From Robinson Crusoe

Upon realizing that the water in the challenge was exceptionally murky, Chen Zhou dared not rest at all.

After dealing with the two Negroes' bodies, he returned to the very center of the supply drop-off point.

Even though daytime temperatures rose somewhat, it remained cold after nightfall, and no fire could be found in either the direction where the two challengers appeared or in any other direction.

The campfire had long since gone out, and the snowfield was once again enveloped in red light.

Having witnessed the spike traps working, and before any new challengers arrived, Chen Zhou immediately lit a torch and began gathering materials to lay the traps in concentric circles from the center outwards.

With his exceptional memory, he could memorize the sharp spikes he had personally buried in the snow, allowing him to dodge them.

Unsuspecting challengers, however, will not be so lucky.

Even if these traps cannot directly cause harm, they will slow down their advance.

Once a battle begins with the enemy, traps become a constraint. It can be said that as long as the battlefield is here, Chen Zhou has the upper hand.

These sharp wooden spikes, buried in the snow, though immovable, serve a far greater purpose than ordinary traps.

……

The torches lit up and then went out, and the night passed in the blink of an eye.

As dawn broke, Chen Zhou put down the military knife he was using to cut wooden sticks, stuck the torch in the snow, and stretched.

He hasn't dared to rest for a moment and has been busy until now.

Right now, the snow layer within a 30-meter radius of the resupply landing point is full of sharp spikes.

Those seemingly ordinary raised snow layers all conceal deadly dangers.

Even some of the sunken areas were traps created by Chen Zhou by filling in the natural depressions in the ground.

Wooden spike traps require no precious materials, are quick to manufacture, have sufficient lethality, and can greatly hinder the movement of the enemy.

After setting up so many traps, Chen Zhou finally felt relieved.

Unless other challengers fly in, anyone who dares to contest the supplies will suffer the consequences.

……

Worried that he would be too conspicuous after daybreak, Chen Zhou cut off two pieces of mammoth meat and then dragged the cart away from the flattest central area.

He lit a fire and grilled the meat, quietly waiting for the next batch of challengers to arrive.

As the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, the beacon's light gradually dims.

As night fell again, Chen Zhou still hadn't seen any competitors; it seemed that only the two Neanderthals were participating in the second battle for supplies.

Counting the days, it has been almost three days and three nights since the beacon appeared.

With a distance of 80 kilometers and relatively clear weather, and more than three days to go, even if the other challengers were walking slowly, they should have appeared nearby by now. But where are they?

Looking at the blood-red beacon hanging in the sky, Chen Zhou was filled with doubt.

"Is there really no competition left?"

Chen Zhou couldn't help but think of it.

However, he quickly reminded himself not to be complacent and to always be prepared to fight.

And so, in the tense and agonizing wait, Chen Zhou spent the third night alone in the wilderness, while the beacon began to slowly descend in the early hours of the fourth day.

……

The sun had already risen in the early morning, but little light could be seen on the vast wilderness.

Dark clouds gathered, and a strong wind carrying snowflakes swept in from afar, causing the previously stable temperature to drop rapidly.

Wrapped entirely in animal hide clothing, watching the campfire being quickly extinguished by the wind and snow, Chen Zhou faced a difficult choice—

Should they leave to escape the snowstorm, or risk freezing to death to be the first to reach the supplies?

He didn't know if there were other challengers lurking near the beacon, or if anyone would get there first.

Having experienced a sudden blizzard, Chen Zhou knew all too well the risks of battling a blizzard in such weather and terrain.

Even if he had received the gene-modifying injections, he couldn't possibly survive the entire blizzard.

After all, this snowstorm didn't come suddenly; it had been brewing for some time. Once it started, it was impossible for it to stop in an hour or two. It was very likely to last for more than ten hours or even a whole day, and such a long time was enough to kill him.

To go, or to stay?
Standing up, Chen Zhou looked at the snow-covered grassland and felt somewhat lost.

He was very familiar with the terrain in this area, and if he set off now, he might be able to find shelter before the blizzard hit.

If you walk a little later and slower, and you can still find your way, you might be able to hide in the woods or a cave.

Leaving too late means facing the full force of the wind and snow, at which point life and death become uncertain.

Chen Zhou glanced at the red light gradually fading away in the hazy white light, his face filled with resentment.

He pulled up the cart, ready to turn and leave, when a bold idea suddenly popped into his head—

In fact, there may be shelters on the grasslands.

