From Robinson Crusoe

After walking for nearly four hours after leaving the mound, Chen Zhou found a grove of trees and stopped, seeing that Paul was too exhausted.

The three baby sawtooth tigers were initially held by them, but later, perhaps because their feet were not on the ground and they were uncomfortable, they kept struggling and were eventually put on the ground and followed the two men forward.

Compared to puppies, these three little guys are remarkably well-behaved. In the wild, they almost never bark or reveal their location.

Perhaps because they lost their mothers when they were young, witnessed the killing of their own kind, and then experienced many cruel natural laws, they matured prematurely despite their young age.

……

After clearing a clean patch of ground and laying out a deerskin rug, Chen Zhou saw Paul squatting on the ground trying to start a fire, and quickly stopped him.

With night still falling, the other two groups of challengers, lacking night vision, can only determine their location by the firelight. If they light a fire now, their whereabouts could be exposed.

There's not much time left until sunrise; now we just need to wait patiently.

Let Paul rest first, leave the three baby sawtooth tigers at the temporary camp to warn Paul, and Chen Zhou left alone, wanting to find a high and secluded place to observe the situation from a distance.

You see, although they left first, the group on the mountain and the group by the river did not retreat. They might clash, and he, the "fisherman," would benefit from their conflict.

……

Before leaving, Chen Zhou made a point of walking around the temporary encampment and even left his hand axe with Paul.

The commotion at the rock salt site may have attracted most of the wild animals in the vicinity, as the area around the temporary encampment was unusually quiet, with only a few timid herbivores active there. When they saw Chen Zhou appear, they hurriedly hid, seemingly posing no threat to Paul.

Seeing this, Chen Zhou felt relieved, picked up his spear, and turned back along the path he had come from.

……

Without Paul and the three saw-toothed tigers, Chen Zhou's speed more than doubled, and he returned to the vicinity of the mound in just over an hour.

It was part of the Mammoth Grassland, with hardly any protruding boulders or towering mountains. At most, one could climb up some large trees rooted in the grassland to get a better view.

Chen Zhou's weight always caused him considerable trouble when climbing.

Some tree species with less dense wood simply cannot withstand his weight, but it is precisely this kind of tree that grows tall.

Although those densely wooded trees could support him, they grew very slowly, making it quite difficult to find a large tree of this type.

But hard work pays off.

In the prehistoric grasslands, where there was no large-scale logging by humans, hardwoods could generally grow as long as they were not affected by insect infestations or temperature fluctuations. Many of them survived for decades, hundreds of years, or even centuries, with towering and majestic trunks.

……

By the time Chen Zhou found a suitable tree, it was already dawn.

The summer solstice has long passed, the days are getting shorter and shorter, and the nights are getting longer.

This change will continue until the winter solstice, when the day is shortest and the night is longest.

Having been in the prehistoric world for over a month, Chen Zhou could clearly feel that the time the sun spent shining on the earth each day was getting shorter and shorter.

This means that the stars are shining directly on the Northern Hemisphere, bringing less and less heat to the Earth.

With the arrival of winter, the land ruled by the long night will be plunged into a prolonged period of deep cold.

Unfortunately, the Time and Space Administration intervened, causing winter temperatures to become extreme.

He couldn't even imagine how many animals would die from the extreme cold, or how many challengers who had won the competition would be unable to adapt to the environment and would become stiff in the cold winter.

……

Lying on a thick tree branch, looking into the distance, the withered yellow grass stems and leaves seemed to be covered with a layer of white frost.

The Maoxiang Grassland already shows signs of desolation.

On this side of the mound, the campfire he and Paul had started had long since gone out due to lack of fuel.

Beside the bear carcass lying not far from the campfire, a group of large hyenas and dire wolves were facing off.

The giant hyena has a size advantage, while the dire wolf has a greater number of them.

The two sides stared at each other, and the situation remained deadlocked for a while. The dire wolf, perhaps still intimidated by the enormous size of the hyena, took the initiative to retreat and give up the bear carcass.

About 60 meters from the campfire, on the bank of a tributary of the Ider River, two female megalodon were drinking water with their heads down.

The "ancient couple" that Chen Zhou saw last night were by the river.

One of them took out his sword from his waist and was wielding it to cut the hide of the giant bear with fine teeth, shaping it into a regular square.

The other person piled up stones, set up a small pot, stuffed a lot of dry grass into the bottom of the makeshift stove made of stones, and took a fire-starting tool that was hard to tell whether it was a tinderbox or a flint and steel, and bent down under the stove to blow on it to start a fire.

