From Robinson Crusoe

Wangshan is a dead horse.

The beacon remained suspended in the distant sky, descending at an almost imperceptible slow pace.

Its light does not grow brighter the closer you get to it, nor does it dim the farther away you are; it is as if it does not exist in the real world, but rather in the human mind.

……

Chen Zhou and Paul's group headed straight for the beacon, having traveled for more than ten days since the Battle of Mammoth.

For the first few days, the two of them basically marched at a forced pace, and on the day they trekked the farthest, they traveled more than 50 kilometers.

Chen Zhou's body was still able to hold up after the day's walk, but Paul was completely exhausted. The next day, the distance he covered was drastically reduced, and he only walked 20 kilometers.

After Paul recovered, Chen Zhou proactively adjusted the pace of his advance, maintaining it at around 30 kilometers per day.

Even so, the cumulative distance over ten days is nearly 400 kilometers.

The two had even left the Mammoth Grassland and entered a flatter, more barren tundra, but the beacon in the sky still seemed so far away.

Chen Zhou sometimes wondered if this was some kind of perverse quirk of the Time and Space Administration, using a bizarre weather phenomenon to toy with all the challengers.

But he dared not gamble and could only continue forward until he could see for certain what was hidden under the glow or touch the airdropped supplies before he would stop.

……

In high-latitude regions, the summer heat is not gradually carried away by the coolness of autumn like in mid-latitude regions; instead, it disappears overnight.

When the wild grass on the grassland grows to its tallest point, it completes its reproduction through a year of growth and decay, and after a short flowering period, it sends off the seeds that represent the hope of reproduction, and then the desolate yellow sweeps across the land.

The temperature dropped day by day, and before the first snow had even fallen, the open fields were already covered in white in the early morning—

That was frost on the grass blades, a sign of the harsh winter.

A long and cruel winter is coming.

……

Another morning dawned, and when Chen Zhou woke up, he saw Paul shivering by the campfire—

The clothes he wore when he arrived were autumn clothes, which were not very windproof and not warm enough. In addition, the forced march during this period had greatly depleted Paul's fat reserves, and the monotonous diet had also caused both of them to suffer from some malnutrition.

Today, Paul has visibly lost a lot of weight. If it weren't for the unkempt beard on his chin that made his head look even bigger and also covered his neck, you could probably see his distinct jawline.

The high-latitude regions during the Ice Age were much colder than Siberia in later times, and even Paul, a Slav, found it difficult to endure.

After keeping watch for most of the night, Paul was exhausted both physically and mentally, making him look particularly weary. His eyelids drooped down, and he glanced at Chen Zhou before asking a question.

What time do we leave today?

"Let's not leave today, let's rest for a day. We need to get some animal hides to sew over our coats. Judging from the temperature, it might snow in a few days."

Frowning, Chen Zhou glanced at the sky.

The sun had just risen, but the sky was gray and hazy. If it weren't for the beacon shining in the sky, the earth would probably not be so bright at this time.

Having grown up in the north, he naturally knew that this kind of weather was not a good omen; it was a common sight before snowfall.

"In addition, we need to find some edible plants to supplement our vitamins, and we also need to find a way to hunt a few fat enough animals to supplement our fat intake."

Otherwise, not only you, but even I wouldn't be able to keep going.

Along with his robust physique comes a high energy expenditure. Even though Chen Zhou's digestive system can utilize the same food more efficiently, you can't cook without rice. Some nutrients cannot be conjured up by the body's organs without being ingested.

He's currently craving carbohydrates and fats, especially carbohydrates—

For nearly half a month, he had barely consumed any carbohydrates or any food that could be converted into sugar. Looking at the vast tundra, he missed the pine nuts stored in the shelter.

"I wonder how the shelter is doing."

The wind has been getting stronger lately, and by the time we return, it will probably be snowing. I don't know if we'll still be able to climb the mountain and find our shelter then.

Cursing the Time and Space Administration in his heart, Chen Zhou sat up from the deerskin blanket, and the three saw-toothed tigers lying next to him immediately stood up.

……

The limits of an organism are not so much related to whether it works hard; in fact, genes are the root cause of everything.

In less than half a month, with an ample supply of meat, the serrated tiger cubs grew rapidly, like they were being inflated. Now they weigh about 40 pounds, and their teeth and claws have become quite powerful.

