Starting from Robinson Crusoe-Chapter 143 - 59: Illness (Part 2)

Whether it's chewing dry, soaking in alcohol, or smoking, they all stimulate or even damage the taste and olfactory systems. Chen Zhou wouldn't try these unless absolutely necessary.

Of course, he knows a thing or two about the uses of tobacco leaves.

In the early years, when tobacco regulation was lax, elderly folks in the countryside would plant tobacco in their own vegetable gardens to dry and smoke as pipe tobacco.

Besides drying it for self-use, the residue from the pipe could treat mosquito bites, and soaking tobacco leaves in water for ingestion could treat colds from wind and cold, all well-known folk remedies.

After all, tobacco leaves are a type of Chinese medicine with a warm nature.

Most warm-natured Chinese medicines can treat colds, which isn't obscure knowledge.

If the tobacco leaves were nearby, he might have tried soaking them in water to drink.

The problem is that he's far from the tobacco leaves now. If it rains while he's out and he gets drenched, the illness might worsen, leading to significant risks later.

"I'll make some hot water and cook some lean pork noodle porridge first to see if that helps. If not, I'll have to go down the mountain for the tobacco leaves.

Besides, I have an unreliable trump card—the ship doctor's medicine.

If it comes to a dead end, I might even try something as extreme as DDT."

With this in mind, Chen Zhou forced himself to get up from the bed, got dressed, and walked into the kitchen with an oil lamp.

At least in the bedroom, a wall blocked the wind. Entering the kitchen, the wind from outside the cave made him feel even colder.

Though he was in a subtropical region with an average temperature of about thirty degrees, it felt like he was in the deep winter of the north, making Chen Zhou's skin prickle with goosebumps.

He shivered as he drew a flame from the oil lamp to ignite the campfire. While waiting for the flames to grow robust, Chen Zhou draped himself in a seal skin.

After being aired out for half a month in a ventilated place, the strange smell on the fur had almost dissipated; without careful smelling, the fishy stench was hard to notice.

The soft and lightweight seal skin was excellent at retaining warmth, keeping the cold wind at bay, which made him feel a bit better.

Lai Fu couldn't understand why its owner was up so early today and came over to sniff the smell on Chen Zhou.

Animals can gather a lot of information from scents, including gender, age, whether they're in heat, and if they have any illnesses.

It seemed to realize that Chen Zhou was sick; instead of pestering him for play as usual, it obediently sat by the campfire, quietly watching Chen Zhou's face with a deeply concerned expression.

Although the firewood in the cave was placed in a dry environment to air out, it had been rained on. The surface was dry, but the interior remained moist, causing thick smoke to rise, making Chen Zhou's eyes water from the irritation and smoke.

Sitting by the campfire, with the wind blowing the smoke into the cave, Chen Zhou had to walk back into the bedroom, draped in the dragging seal skin, to avoid the smoke.

After finally waiting for the moisture in the firewood to disperse, another mishap occurred as he filled water into a large iron kettle.

For some reason, while the iron kettle was stable beside the wooden bucket, it suddenly tipped over, spilling water over one of Chen Zhou's shoes, soaking his socks and pants leg.

When you're unlucky, even drinking cold water gets stuck in your teeth.

Feeling unwell and encountering such an incident after, it worsened his mood further.

There was nothing Chen Zhou could do but silently blame himself for being careless, as taking it out on the iron kettle wouldn't help.

After refilling the kettle with water, he hung it on a tripod to boil.

While the water boiled, he didn't idle. He first returned to the bedroom to change his pants and footwear.

He then picked a burning piece of wood to ignite the stove and selected a piece of seal meat to cut and wait on until the fire was strong enough to fry it.

As he sat crouched on a small stool, Chen Zhou noticed that the edge of the seal skin had gotten dirty from dragging along the ground, so he brushed off the dirt, folded the excess fur, and piled it on his lap.

His tall stature, draped in seal skin and hunched on the ground, made him resemble a monster covered in striped patterns.

With the firewood burning and the smoke reducing, though the water in the kettle hadn't boiled yet, the fire under the stove was now vigorous enough.

Counting the oil lamp, three heat sources quickly elevated the kitchen's temperature.

Chen Zhou poured oil into the flat-bottomed copper pot and, as he added the seal meat, remembered something he'd forgotten—capturing wild goats.

On the day he rediscovered the wild goats, he planned to observe the movements of the herd on the sunny slope platform more intently when he carved the date onto a piece of cashew wood that night.

