From Robinson Crusoe

Chapter 35 Rat
On December 12, Chen Zhou woke up early in the morning and was still a little confused.

What he saw and heard yesterday afternoon gave him nightmares all night long.

Although he had no idea what the natives were singing, he could always hear their ancient and evil songs in his dreams.

When I was a child, I often watched horror movies during the day and dreamed about ghosts in the movies at night.

This is the first time Chen Zhou has experienced this symptom since he grew up.

He knew that those meaningless songs were all summoned by his brain from certain movies and TV shows deep in his memory, so he did not become suspicious or mentally weak, and his mentality was still calm.

Although he overcame his inner fear with materialism, Chen Zhou gave up the idea of going down the mountain to the beach to take a close look at the cannibal feast.

In the countryside, when a pig or sheep dies and is thrown into a ditch, the stench it emits can make people feel nauseous even from dozens of meters away.

What's more, the six corpses and various broken bones and organs caused olfactory, visual and psychological impacts.

“Still going to the scene?
Then you will have to vomit out all the food you ate last night."

Besides, indigenous cannibalism was not a crime committed by criminals, so there was no need to look for evidence.

Their actions were undisguised; everything from landing on the island to the massacre was clear.

If they go to the island again two years later, at most the number of people and the time will be different, but the location and the order of rituals before and after the feast will not change much.

If we check now, not only will we not get more clues, but if we destroy the traces of the cannibal banquet, it might even alert the natives, which would be counterproductive.

After breakfast, Chen Zhou felt tired from the bottom of his heart when he thought of the mountains of sand and gravel in the shelter cave and the last load-bearing column that needed to be installed.

It has been 83 days since the challenge began.

During these nearly three months, he worked almost all the time. The only few days of rest were due to God's blessing and heavy rain, so he had to stop working.

Every time he opens his eyes, there is endless work in front of him, forcing him to complete it.

It is conceivable that this situation will become the norm over the next twenty-eight years.

Chen Zhou had already prepared himself to accept all of this, but today he was more tired than usual.

This fatigue does not come from physical weakness, but from excessive psychological pressure after seeing the horrific scene, which needs to be relieved or released.

After sitting on a low stool and thinking seriously for a while, Chen Zhou decided to give himself a day off and do something less boring and repetitive.

“I was working 697 to before joining the challenge, but after joining the challenge I changed it to .

If you don't have some fun, wouldn't this challenge be a waste of time?"

Out of habit, Chen Zhou also made a simple plan for his "relaxation day".

In the morning, I filled rat holes and caught and tried poisoned rats. In the afternoon, I sharpened fishing rods and went fishing at the beach.

The intestines and skin of the wild cat were still hanging on the tree by the river. After so long, they must have dried up. I don't know if they can still be used as bait.

Chen Zhou had already been to the rat's nest and had a clear understanding of it.

They live on the edge of the woods at the foot of sunny slopes, where there are many rocks and holes that help them avoid attacks by birds of prey, snakes and wild cats.

These guys basically hide during the day and come out at night. Occasionally, you can see one or two mice during the day, peeking out of the cave.

Of course, to be more precise, they are not the house mice or mountain rats that northerners know.

They have round faces, large ears, dark, bright eyes, much like rabbits, and their fur is usually grey or brown.

But there are exceptions, as Chen Zhou has seen pure black and light yellow mice.

In addition to its appearance being different from that of the northern house mouse, this type of mouse has longer and denser hair than that of the house mouse, and is also slightly larger in size.

They have long and powerful hind legs and a shorter tail than house mice. They can stand upright to observe the situation and often jump rather than run when moving.

At first glance, they look very much like pet chinchillas, but their ears are slightly smaller than those of chinchillas, their fur color is not as rich as that of chinchillas, and their behavior is not as quiet and stable as that of chinchillas.

Chen Zhou thinks this kind of mouse may be an ancestor of chinchillas or a distant relative in the wild.

It’s just that chinchillas have not yet become the aristocrats in the pet world, living a life of carefree food and clothing in cages carefully built by humans.

Life in the wild is full of dangers. As weaklings, they not only have to deal with natural enemies in the conventional sense, but also have to prevent themselves from being captured by some evil-minded Terrorist Upright Ape and used as poison testers.

In order to catch these cunning little creatures, Chen Zhou prepared three hollow wooden boxes that could block the hole and trap the mice as soon as possible.

There is also a large bucket of cold water, which, when poured into the rat hole, will make the rats mistakenly believe that there is a flood outside. In a hurry to escape, they will quickly leave the hole and dive into the wooden box.

In addition to the wooden box and cool water, Chen Zhou also had to bring a wooden shovel and a pickaxe.

Rodent burrows usually have multiple entrances and exits. It is useless to block just one entrance. The other entrances must be sealed to ensure that they appear where they should.

However, blocking the hole requires the rat catcher to have a certain degree of understanding of the structure of the rat's underground burrows.

