From Robinson Crusoe

The longest part is waiting for the supply crates to land.

Chen Zhou tensed up, fearing that someone might try to snatch it away at the crucial moment.

However, his concerns were indeed unnecessary.

The bright red box slowly descended under the increasingly dim beacon light, but there wasn't a single person to be seen on the vast snowfield, and Chen Zhou couldn't detect any unusual sounds or smells.

Under such brutal challenge rules, there are still supplies that no one cares about.

Chen Zhou could hardly believe his eyes.

He gripped the hilt of his knife cautiously, waded through the snow for a few steps, but still felt uneasy, so he drew the knife from its sheath.

After a series of vigorous swings, the originally sharp blade has become dull, but this does not diminish its ability to take lives.

Holding his breath and concentrating, Chen Zhou was even more cautious at this moment than when he was fighting the two nuns.

If someone could actually brave such a heavy snowstorm to reach the resupply landing point and conceal themselves with near-perfect camouflage techniques, their strength would be far beyond imagination, and they might even be the strongest opponent encountered since the start of the challenge.

The supplies had to be secured, and even if Chen Zhou didn't want to engage in a dangerous battle, he had to bite the bullet and fight.

"I hope I'm just being overly pessimistic."

Since emerging from the elephant's belly, Chen Zhou has not felt the same unease he used to experience when facing enemies.

He didn't know if his sixth sense was accurate, but he had already taken many steps and was getting closer and closer to the resupply landing point. The fact that there was no surprise attack was undeniable.

One hundred meters, fifty meters, ten meters...

When Chen Zhou followed his memory and avoided the spiked traps he had set to reach his destination, looking at the snow-covered ground without any signs of damage, he was finally certain that no competitors had come.

Yes, whether it's the physical exhaustion and cold that comes with the challenges later on, or the harsh environment itself, these are all immense difficulties for ordinary challengers.

Perhaps those who covet this supply are still at home preparing their gear for a long journey;
Perhaps they still naively thought that this resupply would give everyone ample time to travel, just like the last one;
Perhaps they have already set off, but have been stopped on the road by the wind and snow...

Ultimately, the supplies were only available to three competitors, and he was the final winner.

……

The crimson light receded to its lowest point, leaving the snow surface devoid of any other color besides its pristine white.

The small supply box slowly landed on the ground and sank into the snow.

Chen Zhou had been waiting nearby for a long time. After looking around and making sure that no one was fighting over it, he picked up the supply box, used his long knife to scramble the footprints around him, and headed toward the "Mammoth Sanctuary".

He currently has no life-saving injections such as potent regeneration potions on him, so once he receives the supplies, he must open them as soon as possible and obtain the injections inside.

If there are any items inside that can be used immediately to enhance combat power or increase the margin for error, he can equip them.

We have indeed successfully obtained the supplies and have not seen any competitors, but the fact that the competitors are not at the beacon landing point does not mean that they have no interest in the supplies.

Putting himself in the other person's shoes, Chen Zhou felt that if he were held up by the blizzard and unable to reach his destination immediately, the most likely thing he would do was to intercept the enemy en route to mitigate the losses.

There are no high points on the grassland, but there are some high places around it. If someone has excellent eyesight or has a telescope or similar tool, it is still possible to know his movements from a great distance.

It's not safe until supplies are brought back to the cave. Chen Zhou doesn't feel very safe in the wilderness.

……

The incision cut open below the elephant's belly was continuously releasing heat outwards, and when Chen Zhou returned, much of the snow around the entrance had melted.

The embers of the campfire still glowed red. In this well-sealed space, the smell of blood and rotting grease mingled, creating a warm, damp, and nauseating odor.

Chen Zhou casually tossed a few pieces of wood onto the campfire, then eagerly crawled into the chest and laid the small, crystal-like box flat on the mammoth's ribs.

Having already opened the supply crate once, this time he looked directly for the round button in the middle of the crate.

However, after searching around, he couldn't find the button he wanted. He felt that the whole box was a single piece without any gaps. If he hadn't seen the supply box fall from the sky with the beacon, he would have thought it was a whole decorative red brick.

Squatting in front of the box, Chen Zhou scratched his head in confusion.

"The Time and Space Administration always likes to stir up trouble in these trivial matters."

Chen Zhou examined the box again, turning it over and over, but this time he couldn't find any obvious markings.

