From Robinson Crusoe

Chapter 61: Audience on High Place

At noon on the 25th, Chen Zhou dragged his heavy and tired body back to the cave.

The small branches added to the stove and bonfire when leaving home were successfully ignited by the charcoal fire.

Sadly, he got home too late and the twigs he had lit had all burned down to charcoal, so now he had to start the fire again.

Take out the herbs and jars and place them on top of the food rack in the kitchen.

Sitting on a low stool and taking a short break, Chen Zhou started a bonfire.

He wanted to drink some tobacco leaves soaked in boiling water, which was the only medicine that might have some effect so far.

He waited patiently for the water to boil, and after soaking two large cups of tobacco leaves, he poured the remaining boiling water into an empty wine bottle and saved it for drinking.

Then he added some water to the pot, broke the dough, cut some shredded meat into the water, did not add salt, and started to cook porridge.

The tobacco leaves swirled in the boiling water, and soon they were completely soaked and sank into the cup, dyeing the entire cup of water a dark yellow or even dark brown.

The smell emanating from the cup was not as pungent as Chen Zhou had imagined. It had the slightly spicy aroma unique to tobacco, and was slightly pungent.

After sniffing it carefully, Chen Zhou felt that tobacco water should not be as unpalatable as Huoxiang Zhengqi Liquid or Shidi Shui.

After the water in the cup cooled down a little, he took a tentative sip.

When the tobacco water first entered the mouth, the feeling was not obvious. When the yellow liquid completely submerged the tongue and flowed into the throat, Chen Zhou only felt an extremely strong spicy taste of dry tobacco leaves burning in his mouth.

This kind of spiciness is different from chili peppers or onions, ginger and garlic. It is hot and painful, and feels like needles and fire. There is no element that can make people feel comfortable or addictive, it only makes people feel painful.

"cough!"

Caught off guard, some liquid escaped and entered Chen Zhou's trachea.

He stood up from the stool, hunched over, supported his knees, and began to cough violently.

It felt like there was a ball of fire in his mouth.

From the inside to the outside, from the tip of the tongue to the root of the tongue, from the upper teeth to the lower gums, and even to the throat and trachea, it was all the same stinging pain.

After finally stopping his cough, he quickly opened his mouth, picked up a piece of bread, broke it into pieces and stuffed it into his mouth, then washed it down with cold water to relieve the pain in his mouth.

But this series of measures has not been effective.

Chen Zhou, who could drink a whole glass of rum without changing his expression, was put on a mask of pain. He curled up his body like a shrimp, hunched on a low stool, and could not utter a complete sentence except for the painful groans of "ah" and "uh".

After a long while, the smell in his mouth finally dissipated, or became bearable, and he straightened his back.

"Damn it, no one told me how much tobacco leaves to soak in a cup of water. I put too much in half a box.

Or this thing can't be soaked in boiling water.

Damn it, how can tobacco soaked in water taste so bad? If I drink a whole cup, I might die from the spiciness before my illness is cured!"

After a while, Chen Zhou felt that the pungent smell of tobacco was like a rough cotton swab in the nurse's hand, which went straight into his nostrils and throat, opening up all the acupoints and making him feel painful and smooth, and even a little comfortable.

When the burning sensation of the tobacco disappeared, every time he breathed, it was as if he could draw air into his nostrils, up along his skull, and cool his hot and dull brain.

Staring at the tobacco water which had become even darker in color, Chen Zhou hesitated for a moment, but in the end he did not dare to take the second sip.

"You should eat first. Even if you are taking medicine, you have to take it after a meal, otherwise it will be bad for your stomach."

Chen Zhou made up an excuse and put the tobacco water on the food shelf - unless his condition worsened, he would never drink even a sip of this stuff again.

There was little water in the kettle and it boiled quickly.

Let the lean meat and batter cook in the pot for a while before serving.

After having a hot lunch, Chen Zhou felt that his body was no longer cold and he felt much more energetic.

He didn't know whether it was the effect of lunch or the tobacco water that really had an effect.

He took a big sip of cold boiled water, placed two cups of warm water on the bedside table, and crawled back into bed to rest.

……

I slept much longer today than usual, for more than ten hours.

His mind was clear, Chen Zhou lay on the pillow with his eyes wide open, unable to fall asleep.

There is nothing to do, nothing that can be done.

