From Robinson Crusoe

Even after nightfall, strong winds continued to blow outside the cave.

Chen Zhou moved the stool to the front of the stove, facing the fire, his face reflected in the firelight.

The door was tightly shut; not only was it propped shut from the inside with wooden sticks, but the gaps on all sides were also stuffed with animal hides.

However, cold air continued to seep in from outside.

Just as he had predicted, the temperature never rose again this time.

As temperatures drop below minus forty degrees Celsius, humans can hardly stay outdoors for long, not even he and Paul, who had been injected with genetically modified drugs.

Threatened by the severe cold, the three of them took refuge inside the cave.

Now, apart from going out to fetch food and letting the three saw-toothed tigers out to defecate, they spend almost all their time holed up in the cave.

Moreover, it can be predicted that when the temperature really drops to minus 65 degrees Celsius, even going out to relieve oneself will be very risky.

However, Chen Zhou already had a solution. He planned to open another crevice in the cave and build a toilet deep inside for the three of them to use. The tiger's droppings would also be thrown into that toilet to keep the cave smelling fresh.

In addition to restrictions on going out, the constant wind and snow have also made the sunshine increasingly scarce.

The cave was already dark, and after the blizzard, it became even darker. Helpless, Paul and Bi Kai could only keep the oil lamp burning from morning till night.

Although the light from the oil lamp was dim, it still made people feel alive and gave them a sense of security. For the two of them, the psychological comfort it provided far outweighed its practical use.

……

The dim light disrupted people's ability to distinguish between day and night, and time seemed to stand still in the darkness, and the night was so long that it seemed as if the sun would never rise.

The kang (heated brick bed) was piled high with furs. In order to sleep soundly, Bi Kai had to set up a "fur tent" on the kang, relying on the heat source and the warmth provided by the furs to get through the day.

Paul's snoring could be heard from beside him from time to time.

Paul had, after all, modified his genes, making him more resistant to cold than Bi Kai, so he didn't need any further methods; he could sleep comfortably simply by covering himself with a blanket.

While the two rested, Chen Zhou was responsible for keeping watch at night.

The temperature was too low, and it was too cold outside the cave.

At this point, the fire in the stove, the heated brick bed, and the fire wall cannot stop for even a moment; they must continue to work, and the fire must burn brightly.

The three of them took turns tending the stove, and except for exchanging a few words during meals, they hardly spoke.

They all know that they have now entered the final stage, and it's a contest of who can endure the longest.

They haven't reached the end of their rope yet, so they must try to conserve their energy. It's like the final stretch of a marathon, where it's not just about endurance, but also perseverance.

However, compared to a marathon where you can see your opponents, what's most agonizing is not knowing when you'll win, not being able to see the finish line, and not being able to see your opponents' situation.

It could take anywhere from ten days to a month, or even as little as ten days or a month.

No one knows how long this "torture" will last; all they can do is persevere until the very last moment.

The somber atmosphere spread not only among humans, but even the saw-toothed tigers sensed this unusual seriousness. As a result, they became unusually well-behaved, no longer frequently fighting or clamoring to go out or sneak out.

……

Five days have passed in the blink of an eye.

Having stayed cooped up in the cave all day without venturing out, the three of them had all turned pale.

Several more oil lamps were added to the log that served as a dining table, but no amount of light could dispel the oppressive atmosphere that permeated the cave.

At Chen Zhou's suggestion, Paul began to learn martial arts from Bi Kai.

After dinner, the three of them would practice boxing and swordplay together in the open space inside the cave, chat for a bit, and liven up the atmosphere.

Chen Zhou and Paul came from the same era, but the world took very different paths, so their discussions about various political landscapes were somewhat opportunistic.

Bi Kai comes from ancient times, a world largely the same as official history, yet containing many chivalrous figures and even strange tales from the imperial court. For Chen Zhou, some of the anecdotes told by Bi Kai were quite interesting.

Like Scheherazade in One Thousand and One Nights, the three relied on the food and fuel they had stockpiled in advance to sustain their bodies, and on the stories they had told to sustain their spirits.

They were looking forward to the end of the challenge.

However, as the days went by, everything seemed to remain unchanged.

The wind was still howling outside the cave, and the entrance was covered with a thick layer of ice.

