From Robinson Crusoe

Although the beacon's light was growing dimmer, it was getting closer and closer to the ground.

For Chen Zhou, the biggest challenge now is time.

In less than two days, he had to retrieve the bow and arrows, move Paul, scout the enemy situation, and deal with any possible emergencies.

Paul's knee injury was manageable, but Tiger Three's spinal injury required a splint for immobilization, which was only a temporary measure and could not achieve the same level of immobilization as professional medical equipment. Extreme care had to be taken during transport, otherwise the injury could be aggravated. All of these were extremely time-consuming tasks.

……

Running through the forest while planning the shortest route, Chen Zhou quickly arrived at the spot where he had dropped the longbow.

Fortunately, it seemed no challengers passed by, and the longbow and quiver remained untouched.

After taking the bow and arrow, Chen Zhou carefully cleaned up the traces left by his battle with the man in black, took the empty casing of the smoke bomb he had used, and tried to rub away the bloodstains with soil.

He doesn't know if anyone saw the destruction caused by these battles; he can only try to fix things after the damage has happened.

After all, challengers entering the Black Forest will certainly not share information with each other. They will try to deceive as many as possible. Details determine success or failure, and even such small things require attention.

……

Without sparing any effort and barely stopping, Chen Zhou rushed to the edge of the Black Forest after clearing the battlefield.

After nightfall, the other challengers who had arrived at the supply landing center were all preparing to rest and adjust their condition in order to participate in the fierce supply battle that would follow.

The darkness was their obstacle, but it was Chen Zhou's protective shield.

Climbing up the tree and looking down from above, Chen Zhou was the first to find the group of challengers whose companions had been killed by the man in black robes, leaving only one survivor.

His campfire was located directly below the cliff face, far from the Black Forest, and also quite a distance from another full-strength group. It seemed he wasn't planning on fighting for supplies, and might try to climb the cliff at dawn tomorrow and head south alone.

With his companion dead, all this man could get were a few tools for survival.

But the difficulties to come would be far more than a few survival tools could solve. Having witnessed this man's skill in chasing the man in black, Chen Zhou had already sentenced him to death in his mind.

Even without his intervention, this person will not last long when the harsh winter arrives. He may not survive until the temperature drops to its lowest point before he starves to death due to food shortages or freezes to death in the biting cold wind.

……

Chen Zhou's gaze swept over the "lone wolf" below the cliff, and then over the heads of the full-strength team that had lit a campfire at the edge of the Black Forest on the other side. He noticed two more clusters of firelight in the darkness.

One of the campfires was on the cliff, but it was some distance from the edge, so he couldn't see how many people were around it.

Another campfire was on the other side, quite far away. Similar to the lone wolf, the firelight was also below the cliff. Because it was so far away, the specific situation was not clear.

……

"With these two groups of challengers, there are now a total of six groups of people near the Black Forest."

There were 50 groups of people in the challenge. Excluding the group I had previously eliminated and the group of Jianghu Erren, more than one-tenth of them were attracted by the airdrop supplies.

The beacon will be lowered soon, and it seems these are the only competitors who can get there in time.

When the challenge had just begun, Chen Zhou guessed that there would definitely be a "turtle party" who wanted to avoid the battle and not participate in the fierce competition.

It now appears that there are more "turtle party" members than he anticipated.

If there are still challengers who are too far away and are still on their way, or who give up halfway, the number of people vying for the first airdrop supply will still be less than ten groups. In other words, a full four-fifths of the people will be huddled in some corner waiting to outlast the others.

Shaking his head, Chen Zhou couldn't help but chuckle as he thought about it.

If the Time and Space Administration really wanted to determine the winner in this way, why would they put all the challengers in the same space?

Just follow the example of "Challenge Robinson Crusoe" and put everyone on the same starting line, letting them play a "single-player game".

"It seems some people think too highly of the Time and Space Administration. If they really cared about human lives, my partner in the Island Challenge would be Robinson Crusoe."

Since there is such a thing as 'airdrop supplies', it is impossible to survive to the end without relying on it.

Just like the mysterious rewards in the Island Challenge, if it weren't for the blind boxes that come every 15 days, I probably would have gone crazy or died long ago..."

Realizing that most of the challengers were naive, Chen Zhou felt more at ease.

Since someone hasn't even grasped the rules and thinks their vitality and survival skills in the wild are greater than the temperature of minus 65 degrees Celsius, then there's nothing more to say.