Large dogs of the same age are probably not even half the size and strength of a sawtooth tiger.

Living and interacting with humans day and night, the growing tiger cubs seem to have forgotten what their kind looks like. During the day, they follow Chen Zhou and Paul northward, and at night they accompany Chen Zhou or Paul as "self-heating pillows".

The increasingly cold high-latitude climate makes humans uncomfortable, but it is a paradise for these big cats.

Furthermore, the cubs of the serrated tiger haven't yet shed their baby fur. Compared to the adult serrated tiger's double-layered fur, their baby fur is denser and has a stronger ability to retain heat. Of course, this is based on the premise of abundant food.

……

Among the three little sawtooth tigers, Tiger Cub is the tallest and the most robust. Perhaps this is a case of being fast at one step and fast at the next. As a child, he ate more than his two younger brothers, and as he grew up, this gap only widened and never narrowed.

The second tiger cub was about the same size as the third tiger cub, but the three saw-toothed tigers had very different personalities.

Although Tiger Cub is the largest in size, he appears to become more and more composed as he grows up.

It is very smart. It can learn the commands that Chen Zhou and Paul teach it after only three to five repetitions. It is also very obedient. Except for sometimes disobeying orders in order to fight for food, it usually does not show any willful behavior.

As for Tiger Two, although it can learn commands, it is not very obedient. When it is in a good mood, it will be more obedient, and after hearing the command, it will hesitate for a while before doing it. When it is in a bad mood, it always does whatever it wants.

When taking it hunting in the wild, if it hadn't had enough fun after the hunt and didn't want to go home, no matter how many times Paul called it, it wouldn't work. Chen Zhou had to put on a stern face and call it in an angry tone before it would "give him some face" and reluctantly run back.

Compared to his two older brothers, Tiger Three is more moderate in personality. He is neither as obedient nor as rebellious. He is just not very smart and learns everything very slowly, but once he learns something, he is more obedient than Tiger One.

Of the three saw-toothed tigers, the most favored was undoubtedly the eldest tiger cub, who was large and handsome, followed by the second tiger cub.

Outsiders dislike "bratty kids," but in the eyes of doting elders, their liveliness and cheerfulness have a unique charm. While Tiger Two's stubbornness can be a headache, it is also much more affectionate than its older and younger brothers when it comes to being lovable. It especially likes to stick close to Paul, making low growls like a cow, and then using its big paws to hug Paul's thighs and forcefully bury its head between Paul's legs.

It was only because Paul was tall and much heavier than the average person that he was able to fall backwards when this guy nudged him.

……

Humans' regular lifestyles have long enabled the clever sawtooth tiger to master their daily routines.

Seeing Chen Zhou get up, the three little ones all perked up—

If Chen Zhou and Paul are both awake, they can go out and play together, and playing means there will be food to eat. It's the time when they're growing, and the little guys can eat a lot.

Tiger Boy opened his mouth and greeted Paul in a sneezing sound. He walked to the campfire, glanced at the cooking pot on the ground, and obediently lay down on the ground.

Tiger Two rushed to Paul's side and buried itself in his arms. After Paul petted it a couple of times, it suddenly rolled over and exposed its belly, as if asking for more affection.

Before Paul could even touch its belly, it leaped up as if it had a spring attached to it and started running wildly around the temporary encampment.

……

"That wild boy."

Chen Zhou shook his head helplessly, rolled up the deerskin blanket, and then began to check the equipment.

The spearhead that Kunu had made was only recently remade using a suitable wooden stick.

From the grasslands to the tundra, you can hardly see any trees taller than 1 meter along the way, so finding this stick was really not easy.

Compared to the previous spear, this new spear was of inferior quality. After all, there were neither sturdy enough wooden clubs nor time to tan animal hide straps, so Chen Zhou rarely used the new spear when hunting, and even less so bow and arrows.

His strength was so great that he could shoot through medium-sized prey, and the long arrow that pierced through the prey's body would stick into the soil. Sometimes, if he was unlucky, the arrow would collide head-on with a rock buried underground.

Although the brown-armored men's bows and arrows were of quite good quality, they couldn't withstand such abuse.

Every arrow in the quiver was incredibly precious. Chen Zhou didn't want to waste any on hunting, so he only used a bow and arrow once, and once he had a firm grasp of the feel for it, he stopped using it.

