuming poisonous parts.

When eating fish and shrimp on the island, Chen Zhou was extremely cautious due to his unfamiliarity with seafood and lack of biological knowledge. He even bred a batch of rats specifically for testing the food.

Now he is much more experienced. At least he knows to avoid potentially poisonous parts such as thorns, internal organs, and fish eggs. After not eating these parts, he heats the fish meat again. The high temperature will break down the poisonous substances in the fish, so it is safe to eat.

In cold regions, not only are the animals large, but even the fish in the rivers are exceptionally plump.

They had no idea what a spear was. Seeing shadows moving back and forth on the river, they mistook them for insects or birds that had accidentally fallen into the water, and rushed towards them. As you can imagine, they were all impaled through the heart by Paul.

……

Until Paul caught five large fish that were over 30cm long, the water in the puddle hadn't boiled; it had just become unusually warm, about 80 degrees Celsius to the touch.

They gathered some more firewood to replenish the fuel in the campfire, and Chen Zhou and Paul began processing the fish they had caught.

A military knife can't do two jobs. Paul used a rock pulled from a pit to gut and scale the fish, while Chen Zhou's method was even more brutal—

He simply peeled off the fish skin, which, although it resulted in the loss of some fat, solved the fish scale problem once and for all.

After processing the fish's exterior, the two removed its head and tail, then cut the middle into small pieces that could be pierced with twigs, and hung it over the campfire to roast slowly.

Fish meat has a high fat content, and it smells delicious when grilled. Moreover, the rivers in the prehistoric world have never been polluted by modern industry, so they don't have a strange gasoline or plastic taste when grilled.

Although the lack of seasoning makes the flavor seem rather bland, its umami and texture are in no way inferior to any modern dish.

……

The water in the pit didn't boil until they had eaten all five large fish.

They picked a few larger blades of grass from the riverbank, rolled them into a tube, and while the water was still warm, Chen Zhou and Paul drank most of the water in the pit. Then they opened the fish bladder, filled it with the remaining water, and finally sealed it with a thin thread.

They still had a long way to go, and they might not be able to find a water source along the way. They had finally managed to boil some water, and they couldn't afford to waste a single drop.

If Chen Zhou hadn't forgotten to preserve the cave hyena's bladder when dissecting it last night, he might have even used it as a water container.

After the meal, Paul disinfected his wounds again by the river, while Chen Zhou selected suitable stones to make his stone hammer.

When binding the stones to the sticks with river willow, Chen Zhou didn't forget to bundle some of the flexible willow twigs together and save them—

On the way, he could weave simple protective gear for Paul as they went. Even if it couldn't be made into an impenetrable suit of armor, a thin, simple protective net would be enough to block most of the damage.

If Paul had worn a rattan brace around his waist last night when he defended himself against the cave hyenas, he might not have been injured at all, and he wouldn't have had to use up the precious alcohol for disinfection.

……

By the time Paul had put his clothes back on, Chen Zhou's stone hammer was finished.

Because the willow twigs were untreated and lacked flexibility, he did not select overly heavy stones when making the stone hammers, so as not to increase the probability of the willow twigs breaking and shorten their lifespan.

The top of the stone hammer weighs only about 5 kilograms, and the handle is short enough for Chen Zhou to tuck into his waistband. He can pull it out at any time to strike the enemy head-on. Combined with the wooden spear that can be used at both close and long range, and his superb physical fitness, he is barely considered fully armed and can easily deal with ordinary beasts.

……

They wanted to continue forward, but the river blocked their way. They had no tools to cross the river and no time or energy to cut down trees. Chen Zhou and Paul had no choice but to either swim across the river or continue exploring on this side.

Looking upstream along the water, you can see the terrain gradually rising in the distance, with a majestic mountain standing tall amidst a sparse coniferous forest. The mountaintop is covered with snow and looks quite similar to Changbai Mountain.

The river wasn't particularly swift, but it was exceptionally cold. If he were alone, Chen Zhou could swim across.

However, Paul's old wounds had not yet healed, and Chen Zhou was worried that the wounds might get infected if he swam across the river and got wet. So Chen Zhou decided to be more cautious and walk upstream along the riverbank to see if he could find a narrower channel to cross the river without getting wet.

