From Robinson Crusoe

The sun hung high in the sky, its rays dazzling, turning the boundless snowfield into a white desert.

The temperature had risen for the first time, but the wind still blew relentlessly, and coarse salt-like ice crystals danced in the wind, crackling and popping against the animal skin clothing.

Chen Zhou lowered his head, using his thick animal hide coat to protect himself from the wind and snow, and silently moved forward.

His tall and upright figure appeared particularly bulky due to the many layers of clothing he wore.

The innermost layer consisted of underwear and a shirt, followed by the thickest combat uniform carefully selected. Over this combat uniform was a layer of light armor, and over that was a simply sewn animal hide garment.

The animal skin garment has three layers, with the innermost layer being a thin leather garment made of squirrel fur and small rodent fur pieced together.

This leather jacket is soft and comfortable, and it performs exceptionally well in both warmth and wind protection. It also takes the longest time to manufacture.

Over the thin leather jacket was a simple animal skin trench coat, and over the trench coat was a long robe.

These layers of clothing weighed over 20 kilograms together, enough to make it difficult for an ordinary person to walk, yet they did not hinder Chen Zhou's movements in the slightest.

Of course, he was traveling alone to the location of the red beacon, and he was carrying more than just these few pieces of clothing.

On Chen Zhou's back was a whole tanned bear skin. This bear skin came from a male cave bear. It did not die from the spears thrown by the men, but from Chen Zhou's slash that cut its throat, killing it instantly inside the cave.

After the cave bear died, Paul made its complete pelt into bedding. Chen Zhou happened to be short of luggage for this trip, so he rolled up the bear skin and carried it on his back.

In addition to the bear skin for resting at night, Chen Zhou also brought two spears with kunai as spearheads, a long knife, and a military knife.

As for shovels and flint and steel, these are essential items for wilderness survival, and of course, they should be carried as well.

In addition, Chen Zhou was also dragging a flatbed cart behind him.

The cart slid across the snow, with a long rope at one end hanging from Chen Zhou's shoulder, moving forward with him.

The four sides of the cart were fitted with simple railings, on which were placed some coal, grease sealed in clay pots, and fried jerky, dried berries, and kindling, also stored in clay pots.

Chen Zhou estimated that it would take him at least a week to travel back and forth and scramble for supplies, so he prepared supplies for 10 days.

To be honest, he wasn't very confident that he would be able to obtain the supplies.

Those who dare to venture to the beacon after enduring the bitter cold at this stage are certainly not ordinary people.

If the initial supply had provided him with items that could significantly increase his combat power, that would have been fine. But by now, the only item in the supply that could boost his combat strength, the "powerful regeneration potion," had long been used up, and he only had the advantage of being more resistant to cold.

However, being more resistant to cold does not mean he will gain any advantage in battle; he will still be killed with a single blow if he is destined to be killed.

Facing stronger opponents, harsher environments, and earlier and more intense encounters, Chen Zhou still felt immense pressure, even though he always believed he was among the top fighters in the entire group.

If there was anything that could give him a little more confidence, it would probably be the martial arts that Bi Kai had taught him.

With his disciplined swordsmanship, spearmanship, and agility, coupled with his physical attributes and the light armor left to him by the man in black robes, as long as he is cautious enough and avoids falling into traps, he can put up a fight even if he is ambushed.

……

Eighty kilometers was not a long distance for Chen Zhou. If the giant deer hadn't been wiped out in the blizzard, he could have traveled much faster.

Head down, I pressed on, hearing only the wind and seeing only the snow.

Chen Zhou did not bring Paul or Bi Kai with him on this trip, and he even left the three-headed saw-toothed tiger on the mountain.

Therefore, the journey was extremely lonely. He had no one to talk to or anything to confide in. The only thing he could do was to take steps toward the beacon.

Chen Zhou set off in the morning and walked until the sun was about to set before stopping.

He found a sparsely wooded area, dragged the wooden cart among several large trees, and then started a fire on the spot.

Actually, there were no planks at home, so he had to remove the cave door in order to set off as soon as possible. Although he saved his energy, Paul and Bi Kai stayed at home and worked hard to chop planks with axes.

He spread the bear skin out on the cart beforehand, threw some twigs into the fire, and while chewing on the jerky, Chen Zhou couldn't help but think of Paul as he gazed at the billowing smoke of the campfire.

Paul was found to have psychological problems. If the beacon had not suddenly appeared and been so close to Mount Baihar, he would have stayed a few more days until Paul's mental state improved before setting off.

Now only Paul and Bi Kai are in the cave. Bi Kai is an ancient person who not only cannot communicate with Paul, but also does not know much about what "psychological problems" or "claustrophobia" are.

