Chapter 413 - 180: Birthday Gift
Nearing three years on the island, the rewards that came every 15 days gradually changed their dates with the varying months.
By coincidence, on August 1, 1662, it happened to be the day of the sixty-ninth mysterious reward.
Moreover, this day was also one of the three major festivals on the island and was also Chen Zhou’s "new birthday" in this new world.
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Despite being in a period of preparation for battle, the atmosphere on the island was still tense.
In respect for the festival he personally established, Chen Zhou still planned to hold a simple banquet, taking the newly-joined indigenous members of this "big family" to pay respects to the non-existent "God" at the Temple, which hadn’t been opened for half a year.
Of course, before this, he first needed to get up early to the beach to collect his reward.
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Since unraveling the "Key Cutting" puzzle on May 18 and obtaining the "Simple Production Method for Explosive Materials," by August 1, Chen Zhou had received a total of four rewards.
Because life on the island was already largely self-sufficient, these rewards, like most received in 1662, only served as the icing on the cake, and some were not even that.
For example, the July 17 reward, a high-end pool cue, was tossed into the corner of the storage room by Chen Zhou after unpacking and examining it, and hasn’t been seen since.
The June 2 reward consisted of 800 50*50cm patchwork carpets, about 6mm thick, with a knitted base and PVC material, all in gray and white tones.
Back then, with only Chen Zhou and Saturday, Sunday, moving them to the mountain took quite an effort.
Now, these PVC carpets are neatly stacked in the storage room, and Chen Zhou plans to use them when building his own "villa" in the future.
The island is humid, making these soft-bottomed, non-slip, moisture-resistant patch carpets quite suitable.
Although Chen Zhou prefers timeless hardwood floors, in this time and space, some modern items in the room remind him where he comes from.
The June 17 reward was six outdoor insulated containers suitable for storing seafood, cold drinks, or leftovers.
Each container holds a standard 18L and came with two 450ml ice packs and ten self-absorbent ice bags.
These greatly improved Chen Zhou’s quality of life.
During this time, Saturday has been delivering food to the "construction site," relying on these insulated containers.
With the weather scorching, every tree on the beach and nearby coastal woodlands was cut down, leaving no shelter in sight. At noon, the only respite from the heat was in the trenches.
In such conditions, taking a sip of chilled juice or a glass of cool rum was incredibly comforting.
On lazy days without the desire to cook, having Saturday fry some simple dishes at home and sending them over was another form of enjoyment.
Unfortunately, the 18L insulated container’s internal space wasn’t quite large enough, and though there were 60 self-absorbent ice bags, they were semi-disposable. Once melted and placed into Chen Zhou’s "basic refrigerator" to refreeze, it took at least a whole day to solidify again, with potential leaks making them feel quite redundant.
Of course, compared to the July 2nd mysterious reward, the insulated containers were still much more useful.
The July 2 reward was a thousand large octopus head massagers made of synthetic resin in five colors, filling the packaging box to the brim.
Upon seeing a packaging box the size of a container, Chen Zhou was delighted, thinking he had hit the jackpot.
To keep his secret, he deliberately sent Saturday and Sunday elsewhere, opened the box alone, only to find a pile of colorful octopuses, which angered him greatly.
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Resin is indeed a good material, but only natural resin.
Finished synthetic resin products can generally only be crushed and then processed with special machines by heating, softening, and reforming into granules for low-end plastic products.
Or dissolved with specific solvents to recover the effective components after separating impurities.
Coincidentally, Chen Zhou couldn’t execute either of these recycling methods.
He could only cut these synthetic resin products into plastic parts, or more simply, throw them into the furnace to burn, which would cause pollution issues.
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Of course, apart from these processing methods, Chen Zhou, now slightly connected with the outside world, had another option—
He could sell these adorably designed and seemingly exquisite resin products abroad to the Spaniards or other sea powers of the Age of Exploration in exchange for more valuable gold and silver.
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On the evening of July 31, two groups of indigenous people finished work and received a notification—
They must wash their bodies overnight and clean their clothes to dry them for an important ceremony the next day.
The order was delivered by Sunday, the troublesome one, along with a large box of laundry detergent to assist the work.
Upon receiving the notification, the indigenous people were busy preparing dinner. Seeing Sunday’s stern face, they immediately stopped their work and went to the mountain stream to bathe.
Afraid of punishment, they carefully buried their lit bonfire with earth before leaving the settlement to prevent the "fire disaster" they heard about in lessons.
...
While the indigenous people were busy washing, Saturday and Sunday, who were counting the days on the calendar, naturally knew it was an important festival tomorrow.
Saturday boiled a large pot of hot water in advance and prepared clean clothes.
Once Sunday delivered and returned, they would wash their bodies nearby by their wooden house.