Starting from Robinson Crusoe-Chapter 95 - 35: Rats

December 21st, getting up early in the morning, Chen Zhou was still a bit dazed.

The experiences from the previous afternoon haunted him with nightmares all night.

Even though he had no idea what the indigenous people were singing about, he could hear their ancient and evil chants in his dreams continuously.

As a child, he often watched horror movies during the day and dreamed about the ghosts and monsters at night.

Since growing up, this was the first time Chen Zhou experienced such a symptom.

He knew that these meaningless songs were all brought forth by the brain from some TV or film deep in his memory, so he wasn't paranoid or mentally weakened, his mindset was still quite peaceful.

Though he overcame his inner fear with materialism, Chen Zhou also dismissed the idea of going down the mountain to the beach to closely examine the cannibal feast.

In the countryside, when a pig or sheep dies and is thrown into a ditch, its rotting stench can make someone feel nauseous even from dozens of meters away.

What's more, the olfactory, visual, and psychological impact caused by the six human corpses and various scattered bones and organs.

"Going to the scene?

That would make me vomit up all the food I ate last night."

Besides, the indigenous cannibalism was not a criminal act, and evidence did not need to be found. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Their actions were unapologetic, from landing on the island to slaughter—everything was transparent.

If they land on the island again two years later, at most the numbers and timing would differ, but the location and the sequence of pre and post-feast rituals would not change much.

Going to check now will not only fail to obtain more clues, but could also alert the indigenous people if the traces of the cannibal feast are tampered with, which would be a blunder.

After breakfast, thinking about the mountain of gravel in the Shelter's cave and the last support column that urgently needed installing, Chen Zhou felt genuinely fatigued.

Since the challenge began until now, 83 days have passed.

During these almost three months, he was almost always working, with only a few days rest thanks to the heavens pouring rain which stopped work.

Every day upon opening his eyes, endless tasks lay before him, forcing him to complete them.

It is imaginable that in the next twenty-eight years, this situation would become the norm.

Chen Zhou had long prepared himself to accept all this, but today he felt more exhausted than on previous days.

This fatigue wasn't from physical weakness, but from seeing horrific scenes and experiencing excessive psychological pressure, needing relief or release.

Sitting on a low stool considering seriously for a while, Chen Zhou decided to give himself a day off, doing something less monotonous and repetitive.

"Before participating in the challenge, I worked nine to five, and after participating, it turned into ninety-six-seven.

If I don't find some fun, wasn't this challenge joined in vain?"

Out of habit, Chen Zhou also made a simple plan for his "relaxation day."

In the morning, he would flood rat holes, catch test mice; in the afternoon, whittle fish rods and go to the seaside for fishing.

The intestines and skin of the wild cat still hung on the riverside tree, after so long they might have been air-dried, and he wondered if they could still be used for fish bait.

Chen Zhou had long since scouted the rat nests and familiarized himself.

They lived on the sunny slope at the forest edge at the foot of the mountain, where there were many rocks and burrows, able to help them avoid attacks from raptors, snakes, and wild cats.

These creatures were mostly nocturnal, but occasionally a rat or two could be seen during the day lurking at the hole entrance.

Of course, to be precise, they were not the house rats or mountain rats known to northerners.

They had round faces, big ears, black bright eyes like rabbits, usually with gray or brown fur.

But there were exceptions, as Chen Zhou had seen pure black and pale yellow rats.

Apart from differing in appearance from northern house rats, their fur was longer and denser, their size a circle bigger than house rats.

Their hind legs were long and strong, tails shorter than house rats, able to stand upright to observe, mostly using jumping rather than running for movement.

At first glance, they looked like pet "chinchillas," but their ears were slightly smaller than chinchillas, their fur color not as rich, and their behavior far less quiet and stable than chinchillas.

Chen Zhou thought these rats might be some kind of ancestor or distant wild relative of chinchillas.

Only, chinchillas had not yet become the aristocrats of the pet world, living carefree days in human-built cages.

Field life was fraught with dangers; as weaklings, they not only had to deal with conventional predators but also prevent being caught as test mice by some malicious, terrifying upright ape.

To catch this group of elusive little critters, Chen Zhou prepared three hollow wooden boxes capable of blocking the hole entrances and trapping the rats immediately.

Also, a large barrel of cold water, once poured into the rat holes would make them mistakenly believe a flood was occurring outside, prompting them to quickly leave the burrows and dive into the wooden boxes.

Apart from wooden boxes and cold water, Chen Zhou also prepared to bring a wooden spade and pickaxe.

Rodent burrows usually had multiple entrances, blocking just one was futile, other entrances needed sealing to ensure rodents appeared where expected.

However, sealing entrances required a degree of understanding of the structure of rat underground burrows.

Otherwise, sealing the eastern entrance while forgetting the western entrance, or sealing entrances belonging to different burrows altogether were acts in vain.

As for the pickaxe, it was the ultimate insurance.

After a flooding and sealing failure, the pickaxe could be used for violent digging, directly reaching the bottom of the rat hole to capture rats.

This method seemed simple and effective, but its application held an extremely high failure rate.