From Robinson Crusoe

Chapter 104 Garlic!
The rain in Weicheng is light and dusty, and the guest house is green and new.

Four months of scorching heat had long since driven away the cool air on the island.

A drizzle fell. In the early morning of August 8, Chen Zhou set out for the beach with his mountaineering bag on his back. He breathed the slightly dusty air and felt only two words - refreshed.

The long-awaited rain awakened the forest, and all the wilted and withered plants came alive.

Even the croaking of frogs and chirping birds in the forest seemed more lively.

Laifu has thick hair, and he sheds a layer of it during the dry season. The remaining thinner layer of hair still makes him feel hot, and he is often baked to the point of listlessness.

This is the happiest morning for it since the dry season began.

……

The rain last night and this morning was neither too heavy nor too light. The thick canvas on the platform was not penetrated by the rain, and the pottery kiln below was safe and sound.

Without any troubles, Chen Zhou was naturally in a more relaxed mood.

In addition, today is the date for "opening the blind box", and thinking of the new mysterious rewards on the beach, he vaguely feels that something good might come out this time.

This was not calculated based on experience or the nature of the previous prizes, but entirely based on his intuition.

Who told him to be in a good mood today? When you are optimistic, nothing in the world is difficult.

He walked to the beach with ease and moved away the wooden planks and stones that were still covered with raindrops.

This time, Chen Zhou plans to "open the blind box" first to see the true appearance of the reward in advance.

With a calm mind, he walked to the reward center, where a small paper box about 20cm long and 8cm wide lay quietly.

The outer layer of the cardboard box was densely wrapped with tape, almost completely wrapping the entire box. Even after the rain, the box was still not soaked.

To be honest, Chen Zhou was a little disappointed the moment he saw this little thing.

More than twenty mysterious rewards have left him with a stereotype - bigger is beautiful, more is better.

All the huge mysterious rewards, even if not particularly useful, can at least play some unexpected functions.

For example, the statue of Wang Lingguan, before getting the frying pan, its chassis had been faithfully serving the purpose of a wok, serving Chen Zhou's stomach.

For example, the huge ergonomic chair. Although most of its components are useless, the bearings that can be removed from the five casters are enough to make Chen Zhou smile.

Given his craftsmanship and the crude industrial conditions on the island, if he were asked to rub a bearing by hand, it would probably take him another 28 years.

Compared with the huge rewards, the most useful small rewards are only the box of lighters and the ear pick set.

In addition, things like mobile phone cases, electronic wooden fish, butt plugs, and shoe horns are all "defective products of modern technology" that can break Chen Zhou's defenses.

Having learned from previous experience, he had even less hope for the items in the small paper box in his hand.

But he was in a good mood today, so he didn't worry too much about what the reward would be. He just hoped that it wouldn't be something like a wooden product or a mobile phone case, at least it would be of some use.

Before taking out the dagger and preparing to cut the tape on the box, Chen Zhou shook the box casually.

He heard a rustling sound inside the box, as if some loose parts were stuffed in, and he thought it was a box of hard candies.

Without thinking any more, he exerted force with his right hand, and the sharp tip of the dagger immediately pierced into the tape, easily drawing a straight line.

Peeling off the thick tape and lifting the top of the paper box, plump white garlic cloves appeared in Chen Zhou's eyes.

For a moment, he thought he was dazzled and hallucinating.

So he quickly put the paper box on the ground and rubbed his eyes.

Looking back at the paper box, many round white garlics are still clustered inside, not one more, not one less.

The joy in his heart was beyond words. Worried about being fooled by the award-giving party, Chen Zhou picked up a garlic clove with the skin on and put it to his nose to smell it.

The unique smell of garlic wafted into his nostrils, and the texture of the garlic skin and the weight of the garlic cloves all confirmed to him——

"This is not a dream, you really got a box of garlic seeds."

"Oh my god, the production team finally found their conscience!
I thought I would have to wait until the 28th year to get this seasoning!"

Putting the garlic cloves back into the paper box, Chen Zhou clenched his fists and almost cheered out loud.

He had already failed too many times when it came to seasoning.

The plants that look like wild peppers brought back from the river valley plains cannot be eaten as peppers at all and will only destroy the original taste of the ingredients.

The mountain celery was not acclimatized to the local climate and died within a few days of being planted in the sunroom.

If the ship's doctor had not grown mint and fennel in his jars, his taste for food would have been much worse than it was now.

From any perspective, these garlic seeds solved his urgent problem.

There is basically no other way to get this thing except by sending it as a reward. It is better to expect a generator to fall from the sky than to expect to find wild garlic on the island.

