From Robinson Crusoe

"Heh, little thing~"

Seeing the fierce look on the little saw-toothed tiger's face, Paul's face was full of smiles. He squatted down and tried to grab the little saw-toothed tiger by the scruff of its neck.

The little guy is still nursing, but he is a wild animal after all. He has never seen a human since he was a baby. Although he is still nursing, he is already very ferocious.

The foremost saw-toothed tiger cub was the largest of the four. When Paul approached it, it took a step back without hesitation and then opened its mouth to bite Paul's hand.

Unfortunately, it was still nursing and hadn't lost its baby teeth yet. So when it bit Paul's big, hairy hand, it didn't hurt or itch at all. Instead of driving Paul away, it gave Paul the opportunity to get closer and pick it up.

"Awoo~ Awoo~ Awoo..."

Kicking its legs, the little saw-toothed tiger howled unwillingly, calling for its mother.

Of the other three sawtooth tiger cubs, two of the bolder ones stood at the entrance of the cave, looking eager to help but hesitant to actually do so.

The last little saw-toothed tiger's courage was proportional to its size. As soon as Chen Zhou and his companion arrived, it kept trying to crawl into the cave. When Paul picked up a saw-toothed tiger and made it cry out, the little guy panicked even more and ran straight into the depths of the cave without even looking back.

"This little thing is really strong!"

Paul twisted the little saw-toothed tiger in his hand into a spinning top. Looking at the tiger's thick limbs and dense fur, he couldn't help but sigh, his eyes revealing an undisguised fondness.

He was born in eastern Soviet Union and grew up in a small town next to a primeval forest.

The Soviet Union had very lenient laws regarding the keeping of wild animals. After the economic boom, due to the vast land area and sparse population of the Soviet Union, land was cheap, and many wealthy people built large villas in the countryside and then purchased and adopted wild animals as exotic pets.

Although Paul's family was not wealthy, they had a unique geographical advantage: his grandfather had raised a Siberian tiger when he was a child.

Unfortunately, Siberian tigers do not live as long as humans. Paul did not have much contact with the Siberian tiger for long before the old tiger died. Not long after, his grandfather also passed away.

During his later years, Paul had contact with domesticated brown bears, black bears, Siberian tigers, Amur leopards, and lynxes.

Influenced by his childhood experiences, he has an extraordinary fondness for large wild animals.

Before embarking on this challenge, when asked what he would like to do after successfully completing it, Paul felt that he would definitely open a private zoo and keep all his favorite animals there, so that he could be with them and interact with them closely every day.

For him, that was an incredibly happy thing.

Seeing these four saw-toothed tigers who had lost their parents, Paul felt both sorry for them and found them adorable, and he couldn't move his legs.

Paul forcibly held the sawtooth tiger cub in his arms, ignoring its protests as he rubbed the little guy's head. He then cautiously glanced at Chen Zhou and tentatively asked.

"Can we keep them? I think it would be very helpful if we could raise them."

After saying that, fearing that Chen Zhou might disagree, he added:
"Sawtooth tigers are social animals, naturally possessing sociality, and they are also physically robust and have a certain level of intelligence."

I think setting aside some food to raise them is a very cost-effective thing to do; they can also help in future conflicts with other challengers.

……

The captured tiger cub was still howling. After listening to Paul's words, Chen Zhou remained silent for a moment, and finally shook his head.

"No, our current goal is to find a place to build a shelter as soon as possible, then prepare to fight for the first airdropped supplies, and at the same time prepare to get through the long winter."

During this process, we might not even be able to keep enough food for ourselves, let alone feed these guys.

It takes at least a year and a half for a sawtooth tiger to grow from weaning to adulthood. Even if you don't wait until they are adults, it will take seven or eight months to raise them to a fighting age. During this process, they are simply machines that consume food and energy.

Even if we can provide them with the food they need, what about their training? Shouldn't we also make time for that?
Who can guarantee that they can be trained to be as obedient as dogs, to understand commands and obey discipline? Large herbivores, even if poorly trained, can at least carry some heavy loads. Can they be used as working dogs? Can they be used as cattle or horses?

