Chapter 162 - 69: Medicine That Isn’t Medicine (2)
Drawing several construction lines on the beach with a wooden stick, Chen Zhou carefully placed wooden strips and stones, occasionally heading to the forest by the shore to chop some new trunks or branches for fixing positions.
The rain seemed like the tired breath of the sky, heavy at times, light at others, striking the edge of his wide-brimmed hat.
Accumulating in the indentations of the leather materials, it flowed down, dripping along the seal fur cloak.
Chen Zhou's shoulders remained dry, but his pants and waist, lacking the cloak's protection, were completely soaked.
The sunlight sometimes shone brightly, sometimes dimmed, and a special wall made of wood and stone gradually took shape on the beach.
Unknowingly, he worked until noon, his steps never pausing. Having not eaten since early morning, Chen Zhou's stomach began to rumble.
He took out a flatbread from his pocket and took a bite, finding it rock hard. Helplessly, he tucked it back into the plastic wrap, estimating that it would take another half an hour to finish, and continued working, enduring his hunger.
After chopping down trees twice, when the wood and stone cutting site on the beach was complete, a large area of the seaside forest was already bare.
Placing the last stone down, adjusting the position and angle, Chen Zhou rubbed his neck and looked at the sky, spotting the wooden pole he'd planted in the sand before.
These poles of varying lengths were used for measuring the height of the "knife blade", with the longest nearing four meters and the shortest protruding from the ground by at least two meters and eighty centimeters.
Pulled out the pole to examine closely, these few poles were intact despite being slightly tilted.
Chen Zhou guessed that the knife blade probably cut down from above, or else the height wouldn't be so absurd.
But if the knife blade and reward both descended from above, it was hard to explain how the reward appeared inside the rain shelter.
According to this descending method, the cement from last time should've been pressed onto the top of the rain shelter, directly collapsing it rather than pushing it down.
The gigantic Wang Lingguan statue from that time should have left deep indentations on the beach, not a shallow circle like it had been gently placed on the sand.
The blade is inherently invisible, using advanced technology beyond human understanding.
After pondering for a moment without finding an answer, Chen Zhou simply decided not to unravel the mystery.
He felt that no matter where the knife blade sliced from or how it sliced, it didn't concern him as long as he could utilize the cutting machine.
Just like a driver driving a car.
Not every driver understands the car, is familiar with how the engine works, or knows how the circuitry controlling the lights, the air conditioning, and the stereo operates.
As long as they can skillfully handle the steering wheel, switch gears, step on the clutch and brakes while keeping a clear mind and normal vision, they can be a qualified driver. The same applied to Chen Zhou.
...
After dealing with the outer wall, knowing that in 15 days he would receive a batch of high-quality stone bricks and wooden boards, Chen Zhou felt great.
Covering his empty stomach, he walked in the light rain towards the hillside camp, trudging a hundred meters before suddenly recalling he hadn't claimed his reward, being too engrossed in figuring out how to cut bricks and boards.
Such a mistake would've never occurred in the first few months of the challenge.
This was also due to the program group; if they gave him more useful things, Chen Zhou wouldn't be so dismissive of the "mysterious reward".
Now, he even felt that this mysterious reward was hardly a reward, only the "mystery" part somewhat fitting.
Hurriedly returning to the reward point, he painstakingly crossed the wooden and stone cutting wall, lifted the rain shelter's submerged canvas, and saw a small rectangular box wrapped in a black protective bag.
The whole packaging box was similar in size to a carton of instant noodles, without handles, hefty when lifted, roughly weighing twenty pounds.
With rain pouring down for most of the day, if the exterior packaging for the reward had still been cardboard, it would've been soaked rotten by the rain-soaked sand.
Thanks to the layer of black plastic packaging outside, the little box only had some sand grains and muddy water clinging to it, with the interior unharmed.
The rain hadn't stopped, and his stomach was still empty, so Chen Zhou wasn't up for opening the box here. He tossed the box out of the cutting wall and carefully climbed over it to pick up the box, heading directly for the camp.
...
Entering the tent, he noticed a row of wooden boxes serving as a waterproof stand and the tent interior was empty after shifting the cement; Chen Zhou was somewhat unaccustomed to this.
Casually placing the box on a wooden box, he went outside to gather some thin wooden sticks and brought back two worn-out small chairs, which he split into firewood using an axe.
He took out the flatbread and jerky he'd carried all morning in his pocket, started a fire with a fire striker, and made do by roasting a piece of flatbread and cooking a strip of seal meat in the tent.
Salted and dried after curing, the seal meat tasted slightly salty when cooked, perfect for a meal.
The only drawback was both foods were quite dry, especially the flatbread, which had already lost much moisture before roasting, becoming even harder afterward, making it chew like the mooncakes schools distributed during Mid-Autumn Festival.
Each bite left a clear indent.
As he chewed, the fragmented crumbs inside even pricked his tongue a bit.
It had been a long time since he'd eaten such a tough meal; hungry and famished, Chen Zhou tore at the roasted seal jerky, swallowing it down with difficulty along with the flatbread.
Even with his stomach empty, he couldn't finish an entire piece of flatbread and two pieces of jerky, he merely eased his hunger a bit, took a glance at the rain in the forest, then picked up the unopened reward to prepare to return home.
Before leaving, Chen Zhou didn't forget to extinguish the fire in the tent and covered the remaining embers with wet soil.
The gunpowder barrels tied to the trees near the camp had long been moved to the shelter; if they were ignited, all the camp's supplies would be entirely destroyed.