Starting from Robinson Crusoe

Seeing the leader messing around with the brothers, Tiger First and Tiger Second joined in as well.

The combined weight of these three brothers far exceeded 300 pounds. Chen Zhou was currently affected by side effects, and his strength was far from his peak, easily being taken down by the Three-headed Saw-toothed Tiger.

However, he wasn’t annoyed. After falling to the ground, he went with the flow and tussled with the Saw-toothed Tiger, playing around.

The laughter of humans and the low growls of the Saw-toothed Tiger drowned out the sound of the wind. It wasn’t long before Paul and Bi Kai woke from their slumber, and put on their clothes by the light from the edge of the kang.

...

Paul was in charge of cooking, and the first thing he did after getting up was to get two stoves fired up.

Once the heat from the fire wall and fire kang warmed the entire cave, he slowly made his way to the other side of the cave with an oil lamp—

Over there not only were stored pine nuts, but also his researched brewing alcohol.

According to Paul, these wines were currently in a critical fermentation stage. As long as nothing goes wrong at this stage, brewing the alcohol shouldn’t be difficult.

Of course, this was just Paul’s wishful thinking.

Chen Zhou had quite some knowledge about winemaking, especially wine. When he was on the island he communicated often with 17th century Europeans.

To the Spaniards, Portuguese, or British of the age of exploration, the "Paradise Island Master" was quite a renowned figure.

The wine used for gifting by these people came from the most top-tier vineyards, and during his exchanges with these merchants, he incidentally learned many winemaking tips.

In his opinion, Paul was destined to fail in winemaking.

Though the raw materials for brewing had a high sugar content, the water used for brewing was not clean, which would easily breed contaminating organisms.

As for the core of fermentation, controlling the microbial community was completely absent, not to mention the temperature in the cave was also very unstable.

Under such circumstances, there’s no chance for success, be it white liquor that requires higher temperatures or sake that requires lower temperatures.

However, to Paul, whether he could brew real wine might not be important at all. He might be just wanting to taste the alcohol flavor, even if the drink was poisonous.

...

He took out enough pine nuts for a meal, and then grabbed a few condiments from a nearby rattan basket before sniffing the barrel made of hollowed-out wood.

No one knows how low Paul’s standards for wine were in his mind.

Anyway, what appeared to Chen Zhou just as a barrel of dirty water, "fruit wine," seemed to satisfy Paul enough to nod in approval.

After confirming that today’s microbial fermentation remained as stable as ever, Paul began his cooking.

To ensure nutritional balance, breakfast and dinner were basically the same every day.

Breakfast mainly consisted of a large quantity of boiled pine nuts, with the pine nut porridge having many small pieces of meat and pickled animal innards added in. Besides a pinch of salt, there were some condiments added to remove any fishy smell.

After acquiring enough fats, when making breakfast, a piece of oil was added to the porridge.

Congee made this way contained carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and perhaps a bit of vitamins. Except for the poor taste, it supplied almost all the nutrients needed to sustain life.

While drinking the porridge, the three would also eat a small handful of dried berries, these were sour enough to make one’s teeth ache but counted as vitamin supplements.

...

After breakfast, Paul lit several oil lamps on the other side of the cave and began dealing with a large batch of fur.

After taking the gene modification injection, Chen Zhou was mentally drained due to side effects. Occasionally, he would help Paul with work, but most of the time, he sat at the doorway, exposed to the wind.

As for Bi Kai, he was the most hardworking. Even with the wind and snow raging outside, he still had to go out to graze.

Although Chen Zhou had advised Bi Kai to kill the deer, then skin them and cut up the meat to freeze,

Ultimately Bi Kai was sentimentally attached to the herd. As the temperature hadn’t reached the point where he could kill the Great Horned Deer, he kept them grazing with persistence.

With no wind-blocking gullies or rocks on the mountain, he found a place in the forest where the trees were thick and densely packed, designating it as the deer’s resting area.

In the morning, Bi Kai went out to graze, leading the deer to find moss and lichens under the snow. Sometimes, he would go farther to the meadow at the foot of the mountain and let the deer graze on the withered grass.

Near sunset, he herded the deer back, leaving them in the resting area, and went up the mountain alone.

Possibly, this winter was far colder than previous ones; only a little over a month into deep winter, and the Great Horned Deer had turned into a skeletal frame.

A few days ago, two small female deer had already frozen to death. Recently, even the strongest male deer showed signs of fatigue. Each time Bi Kai returned to the cave, his mood was visibly down.

As they obtained enough meat, fur, and fat from dormant animals, Chen Zhou did not force Bi Kai to slaughter the herd.

Anyway, with the temperature dropping, sooner or later the herd would perish overnight. At that time, their bodies would be frozen stiff in the forest. As long as no animals gnawed on them, they’d count as reserve food—

Currently, the outdoor temperature was even colder than a refrigerator, Chen Zhou estimated it was probably minus thirty-five degrees.

At this temperature, even if the dead deer were left in a snow pit for a year, they wouldn’t spoil.

...

In this bone-chilling cold, going out required wearing several layers of clothing.

Rough handmade fur coats could not completely withstand the fierce wind, so every time Bi Kai went out, he wrapped himself in multiple layers, looking like a dumpling.

This day was no different. After quite some work, he finished dressing, greeted Chen Zhou at the door, and stepped onto the wooden steps outside.

Chen Zhou leaned idly against the wooden door, the Three-headed Saw-toothed Tiger lay next to him—

The meat of these guys was still frozen outside. Only after Paul finished his work would the meat be brought back to thaw; until then, they could only wait.

But recently, meals were at fixed times, and the Saw-toothed Tigers were accustomed to it, not in a hurry.

Especially since they were all full from last night; they weren’t hungry yet. Particularly Tiger Third, when Chen Zhou touched its belly earlier, it felt full, thinking it wouldn’t be possible for it to stir up trouble for food anytime soon.

Watching Bi Kai leave, he thought this would be another boring day—

Northern people who "hibernate" at least had TVs to watch, cards to play, and sunflower seeds to snack on, but he, in this prehistoric world, in the pitch-black cave, probably had only playful tussling with the clumsy Saw-toothed Tigers as a form of entertainment.

Slightly squinting his eyes, letting the wind blow on his face, listening to the gradually distant sound of footsteps on the wooden stairs, just as Chen Zhou was drifting off to sleep, the footsteps sounded again.

Bi Kai came back covered in snow after only being out for a moment.

He stepped down from the cave entrance in a sorry state, shook off the snow from his body, and said helplessly.

"I can’t go out today; there’s such heavy snow on the mountain that the whole mountain is sealed; we can’t even see the path."

Hearing this, Chen Zhou immediately sat up, put on his shoes, and walked out of the cave.

Once he stepped onto the stairs, and entered the snow-blocking shed, what came into view was a large pile of snow that had entered the shed.

Bi Kai seemed to have tried clearing the snow blocking the door, but he had no tools; using his hands to push the snow aside could only create a narrow path. Yet, snow endlessly piled up on both sides of the path, filling it back up once formed.

Looking through the gap above the snow-blocking shed into the distance, despite the blue sky, the land was ruled by white, dazzlingly bright at first glance.

The usual visible mountain rocks, dead grass stems, and scattered shrubs on the mountain were nowhere to be seen, as though the entire Mount Baihar was covered with a thick quilt overnight.

If the snow hadn’t stopped, leaving a gap not wide by the shed, perhaps even the wind Chen Zhou relied on for breathing would have been blocked.