He found it difficult to calm down and think about what he should deal with next, and fragments of modern life kept popping up in his mind.

Among them are familiar cold medicines such as Amoxicillin and Contac, the smell of disinfectant powder in boiling water in an electric kettle, and the white coats and slightly swaying IV bottles of the hospital...

"If I had been given these medicines, I wouldn't have worried about a minor cold."

As his memories changed, he thought of his grandparents, his parents, his relatives and friends, and the feeling of being cared for and looked after.

These images of his loved ones exacerbated his loneliness at the moment.

……

A total of 149 days are about to pass. During these long five months, he has had no one to communicate with.

He once reminded himself to speak more, even if it was to the nature or to inanimate objects.

But in life, he was not able to do what he had planned.

Who, except a mentally ill person, would talk to a tree or confide his troubles to a rock or a river?
What's more, there are so many things that need to be done and problems that need to be solved in life, which completely fill every minute and every second, leaving him no time to think more.

Looking back, he had spoken only a handful of times in the past three months, and most of them were giving orders to Lai Fu.

As for feeding Little Gray, taking care of the chinchillas and Grapes, he was more likely to talk to himself in his mind, or simply slurp words, without forming complete sentences.

Sometimes, he didn't even know whether he had expressed what he wanted to say in words. He just felt that he had heard the words, but that might just be an illusion.

Sitting up from the bed, Chen Zhou suddenly spoke in a hoarse voice.

"Hello, my name is Chen Zhou."

He was slightly stunned, as if this was the first time he heard his own voice.

The voice was rough and unfamiliar, and the words were clear, but completely different from the voice he remembered.

Chen Zhou then realized that due to not being able to communicate with others for such a long time, some of the things he was accustomed to had quietly changed.

If the illness had not left him idle, it would probably have taken another two or three years for him to discover the problem, by which time he would have probably lost most of his language ability.

In the past, in the factory, even though he had always been a taciturn little transparent person, he could at least say dozens of words every day.

Communicate with co-workers in different positions, deal with leaders, complain about the saltiness of the food in the cafeteria after getting a meal, or call parents and chat with them about some family matters.

When he arrived on the island, he had no chance to speak, so he gradually developed the habit of not speaking. In modern society, no one would consider the consequences of not speaking for five months.

Chen Zhou never thought that the tone of his voice would become like this, completely different from when he landed on the island a few months ago.

This may be affected by tobacco water, but it cannot be denied that long-term and low-frequency use of the vocal cords has had an impact on language ability.

If he continues like this, when he returns to modern society after the challenge is over, it may take him several years to regain normal communication ability. By then, the bonus money combined may not be enough to cover his treatment.

"Ahem, this Space-Time Travel Administration is really stingy.

I worked so hard and risked my life to do a reality show for you, and you paid me so little that it’s fine, but you didn’t even write about these hidden dangers. You really lack virtue.”

Chen Zhou cleared his throat and talked to himself.

After saying this, the cave fell into a long silence again.

Looking at the increasingly dim bedroom, listening to Xiao Huihui's snoring and Lai Fu's humming in his dream, an inexplicable feeling of fear suddenly came over me.

He seemed to see an extremely huge nothingness creature lurking in the cave and even on the entire island, and it was devouring itself bit by bit.

The monster's name is loneliness.

It has no sharp teeth or claws, nor a terrifying face or a strong body. It just erodes continuously in silence.

In this silence, a normal person will have his mind worn away, his language ability taken away, his memory lost, and his ability to take care of himself lost.

Becoming inhumane and irrational, no longer cherishing anything you have, even your life.

Chen Zhou always thought that he was fighting against nature, against time, or against his lazy self in the past.

It was not until this moment that he realized that in this challenge, his only opponent was loneliness.

As a modern person, a modern person without faith, a modern person who has experienced the hustle and bustle and enjoyed the convenience of technology.

An anxious, mentally exhausted, lonely and introverted modern man is thrown on a deserted island. The loneliness he has to endure is much heavier than that of Robinson Crusoe.

Robinson didn't care about his family. He was very rebellious and left home and his parents very early.

Robinson can find spiritual sustenance and have faith.

The medieval technology in the 17th century was not advanced enough. Robinson had witnessed too many deaths and had seen or even personally experienced human trafficking. He did not have any rosy illusions about the world as a whole. He only had to consider staying alive and holding on until he was rescued.