……

"This thing has to be put away."

Carefully smoothing the garlic cloves in the paper box, he closed the lid of the box, and used some sticky tape to stick the lid shut. Then Chen Zhou put the box of garlic into his backpack.

Among vegetables, garlic ranks among the top in terms of growth rate.

The maturity period of about one month is enough to stand out from the crowd.

Garlic is easy to plant. Just throw the garlic cloves into the soil with the tip facing up and sprinkle some water on them. It also reproduces quickly. The garlic cloves themselves can be eaten, and the garlic sprouts can also be used for cooking.

As for sweet and sour garlic, mashed garlic, and the combination of garlic and meat, they are undoubtedly delicious.

Especially in the north, eating a clove of garlic with a bowl of hot noodles, even if you sweat while eating, has a unique flavor.

……

The surprise on the 11th gave Chen Zhou great encouragement and motivation.

He was extremely serious when building the wooden and stone walls that day, and he built them very straight. Even the millstones and metal plates of the safe that were built together with the wooden boards and stones were almost perfectly integrated into the wall, forming a seamless whole.

When he got home in the evening, he found several "fine little ceramic pots" he had made, filled them with soil, and placed garlic cloves in them, looking forward to the day when they would sprout.

……

In the following days, dark clouds appeared in the sky more and more frequently.

But most of the time it was just thunder without rain, and a few times when it started to rain the clouds were blown away by the wind not long after, leaving only the clear blue sky and a rainbow over the sea.

Already feeling the approaching rainy season, Chen Zhou began to prepare for the third rainy season after landing on the island.

Last rainy season, we often had to go out in the rain.

During this rainy season, in order to reduce the probability of getting sick and for his own health, he plans to stay in the cave and not go out unless necessary.

This rainy season lasts from mid-August to mid-October, a full two months.

Chen Zhou didn't want to sleep at home for two months. On the one hand, that kind of life was too boring, not much better than maintaining machinery in a cement factory. On the other hand, the food reserves at home were not enough to last for two months, and he couldn't be lazy when it was time to go out hunting.

You should visit the platform, beach forest and seaside more often. It would be best if you could catch a wild goat. If you are lucky enough to see a couple of seals, then you will get rich again.

The fur, oil and fresh meat provided to Chen Zhou by the two big guys killed last time are still playing a role. He dreams of killing a few more seals.

In addition to seals, Chen Zhou had never seen the big sea turtles that were often mentioned in "Robinson Crusoe".

Is that sea turtle a hawksbill turtle?
Are the turtle eggs that Robinson Crusoe praised so highly really that delicious?

He had long wanted to get answers to these questions, but unfortunately the turtle had never given him the chance.

……

In order to pass these long two months, Chen Zhou prepared a large amount of stone and white mud.

He also brought up more than half of the cut wooden boards and bricks from the foot of the mountain.

During the rainy season, he will complete the interior partitions, install interior doors and ceilings, lay the kitchen and storage room floors, and build a fire wall.

If he had enough energy, he would also like to build a fireplace on the outer wall of the bedroom to keep the fire for a long time and use it for boiling water and cooking.

At the same time, he wanted to take advantage of the rainy season to stay indoors for a long time and continue to expand the cave inward.

As more and more supplies were transported from the foot of the mountain into the cave, the originally spacious storage room became increasingly stretched. This was also the result of keeping large furniture and ship cargo in the shack at the foot of the mountain.

If all the supplies from the foot of the mountain, including the statue of Wang Lingguan, were moved up here, not to mention this storage room, even the bedroom and kitchen might not be enough.

Chen Zhou also realized that he had to set up a separate studio to place tools such as earthen rice hullers, foot-operated pestles, and stone mills in it for centralized use.

We can't keep these bulky processing machines on the outdoor platform forever.

Exposed to wind, sun and rain, their service life will be reduced by at least 50%.

Not to mention that more processing machines will be manufactured in the future, such as sugarcane juicers for making sugar, blacksmithing areas, carving areas, pottery machines, and various molds.

This is not the modern world. If you want something, you can just search it online and buy it with some money.

On this isolated island, everything has to be done by oneself, and every ordinary thing requires tremendous effort.

In addition to construction work and cave expansion, Chen Zhou also arranged painting tasks and pottery making tasks.

However, the task of pottery making may not be so easy to accomplish.

Affected by the rainy season, large pottery kilns can only fire pottery when it rains lightly or when it is cloudy without rain.

Having already gone through a rainy season, Chen Zhou knew very well how rare that kind of weather was.

