Chapter 664 - 10: Delivered to the Doorstep (2)
Saw-toothed Tigers live as a group, and a cub born to one tiger is often cared for by other members of the clan.
During the day, two Saw-toothed Tigers were slain by the Giant Ground Sloth, and this female tiger fled in a panic, until recently being drawn here by the cries of a tiger cub.
She firmly believes the cub was captured by that creature resembling a primitive man.
Though she fled from the Giant Ground Sloth leaving her companions behind, hunting a frail human is an effortless task for her.
Be it for the continuation of her species or to compensate for her sense of guilt, she would not let this thief who stole her cub escape.
...
Scanning around the campfire, seeing no other humans, the Saw-toothed Tiger grew bolder.
If not for fearing Chen Zhou’s tall stature standing upright and the wildly burning campfire, she would have attacked long ago.
Growling low, looking down at Chen Zhou from above, the female Saw-toothed Tiger was incited by her protective maternal instincts due to the cries of the cub, increasingly unable to suppress her urge to attack.
Suddenly, she leaped, extending her front paws to reach Chen Zhou.
Chen Zhou instinctively thrust with his Long Spear, and the female Saw-toothed Tiger retreated even faster, continuing to observe from a distance.
The standoff between man and beast lasted a while, and the female Saw-toothed Tiger seemed to realize this was not a simple opponent, promptly changing her strategy to probing and wearing down the prey’s stamina—
Endurance battles were a specialty of Saw-toothed Tigers; their experience in this regard was akin to that of wolves.
Like a cat playing with a mouse, the Saw-toothed Tiger kept testing, prompting Chen Zhou to attack.
She felt she had mastered the rhythm of the battle, nearing a successful hunt.
However, in Chen Zhou’s eyes, each of her steps was full of flaws; if Chen Zhou weren’t avoiding injury or even tearing his clothes, he would’ve long let the Saw-toothed Tiger experience the sharpness of his Long Spear.
Seeing the Saw-toothed Tiger becoming increasingly arrogant, with the cubs’ cries growing more irritating, Chen Zhou finally couldn’t hold back, wanting to end this farce quickly—
During the standoff, he had moved to where additional spears were stored, and somehow, the single Long Spear in his hand had become two.
Seizing the moment, as the Saw-toothed Tiger retreated once again, having no room to evade, Chen Zhou directly threw the first spear in his hand.
Thrown weapons were beyond the beast’s comprehension; before the Saw-toothed Tiger realized what happened, it was hit by a spear.
But as its stamina waned, the retreat distance differed from previous times; thus, Chen Zhou’s spear didn’t hit a vital spot, only piercing the outer side of the Saw-toothed Tiger’s hind leg.
The spear entered from one end and exited from the other, skewering the Saw-toothed Tiger’s hind leg completely.
The intense pain and discomfort in the hind leg extinguished all its malicious intent, facing the unscathed human nearby, its not-so-large brain finally presented it with a wise choice—
Run.
Yet, with a crippled leg, it couldn’t run far with its "three-legged tiger" skill, not to mention Chen Zhou’s second spear was already poised to strike.
Whoosh!
The second spear pierced into the Saw-toothed Tiger’s lower abdomen, traversing the entire belly, deeply embedding into the ground.
This time, the Saw-toothed Tiger was utterly immobilized, glaring viciously at Chen Zhou, while letting out a desperate howl.
The female creature’s wails were a special deterrent for the Saw-toothed Tiger cubs, who had been yelling with wide-open mouths moments ago, demanding food, hoping for protection from their mother.
Upon hearing this sound, they all automatically shut their mouths, not daring to make a sound.
...
"Now, no need to catch fish; there’s meat, and if the bladder’s intact, there’s a water container too.
Additionally, I can peel off a skin to use as a bedding in the shelter."
With a stone hammer spinning in his hand, familiarizing himself with its weight, Chen Zhou walked over to the female Saw-toothed Tiger with a spear in one hand and a hammer in the other, raised the hammer, and heavily struck the tiger’s eye socket.
