Chapter 012

A backpack full of wild vegetables and a pouch of bird eggs made for a bountiful harvest, more than enough for the two of them for lunch.

Long-time viewers of Wilderness Challenge were familiar with the show’s patterns. On the first day, the production team provided food and water, so no one went hungry. But by the second day, guests who had plenty of theory but no practical experience usually met their Waterloo. Aside from those with god-tier luck, few people could find such a feast on the second day.

Before the show began, the team the audience had the least faith in was undoubtedly Lu Jianxing and Qiao Man. An adult dragging a child along for wilderness survival seemed unreliable no matter how you looked at it.

Yet, while other teams were still fretting over food, they had already solved the lunch problem.

[Just luck, they’re just lucky!]

[Oh, come on, look at how nimble he was climbing that tree. That’s pure skill! Who knows how many trees he had to climb to get that many eggs.]

[That tree was so tall, how did he dare climb it… Are kids’ motor skills that strong nowadays?]

[It’s just bird eggs, nothing special. Wu Chong is planning to set traps for actual prey.]

[To the person above, are you really comparing an adult to a child?]

While the progress of the others remained unknown, Qiao Man was still a bit unsatisfied on his end.

He looked at the wild vegetables, then at the bird eggs, and his brow furrowed. He had eggs and greens, but he was missing meat. Master said Xiao Man had to eat plenty of meat every day to grow up healthy. It was a pity the snake he caught had escaped.

Besides, it wasn’t just him now; there was Xingxing too. As a good father, he couldn’t let Xingxing go hungry.

Hunting was a bit difficult, and Xingxing was even afraid of snakes. After a moment’s thought, Qiao Man made up his mind: “Xingxing, let’s go catch fish.”

Lu Jianxing: “Catch fish?”

“I promised you yesterday that I’d take you to eat fish.” Qiao Man volunteered, raising a small hand. “I’ll lead the way. I’ll take you to find them.”

Lu Jianxing carefully stowed the bird eggs, wrapping them in wild vegetables to keep them from breaking in the backpack. He replied casually, “Sure.”

With permission granted, Qiao Man couldn’t wait to pull his Luo Pan out of his backpack.

He looked up at the sky, observed the positions, and did a quick calculation with his fingers. He quickly decided on a direction and waved his hand grandly, leading the way: “Xingxing, follow me.”

“Coming.” Lu Jianxing followed slowly behind him.

Since they already had lunch and it was still early, he didn’t actually expect to find fish; he was just playing along with the kid.

Qiao Man held the Luo Pan, following its guidance. They twisted and turned along the way, occasionally crawling under thick tree roots or jumping over small brooks. They even passed through a bamboo forest.

Lu Jianxing followed good-naturedly, climbing over roots and carrying the child across the brooks. When they passed the bamboo forest, he stopped and put some effort into cutting down a stalk of bamboo, slicing it into sections to carry with him. It could serve as cooking utensils later. He even dug up a thick bamboo shoot in the grove.

[It’s starting to feel like a spring outing.]

[I was wondering why Lu Jianxing brought a Luo Pan; turns out it’s just Xiao Man’s toy.]

[Unbelievable. If I recall correctly, this is a survival show, right? Why bring a kid’s toy of all things? If he wanted to babysit, he could’ve gone on a different variety show. Why come to Wilderness Challenge?]

[Is anyone actually expecting a kid to find fish with a toy? Don’t be ridiculous.]

[What can a kid even do? Lu Jianxing brought a kid along to drag him down; he’ll regret it sooner or later.]

[Why the sudden hostility? Did Lu Jianxing’s anti-fans show up for a group meeting?]

[The baby caught a snake and found bird eggs. He’s contributed so much, he’s way more impressive than the other adults. What’s wrong with him playing with a toy! I’m a Lu Jianxing hater and even I haven’t said anything yet!]

[I don’t see these two straying from the show’s theme. Whose fans are getting upset now?]

[It’s just luck. Don’t people watch survival shows for the skill? Surely no one believes this fake script is real?]

Hey!

The viewers weren’t having it.

Aside from Lu Jianxing’s fans, most people in the stream were passersby attracted by the snake-catching video. They didn’t care about the fan-war drama, but seeing people come in just to talk trash made them feel personally attacked.

If you’re so brave, why don’t you go catch a snake? Luck? Since when was luck not a type of skill?

Script? Don’t you know the selling point of Wilderness Challenge is that it’s unscripted and authentic?

Fingers flew across keyboards as a war of words erupted in the bullet comments.

The weather was hot, tempers were short, and the screen was soon flooded with dense comments as the haters and fans battled it out for three hundred rounds¹.

When a massive wave of [???] and [!!!] swept across the screen, the people in the heat of the argument didn’t react immediately.

What happened now?

Everyone stopped fighting and closed the comments to look. A riverbank had appeared on the screen at some point, the water rushing by. Not just Lu Jianxing, but the entire audience was stunned.

[Holy crap!! A river!!]

[How did he actually find it!]

[Fish!!! Fish!!!]

Qiao Man put away the Luo Pan and ran ahead. He kicked off his shoes and dashed into the clear, cool river water, waving happily at the stunned Lu Jianxing: “Xingxing, come quick!”

Lu Jianxing took a beat before walking over.

The river water was clear, ripples shimmering as sunlight danced on the pebbles at the bottom. Lu Jianxing also took off his shoes and stepped into the water. The chill significantly eased the fatigue of traveling in the heat.

After cooling down for a bit, Lu Jianxing soon headed back to the bank. It was getting late, so he began preparing lunch. He gathered stones near the riverbank to build a simple stove and filled it with dry branches.

Then he shouted loudly, “Qiao Man-“

“Coming!”