He was certain that there was a narrow river channel upstream because the river appeared to be formed by melting snow. Melted snow from various parts of the mountains turned into streams that flowed from all directions to the source of the great river. The closer one got to the source, the fewer streams there were, and the smaller the water flow became.

It's easier said than done. If you were to actually start from here and trace the source, you probably wouldn't be able to get there without traveling dozens or even hundreds of kilometers.

Chen Zhou could only pray that he would encounter a deep ravine along the way to contain the river and narrow the river channel, or that he would get lucky and happen to find a fallen tree lying across the river to serve as a natural bridge.

……

As the sun rose, the earth gradually warmed up after the long journey.

The dew from the night was evaporated by the rising sun, filling the mountains with a humid and hot atmosphere.

The water in the fish bladder was quickly consumed by Chen Zhou and Paul, and as they continued to move forward along the river, they did not find any clean water source such as a natural spring.

The sweltering environment fueled Chen Zhou's growing desire to seize the survival items from the other challengers.

He firmly believed that the other challengers possessed survival tools such as kettles, salt, and even cooking pots, and that if he could acquire these tools, his and Paul's quality of life would undergo a qualitative leap.

Otherwise, if he were to always boil stones to make water, even if he were very patient, he would really not be able to tolerate the repetition and waste of time.

Moreover, water and food are essential resources for survival, and in addition to survival, they also face fierce competition from other challengers.

Time is limited. If you spend it on manufacturing survival resources, you will fall behind in other aspects and may even miss the opportunity to receive supplies from airdrops.

Upon reflection, this challenge was unfair to him from the very beginning.

The other challengers all had survival tools, but he was the only one wearing a full protective suit, which was understandable.

Unfortunately, Paul's survival tools were quite useless.

A multi-tool knife is quite useful, and rubbing alcohol can be a lifesaver.

A fire starter can be used to start a fire by rubbing sticks together, and a compass used for determining direction is even less useful than a fire starter.

Not to mention Chen Zhou, even Paul, a semi-professional soldier who had undergone training, could accurately find the cardinal directions.

Besides, this is a survival challenge, not Bear Grylls' battle against the wilderness. If you find the right direction and walk blindly, you'll never find your way back to a populated area. Giving you a compass is useless except for taking up a survival tool slot. As for the needle and thread, they're not very useful either. The most useful thing Chen Zhou can think of is bending the needle into a fishhook and using the thread as a fishing line to fish for food.

However, in such a race against time, he simply couldn't afford to wait for the fish to bite; it would be faster and more convenient to go into the water and spear the fish with a wooden spear.

Their group of challengers already had far fewer survival tools than the others, and some of the few tools they did have were substandard, so it's no wonder Chen Zhou was furious.

He remained silent, simply clearing the way ahead, while Paul, standing beside him, was unaware of Chen Zhou's thoughts—

The protective suit was draped over Paul's shoulders. Even now, he naively believed that Chen Zhou's survival tool was this protective suit. Little did he know that the two of them were using the same set of survival tools, while his "good older brother" was plotting against someone else.

……

Perhaps because they disliked the scorching midday sun, Chen Zhou and Paul saw very few animals in the forest as they walked up the mountain; only noisy insects chirped incessantly.

Besides the tall, cold-resistant pines and cypresses, there are also clumps of low shrubs in the forest, with fruit growing on their branches.

However, it was not yet late autumn, and the small berries, which looked like jade beads, were still greenish on the surface. They were hard to the touch and looked unripe and tart.

However, some of the fruits were already ripe, with a purplish-black surface. Birds would occasionally fall from the trees and peck at the fruits while standing on the bushes.

Paul was quite curious about this, and without caring whether it was poisonous or not, he picked a handful of small fruits and put them in his mouth.

"Ouch, that's so sour!"

After just one chew, the bursting juice of the fruit stimulated Paul's mouth to produce a large amount of saliva.

His face involuntarily scrunched up as he tried to describe the taste of this unknown berry to Chen Zhou—

Chen Zhou barely spoke during the journey, and this serious atmosphere lacking communication made Paul feel extremely bored.

However, before he could even start a conversation about berries, Chen Zhou suddenly stopped and reached out to stop Paul, signaling him to be quiet.

"How……"

Paul was about to ask what was going on when his gaze followed the direction Chen Zhou was pointing with his other hand, and the words he was about to say caught in his throat—

From the high slope where they were, the drop in elevation formed a not-so-wide ravine. The river had long since washed away the soil on the surface of the ravine, revealing the dark blue-green rocks.

