Chapter 816 - 22: Going Home

Chapter 816: Chapter 22: Going Home

The brief spell of good weather is the last mercy the Space-Time Administration Bureau grants to those competing for supplies.

Chen Zhou hurriedly packed his provisions through the night, bundling branches with animal hide, and reassembled the cart. Not long after he set out, the temperature plummeted like reservoir water surging through an opened floodgate.

Chen Zhou had hoped to bring more coal chunks, but the speed of the temperature drop was truly terrifying.

After less than five hours on the move, he could distinctly feel the outdoor temperature dip by over ten degrees. If this trend continued, he estimated the temperature would fall to minus forty-five degrees within two days.

If by then the downward trend didn’t stop, the temperature’s lower limit might far exceed what’s normal for the Ice Age, plunging below minus sixty—what the rules called the "threat of the Space-Time Administration Bureau" at the start of the challenge.

Genetically altered, Chen Zhou knew he could withstand minus thirty or forty degrees. But minus sixty-five was truly frightening.

Bear in mind, the lowest natural temperature ever recorded by humans on Earth is around minus one hundred degrees. That’s practically the extent of what Earth’s surface can reach, only appearing under extreme weather conditions.

Minus sixty-five is enough to freeze boiling water instantly.

In such extreme cold, even taking a piss requires a stick to break the ice, steel plates become brittle as glass, even the toughest rebar would shatter from a fall.

The cave is solid and thick, and can fend off the cold to a certain degree.

But if the temperature drops too low, Chen Zhou couldn’t be sure whether the cave could still maintain a livable temperature for humans.

...

Traveling overnight, never daring to stop.

To move faster, Chen Zhou even forced himself to abandon the coal on the cart.

Still, he kept his wits about him and marked the spot in the snow where he left the coal.

The stockpile of fuel in the cave was substantial, but with this kind of cold, more fuel was always better—especially premium coal.

If the temperature rebounded after he returned to the cave, he could bring Paul and Bi Kai back to collect the coal.

By then, he could even bring the Three-headed Saw-toothed Tiger along, have them shoulder leather bags as pack animals.

Don’t be fooled by their name—they’re called tigers, but their genes aren’t close to modern Northeast Tigers. Unlike big cats that dislike carrying weight, Saw-toothed Tigers have sturdier bodies, a bit like hyenas, and can bear loads.

Especially as Saw-toothed Tigers mature to sub-adults or adults, their strength increases even more.

...

Walking through the wind and snow, thinking about the Three-headed Saw-toothed Tiger back home, and about what would happen after the challenge, Chen Zhou couldn’t help but worry.

The Space-Time Administration Bureau had sealed off this area—after the finals winner was chosen, how long would it take for the temperature to return to normal?

If all of them—he, Paul, and Bi Kai—left, could Tiger First and the others survive?

Raised around humans from a young age, hardly ever interacting with wild peers, their hunting skills depended on human guidance.

Chen Zhou estimated that after they left, even if the temperature normalized, it would take the Three-headed Saw-toothed Tiger at least two or three months to adapt to living without human help.

Luckily, Chen Zhou and his group had enough backup food stored. If the other challengers didn’t last long, there’d be thousands of pounds of meat left for the tigers to consume, enough to tide them over until they learned new hunting methods.

Of course, if they just lounged about eating until the meat was gone and only then remembered to hunt, things might not go so well.

But then Chen Zhou reconsidered—even if the Saw-toothed Tigers learned to fend for themselves, finding prey was another matter.

Those lucky three had humans to keep the fire going and a cave to shelter from the disaster. Other animals out in the wild weren’t so fortunate.

Animals surviving in the open, or even bears and badgers hibernating deep in caves and burrows, would likely never wake up—forever sleeping in this frost-ruled world.

Once the prey disappeared, even predators like Saw-toothed Tiger would have nowhere to turn.

Chen Zhou had a sinking feeling that if the Space-Time Administration Bureau didn’t offer some compensation after they left, the Three-headed Saw-toothed Tiger could well starve to death.

"Sigh, this really is a problem.

No idea how they’ll survive after we leave.

Paul must be thinking about this too—he’s more attached to the Saw-toothed Tigers than I am. I’ll ask him what plans he has when I get back."

...

On the seventh day after leaving, braving fierce winds and blizzards, Chen Zhou finally returned to the safe, warm cave.

During the second half of the trek, fearing he’d freeze to death with no one tending the fire, Chen Zhou barely slept.

He rested in intervals, only closing his eyes when the campfire burned brightest, forcing himself awake whenever his consciousness began to fade into sleep.

In this way, like a desert traveler eking water from tough plant roots, he endured bit by bit until he reached the foot of Mount Baihar.

From afar, he spotted the snow shed built on the sunny slope and dozens of "food storage cabinets" nearby. Finally, his anxious heart began to relax.

Though the cave was basic, it was still a safe and warm shelter—a home with companions to care for, trustworthy wild animal partners. In the Prehistoric World, nothing could feel more homey than this.

...

The weather was awful, so Paul and Bi Kai hadn’t gone out.

But lately, they’d been outside every day——