From Robinson Crusoe

Chapter 329, Group 5

Paul, leaning on his cane, could hardly walk fast.

As they headed toward the other end of the forest, Chen Zhou could see that Paul was trying very hard to speed up, even attempting to hop on one leg, and couldn't help but stop him.

Paul was a tall man, and when he was in good health, he naturally had no problem engaging in strenuous physical activities.

Now that one leg is broken, all his weight is on the other leg. If he insists on being strong and injures his only good leg, he'll be like Tiger Three, practically paralyzed.

While actively asking Paul to slow down, Chen Zhou explained to him the meaning of "haste makes waste".

……

Paul originally lived in a Soviet Republic on another timeline.

In the US-Soviet rivalry, they had the last laugh, and the economically declining US empire eventually disintegrated.

At that time, the Soviet Union was incredibly powerful, even annexing half of North America, and even Canada fell into Soviet hands, though it remained nominally independent.

In a global context of one superpower and many strong powers, Soviet-style aesthetics and universal values ​​have spread widely around the world.

In Chen Zhou's world, the largest socialist country became a junior partner, and due to the influence of the Soviet Union, traditional Chinese culture found it difficult to go abroad.

Before participating in the challenge, Paul had learned some basic Chinese in school, but he knew almost nothing about Chinese proverbs and philosophical works such as the Analects and the Tao Te Ching.

Paul found the explanation of "haste makes waste" quite interesting.

Fortunately, the two were walking slowly at this time, and since Chen Zhou was going to return to another world after the challenge, there was no need to worry about the confidentiality regulations.

Paul then shared many of the Soviet secrets he knew with Chen Zhou as topics of conversation.

Hearing Paul's description of the novel world order, and thinking about the vast country pressing down on northern China, Chen Zhou suddenly recalled a sentence—

"Only a half-dead elder brother is a good elder brother."

At least from the world Paul described, the China of that world was far less powerful and influential than the China of his timeline.

……

Chatting can not only pass the time, but also keep you alert and prevent drowsiness from settling in, which can make you feel more and more tired as you walk.

Thanks to his exceptional control over his body, Chen Zhou's body was like the best shock absorber. Tiger Three, who was placed across his arms, hardly bounced at all, thus preventing the injury from worsening.

Perhaps because he was too close to Chen Zhou, the scent of the "tribal leader" gave Tiger Three a great sense of security, or perhaps because he was too tired, Tiger Three slept comfortably against Chen Zhou's chest.

After traveling for about four hours, when they were still a little over halfway to their destination, Chen Zhou saw Hu Sanwa wake up, his little face scrunched up as if he was straining.

Having seen the saw-toothed tiger poop quite often, Chen Zhou knew that Tiger Three was about to relieve itself when he saw its expression. So he stopped Paul and carefully put Tiger Three on the ground to see if it could relieve itself on its own.

The side-lying position made Tiger Three very uncomfortable. When he was healthy, Sawtooth Tiger would move his lower body and slightly raise his tail to defecate.

Now that he is paralyzed from the waist down, even if Tiger Three has physiological needs, he can only lie on the ground and force himself to have them.

After several attempts, the severely injured Tiger Cub appeared somewhat exhausted, but it ultimately failed to complete its excretion.

"Could you give it a massage?"

Paul stood beside Chen Zhou, watching Tiger Three Boys painfully urinate on the ground by the light of the beacon. He felt even worse than Chen Zhou.

Ultimately, the three saw-toothed tigers were injured while saving him. If he had just held on for a little longer, even just a minute or two, Tiger Three wouldn't be in this state.

"No, its spine is broken. Neither of us knows anything about medicine. If we press on it randomly, we might make things worse."

Chen Zhou frowned, recalling how, when he was raising cats and dogs, the mother cat would lick the kittens' excretory organs with her tongue when they couldn't excrete on their own. Suddenly, he had an inspiration.

"Let's keep going. When we get there, we'll light a campfire, get some warm water to wipe its bottom, and maybe a little stimulation will help."

If it doesn't work and you absolutely have to massage, you should try it on Tiger Big Brother and Tiger Second Brother first, and be sure to use gentle pressure.

Even letting it suffocate is better than forcing treatment.

Look up at the beacon in the sky—

It was getting lower and lower, but the light was so dazzling that even at such close proximity to the ground, it was impossible to see what was inside the center of the ball of light.

Pointing to the beacon, Chen Zhou said decisively.

"Our biggest hope is an airdrop of supplies, and I'm sure I'll get it."

