From Robinson Crusoe

Chapter 79 After the Earthquake
On April 4, Chen Zhou got up early, feeling uneasy.

Having slept too late yesterday, he felt a little lethargic.

After getting dressed on the bed, lighting a fire, and cooking some porridge for Lai Fu and himself, he slowly walked out of the cabin in his slippers, sat on the short porch, looking out at the forest, waiting for the earthquake that was bound to come.

The sun gradually rose higher and there seemed to be nothing unusual on the island.

After dinner, Chen Zhou was in no mood to work and sat on the bed in a daze.

Due to lack of sleep, he began to feel sleepy in the warm and dimly lit wooden house. Just as his upper eyelid touched his lower eyelid and he yawned uncontrollably, he suddenly heard a rapid scratching sound from the chinchilla's wooden box.

The usually quiet little fellow began to make noises like birdsong.

Then, the sound of birds flapping their wings was heard in the forest.

Even Lai Fu, who was lying in the house, stood up, craned his neck and looked outside through the wall.

The sleepiness was completely dispelled by the harsh sound of scratching the wooden box. Chen Zhou opened his eyes wide and felt vaguely in his heart that the earthquake was really coming!
"Go, Lai Fu, get out!"

As he spoke, he picked up Xiao Huihui, opened the wooden box that contained Grapes, grabbed Grapes by the scruff of the neck, held them both in his arms, hurriedly put on his shoes, and ran out.

After taking a few steps out of the corridor and going down the stairs, Chen Zhou saw more than a dozen snakes of different sizes crawling in the cut grass.

Little Huihui was so close to Tizi that he was terrified and twisted and struggled in his arms.

Grape, on the other hand, was relatively calm. It stared at the forest quietly with its light green eyes.

Every minute and every second that passed seemed so long that Chen Zhou felt he had lost his sense of time.

When he thought the earthquake might not hit for another few minutes, his feet suddenly shook.

The ground, which had always been solid and stable, trembled up and down, forcing Chen Zhou to bend down and lower his center of gravity in order to stand firmly.

The leaves high in the tree canopy were shaken and fluttered down, and the branches and leaves covering the two sides of the wooden house also slid downwards.

The amplitude of this vibration is not large, but the psychological sense of oppression it creates is completely different from that of the attractions in the amusement park.

Within the range visible to the naked eye, everything is conquered by the mighty power of nature and is powerless to resist.

After a brief up and down tremor, a more obvious and larger left and right shaking began.

From a distance, Chen Zhou saw large pieces of sand and gravel rolling down from the top of the mountain, and even huge rocks more than one meter high were falling down the hillside.

My view is blocked by the forest, so I can’t see what the sea is like at the moment. I imagine it must be the same as described in the book - rough waves, falling rocks, and turbulent waves.

The power comes from the ground.

With his feet shaking, Chen Zhou could hardly keep his body steady and continue standing. Even when he squatted, he kept falling to the left and right.

He held Grape and Little Gray in his arms, not daring to let go, for fear that they would panic and run into the woods and not be able to find their way home.

Unable to support himself with his hands, he held on for a while, but eventually he gave in and sat down on the ground.

During this period, Chen Zhou did not forget to observe the wooden house.

The quality of this newly built small house was unexpectedly stable, except for some thin branches and leaves falling off the roof. Although it was also shaking with the earthquake, there was no substantial damage, and even the wooden pillars under the floor did not bend.

The initial shock did not last long.

After shaking up and down and swaying left and right, everything came to an abrupt stop.

The two cats in his arms had stopped struggling long ago and curled up motionlessly, especially the usually domineering Ti Zi, who seemed even more frightened than Xiao Hui Hui. His pupils shrank into thin needles and his claws dug deeply into Chen Zhou's clothes.

Hugging the two cats tightly, Chen Zhou slowly stood up.

Looking into the distance, only a layer of sand and gravel had fallen off the rock wall, and there was no apparent change.

Due to the difference in terrain, the cave dwelling and the farmland below cannot be seen. Just by observing the mountain, one can roughly judge that the cave dwelling will not be damaged by external forces.