Chen Zhou was genuinely worried about letting him stay with Paul.

The only saving grace was that Paul's feelings for the saw-toothed tiger remained genuine, and these three well-behaved creatures were undoubtedly a source of psychological comfort.

Moreover, the weather improved significantly after the beacon appeared, and Paul no longer had to stay in the cave all day. He could finally go out and move around, which was a good thing for his mental state.

Even if he just walks around the mountain a few more times each day and gets some sunshine, his psychological problems should be greatly alleviated. Maybe by the time I go back, Paul's illness will have already been cured.

……

Worried about the meat jerky spoiling, these meat strips were salted and marinated before frying, making them extra salty. When you eat them, you get the unique pungent smell of wild animals, the hard texture of jerky itself, the greasiness of inferior oil, and the bitterness of salt.

The last time I ate something this bad was when I first arrived on the deserted island.

With the firelight flickering, Chen Zhou sat cross-legged on the cart, thinking about the buckets of pickled offal and meat chunks that he had dumped out and buried.

Looking back now, perhaps those chunks of meat didn't taste much different from the meat strips he described.

At that time, he received white bread and hard, brick-like flatbread on the ship, and thinking that he had enough supplies, he made a choice that could be described as wasteful.

Now, standing in this cold wilderness, looking back, there's an indescribable sense of absurdity—

What he, relatively weak, gave up, he, much stronger, had to chew and swallow, no matter how bad the taste was.

It seems that ever since he became involved with the Time and Space Administration, his life trajectory has been irresistibly veerging toward an unknown path.

When he felt the food was too salty, Chen Zhou broke off a piece of ice and put it in his mouth without chewing. He simply waited for it to melt slowly in his mouth and be warmed by his body temperature before swallowing it.

The water from melting snow has an earthy taste and is a bit gritty, but it's much more convenient than boiling.

Chen Zhou did bring clean water, but that was for emergency use at the last minute and shouldn't be wasted in the early stages.

……

After dinner, darkness quickly enveloped the earth. Looking out from between the bare tree branches, all that could be seen was a scarlet beacon with a hazy glow hanging in the sky, like a blood-red eye watching over the earth.

After watching for a while, Chen Zhou even began to have a kind of illusion—

It's unclear whether he was observing the beacon or whether the beacon was monitoring all the remaining challengers.

……

After nightfall, worried that the firelight might attract unnecessary trouble, Chen Zhou deliberately extinguished the campfire with snow. Then, carrying the bear skin, he climbed up a tree and used the original shape of the branches to build a simple treehouse.

In temperatures approaching minus thirty degrees Celsius, even if an ordinary person is wrapped in several layers of fur, it would be impossible for them to survive such a cold night.

But Chen Zhou had been injected with a gene-modifying agent. Before the injection, his tolerance for extreme environments was already greater than that of ordinary people, and the effects he showed after the injection were even better than Paul's. Otherwise, even at the risk of exposure, he would have had to keep the campfire burning all night.

Otherwise, once the fire goes out, if you sleep in the wilderness in the dead of winter where there is no heat source, you may never wake up again.

……

As if to witness the challengers fiercely fighting for the supplies, the weather has become increasingly clear since Chen Zhou set off.

Although the temperature will drop to around minus thirty degrees Celsius after nightfall, the daytime temperature remains between minus ten and twenty degrees Celsius, with clear skies and bright sunshine.

The ice and snow on the grassland began to melt, and many animals that had hidden in caves due to the extreme cold appeared on the grassland. Even cave hyenas, which do not hibernate, moved around in groups and went hunting.

Amidst a scene reminiscent of an early spring, only Chen Zhou harbored a cold smile in his heart.

He had seen how the Time and Space Administration manipulated the weather and even changed the topography of an entire region. At this moment, perhaps only naive animals would think that this warmth would continue.

He knew very well that once the supplies under that crimson beacon were taken away, the bitter cold would return to the earth, and it would come even more fiercely, killing even more lives.

……

On the first day after setting off from the cave, Chen Zhou walked from morning till night, covering a distance of more than 60 kilometers. Therefore, he set off directly after getting up in the early hours of the second day.

He arrived at his destination just as the sun was rising and the air was still chilly.

Perhaps they arrived too early or too quickly, or perhaps most of the challengers were too exhausted by the cold to go out, but Chen Zhou didn't see a single person along the way from Baihar Mountain.

When he arrived beneath the scarlet beacon, it had not yet fallen.

Looking up from below, there was only a huge red phantom in the sky, more than ten meters long, and the bright red light dyed the snow below blood red.