Whether these people are driven by confidence or by a fear of facing other challengers and death, it doesn't matter.

By voluntarily giving up this supply run, they had already lost more than half the battle. Unless they could be aggressive enough in the next supply battle and emerge victorious, Chen Zhou's snowball would only grow larger and larger until it accumulated into a decisive advantage.

Yes, having observed this far, and knowing that no one else besides himself and Paul has ventured deep into the Black Forest, Chen Zhou is now confident of victory.

His plan proved to be correct; a rapid advance to gain a competitive edge was a wise choice.

As of now, these guys still loitering on the outskirts only know that a man in black robes has entered the forest, and they don't even know about his and Paul's existence, which has created a huge information gap.

……

Having determined that the other challengers could at most reach the edge of the Black Forest, Chen Zhou returned directly to the forest.

In a single day, Paul had a brush with death with the three-headed saw-toothed tiger, leaving him extremely exhausted both physically and mentally.

When Chen Zhou returned to the pit, Paul was already yawning from the campfire. If it weren't for the pain in his legs, he probably would have fallen asleep in the warm, shallow pit long ago.

As for the three-headed saw-toothed tiger, it seemed to have forgotten the fierce battle that had taken place during the day.

Tiger Big Brother and Tiger Little Brother were injured, but it did not affect their eating; they just had some difficulty moving around.

The two little ones, carefree and oblivious, were already fast asleep by the campfire.

Tiger Cub was paralyzed from the waist down. After managing to eat some food, its condition improved slightly. When Chen Zhou squatted down next to the black-robed man to look at it, it had already fallen asleep.

Unable to move, Tiger Three could only relieve itself on the black robe. Chen Zhou noticed that it urinated but did not defecate, and worried that Tiger Three might have a problem with its bowel function, so he silently kept this in mind.

If Tiger Three still hasn't defecated by tomorrow morning, he'll have to try manual assistance.

Otherwise, if he only eats but doesn't poop, Tiger Cub will suffocate to death in just a few days.

Our greatest hope now is that the airdropped supplies are about to arrive, and we must make sure Tiger Three holds out until he gets them.

If they're lucky, there might be a regeneration capsule-like drug inside, and that little guy could be saved.

The black robe, soaked by urine, was carefully lifted out by Chen Zhou, who laid it flat on the ground and began to dry the robe.

Only then did Paul regain some of his composure. He leaned on his cane and shakily stood up, his face flushed and his whole being unusually excited, whether from the heat of the fire or something else.

"Chen Zhou?"

He struck up a conversation with Chen Zhou and asked, "Have you noticed anything strange about this place?"

Something's not right?

With his mind preoccupied with securing supplies, Chen Zhou remained on edge. Upon hearing this, he assumed there was some danger nearby and drew his long sword with a clang, his face full of vigilance.

Seeing his tense expression, Paul realized that his suspense was a bit inappropriate, so he quickly explained that there was no danger and pointed to the campfire.

"Look here!"

Paul reminded Chen Zhou that there were several pieces of red-hot coal in the campfire.

While cooking the camel in the afternoon, Paul tried adding some coal to the fire to see if it could serve as fuel.

The result was quite disappointing. The coal was only slightly more flammable than ordinary stone. Only the outermost layer had any combustible value. In the end, it was basically just burning wood. Expecting it to be used as fuel was simply a pipe dream.

Although not entirely satisfactory, this result was within Chen Zhou and Paul's expectations.

If the entire Black Forest were made of combustible coal, what would be the point of the final, severe cold? Sitting in this vast coal mine, digging a tunnel and burning coal 24 hours a day, what threat could minus 65 degrees Celsius, or even lower temperatures, pose?

The fact that the place was full of petrified wood that could not be burned or substandard coal made the challengers despair and rendered it useless.

Chen Zhou had assumed the entire Black Forest was full of useless waste rock, but Paul had unexpectedly found combustible coal, and judging from how it burned in the campfire, its quality was probably not bad.

……

"How about it?"

Paul was somewhat smug. He waved his hand axe and pointed to a damaged rock wall in the crater.

"I found it here."

As he spoke, he squatted down with difficulty, knocked down another piece of coal from above, and handed it to Chen Zhou.

Taking the coal and examining it closely against the rock face, Chen Zhou discovered several shiny black "impurities" mixed in with a piece of petrified wood. These impurities were the already formed coal.