The man's large bow was hanging on the rump of the female giant deer.

As the sky brightened, Chen Zhou also saw that both large antler deer had saddles made of the fur and wood of some unknown wild animal on their backs, and near the deer's rump were bundles of animal hides and some things that might be food.

It is clear that although these challengers are ancient people, they are also ancient people with rich experience in wilderness survival, and they seem to have considerable expertise in taming wild animals.

Chen Zhou's initial idea was to capture a young giant deer and raise and tame it slowly.

These two giant deer appear to be adults. To capture them alive and tame them into mounts within a little over a month must be the work of a professional.

"If only I could have them help me tame two big deer."

Watching the two men by the river chatting and laughing, quickly bending the bear skin into the shape of a saddle, then removing the original saddle and trying to fix the bear skin onto it, Chen Zhou couldn't help but think of something.

If he and Paul could have two mounts or pack animals to help carry their supplies, it would be much easier to travel to more distant places.

Unfortunately, the challenge rules stipulated that only two people could survive. If there were more, he wouldn't mind cooperating with this team of challengers.

In terms of combat, Chen Zhou was confident that, with sufficient preparation, he could handle most beasts on his own.

However, he lacked the skills to train animals or identify herbs and spices. In this situation, it would be best to have some professionals to complement him, and clearly, this team of challengers were rare talents.

Of course, besides having someone else help tame it, killing the two of them and leaving the Great Deer is also a way to obtain a mount.

To be even more ruthless, one could even kill the one who can't tame animals, leaving the one who can, torturing him and forcing him to work—that's also an option.

However, both of these methods carry risks.

Kill them, and the great deer may not obey without their master.

Forcing someone to tame a beast will inevitably result in an unstable temperament for the mount. The tamer might even have some tricks up their sleeve, and you could end up suffering a great loss because of the mount later on.

Currently, as long as neither side adopts a friendly attitude and cannot resolve issues related to challenging the rules, cooperation seems to remain an unattainable goal.

Secretly planning to get a young deer or other herbivore to raise when the opportunity arose, Chen Zhou looked up at the mountain again. After dawn, the faint light of the torches could not compete with the rising sun. Without the backdrop of night, it was impossible to see the challengers on the mountain from a distance, only a dense forest.

Looking down from the mountain towards the cliff, all that remained of last night's battle was a pile of bones.

However, such a lively scene is hard to find today, because in addition to the herd of giant deer, a group of mammoths has also arrived.

As the largest creatures on the prehistoric land, the Mammoths were undoubtedly the overlords of the plains. Upon the arrival of these behemoths, all predators carrying the scent of blood would flee in terror.

To protect their young, adult mammoths sometimes take the initiative to attack predators.

Although most of the time mammoths could not catch up with fleeing predators, once they were caught or surrounded, they had almost no chance of survival.

Mammoths may not have had a mouthful of sharp teeth, claws, or beaks, but their size and strength gave them immense killing power. Even woolly rhinoceroses or giant ground sloths, which also weighed tons, could not withstand a single kick from a mammoth, let alone other creatures.

Mammoths are the "sea-stabilizing treasures" of the grasslands, and also the protectors of many gentle herbivores that lack the ability to attack.

When they arrive, this place naturally becomes a "no-go zone" for carnivores, at least for now.

……

Seeing that the challenger riding the giant deer showed no interest in pursuing him, and with no sign of the challenger on the mountain, Chen Zhou worried that Paul was sleeping too soundly and that the three little saw-toothed tigers would not serve as a warning if a wild animal attacked. So Chen Zhou climbed down the tree and quietly left the rocky area.

He felt that it wouldn't be long before the group of challengers riding bighorn deer would continue south.

It's unlikely that the challengers on the mountain will be stationed directly near the rock face, which would give him the opportunity to collect rock salt.

At the same time, Chen Zhou also coveted the survival tools of the two groups of challengers.

Fire-starting tools and weapons were irrelevant; what he needed most was medicine, whether to treat himself or Paul. Medicine was of utmost importance.

Living in the wild every day, they came into contact with countless bacteria, viruses and parasites. Although he and Paul were very careful and rarely drank raw water or ate raw food, in such an environment, caution could not prevent them from being attacked by parasites, bacteria and viruses.

In this situation, even just getting a bottle of deworming medicine would be of great help to the two of them.

Otherwise, as the challenge progresses, it will come down to who has better physical fitness, fewer internal parasites, and more diseases.

……

When returning to the temporary encampment, Chen Zhou did not move in the same hurry as when he came.

Paul's rifle broke, and he thought he might as well find a tree nearby that was straight, tall, and of suitable thickness to make a barrel for Paul's rifle.