Ideally, he would track the hoofprints to find a suitable place to set traps and tame several goats.

This was not only for milk and meat but also out of concern that the herd would migrate back during the rainy season, only to leave again in the dry season, making future captures more time-consuming.

It's surprising that after sleeping, he completely forgot about such an important task; otherwise, they might already be eating goat meat by now.

"Is it because I've been too busy and overlooked it, or is my memory already failing me as I age..."

He flipped the seal meat in the copper pot, sprinkled some salt, and thought.

"If my memory's already poor in my twenties, won't I have dementia by my fifties..."

Not daring to dwell on the thought, he used a small knife to extract the cooked meat and placed it on a silver plate, cutting it into small pieces to chew slowly.

Outside the kitchen was a gray-blue sky, with wind blowing through the forest.

At dawn, there were no bird calls or insect chirps.

The world was so quiet that Chen Zhou could clearly hear himself chewing.

As he ate, he touched his forehead.

It was hot, even somewhat scorching.

But the heat didn't seem like a high fever; rather, it felt like being heated by the fire.

He reassured himself.

"It's just a mild cold. With proper rest, it will heal soon. No need to overthink."

Chen Zhou found a half-bottle of ale that had been left for a long time and poured himself a small cup.

The aroma of the ale evoked painful memories for Tizi, reminding it of its twice-daily wound cleaning and disinfection, causing it to quietly retreat behind the food rack to hide.

Unaware of Tizi's movement, Chen Zhou drank down the whole cup of ale, savoring its lingering fragrance in his mouth, as he shook his head.

Alcohol can temporarily dilate blood vessels and promote blood circulation, giving a false sense of body heat.

He hoped to relieve the coldness inside him with the help of this drink, allowing him to comfortably finish his meal.

With his loss of appetite following the cold, after just two pieces of meat, Chen Zhou felt full, knowing that his usual meal was far more than this, he forced himself to eat a third piece.

Just then, the water in the large iron kettle boiled.

He picked up the kettle lid, scooped out a cup of hot water, and let the campfire and stove fire burn on.

Carrying the oil lamp and holding the hot water, Chen Zhou returned to the bedroom, placed the oil lamp on the bedside table, covered the blanket with the seal skin, and slipped back into bed.

Lai Fu followed silently, lying down by the bed.

It was probably around three or four in the morning. Chen Zhou waited for the hot water to cool just a bit and slurped it, warming his stomach and intestines.

He initially thought of cooking some porridge, but feeling genuinely unwell, without energy or spirit, he just wanted to sleep, so he decided to rest and cook a meal after waking up.

Bending over, he pressed the blanket around securely, leaving only his head exposed. Despite being extremely tired, Chen Zhou couldn't fall asleep.

Now and then, he would feel his forehead, then his armpits, or rub his belly, fearing he might develop a high fever or diarrhea.

Diarrhea is relatively more treatable. The soil around here likely contains montmorillonite, a diarrhea-stopping Divine Artifact, but he feared that visiting the restroom would worsen his condition by catching a chill.

A high fever, on the other hand, would be serious.

There were no antipyretics on the island, and persistent high fevers were hard to handle.

At present, the only way Chen Zhou could think of to deal with a high fever was to use a wet cloth with alcohol to dissipate heat, but that's just a temporary measure, not a solution.

If a fever lasts too long, it can quickly lead to neurological damage, resulting in conditions like encephalitis, pneumonia, or respiratory infections.

Even without those serious consequences, the threat of dehydration was real.

With his current medical conditions, these complications were fatal, impossible to treat.

Worried and fearful, his thoughts raced uncontrollably, tossing and turning at times, then laying still under the covers.

His body felt alternating chills and heat, making him very uncomfortable.

Unable to sleep for a while, feeling uncomfortable from lying down, Chen Zhou got up to drink water.

A large wooden cup of hot water was quickly consumed, giving a strong feeling of fullness. Lying on the bed, feeling groggy, he finally fell asleep, only to have nightmares.

He dreamt of being caught between lava and erupting volcanoes, the world a red-hot scene, with heatwaves making him want to urinate.

Moving forward, there was fire; stepping back, there was lava.

Undoing his pants, ready to relieve himself on the spot, Chen Zhou suddenly woke up—

Turns out the urge to urinate woke him up in time. Had he not, this man in his twenties might have wet the bed.