Starting from Robinson Crusoe-Chapter 115 - 43: The Most Valuable Episode (Part 2)

For areas he was unfamiliar with, Chen Zhou always listened to advice.

All of his ropes had been boiled in salt water and dried, and the slipknots had been tested multiple times to ensure they would tighten, although limited by the materials, they weren't very fast.

Unfortunately, his hunting experience was lacking, and his ability to find rabbit trails and droppings was poor. When setting snares, he might even accidentally damage the surrounding area of the rabbit trails, making the rabbits wary.

He spent most of the afternoon setting lots of snares, but whether or not he would have any success was hard to say.

Setting snares, in fact, was somewhat similar to fishing.

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

Spending a lot of money on bait formulas, studying air pressure, weather, and timing, and camping by the river to fish might result in catching nothing.

Randomly buying a fishing line, hanging a hook, and sitting by a fish pond without thinking, the fish might be too numerous to hold.

Among rabbits, there are clever ones and stupid ones. Even an old hunter might find it hard to catch a clever rabbit.

Stupid ones don't need to be caught; they might just run into a tree themselves.

The main purpose of Chen Zhou setting snares was to catch a rabbit, skin it, and hang it at the edge of the field to deter those who had bad intentions toward the crops, so he wasn't too concerned about the success rate.

After all, he just needed one rabbit.

...

January 12 was the day when the seventh mysterious reward arrived, and it was also the 105th day since the challenge began.

If there was a progress bar, you would see that the dishearteningly long bar was about to be filled up by one percent.

In the morning, after attending to his physiological needs as usual, he checked the fields, looked at the rabbit snares at the edge of the forest to see if there was any catch, and with Lai Fu, Chen Zhou calmly descended the mountain.

For the first draw, he was extremely excited, filled with anticipation like a young couple checking into a hotel.

By the second and third draws, he had become much calmer, ready to accept the rewards whether good or bad.

By the seventh draw, he had become as calm as old couples lying in bed, barely feeling any ripples in his heart.

Even a bizarre reward like a box of edible soil couldn't shake his heart, could there be something more shocking?

Chen Zhou didn't believe so.

The road seemed to get shorter and shorter.

Having been to the beach so many times, even the sparse trees in the coastal forest were familiar sights.

From a distance, Chen Zhou noticed that this time the reward was another large piece, and couldn't help feeling a bit surprised.

Starting from Pinduoduo's 9.9 free shipping, to two Sharp Axes costing several hundred dollars, and then a hundred pounds of edible soil, the rewards had become progressively more expensive, suggesting that the Space-Time Administration Bureau's budget was expanding.

Upon closer inspection.

This time, the outer packaging was much more luxurious than usual.

The 1.6-meter-high box was wrapped in a black, low-quality cotton blanket, with the eight corners bound in collision-resistant foam with transparent tape.

The twelve edges of the box were reinforced with triangle iron painted silver, fixed with hex bolts, indicating the valuable nature of the contents inside the box.

Seeing such a large, precious item, Chen Zhou couldn't help but feel happy.

He carefully located the seams of the cotton blanket, cut open the fine thread there, and slowly peeled off the blanket to reveal the true form of the box inside.

The entire packaging box was made of solid wood, varnished, with dense yellow grain, and the surface was adorned with cloud patterns and finely detailed and exquisite immortal god paintings.

Turning to the front of the box, you could see a line of small black characters — Innate First General Chi Xin Guardian of the Dao, Three-Five Fire Carriage King Tianjun Wei Ling Xian Transformation Heavenly Lord.

Below the small characters were two lines in gold paint — "The Three Eyes can see all things under heaven, one whip wakes the world."

"What the heck!"

Gently stroking the smooth box, Chen Zhou couldn't help but express a dumbfounded exclamation.

Previously he used to complain about the event organizers being stingy, sending industrial waste all day long.

Now he felt he must sincerely apologize to the organizers —

"Brother, I'm sorry! I misjudged you, turns out you are so powerful!"

Just by looking at this sturdy, luxurious packaging and that line of small characters, Chen Zhou had already guessed eight or nine out of ten about the item inside the box.

It must be a statue.

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

Judging from the corner anti-collision sponge and metal framework of the box, it's highly likely that the statue is made of fragile material.