If the hunting distance was far, he would bring three saw-toothed tigers to surround the prey, allowing the tigers to create enough pressure to force it to move closer to him.

Once he gets close enough, he can choose to finish off his prey with a kunai or a stone blade with its edge sharpened.

When hunting slower, clumsy prey, he would simply pull out his hand axe.

Food is scarce in the tundra region, and large carnivores are basically not found here. Wielding a sharp axe, he is practically invincible. As long as the prey cannot escape, it has no chance of escaping his clutches in close combat.

……

After checking the equipment, Chen Zhou and Paul went their separate ways as usual.

As the three serrated tiger cubs grew up, they gradually demonstrated their role as fierce beasts.

Although they cannot speak and cannot learn the hunting skills of the sawtooth tiger tribe due to the lack of a mother to lead them, human wisdom can make up for many of their shortcomings by following humans.

Often, the hunting process did not require the involvement of the sawtooth tiger; they were only responsible for finding the prey, and humans could then deal with it.

Of course, there are occasional situations where the prey is too agile to catch. In those cases, the sawtooth tiger can also help. Even just standing in the prey's escape route and roaring can startle the prey and increase the probability of it being killed.

……

Chen Zhou has strong individual combat capabilities. When he goes out, he brings the Sawtooth Tiger along not to find a helper, but simply to wear down the little guy's energy.

Paul relied quite heavily on the three-headed saw-toothed tiger. When he went out with the tiger, his hunting efficiency would always increase significantly. He was also the one who was willing to spend time and energy training the tiger.

Because Paul has always given instructions in Russian, the sawtooth tigers can only understand Russian now, and they always look confused when Chen Zhou occasionally speaks Chinese.

However, Chen Zhou didn't care about these things. His feelings for the saw-toothed tigers were not mixed with the emotions of a hunter towards his hunting dogs. He simply regarded these three little guys as pets or special companions.

……

For this trip, Chen Zhou chose Tiger Three, while Paul brought Tiger Big and Tiger Two.

The two men, one heading south and the other north, one carrying a long spear and the other a wooden lance, ventured deep into the tundra in search of prey.

The tundra has less variation in terrain than the grassland. The ground is covered with gray-green moss, and beneath the moss is either glacial soil or hard rock. The plant species are very limited, with almost no other plants besides moss and lichen.

Here, every so often you'll see reflective water and low shrubs growing along the water's edge; Chen Zhou and Paul relied on these shrubs for fuel to start their fire.

One type of small tree with needle-like leaves has extremely strong roots and is particularly resistant to burning, with a burning time that even exceeds that of low-quality lignite.

Every time the two saw this tree, they would uproot it, cut off its branches, and carry the roots with them.

This is similar to coal, a specialty of the tundra. When fuel is scarce, it must be stored in reserve, otherwise it will not be able to supply the fuel for the campfire, and the nights on the tundra will be too unbearable.

Not only are the plants on the tundra limited, but the animals are also few in number. The largest of these are the mammoth and the giant deer, while the most common are a type of rodent the size of a palm.

Interspersed among the several-ton mammoths and rodents weighing less than a kilogram were a few small to medium-sized animals, which were Chen Zhou and Paul's main food source.

It's not that Chen Zhou and Paul are unable to hunt giant deer, but rather that giant deer are extremely rare.

After traveling for more than ten days, the two of them only saw deer herds twice, both times while traveling and at great distances, so they didn't have the time or energy to get close enough to hunt them.

If they were on the Mammoth Grassland, with its diverse and abundant animal fauna, the two of them could easily find something by simply going out for a stroll, instead of splitting up like they are now.

……

As the main hunter among the two, Chen Zhou naturally had to shoulder more responsibility; Paul went south, while he went north.

The further north you go, the more desolate and cold it becomes, and the fewer animals there are. If Paul goes north, he will almost always return empty-handed. Only his keen senses allow him to catch the slightest clues left by northern prey and thus complete the hunt.

Carrying his spear, Chen Zhou walked ahead, occasionally turning back to look at Tiger Three-Wa.

The little guy was as well-behaved as ever, never running off, always following closely behind him, never showing excessive excitement, and never getting distracted by the rodents on the tundra to sneak away.

It's always so easy to have it by my side; despite its young age, it's incredibly well-behaved. (End of Chapter)