Chapter 182 - 79: After the Quake
On April 18, the anxious Chen Zhou got up early.
He had gone to bed too late yesterday, and he felt somewhat sluggish.
After dressing in bed, starting a fire, and cooking some porridge for Lai Fu and himself, he slipped on his shoes and slowly walked out of the cabin, sitting on the short porch to gaze at the forest, waiting for the inevitable earthquake to come.
The sun rose gradually, and the island seemed unchanged.
After eating, Chen Zhou had no mood for work and sat on the bed in a daze.
Lack of sleep made drowsiness wash over him in the warm and dimly lit cabin, and just as he was on the verge of drifting off, a sudden frantic scratching noise came from the Little Dragon Cat's wooden box.
The usually quiet little creature made a sound like a bird chirping.
Soon after, the sound of birds flapping their wings echoed from the forest.
Even Lai Fu, who was lying inside the house, stood up, craning his neck to gaze outside through the wall.
The drowsiness was completely driven away by the piercing sound of scratching on the wooden box, and Chen Zhou's eyes widened as he faintly sensed that the earthquake really was coming!
"Hurry up, Lai Fu, go outside!"
Saying this, he picked up Xiao Huihui, then opened the wooden box where Hui Hui was kept, grabbed Hui Hui by the back of the neck, and held them both in his arms, quickly putting on his shoes and running outside.
A few steps took him out of the short porch and down the stairs, where Chen Zhou saw several snakes of various sizes slithering through the leveled grass.
With Xiao Huihui and Hui Hui so close, fear gripped them, and they squirmed and struggled in his arms.
In contrast, Hui Hui remained relatively calm, its pale green eyes quietly watching the forest.
Every minute, every second felt excruciatingly long, to the point that Chen Zhou felt he had lost his sense of time.
As he suspected that the earthquake might still be a few minutes away, the ground beneath his feet abruptly shook.
The ground, typically solid and stable, trembled up and down, forcing Chen Zhou to bend over and lower his center of gravity just to stand steadily.
Leaves at the tops of the trees shook and fell, and the branches covering the sides of the cabin also slid downward.
The magnitude of this tremor wasn't great, but the psychological pressure it created was vastly different from an amusement park ride.
Everything visible to the naked eye succumbed to the grand forces of nature, resisting was futile.
After a brief moment of vertical shaking, a more pronounced and intense horizontal swaying began.
In the distance, Chen Zhou saw large patches of sand and stone rolling down from the mountain top, even boulders more than a meter high were crashing down along the slope.
His view was blocked by the forest, so he couldn't see the current state of the ocean, but he imagined it resembled what books described—a churning sea, crashing reefs, and billowing muddy waves.
The force rose from the ground.
The shaking underfoot made it almost impossible for Chen Zhou to stay balanced, he couldn't keep standing, and even when crouched, he swayed side to side.
He clutched Hui Hui and Xiao Huihui tightly, not daring to let go, for fear they would panic and run into the forest, unable to find their way back home.
Unable to prop himself up with his hands, after holding out for a moment, he finally couldn't hold on and fell to the ground with a thud.
During all this, Chen Zhou didn't forget to observe his cabin.
This newly built little house was unexpectedly stable, except for some small branches and leaves falling from the roof. Although it swayed with the earthquake, there was no substantive damage, not even the wooden pillars under the floor were skewed.
The initial tremor didn't last long.
After the vertical shakes and horizontal sways, everything abruptly stopped.
The two cats in his arms had long ceased their struggles, curling up motionless, especially Hui Hui, who was always so boisterous, now seemed even more frightened than Xiao Huihui, its pupils shrunk to a fine needle, claws digging deeply into Chen Zhou's clothing.
Hugging the two cats tightly, Chen Zhou slowly stood up.
Looking to the distance, only a layer of sand and stones had fallen from the rock face, showing little change.
