Starting from Robinson Crusoe-Chapter 124 - 48: The Pursuit

Originally intended to return to the cave dwelling, but upon seeing the seals come ashore, Chen Zhou's thoughts immediately changed.

"No matter what, I must leave both of them behind."

The supplies salvaged from the ship were varied, yet many essential items were lacking, among them was fat.

The sailors' meals consisted of nothing but porridge or stews, adding some pickled peas and salted meat into the mashed bread paste. The small traces of grease on the meat's surface were considered a luxury of flavor.

For Chen Zhou, used to stir-fried dishes, the daily stewing was something he could adapt to, yet it made him yearn for the aroma of fried and stir-fried food even more.

On the island, the large birds he hunted still had some fat to satiate his cravings, but the rabbits were all lean meat, barely yielding any fat, making it hard to stomach after eating too much.

Moreover, he was worrying about lamp oil, and then he encountered these two plump fellows.

If he didn't slaughter them for oil, it would be a waste of heaven's blessing.

The two seals had just left the water not long ago, and rashly making a move might frighten them back into the sea, so Chen Zhou remained cautiously careful.

In the drizzling rain, he quietly gripped his Hand Axe and slowly moved rightward along the coastal woods.

Silently calculating time and distance, controlling his movements.

He was waiting for the right moment, when the seals completely landed on the beach to rest and let down their guard, he would launch a sudden attack.

Time passed by.

Two seals left a depression on the beach, slowly flapping their front flippers and came to the part of the beach untouched by seawater, turned their bodies sideways, and enjoyed the tranquility of the land.

The long migration was filled with dangers.

Orcas, great white sharks, and tiger sharks, fierce predators were everywhere.

In the sea, they were always on edge, only on land could they truly relax.

Even orcas, who mastered the skill of beach hunting, faced huge risks to threaten a seal on land.

In the southern hemisphere, without the risk of being eaten raw by Inuit or polar bears, their lives were much easier than their northern relatives, the harp seals, with a much lower probability of accidental death.

The rain curtain was gentle, swaying with the sea breeze.

Chen Zhou squatted on a low dune 150 meters away from the seals, quietly watching them, his Sharp Axe washed clean by the rain, shimmering with a chilling light.

The seals lay on their sides for a while, then turned over, lying flat, closing their eyes as if asleep, motionless for a long time.

Walking down the slope, trying to advance a distance, Chen Zhou cautiously observed the seals' reactions, pausing immediately if they seemed overly alert or showed signs of moving towards the sea.

Like a hunting leopard, he minimized his footsteps, shrank his volume, reduced his presence, advancing slowly on the open beach.

Getting closer, the seals' body size and skin details became clear in his vision.

They were not as small as they appeared from a distance, and their skin wasn't purely black.

The first seal to land was about two meters long including the tail, the seal behind it was even larger, estimated to be around two meters and three to four meters.

The seal had black sides, silver-gray stripes on its back, a cream-white belly, with few spots adorning the rounded lower chest.

Judging by the experience of estimating domestic pig weight, Chen Zhou guessed the larger seal weighed around 450 jins, and the smaller one was about 340 jins.

Excluding bones and internal organs, they could produce at least 180 jins of oil.

And 180 jins was a very conservative number, the fat content of seals was much higher than that of domestic pigs, perhaps yielding over 300 jins of oil.

Even considering the consumption of lamps, this oil would be more than enough for two years.

Aside from fat, seals would also produce a large amount of fresh meat.

If salted or sliced into thin strips to dry into jerky, this hundred or so jins of meat would last until the crops matured.

Freedom of lighting, freedom of stir-fry dishes was right within reach, and thinking of the good days ahead, Chen Zhou became even more cautious with his actions.

100 meters, 50 meters, 30 meters...

The heavy breathing of the seals reached Chen Zhou's ears, he adjusted his hat brim and began the final sprint.

There was no shouting or yelling, only the sound of boots treading on the sandy ground, like powerful drumbeats.

The sleeping large seal raised its head in confusion, its big black eyes looking around, before realizing what the unknown creature intended to do, the axe blade had already struck heavily at its nape.

The sharp axe blade met the thick fat layer, slicing through like a hot knife through butter, with no obstacles.

Downward, like breaking bamboo, it wasn't until it hit the spine that the Hand Axe's relentless momentum halted.

Awaawa!

The seal's painful cry was like a distorted hoarse croak of a toad, its wound oozing blood, the severe pain instantly waking its muscles, causing it to turn in fright, trying to return to the safe sea.

A creature of such large size moving nearby was a deterrence enough to instill fear in an ordinary person.

But Chen Zhou had already drawn blood, his adrenaline surged wildly, not caring about the potential harm the seal might inflict on him, his mind filled with only one thought—to kill them!

Before the seal completely turned around, Chen Zhou's second axe had struck its forehead.

The seal's skull was hard, once again successfully blocking the axe blade.

But the attacker did not give it any chance to breathe.

Following the second axe, the third axe landed harshly on its eyes.

Ow!

The seal screamed, its body moving towards the ocean forced to halt, frantically crawling to the other side of the beach, just wanting to get away from the terrifying assault.

The three chops weren't enough to rob the seal of its mobility, watching the escaping seal, Chen Zhou chased and turned his Hand Axe, simply using the hammer side to hit.

With four months of experience chopping wood and cutting trees, his accuracy had reached a new level.

This hammer struck precisely through the seal's head's open wound, directly hitting its skull. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

A tremor in his palm, Chen Zhou vaguely heard the crisp sound of bones fracturing, the seal's huge body suddenly stopped moving, falling motionless on the beach.

Without any pause, Chen Zhou turned to the other seal.

It had long been terrified by the suddenly descended attack, ignoring its companion's safety, striving with all its strength to head towards the sea.

Don't think the seal's body is so fat and cumbersome, when really forced, it ran almost as fast as a person.

When Chen Zhou crushed the large seal's skull, the smaller seal was less than 5 meters away from the water.

Charging headlong, not looking back, only hoping to escape death.

Behind it, Chen Zhou's increasingly rapid breathing was getting closer.

Running on the wet beach in the rain already consumed a lot of energy, with thick, rain-soaked clothes and a sight-blocking hat brim further slowing him down.

If it was before the challenge began, Chen Zhou would never have caught up with the escaping seal.

But now, he was no longer the cement factory technician who hadn't done physical labor in a long time.

Sprinting, leaving clear boot prints on the sand.

The seal's head had already touched the sea water.

The joy of narrowly escaping death hadn't yet emerged in its mind, Chen Zhou had already unsheathed the Iron Blade from his waist, piercing one of its hind flippers, pinning it on the beach.

Then, one axe.

Two axes, three axes...

Due to the large range of movement, the wide-brimmed hat fell to the ground.

The blood that splattered stained Chen Zhou's tousled bangs, coated the axe handle, slippery and warm.

The smaller seal's breathing gradually came to a halt.