Chapter 666 - 11: Firelight (Part 2)
"Do you think I care about that?"
Chen Zhou was preoccupied with the survival tools in the hands of another team of challengers, not at all concerned about the few Serrated Tiger Cubs.
Worried about the fire going out as Paul mentioned, he quickened his pace, prompting Paul to jog along, and they soon returned to the shelter.
The three Serrated Tiger Cubs had just crawled out of the shelter, intending to escape while Chen Zhou was away. However, upon seeing Chen Zhou return, they retreated back into the shelter, only daring to peek at him timidly, looking quite pitiful.
In a few hours, they hadn’t had any food or water, leaving only small droppings and urine on the ground; their round bellies had flattened out, but they weren’t so hungry as to be exhausted, still appearing to be in fair condition.
Paul and Chen Zhou returned to the campfire one after the other and, seeing that the Serrated Tiger Cubs were uninjured and hadn’t strayed from the shelter, Paul knew that Chen Zhou had responsibly looked after the little ones and promptly thanked him.
Fearing Paul’s chatter might delay grasping the ideal time to locate other challengers, Chen Zhou quickly interrupted Paul’s words, swept a patch of ground clear beside the campfire, and broke a branch to hand to Paul.
"Draw out where you observed the fire immediately and tell me where you saw it; I’ll set off right away.
There’s a dead Saw-toothed Tiger by the creek; after I leave, you can try cutting off some meat to feed the cubs. If they won’t eat, you could also try catching a few fish by the creek, although it might be difficult now that it’s dark.
Or you could tell me where you threw the dead deer, and I’ll bring it back for you."
Saying this, Chen Zhou placed the knife by the fire, pointed in the direction of the Saw-toothed Tiger’s corpse by the creek, and then concentrated on watching Paul sketch the fire’s location on the map.
Having had military training, Paul was adept at making maps.
He first established the north, south, east, and west based on the position of the Big Dipper, marking the campfire and shelter’s locations on the ground, then recalled and outlined the distinctive landmarks visible during the trek from the campfire to the observation point, be it a small river, a dead tree, or a giant stone.
Finally, Paul also described to Chen Zhou the approximate distances between each node and the location of the dead deer.
"It’s too dark, and the environment here is rather complex, so my senses may not be entirely accurate, but the general direction is correct.
On the way, I was afraid of not finding the spot where the fire was observed, so I deliberately broke some branches to scatter along the path as markers. If you see any of these newly broken branches on your way down the mountain, it means you’re on the right track."
"Okay."
Chen Zhou nodded, committing Paul’s drawn map to memory, then reminded him again.
"I’m planning to make a canteen out of the Saw-toothed Tiger’s bladder and belly skin, but haven’t started yet; when you dissect the Saw-toothed Tiger’s body, be careful not to damage the bladder.
Also, I’ve left you half a rib; you can eat it later.
The temporary shelter is almost finished; you can improve it a bit more, and by the way, clean the cubs’ droppings out from inside.
Keep an eye on the campfire to ensure it doesn’t go out; it’s cold at night on the mountaintop, and without fire, you might fall sick."
Without explaining why he’s not afraid of sickness and cold, Chen Zhou picked up two bloodstained Long Spears pulled from the Saw-toothed Tiger’s body, first walking briskly, quickly turning into a sprint. Like a nimble monkey, he soon disappeared into the forest.
...
Chen Zhou, possessing night vision capabilities and significantly greater stamina and endurance than Paul, was able to move through the mountain forest at night far faster than Paul.
As he advanced rapidly, he didn’t forget to observe for any of the landmarks Paul had sketched along the route, or any broken branches on the ground.
Indeed, it was proven that the specialized training of the Soviet Union’s later generations was highly reliable, and neither the darkness nor the unfamiliar environment significantly impaired Paul’s sense of direction or distance judgment; his map was largely accurate, and before long, Chen Zhou was approaching the observation point.
