Chapter 653 - 5: Heading South
The night remains so profound.
The breeze sways the flames, as the pack of cave hyenas gradually fades into the pitch-black wilderness.
On the towering canopy, a few excited cries of scavenger birds echo. The scent of blood and entrails draws them, and as the branches sway, they eagerly search for a chance to feast at the treetops.
The effects of adrenaline fade, and Paul finally feels the burning pain at his waist.
Ever since the cave hyenas approached the bonfire, his spirits have been constantly on edge—
The three-year military training in the Siberian Special Training Camp taught them how to face brutal enemies, how to use firearms, and how to survive in the wild or interact with tribes of different languages, but it never taught him how to resist a pack of cave hyenas that wanted to tear him apart.
Fighting beasts, especially fighting ten large beasts at once, is completely different from dodging through a hail of bullets.
This is fear etched into the genes, a fear experienced by human ancestors.
In the heat of battle, Paul had no time to consider the consequences, nor dared to show any sign of exhaustion. He knew the cave hyenas wouldn’t spare him; he had to fight with all his might to persevere until now.
Only when the cave hyenas retreated and Chen Zhou approached, did exhaustion and pain flood over him, causing Paul to slump to the ground.
Hiss~
Turning his head to examine the wound at his waist, inflicted by the cave hyena’s bite, Paul couldn’t help but take a sharp breath of cold air.
"You need to disinfect it quickly and treat the wound properly.
Cave hyenas are scavengers; their mouths contain many bacteria, and if not disinfected quickly, the wound could easily become infected."
Chen Zhou, who walked over, aside from some dust and broken grass on his clothes, still appeared energetic, as if he hadn’t been affected at all by the recent battle.
He had noticed Paul’s injury from afar and reminded him as soon as he reached the bonfire—
In this prehistoric world, where medicine is scarce, a bite from a beast is no laughing matter. If not treated seriously, it could be life-threatening.
"Don’t you have alcohol in your survival kit? Now’s not the time to be thrifty. Use it when you need to.
I’ll gather some firewood to keep the fire going, and then skin and roast this cave hyena. That’ll secure our food for tomorrow."
While speaking, Chen Zhou pulled out the wooden spear embedded in the back of the female cave hyena, broke off the spearhead, and used a military saber to cut open the hyena’s jugular vein.
Even though the heart of this cave hyena had stopped beating, it hadn’t been dead long, so the blood hadn’t coagulated, and some blood still flowed out when the artery was cut.
The taste of meat from bled and unbled animals is distinctly different.
The meat of unbled animals is bright red, even purplish, and looks unappetizing, with a gamey odor.
Even now, stranded in the wilderness with little energy to care about the taste of food, Chen Zhou still tried to cater to his palate as much as possible under the circumstances.
...
Seeing Chen Zhou already gathering branches to start a fire, Paul mustered the strength to take the alcohol from his pocket and prepare to disinfect his wound.
The exposed wound was already somewhat swollen and red, with some blood oozing from the torn flesh. As the evening breeze swept over it, a subtle pain followed.
The disinfectant alcohol in its plastic bottle was already scant, and held in the hands of the tall Paul, it seemed like a small vial of oral liquid.
Opening the cap and smelling the ethanol at the bottle’s neck, Paul’s eyes brightened instantly, dispelling the weariness he had shown earlier—
The Soviets’ affection for strong spirits is world-famous, and even aboard the International Space Station, where alcohol is strictly banned, Russian cosmonauts dared to smuggle brandy into space through various means.
As a pure-blooded member of the combat race, Paul was naturally no exception.
Glancing at Chen Zhou, seeing him not paying attention, Paul carefully poured a cap full of alcohol, then drank it all at once.
Ah!
The fiery spirit instantly brought color to Paul’s face, as though he had been injected with an adrenaline shot.
Examining the small bottle of alcohol in his hand, he poured another capful.
This time, as he gazed at the alcohol in the cap, he hesitated—
Should he disinfect, or keep drinking?
After all, alcohol hadn’t clouded his judgment, and this bottle of disinfectant alcohol was life-saving, not to be squandered recklessly.
Licking his lips, Paul ultimately refrained from drinking this capful of alcohol, instead using his fingers to dab it, slowly applying it to his wound.
The sting from the alcohol caused Paul’s facial muscles to twitch slightly. He sparingly applied the alcohol to the wound three times, and seeing a shallow layer left in the cap, despite the dirtied alcohol from his fingers, he extended his tongue to sip the last bit of alcohol before reluctantly capping the bottle.
...
"Let me remind you, medical alcohol contains high concentrations of ethanol, which, if ingested, could cause ulcers in your digestive tract.
There’s likely methanol in it as well, which could damage your eyesight and induce metabolic acidosis."
Chen Zhou had already added plenty of fuel to the bonfire, under the glow he spread out the corpse of the female cave hyena, using the military saber to skin it.
Paul gave no reply to Chen Zhou, sitting by the bonfire, its red glow adding a bit more vibrancy to him.
Looking over the vast prairie, gazing at this unfamiliar and dangerous world, looking at the blood-stained hands that were dismembering the cave hyena’s body, Paul’s eyes began to turn dreamy.
Perhaps the alcohol didn’t intoxicate him, and instead, the wilds of Ancient Siberia let Paul feel the spirits of humanity’s ancestors that once roamed this land, prompting him to start singing—
"Prairie, oh prairie,