From Robinson Crusoe

Chapter 43 The most valuable episode

Chen Zhou hates everything related to probability because his luck has never been very good.

Unfortunately, waiting for seeds to germinate is a matter of probability.

This long and uncertain process made him feel very tormented.

Since he planted the seeds on January 1, whenever he had some free time, he would go down from the platform to check the ridges of the fields at least a dozen times a day.

However, the results are similar every time.

The seeds will definitely not germinate so quickly. Even if they germinate, it is impossible for them to break through the soil in just a few days. They are buried in the soil and need to grow slowly, little by little.

Chen Zhou knew all this very well, but he was very panicked and anxious, worried that the seeds would not germinate as smoothly as the rice and wheat that Robinson Crusoe planted by chance.

After all, the success of farming is of great importance. Whether we can eat rice and bread in the future depends entirely on the quality of these seeds.

……

On January 1, Chen Zhou spent the whole morning digging white soil and carrying it back to the cave in preparation for building the wall.

As usual, he fed the goats, cut some grass for the little chinchilla, and caught some fish for Xiao Huihui - he used a torn fishing net to make a long-handled scoop net, which was quite effective in catching fish.

The kid was about three or four days old when it was caught, and by mid-November it would be able to find grass to eat on its own.

If no one intervenes, the mother goat will gradually wean the lamb after it has eaten the grass, and she will no longer produce milk.

But Chen Zhou kept on milking, so the goat's milk continued until January, but it was getting less and less.

I used to drink half a pot of milk tea every day, but now I can only drink one pot in two days.

If he hadn't been busy with work and had not been pressed for time, he would have gone out to look for the flock long ago.

The temptation of dairy freedom is indeed great, and it is difficult to find food on the island that contains both high-quality protein and fat.

The goats are now used to humans approaching them. Although the lambs are not very close to Chen Zhou, they will not deliberately stay away from him.
This just shows that they are not purely wild goats, but are likely to have been domesticated.

After being left unattended on the island, their temperaments somewhat returned to their wild state, but the familiarity with humans in their genes was not completely eliminated.

This was good news for Chen Zhou, as it meant that if a large number of goats could be captured, it would not be too difficult to domesticate them again.

That afternoon, feeling that the soil in the field was not moist enough, Chen Zhou watered it again.

The air on the island is dry during the dry season, and without human care, the germination rate of seeds will be greatly reduced.

While watering the plants, he noticed that there were many birds around the woods that often circled above the fields and occasionally landed on the ground, so he made a "scarecrow".

The scarecrow's frame is made of wood, covered with a layer of torn canvas and wrapped with several strips of cloth.

When there is wind, the cloth on the scarecrow flutters in the wind, as if it comes alive.

It is even more terrifying to walk out of the cave and suddenly see a scarecrow at sunset or late at night when the light is dim, just like a terrible monster in a horror movie waiting for prey in the field.

Although the scarecrow looks ugly, it can still have some deterrent effect on birds.

Since it has been in the fields, the number of birds that dare to land has decreased significantly.

In addition to birds, rodents and rabbits living in the forest also pose a threat to crops.

Chen Zhou guessed that they might have come to the island with goats and cats.

Due to the lack of natural enemies on the island, these animals live a very comfortable life.

It is foreseeable that if the situation is allowed to continue, the island's ecosystem will be severely damaged within a few years, just like Australia in later generations, with wild rabbits becoming a disaster that is difficult to eradicate.

At present, the prevention and control method adopted by Chen Zhou mainly relies on Lai Fu.

At night, I tied it to the edge of the field and kept it there all night long, so that hares and mice wouldn't dare approach. But this wasn't a long-term solution.

Chen Zhou plans to build a complete circle of stone walls around the fields.

Digging the foundation of the stone wall as deep as possible can prevent wild rabbits from damaging crops.

In the event of an enemy attack, the stone walls of the fields can also serve as a defense.

This is undoubtedly another time-consuming project. Before the project is truly completed, Chen Zhou has come up with other ways to cure these hateful three-petal mouths.

When he checked on the crops, he always carried a crossbow and hunted any rabbits he saw lurking on the edge of the woods.

Of course, there were many obstacles in the woods, and the hares were small, had sharp hearing, and were fast, so he tried several times but missed the target every time.

However, even if the arrows miss the target, for the timid and cautious hares, being attacked is a warning signal, and they will consciously stay away from the fields after surviving the disaster.

In addition to direct attacks, Chen Zhou would also shout threats, throw stones, and try to find rabbit trails. He set dozens of rabbit traps in the grass and next to tree trunks where rabbit trails were suspected to be.

He had no hunting experience and only relied on the trapping techniques he heard from the elders. When he saw something like rabbit footprints in the grass, he would find a small tree or insert a wooden stick to adjust the height and tie a rope.

