Chapter 811 - 19: Neanderthal_2

Chapter 811: Chapter 19: Neanderthal_2

The Long Spear blocked the attack, yet it was cut down to a short stick.

The tall Stone finally realized something was amiss with this enemy, but he did not fear.

The tribe’s warriors never retreat.

Wielding the short stick, he did not dodge; instead, he struck heavily at Chen Zhou’s head.

The blade originally aimed directly at Stone’s throat, capable of beheading with one swipe, but Chen Zhou didn’t want to trade injury with this insane enemy. At the moment of completing the throat slash, he changed direction to block the short stick.

The short stick landed on the blade, Stone knew his weapon was far inferior to the enemy’s odd weapon, so he let go of the short stick and grabbed Chen Zhou’s clothing.

He got what he wished by grabbing the animal hide, revealing a sly smile on his face—

The tribe’s warriors possess god-given strength; even the sturdiest beasts can’t resist their terrifying power.

With a strong tug, he intended to pull Chen Zhou down, then seize the weapon to kill the prey, but the development did not go as he expected.

With this tug, Chen Zhou did not move an inch.

The heavy feeling transmitted to Stone made him almost believe he was dragging a giant rock or a beast far larger than this man.

In his stunned eyes, the blade swung across.

Blood spurted out.

Chen Zhou chopped off this bizarre man’s head with a single stroke, then hacked off the arm clutching his shoulder’s fur.

The chilling wind rustled, the blood was redder than the beacon’s color.

Stone’s headless, armless body stood rigidly in the snow for a moment before toppling backward.

Things went more smoothly than Chen Zhou imagined, it took less than 2 minutes for both a man and a mammoth to fall by his hand.

And the remaining challenger and the injured mammoth were even less of a threat.

...

Recalling the other challenger pulling out the Long Spear from his body to battle again, Chen Zhou struck a few more slashes before launching an offensive.

He cut off another hand from the corpse and pierced the heart with a slash to ensure this man wouldn’t "resurrect", then pulled out the Long Spear embedded in the mammoth’s skull and headed straight for the remaining person.

...

Mud and Stone’s strength were far inferior to Chen Zhou.

With the help of moonlight and beacon illumination, the two could only discern the outline of distant scenes, knowing nothing of the specific details.

Especially when the distance got this far, Mud could not see the mammoth topple, only chasing along the footprints in the snow.

Once Chen Zhou ran toward him, the distance of over a hundred meters was bridged in an instant.

As Mud just saw the "prey" appear in sight, he heard the whistle of the Long Spear.

Before he could react, the Long Spear pierced his body once more.

And this time, the force from the spear thrust during a running charge also sent the tall Mud flying backward seven or eight meters.

The sharp pain stimulated the usually silent Mud, causing him to roar loudly, trying once again to pull out the Long Spear.

However, after piercing through his body, the spearhead had sunk deeply into the soil, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t pull out the Long Spear quickly.

Breathing rapidly, Mud’s face turned bright red.

His notably large nostrils opened and closed, inhaling the biting cold air, trying to gather enough strength.

Time was extremely tight, in this cold winter, Mud’s hair-covered forehead was even sweating.

But Chen Zhou would no longer give him a chance to "revive".

Sprinting to the front, raising the Long Saber high, he wouldn’t allow his opponent a moment to breathe; with one swipe, he severed Mud’s gigantic head.

...

The head detached from the body, rolling several times on the snow, painting a long discontinuous line with droplets of blood before finally stopping.

As the head came off the body, Mud’s hands grasping the spear shaft weakly loosened and drooped—

The Long Spear, as his body’s final support, kept his body from falling.

Witnessing this person still fighting after being pierced by the Long Spear firsthand, Chen Zhou didn’t dare be careless, circling around Mud’s body wielding the Long Saber, cautiously delivering a few more cuts.

Only after confirming the man was truly dead did he turn his aim to include the lone remaining mammoth on his must-kill list.

...

Moments later, Chen Zhou returned to the two challengers and dragged their corpses together, meticulously searching through their animal hide clothes.

