From Robinson Crusoe

Blood soaked the soil.

The giant bear with fine teeth was still breathing heavily.

The pain had nearly rendered it unable to move, but the innate resilience of wild animals enabled it to struggle to get up and move forward.

Its lower abdomen, pierced by the spear, pressed tightly against the ground. With each step it took, the spear tip left a shallow mark on the ground.

At this moment, the giant bear couldn't tell whether the pain in its forearm, which had lost its claws, was greater than the pain in its attacked abdomen; it only knew that it had to leave this place.

……

Chen Zhou firmly grasped the axe handle with his large hand. He weighed the axe in his hand and followed the slender-toothed giant bear calmly.

The smell of blood grew stronger with each passing drop of blood.

The giant hyenas watched this scene from afar—

They have not yet harvested anything tonight, and most of the tribe members are hungry.

The largest female hyena, eager to pounce, broke away from the others and took a step toward the heavily injured bear.

Ho!
The queen hyena warned it with a hoarse growl.

The female hyena turned her head, her eyes showing little reverence.

The queen is old, and many of the decisions she makes do not suit her wishes. She believes that she should be the one to lead the tribe to glory.

There is now so much food on the grasslands that if they are more aggressive, they can obtain several times more food than before, and the strength of the tribe will increase rapidly as a result.

As if ignoring the warning from the giant hyena queen, the female hyena glanced back once and continued on her way.

It hoped to get a share of the enormous prey from the two humans.

……

Hey!
Chen Zhou was fully aware of the hyena pack's movements, but he paid no attention to them.

After dealing with the giant bear with slender teeth, he still had plenty of energy. Even without the hand axe in his hand, a mere two or three large hyenas would not be a match for him.

To his surprise, before he could react, the three little sawtooth tiger cubs that had been hiding to the side ran over.

Against the backdrop of the giant bear's massive body, they resembled tiny worms crawling on the ground, but this did not diminish their courage, or rather, the confidence that arose from witnessing Chen Zhou single-handedly inflict heavy damage on the giant bear.

With a slightly immature roar announcing his arrival, Tiger Cub charged aggressively to the side of the Slender-Toothed Giant Bear, facing the pack of hyenas, and defiantly declared to the female hyena that this was their spoils.

Following closely behind its elder brother, the other two little saw-toothed tigers also puffed out their chests and raised their heads, roaring repeatedly.

Their imposing presence made it seem as if they were already adult saw-toothed tigers capable of hunting down large hyenas.

……

This is intolerable! If the female hyena had given the queen some face and restrained its greed just now...

After being provoked by the three little creatures, it could no longer control its greed and anger.

Ignoring the advice of the other large hyenas in the pack, this enormous female hyena left the pack and walked alone towards the slender-toothed bear in the distance, baring her mouth wide.

……

"idiot!"

If the Queen Hyena were smart enough, she would definitely think this way about the female hyena.

In social animals, the leader is often determined not by size or strength, but by intelligence.

Whoever is better at commanding, better at balancing relationships among the members of the group, and more equitable in distributing spoils will earn the respect of all members.

A brute will only lead his tribe to destruction.

Even after being provoked and having her authority as leader trampled on, the Hyena Queen still considers the well-being of her people.

It used continuous roars to signal the other members to quickly stop this brainless guy.

However, the enraged female hyena was not appreciative—

The cries of the little saw-toothed tiger echoed in the distance, each one stimulating its nerves.

To drive away its pesky brethren, it even bared its teeth, showing off to the smaller, more massive male hyenas.

Seeing that this madman was determined to do his own thing, the Queen finally stopped trying to dissuade him.

It called back the other members of the pack, watching the large female hyena depart, its eyes revealing a human-like helplessness and reluctance—

The Queen Hyena is the leader of the pack and also the mother of most of its members.

This rebellious giant hyena is its offspring, and if it demonstrates sufficient qualities and can win in direct combat, it would be willing to relinquish its position.

Being the leader is glamorous, but also exhausting. It is getting older and can feel its strength declining, so it hopes that an outstanding member will take its place.

It seems likely that it will remain in this position for a few more years.

……

The giant hyena is quite intelligent, and compared to the giant bear, it is more difficult for it to be controlled by anger and thus lose its reason.

Even when provoked by the baby saw-toothed tiger, the lone female hyena did not charge directly to attack.

Because the man was still standing next to the bear.

The stench of bear blood had not yet dissipated; no one would forget how that giant beast had just fallen.