The noose hangs from top to bottom and is fastened with a slipknot. Once the rabbit's head is put in, the noose will get tighter the more it struggles, making it impossible for it to break free.

According to veteran hunters, it is best to use soft and sensitive steel wire rope or smooth plastic rope for rabbit traps. The noose made from this kind of rope shrinks very quickly and has little odor, so it is not easy to alert rabbits.

When using a rope to set a trap, it is best to boil the rope in salt water to remove the smell before setting the trap, especially if the rope has been used to kill a rabbit. Otherwise, it will disturb the rabbit and reduce the probability of catching the rabbit.

Chen Zhou always listens to advice when it comes to areas that he is unfamiliar with.

All his ropes were boiled in salt water and dried, and the noose had been tested many times, so it was guaranteed to be tightened, but due to the material, the speed was not that fast.

Unfortunately, he lacked hunting experience and was poor at finding rabbit trails and rabbit feces. When he set the trap, he might have destroyed the environment around the rabbit trails, causing the rabbits to become defensive.

It took most of the afternoon and I used a lot of condoms, but it's hard to say whether I can get anything out of it.

Setting traps is actually somewhat similar to fishing.

Skill is indeed a crucial part, but luck cannot be ignored either.

It is possible to get nothing by spending a lot of money to buy secret bait, studying the air pressure and weather time, and staying by the river to fish.

Just buy a fishing line and hang a hook, find a fish pond and sit down. Don’t think about anything, there will be more fish than you can catch.

Among rabbits, there are smart ones and stupid ones. Even an experienced hunter finds it difficult to catch a smart rabbit.

The stupid ones will run into the tree on their own without any need for grabbing.

The main purpose of Chen Zhou's trap was to catch a rabbit, skin it and hang it in the field for public display, in order to scare away those who had ill intentions towards the crops, so he didn't care much about the success rate.

After all, he only needed one rabbit.

……

January 1th is the day when the seventh mystery reward arrives, and it is also the 12th day since the challenge began.

If there was a progress bar, you should be able to see that the despairingly long progress bar is almost filled to one percent.

In the early morning, after taking care of his physiological needs as usual, he observed the fields, checked whether the rabbit traps at the edge of the woods had any harvest, and then took Lai Fu with him and calmly went down the mountain.

When the prize was drawn for the first time, he was extremely excited, like a young man checking into a hotel with his lover, full of anticipation.

After the second and third draws, he was much calmer and could accept the reward calmly regardless of whether it was good or bad.

By the seventh draw, his mood was like that of an old couple who had shared the same bed for many years. It was difficult to stir up any waves.

Even such an outlandish reward as a box of edible soil could not shake his heart. Could there be something more shocking?
Chen Zhou expressed his disbelief. The road seemed shorter and shorter as he walked.

Having been to the beach so many times, he was used to the sparse trees in the seaside woods.

From a distance, Chen Zhou discovered that this reward was another large item, and couldn't help feeling a little surprised.

From the initial 9.9 yuan with free shipping, to two axes costing several hundred yuan, to hundreds of kilograms of edible soil, the price of the rewards has skyrocketed, which makes people feel that the funds of the Spacetime Administration have become abundant.

Come closer and observe.

This time the packaging is much more luxurious than usual.

The outermost layer of the 1.6-meter-high box is wrapped in a black low-quality cotton blanket, and the eight corners are tied with anti-collision sponges with transparent tape.

The twelve edges of the box even use silver-painted triangle irons and are fixed with hexagonal bolts, which shows that the objects in the box are of great value.

Seeing such a huge and valuable item, Chen Zhou couldn't help but be delighted.

He carefully found the seam of the cotton blanket, cut the thin thread there, and slowly took off the blanket, revealing the true appearance of the box inside.

The entire packaging box is made entirely of solid wood, which is varnished with a fine yellow texture. The surface is outlined with cloud patterns and intricate and exquisite paintings of immortals.

Turning to the front of the box, you can see a line of small black characters - The First General of the Xiantian, the Loyal Protector of the Dao, the Three-Five Fire Train King, the Lord of Heaven, with his mighty spirit manifested.

There are two lines of gold-painted characters below the small characters: "Three eyes can see the world's affairs, and one whip can wake up the people of the world."

"Fuck!"

Gently stroking the smooth box, Chen Zhou couldn't help but sigh that he was uncultured.

In the past, he always complained that the organizers were stingy and distributed industrial waste all day long.

Now he felt that he had to sincerely apologize to the organizers of the event.

"Brother, I'm sorry! I misjudged you. I didn't know you were so capable!"

Just by looking at the thick and luxurious packaging and the line of small words, Chen Zhou had already guessed what was in the box.

It must be a statue.

As for the material of the statue, it could be wood, stone, clay, ceramic, metal or even resin or glass.