Or rather, there were no shelters before, but now there are.

Those two mammoths!
If you could hollow out a mammoth's body and use its skeleton and fur as a tent, you could reinforce the interior and survive for a while in a blizzard.

Moreover, the Neanderthals had brought a lot of coal. As long as the ventilation problem was handled properly, he could easily start a fire inside the mammoth to keep warm.

Meanwhile, the mammoth's internal organs, once removed, could also serve as food, and as long as the blizzard didn't become uncontrollable, he could survive for at least ten days.

Judging by the speed at which this beacon is falling, it will land in at most a day and a night.

As long as you can get supplies as soon as possible, getting away won't be difficult.

But there is one thing——

The speed at which a blizzard forms is unpredictable; it can take anywhere from a little over an hour to just a few minutes.

During this brief preparation period, it remains uncertain whether he will be able to empty the frozen mammoth carcass as expected.

Clearly, choosing to remain at the resupply landing site was dangerous.

Chen Zhou has never liked things that are determined by probability, but he had no choice.

Resupply is of paramount importance.

He had come to this realization after receiving the first supply.

Thanks to the supplies from the first resupply, he and Paul had the means to withstand the severe cold.

It was also thanks to the first resupply that Tiger Three and Bi Kai survived, giving them two powerful allies. In a fight, the extra man and tiger would be enough to secure victory. The exquisite black box also widened the gap between them and the other challengers, greatly increasing their chances of becoming the ultimate victor.

Now, a second "bicycle in a marathon" has emerged, and to avoid being overtaken, Chen Zhou has no choice but to take the risk.

Even if he can't get it, he can't let someone else get it.

Even if no one received supplies and everything remained the same, it would be a great thing for him and Paul Bikai.

……

The wind is getting stronger.

Although it hasn't started snowing yet, the sky is getting increasingly gloomy, and anyone can sense that a fierce blizzard is about to arrive.

Having made his decision, Chen Zhou didn't dare delay for a moment and started speeding across the snow, dragging the cart.

At this moment, the grassland in the depths of winter is filled with snowflakes like sand and gravel blown by the wind, and for miles around, apart from Chen Zhou, there is no trace of any other living creature.

Cave dwellers had long since retreated deep into their burrows, and even the birds that remained in the North had hidden themselves in their vast and complex nests, waiting for the snowstorm to stop.

Reaching the mammoth carcass as quickly as possible, Chen Zhou drew his long sword and used it like an axe, slamming it heavily into the mammoth's lower abdomen.

After being frozen for only a day and a night, the mammoth's carcass seemed to have turned into a solid block of ice, especially the part covered by fur, which was not only hard but also extremely tough.

Cutting into this material would damage the blade, but Chen Zhou didn't care. He had to create a shelter for himself before the blizzard hit, as it was crucial to his survival in this disaster.

With strength and endurance far exceeding that of ordinary people, he quickly carved out a "hole" in the mammoth's belly that was big enough for him to crawl into.

He then quickly removed the mammoth's organs.

If the mammoth had died recently, its intestines, filled with feces, would have been cut open and would have smelled absolutely foul.

But now that the mammoth's intestines were frozen solid, they didn't have much of a smell after being cut off, which slightly reduced the torment for Chen Zhou.

Of course, this job, which resembled that of a butcher, was not exactly aesthetically pleasing. Chen Zhou was also extremely anxious, and in his haste, he didn't care about cleanliness and hygiene. By the time he emptied the mammoth's abdomen, his animal skin clothing was covered with frozen bits of flesh and excrement.

This mammoth was not yet an adult, but it was already large enough that even though Chen Zhou was tall, its belly could easily accommodate a person, although he could not stand up completely inside it.

After digging out enough space to make a fire and shelter himself, Chen Zhou wanted to continue expanding this unique "shelter," but the wind was getting stronger and stronger, and it seemed that he didn't have enough time.

Helpless, Chen Zhou had to temporarily change his plan. He first moved the coal and firewood into the elephant's belly, and then dug down to create a fire pit.

Fearing that starting a fire would melt the mammoth's frozen muscles and fur, causing the shelter to collapse, he split the cart into several long wooden strips and stuffed them into the elephant's belly to support the makeshift shelter.

After finishing all that, I crawled out of the elephant's belly. The outside world had turned into a completely white world, with swirling ice and snow everywhere. Even the beacon that seemed to shine eternally was nowhere to be seen.