At the current speed, it will be fully landed in at most 48 hours.

Two days won't kill Tiger Cub. As long as it can hold out until I get supplies, and as long as the supplies contain medicine to treat its injuries, it can pull through.

"it is good!"

Paul responded to Chen Zhou with a short sentence.

……

After walking for more than seven hours, until dawn, Chen Zhou finally led Paul to the other side of the forest.

As he expected, no challengers bothered to come this way because it was too far from the beacon.

Here, the vast Black Forest appears somewhat sparse. The towering, jade-like trees are much shorter and thinner than the trees near the cliff face, and there is more soil and green plants on the ground.

After hastily gathering some fuel for Paul and hunting a deer to feed Paul and the three saw-toothed tigers, Chen Zhou set off on his return journey without lingering.

……

From the early hours of yesterday until this morning, for more than a day and a night, Chen Zhou did not sleep for even a minute.

Moreover, he never relaxed his focus throughout the entire process, and even experienced a highly intense battle.

Thus, even with his extraordinary energy, he couldn't help but feel slightly tired.

But time will not spare him, and the other challengers will not wait for him. No matter how tired he is, he must pull himself together to face the challenges ahead.

After all, he wasn't just one person at this moment; he also carried the lives of Paul and the three-headed saw-toothed tiger on his shoulders—

Chen Zhou never thought of himself as particularly kind, but he believed he was a person who could take responsibility.

When living on a deserted island, he could do everything in his power to enable the natives to live a civilized and prosperous life, and to eliminate slavery and exploitation under his iron fist.

Now that he has come to the prehistoric world, he can also take on the responsibility of a reliable partner.

……

The return trip took three hours.

Without having to worry about Paul, Chen Zhou was able to more than double his speed by keeping his arms firmly around Tiger Three.

He could have gone even faster if he hadn't specifically checked the road for any traces along the way.

……

As the night passed and the sun rose again, the beacon in the Black Forest, however, was no longer as bright as before, growing increasingly dim. The jade-like trees were bathed in sunlight, their smooth bark reflecting the light, adorning this dark and gloomy forest.

The challengers who camped at the edge of the forest last night were nowhere to be seen, and even the group of challengers on the cliff had left the campfire. Chen Zhou guessed that they should have all entered the Black Forest.

Only the lone wolf remained at the foot of the tundra cliff, packing his survival tools, seemingly intending to leave this sorrowful place.

The other challengers were all in full squads, so he would have to fight two against one to compete for supplies.

This person clearly doesn't believe he has that kind of ability, and leaving at this point is a good choice. Although it might be considered cowardly from a certain perspective, it can be called wise.

At this moment, everyone's attention was drawn to the supplies, and no one was willing to waste time starting a conflict to fight for a few survival tools with redundant functions. This gave him the best opportunity to leave.

Without supplies, he would probably have been attacked by the mob long ago, and his partners who died with him were eliminated one after another.

Watching the person slowly climb up the cliff, Chen Zhou carefully scanned the outer edge of the forest to make sure no one was lingering outside, and then he also ventured deep into the Black Forest.

……

Chen Zhou still remembered the campsite of the challengers who had camped at the edge of the Black Forest last night. Following his memory, he found the campfire left by the two men and the carcass of a wild beast.

Whether due to overconfidence or carelessness, the two did not clean up their tracks after setting off, allowing Chen Zhou to easily follow them and successfully "overtake on a curve," getting ahead of them.

……

Initially, when there was enough time and Paul was not injured, Chen Zhou planned to set up traps, turn the central area into a suitable battleground for him, and then "discourage" other challengers by taking risks he could not afford.

After Paul was injured, setting up a trap was basically no longer an option.

The Black Forest has little soil and lots of rocks, so even if he used the hammer head of his axe to dig a trap, it would take him several hours.

As for traps or snares, they are fine for dealing with wild animals, but when it comes to humans, as long as the humans are even slightly vigilant, they are unlikely to fall into them.

In addition, you can use ropes to set up trigger traps, or place stones on high tree branches to create rockfall traps.

But regardless of the type of trap, someone needs to share the workload and make up for the lack of quality with quantity.

After his plan to set traps and engage in a head-on confrontation fell through, Chen Zhou decided to focus on speed.

Relying on his high mobility, he was the first to reach the center of the supply landing, climbed up a tree to wait, and intercepted the supply in mid-air before it landed. He then ran towards the cliff with the supply, leaving behind false information to deceive the pursuers. On the way, he changed direction and met up with Paul. Finally, the two escaped from the other side of the forest.

