From Robinson Crusoe

The energy he consumed seemed to alleviate the pain of the genetic modification process. Coupled with the fat loss after being rained on, and the intense craving for sugar and oil mixtures caused by living in a cold and harsh place for a long time, Chen Zhou devoured all the snacks in no time.

Chen Zhou finished both cartons of milk in one gulp, and also ate the small bag of salted peas. As for the box of cloyingly sweet cream biscuits, it was the first to be consumed.

Towards the end, Chen Zhou didn't even leave the candies behind, peeling them open one by one and stuffing a handful into his mouth.

With the crisp sound of chewing hard candy, Chen Zhou emptied his bag completely, then picked out two pieces of absorbent clothing to dry his head and face from the rain.

After finishing those tasks, he bent down to check under the back seats for any usable supplies.

Life in the prehistoric world consumed the little fat Chen Zhou had left, making him even thinner.

However, no matter how thin he was, it couldn't change the fact that he was a giant of 1.9 meters tall.

In the mid-20th century, as a victorious nation in World War II, the United States experienced unprecedented economic prosperity, with ample supplies of meat, milk, and grains, and a significant improvement in children's nutritional levels.

However, adults in the United States do not enjoy the advantages of adequate nutrition. Most American men are between 170 and 175 cm tall, and even Hollywood stars with outstanding appearances rarely reach a height of 190 cm.

Chen Zhou was so tall compared to most Americans that he looked like a monster when he squeezed into the car.

As he laboriously bent down to peer under the seat, the distance between him and the little girl suddenly closed. In the dim light, Chen Zhou's disheveled hair, unfamiliar face, and the damp, bloody smell emanating from him instantly brought the oppressive feeling he emanated to its peak.

Chen Zhou only saw a long, black, stick-like object under the seat. Before he could take it out, he heard the little girl say timidly—

"Please don't kill me, please."

Don't kill my father either, he's not a soldier..."

Ignoring the little girl, Chen Zhou reached out and pulled out the "stick-like object," discovering it was an umbrella, which pleased him.

An umbrella was one of the few things that came in handy. With it, he could wait for the rain to subside so he could get out of the car and continue along the road.

After placing the umbrella beside him so he could take it with him later, and making sure there was nothing else of value in the back of the car, Chen Zhou turned to look at the little girl.

The little girl didn't dare look directly at the man who seemed to have stepped out of a horror movie. As soon as Chen Zhou's gaze fell on her face, she raised her fluffy toy rabbit to cover her face and dared not speak again.

However, Chen Zhou did not let her off the hook because of her fearful behavior.

"Tell me, where is this?"

Having not spoken English for a while, Chen Zhou's pronunciation and grammar had a very obvious "Chinglish flavor".

However, the highly nervous little girl didn't catch these details. She paused for a moment before answering timidly.

"USA."

I didn't even know this was America.

Silently complaining to himself, but considering the little girl's young age, Chen Zhou asked more specific questions.

What year is it this year?
Which US state is this?

What major cities are nearby?

Have you ever heard of Ambrose?

Faced with one question after another from a stranger, the little girl was very afraid, but she still suppressed the urge to cry and answered Chen Zhou's questions one by one.

It turns out this year is 1947, and this is Arkansas. As for which county in Arkansas it is, the little girl can't answer. She only knows that the largest town nearby is Prescott.

Regarding Ambrose, the little girl shook her head, offering Chen Zhou no valuable clues related to him.

After all, she was just a child. Chen Zhou was already overjoyed to get the specific date and location from her. He didn't expect to get all the information from her at all.

Clutching his umbrella, Chen Zhou rolled down the car window. Seeing that the rain outside had subsided significantly, and worried that other vehicles might pass by on the road later, he decided to leave.

However, before leaving, he had to check the trunk of the car.

There isn't much storage space on these old-fashioned cars; the largest and most important storage space you can find on the whole vehicle is the trunk.

According to Chen Zhou, because this classic car is wide enough and uses a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout, its trunk is deep, wide, and tall, and it is said that it can fit a small motorcycle.