Otherwise, it would be useless if you block the east side and forget about the west side, or if the blocked entrances come from two different caves.

As for the pickaxe, it is the last insurance.

If the water sealing method fails, you can pick up a pickaxe and dig violently to the bottom of the rat hole to catch the rat.

This method seems simple and effective, but the failure rate is extremely high when applied.

Chen Zhou has dug rat holes at least seventy or eighty times since he was a child, but he has never succeeded once.

In most cases, digging is just a way to vent about failure and cannot be used as a backup.

After filling a bucket with cold water, he picked up the shoulder pole, put a small wooden box, a wooden cup, a pickaxe and a shovel into another wooden barrel, called Lai Fu who was resting at the entrance of the cave, and walked towards the sunny slope.

Early in the morning, the sun has already spread on the sunny side of the mountain, and the warmth is gradually increasing.

The shady area was still shrouded in shadow. As I walked downward, a breeze blew on my body, making me feel chilly and a little cold.

Lai Fu ran happily in front of Chen Zhou, stopping from time to time, turning his head back, and barking twice, as if saying "Master, please go quickly."

When it gets tired of waiting, it will suddenly jump up, stretch its tail and run forward like mad.

If it runs away, there is no need to look for it or call it. It will come back happily soon.

The weight on both ends of the carrying pole was uneven, so Chen Zhou had to hold down the empty wooden barrel containing tools at the back to prevent the barrel from hitting the ground.

The journey is not far, and the terrain becomes much flatter once you enter the sunny slope.

Walking forward along the grass with yellow leaves, a piece of white broken rocks came into view, and further down was a continuous forest. This was the base camp of the mice.

Put down the carrying pole and search patiently around the pile of rubble, and you will soon find some caves as thick as your arm.

The sand at the entrance of the cave was extremely soft from being trampled, and if it hadn't been blown by the wind, you might have seen mouse footprints.

It was the first time for Chen Zhou to deal with this kind of rat. Based on his experience of filling rat holes in the grass in his hometown, he tried to find four holes and blocked three of them.

Then he carried the bucket to the last hole, holding the wooden box in one hand and the wooden cup that served as a scoop in the other, and began to pour water into the hole.

Sandy soil absorbs water strongly, so watering must be done quickly while ensuring a large amount of water. The trickle of water will quickly be absorbed by the soil.

He scooped four large cups of water and poured them into the cave without leaking a single drop.

Listening to the gurgling water flowing down, Chen Zhou quickly lay on the ground, put one ear against the wall of the cave, and judged the reaction of the mice in the cave.

His hands were not idle either. He opened the wooden box and placed it next to the hole with the opening.

This is also a little trick to trap mice.

If the mouse cannot see the light from below, it will know that there is danger at the entrance of the hole and will no longer move forward. Only when there is light through the entrance will it dare to run outside.

Grasp their movements and move the wooden box over to cover the hole when they rush out.

You need to be precise and responsive to be successful. Listen.

The sound of water became smaller and smaller, and there was a rustling sound of running in the cave, followed by a loud "嗟嗟". It might be the mouse that had just woken up and was sounding the alarm.

Then more trivial and dense footsteps were heard, some going far away, some coming closer.

The wet sand makes very little sound when you step on it, making it difficult to accurately identify the movements of the mouse.

Chen Zhou waited nervously, tilting his head slightly and staring at the cave entrance.

It has been a few years since he last stuffed rats, and he has lost the skill and confidence he once had.

Only novices use their eyes to judge the timing. It only takes a moment for a mouse to rush out of the hole, and eyes are far less trustworthy than ears.

Whoosh!
As soon as I turned my head, a mouse suddenly jumped out of the hole.

Its jumping ability is amazing, it can jump as high as thirty or forty centimeters. As soon as it lands, it makes a sharp turn and heads straight for the rubble pile.

"Grass!"

Chen Zhou's reaction was a beat slow. The mouse had already jumped out before he moved the wooden box, but it was too late.

Seeing that his master had failed in the first battle, Lai Fu volunteered to chase the mouse, barking. The mouse was frightened and lost its way. It wished its parents had not given it two more legs. It rushed left and right, raising a trail of dust, as if it was flying.

Lai Fu chased while barking, and his loud "woof woof" made the cave a mess.

The footsteps sounded like the beat of a snare drum, incessantly.

The mice each had their own ideas, and even crowded deep into the cave passage, making anxious “chirp” sounds.

After a while, they solved the traffic jam problem. Some of them were rushing towards the cave entrance, some were digging the blocked entrance, and some fled to other places. The footsteps gradually disappeared.

After pouring half a bucket of water into the cave again, Chen Zhou resumed his posture of leaning against the cave wall and listening, without using his eyes to try to regain the feeling of that year.

The sound of footsteps was getting closer and closer, and it seemed that they were about to reach the cave entrance.

