Chapter 438 - 7: Stability or Risk
The three-year anniversary rewards are divided into two piles.
On one side is a large pile resembling a small mountain of building materials, while the other side consists of medium-sized small items.
Among them are a few small gifts packed in corrugated cardboard boxes.
Like the previous two anniversary packages, these small gifts are not industrial junk like Electronic Wooden Fish or anal plugs. Even if they are cheap, they are very useful to Chen Zhou.
Among them are two bags of seeds, one of tomato seeds and one of carrot seeds.
There are also several large, thick stained glass pieces, and a few galvanized sand sieves with different apertures, apparently to help him sift river sand and assist in constructing reinforced concrete buildings.
Additionally, there is a pair of mechanical watches—truly something Chen Zhou has been longing for day and night.
The mechanical watches look like high-quality imitations made by some southern handcraft workshop. They have a very exquisite appearance, yet they are placed in transparent plastic bags, which do not match the elegance of the dials and hands.
Wearing them on the wrist, one can feel the heavy weight and the cool sensation brought by the metal.
With the watches, Chen Zhou can calculate time more precisely.
Unfortunately, the time on these two watches is not accurate, making it impossible for him to accurately judge what time it is on the island based on the dial.
Therefore, he can only wait until midday, adjust the watch to 12 o'clock, and then establish the time for the ensuing twenty-plus years based on this vague time.
Of course, if he wants more precise time, he can further study a few nautical instruments taken from the First Mate and Captain's cabins and use them to calculate his longitude and latitude, and which time zone he is in.
But Chen Zhou finds it unnecessary.
...
After opening the small package, Chen Zhou went to the central area of the other side's rewards. There, two larger items wrapped in waterproof cloths looked like some kind of machinery.
Feeling the uniqueness of this reward through the pile of building materials, and with slightly excited anticipation, he unveiled the mystery beneath the waterproof cloth.
Closest to him, under the waterproof cloth, was an old machine tool covered in rust, looking like an antique pulled from a military museum, and with a somewhat peculiar shape.
Chen Zhou observed the structure of the machine tool for a while, personally wiped the red rust on it, and finally figured out its purpose—
This thing is not a machine tool that ordinary mechanics would encounter.
It's a mid-20th-century, Sino-Japanese War period replica Swiss machine tool, not dismantled, and given as aid by the Old Brother Country. It's specifically used for manufacturing standard rifle cartridges and Czech light machine gun cartridges as a semi-automatic machine tool.
Even though it's rusty and seems like an antique nearing 100 years old, this item is a genuine military-industrial machine tool.
It has the capability to press copper plates into cartridge cases, turn bullet heads, and precisely drill the primer seats.
In essence, with this machine tool and an explosives manufacturing manual, as long as enough brass can be secured, it will be possible to produce bullets at a late 20th-century standard in bulk.
...
Standing in front of the machine tool, apart from feeling joy, Chen Zhou felt a strange sense of unease.
He sensed that the mysterious rewards were not "random."
Perhaps in the first year, the first Peppa Pig phone case reward was completely random, or was a part of the management bureau's twisted humor.
But since then, the rewards have increasingly met his needs.
Especially after achieving basic self-sufficiency, when he started dreaming of adding labor, building a larger and more comfortable Shelter, and looking forward to living the life of a farm owner.
"This script, called a survival reality show, has become increasingly off-key."
Stroking the mottled surface of the machine tool, Chen Zhou maintained a joyful expression, but internally he became gradually calm, reflecting on the content of past rewards, contemplating when exactly the rewards started to get increasingly "extravagant."
"The first anniversary's big package had no issues.
That box was essentially filled with tools to improve the quality of life.
For example, fire starters, soap, powerful flashlights, along with books teaching how to weave, and some spices."
"Then, likely since I became discontent with the status quo, started contemplating the idea of native inclusion, and actively worked in that direction, did the rewards become strange."
"In March of 1661, I received the first killing tool, a spear.
Also in March, after piecing together 'Pure Blue Hell,' I received a box of TNT explosives..."
"That was just the beginning, till the second anniversary's rewards arrived.
Just before Sunday and their arrival on the island, the rewards I received seemed almost blatantly encouraging me to attack the natives, indirectly assisting me in carrying out adventurous moves.
That package contained only about six or seven rewards, including two weapons, nunchaku, and arrowheads.
If it's random, the proportion of weapons is just too high."
"After successfully rescuing and taming the natives and starting to focus on improving firearms, the mysterious rewards delivered crucial seamless steel tubes..."
Thinking up to this point, Chen Zhou felt he had grasped the pattern of the mysterious rewards and the potential underlying logic—
As the sole protagonist of this "reality show," his forward direction influences the propensity of the mysterious reward content.
From the initial Peppa Pig phone case, to later once-again "just timely" or "helpful" rewards,
And up until now, the step-by-step "upgraded" "specific compensation" is all to make him achieve his goals with means beyond the current era under the condition of resource and tool insufficiency.
Throughout this process, the reward issuers have been stirring things up, using seemingly random rewards to achieve an effect of pushing the waves.
And this powerful force akin to "Aladdin's Lamp," its true purpose is certainly not to help him realize his dreams and enjoy a better life, but to enhance the program's effect.
Adventure means a coexistence of risk and reward.
He could conquer the natives time and time again, or he might falter and fall during the challenge.
Either result, regardless, is more stimulating than just farming, grazing, and building houses...
...
With that in mind, Chen Zhou tried to put himself in the shoes of the "invisible audience," thereby understanding their thoughts.
In survival shows like "surviving in extreme environments," the big shots capable of solo killing muskoxen, wrestling bears, and besieging wolverines are the survivors audiences favor.
While those enduring through hunger and depleting stored fat to make it through long durations, even if victorious, leave people feeling underwhelmed.
The management bureau, without any cover-up, displays the pattern of reward issuance to him, seemingly to say to him—
Choose adventure, and you'll receive powerful help time after time.
As long as you keep winning, you'll receive unimaginable wealth.
Choose to play it safe, and phone cases and Electronic Wooden Fish will return to your reward pool, where you can at best obtain more seeds to become a promising farmer or herd more goats.
...
Thoughts swirling, Chen Zhou's lips gradually curved up, like a fool encountering a beloved beauty.
His fingers gently grazed the surface of the bullet-pressing machine tool, and he had the answer in his heart.
"If it were the me from three years ago, I would surely choose stable to get 720,000—
'Oh, what's more important than life itself?'
But now I only want to say—
Let the storm rage even more fiercely!"