Proceeding cautiously, almost in an arc, the large female hyena awaited her opportunity.

Influenced by the little sawtooth tiger, it has lowered its expectations considerably.

It certainly couldn't take the giant bear by itself, but if it was lucky, it might be able to snatch a tiger cub, which would be a rare delicacy.

……

After several attempts, the adrenaline could no longer support the more than one-ton body. The giant bear lay on the ground in despair, watching helplessly as the tiny but powerful creature walked up to it.

The hand axe, stained with bear blood, was raised high, and a cold glint flashed in the already blurred vision of the slender-toothed giant bear.

With all his might, Chen Zhou swung his axe at the junction of the skull and cervical vertebrae of the giant bear with fine teeth.

The axe blade sliced ​​through the bear's fur like a hot knife through butter, sinking deep into its hide until it encountered hard bone, at which point it paused slightly. But its momentum was not diminished much, and it continued downward.

With a single axe stroke, the giant bear's cervical vertebrae were almost completely severed. The damaged nerve center blocked the brain from transmitting signals to the body, turning it into a helpless prey on the chopping block.

Only then did Chen Zhou release the hand axe, which was stained with bear blood and black bear fur, and turn his head to coldly stare at the approaching female hyena.

……

"Chen Zhou..."

Fighting the giant bear with slender teeth had already left Paul nearly exhausted, and then he was kicked by Chen Zhou. The fact that he was able to stand up and run away from the battlefield was entirely due to his willpower.

The grasslands at night are dangerous, and tonight is the night when all the beasts gather. Paul, whose strength is exhausted, dares not run too far.

He needed to be able to see the light of the campfire, the flickering flames providing him with a meager sense of security.

Lying on his back on the hillside, watching Chen Zhou dance on the edge of a knife, Paul's heart rate only calmed down slightly when the giant bear was pierced by a spear and fell to the ground.

Although he couldn't offer any real help, he could at least act as an observer on the mound.

Seeing that the lone hyena was approaching with ill intent, Paul gathered some strength from a distance and shouted a warning. However, it was unclear whether Chen Zhou heard him; he simply stood there, seemingly lost in thought.

"Chen Zhou!"

Paul shouted again, then forced himself to stand up and walked toward the campfire.

But before he had taken more than a few steps, he saw the huge hyena stop.

……

Unlike Paul, it was the female hyena who bore the brunt of Chen Zhou's pressure.

Once Chen Zhou's gaze locked onto it, it felt as if it had returned to its childhood—

At that time, it was playing with its companions at the foot of a high mountain near the forest when it was spotted by a powerful cave lion. If its mother and other members of the pride had not arrived in time, it would likely have been killed by the lion.

After reaching adulthood, it rarely had a similar feeling, and even when it angered a mammoth, it would not feel this powerless resistance.

Every nerve in her body seemed to be trembling; her biological instincts were frantically reminding the female hyena—

Run!

No matter how rebellious or stubborn it had been before, at this moment, it chooses to trust its instincts.

Woo~
Leaving behind a low, unwilling growl, the hyena turned and reluctantly began its journey back to its pack.

It was still more than ten meters away from Chen Zhou. In the animal's mind, there was no such thing as a long-range weapon or a throwing weapon. It already felt safe, but it did not notice the mocking smile on Chen Zhou's face.

"puff."

The spear, stained red and soaked in grease, was pulled from the body of the giant bear with fine teeth by Chen Zhou.

Not far away, the damp spear gleamed in the firelight, as if it were burning under the starry sky.

With one hand raised, Chen Zhou made a standard javelin thrower's motion, and then he began his run-up.

He leaped three steps like a spring, then released his grip, sending the spear flying. The bright sparks on the shaft disappeared into the vast night.

……

The large female hyena, running with small steps, had no idea that danger was about to fall from the sky.

In a split second, it was pierced by the spear.

However, the giant hyena's body is far less robust and heavy than that of the bear with fine teeth, and it cannot counteract the force attached to the spear after a running start.

After piercing the female hyena, the spearhead was deeply embedded in the ground, leaving less than 1 meter of the shaft exposed. The hyena was thus impaled on the remaining shaft.

The gun barrel slightly avoided the spine and pierced its rear half at an angle.

Female hyenas are the largest in their pack, and when hit, they can feel the foreign object lodged in their body and the intense pain caused by the injury to their organs.

It even had a feeling that if it tried a little harder, it could get rid of this object that had appeared out of nowhere and escape its predicament.

