Chapter 165 - 71: Unyielding to Soft or Hard Approaches
On the 13th, Chen Zhou dug and carried enough river sand up the mountain.
Working in gloomy weather for a long time, he enjoyed the feeling of sunshine and kept working until evening.
The sunset over the western peaks was like fire, an orange-red hue highlighting the silhouette of the dark mountains, with lush dark green forests and light green grasslands forming large color blocks, reminding Chen Zhou of the landscape paintings he took from the ship.
...
"When there's time later, I should thoroughly explore this island to see if I can find some natural minerals to grind into pigments,"
he thought, sitting on the platform and eating from a bowl, as he gazed at the distant sea.
Hastily shoving the last bit of porridge into his mouth and drinking the last drops of sugary water from the can, he took a rope and left his cave, heading east along the mountainside.
He set a snare for the male goat on March 11, and if it had worked that night, it would have been caught by tonight, two days later.
Worried that the male goat might starve to death or encounter some other mishap being caught in the mountains, Chen Zhou feared resting, walking Lai Fu while hurrying towards the place where he set the trap.
Passing by the cave, he went in to check the salt bowl and found that the salt inside had only slightly decreased.
He then recognized the hoofprints of the goat and her offspring outside the cave but didn't find the male goat's hoofprints, which made him feel more confident.
The male goat was always following the female goat around, eagerly attentive. It surely couldn't miss the chance to eat the salt. Since it didn't consume the salt placed last time, it indicated that it had parted ways with the female and her kid.
At the crucial moment of securing its "beauty," how could it easily give up?
The answer left only one possibility—it got caught in the trap and couldn't move.
Walking up the gentle slope along the mountainside towards the platform, even before reaching the place where he set the trap, Chen Zhou saw a large white mass lying beside the bushes from afar.
"I've caught you, haven't I!"
Knowing that his hoof trap was a big success, this bold male goat could no longer escape, Chen Zhou swung the rope in his hand while approaching leisurely.
Goats don't store as much fat as sheep, and after being hungry for two days, its limbs were weak. Seeing a tall strange creature approaching, it instinctively tried to get up and flee.
But one of its hooves was firmly fastened by the rope loop; if it could run, it would have long ago—there's no waiting until now.
As it forcefully pulled, losing balance, the male goat's front hoofs bent, causing it to kneel on the ground.
Baa~
It used its voice to threaten Chen Zhou, straightening its front legs, adjusting direction, and shaking its pair of curved horns, as if warning this strange creature—not to come any closer, or it would attack.
This was a mature male goat with a large frame. Although it lost a lot of weight from hunger, it still weighed over 120 pounds.
Even with one leg trapped, an average person should not let their guard down when facing it.
After all, this wasn't a docile, castrated domestic goat.
As a wild goat that hasn't seen humans for a long time, its temperament remained very fierce and untamed.
The narrow mountain path where the trap was set, beside the bushes, was a steep gravel slope. One careless step could cause a fall—though one might manage to evade injury, clothing would be torn by the gravel, and skin would definitely suffer abrasions.
Chen Zhou couldn't afford to be careless. He tied a slipknot with the long rope in his hand and attempted to lasso the goat's head from a distance to deplete its remaining energy before approaching to release the trap; otherwise, it would be too dangerous.
The hemp rope was soft, and he was far from the target.
After several attempts, the lasso slid off the side of the goat each time, and Chen Zhou kept retrieving the rope while infuriating the male goat.
Baa!
Baa!
From its increasingly high-pitched sounds, one could tell how furious and unwilling it was. It gathered strength, charged forward several times, each time being pulled back by the increasingly tight hoof trap, only able to shake its head in helpless rage at the same spot.
"Don't worry, next time it will surely hit,"
pacifying Lai Fu, who was eager to go forward and attack the goat, Chen Zhou flung the lasso once more.
After a dozen failed attempts, this time the lasso flew steadily, directly hitting the goat's head, perfectly ensnaring the male goat's head.
He tugged the rope toward him, tightened the slipknot, to prevent the goat from escaping.
Gripping the hemp rope, Chen Zhou could feel that the goat didn't have much energy left, so he confidently approached it, intending to untie the hoof trap.
Judging by how deep the trap was embedded into the goat's hoof, the blood circulation had likely been largely cut off; the situation was dire. If not released soon, the male goat might permanently lose a hoof.
Baa!
Seeing the strange yet timid creature finally dare to approach it, the male goat launched an attack toward Chen Zhou without hesitation.
But it obviously ignored the new rope tightly fastened around its neck.
With just a side pull on the rope, Chen Zhou forced the goat to change its attack direction, its head veering where the rope pulled.
Its attack having been thwarted, the male goat still rebellious, tried to turn around, turning its rear and hind hoofs toward the enemy, attempting to kick with its hoofs.
However, the rope was in Chen Zhou's hands; these little tricks didn't succeed. With a firm pull, the goat's half-turned body regretfully spun back.
"You seem a bit ungrateful,"
he took a swift step across the final distance, grabbing the goat's horns, using his weight to press its head down.
The male goat resisted fiercely, bracing its neck and supporting its front hoofs, yet it couldn't match Chen Zhou's strength.
Even if it was stout in a goat herd, at its peak weight of about 130 pounds, it couldn't withstand Chen Zhou's current pressure of nearly 160 pounds.