In some old horror movies, killers use this kind of vehicle to dispose of bodies, sometimes even handling four bodies at once.

If the driver had a long gun, he would very likely have kept it in the trunk.

Having realized that he lived in an era of rampant gun violence, and with his physical condition severely declining, Chen Zhou urgently needed firearms to provide him with a sense of security.

Besides guns, cars are also very convenient tools.

Unfortunately, his Asian features were too conspicuous in America at that time, and he was also an undocumented immigrant from another era. If he encountered the police for driving without a license, it would be like mud falling into his crotch – even if it wasn't shit, it would still be shit.

Don't be fooled by the fact that the contract states his target is a family of serial killers, making it seem like the police can help him.

In reality, if a conflict actually occurs, it's uncertain who the police will side with; they might just pull out their guns, empty their magazines, and shoot him dead immediately.

Chen Zhou had no intention of risking driving until he found a way to legally obtain a car.

However, if a more flexible and convenient mode of transportation like a motorcycle were available, he wouldn't mind using it.

Straightening the long sword at his waist, Chen Zhou opened the car door, picked up his umbrella, and was about to leave the car when he heard the little girl's plea again.

"Please don't kill my father, he really wasn't a soldier."

Slightly startled, Chen Zhou turned to look at the little girl before realizing what had happened.

It turned out that the little girl mistook him for a Native American. They both had the same skin color, and because the little girl was too young, she couldn't correctly distinguish the appearance of East Asians and Native Americans, which led to her wrong judgment.

Understanding the historical context of the United States makes it easy to see why the little girl said that.

From the mid-19th century to the Civil War, Native Americans who had ceded their ancestral lands to white people were displaced, and this was only the beginning of a nightmare.

Subsequently, the Native Americans not only failed to reclaim their land, but were also massacred, and the major ethnic groups that once covered the entire North America nearly became extinct.

Many Native Americans who witnessed the destruction of their homes and the killing of their fellow countrymen left behind curses against Americans, giving rise to various terrifying legends.

On a rainy night like this, it's understandable that a little girl might mistake an "Indian" for an Indian seeking revenge as she watched him break through the window and get into the car.

As for why she repeatedly pleaded not to "kill her father," she was probably trying to tell them that her father had no blood feud with the Native Americans and there was no need for revenge. However, Chen Zhou felt that Native Americans were nearly extinct, and almost every outsider living in North America could not be considered innocent, even if they were not the initiators of the massacre, they tacitly approved of such behavior.

These matters had nothing to do with him, because he was neither an Indian nor an American, and the deep-seated hatred between the two sides did not need him, a "third party," to get involved.

He didn't want to be some kind of "righteous hero" standing up for the Native Americans; the important thing right now was to find Ambrose and the murderous family.

Without saying a word, Chen Zhou closed the car door, offering no explanation whatsoever.

He hoped that when the little girl's father woke up, he would hear that "Indians" broke the glass, stole his money, and then left, which would reduce some unnecessary attention.

……

Opening the umbrella and prying open the car's trunk, the first thing you see is a full-size spare tire fixed to the floor, along with emergency repair tools such as a jack.

After searching for a while, Chen Zhou didn't find the gun he wanted most, but he did find a large blue wool coat with machine oil stains on its surface. Next to the coat, thick newspapers wrapped around bolts, which were also covered with black oil stains.

Rarely seeing anything with writing on it, Chen Zhou carefully opened the newspaper, poured out the bolts inside, then wrapped the newspaper in his coat to prevent it from getting wet, and then left the stranded car with his coat tucked under his arm.

He didn't care whether the little girl would be rescued after he left, or whether the driver might die from the delay in treating his injuries.

Ultimately, he only took some money and ate some food, which had no impact on the outcome of the car accident.

More importantly, he couldn't offer any help; calling the police would only bring him endless trouble.

……

Holding an umbrella and tucking the newspaper into his coat, Chen Zhou put it on.

He had just realized that his modern combat uniform was out of step with the mainstream American fashion of the mid-20th century, and in order to avoid drawing attention, he decided to disguise himself.