I still feel unsure and don't trust my own judgment.

Thinking of taking a gamble, Chen Zhou quickly covered the entrance of the cave.

Just as the wooden box was moved over, a heavy object suddenly drilled in, hit the bottom of the box and let out a scream of pain. When it was about to move back, the box mouth had been closed.

Call ~
Letting out a long sigh, Chen Zhou could feel his heartbeat soaring.

At the critical moment of catching the mouse, he almost thought he had failed.

However, victory or defeat was just a matter of thought, and he finally caught the cunning guy.

The wooden box, which is made to imitate a wire cage, has a hollow outer wall, which does not obstruct the view, so that the "mouse" imprisoned inside can be clearly seen.

Close, all-round observation without blind spots is completely different from a quick glance from a distance.

Looking at it carefully, Chen Zhou felt more and more that this thing should be a chinchilla.

It has a pair of surprisingly large ears with very thin earlobes, fine hair, a silver-gray back and a white belly.

His eyes were dark and bright, his eyelashes were long and thick, and he was glaring at Chen Zhou at this moment, puffing up his cheeks, his three-petal mouth opening and closing slightly, his voice was weak, and he seemed to be cursing very dirty.

Its front legs are short and thick, with claws covered in hair, and its hind legs are tucked into the hair on its buttocks.

The tail accounts for roughly one-third of the body length. It is covered with very long hair and is shaped like a squirrel's tail. It can be wrapped around the hind legs and coiled at the side of the body.

Thanks to this appearance, even when it is angry, it does not look hideous like a house mouse, but rather somewhat cute.

I gently touched the little guy's hair through the wooden box. It felt like satin, thick and smooth.

"Hey, if this thing were made into a fur scarf, it would be so comfortable to wear!"

“I don’t know if this guy is male or female…

There is still water, let’s try to catch another one.”

After putting away the wooden box, Chen Zhou saw that there were still a few cups of water left in the bucket next to him, so he poured them all into the cave.

Leaning over and putting my ear close to the cave wall, I could only hear the pure sound of water. The mice in the cave might have dug open the sealed entrance and escaped.

Not surprised by the result, Chen Zhou sat on the ground, wiping the dust from the side of his head, not at all discouraged.

Today he just wanted to relax and didn't want to act so utilitarian.

Even this "poison testing rat" that he was going to skin as a joke, he had no intention of killing it or feeding it anything.

People always hope that others will value their inner qualities, but they like to judge others by their appearance.

If this were an ugly mountain rat or house mouse and fell into human hands, it would most likely not see the sun tomorrow.

But this little guy has such a lovely appearance.

Not only did Chen Zhou not want to kill it, he also wanted to cut grass for it himself, bring it home and feed it. Who knows, he might even assign it a husband or wife in the future.

Next to the pile of broken rocks on the slope, Lai Fu was blocking a rock crevice, still barking.

Thinking it was still chasing the escaped "wild chinchilla", Chen Zhou stood up and was about to call Lai Fu back, but noticed that its posture was wrong.

These charming little creatures do not have the ability to climb, and the holes they use to shelter themselves are all dug downwards, but Lai Fu tilted his head and shouted diagonally upwards.

"What did it find?"

Feeling puzzled, Chen Zhou placed the wooden box in an empty barrel, pressed a rock on the mouth of the barrel to prevent the spoils from escaping, and slowly walked towards Lai Fu.

The slope is said to be a pile of broken rocks, but in fact it is a small stone forest.

Various thick stone pillars stretch for four to five hundred meters. The tops of the stone pillars are full of cracks, and the bottoms are weathered and fallen stones.

Most of the stones here are grayish white, uniform in thickness, flat in shape, and with sharp edges, making them very suitable for building walls or paving floors.

Chen Zhou once thought of moving the stones here to the cave.

After calculating the workload, he was overwhelmed and had to give up.

The place where Lai Fu was barking was right under a rock crevice as thick as two arms. It was too far away to see what it was biting.

When he got closer, Chen Zhou found that it was just a bird's nest, nearly three meters from the ground. Even if he jumped with all his strength, he could not reach it.

"Okay, Lai Fu, I caught the mouse, let's go home!"

He still had to go fishing in the afternoon and didn't want to waste his energy, so Chen Zhou stroked Lai Fu's fluffy head and tried to persuade this stubborn little dog.

"Wang!"

Lai Fu responded to him, turned around and followed him, but he looked back every step of the way, showing that he was very reluctant to leave.

Looking at its rogue appearance, Chen Zhou smiled helplessly.

"Okay, okay, I'll take down the bird's nest for you today.

I want to see what's inside, it's what's got you so much soul!"

　Thanks to: Muyi306 for the reward. Long time no see. Thank you for staying with me for so long.

　　Thank you for the 19 monthly tickets from I Just Want to Be a Narrator, thank you big brother!

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(End of this chapter)