The "fissure toilet" was put into use ahead of schedule. Because the space inside the cave was too large and the heat was lost too quickly, the three of them even had to build a high wall with firewood to completely seal the fire wall, the heated kang (a traditional heated platform bed), and the stove in order to preserve the heat.

Even so, things haven't gotten to the worst point yet; at least there's food and drink, and no one will freeze to death, no matter how cold it gets.

Other challengers, who are still struggling in this frigid world, are far less fortunate.

……

It is about 100 kilometers away from Mount Baihar.

The mounds on the grassland were already covered with thick white snow, with only a hole visible on the side.

Some wood chips were scattered around the cave entrance, and there were many messy footprints nearby.

A few days ago, smoke was still rising from the cave entrance, indicating that the people inside were still alive. In recent days, the smoke has become less and less, and no one has been seen going out.

The burrow, now completely dark, originally belonged to a cave bear.

Several months ago, an outsider killed the cave bear that was preparing to hibernate and took over the cave.

Shanuya and Saman, two wilderness survival enthusiasts participating in the challenge for the first time, decided from that moment on not to participate in the bloody competition for supplies, but to focus on preparing supplies and survive to the end with enough fuel and food.

There was a reason why they adopted this method, which Chen Zhou called the "turtle tactic."

Compared to other challengers, they had a large supply of survival materials from the start, including four military knives of different sizes and shapes, a whole box of nails, a tool kit containing a saw, hammer and axe, a wok and an outdoor stew pot, a large jar of cooking oil, a large jar of salt and several bags of sugar.

And these are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to their survival supplies.

In reality, both of them, who kept the rules firmly in mind, believed themselves to be the chosen ones, players with cheat codes, after comparing themselves to each other.

It was precisely because of this start that the two talents gave up the fight for supplies.

Just as Chen Zhou envisioned, there were underlying considerations behind the allocation of each group of challengers and their survival tools.

Some players, due to their overwhelming combat strength, lack the tools to start a fire at the beginning, while others, due to their weak combat strength, receive ample compensation.

Although Shanuah and Saman had an early lead, the gap in strength could not be bridged by these things.

Putting everything else aside, just to kill the enormous cave bear without taking any damage and seize the cave, the two of them spent four whole days preparing, making weapons and digging traps.

During this time, the two also had to evade attacks from other wild beasts on the grassland and outwit and outfight cave hyenas.

What they painstakingly strived to achieve, they could accomplish in just a few minutes for Chen Zhou. Chen Zhou's abundant energy, incredible stamina, and strength made him far more efficient than ordinary people, and the addition of Paul and Bi Kai provided even more support to their team.

During their cooperative hunts of hibernating animals, they could kill up to a dozen giant beasts a day and obtain nearly 10,000 kilograms of supplies.

Even though these two had prepared for so long, worked hard and desperately, the firewood and food they had gathered were only a fraction of the supplies Chen Zhou and his group had.

When the blizzard arrived, the two couldn't even leave the cave and had to stay there, consuming their meager savings.

Chen Zhou and his group couldn't see the progress, and neither could they.

Moreover, compared to Chen Zhou, they were even more desperate—

The stove could not be kept out of the fire, and the firewood was being consumed at an alarming rate. The woodpile was getting smaller every day, and the food was getting less and less.

But the wind and snow did not stop for a moment because of their difficult situation, giving them no chance to catch their breath.

Now, the two can only huddle on their beds inside the cave, trying to figure out how to get through the day.

There's still some food left, enough for the two of them to last a few more days.

Fuel is the biggest problem.

Looking at the flickering embers in the furnace, Sanuya finally decided to do something.

He persuaded Samantha to put on his cotton-padded coat and go out with him to find something to burn.

The grassland was originally a flat place, making it easy to spot enemies. This burrow was also large enough that the cave bear had even dug out several separate rooms. After removing the animal carcasses and excrement, it was naturally a good place to live.

When this cave was chosen, neither Shahryar nor Saman thought there was anything wrong with it.

Only now do they realize how foolish it was to choose to establish their shelter so far from the forest—

In such a heavy blizzard and in such cold weather, they would have to walk at least three kilometers to cut down trees, which would have frozen them to death.

Even more terrifying was that the wind was so strong that the torches they used for warmth could not burn outdoors, leaving them with only cotton-padded clothes and animal skin garments to survive.