However, besides his clothing and appearance, his height is also a big problem.

The sudden appearance of a towering 1.9-meter-tall person among a sea of ​​people who are only around 1.7 meters tall is bound to attract attention.

Height is something that can't be changed, so Chen Zhou can only try to avoid going out when there are many people to avoid exposing himself.

……

The rain pattered softly as Chen Zhou advanced, counting his spoils, including the banknotes and newspapers he had stolen.

Perhaps because the driver's income was low, after counting the money, Chen Zhou found that although there were many of them, the total value was not much, only $455, which seemed insufficient.

"Looks like I'll need to raise more money. I wonder how many days I can stay in a hotel with this amount..."

Chen Zhou, who was secretly thinking about "doing one more job," had no idea that $455 was a huge sum of money in the United States in the mid-20th century.

At that time, in the agricultural states of the southern United States, the average worker could not earn more than $150 a month, and the rent for a house in a remote town would not exceed $50 a month. A hamburger could cost as little as $0.15.

The money he has is enough for him to stay comfortably for two months, provided he can resolve his immigration status.

……

After counting how much money he had, Chen Zhou couldn't wait to start reading the newspaper again.

There were four sheets of newspaper used to wrap the bolts, but unfortunately, three of them were the same.

The other one was a car repair magazine, full of useless car repair knowledge. For Chen Zhou, a mechanical engineering major, everything written in it was too outdated.

The rest of the newspaper content consisted mostly of useless political elections and celebrity gossip, with very little information about the regional situation and various towns.

Chen Zhou's English is not fluent when spoken, but he has no problem reading it.

After quickly skimming through the two newspapers and checking them again, he finally confirmed that there was no information about Ambrose in them, and the word "Ambrose" had not even appeared.

Besides, words like "murder" or "serial killer" did not appear. The author simply wrote that the whole area was thriving under the wise leadership of the new mayor and a series of wise new policies.

Against this backdrop, the town's security was naturally impeccable. Not only were murders and rapes nonexistent, but even the motorcycle gangs on the streets had changed their ways and started anew.

"I can't even find Ambrose, how am I supposed to deal with this family of serial killers?"

Could it be that the Time and Space Administration made another mistake and sent me to another world?

Faced with this predicament, Chen Zhou was at a loss.

What's more terrifying than a powerful opponent is having no opponent at all.

"We can only take it one step at a time."

Although the killers can't be found, this is still good news. Since they can't be found, they can hide for now and wait for the side effects of the drug to wear off before making their move. That way, they'll have a better chance of success.

Comforting himself, Chen Zhou continued along the road.

He learned from the newspaper that he was currently in Nevada County, Arkansas.

This county is very remote. Although it covers a large area, it is sparsely populated. Most of the land is farmland, and the people living here are mostly farm owners.

He could reach Prescott, the place the little girl had mentioned, by following Route 66.

That was the administrative center of Nevada County, a small town with only about four or five thousand permanent residents. Not only was it located in a remote area, but the people in the town were also quite simple and honest.

Chen Zhou planned to rest in Prescott for a while, waiting for the side effects to subside, and gathering intelligence to prepare for subsequent actions.

If possible, he also wanted to get a few guns for self-defense, and preferably a car and valid identification documents, all of which would facilitate his rapid relocation and help him find Ambrose as soon as possible.

In the prehistoric world, there was no other way but to walk on two legs. Now that we're in modern society, we can't exactly race against car wheels with our legs.

Moreover, the land here is vast, and the towns are far apart. If he finds out the intelligence but has no means of transportation, by the time he arrives at the scene, it will probably be too late.

……

Not long after I finished reading the newspaper, the rain gradually came to an end, the torrential downpour turned into a light drizzle, and even the dark clouds in the sky were blown away by the wind.

Seeing that the rain wasn't heavy, Chen Zhou put away his umbrella.

Before he could even fasten the straps to secure the umbrella frame, a roar of an engine suddenly came from the top of the slightly uphill slope ahead, followed by two flashes of white light, and a dilapidated pickup truck drove down the slope. (End of Chapter)