"Damn it, if the Time and Space Administration is manipulating the weather right now, they must be doing it on purpose..."

Cursing under his breath, Chen Zhou threw the clods of dirt he had dug out outside and lit a campfire.

Fearing that the fire would be too strong and produce too much smoke, making it impossible to stay inside the elephant's belly any longer, he deliberately added only a small amount of firewood to the campfire.

The base of the campfire was mainly composed of a layer of fine twigs, with several thicker wooden sticks above it, which were wrapped with coal brought by the Neanderthals.

Chen Zhou inspected the coal from the Nepalese and found that the coal was of fairly good quality and very dry.

There's still some smoke from the campfire, but once the sticks are used to light the coal, the smoke will almost disappear as the coal alone generates heat.

Moreover, the insulation inside the elephant's belly was much better than he had imagined. With just this small campfire lit, the internal temperature quickly rose significantly, which gave Chen Zhou even more confidence that he could survive the snowstorm.

However, as the temperature inside the elephant's belly rises, the frozen flesh softens, and it is highly likely that frozen blood will drip out.

The mammoth's lower abdomen lacked rib support, and even with wooden supports, it could still collapse.

To prevent a collapse and to expand the space inside the elephant's belly, Chen Zhou didn't stop working after hiding inside. He continued to use a long knife to cut out the internal organs little by little and send them outside.

Because of the protection of the thick ribs, the space in front of the chest is relatively narrower than that in the back of the abdomen, but the chest with natural support is obviously more stable, which is also Chen Zhou's ideal place to live.

He was prepared for a protracted battle, and as long as the blizzard continued, he would remain huddled in the "Mammoth Sanctuary."

……

The sound of wind and snow gradually drowned out everything.

The opening in the mammoth's abdomen continuously "spit out" chunks of flesh, including the elephant's lungs and even its enormous heart.

The snow piled up on the ground layer by layer, gradually increasing in height, and soon completely blocked the entrance to the hole.

The dark earth was devoid of any light, save for the swirling snowflakes and howling winds.

The snow fell for a whole day.

As the wind subsided and the clouds thinned, glimpses of starlight shone through the gaps in the sky, and the blood-red beacon reappeared in the heavens.

The mammoth's carcass had collapsed slightly in the posterior abdomen, and there were several obvious protrusions on the skin, which were traces of wooden strips supporting the flesh.

Chen Zhou sat on the mammoth's chest, supported by ribs, his back against the ribs, gripping his long knife tightly, waiting for the moment when the wind and snow would stop.

The corpse, roasted by the fire, reeked of blood and a strange, greasy odor of entrails, making him nauseous.

Although the smell was unpleasant, the elephant's belly was actually quite warm.

He had already received injections of cold-resistant gene-modified drugs, and he was wearing several layers of clothing, so he couldn't help but feel drowsy in this warm and enclosed shelter.

Normally, Chen Zhou would never feel this sleepy, but he hadn't rested for a long time and was already mentally exhausted.

Having worked so hard for so long, how could he dare to fall asleep at this crucial moment? Hearing that there was no wind outside, Chen Zhou quickly grabbed his long knife, crouched down, and moved from his chest to his abdomen. Then, he used the knife to dig through the snow blocking the "doorway" and crawled out.

The freshly fallen snow was quite soft, and Chen Zhou, still warm from the snow, was immediately covered in snowflakes after leaving the elephant's belly, turning his entire body white.

"It's stopped raining as expected!"

After looking at the grassland where there were no more footprints or traces of human movement, Chen Zhou looked directly at the beacon he had been longing for.

Only then did he realize that the beacon had descended to a height of only forty meters above the ground.

At this moment, besides the glowing red crescent moon, he could see even the objects beneath it clearly—

It was a square box, about the size of a palm, the same color as the beacon, and its surface still had a crystal-like luster.

"The second round of supplies is about to arrive."

Looking at the box from a distance, judging by its size, Chen Zhou estimated that it could only hold three or four syringes at most, and he was overjoyed.

Although the second round of supplies is located closer, due to the environment and time constraints, obtaining it is far more difficult than the first round.

Especially during this blizzard, without the mammoth carcass, even with his formidable strength, he wouldn't dare to confront the tyranny of nature head-on.

Given the difficulty of the task, the supply being so limited suggests that the resources are extremely valuable, possibly even consisting of four powerful regeneration injections. (End of Chapter)