So the hyena howled and called for help from its pack members, while using its front legs to leap up repeatedly, like a donkey kicking up its heels, trying to free its body from the rear half of the spear shaft.

Each attempt disturbs the organs, bringing even deeper pain. Even though hyenas are not nearly as sensitive to pain as primates, this is still a terrible form of torture.

With each jump, the pain gradually intensified, becoming so intense that the giant hyena began to feel numb.

The internal organs are further damaged by the friction with the gun barrel. Even though the pain is reduced due to the brain's protective mechanism, the damage is still very real.

The female hyena found herself jumping lower and lower, and even her howls were getting softer.

It watched in despair as its familiar members left one by one, no longer heeding its pleas for help, including the Queen Hyena, its mother.

But the shadow of death has quietly enveloped it.

……

Chen Zhou has always disliked anything outside of plans, such as this giant bear with slender teeth.

It disrupted his plans and brought more trouble, such as giant hyenas and other wild beasts on the savanna that coveted the bear carcass.

Paul intended to take advantage of the chaos to collect rock salt, but due to the giant bear's sudden attack, he was nearly injured, his spear was destroyed, and he also expended a lot of energy.

Right now, it's definitely impossible to extract rock salt; we'd be lucky if we could avoid being attacked by wild animals tonight.

……

They helped the slowly walking Paul down from the mound, added some firewood to the campfire, and pulled out the spear stuck in the hyena's body.

Chen Zhou did not drag the hyena's carcass back.

Firstly, the meat of the giant bear with fine teeth was enough for him and Paul to eat.

Secondly, the smell of blood from the bear carcass was too strong, and the Giant Bear with Fine Teeth was an enormous creature, practically a mountain of flesh piled on the ground. Any predator passing by would inevitably take a second look, and scavengers would even fight to the death for this giant bear.

To distract the carnivores lurking near the mound tonight, Chen Zhou felt it was necessary to leave behind the hyena's carcass.

The campfire not far from the bear carcass will scare away some wild beasts with impure motives. Some of the more cautious beasts will then settle for the hyenas, which may bring them some peace.

……

He set up a pot, fetched some water from nearby, and heated it over the campfire. Looking at the enormous bear carcass, Chen Zhou felt a pang of regret.

He wasn't lamenting that such a magnificent creature had fallen in the prehistoric wilderness, but rather that he had poked so many holes in a perfectly good bear skin.

What pained him even more was that the place was too far from the shelter, and he and Paul desperately needed salt, so they had no time to tan the bear skin.

The fur of a whole slender-toothed bear can almost cover their wooden and stone hut. In winter, such a thick pelt covering the roof or the ground would greatly improve the house's insulation.

Chen Zhou felt it would be a waste to not be able to tan the bear skin and take it away.

"Ugh……"

With a sigh, Chen Zhou chopped off the giant bear's paw with a hand axe.

It is said that the taste of bear paws differs between the front and back, with the hind paws being smellier and the front paws being more chewy and nutritious.

However, opinions vary on which bear paw tastes better.

Some believe that when bears collect honey, their right paws are often stung by bees, which alters the texture of their meat, making it more delicious.

Some people believe that bears often lick their left forepaws during hibernation, thinning the calluses on their paws until they bleed red. The saliva moistens the paws, making the flesh of the left forepaws exceptionally tender and thus more delicious.

Chen Zhou didn't know if the giant bear with slender teeth had the habit of searching for prehistoric honey, nor did he know if the bear hibernated, or if it would get its hands covered in drool while hibernating, because he only had one choice—

Left palm.

The bear's right paw had its toes and claws chopped off, leaving it an incomplete paw.

After simply rinsing the chopped bear paw by the river, Chen Zhou figured the army pot wouldn't be big enough to fit the bear paw, so he had to use an axe to "trim" its shape, even cutting off a lot of skin and flesh around the paw, before adjusting it to fit into the army pot.

He initially considered singeing off the fur on the bear's paws, but after looking at the dimly lit campfire, he ultimately chose a more resource-intensive but simpler method—

Peel.

Despite Chen Zhou's greatly improved understanding of outdoor survival and extreme sports in recent years, he still knows very little about cooking, especially high-end ingredients like bear paws. He had no idea how to cook them, and the reason he cut off the bear paws was just because he had a whim.

After peeling off the skin, he put the bear paw directly into the stew pot, waited for the blood foam to rise, poured out the foam, rinsed it slightly, and then covered it and pressure-cooked it until it was tender.

Since there are no seasonings, as long as it's not poisonous, the taste can wait. (End of Chapter)