"Expensive and useless, although it's quite valuable, the event organizers' choice of prizes remains consistently baffling."

Shaking his head, Chen Zhou began unscrewing the bolts.

In his mind, these twelve triangulated metal pieces with screws were far more practical than the statue.

An easily breakable statue, apart from selling it back in the modern era, its only function was spiritual symbolism.

For an atheist, there's no function as pale as this.

Besides, even for spiritual symbolism, the top choices should be auspicious immortals like Fu, Lu, Shou, Xi, or high-ranking immortals such as the Three Purities and the Jade Emperor.

Even if one wanted to worship military generals, there are plenty of options such as the Four Royals, Erlang Shen, Saint Emperor Guan, Saint Emperor Yue, Grandmaster Wen, or even Qin Shubao and Yuchi Gong.

This Wang Lingguan might be powerful, but he's not the kind of immortal a typical family should worship.

In other words, he's not very approachable!

As for exorcising evil, this island's so small that even if some evil lurks, a few celestial soldiers and generals would suffice to handle it. To send Daoism's top guardian to deal with it seems like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

As he was internally ridiculing the statue, he continued dealing with the bolts.

Repeatedly trying to unscrew them by hand without success, staring at the adamant bolts and corner iron framework, Chen Zhou found himself in a quandary.

If the bolts couldn't be unscrewed, the corner iron framework couldn't be disassembled; without disassembly, the packaging couldn't be opened without damage, which was a bit troublesome.

Pulling out two daggers he carried, he attempted to extend the lever arm to turn the bolts.

Yet the blade was too smooth, lacking sufficient friction on the bolt surface and kept slipping. The handles of the two knives weren't tight enough, leading them to splay outward during the process, making exerting force futile.

"Seems I need to make a trip to the camp…"

Glancing at the unmoved bolts, Chen Zhou put away the daggers and headed to the hillside camp.

Among the metal parts dismantled from the ship, there were some with rather peculiar shapes that might come in handy.

Finding the shelter storing the metal parts, he shuffled through the boxes, pushing aside the useless ones, and Chen Zhou pulled out two small bent iron rods, his eyes lighting up.

Holding the two rods together for a measure, he figured they could be used to make a simple wrench.

Then he found a thin rope and hurried back to the beach.

At the wooden box, he adjusted the distance between the iron rods, then used the dagger's file to smoothen the inner sides of the rods to increase friction, tightly binding them together.

By extending the lever arm and increasing the friction with the rough surface, the previously hard-to-unscrew nuts were no longer an issue.

He unscrewed them one by one, pocketing the bolts, and the sturdy metal framework was disassembled into twelve corner iron pieces.

Opening the metal clasp on the top of the wooden box, he lifted the cover, taking out the heavy shock-resistant material inside.

A finely crafted, awe-inspiring colorful statue appeared before Chen Zhou.

The statue stood upright, gilded and painted with silver, filled with vivid colors.

Wang Lingguan had a red face and beard, three eyes on his forehead, slightly parted lips, looking mighty.

He was wearing golden armor with a red robe outside, a colorful ribbon passing over his shoulder, seeming to flutter in the wind.

Feet on the Wind and Fire Wheel, one hand forming a spell, the other holding a Golden Whip, with auspicious clouds swirling around the flames of the Wind and Fire Wheel, adding a unique charm to the statue.

The external paint of the statue masked its true material. Chen Zhou tapped it and discovered the statue wasn't fragile ceramic or glass, but cast in metal.

Considering the dedication in packaging and the craftsmanship, it's most likely made of pure copper.

The statue appeared to exceed seventy centimeters in height, and with Chen Zhou's basic insight into the copper statue market, the Wang Lingguan statue was worth at least seventeen or eighteen thousand yuan.

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

At this price, even the most useless thing starts seeming useful.

"Suddenly being so generous is quite unsettling to me."

Suppressing the joy on his face, Chen Zhou hugged Wang Lingguan's waist and exerted himself to lift it.

Though the bronze statue wasn't solid, given its height and thickness, upon trying it out, it felt like at least sixty pounds.

Worried about damaging the packaging box or scratching the paint on the statue while moving it back, Chen Zhou ran back to camp and took out his rarely used "rope-pull cart."

He wasn't at ease letting such a good thing stay outside for even a second longer; today, even if nothing else was done, he had to haul it back home.