Chapter 738 - 42: Coal (Part 2)
In one day, Paul and the Three-headed Saw-toothed Tiger also had a brush with death, leaving them both physically and mentally exhausted.
When Chen Zhou returned to the pit, Paul was already yawning by the campfire. Were it not for the pain in his leg, he might have already fallen asleep in this warm shallow pit.
As for the Three-headed Saw-toothed Tiger, it seemed to have forgotten the fierce battle of the day.
Tiger First and Tiger Second had some injuries, but they could still eat, although moving was a bit inconvenient.
The two little ones, quite carefree, had long since fallen into deep sleep by the campfire.
Tiger Third was paralyzed from the waist down but appeared slightly better after managing to eat something. When Chen Zhou squatted by the black robe to check on it, it was already asleep.
Unable to move, Tiger Third could only relieve itself on the black robe. Chen Zhou noticed it urinated a bit but did not defecate, worried that Tiger Third might have issues with bowel function, he silently kept this in mind—
If Tiger Third still hasn’t defecated by the next morning, he would have to try some manual assistance.
Otherwise, just eating without defecating, Tiger Third could end up dying from constipation in a few days.
With hopes pinned on the parachute supply dropping soon, whatever happens, Tiger Third must hold on until he retrieves the supply.
With any luck, he might find a medicine like a Regeneration Capsule, and this little one could be saved.
The black robe, wet with urine, caused Chen Zhou to carefully lift Tiger Third out, lay it flat on the ground, and then start drying the black robe.
It was only at this point that Paul recovered somewhat, pulling himself up with a crutch, leaning against a tree trunk, and standing up shakily. His face was flushed, and he seemed particularly excited, whether it was from the fire or something else.
"Chen Zhou?"
He proactively spoke to Chen Zhou and then asked.
"Have you noticed anything off here?"
"Off?"
Preoccupied with vying for resources, Chen Zhou’s mind remained tense. Upon hearing this, he thought there might be some danger nearby and swiftly drew his Long Saber with a "clang," his face vigilant.
Seeing his wariness, Paul realized his pause was ill-timed and quickly explained there was no danger, then pointed towards the campfire.
"Look here!"
With Paul’s reminder, Chen Zhou finally noticed that there were some pieces of crimson coal in the campfire.
In the afternoon, while cooking faux camel, Paul had tried to throw some coalstones into the fire to see if they could function as fuel.
The results were rather disappointing; those coalstones were barely more combustible than ordinary stones, with only the outermost layer having some burning value. In the end, they mostly relied on the wood to burn; expecting them to serve as fuel was a pipe dream.
Though not ideal, this outcome was within the expectations of both Chen Zhou and Paul—
If the entire Black Forest were composed of combustible coal, what would be the point of the impending harsh cold, sitting on a vast coal mine, burning coal 24/7, even temperatures below sixty-five degrees negative would pose no threat.
The presence of noncombustible petrified wood everywhere or substandard coalstones created despair for challengers, holding no utilitarian value.
Chen Zhou initially believed the whole Black Forest was rendered useless by such waste stones. Unexpectedly, Paul managed to find burnable coal, and judging by how it was burning in the campfire, its quality wasn’t bad either.
...
"How about it?"
Paul, somewhat proud, waved his hand axe, pointing to a broken portion of the rock wall inside the pit.
"I found it here."
Saying so, he squatted down with difficulty and knocked off another piece of coal, handing it to Chen Zhou.
Taking the coal, Chen Zhou inspected the rock wall closely, discovering some shining dark black "impurities" mixed among the petrified wood, which were the already-formed coals.
Regrettably, there weren’t many coals overall, and they were just on the surface; even if knocked all down, there’d merely be ten kilos at most.
This quantity wouldn’t be enough to burn for a day in the coldest times.
However, the importance of discovering coal lay not in the coal itself but the message it conveyed—
Since there are some here, there must be others elsewhere in the forest, piecing them together, maybe hundreds of kilos of coal could be obtained.
Coal burns at a higher temperature than wood, especially such shiny, black coal.
Having it allows for the attempt to fire some pottery, clay bricks, or other ceramics.
The Shelter currently only lacks a clay kiln. Earlier, Chen Zhou had been contemplating building a small charcoal kiln to produce some charcoal, but the idea was shelved due to time constraints.
Now with natural coal found, his thoughts became much more active.
Even if the entire forest only totaled those ten-odd kilos of coal, it would still be enough to fire a clay kiln—
He was no longer the naive youth stepping onto the island for the first time.
Having honed his skills over years of experience, he was now proficient in all sorts of craftsmanship, be it woodwork, blacksmithing, mason work, pottery, or weaving baskets. Though he couldn’t produce exceptionally high-grade items, creating functional pottery was achievable.
Even if, without utilizing coal to create anything, merely using it as fuel, it would still be a valuable resource.
He had experienced winters as cold as negative thirty-five degrees, which were already bone-chilling.
When the effects of global warming were not yet particularly pronounced, he stayed at his grandmother’s house for elementary school, where the winter winds were so fierce that even the pulling donkey trembled. Despite wearing thick cotton pants, he felt as if he were exposed when the wind blew.
Back then, Mongolian people liked to drink, and freezing to death on the prairie wearing lambskin "Dele" was commonplace.
Even in such cold, temperatures barely reached negative forty degrees, and he couldn’t imagine what a negative sixty-five-degree winter would be like, fearing even steel might become brittle from the cold.
In such frigid weather, fuel was a must, especially high-calorific coal, considered a treasure.
The only question was how to find usable coal as quickly as possible, and after extraction, how to transport it to the cliff, and then how to bring it back to the Shelter.
Hauling hundreds of kilos over hundreds of kilometers was no simple task.
...
Realizing he not only needed to focus on vying for supplies but also had to locate and find a way to transport coal, even the self-assured Chen Zhou felt overwhelmed.
He wished he could split himself into three—one to mine coal, one to gather intelligence, and one to set up traps at the airdrop supply landing point.
"Sigh~"
He sighed, placing the coal block on the ground, took the hand axe from Paul, and began methodically knocking down every usable piece of coal.
"You go rest for a while. I won’t sleep tonight.
In about four hours, I’ll take you to the edge of the other end of the Black Forest, find a safe and hidden place for you to recover.
I’ll handle the resource competition alone, and I’m about seventy percent confident. If I can’t get it, I’ll quickly regroup with you, and we’ll leave together."
Seeing Paul open his mouth, about to refuse, Chen Zhou hurriedly cut him off.
"Staying here won’t help me in any way and will only diminish my combat capabilities.
Stay away, let me fight alone, so I can give it my all.
With this saber, this armor, nobody can stop me, don’t worry.
Moreover, there’s also the three of them needing care, which I can’t manage, so that task falls to you."
Paul glanced at his splinted leg and acknowledged that Chen Zhou was right, nodding in agreement.
"I’ll make sure the task is accomplished!" he said.
Paul then proactively proposed that he didn’t need rest since it was just after nightfall, perfect for making a move; the sooner he’s situated, the sooner Chen Zhou can lighten his load and focus on securing the resource drop.
Assured that Paul’s physical and mental state could endure a night journey, Chen Zhou didn’t waste words.
With quick efficiency, he knocked down all the coal, tossed them into the Black-robed Man’s pants leg, tied it tight to ensure no coal fell out.
Chen Zhou then packed up the gear, extinguished the campfire, woke Tiger First and Tiger Second, carefully picked up Tiger Third, and led Paul to the other side of the Black Forest.