On the riverbanks on both sides of the rocks, where soil is scarce, grow many stubborn trees. They take root firmly in the crevices of the rocks, absorbing nutrients from the soil while stretching their branches upwards to compete for sunlight.

Beneath a large, crooked tree, as thick as two people could hug, a fearsome beast was feeding on the tender leaves high up on the branches.

Standing upright, it is over 6 meters tall, with strong limbs. It stands stably using its hind legs and tail to form a tripod-like structure, while extending its front claws with hooks to grab branches so that it can eat more comfortably.

It was a giant ground sloth.

During the Pleistocene, it was widely distributed across South America and was the largest animal in the entire continent.

Now, affected by the Time and Space Administration, it has come to this unfamiliar place and is helplessly searching for food that suits its taste among the unfamiliar vegetation covering the mountains.

These behemoths can weigh up to 4 tons when fully grown. Although they are herbivores, the giant ground sloth's cheek muscles are exceptionally well-developed due to its long-term chewing of hard, woody food. A bite from one of these muscles is as painful as being crushed by hydraulic shears, capable of breaking bones. Coupled with their size, comparable to that of an Asian elephant, and their formidable fighting ability, most predators dare not provoke them.

However, their invincibility after adulthood does not mean they can intimidate all wild beasts.

If they are hungry enough, even if they are smaller, wild beasts will dare to "challenge" giant ground sloths.

Of course, they weren't challenging adult giant ground sloths, but rather juvenile giant ground sloths.

……

Giant ground sloths are typically diurnal and live in groups.

Although the female giant ground sloth feeding down the mountain had few companions, she was accompanied by a male giant ground sloth, while a semi-adult giant ground sloth, which had grown to 2.5 meters tall, was imitating its mother's feeding behavior a little further away.

While the female giant ground sloth is focused on gathering tender branches, the male giant ground sloth sits under a large tree by the river, dozing off in a daze.

Having been in this new area for a short time, these enormous creatures had not yet encountered any significant threats, and this tranquil environment gave the giant ground sloths the illusion that "this place is safe."

After all, they have no natural enemies in South America, and this outdated information lulls them into a false sense of security, making them complacent.

But in reality, there are quite a few wild beasts that dare to take such risks.

Especially in this vast wilderness where mammoths roam, fearless warriors are not uncommon.

Compared to the mammoth, which weighs eight or nine tons, the giant ground sloth is only larger in size; in terms of intimidation, it is far less imposing than the mammoth.

Standing on high ground, Chen Zhou and Paul could clearly see three "big cats" crouching low in the bushes not far from the river, slowly moving forward step by step.

The big cat's fur color is similar to the grass color in summer and autumn, and the fur on its back is a mixture of dark brown and withered yellow, with round spots distributed on it, which helps it to hide.

Their physique differs greatly from modern felines, with a higher front and lower back, and a short, thick tail, quite similar to cave hyenas. Their head outline resembles both a lion and a tiger, and the front of their tightly closed mouths reveals only a small portion of their sharp teeth, indicating that two terrifying weapons are hidden inside their massive jaws.

This is a small group of sawtooth tigers.

They resemble a fusion of the genera Panthera, Spotted Hyena, and Cheetah, with a more robust build than lions, exceptional endurance, and formidable strength, making them arguably the least feline of all felines.

The serrated tiger evolved this unique body structure for only one purpose—

Hunting large animals.

Chen Zhou recalled that his paleontologist friend had told him that a large number of juvenile Columbia mammoth carcasses had also been found at the site where the Sawtooth tiger fossils were discovered, providing ample evidence that the Sawtooth tigers, adapted to the frigid climate, once hunted mammoths in groups.

They are clearly very experienced in dealing with large prey.

Now, the giant ground sloth family has become their target.

Sadly, the baby giant ground sloth and its parents were clearly unaware of the potential danger and were still foraging near the shallow water.

The three-headed saw-toothed tiger was gradually closing in.

After they had mostly left the bushes that were used to conceal their bodies, Chen Zhou was able to identify the male and female of the sawtooth tigers.

The three-headed saw-toothed tiger was led by an adult male, followed by an adult female and a sub-adult female. The sub-adult appeared to be nursing, with a swollen lower abdomen that somewhat hampered her movement. (End of Chapter)