Chapter 658 - 7: Saw-toothed Tiger (Part 2)
Chen Zhou could only pray that along the way, he would encounter a deep gorge to contain the river, narrowing its width, or with some blind luck, come across a toppled tree lying across the river, serving as a natural bridge.
...
After trekking for a while, as the sun rose, the land gradually warmed up.
The night dew was evaporated by the rising sun, filling the mountains with a damp and hot atmosphere.
The water in the fish bladders was quickly consumed by Chen Zhou and Paul, and as they continued along the river, they did not find any clean water sources like natural springs.
The scorching environment made Chen Zhou’s desire to seize other challengers’ survival items grow stronger.
He firmly believed that other challengers possessed survival tools like water bottles, salt, and even cooking pots. If he could seize these tools, the quality of life for him and Paul would improve dramatically.
Otherwise, constantly boiling water with stones, no matter how patient he was, he truly could not endure the repeated waste of time.
Moreover, water and food are essential resources for survival, and beyond survival, they were in fierce competition with other challengers.
Time was limited, and if it was spent on producing survival resources, they would fall behind in other areas, potentially missing opportunities for air-dropped supplies.
Thinking deeper, this challenge was unfair to him right from the start.
Other challengers had survival tools, while he only had a protective suit to wear, which was bad enough.
Yet Paul’s survival tools were so useless.
The multifunctional military saber was somewhat useful, and the alcohol for disinfection could save lives.
The fire starter could be replaced through wood drilling to make fire, and the compass was even less useful than the fire starter.
Not to mention Chen Zhou, even Paul, who had military training, could accurately find the directions of east, south, west, and north.
Moreover, this was a survival challenge, not Bell’s "Man vs. Wild". Walking far in the right direction couldn’t lead to a populated place; a compass only took up space for survival tools unnecessarily.
As for the needle and thread, they weren’t very useful. The biggest use Chen Zhou could think of was bending the needle to make a fishhook, and using the thread as a fishing line to catch fish for food.
However, in this time-critical challenge, he could hardly spare the leisure to wait for fish to bite; it was much quicker and more convenient to use a wooden spear to catch fish directly.
Their group had fewer survival tools than others, and even the few they had were practically worthless, no wonder Chen Zhou was furious.
He walked in silence, only clearing the path ahead, and Paul, at his side, was oblivious to Chen Zhou’s thoughts—
The protective suit was hanging over Paul’s shoulder, and up till now, he still naively believed that Chen Zhou’s survival tool was this protective suit, never realizing that the two of them were using the same set of survival tools, and his "good brother" was planning to target others.
...
Perhaps due to disliking the harshness of the noonday sun, as Chen Zhou and Paul walked up the mountain, they rarely saw animals in the forest, only noisy insects that kept chirping.
In the forest, besides tall, cold-resistant pines and cypresses, there were clusters of low shrubs with fruit hanging from their branches.
Yet, as it was not yet deep autumn, those beads-like small berries were still tinged with a green hue, hard when pinched, with a clear sign of immaturity.
However, some were already ripe, their surfaces turned dark purple. Occasionally, small birds would descend from the trees, perch on the shrubs, and peck at the fruits.
Paul was quite curious about this and didn’t care if they were poisonous, grabbing a handful of berries to stuff into his mouth.
"Hiss, so sour~"
Just a bite, and the juicy fruit stimulated his mouth to produce an abundance of saliva.
His face involuntarily scrunched up, and he was about to describe the taste of this unknown berry to Chen Zhou—
During the whole journey, Chen Zhou had barely spoken. This severe, communication-lacking atmosphere made Paul feel extremely bored.
However, before he could use the berries to start a conversation, Chen Zhou abruptly stopped, raised his hand stopping Paul and signaling for him to stay quiet.
"What..."
Paul was just about to ask what was going on when his gaze followed the direction of the other hand Chen Zhou was pointing and the words stuck in his throat—
Looking down from the high slope they were on, the difference in height formed a not-so-wide gorge, with the river having long since washed away the surface soil, exposing dark green mountain rocks.
