Starting from Robinson Crusoe-Chapter 64 - 23: Stray Cat

滴-tap.

A drop of water slid from the top beam of the tent and landed on Chen Zhou’s face.

Half-awake, he wiped his face, thinking it was Lai Fu licking him, muttering vaguely.

"Stop it~"

Then he turned over, his forehead hitting the corner of a wooden box with a "thud," instantly waking him up.

"Hiss."

Holding his head, Chen Zhou sat up drowsily, feeling a bit dizzy with a slight blackout in his vision.

"Shouldn’t have drunk so much. This Ayali wine tastes mild and sweet, doesn’t feel strong, yet the aftereffects are quite strong."

Leaning against the box, he rested for a moment until his thoughts cleared. Chen Zhou steadied himself on the bed edge and slowly stood up.

Plop.

Another drop of water fell, creating a small pit in the dry soil inside the tent.

Seeing the soaked earth, Chen Zhou paused for a second, looking up at the beam.

A whole night of heavy rain had soaked through the not-so-waterproof thick canvas, with rainwater passing through the wall branches and canvas, dripping through the beam’s gaps.

Raising his arm to feel the beam, looking at the water stains in his palm, Chen Zhou realized things were not good and quickly left the tent.

It was already October 25th, the sky still overcast but slightly bright, suggesting it was morning.

It was drizzling in the forest, with the ground filled with mud and water.

The loose topsoil had been washed away, leaving shallow ravines, rainwater pooling at the tree roots, where brightly colored frogs sat croaking.

The elevated soil platform around the tent had also been washed away, with leaves and twigs floating downhill, forming a half-loop of brown-black collar around the tree roots.

Desperately needing to pee, Chen Zhou relieved himself under a tree, then went to check the shack.

As anticipated, these simple small warehouses faced the same issue as the tent, with canvas leakage. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

However, since the shack was triangular, with a small top area and steep walls, it couldn’t hold water. Most rainwater flowed to the ground, with a little seeping from the top, making it an easy fix.

Rummaging through the boxes, he pulled out a pile of wooden bowls and wine cups, placing them under the leaking part of the shack roof to catch the rainwater, temporarily resolving the issue.

But catching water was merely a temporary fix; it was best to replace the canvas or move the supplies to a dry place.

The problem was the rain wouldn’t stop, and by afternoon, it might intensify into a storm, leaving no chance to replace the canvas or move supplies. Chen Zhou could only resort to this.

After a simple fix for the shack’s leaks, Chen Zhou pulled out the Iron Blade used for digging loaches, intending to fill the collapsed edge of the tent’s platform, preventing water from flowing into the tent.

Within just a few days, this Iron Blade had developed a thin layer of rust, further weakening its already flimsy blade, bending as if it would break when digging a few pieces of soil.

Knowing these low-quality products were unreliable, Chen Zhou didn’t worry too much.

There were still three to four hundred such iron blades in the box; by the time they ran out, the forge would be ready, and they could be remelted and remade.

He had quite a lot of theoretical knowledge about hand forging.

Metal heat treatment was one of the important processes in mechanical manufacturing.

Although Chen Zhou’s major didn’t involve much heat treatment, he had a basic understanding of processes like gas carburizing, ion nitriding, carburizing, laser electron beam surface treatment, and chemical heat treatment.

Additionally, after entering the workforce, he enjoyed watching handicraft forging shows, following over a dozen episodes intermittently.

Though this knowledge stayed theoretical or superficial.

But with enough time and opportunities on the island for practice,

Even if he was a complete outsider, hammering for five to six years, working bellows for seven to eight years, as long as he thought critically, identified shortcomings, accumulated lessons and experiences, he should be able to make a decent knife or hoe, avoiding ending up with a pile of scrap metal.

Moreover, Chen Zhou had a notebook recorded with the practical experiences of an old blacksmith from a discussion forum.

Even if the old blacksmith collected experience from various unreliable sources, at least a few pieces of information were useful to help him overcome technical difficulties and quickly grow into a qualified Blacksmith.

After repairing the soil platform, Chen Zhou dismantled the wooden walls and branches on both sides of the tent, emptied the accumulated water inside, and then reassembled them, finally finding time to eat lunch.

In the afternoon, he kept an eye on the wooden bowls in the shack, diligently pouring out the rainwater until the rain intensified again before nightfall.

Chen Zhou and Lai Fu retreated back into the tent.

While cooking the familiar bread porridge, he saw a little gray cat running out of the wooden box, digging a pit in the tent soil to do its business.

With water everywhere outside, the little creature unwilling to get its paws wet, relieving itself inside the tent.

The space being cramped made the smell of cat feces significant and pungent.

Chen Zhou waved the air in front of his nose in disdain, opened the door wider, and after the little gray cat finished, scooped the feces with the Iron Blade, throwing it outside and covering the pit inside with soil.

The smell somewhat diminished.

The water in the iron kettle was about to boil.

Amidst the gurgling sound, Chen Zhou grabbed the little gray cat by the scruff of its neck, ignoring its bewildered eyes, and carried it to the pit, scolding it in a pretend manner.

"Meow~"