As for whether the load-bearing structure inside the cave can withstand an earthquake, it is hard to say.

In the best case scenario, the load-bearing columns and beams are not damaged. The sand and soil that falls from the roof will also dirty the entire cave, which will take a lot of time to clean up. The first round of earthquakes has passed, and Chen Zhou did not rush back to the house, but waited outside for the second and third rounds of earthquakes.

After about three minutes, the second tremor began.

Having just experienced an earthquake, he had experience and simply sat on the open space, waiting for the earthquake to pass.

Another layer of sand and soil slid down from the mountain, but there was not much change inside the forest. The snakes and insects had disappeared somewhere, and the usual chirping of insects and birds was missing. The world was filled with deathly silence.

More than six minutes after the second earthquake, the final tremor hit.

It is said that the first effort is strong, the second will weaken, and the third will be exhausted.

The same was true for this earthquake. The first one shocked people the most, the second one caused some ripples in their hearts, and by the third time, it was no longer surprising.

It took about eight minutes for the earthquake to pass and Chen Zhou's heart calmed down.

Before the earthquake began, he always had a sense of uneasiness in his heart.

Until this moment, the dust has settled.

We faced the biggest natural disaster in 28 years, and just like that, we got through it in a way that was neither scary nor ordinary.

The days from now on will basically be a smooth road, with no more urgent pressure and no threat of death.

Theoretically speaking, as long as he does not actively provoke the cannibalistic natives or attempt to plunder the treasures on the Spanish ship, keeps his mentality stable, mentally healthy, maintains his current life status, and does not get sick, this challenge will be considered accomplished.

Just wait until the 28 years are up, and then you can take your belongings and leave here.

Call ~
The huge rock that had been weighing on my heart fell down, and I felt much more relaxed.

With a long sigh, Chen Zhou returned to the wooden house, locked Xiao Huihui and Tizi into the wooden box, and first checked the condition of the little chinchilla.

Before the earthquake hit, this guy was extremely anxious and restless.

When the earthquake was over, its emotions became stable, or perhaps it was still immersed in the fear of the natural disaster and unable to extricate itself.

The little chinchilla huddled on the hay mat in the corner of the wooden box, squinting its eyes and lying motionless. Its body rose and fell slightly with its breathing, proving that it was still alive.

Chen Zhou touched it with his finger, but the little chinchilla didn't respond, which made him a little worried about the little guy's condition.

"Is it a stress reaction?" he wondered.

I touched the little chinchilla's back with my fingertips again and gently stroked its soft and dense fur. The little chinchilla was still curled up and did not stand up and hug my fingers as usual, like a motionless doll.

I brought a blade of grass to its mouth, but it ignored me and just kept that posture.

"This……"

Having no experience in dealing with stress in chinchillas, Chen Zhou could not think of a solution and could only close the lid of the box, leaving the chinchilla inside and waiting for it to recover on its own.

"Chinchillas in the wild may be better. I heard that these animals are less likely to suffer from depression and live longer when they live in groups.

How about catching a chinchilla when you have time to keep it company?

But I don’t know how to tell the difference between male and female, so I’d better do some research before catching a new chinchilla. It may not be a good idea to have two brothers.”

The dry season has arrived, with four full months of sunny days from mid-April to mid-August.

During these four months, in addition to collecting rewards every 15 days and building wooden and stone walls, the only things Chen Zhou had to do were digging salt ponds to dry salt, digging manure pits to compost, harvesting crops, and going to the river valley plains and fruit valleys to expand more crops.

Continuing to build and improve cave dwellings, transport supplies, build toilets, dig wells, and even catch sheep and improve animal husbandry are all long-term projects.

Although it is better to get it done sooner, a few months later will not make much difference.

According to the rules deduced previously, the natives are unlikely to land on the island in December 1660, and the danger is greatly reduced. In the dry season after the earthquake, it will be a relaxing and comfortable year.

　I'm currently 8,000 words in debt. Let's see if I can finish it in one go this afternoon~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)