However, in a temperature of minus 65 degrees Celsius, wearing ordinary cotton-padded clothes and leather jackets is not much different from running naked. If you stay outside for more than ten seconds, it feels as if the wind has penetrated your whole body, from the soles of your feet to the top of your head, everything is icy cold.

Shannuar and Saman pushed open the door, but after walking only a dozen meters, they were blown away by the cold wind and could not go any further.

They exchanged a glance, both knowing that if they continued to take the risk, they would most likely freeze to death outside.

"Should I die now or die some time later?"

Both of them chose the latter without prior agreement.

So they hurriedly dug through the snow, haphazardly pulled out a few handfuls of wild grass buried in the snow, and returned to the cave.

The two originally wanted to stuff the wild grass, still covered in snow, directly into the stove, but they were afraid that the melting snow would extinguish the fire.

Shahryar strained his eyes, groped around in the dim cave for a while, pulled out his axe, and offered his suggestion to Saman—

“We can saw the axe handle in half and use it as fuel.”

To avoid freezing to death outside, Saman, whose body temperature had not yet recovered and who was still shivering, nodded.

With this idea in mind, the two suddenly "discovered a new world." They found all the materials that could be used as fuel, whether it was plastic, alcohol, or even the wooden handles of tools, sawed them all open, and stuffed them into the stove.

The two were convinced that other challengers had also reached this point, perhaps even worse off than they had.

Like Chen Zhou and the other two, they also felt that the challenge was coming to an end, and every minute and every second they continued to persevere would lead to the dawn of victory.

……

Perhaps, from a certain perspective, Shahryar and Saman, struggling on the brink of death, were lucky.

The power of the extreme cold exceeded the imagination of all challengers.

Of course, they may have already anticipated the power of minus 65 degrees Celsius, but they simply had no way to withstand it.

On the other side of the Baihar Mountains, on the frozen shore of a large lake, wooden huts built by challengers are covered in snow.

The wind whistled through the cracks in the wooden walls of the cabin, inside which a challenger, wrapped in thick animal fur, lay frozen in eternal rigor.

Beside his body lay another mutilated corpse, that of his partner.

Perhaps it was to fight for warm clothing, to live a few more hours, or perhaps they were driven mad by the cold and froze to death, but the two challengers, who had been working together for several months, engaged in a fierce battle.

The man ultimately triumphed, slitting his partner's throat before tearing off his own clothes and putting them on.

But this didn't work, so he did something else crazy—

Set the wooden house on fire.

Unfortunately, the wind was too strong and there was too much snow.

The fire went out before it could spread, leaving only a dark patch inside. Struggling in the bitter cold, he tried to move his numb fingers to rekindle the flame, but in the end, death came before him, not warmth.

Some died indoors, and others died outdoors.

In the vast primeval forest, the hardy pines and cypresses could not withstand the extreme cold that represented death. The water stored in their trunks was frozen into ice crystals, tearing the wood fibers apart.

Some large trees, already damaged, collapsed with a roar, while many more stood in the howling wind, quietly losing their vitality.

Two naked corpses lay buried under the snow.

Before death, their body temperature dropped to an extreme level, causing their hypothalamus to malfunction and resulting in sensory confusion.

They had no way of knowing whether they were extremely cold or in a high-temperature environment.

When low temperatures cause blood vessels to constrict and nerves to paralyze, a large amount of cold blood flows back from the limbs to the core area, producing a strong burning sensation that makes them feel as if their body is on fire.

Disorientation can cause hallucinations, and when their consciousness is clouded, they take off their clothes, accompanied by "hidden treasure hunting".

That's an instinct that survives from the process of biological evolution. Having lost the ability to think, they crawl, dig, and search for tree holes or other safe and narrow shelters.

But there was nowhere like that in the forest, so the two stripped naked and crawled into a snowdrift until they died.

Extreme sports enthusiasts who climb snow-capped mountains know that "feeling hot is a death hallucination, so be sure to wrap yourself up tightly." But faced with a situation where there is no chance of survival, even if they know it is a hallucination, some people may not resist and choose to accept it calmly.

In the life-scarce desert created by extreme cold, such deaths occur constantly, from massive plants to tiny rodents and even microorganisms.

Just as Chen Zhou understood—

The Time and Space Administration does not value life. To those who are high above, both time and space, as well as the creatures in the universe, are toys to be manipulated at will.

They set the rules, and they also created death. (End of Chapter)