Stone collided violently with the Saw-toothed Tiger’s skull, as some bone fragments flew out, loosening the willow strips binding the stone.
As for the Saw-toothed Tiger, it died instantly from this hammer blow; with its brain impacted, it quickly ceased struggling, the last glimmer in its eyes swiftly fading.
The summit, which was just filled with the cries of Saw-toothed Tiger cubs, now fell silent, leaving only the crackling sound of firewood burning in the campfire, making the shelter area particularly quiet.
Chen Zhou grabbed the loose fur of the Saw-toothed Tiger, laboriously dragging it to the shelter side, preparing to dismember it overnight, make several meals with the good meat, craft a simple set of armor from the hide, and remove the bladder capable of storing water, washing it thoroughly—
This is based on the premise the bladder and urinary system aren’t damaged.
Otherwise, if urine spilled inside, using it as a water storage would be impossible; even eating the meat might taste of urine stench.
Slicing open the Saw-toothed Tiger’s belly, extracting the viscera, Chen Zhou discovered the spear just scraped past the side of the bladder, leaving him a suitable water container.
The female Saw-toothed Tiger’s body was smaller than the male’s, and the bladder was smaller too, but it was still much larger than a fish swim bladder; Chen Zhou estimated this bladder could hold about a pound and a half of water and should last half a month if preserved well.
Having a bladder full of water, it’s sufficient for drinking while traveling far.
However, without fur protection, the bladder could easily be scratched by branches while carried. Chen Zhou looked at the needle and thread given by Paul, then at the softer belly fur of the Saw-toothed Tiger, planning to try making a protective case from the tiger skin to wrap the bladder, thus extending the water pouch’s lifespan.
Besides sewing the case, since the bladder’s outer layer becomes dry after leaving the living body, and excessive dryness leads to cracking, Chen Zhou also had to apply a layer of oil between the case and the bladder to soak the bladder, keeping it as soft as possible.
Of course, sewing the case couldn’t be rushed either, as tanning the hide takes time.
Tonight, he planned to cut the hide into suitable pieces, clean off surface mud, blood, and fat residues, then air dry it and soak in clean water for 10 hours.
During this process, he also needed to prepare emulsified brain liquid in advance, adding warm water to the brain, kneading it into a paste, letting it oxidize for several hours to produce aldehyde tanning agents, before evenly applying emulsified brain liquid on the raw hide side.
Once coated with emulsifying liquid, the raw hide undergoes folding and pounding, adding new brain matter, softening over two to three days before it can be stretched flat, hung on a frame to naturally air-dry, with continual kneading to eliminate hardened spots, thus tanning into a qualified hide.
The entire process would take at least two days at the fastest. Currently, it’s late summer transitioning to early fall, in a high latitude region, the day-night temperature difference was large, making the raw hide drying slower than in summer; Chen Zhou estimated it would take three days to tan a hide right.
Coincidentally, the location was nearing the mountain top, surrounded by tall trees with vast gaps between trunks, providing a broad view.
As the highest point within dozens of miles around, although it wasn’t an ideal lookout point, it was passable as a temporary base camp.
Chen Zhou planned to tan hides here while using the shelter as a center, exploring the surrounding environment, ideally climbing the peak to overlook the mountain terrain and additionally observing the plains and forests at night for any sign of fire or smoke—
In the challenge venue, since there seemed to be no primitive people living, in the absence of thunderstorms, any firelight was likely lit by challengers, thus he could deduce other challengers’ locations from it.
While making plans, he disassembled the Saw-toothed Tiger’s corpse, took off the four sturdiest and meatiest thighs, broke apart the sturdy ribs of the tiger, and using the rib flesh, he directly grilled it over the fire.
Without salt or seasoning, while grilling the ribs, he could only smear some Saw-toothed Tiger blood on them, attempting to bring slight salty flavor.
In terms of survival conditions, this place was far harsher than that during "Robinson Crusoe," with dangers coming wave after wave; if not for how he’s changed, he would’ve likely died last night under the Cave Hyena’s assault.