On the riverbanks flanking the rocks, where soil was sparse, grew many stubborn trees, deeply rooted in the cracks of the mountain rock, absorbing nutrients from the soil while extending their branches upwards to compete for sunlight.
Under a tree thick enough for two people to hug, a daunting giant beast was foraging the tender leaves high on the branches.
Its standing height exceeded 6 meters, with sturdy limbs; it stood stably on its hind legs and tail, in a structure similar to a tripod, reaching out its clawed forepaws to hook branches for easier feeding.
That was a Giant Ground Sloth.
During the Pleistocene, they were widely distributed across the South American continent and were the largest animals in all of South America.
And now, influenced by the Space-Time Administration Bureau, it found itself in this unfamiliar place, helplessly searching for suitable food among the unfamiliar mountain vegetation.
The adult of this giant beast can weigh up to 4 tons. Although they are herbivores, due to long-term chewing of hard woody food, the cheek muscles of Giant Ground Sloths are extremely developed, and a bite from them can be as damaging as being pressed by hydraulic pliers, capable of breaking bones; along with their size, comparable to Asian elephants, and their considerable combat capability, most predators avoid provoking them—
But being invincible as adults doesn’t mean they can intimidate all fierce beasts.
Given enough hunger, even lesser beasts dare to "challenge" the Giant Ground Sloth.
Of course, their targets are not adult Giant Ground Sloths, but juvenile ones.
...
Giant Ground Sloths are usually diurnal and move in groups.
In the valley, while the number of companions of the female Giant Ground Sloth feeding was relatively smaller, there was a male Giant Ground Sloth accompanying her, and further away, a half-grown Giant Ground Sloth, already 2.5 meters tall, was earnestly learning to forage like its mother.
While the female Giant Ground Sloth focused on obtaining tender branches, the male sloth was lazily dozing off under a big tree by the river.
Having not been in the new area for long, these massive animals had not encountered any substantial threats, this comfortable environment giving the Giant Ground Sloths a false sense of "safety here."
After all, they had no natural enemies in South America, and this outdated information made them let down their guard.
But in reality, there are plenty of fierce beasts willing to take risks.
Especially in this vast wilderness frequented by Mammoths, fearless warriors weren’t rare.
Compared to the eight or nine-ton Mammoths, the Giant Ground Sloth was only taller, but in terms of intimidation, it was far inferior to the Mammoth.
Standing high, Chen Zhou and Paul could clearly see three "big cats" crouched low in the bushes not far from the big river, moving slowly forward step by step.
The big cats’ fur color matched the grasses of summer and fall, with deep brown and withered yellow crisscrossing their backs, which were decorated with round spots, aiding in concealment.
Their physique was quite unlike modern felines, with higher fronts and lower rears, a short thick tail, resembling the Cave Hyena, with a head shape combining aspects of lions and tigers, and closed mouths revealing the tips of sharp teeth, indicating the fearsome weapons hidden within their jaws—
This was a small group of Saw-toothed Tigers.
As if a blend of leopards, hyenas, and cheetahs, their bodies were more robust than lions, with exceptional endurance and formidable strength, they were the least cat-like felines.
The Saw-toothed Tigers evolved this unique body structure for one purpose only—
To hunt large animals.
Chen Zhou recalled what his friend, a paleontology researcher, told him about places where Saw-toothed Tiger fossils were found, there were also discovered remains of many juvenile Colombian Mammoths, with ample evidence that Saw-toothed Tigers adapted to cold climates once cooperatively hunted Mammoths.
In dealing with large prey, they were evidently experienced.
Now, the family of Giant Ground Sloths had become their target.
Tragically, the young Giant Ground Sloth and its parents clearly had not sensed the potential danger, still foraging near the shallow water.
Meanwhile, the three Saw-toothed Tigers stealthily closed in.
Once more than half their bodies exited the concealing bushes, Chen Zhou was able to identify the gender of the Saw-toothed Tigers.
The three Saw-toothed Tigers were led by an adult male, accompanied by an adult female Saw-toothed Tiger and a subadult female Saw-toothed Tiger. The subadult appeared to be lactating, with a swollen underbelly that seemed to slightly impede her movement.