He also wanted to try his luck and see if he could find another salt-producing area.

Rock salt is the best choice, but salt frost is also barely edible. Before making proper preparations, Chen Zhou still doesn't want a conflict to happen too soon.

The conflict between the two groups of challengers is very different from the situation that arises when the three groups of challengers meet.

The two groups of challengers simply need to quickly engage in battle, giving it their all and using every means at their disposal to kill or severely injure their enemies.

But the three groups of challengers are much more complicated.

Anyone who makes the first move must be absolutely certain of victory.

If he fails to kill his opponent cleanly or is injured after killing him, or if he wastes too many weapons, the team that sits back and watches will benefit. They might even end the lives of both teams in the process of cleaning up the mess, becoming the biggest winner.

On the mountain, on the opposite bank, by the river.

Each of the three groups of challengers is aware of the existence of the others, which makes everyone cautious and conservative.

After all, no one wants to do the work for someone else's benefit, and Chen Zhou is no exception.

……

Trees growing on grasslands rarely have slender trunks and grow upwards.

The woodlands on the grassland are mostly sparse, with no large trees to block the sunlight. The small trees are generally used to store water or to establish a firm foundation. Chen Zhou took a detour but did not find a suitable tree to make a gun barrel. Instead, he unexpectedly encountered an old and weak antelope.

This creature had loose fur and a pair of rather straight horns on its head. There were two opposing rotating edges on the sides of the horns. One of the horns had broken off in the middle, and the other horn was not intact either, covered with bumps and scratches.

When Chen Zhou found it, it was leaning against a tree trunk, tilting its head and eating grass.

Upon seeing Chen Zhou, this strange creature, the old antelope struggled to raise its head, glanced at him, and seemed to want to escape. After chewing on the grass in its mouth, it gave up the idea and obediently stood still, allowing Chen Zhou to catch it.

The old antelope doesn't have much meat on its body, but it is relatively large, weighing about 50 kilograms. More importantly, it is captured alive and can be bled and eaten, so it tastes better than wild animals that are killed and then bled.

Not wanting to get his clothes dirty with sheep's blood, Chen Zhou twisted a straw rope to tie the sheep's hooves together, then carried the old antelope on his back, intending to take it back to the temporary encampment to kill it.

Holding onto the sheep's horns, Chen Zhou had just collected a few tough blades of dry grass, suitable for making rope, when he looked up and suddenly noticed that there was another sun in the sky.

……

From last night until this morning, the wind on the grassland has never stopped.

Even if there were a few scattered clouds in the sky, they were quickly blown away by the wind. Due to the chill of late autumn, the sky always appeared as a pale blue.

The pale sun hung in the sky, not very large, so its light did not seem very warm or intense.

When it first appeared above the horizon, it was accompanied by a waning moon and the morning star. But once it was fully up in the sky and began to shine, no other celestial bodies could be seen.

Yet, in this clear blue sky, there was an object that shone with a radiance no less than the sun, hanging high in the sky.

Chen Zhou initially thought it was some kind of weather phenomenon, like the two or even three suns in the sky that had been reported in the news.

After standing still and observing for a while, he gradually noticed that the "new sun" was descending at a slow speed, which immediately reminded him of the "airdrop supply" mentioned in the challenge rules.

"Could this sun-like light be the 'laser beacon' mentioned in the rules?"
"As expected of a civilization capable of manipulating time and space at will, your lasers are simply too exaggerated..."

Chen Zhou originally thought that the so-called beacon was at most something similar to a launched flashbang or signal flare, which could only be seen within a radius of a hundred miles at most.

Now it seems that this light can be seen not only by those within a hundred miles, but by all the challengers within the entire challenge arena, which covers a total area of ​​60 square kilometers.

Moreover, the light descends very slowly, taking at least ten days or more to reach the ground. This gives all challengers who are interested in competing for the airdrop supplies ample time, and may even attract some challengers who originally had no intention of competing to try their luck.

……

"I need to go back and inform Paul as soon as possible. The first battle for the airdrop supplies will probably be much fiercer than we imagined."

Dropping the rope, Chen Zhou tossed the old antelope onto his back, grabbed his spear, and began running towards their temporary encampment.

The beacon wasn't far from them, and if they set off immediately, they would likely be among the first to arrive.

At this moment, all the challengers who see the beacon are like athletes at the starting line of a race. The starting gun has been fired, and no matter what, they must sprint as fast as they can.

At this stage, even starting ten minutes earlier can snowball into a huge advantage. (End of Chapter)