Recalling the grueling decryption attempts he had endured on the deserted island, he felt a surge of fear—

"Damn, this thing doesn't have a combination lock, does it?!"

After looking through it several more times, he still had no clue. If he wasn't worried about damaging the supplies inside the box, Chen Zhou would have even tried to cut it open with a knife.

Just as he was fretting, he suddenly remembered the Time and Space Administration's obsession with "light," so he picked up the box and looked at it in the firelight.

Upon testing, he discovered that his approach was indeed correct. After the light was transmitted through the box, a circular, deep red area appeared on the surface that was originally normal, resembling a fingerprint recognition button.

When Chen Zhou pressed the area, the supply box, which had been unresponsive, finally slid open slowly to the side, revealing the contents inside.

The exterior of the box is made of translucent red material, while the interior is lined with a deep black base.

Three different colored syringes lay flat in a blackness that seemed to absorb all light, with a piece of yellowed parchment lying beneath them, incongruous with the futuristic atmosphere.

"Three different ones?"

Chen Zhou was taken aback.

The first supply was in duplicate, clearly intended for a group of challengers to avoid conflicts due to uneven distribution. Why has the supply become a single portion?
"Could it be that their 'illegal team formation' was discovered, which is why they conveniently packed three syringes?"

But where did the Time and Space Administration get the confidence to be so certain that I would definitely try to secure the second supply and successfully obtain it?

Looking at the injection, Chen Zhou had no idea what the Time and Space Administration was up to.

The firelight that crept in from the side illuminated the silver-gray metal casings of the three syringes. From left to right, the liquids inside the syringes were transparent, azure, and gold, respectively.

At a glance, Chen Zhou felt the first syringe looked familiar. He picked it up and, using his old method, "looked for the instructions." And as expected, the results were as he predicted—

This is yet another potent regenerative injection, a second life for the Challenger.

I haven't seen the other two injections yet, but just seeing the first one, Chen Zhou, makes me feel that the trip was worthwhile.

Paul and Bi Kai are both unharmed now. Hiding in the cave, they are unlikely to encounter any conflict or suffer serious injury. This injection belongs entirely to him and can help him in the final leg of the challenge. Moreover, judging from the black-robed man's experience, the injection won't be taken back even if it's not used during the challenge; he can take it back to his own world.

Carefully putting away the syringe, Chen Zhou did not return it to the small box, but instead hid it in his clothes for use in an emergency.

Chen Zhou was in high spirits after receiving the potent regeneration injection and immediately picked up the second high-end-looking, deep blue injection.

Just as he was about to look at the instruction manual in the light, he suddenly put down the syringe and became curious about the parchment at the very bottom of the box.

"Last time they put a wooden carving in the box, and this time they put a piece of paper in the box. It seems that the Time and Space Administration has been paying close attention to me!"

I don't know if I'm considered the best performer among the contestants who successfully completed the challenge in the island survival reality show.

Now that I've completed the challenge and returned to my own world, why are you repeatedly expressing your concern for me?

Thinking it over, Chen Zhou pulled out the parchment and began to peruse the text on it.

Unlike the strange script used by the Time-Space Administration in the injection instructions, this parchment is written in English, and it was written with a quill pen. Judging from the color of the ink, it is estimated to be one or two hundred years old, and can barely be considered an antique.

During the later stages of his life on the island, Chen Zhou had frequent contact with prominent figures from the Age of Exploration, such as the British, Dutch, and Spanish, and was not unfamiliar with the relatively archaic English, so reading the contents of the parchment was not difficult for him.

The parchment is perfectly intact, with almost no damage.

Its left and right sides are printed with decorative patterns, but unlike the common acanthus or palm patterns, the decorative patterns on this parchment have a feeling of being out of place with traditional European decoration.

The straight lines are exceptionally strong, and the depiction of structure and space is meticulous, like a design drawing from a modern design school rather than a floral pattern that represents elegance and vitality.

At the very top of the parchment, two long, needle-like lines held a regular cube in place.

Although the parchment was not colored, Chen Zhou could still associate the imagery with the black-robed man and the dead Negro.

This pattern appears to represent the influence of the Time and Space Administration on various worlds.

Beneath the cube, the writer did not use ornate calligraphy; each word he wrote was stiff, like printed text.

The first line reads "Contract Terms".

