Chapter 643 - 1: Paul Korchagin
The vast twilight quietly descended upon the grasslands.
As the glow of the sun faded from the gently rising hills, the endless heat bestowed upon the earth by the stars began to dissipate, and the evening breeze brought a coolness to the wilderness.
At the edge of the sparse pine and cypress woods, a few short birch trees lay twisted, taking root in the wild grass.
Over tens of thousands of years, the climate here has continually oscillated between glacial and interglacial periods. The tropical plants that once covered the Eurasia were unable to adapt to the cold climate, either shrinking their populations or spreading their seeds to warmer regions.
Angiosperms, particularly deciduous varieties, naturally took over the territories left by the tropical forests as they were better suited to the colder climate.
Apart from the tall pines and cypresses, the most common plants in the high-latitude northern areas are lichens, mosses, and dwarf sedges, occasionally intermixed with small willows and low birches.
...
Of course, aside from the plants that have gained a foothold in the cold regions and the mammals that have evolved thick fur, insects—witnesses to the evolutionary history of life on Earth—are not absent here.
When Chen Zhou dug a shallow pit, he attracted a swarm of buzzing mosquitoes.
Like some of their modern descendants, they had patterned legs, black and white stripes, and flew around Chen Zhou influenced by heat sources.
Unfortunately, Chen Zhou’s reinforced skin was too tough, and despite their efforts, the mosquitoes couldn’t pierce it with their proboscises. They had no choice but to hum helplessly, flapping their wings as they flew away with empty bellies.
When a faint blue halo appeared at the edge of the forest, they shamelessly flitted back over, hoping to gain some benefits.
...
Chen Zhou slowly stood up, looking at the extraordinarily large figure that had fallen to the ground from about one meter high within the halo. He picked up a wooden stick beside him, his heart filled with vigilance—
He didn’t know whether this person was a companion or had ill intentions.
Given all the unknowns, he had to be ready to fight at any moment.
Even if this person was his long-delayed partner, who could say if they were trustworthy?
If this person also harbored the idea of killing a companion to seize survival tools, wouldn’t he be putting himself in danger if he let his guard down?
Of course, if this person showed no ill will and could be confirmed as a companion, Chen Zhou wouldn’t take advantage of the situation to kill.
After all, participants in the challenge were collaborating in groups.
In this perilous and primitive land, the role of two people working together was far greater than the sum of its parts.
Building a shelter, hunting, and so on were secondary; if one of the two got injured, the companion could provide care. Even if they couldn’t heal quickly, at least they could find food so the injured wouldn’t starve to death.
Also, a partner could devise more strategies, reduce work time, and increase the chances of competing against other challengers.
Even if they couldn’t do anything else well, at least they could have conversations.
After experiencing solitary life on an island, Chen Zhou had grown tired of talking to trees and flowers. Unless pushed to the breaking point, he was relatively tolerant.
...
While pondering whether the newly appeared person was his partner, the tall man who had fallen to the ground had shifted from a curled-up position to kneeling.
As his body unfolded, Chen Zhou realized how massive the man was.
Since returning to the modern world after the solitary island survival challenge, Chen Zhou’s physique had changed along with a slight growth, increasing his height from 184 cm to 187 cm.
A height close to 190 cm, combined with years of intense training, made him much more robust than the average person.
Yet, in front of this man, his build still seemed lacking.
...
The man kneeling on the ground had deep brownish-black hair and wore loose camouflage combat attire, his estimated height exceeding 2.1 meters, with a broad back and a thick waist.
From the side, the man’s nose was high and straight, with a defined jawline and thin lips, displaying distinct Slavic features.
Though his build was robust, his face lacked the dense beard typical of Russian bears in the military, suggesting he wasn’t very old, probably around twenty-three or twenty-four, with a youthful vigor.
Having just undergone a journey through time, the man showed obvious distress.
He pressed his hands against the ground, his back bent, head lowered, brow furrowed as he closed his eyes, and dry heaved repeatedly.
Soon, the grass was littered with his vomit.
Yet, though vomiting until last night’s meal came up, it couldn’t alleviate the pain of time travel. The man’s body convulsed slightly, one hand supporting his body while the other clutched his stomach as though his intestines were cramping.
Chen Zhou observed him silently, determining from his heartbeat and breathing that the man was unaltered, just an averagely strong man who posed no threat, and he put down the stick, returning to tend to his fire.
...
While rubbing a thin stick to create sparks in the tinder, mosquitoes attracted to new prey swarmed the man.
Clearly, the robust man kneeling and still retching didn’t have Chen Zhou’s impressive "defensive capabilities." Unable to fend off mosquito attacks, he couldn’t spare the energy to swat them away.
Well-fed mosquitoes flew away from the man’s cheeks, while more, sensing carbon dioxide and heat, emerged from grass roots and branches to join the sweet feast.
Amid the increasingly annoying buzzing, Chen Zhou, who had sparked the tinder, used his hand to shield the cold wind at the forest’s edge while gently blowing the embers.
Seeing the flames gradually spread on the dry grass leaves, glowing red and warm, he hurriedly added larger leaves to the flame, then a few resin-rich pine twigs, before getting up to approach the man and swat away a swarm of mosquitoes.