Initially, when hearing Bi Kai’s story, he thought these two were Negro people, specifically African Blacks.

But when truly faced with these two, judging from their appearance, he realized they weren’t Negro people, not even Homo sapiens.

These two had flattened foreheads, short hairlines, jagged teeth, thick bones, short forearms, a pair of heads not quite fitting their body stature, dark brown skin, abundant hair, more muscle mass than modern humans, very strong.

Aside from being overly tall, their physical characteristics matched those of the extinct Neanderthals.

Moreover, their ability to communicate and cooperate was also limited; this likewise fits the characteristics of Neanderthals.

It’s said that Neanderthals lost the competition with Homo sapiens because their socialization was far inferior to Homo sapiens, lacking communication skills among individuals, which consequently led to weapon and tool-making technologies falling far behind Homo sapiens, ultimately being eliminated by Homo sapiens in history’s river.

With a thorough search, Chen Zhou could essentially confirm these two were extinct Neanderthals and came from the same world.

The perplexing thing was why, as challengers, these two did not have any survival tools provided by the Space-Time Administration Bureau.

"Could they also have been weakened because their physical constitution was too strong?"

In his uncertainty, Chen Zhou also checked the leather bags on the two mammoths’ backs, and subsequently found a large amount of coal within them; it seemed these pitch-black stones were crucial for Neanderthals to sustain life on the wasteland.

Besides their strange identity, Chen Zhou was equally curious about their formidable strength and the second individual’s regrowth ability.

Lighting a campfire, while observing the supply drop point for any new challengers, Chen Zhou stripped the animal hides from the two, attempting to find more clues.

But eventually, he found no useful medicine; instead, he found identical scars on both.

These were square markings carved with stones, horizontal and vertical; while cutting the pattern, some kind of blue dye was added into the wound.

Despite skin growth, the dye on the scar remained faintly visible upon close examination.

"Followers of the Space-Time Administration Bureau?"

After forming this speculation, Chen Zhou painstakingly searched through all the supplies carried by the two mammoths.

Initially not expecting much, he unexpectedly stumbled upon something incredible—

A branch with tender green hues, frozen stiff.

This branch was wrapped in coal lumps and soil, standing out particularly in the icy world.

Evidently, it should not appear in this time and place.

Chen Zhou started to form a bold hypothesis.

"Perhaps they aren’t external challengers but indigenous to this world.

It’s likely around ten thousand years BC now; if this world’s Neanderthals were influenced by the Space-Time Administration Bureau, it could possibly alter their fate of extinction, allowing them to survive.

If they hold some understanding of ’challenges’, they might very well cross barriers to enter from the outside, mixing into the challenge..."

"Conversely, perhaps it was the prehistoric challenge field altering the timeline unexpectedly, causing Neanderthals to thrive and in contact with the Space-Time Administration Bureau obtaining greater advantages."

You see, the Space-Time Administration Bureau delights in unexpected occurrences, surely they would be pleased to witness "followers" joining challenges, competing with future challengers.

...

Firelight flickered on his face, Chen Zhou increasingly felt his hypothesis was correct.

Then he thought of another matter—

If these Neanderthals came from outside the challenge area, would there be other Neanderthals breaching in?

Up until now, is the total number of challengers still 100, is he the only 101st, and is there a possibility of a 102nd, 103rd or even more?

"Hopefully, the Neanderthal horde doesn’t breach in; if they do, better after I obtain the supplies this time."

Wiping the blood stains from the Long Saber, gazing at the blood-red beacon in the night sky, Chen Zhou thought in this way.

The water is getting murkier, and the situation is tilting towards unpredictability; clearly, the Space-Time Administration Bureau’s supervision over rule loopholes isn’t that strict.

Previously, Chen Zhou always believed he was perhaps the sole "exception"; now it appears, "exceptions" may not be limited to just him.

The water is getting murkier, and the situation is tilting towards unpredictability; clearly, the Space-Time Administration Bureau’s supervision over rule loopholes isn’t that strict.

Previously, Chen Zhou always believed he was perhaps the sole "exception"; now it appears, "exceptions" may not be limited to just him.