Qiao Man ran back, skillfully took a piece of Talisman Paper from his Little Yellow Duck Backpack, and lit it to start the fire for their makeshift stove.

The viewers who had already witnessed this yesterday remained perfectly calm, but the newcomers who had just joined today were startled.

[Special effects?! Magic?!]

[Why can a piece of talisman paper start a fire?!]

[That made me instinctively check the title of the stream. Yeah, it’s “Wilderness Challenge,” not “Approaching Science².”]

Meanwhile, the viewers who had already been shocked once yesterday said composedly, [Sit down, sit down, don’t make such a fuss.]

[It’s just starting a fire, isn’t it?]

[So what if they don’t have a lighter? Haven’t you ever heard of drilling wood to make fire?]

[…You’re telling me this is drilling wood to make fire?!]

After starting the fire, Qiao Man ran off again. The cool river water submerged his fair, tender calves as he rolled up his sleeves, bending over to continue catching fish in the river.

Lu Jianxing found a flat, long stone and placed it over the fire to serve as a cooking surface. During the process, he looked up at the river, seeing that the child was only playing by the bank and hadn’t ventured into dangerous deep water, before continuing to cook with peace of mind.

“Sizzle-“

Bird eggs were cracked onto the scorching stone slab, the edges of the transparent liquid quickly turning white from the high heat.

Using two wooden sticks carved to roughly the same thickness, he scrambled the eggs and added a handful of wild green onions picked along the way. Soon, the stir-fry was finished and served on clean, large leaves. Then he dumped the washed wild vegetables onto the stone to sauté them.

The aroma soon wafted out.

It reached Qiao Man’s nose, and he sniffed the air, catching fish with even more gusto. Fish tails swayed in the water. Perhaps because few people ever set foot here, the fish were large and fat. They didn’t even hide when they saw a person, and some even proactively brushed their bodies against the child’s chubby legs.

Aiming at a plump black carp, Qiao Man narrowed his eyes and slowed his breathing. Then he carefully approached, inching closer and closer, finding the perfect moment… and pounced!

“Splash!”

Lu Jianxing looked up at the sound and saw water spraying everywhere. He immediately stood up. Once the water settled, only a soaking wet child remained sitting in the river, clutching a large, frantically thrashing fish in his arms.

Qiao Man held the big fish tightly, refusing to let it escape, and said happily, “Xingxing, fish!”

Lu Jianxing’s heart nearly stopped from the shock. He ran over quickly and lifted both the child and the fish out of the water.

“That’s too dangerous!” he said, his face pale. “You’re so small, how do you dare pounce into the water? What if something happened?”

“I can swim.”

“That’s still not allowed.”

Lu Jianxing carried him to the shore, reciting safety precautions while stripping the wet clothes off the child. He wrapped him in his own jacket to prevent him from catching a cold in the wind. He set the wet clothes aside to dry, then went to deal with the large black carp flopping helplessly on the ground.

It really was a huge fish, heavy to lift. He didn’t know how such a tiny child had managed to catch it. Lu Jianxing moved efficiently, killing the fish, scaling it, and putting it over the fire to roast.

Qiao Man squatted obediently by his side, the overly large jacket sleeves trailing on the ground. Smelling the fragrant roasted fish, he couldn’t take his eyes off it.

“Xingxing, is it ready?”

Lu Jianxing flipped the fish over. “Wait a bit longer, it’s not cooked through yet.”

Qiao Man swallowed hard.

Across the screen, the viewers were also salivating.

[I declare this the best-fed team today.]

[Meat, eggs, and vegetables. Looking at the instant noodles in my hand, they suddenly don’t taste as good… Who’s the one actually doing a survival challenge here?]

[I couldn’t help but peek at the other streams. Forget roasted fish, the others haven’t even eaten yet…]

The martial arts star Wu Chong and his junior brother had tried to set traps for small animals but had caught nothing all morning. Zhan Yue and her brother had unfortunately gotten lost in the forest; they were so busy finding their way that they hadn’t even looked for food.

The most unlucky ones were the top star Xie Yunqian and his teammate Pei Xiwang. They had found a tree full of wild fruit, but while they were picking them, a wasp nest nearby suddenly fell. Swarms of aggressive wasps attacked, forcing the two to run for their lives with their heads in their hands.

The sight of the usually glamorous big stars fleeing in such a pathetic state made the viewers’ lunches taste even better.

Having finally escaped the relentless wasps, and having gone all morning without food followed by a frantic sprint, the two were exhausted and hungry. They could only lean against a tree by the road to rest, drinking their remaining water to stave off hunger.

Perhaps because the escape had pushed his body to its limit, Pei Xiwang was panting, his face looking a bit pale.

Meeting Xie Yunqian’s gaze, he straightened up and took the initiative to say, “Brother Xie, I’m sorry. I didn’t notice the wasp nest nearby.”

“It’s not your fault,” Xie Yunqian comforted him. “You were just closer to it. No one expected the nest to fall suddenly. We’re just unlucky.”

Pei Xiwang said with frustration, “If only I had seen it sooner…”

As he spoke, something occurred to him, and he turned to rummage through his backpack. Sure enough, most of the wild fruit they had picked had been lost during their flight.

It was already noon. Both were tired and hungry, and the loss of food undoubtedly made their situation even worse.

Pei Xiwang was dejected. “I’m sorry, Brother Xie.”

“It’s fine, let’s keep walking. Maybe we’ll find something to eat,” Xie Yunqian joked lightly. “If we’re lucky, maybe we’ll find a river and catch some fish.”

“…”

Xie Yunqian paused, then said with some uncertainty, “…Why do I feel like I can already smell roasted fish?”

Translator’s Notes