Due to the difference in terrain, the kiln and the farmland below were not visible, but by observing the mountain, he could roughly judge that the kiln wouldn't be hit by external forces.
As for whether the internal support structures of the kiln could withstand the earthquake was harder to say.
In the best-case scenario, the supporting beams and columns weren't damaged, with only sand and earth falling from the ceiling dirtying the whole kiln, requiring considerable time to clean up.
With the first round of the earthquake over, Chen Zhou didn't rush back inside, waiting outside for the second and third rounds.
About three minutes later, the second tremor began.
Having just experienced an earthquake, and now knowing what to expect, he simply sat on the open field, waiting for it to pass.
From the mountain, another layer of sand fell, but there was little change in the forest interior, and the whereabouts of the snakes and insects were unknown, with the usual sounds of insects and birdsong absent, the world was filled with an eerie silence.
After the second earthquake came the third, which struck more than six minutes later.
It's often said that the first effort is full of force, the second effort weakens, and by the third, it's exhausted.
This earthquake was no exception; the first was the most intimidating, the second brought mild waves of anxiety, and by the third, it became somewhat ordinary.
After taking approximately eight minutes from beginning to end, the earthquake had passed, and Chen Zhou's heart calmed down.
Before this onset of the earthquake, he had constantly felt a lingering unease.
But now, the dust settled.
The greatest natural disaster over the 28-year challenge passed by in a way that was neither terrifying nor ordinary.
From now on, the days ahead were clear-cut, without urgent pressure or threats of death.
In theory, as long as he didn't provoke the Cannibal Tribes or plot to plunder Spanish treasure ships, maintained mental peace and health, and kept his life status quo without getting sick, this challenge could be considered complete.
Just wait for the 28 years to conclude, then he could leave with his belongings.
Whew~
The huge stone weighing on his heart dropped, easing his whole being.
Letting out a long breath, Chen Zhou returned to the cabin, placing Xiao Huihui and Hui Hui back into the wooden box, and first checking the state of the Little Dragon Cat.
Before the earthquake, the little creature was particularly nervous and restless.
After the earthquake ended, though, its emotions became stable, or perhaps it remained steeped in fear of the natural disaster, unable to disentangle.
The Little Dragon Cat lay curled on the straw mat in the corner of the box, eyes squinted, staying motionless, its breathing causing slight rises and falls of its body as proof it was still alive.
Chen Zhou prodded it with his finger, and the Little Dragon Cat had no reaction, which caused him to worry about the little creature's state.
"Is it a stress response?" he wondered.
Again, he touched its spine with his fingertip, gently stroking its soft, dense fur, yet the Little Dragon Cat remained huddled, not standing up to grasp his finger as it usually did, like a lifeless doll.
Offering it a piece of leaf near its mouth, it ignored it, maintaining its position.
"This..."
With no experience addressing a chinchilla's stress, Chen Zhou couldn't think of a solution, so he locked the box lid, leaving the Little Dragon Cat inside, hoping it would recover on its own.
"Perhaps a wild chinchilla would be better off; they say these animals are less prone to depression in groups and might live longer.
Should I have time, maybe I should catch another chinchilla, to keep it company?
But I don't know how to tell male from female, so I should research before catching a new one; two brothers might not be ideal."
The dry season has arrived, with a full four months of sunny days stretching from mid-April to mid-August.
During these four months, apart from collecting rewards every 15 days and building walls of wood and stone, the tasks Chen Zhou must complete include digging salt ponds and drying salt, digging compost pits, harvesting crops, and expanding more crops into the River Valley Plain and Fruit Tree Valley.
Continuing to perfect the kiln, transporting supplies, building toilets, drilling wells, and even catching sheep and improving livestock farming are all long-term projects.
Though the sooner handled, the better, waiting a few more months won't have too big an impact.
According to prior predictions, it's quite unlikely the Cannibal Tribes will come ashore in December 1660, greatly reducing the danger, and after the earthquake, this dry season will be a relaxed and pleasant year.