Comparing Robinson's conditions with his own, Chen Zhou felt that he had figured out why he was the one chosen among so many people who responded to the challenge.

It is because he is frustrated in life, anxious, introverted and cares about his family.

Such people, who are forced to survive on a deserted island, will inevitably be bound by the ties of family and friendship and endure torture during the long and challenging process.

They will also struggle and persevere because they are looking forward to receiving rewards and improving their lives after the challenge.

If an orphan without a father or a mother were allowed here, the show effect that the Space-Time Administration expected to present would be completely destroyed.

In a sense, this show called "reality show" is not a reality show at all, but a cruel social experiment.

If other challengers are selected to participate, their personalities and experiences must be unusual, and they will show different ways of dealing with the same problem.

Among them may be people with strong determination, people who have suffered more torture and blows, people with a good sense of humor, and even giant babies who have no hands-on ability and experience of being alone.

These people may do better than him, or they may do worse than him.

They may be living a carefree life on the island, or they may have died.

But whether they are alive or dead, they cannot cause any waves in any world and can only serve as a small highlight of the show.

The reason why Robinson Crusoe was chosen as the background for the entire challenge is not because the program team wanted to see the challengers' ingenuity, to see what gadgets they made with their own hands, or what sophisticated instruments they rubbed out with their hands to improve their quality of life.

How could a civilization that has the ability to create such a huge world and distort time and space look down on these simple and backward things?

Those observers hidden in the higher world only want to examine the challenger's heart and the struggle and sinking of a normal mind in this challenge.

In order to better appreciate this struggle, they provided ample supplies to allow challengers to survive.

This bad taste was not deliberately hidden.

We can learn a thing or two from Robinson’s experience right from the beginning of the challenge.

Robinson Crusoe struggled to survive in the ocean and finally reached the shore. He was only one step away from escaping, but he hit his head on a rock and died tragically. Isn't this a joke?

Recalling his reaction when he saw Robinson's body, Chen Zhou felt that he was still too slow.

If he is a person with good observation and keen mind, it is very likely that he will see through the essence of everything at the beginning of the challenge.

In a unique reality show of survival on a deserted island that lasted for 28 years, the life of the challenger is nothing at all. What the challenger does throughout the process is what matters most.

Either you choose to face loneliness, keep your heart, work hard to hold on, get the bonus and get out safely.

Either you choose to surrender to loneliness, turn yourself into a survival machine, bury your soul in this challenge, or burn your life to ashes.

No matter what the ending is, it is what the audience expects, because this is the freshness they are looking for.

……

With mixed emotions, Chen Zhou raised his head slightly and looked up at the load-bearing beam above his head with an empty gaze.

His sight was invisible, as if it passed through the wooden beams, through the sand and gravel on the beams, through the broad mountains and the boundless sky, and arrived at a void space.

There might be countless pairs of eyes watching him.

Countless viewers denounced him for wasting resources by pushing Robinson's body into the sea;

Countless viewers felt that he would not be able to survive after seeing his poor performance when he first sawed wood;
Some people were also excited about his success in building a raft and transporting supplies...

He didn't know if his feeling was accurate.

He only knew that the Time Travel Administration was not a charity.

This reality show is not a free show. As the protagonist, it is impossible for him to be without an audience.

The only thing to be thankful for is that those people have no ability to influence the rules of the challenge, nor can they influence his mentality or choices through public opinion, let alone actually create trouble for his challenge process.

The true direction of this challenge is always in his hands.

Whether he overcomes loneliness, completes the challenge and returns to modern society with the prize money, or is swallowed by loneliness and spends the rest of his life healing the shadow, it all depends on him.

Looking down, Chen Zhou felt his mind was extremely clear. He even made a bold prediction - tomorrow's mysterious reward must be an item that can play an important role and is difficult to carry.

"It would be such a great show to watch a weak person who is still suffering from a cold trying to move heavy objects and not giving up!"

　Thanks to: Xinghuiyingjianying, Tuanzi Daren is super powerful, Qiong Ye, book friend with the last number 4484, 2018 Deng San, Mo Xiaoxiao, Xinghan Empire, CATLZMY, Galaxy Bat Man, chocobox, book friend with the last number 7564, I am the only one who is free and unrestrained in the world, Tianshuang is coming, Mao 19, and the bold _ little brother for their monthly tickets. Thank you all for your support!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)