So in addition to the pottery making task, he also prepared to work on the "modified flintlock rifle".

……

The wide variety of work always made him overwhelmed. When carrying rocks up the mountain from the cliff, Chen Zhou often thought -

Is his brain, which can change the whole world, and the advanced knowledge contained in it going to be wasted on moving stones?
He thought about this question countless times, and finally he became determined to tame the cannibalistic natives.

From the description in the original book, we can see that although these cannibalistic natives are ignorant and superstitious, they are not without fear of death - being eaten alive by their own kind and swallowed up bit by bit, surely no one would not be afraid of this.

Following Robinson’s experience of taming Friday, Chen Zhou planned to adopt a similar approach to repel the cannibalistic natives who were holding a feast and first rescue a native to help him work.

In the process of taming the native, he can understand the culture and spiritual outlook of the cannibal tribe, and decide whether he should be more radical or conservative when rescuing the native next time.

If most of the natives had the same character as Friday, that is, simple, loyal, grateful, and working diligently and not lazy, he would save more natives.

If there were few naturally good slaves like Friday, and most of the natives were stubborn and full of evil intentions, he would put aside his compassion for his fellow men and kill them.

According to the indigenous landing rules, the next cannibal feast will take place in more than 15 months.

In other words, he must be prepared for the "execution kidnapping" before December next year.

As it concerns his life and property, Chen Zhou dare not be careless.

As for offensive weapons, he planned to use the revolver as his trump card.

The bullets of that pistol should be 7.62mm bullets. As long as they hit vital parts such as the internal organs or the head, it can basically kill the person with one shot. If the natives do not have an overwhelming numerical advantage, it is enough to save their lives.

Of course, the revolver is a trump card. It may be useful when facing Spanish robbers in the future. It is better to avoid wasting bullets if possible.

According to Chen Zhou's plan, "Chen's improved flintlock rifle" would be the main weapon for "robbing the execution ground".

After removing the spring of the brain-blasting weapon, he wanted to make a similar rifle based on the structure of the mainstream rifles in the 18th and 19th centuries.

However, the rewards he received later, such as keyboards and ergonomic chairs, gave him a bold idea - perhaps he could make a semi-automatic electric firing rifle.

Due to the particularity of the combat background, this gun can completely abandon many advantages of modern firearms and focus its skill points on firepower, accuracy, and range.

Perhaps after it is successfully manufactured, each bullet of this gun will take half a day to rub out;

Perhaps the gun would be too heavy to carry over long distances;

Perhaps the parts of this gun will be difficult to replace and its service life will be greatly shortened;

But none of this matters. In Chen Zhou's opinion, as long as he can reduce the risk of injury and deal a thundering blow to the natives, it is all worth it.

In addition to firearms, he also prepared bows and crossbows for long-range weapons in advance - the carpenter's cross steel crossbow had a broken bowstring, so he twisted some animal tendons into the bowstring and it could still be used.

Melee weapons are mainly long-handled axes and iron knives. The natives are naked and their defense is basically zero, so they can be easily slaughtered without any magic weapons.

Of course, there is a saying that the best defense is offense.

Just because Chen Zhou was shot down by a native doesn’t mean he is indestructible.

If the rifle broke down, and the natives' morale remained high after the revolver had used up all six bullets, and they rushed forward and engaged in a head-on bayonet fight, Chen Zhou would not have much confidence that he would win.

For the sake of his life, he also planned to make a set of armor.

According to Chen Zhou's idea, the best armor is the full body armor of European knights.

Wearing that thing was like wearing a tin can. The bows, arrows and wooden spears of the natives could not penetrate his defense at all. As long as he had enough physical strength, he could kill his way in and out among the natives without losing a single hair.

However, full body armor is too troublesome to manufacture. Chen Zhou considers himself to be "half a carpenter", but he dares not boast that he can grow into a blacksmith as quickly as he can do carpentry work.

Moreover, he did not have many of the tools a blacksmith needed, such as hammers, pliers, anvils, etc., so he could only rely on mysterious rewards to get a set of iron armor.

So he planned to make a set of leather armor and inlay thick safe steel plates in the vital parts of the armor.

The safety performance of leather armor is far inferior to that of iron armor, but it can also provide a certain degree of protection during battles with the natives.

It is obviously unrealistic to say that leather armor can withstand the piercing of wooden spears, but it should be no problem defending against the bows and arrows of the natives without iron arrowheads.

As long as he doesn't lose his combat effectiveness in the first place, Chen Zhou believes that his attack power will also surprise the natives.

(End of this chapter)