Chapter 814 - 21: Contract

Chapter 814: Chapter 21: Contract

The time waiting for the supply box to land is the hardest to endure.

Chen Zhou tightened his nerves, fearing that someone might come to snatch it at the critical moment.

However, his worries were indeed unnecessary.

The bright red box slowly descended in the increasingly dim glow of the beacon light, yet there wasn’t a single silhouette on the vast snowfield, and Chen Zhou couldn’t detect any unusual sounds or scents.

Under such brutal challenge rules, there is surprisingly an unattended supply.

Chen Zhou could hardly believe his eyes.

Gripping the hilt cautiously, he trudged through the snow for a few steps but still felt uneasy, so he drew his saber from its sheath.

After some forceful chopping, the originally sharp blade had dulled, but this didn’t affect its lethal capabilities.

Holding his breath and focusing, Chen Zhou was even more cautious than during battles with the two Neanderthals.

If there truly were someone who could endure this fierce snowstorm and reach the supply drop point, hiding themselves with near-perfect camouflage, their strength must be beyond imagination, perhaps the strongest adversary encountered since the challenge began.

The supply must be in hand, even if Chen Zhou didn’t want to initiate a perilous fight, he would have to brace himself and fight.

"Hopefully, I’m being overly cautious."

Since leaving the elephant’s belly, Chen Zhou hadn’t felt the usual unsettling feeling when facing enemies.

He wasn’t sure if his sixth sense was accurate, but he had walked many steps and was getting closer to the supply drop point, and the lack of any ambush couldn’t be faked.

One hundred meters, fifty meters, ten meters...

When Chen Zhou, following his memory, avoided the spike traps he had set and reached the destination, looking at the untouched snow in front of him, he could finally confirm there were indeed no competitors present.

Yes, whether it’s the body tortured by severe cold in the later stages of the challenge or the exhaustion, or the harsh environment, it’s a considerable difficulty for ordinary challengers.

Perhaps those who covet this supply are still at home preparing travel gear;

Perhaps they naively think this supply would give everyone plenty of time to arrive, like last time;

Perhaps they have already set out but are held back by the snowstorm, stranded on the way...

But ultimately, only three competitors arrived for this supply, and he was the final victor.

...

The bloody glow condensed to the extreme, leaving the snowfield with only pure white and no other colors.

The small supply box slowly landed, sinking into the snow layer.

Chen Zhou had waited beside it for a long time, surveyed around, and confirmed that there was still no one competing for it, then picked up the supply box and used his Long Saber to disrupt the surrounding footprints, heading towards the "Mammoth Shelter".

There was no life-saving injection on him now, like the Strong Regeneration Potion, so after obtaining the supplies, he had to quickly open it and obtain the injections inside.

If there were items inside that could be immediately used to enhance combat capability or increase tolerance rates, he could equip them right away.

Although he indeed successfully secured the supplies without seeing any competitors, just because competitors weren’t at the beacon drop point didn’t mean they had no designs on the supplies.

Thinking from their perspective, Chen Zhou felt if he were hindered by the snowstorm and couldn’t reach the destination timely, the most likely action would be to ambush midway to mitigate the loss.

Although the grassland lacks vantage points, there are some high grounds around the grassland, and if others had exceptional vision or tools like a telescope, they could still track his movements from afar.

Not until the supplies were brought back to the cave could he say he was safe; in the wilderness, Chen Zhou didn’t feel much secure.

...

The cut at the bottom of the elephant’s belly continuously emitted heat, and when Chen Zhou returned, the snow around the entrance had already melted significantly.

Embers in the campfire still glowed red, and in this well-sealed space, the scents of blood and rancid grease mixed into a warm, moist, and nauseating aroma.

Casually throwing some wood chips into the fire, Chen Zhou eagerly squeezed into the chest, placing the small box with a crystal-like sheen flat on the mammoth’s rib.

Having opened a supply box once before, this time he directly searched for the round button in the middle of the box.

However, after groping around, he didn’t find the button, only feeling the entire box was seamless as if it were a solid red brick rather than something that dropped from the sky with the beacon.

Squatting in front of the box, Chen Zhou scratched his head in confusion.

"The Space-Time Administration Bureau loves to play tricks in these trivial places."

He flipped the box over again, but this time Chen Zhou didn’t find any obvious markings.

Remembering the puzzles that tormented him on the isolated island, he felt a little fearful—

"Damn, this thing better not have a password lock!"

After flipping it several more times, still clueless, if he hadn’t feared damaging the supplies inside, Chen Zhou would’ve tried splitting it open with his saber.

As he worried, he suddenly recalled the Space-Time Administration Bureau’s obsession with "light" and held up the box towards the firelight.

Trying this, he found his thinking was indeed correct; under the light, a circular deep-red area appeared on the surface of the initially normal box, akin to a fingerprint recognition button.

Once Chen Zhou pressed this area, the supply box, which had been unresponsive, finally slowly slid open, revealing the items inside.