If the cost-effectiveness is low in all aspects, why should I agree to keep them? Just because they're small and cute?

Chen Zhou spoke fluent Russian and asked several questions in a row, leaving Paul speechless. He stood there dumbfounded, holding the tiger cub.

The tiger cub in her arms must have been exhausted from struggling. Seeing that it couldn't break free from the monster's control no matter what it did, it could only relax its body and wait for its mother to rescue it.

The young sawtooth tiger was in the prime of its growth, and its energy was far less than that of an adult. After its symbolic resistance failed, it felt no pain, and nestled in Paul's arms, it only felt warmth and was overcome with sleepiness.

Before long, the carefree sawtooth tiger cub actually fell asleep.

The three-headed saw-toothed tiger seemed to have specially fed the little guy before going out hunting. Its little belly, covered with white and creamy yellow fur, rose and fell as it breathed, making it look even more round and cute.

Looking down at the little one in his arms, Paul wanted to refute, but then he felt that what Chen Zhou said made sense.

Moreover, he had promised Chen Zhou when the challenge first began—

"The next steps will be arranged by Chen Zhou."

Chen Zhou hasn't made any irrational decisions, nor has he caused them any losses. On the contrary, he stepped forward to save Chen Zhou's life in the face of the cave hyena's danger. Therefore, he shouldn't continue to insist on his own ideas, both morally and logically.

"But I think that if we take on more pressure to raise them, we will have a greater advantage when facing other challengers in the future."

Aside from us, no one else would keep predatory animals as helpers.

Even if someone were to raise them, they wouldn't choose large carnivores like the sawtooth tiger; at most, they would keep a few cave hyenas.

Moreover, even if they wanted to raise them, they probably couldn't find a tiger cub that was in its infancy, weaned, and of the right age to be domesticated and ready to eat meat. I think this is a rare opportunity.

Regarding the food issue you mentioned, I think it's only difficult to solve in the early stages. Once they grow up and can cooperate to hunt according to our instructions, we will obtain food several times faster than others, and there will be no shortage of food at all.

Furthermore, the challenge rules also state that special species from other continents have been added to the challenge area. These animals increase the biodiversity in the challenge area, making it easier to obtain food.

Therefore, no matter how I look at it, I think taming a saw-toothed tiger is a more suitable choice..."

As Paul spoke, he noticed Chen Zhou's face growing increasingly gloomy, so he wisely shut his mouth, waiting for Chen Zhou to reject his proposal.

"I admit there's some merit to your suggestion; if sawtooth tigers can be tamed, they could indeed be helpful to our challenges once they grow up."

But are you overlooking a problem? How much pressure do these seemingly insignificant initial problems add to our lives, and who should bear that pressure?

You?

If you can guarantee that you can find enough food to take care of these four tiger cubs without affecting my plans, then I have no objection.

If you try to shift the pressure onto me based on your own preferences, and make me and you jointly responsible for your personal ideas, then I'm sorry, I strongly oppose it.

That's my opinion. I won't force you to do anything, but I won't support anything I think is irrational. What you do next is up to you.

After saying this, Chen Zhou left Paul behind and headed towards higher ground.

He hoped that Paul would not act impulsively and would make a wise decision.

He didn't think it was wrong to keep animals, but rather that keeping a carnivore like a sawtooth tiger would be too stressful.

After all, the mountains here are covered with grass and trees, so herbivores can easily find food. All you need to do is graze them. Even if you don't graze them, you can take them with you when you go out to explore every day. Eating some flowers and grass along the way can meet the energy needs of herbivores.

But carnivores are different.

Meat doesn't grow on the ground; to obtain food, one must dedicate time and energy, while also bearing the risk of battling other wild beasts to complete the hunt.

Even the entire Sawtooth Tiger family fell apart because of this risk, let alone just two of them.

Other challengers are probably busy preparing to scramble for supplies or build sufficiently sturdy semi-permanent shelters. Even the "cowards" who don't want to fight are probably stockpiling food.

Every second is crucial at this time, and we cannot afford to waste it on a few cubs.

