Chapter 708 - 28: Two Groups of Challengers (Part 2)
No beast approached nearby, nor was it time to change shifts. Why did Paul wake him up?
...
Paul, crouching beside Chen Zhou, noticed his confusion after he had woken up and hurriedly explained.
"Chen Zhou, look over there."
Saying this, he left the bear-skin blanket and climbed up the nearby slope.
Chen Zhou followed Paul up the slope and looked into the distance.
He saw, in the direction Paul was facing, a point of firelight flickering on the mountain where rock salt had formed from a collapse.
The firelight flickered in the dense forest, moving slowly as if it was advancing from the other side of the mountain.
"Could that be people?"
Paul pointed at the firelight on the mountain and asked.
Chen Zhou squinted slightly. Even with his extraordinary vision, he couldn’t clearly see what was under the tiny firelight from such a distance, but he was sure it most likely came from another group of challengers.
"It should be."
As he spoke, Chen Zhou turned to glance at the bonfire behind them and continued.
"They should also be able to see us.
Just like we saw the previous group of challengers, they have the advantage of a higher vantage point. As long as they don’t walk with their heads down all the time, they should see our bonfire."
"It seems there are still some belligerent individuals out there.
The challenge has been going on for so long, and they hadn’t focused on building a shelter but kept moving forward without hiding their tracks. They must have ill intentions..."
Chen Zhou muttered, but before he finished, Paul patted his shoulder, signaling him to look in another direction.
When Chen Zhou shifted his gaze to the grassland connected to the mountain’s foot, he was stunned—
Across the river, at the far end of the Mammoth Grassland, there were also two points of bright firelight.
Compared to the firelight on the mountain, this was clearer and closer.
More importantly, these two firelights were heading straight for the riverbank.
The firelights moved quickly. As they drew nearer, Chen Zhou saw that the torchbearers were riding on Great Horned Deer, galloping across the grassland.
What he had envisioned before about taming herbivores as beasts of burden had been realized by others so swiftly.
Watching this other group of challengers rapidly moving across the grassland, Chen Zhou felt a surge of envy and a strong sense of crisis.
Having a mount would offset his speed advantage, making it difficult for him to close in quickly and engage in close combat to inflict heavy damage on them.
If the opponent was proficient in mounted archery and could craft obsidian arrowheads or had strong bows and crossbows with metal arrowheads, his situation would become even more dangerous.
Human ingenuity can compensate for many physical disadvantages. Once they discover his prowess in close combat, they might use their mobility advantage, thanks to the mounts, to kite him around, using mounted archery to deplete his stamina and inflict damage.
His skin was indeed tougher than most, but it couldn’t withstand arrow attacks.
As for dodging, no matter how good his stamina, he couldn’t outlast two people—
Chen Zhou instinctively ignored Paul.
In facing these two individuals, the only countermeasure Chen Zhou could think of was to enter the forest or ascend the high mountain, using the terrain to limit the Great Horned Deer’s movement, and then attack when the opportunity arose.
Attempting to throw a long spear to kill the Great Horned Deer, forcing the two down and depriving them of their mounts, wasn’t something he dared to contemplate.
A beast could be hit by a long spear because it didn’t have the concept of thrown weapons.
However, humans recognize thrown weapons and can discern the preparatory motions for throwing a spear. Hitting two moving targets on the vast grassland with prior warning would be a fool’s errand.
Moreover, the long spears were too large to carry many, so his opportunities to attack were limited.
Although bow and arrow power was inferior to that of a long spear, it had advantages in ammunition quantity and range, and overall, he still wouldn’t have the upper hand.
"This is a big trouble now."
"Chen Zhou, your previous predictions were quite accurate.
These two groups of challengers are likely ones initially assigned in the north. They didn’t linger in place but found a way to head south. I estimate we’re already in a region relatively close to the south of the challenge area..."
Paul couldn’t understand what Chen Zhou was saying in Chinese. Although he couldn’t clearly see the firelight on the mountain, he could see the two people across the river, so he began analyzing the current situation with Chen Zhou.