This plan appears flawless, but in reality, it heavily relies on the performance of the other challengers.

If other challengers arrive too early, they will definitely focus on checking the landing area. The trees in the Black Forest are all bare branches, without leaves. Unless the others are blind, they will definitely be able to see him and launch an attack.

Thus, his plan to intercept the challenger naturally fell through, unless he gambled that the other challengers wouldn't look up or had bad eyesight and didn't see him, but that was impossible.

I thought I only had one last option left—

Catch the groups of challengers who have entered the Black Forest, and try to defeat them one by one, or intimidate them to force them to give up their desire to compete with you.

Just now, a better method suddenly popped into Chen Zhou's mind—

Fishing in troubled waters.

Based on the information he currently has, there are at least three groups of challengers who have entered the Black Forest.

One group entered from the edge of the Black Forest, another group started from the top of the cliff, and yet another group started from the foot of the cliff in the distance. The distance between each group was about one or two kilometers.

This is a very ambiguous distance.

Within this not-too-distant range, they are able to arrive in time should a conflict break out between the other challengers, or reap the benefits after the two have settled their differences.

With supplies still in place, all three groups of challengers are trying to remain restrained.

But as they venture deeper into the Black Forest and move toward the same goal, the distance between them will inevitably grow, and conflict will be unavoidable.

After all, who gets to grab the airdrop after it lands mostly depends on luck. After both sides are injured, there might be a patient, hidden expert who will step in and steal the supplies.

Only by eliminating competitors before landing can we ensure a 100% chance of receiving supplies.

So even though they were some distance apart, all three groups of challengers were actually eager to take down each other; it was just that the timing wasn't right yet, and the tension wasn't high enough.

What Chen Zhou had to do was to ignite this powder keg in advance.

Once the others start fighting, it will be easier for him to use underhanded tactics and take advantage of the chaos to steal the supplies while they are distracted.

……

In military strategy, the principle of "knowing yourself and your enemy, you will win every battle" applies.

But time is of the essence right now, and Chen Zhou doesn't have much time to observe the challengers or gather information. He can only adapt to the situation, make a rough plan, and then take it one step at a time, not striving for perfection, but only for completion.

After determining the location and route of the challengers behind him and estimating their arrival time at the center point, Chen Zhou did not linger and immediately went to find another group of challengers.

……

A day flies by.

Forcing himself to stay alert, Chen Zhou didn't dare to rest. He walked around the center point beforehand, only hastily drinking half a bag of the meat soup he had stewed the night before to replenish his strength.

The arduous investigation yielded invaluable results.

He not only located the three groups of challengers, but also discovered to his astonishment that there seemed to be a fifth group of challengers in the Black Forest, in addition to these three groups and himself.

The challengers were very cautious, making a point of eliminating any traces of cooking or moving around in the Black Forest.

But they didn't expect that Chen Zhou not only had amazing observation skills, but also a keen sense of smell.

The place they passed by left a woody scent similar to sandalwood. This scent should not exist in the Black Forest where there are no living trees. Thus, Chen Zhou caught them red-handed.

Chen Zhou didn't know when this group of challengers entered the forest. He had tried to approach them to observe their clothing, appearance, and weapons.

The challengers come from different worlds across different timelines, and each one is unique. Whether they excel in melee combat, are skilled in shooting, or are outstanding at setting traps, it's usually easy to tell at a glance.

Unfortunately, this group had exceptionally keen hearing and were very vigilant. Before Chen Zhou even got within a hundred meters, they reacted and walked straight towards him.

Fearing that he might alert the enemy, Chen Zhou could only keep his footsteps low and leave as quickly as possible.

However, the setback in the investigation did not discourage Chen Zhou; on the contrary, he felt somewhat relieved.

If he takes a chance and doesn't go through this long detour, assuming there are only three groups of challengers in the Black Forest, he will likely suffer a great loss in the end.

Despite walking a longer distance and expending more energy, the result was undoubtedly worthwhile.

As for the challengers who refuse to reveal their true colors, that's a minor issue.

If he leads two groups of people in that direction, given their secretive and sensitive nature, a conflict is bound to break out.

At that time, the entire area will be filled with the sounds of fierce fighting. How will this group of challengers have the energy to pay attention to him? They will probably have a problem protecting themselves. What he looks like, what weapons he uses, and how strong he is in combat will all be revealed.

(End of this chapter)