Unfortunately, the total amount of coal is not large, and it only floats on the surface. Even if it were all knocked down, it would probably only weigh a dozen kilograms at most.

This amount isn't even enough to last a day when it's coldest.

However, the key to discovering coal is not the coal itself, but the signals it conveys—

Since it's here, it must be found elsewhere in the forest. By piecing it together, we might be able to get a few hundred kilograms of coal.

Coal burns at a higher temperature than wood, especially this kind of shiny black coal.

With these, you can try firing some pottery, mud bricks, or other ceramic products.

The shelter is currently only missing a pottery stove. Chen Zhou had been considering building a small charcoal kiln to produce charcoal, but he had to put the idea on hold due to time constraints.

Now that he has found natural coal, his mind has become much more active.

Even if the entire forest only has a dozen or so kilograms of coal, it wouldn't be a problem to fire a pottery stove.

He was no longer the naive young man who first arrived on the isolated island.

After years of experience, he is now proficient in all kinds of manual work, such as carpentry, blacksmithing, bricklaying, pottery making, and basket weaving. Although he can't make anything particularly high-end, it is not difficult for him to make a usable pottery kiln in one go.

Moreover, even if coal is not used to manufacture anything, it is still a valuable resource simply for use as fuel.

Chen Zhou had seen winters with temperatures as low as minus thirty-five degrees Celsius; that was bone-chilling cold.

Before the effects of global warming became particularly noticeable, he stayed at his maternal grandmother's house to attend primary school. In winter, when a white blizzard blew, even the donkeys pulling carts would shiver from the cold. He wore thick cotton trousers, his whole body wrapped up like a ball, but when the wind blew, it felt as if he were naked, his entire chest icy cold.

In those days, Mongolians loved to drink alcohol, and it was common for them to freeze to death on the grasslands while wearing "Dadele" (a type of sheepskin garment).

However, even when it gets that cold, it rarely gets close to minus forty degrees Celsius. He couldn't even imagine what a winter of minus sixty-five degrees Celsius would be like, where even steel would probably freeze brittle.

In such a cold winter, fuel is always better the more you have, especially high-calorific-value coal, which is a real treasure.

The only problem is how to find usable coal as quickly as possible, how to get it up the cliff after mining it, and how to bring it back to the shelter.

Dragging hundreds of kilograms of stuff for hundreds of kilometers is no easy task.

……

The thought that he would not only have to focus on securing supplies, but also find coal and figure out how to transport it made even someone as confident as Chen Zhou feel overwhelmed.

He wished he could split himself into three: one to mine coal, one to gather intelligence, and one to set traps at the airdrop resupply landing point.

"Ah~"

With a sigh, Chen Zhou placed the coal on the ground, took the hand axe from Paul, and began to chip away at all the usable coal pieces.

"You should rest for a while. I'm not sleeping tonight."

About four hours later, I will take you to the edge of the other side of the Black Forest and find a safe and secluded place where you can recover from your injuries.

I'm about 70% confident I can get the airdrop supplies myself. If I can't, I'll meet up with you as soon as possible, and then we'll leave together.

Seeing that Paul opened his mouth as if he wanted to refuse, Chen Zhou quickly interrupted him.

"Your presence here won't help me much; it will only weaken my fighting ability."

Keep my distance, let me fight alone, so I can fight without restraint.

With this sword and this armor, no one can stop me, don't worry.

Besides, there are three others who need looking after, and I don't have time, so I'll leave this task to you.

Paul looked at his legs, which were secured to the deck, and knew that Chen Zhou was telling the truth, so he nodded.

"I guarantee I'll complete the mission!" he said.

Paul then offered to help, saying he didn't need to rest and that since it was just nightfall, they could continue their journey quickly and settle him down so Chen Zhou could be free from his burdens and focus on the supply dispute.

Having confirmed that Paul's physical and mental condition was sufficient to withstand an overnight trek, Chen Zhou didn't ramble on.

He quickly knocked off all the coal and threw it into the black-robed man's trouser leg.

After tightening your trouser legs to ensure the coal doesn't fall out.

Chen Zhou packed up the supplies, extinguished the campfire, woke up Tiger Big Brother and Tiger Second Brother, carefully picked up Tiger Third Brother, and led Paul towards the other end of the Black Forest. (End of Chapter)