However, this time, no matter how carefully Ren Chenzhou observed, he could not see any suspicious small black dots under the red light.

He couldn't even judge the speed at which the beacon was falling, so he didn't know when was the best time to snatch it.

In addition, the terrain here is also a major headache—

The beacon hung over a vast grassland, with not even a slightly higher hill nearby, let alone large trees or mountains.

In such a place, there are basically no high platforms for observation, nor trenches for concealing oneself to launch an assassination. Hoping to stir up trouble and make the other challengers suspicious of each other, just like in the last supply scramble, and then take the opportunity to strike is simply out of the question.

The flat grassland was covered with only a layer of snow, and you could see for kilometers at a glance.

After nightfall, the darkness provides some concealment, but people dressed in animal skins during the day stand here as conspicuous as black dots on white paper.

……

After loosening the rope and throwing the cart onto the snow, Chen Zhou walked around the beacon a few times, occasionally glancing at the surrounding grassland, hoping to get some information in advance.

However, there was only snow and howling wind here, and no one else could be seen except him.

For a moment, Chen Zhou even felt that only he and Paul Bikai were left here, and all the other challengers were dead.

But reason kept reminding him—

It's possible, but the probability of it happening is almost zero.

A temperature of -65 degrees Celsius can indeed kill most challengers.

But the lowest temperature before was only around minus forty degrees Celsius. If they were able to survive in the cave until now, then others certainly could too.

Putting aside everything else, the pair of challengers that Bi Kai mentioned, who were suspected to be Africans and capable of taming mammoths, could not possibly have been eliminated prematurely.

……

Having not seen any other challengers for the time being, and considering that he would be facing two opponents after the supply landing, Chen Zhou decided to make some preparations as soon as possible.

He first tried digging traps in the snow.

However, once the snow layer was broken through, the frozen soil underneath was too hard. Even with his great strength, he couldn't dig a deep enough pit in a short time without the help of a metal pickaxe and shovel.

After abandoning the plan, he was inspired by the attacks of Japanese ninjas and cut a dozen sharp wooden spikes, which he then inserted into the snow.

The snow on the grassland is about 30cm thick, with the deepest point exceeding 1m, while the snow layer directly below the beacon is relatively thin, mostly between 30 and 45cm thick.

After digging through the snow layer, Chen Zhou would use a torch to melt the bottom layer of snow, and then place the wooden awl with the tip facing upwards in the snow water.

The temperature was still below zero, and soon the snowmelt would freeze into solid ice, firmly fixing the wooden cones in the snow and ice.

Once the wooden stakes were completely frozen, he covered the trap with snow to conceal it.

Knowing that he couldn't prevent other challengers from finding out that he had arrived first, Chen Zhou made no attempt to conceal the footprints he left behind and the drag marks left by his cart, in order to lower the other challengers' guard.

Of course, the traces that were presented were all insignificant; Chen Zhou dared not reveal his true whereabouts.

After leaving numerous footprints around the supply drop-off point, confirming that no one else could determine which direction he would go after leaving based on the footprints in a short period of time, Chen Zhou began to set up the second trap.

If the wooden stake was used to kill the enemy, then this trap was used to confuse them.

Chen Zhou collected a large amount of withered grass stalks and low shrubs, and built several small buildings that resembled shacks in an area of ​​more than ten miles.

These buildings, which at first glance appear to be shelters for people to rest, are actually solid and filled with small pieces of firewood.

If Chen Zhou had not yet grasped the movements of the other challengers by the time the supplies landed, he would set fire to these "shacks" one by one.

At appropriate times, the entire area will be illuminated by flames and billowing black smoke.

The smoke screen is like a tree trunk; it can obstruct others' view and prevent them from judging which part is real and which is fake, thus creating an opportunity for them to make the first move.

……

It took Chen Zhou a whole day, from morning till night, to completely set up the wooden cone trap.

The makeshift shacks needed too much firewood, and this flat grassland was lacking precisely that. Even though he pulled the cart with all his might, he could only build three shacks by nightfall.

However, the setup of the wooden stake trap went very smoothly.

Having accumulated some hunting experience living on the island, Chen Zhou set up traps in very tricky locations.

Some traps were less than 3cm from his footprints, some were inside the raised snow layer between the two sets of footprints, and some were even right under the footprints—

Even though the footprints have dented the snow, as long as there is still 15cm of space underneath, it is enough to hide a sharp wooden stake.

These are all points that the enemy easily overlooks.

Once a conflict breaks out, an unsuspecting enemy could fall into a trap during the battle, with potentially fatal consequences. (End of Chapter)