From not far from the observation point, there was a scent of blood, and the footsteps of wolves or other medium-sized pack predators lingered nearby, seemingly searching for the deer carcass Paul had hung in a tree.
Chen Zhou paid no attention to these animals, continuously glancing into the distance for fear that the group of challengers would extinguish their fire after dinner, leaving him with nothing to gain from the run and losing valuable clues.
...
Fortunately, due to the harsh enough climate here, night temperatures dropped to around 12 degrees Celsius, and strong winds blew through occasionally, making it necessary to stay warm by the campfire, and the challengers at the mountain’s foot were no exception.
The place where Paul observed the fire was a protruding rock cliff, surrounded by rocks, making it unsuitable for tree growth, thus exceptionally open.
Standing on the rock cliff, facing northeast by east, one could see a twinkling firelight 35 kilometers away on the bank of a river.
There lay a plain, with only a few small Mounds creating height differences; from the mountain looking down, all the terrain features were clearly visible.
Chen Zhou noticed a forest near the firelight, with a "C"-shaped ring of Mounds not far behind it.
The Mounds formed a natural windbreak, conducive to warmth.
The river in front of the fire and the forest around it not only provided water but also fuel for the challengers; the animals in the forest and on the grassland were food sources.
It could be said that this was a naturally gifted fertile land, with the only downside being its lower location, easy to observe from higher ground, almost a perfect camping site.
Even with Chen Zhou’s extraordinary vision, the distance was too great to see if there were silhouettes next to the fire; he could only deduce based on the challengers’ choice of location—
They were most likely "survival-oriented" challengers setting up a semi-permanent shelter in a secure spot.
With the fish in the river being in season, all they needed was to find stones, chop lumber, and dig ground holes, enabling them to build a sturdy windproof cabin by the river and then fish in large quantities.
The river fish could be rendered for fat, smoked, and dried, allowing them to be stored for years.
Relying on these fish, edible berries in the forest, plus small mammals and medium-sized carnivores, the challengers by the river could easily survive their first winter.
Given their favorable start, unless their survival tools were particularly substandard, this group of challengers had every chance to become strong competitors for Chen Zhou.
Of course, that was assuming Chen Zhou hadn’t discovered them.
Now that he had pinpointed the rival group’s exact location and knew they wouldn’t easily leave this "geographic treasure," he would naturally take the initiative to strike, seizing their survival tools while simultaneously dealing with competitors.
...
Standing on the rock cliff and observing for a while, imprinting the fire’s position firmly in his mind, Chen Zhou then glanced back towards the mountain’s campfire location, unable to find it, only seeing smoke wafting from afar, getting torn apart by the wind before reaching high altitude.
Silently deducing the direction in his mind, ensuring challengers from the river couldn’t see the mountain-top firelight, Chen Zhou’s confidence grew even more—
Enemy exposed while he remained hidden.
If the opponent wasn’t vigilant enough, he could seize the moment when that group of challengers acted separately, taking one down first before partnering with Paul to handle the other, thus minimizing risk.
"35 kilometers, complex terrain, and needing to cross a river, including meals and breaks, it would take at least a day and a half."
Taking into account Paul’s considerable size and his insistence on bringing the three Serrated Tiger Cubs along, Chen Zhou recalculated the time to two days—
Two days of forced march.
As long as those challengers stayed at the site they meticulously selected within those two days’ time, his strike was highly likely to succeed, thereby eliminating two competitors in one stroke.
From what he had observed so far, it was evident that those challengers abandoning their camp to journey elsewhere was a low-probability event—
The pressure during his time surviving on a deserted island was far less than this, yet deciding to leave the shelter of a cave to move to a factory required substantial determination, not to mention under such high-pressure conditions.
Counting the travel time of himself and Paul, those challengers would likely dedicate all four days from the start of the challenge to their camp construction; the massive sunk costs would bind them to the spot until he and Paul arrived.