Chapter 663 - 10: Delivered to the Door
After the sun set, the darkness in the forest grew thicker, like layers of dark gauze hanging on the treetops.
The birds returning home gathered in flocks, like a mass of ink-colored clouds drifting across the sky.
The resplendent Milky Way had already appeared in this unpolluted world, with moonlight flooding like a tide, illuminating the campfire beside the big tree and the people guarding it.
...
Chen Zhou prepared enough firewood to burn through the entire night.
He also broke off many branches as thick as a forearm, tightly arranging them to lean against the fallen tree trunk, then layered them with crushed leaves, followed by a mix of pine needles and mud from the downstream of a meltwater stream, slathering it over the leaves.
A simple windproof shelter was thus completed, with the fallen tree acting as a natural barrier, so they could avoid the cold wind while resting at night and conserve energy.
However, due to the rush in building it, the shelter’s internal space was very cramped.
Chen Zhou is a tall guy, and Paul is even taller, nearing the human height limit, so they couldn’t straighten their backs in the shelter; there was hardly any space to turn over while sleeping.
But even so, having a place to stay is far better than lodging in the wild.
Most of the wood burning in the campfire was pine, which was a bit damp, and once lit, it both smoked and emitted a smell of resin.
The three little Saw-toothed Tigers Paul brought were enclosed within a fence. They remained quiet for a short while, possibly because the surrounding smells were too unfamiliar, or perhaps because they weren’t being nursed by their mother and were hungry, they started to howl.
Don’t be fooled by how these little things walk unstably, they aren’t lacking in strength. The simple fence Paul set up was soon knocked over by the biggest cub.
With the "big brother" breaking out, the other two Serrated Tiger Cubs wobbly crawled out as well, snuffling the fallen leaves on the ground like piglets as they formed a crooked queue heading straight down the mountain.
The little ones obviously hadn’t realized how dangerous this world was.
Cubs like them, who lost their lives before being weaned and without the protection of an adult Saw-toothed Tiger, had almost a 100% chance of dying in the wilderness.
Though the Saw-toothed Tiger is a local tyrant, in this wild, primal land, there’s never a shortage of fierce beasts daring to challenge the strong, let alone the Serrated Tiger Cubs which were so small and weak.
All carnivorous animals wouldn’t spare them; after all, this kind of risk-free hunting opportunity is a rare one.
Utilizing the campfire, Chen Zhou hardened the mud cakes he had made and placed them on the shelter’s roof, serving as "roof tiles." He was about to go to the stream to catch some fish for food when he saw the Serrated Tiger Cubs leaving the firelight, swaying their butts as they walked away into the distance.
He intentionally pretended not to see, recalling the survival tools Paul had entrusted him with before leaving, but ultimately his conscience prevailed, and he went forward to catch the three Serrated Tiger Cubs back.
To prevent these little things from escaping again, Chen Zhou simply locked them inside the shelter.
The shelter had only one exit, and the other end was sealed. As long as the Serrated Tiger Cubs showed their heads at the exit, he would see them.
After he finished laying the "mud tiles," Chen Zhou also planned to clear the fallen leaves inside the shelter and then dig out a hole about 40cm deep in the shelter.
This would make it more comfortable for a tall person to enter the shelter, and also improve the shelter’s warmth a notch.
While he was busy working, the Serrated Tiger Cubs, once locked up again, became more raucous.
The strongest "big brother" tried to emulate its earlier escape method by digging the wall base of the shelter.
However, this time it chose the wrong direction, persistently digging towards the trunk of the collapsed big tree. Though the soft little paws flapped aggressively, in the end, they only managed to leave slight scratches on the dead tree, not even able to scratch the bark.
After struggling for quite some time without moving the new high wall, with little food left in its belly, the Serrated Tiger Cub only felt its hunger intensified after the fuss.
Instinct urged them to begin a second round of howling, calling for their mother to feed them.
The rising and falling "oooohs" formed an annoying symphony, and Chen Zhou was quite vexed by the little things, resulting in "mud tiles" of somewhat uneven sizes.
"Enough already!"
Cautioning the three Serrated Tiger Cubs inside the shelter, seeing that they didn’t intend to stop howling, Chen Zhou walked toward the shelter’s entrance, planning to drag them out for a lesson.
Just as he walked to the front of the shelter, not yet near the campfire, he suddenly darted to the other end of the shelter, directly pulling the wooden spear from the ground.
The firelight illuminated the spacious ground before the fallen tree, while behind the trunk not a single ray of light reached—
They were all blocked by the tree trunk.
In the darkness reigning behind the tree trunk, a wild beast with mottled fur was crouched low, slowly advancing, attempting to ambush Chen Zhou in the open.
It was a female Saw-toothed Tiger.
Its stealth technique was impeccable, even considering the wind direction, an ordinary prey wouldn’t have noticed its approach.
However, Chen Zhou wasn’t just any intelligent human, his senses were no less than that of a cautious herbivore. Even with the burning pine branches interfering with his sense of smell, Chen Zhou still picked out an unusual stench amidst the complex environmental odors—
It was the distinctive smell of a carnivorous beast.
...
The female Saw-toothed Tiger, realizing it was exposed, wasn’t flustered; instead, it leaped onto the trunk, fixing its fierce gaze on Chen Zhou holding the spear, occasionally lowering its head to look at the three little Saw-toothed Tigers locked inside the shelter, its expression somewhat anxious.