"Among fifty teams of challengers, including us, four teams have already appeared.
If there have been conflicts between other challengers, or weaker ones were killed by beasts, the remaining number of challengers might be less than forty..."
As he was analyzing, Paul suddenly saw Chen Zhou walking down the mound.
"Cancel the plan, we can’t stay here any longer."
Chen Zhou’s tone was filled with urgency.
This branch of the Yidu River wasn’t wide enough, nor deep enough.
The temperature hadn’t dropped below zero yet; the river water was chilly but not bone-chilling.
As they spotted the challengers on the mountain and across the river, those challengers had also spotted them.
The challengers on the mountain wouldn’t come down immediately.
The challengers across the river could cross it at any moment and chase to the mound if they were determined.
He couldn’t ensure all challengers were, like him, belligerent. Placed in such a brutal challenge, Chen Zhou didn’t dare to expect any challenger to show him an ounce of mercy.
If the others held murderous intent, in the open grassland, he and Paul couldn’t evade their pursuit.
Moreover, they had engaged in a fierce battle with the Fine-toothed Giant Bear earlier that night. During that fight, Paul lost his weapon and expended a significant amount of stamina. He then stayed on guard for hours, and hadn’t recovered yet. It was unwise to engage in a hard fight now.
With timing, terrain, and human factors against him, Chen Zhou didn’t want to fight an uncertain battle.
After reminding Paul, he immediately went to the bonfire, disregarding the hot military pot on it, and poured out the water inside. Wrapping the pot in a piece of bear skin, he swung it onto his back, then grabbed Tiger First and Tiger Second, tucking them under his arms, and called out to Paul.
Although Paul didn’t understand why Chen Zhou was leaving in such a hurry, he didn’t object.
Chen Zhou’s experience, combat ability, and observation skills far surpassed his, and through their time together, he came to acknowledge them. Even if Chen Zhou’s plans were abrupt and unreasonable, Paul would obey unconditionally—
Who would refuse a leader capable of killing a Fine-toothed Giant Bear with cold weapons?
...
Before leaving, Paul picked up Tiger Third and rolled up the deerskin blanket. He even wanted to grab the little wicker basket but was stopped by Chen Zhou.
Wicker was everywhere, and baskets could be woven anytime. It would be a big problem if they moved too slowly.
Forgetting most of the equipment, including the bear corpse and bear skins on the ground, the two left the mound without looking back.
Once Chen Zhou walked out of the mound’s range, and his view was unobstructed, he instinctively turned to glance at the Yidu River tributary.
At that moment, the firelight on the opposite riverbank had stopped moving, remaining still on the high slope across the river.
As they got closer, under the illumination of the firelight, Chen Zhou could now see the attire of this group of challengers—
The two had dismounted from the deer, standing upright beside the Great Horned Deer, both dressed in ancient ranger attire.
One wore white clothing, holding a torch in one hand and reins in the other, with a sword vaguely visible at his waist.
The other wore brown leather armor, with long hair, a tall figure, and a great bow slung over his shoulder. He faced the mound where Chen Zhou and Paul had left, seemingly watching the firelight and searching for their whereabouts.
Across the river, although he couldn’t discern their facial features clearly, Chen Zhou felt this group of challengers should also be Huaxia people, slightly easing his hostility.
In the prehistoric world, encountering communicable humans was rare, let alone fellow "countrymen" from the same land.
But just because he had no intentions to harm, didn’t mean a tiger wouldn’t want to kill.
If these two were indeed from ancient times, even if they considered them fellow countrymen in his mind, these two might not see him as the same.
With the passage of time, even a century could drastically change culture, let alone thousands of years. Who’s to say their language was even understandable?
Sighing silently, he turned away, stopped scrutinizing the two, and, with Paul, clutching the little Saw-toothed Tiger, Chen Zhou’s figure gradually disappeared into the darkness.