Chapter 215 - 97: Violent Unboxing
Suppressing the urge to open the safe, Chen Zhou busied himself with searching for stones suitable for making a millstone.
By noon, two green stones freshly dug from the ground and rolled onto the beach were ready.
He took out cooking tools and food from his hiking bag, made a fire, and had a simple lunch before starting to cut down trees and organize the pre-cut wooden planks and stone bricks.
Originally waking up early to free up time to explore the other side of the beach and search for the Pigeon Cave near Robinson's camp location,
unexpectedly, he spent several hours trying the combination, and by the time he transported the materials to the reward spot, it was around four in the afternoon, and darkness would soon fall.
Considering the time needed to build the timber and stone wall, if he was determined to explore the Pigeon Cave, he would have to move in the dark.
In the dark, human vision is poor, making it easy to trip or sprain an ankle while exploring the Pigeon Cave, but it's not entirely bad.
Because pigeons return to their nests at night to rest and have very poor night vision, essentially becoming blind at night.
If the cave entrance is spacious and well-lit during the day, pigeons are likely to escape the net, making it easier to catch them at night.
Uncertain if searching for the Pigeon Cave would be difficult or easy, he couldn't make up his mind.
Seeing that there was no more time to waste, Chen Zhou focused on building the timber and stone wall.
Three sides were completed quickly, and when it came to the last wall, he hesitated, putting down the stone as he looked at the golden safe.
Half a month is neither long nor short, but if he attempted a dimensional cut, he must wait patiently.
It's like telling a hungry dog outside a cafeteria to wait two hours to eat a meat bun.
Smelling the aroma but unable to eat, it was torture for the dog, and the same for Chen Zhou.
He circled the safe a few times, knocking on the solid body with his knuckles.
Sensing that it might not be as indestructible as he thought, he picked up a stone and smashed it hard on top of the safe.
The sharp underside of the stone struck the steel plate on the top with a crisp "clang," sending a few fragments flying.
Looking at the top of the safe again.
The gold paint was naturally damaged over a large area, revealing the silvery-white metal underneath.
The metal surface had a few shallow dents, not too noticeable.
Rubbing the shallow dents on the steel plate, Chen Zhou felt that breaking in from the safe's wall wasn't reliable.
Scratching his head, he shifted his gaze to the safe door.
The hinges of the safe door are enclosed within the door itself, with only two rows of slightly protruding cylindrical metal shells outside to protect the vulnerable hinges.
The closed door was tightly fitted to the outer wall of the safe, with gaps too tiny even for a leaf to be inserted.
Nevertheless, Chen Zhou believed that the door was the safest spot to break through.
If he could widen the gap, insert a crowbar to create a bigger opening, and then insert a screw jack, he could forcibly dismantle the hinges.
Repeating the operation from bottom to top, once both hinges were destroyed, the door would be useless.
As for widening the gap, Chen Zhou thought he could take a carpenter's chisel and hammer down from the mountain.
But he didn't intend to directly use the chisel on the safe.
The chisel's forging technology was outdated and was fine for dealing with softwood, but against the modern heat-treated steel plate, even if it could widen the gap, the chisel head would suffer severe damage.
He planned to first find some sharp wedge-shaped stones to pave the way, then use the chisel once a gap appeared, thus avoiding damage to the chisel's tip.
With his plan confirmed, he moved the safe away from the reward point perimeter.
Patiently building the timber and stone wall, gathering the tools into his hiking bag, he pushed the heavy safe bit by bit to the campsite.
Currently, discovering what was inside the safe was more important than knowing where the Pigeon Cave was.
Chen Zhou was no longer concerned about a meal of pigeon meat and decided to put the matter aside temporarily.
...
After much effort transporting the safe into the camp, the sky darkened significantly.
After nightfall, Chen Zhou usually didn't venture out.
But today was an exception; to uncover the secrets within the safe, he decided to break his routine.
He lit an open-air bonfire in the camp.
Tearing off some oily leaves from nearby trees and finding a few sticks of suitable length and thickness.
Wrapping the leaves around the sticks with cloth strips and vines, he made a few simple torches and then lit them to climb up the mountain overnight.
Having traversed up and down the mountain countless times, he had worn a path in the forest, so even though the torches weren't very bright, Chen Zhou didn't get lost or encounter danger, successfully returning to the kiln cave.
Climbing up is hard, but going down is easy.
He took out and lit an oil lamp from the kiln cave.
This thing was much brighter than the simple torches and didn't emit black smoke.
Bringing along tools like the crowbar, chisel, and hammer, he quickly fed the young mice in the mouse pen and immediately headed back to the campsite without lingering.
Going back and forth consumed a lot of time, and when he reached the campsite, the bonfire was nearly out.
Throwing a few logs into the glowing embers, he took out wedge-shaped stones and first moved Lai Fu to rest aside —
Scattered stone fragments could be powerful when striking stones.
As the striker, Chen Zhou could avoid it in time, but being short, Lai Fu might not be so lucky if hit in the eye by fragments.
After preparing, he flipped the safe so that the door faced up.
Wrapping the surface of the wedge-shaped stones with cloth strips to prevent cutting his hands, he held it in his left hand, aimed at the gap of the safe door, and Chen Zhou swung the hammer down hard.