Judging from the anti-collision sponge and metal frame at the corners of the box, the statue is likely to be made of fragile material.

“It’s expensive and useless. Although it’s valuable, the organizer’s style of selecting prizes remains the same as always.”

Shaking his head, Chen Zhou began to tighten the bolts.

In his mind, these twelve triangles with screws are much more practical than statues.

A fragile statue, apart from being brought back to modern times and sold, can only provide spiritual sustenance.

For an atheist, there is no function more pale than this.

Besides, even if one wants to find a spiritual sustenance, the first choices should be auspicious gods such as Fu Lu Shou Xi, or powerful gods such as the Three Pure Ones and the Jade Emperor.

Even if military generals are worshipped, there are Four Emperors, Erlang Shen, Guan Sheng Emperor, Yue Sheng Emperor, Master Wen, Shentu Yulei and even Qin Shubao and Yuchi Gong to choose from.

This Wang Lingguan is indeed very powerful, but he is not a deity that should be worshipped by an ordinary family.

In other words, he is not close to the people!

As for eliminating evil, this island is so small. Even if there are some evil spirits lurking, the heavenly soldiers and generals will take care of them. Sending the first guardian deity of Taoism to deal with it is a bit like overkill.

While complaining about the statue in his mind, he dealt with the bolts.

After many unsuccessful attempts to twist it with his hands, Chen Zhou became troubled when looking at the rock-solid bolts and angle iron frame.

If you can't unscrew the bolts, you can't disassemble the angle iron frame. If you can't disassemble the angle iron frame, you can't open the package without damaging the package. This is a bit troublesome.

He took out two daggers he carried with him and clamped the bolt, trying to extend the lever arm and turn the bolt.

However, the blade was too smooth, and the friction in contact with the bolt surface was insufficient, so it always slipped. In addition, the handles of the two knives were not close together, and they always tilted outward during the twisting process, making it difficult to use all your strength.

"Looks like we have to go back to the camp..."

After looking at the bolt that didn't move at all, Chen Zhou put away his dagger and headed for the camp on the hillside.

Among the metal parts removed from the ship, there are some with more peculiar shapes that may come in handy.

After finding the shack where the metal parts were stored, Chen Zhou rummaged through the boxes and pushed aside the useless metal parts. He took out two small bent iron rods and his eyes suddenly lit up.

After placing two iron rods close together and measuring them, he thought he could use them to make a simple wrench.

He found another thin rope and hurried back to the beach.

Coming to the wooden box, he adjusted the small iron rods to the appropriate distance. In order to increase friction, Chen Zhou used the file in the dagger to smooth the inside of the iron rods before tying them tightly together.

By extending the lever arm to increase the torque, and the rough surface to increase the friction, the nut that was originally difficult to turn is no longer a problem.

He disassembled it one by one and put the bolts into his pocket. The sturdy metal frame was broken down into twelve angle irons.

Open the metal buckle on the top of the wooden box, lift the lid, and take out the thick shock-proof material inside.

A well-made, majestic and gorgeous colored sculpture appeared in front of Chen Zhou.

The statue is standing, with its surface gilded with gold and silver and filled with large areas of rich colors.

Wang Lingguan has a red face and beard, three eyes on his head, his mouth is slightly open, and he looks majestic.

He was wearing golden armor and a red robe, with a colorful ribbon across his shoulders that seemed to be fluttering in the wind.

He is standing on a wind-fire wheel, making hand gestures in one hand and holding a golden whip in the other. Auspicious clouds flow beneath him along with the flames of the wind-fire wheel, adding a unique charm to the statue.

The paint on the outside of the statue concealed its true material. Chen Zhou knocked on it with his hand and found that the statue was not made of fragile ceramic or glass, but was cast in metal.

It goes without saying that they would use this kind of packaging and this kind of craftsmanship to make statues, so the material must be pure copper.

It is estimated that the entire statue is more than 70 centimeters tall. Based on Chen Zhou's limited knowledge of the market price of bronze statues, the cheapest price of this bronze statue of Wang Lingguan is at least 17,000 or 18,000 yuan.

This was the most valuable reward he had received since arriving on the island.

At this price, even the most useless things seem useful.

"I'm not used to seeing you being so generous all of a sudden."

Controlling the joy on his face, Chen Zhou hugged Wang Lingguan's waist and pulled up with all his strength.

Although this bronze statue is not solid, its height and thickness make it feel like it weighs at least 60 kilograms.

Fearing that carrying the items back directly might damage the packaging boxes or scratch the paint on the statues, Chen Zhou ran back to the camp and took out his "rope-pulled cart" which he had not used for a long time.

He was worried if this good thing stayed outside for even a second longer, so even if he had nothing to do today, he had to take it home first.

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　　Thanks to book friend 20241128134924886 for the reward, thank you!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)