……

As Chen Zhou's figure gradually disappeared behind the tree trunk, Paul looked at the sleeping tiger cub in his arms, gritted his teeth, squatted down, and picked up the other two tiger cubs from the entrance of the burrow, covering them with his coat.

Three saw-toothed tigers gathered together. Those who were sleeping naturally couldn't sleep, and those who were awake also felt crowded. They rolled around and bit each other, fighting in a chaotic mess.

Paul adjusted his overcoat to prevent the tiger cubs from escaping, then rolled up his sleeves, squatted down in front of the burrow, and prepared to catch the last tiger cub.

Paul was tall, and his arms were also very long.

Unfortunately, the burrow was far deeper than his arm could carry, and the last tiger cub was much more timid than its brothers and sisters. After burrowing into the burrow, it hid in the innermost part and refused to come out, no matter what Paul tried.

Helpless, Paul had no choice but to abandon the tiger cub, wrap the other three cubs in his clothes, and follow Chen Zhou up the mountain.

As a challenger handpicked by the empire and a soldier who has completed brutal training, he has his own pride, and having made his choice, he will not hold anyone back.

Whenever he had the time and opportunity, he would hunt any herbivores he could see and feed their meat to the three little ones until they showed a tendency to go out hunting and successfully completed a hunt.

Now that things have developed to this point, it's hard for Paul to say whether his stubborn insistence on feeding the tiger cubs was due to personal preference, or because he genuinely felt that raising tigers was more beneficial than harmful, or perhaps it was also mixed with a sense of spite.

In short, he quickened his pace and caught up with Chen Zhou, who was ahead, leading the three little saw-toothed tigers huddled together.

As for the last one remaining in the cave, Paul could only silently wish it good luck.

Cruel nature will not spare the little guy's life just because he is cute or pitiful.

Without the protection of its parents and without any adult members of its tribe, the little creature would soon starve to death, or it might be spotted by other wild beasts passing by, dug out of its burrow, and eaten.

That was its choice, and its destiny. Paul knew that the three sawtooth tiger cubs in his arms were the same.

They are temporarily separated, seemingly on different paths, but their destinations may be the same.

……

Before sunset, Chen Zhou still hadn't found a suitable place with a good view to build a shelter.

However, as he approached the summit, the trees there were far thicker than those in the woodlands on the grassland. He was lucky enough to find a large, fallen tree whose trunk formed an angle with the ground, which he could use to support his branches and build a simple hut.

Moreover, there is a stream formed by melting snow near the fallen tree, making it easy to get water.

As dusk approached, Chen Zhou selected several dead trees in the forest to use as fuel, and broke off some thick branches to build a makeshift shelter on the fallen tree trunks.

Before long, he had also prepared the fire pit he had dug in the ground and the materials for starting a fire by friction.

As Chen Zhou was rubbing a stick to start a fire, he saw Paul walking over.

From a distance, he could smell the scent of the cub trapped in Paul's clothes, but he said nothing.

Paul was his partner, but also an independent person. He respected Paul's choices, and at the same time, he was confident in himself.

It's highly unlikely that Paul could raise these three cubs on his own. The amount of meat they need would be enough to keep him busy, and it's only a matter of time before they starve or freeze to death.

Once Paul realizes that things are not going to work, he will definitely get back on the right track and work with him to defeat the other challengers.

Without speaking to Paul, Chen Zhou focused on starting a fire.

Paul felt a pang of guilt for breaking his initial agreement. He walked to the fallen tree, placed the serrated tiger cubs wrapped in his clothes on the ground, and then broke off some branches to build a makeshift fence around the cubs to prevent them from climbing away.

Looking at the sky, which wasn't quite dark yet, Paul walked over to Chen Zhou and handed him a fire starter, alcohol, and other survival tools.

"I'm entrusting all my survival tools to you. This was my fault. Please take care of them. I will prepare food for them."

After saying that, Paul picked up the two spears and walked down the mountain.

Chen Zhou watched him leave, looked at the survival tools around him, then at the serrated tiger cubs lying haphazardly in the makeshift fence, and shook his head helplessly.

He simply couldn't understand why this Soviet man was so stubborn about this matter. (End of Chapter)