Chapter 644 - 1: Paul Korchagin 2
It’s not that Chen Zhou can’t stand seeing mosquitoes suck blood.
He just doesn’t want to lose this companion.
The swarm of mosquitoes grew larger; if the prey continued not to fight back, they might really suck a person dry.
Even if they don’t drain the blood, if the man catches some primitive malaria and loses his labor capacity, it would be a burden for him.
...
After driving away the mosquitoes hovering around the strong man, Chen Zhou returned to the fire, carefully tending to the flames.
Before long, a red firelight blossomed under the night sky more than ten thousand years ago.
The bright tongues of flame flickered, dancing under the cold wind.
Light-attracted insects circled the campfire, occasionally crashing into the fire with a series of crackling sounds.
Clusters of shadowy clouds floated over the deep blue sky, and the obscured moonlight traced frosty arcs over the grassland vegetation.
The undulating tall grass surged in the pitch-black night, distant beast howls echoed, accompanied by prey warnings, hooves pounding the ground heavily, resonating together.
This "musical" began abruptly, ended hastily, and soon concluded with a series of piercing screams.
...
Chen Zhou poked the burning wood with a stick, inhaling the unique aroma of pine burning in the flames, while casually observing the strong man and pondering where to find tonight’s meal.
After kneeling on the ground for about 20 minutes, he finally stood up trembling, weakly pulled out a tuft of grass to wipe the vomit from the corner of his mouth, swayed step by step to the campfire, then sat heavily on the ground.
In the firelight, the strong man seriously looked at Chen Zhou and tentatively spoke in broken Chinese.
"Thank you, comrade."
Seeing his rescuer had no response, still tending the campfire, the strong man switched to Japanese.
This time, before he could finish, Chen Zhou turned his head with a slight smile.
"No need for the trouble, I speak Russian, comrade."
Upon hearing Chen Zhou’s fluent and standard Russian, the strong man’s face lit up with joy, showing his teeth in a grin, extending his hand to Chen Zhou.
"Hello, comrade, I’m Paul Korchagin, may I ask your name?"
Chen Zhou shook hands amicably with the strong man named Paul.
"Hello, I’m Chen Zhou.
If I’m not mistaken, I should be your partner for this challenge, hoping we can be the ones to survive till the end."
"We definitely will!"
Paul appeared even more confident than Chen Zhou, exuding the fearless excitement of a newborn calf, somewhat unexpectedly giving Chen Zhou some confidence.
After two introductions, still not fully recovered from the "post-travel syndrome," Paul again fell silent, staring at the firelight in a daze.
Chen Zhou, quite curious about this Slavic man sharing the name of the protagonist from "How the Steel Was Tempered," asked with interest.
"Do you know Donya Tumanova?"
Donya Tumanova was Paul’s first love in the book, one of the most memorable women in his life. Having experienced Robinson Crusoe, Chen Zhou really wanted to know if his partner was a character brought to life.
Paul paused at Chen Zhou’s question, then smiled and replied.
"I don’t know Donya Tumanova, but I know she’s a character in ’How the Steel Was Tempered’.
I really like that book, so did my father, which is why he named me this."
Mentioning ’How the Steel Was Tempered,’ Paul seemed visibly excited, speaking rapidly to Chen Zhou about the book’s plot and the "Gadfly" spirit admired by "Paul."
Soon, he talked about the movie adaptation of ’How the Steel Was Tempered’ and its worldwide sensation, with a three trillion ruble box office, leaving Chen Zhou quite puzzled.
Having lived in modern times for so long, he had never heard of such an explosive Russian movie; even if the ruble isn’t as strong as the US dollar, three trillion rubles isn’t a small amount. Such a box office film would rank high globally; how could he have never seen it?
Without directly pointing out the inconsistencies in Paul’s words, thinking that they would have a long time to get acquainted in the days ahead, these trivial matters could be understood gradually.
Seeing Paul’s complexion gradually turn rosy, seemingly regaining some energy, Chen Zhou steered the conversation to the main topic, inquiring about Paul’s survival tools.
...
Paul was happily chatting when Chen Zhou interrupted, yet he showed no displeasure.
He had only just remembered this matter and immediately began searching himself when reminded.
Soon, a multifunctional military saber, a small bottle of disinfectant alcohol, a fire starter, a compass, and a packet of needles and thread were laid beside the campfire.
Looking at these small survival tools, Chen Zhou frowned.
"Damn it, I figured the Space-Time Administration Bureau was up to no good...
If I’m not wrong, the giant beasts from the Pleistocene era are measured in hundreds of kilograms or even tons. The genuine mammoths living in Eurasia could reach 4m in height, weighing up to 8 tons."
"The mammoth grassland species are even larger, with shoulder heights reaching 4.5m, and weight limits of 10 tons."
Besides these two types of herbivorous giants, the male cave bears living on the Mammoth Grassland in Eurasia can reach a ton.
Confronted with such behemoths, the Space-Time Administration Bureau gave us a dagger less than 20cm long, treating challengers as superheroes without overestimating us..."
"Not to mention, besides prehistoric creatures from Eurasia, the Space-Time Administration Bureau also brought other beasts from the same period here.