Looking further back from here, the content is very similar to the legendary contract with the demon, except that the service provider of the contract is not the demon, but the Time and Space Administration.

Of course, the names written on the parchment did not use that seemingly ordinary name, but were called "the Tribunal of the Rift".

Although the name has been changed, in Chen Zhou's eyes, this so-called "Boundary Tribunal" is actually the same organization as the Time and Space Administration.

It's just that people more than two hundred years ago didn't have a clear concept of time and space, so they gave it such a strange name.

What the Time and Space Administration's text can be translated into depends on the viewer's perception of the world. Primitive people saw it as a tribe, medieval Europeans saw it as a court, and ancient Chinese people might have seen it as the Penglai Immortal Island.

The contract stipulates that the signatory must travel to a small town called Ambrose and wipe out a family of murderers who have been entrenched there for over a hundred years.

As the agent of the contract, the "Breakpoint Tribunal" will provide two genetically modified injections that can enhance the physical functions of the signatory to help them complete their mission.

Although there is no place to sign on the contract, the terms state that the contract will take effect immediately after the injection.

Seeing this, Chen Zhou breathed a sigh of relief.

What kind of town is Ambrose? A family of serial killers that has lasted for over a hundred years, they're obviously no pushovers.

Fortunately, he didn't look at the injection's instructions immediately. Otherwise, if he had seen that the injection was highly effective and had no side effects, he might have injected it right away. In that case, he would have been forced to sign a contract, and whether or not he had to go to another world to complete the mission would have been out of his hands.

Read on.

Below the obligations of the Rift Tribunal and the responsibilities that those who sign the contract must fulfill, there is a series of detailed regulations.

For example, if a contractor unfortunately dies during a mission, his personal freedom will belong entirely to the Rift Tribunal. If the Rift Tribunal wants, it can resurrect him, and he will become a "nuclear-powered ox or horse" belonging exclusively to the Rift Tribunal.

Although the regulations do not specify what kind of work those who sign contracts after being resurrected will have to do, it is obvious that it will be dirty and tiring work, and it will be dirty and tiring work that continues endlessly.

What's even more terrifying is that the Time and Space Administration must have a way to extend human lifespan. Taking on this job might mean working for thousands or even tens of thousands of years without seeing the end.

Putting everything else aside, this clause alone is enough to make Chen Zhou lose all interest in signing a contract.

Even if he dies of old age, at least he will have freedom in this life.

Selling yourself to the Time and Space Administration, what's the point of having a long lifespan, working 996 for ten thousand years?

And who knows, maybe the job I'd be resurrected for wouldn't be 996, but 007. Just thinking about it is pretty miserable.

As for fulfilling the contract and getting two injections for free, the risks involved are even greater.

The contract doesn't provide any specific information about the so-called murderous family; the only certainty is that the family has existed for over a hundred years.

According to Chen Zhou's understanding of family, even if a family that has been developing for a hundred years does not have many members, it will still have dozens of people.

That means that after accepting this mission, he would have to at least wipe out an entire family of dozens of people in enemy territory.

That's not all. If the family is powerful, he might also have to deal with the family's vassals and friends of the family members, which is another intricate web.

More importantly, the name Ambrose, coupled with the era of the contract, gave Chen Zhou a vague feeling that the world he needed to complete the mission should have already developed firearms.

Firearms can make up for too many deficiencies in physical fitness. Even if he can kill many people with his superb skills when facing cold weapons, he can't dodge flying bullets, let alone withstand the shooting of shotguns or large lead bullets.

If the "island reality show" is a small gamble with neither high risk nor high reward, then the contractual task is an all-in bet where the reward and risk are completely disproportionate.

Having confirmed that the potent regeneration injection he had tucked into his pocket was not among the two injections mentioned in the contract, Chen Zhou decisively put the parchment back into the box and closed the lid without even glancing at the remaining two injections.

All he wants now is to wait out the challenge until it ends, and then return to his own world.

Unlike at the beginning, he now has enough capital to enjoy life and no longer cares about the stakes of this gamble.

……

The closed box was tightly sealed shut again, with no gaps visible.

The newly added firewood to the campfire had already been lit, making a crisp crackling sound.

For some reason, amidst the perfectly normal sound of burning, Chen Zhou seemed to hear a kind of sneer, as if someone in an unseen corner was leisurely waiting for him to walk right into their trap. (End of Chapter)