"What's going on? Why isn't this young man eating?"
"He gathered a pot of moss and went back. I was waiting to see what he'd do with it, but the guy just went to sleep?"
"So he didn't gather that pot of moss to eat it?"
"Interesting. Is he following the show's tradition of starving for the first three days?"
"So I guess even a chef isn't anything special in the wild."
When the camera on Lin Chen's side went dark, the disappointed viewers flooded into the other contestants' streams. In just a few minutes, his audience of nearly ten thousand people had dropped to less than a hundred.
It was as if the show really had a curse. Other than the retired soldier who got lucky and shot a squirrel with his hunting bow, none of the other contestants had managed to secure any food. They couldn't even find any berries.
The Yukon River, which had looked so close from the air, was actually much farther away on foot than anyone had imagined.
On top of that, night fell much earlier than expected, forcing everyone to stop their activities and figure out how to sleep.
Most creatures in the wild are nocturnal, especially wolves. If you were unlucky enough to run into them, even calling the production crew would be useless.
By the time help arrived, your corpse would probably be devoured completely.
Before long, bright fires began to light up one by one on the night-vision screens, standing out starkly in the pitch-black night.
Some of the cleverer contestants had already climbed up trees. Using the directions they had memorized during the afternoon's descent, they could roughly identify which contestant was at each fire.
To prevent the five 'professional' contestants from being eliminated too early, they had all been dropped in locations closer to the Yukon River. The other ten contestants were dropped in areas farther away.
Finding these five 'professionals' in the dense, primeval forest was not something that could be done in a day or two.
Warmed by the smoldering charcoal, Lin Chen got a great night's sleep.
The structure he'd built with his parachute, waterproof tarp, and spruce branches had perfectly shielded him from the night's cold. Tucked away in his sleeping bag, he even felt a little hot in the middle of the night.
After wriggling out of his sleeping bag, he didn't immediately get down. Instead, he listened intently for a while. Only after confirming there were no unusual sounds did he quietly slip out through the opening at the bottom.
The charcoal that had burned all night had long since gone out, and the residual warmth in the earthen pit was slowly fading to cold.
"This is Lin. Since I don't have a phone or a watch, I can't tell what time it is."
He clipped the GoPro to his chest and explained in a low voice before starting to dismantle his temporary hammock.
"I need to get as much done as I can while I still have energy in these early stages. At the very least, I have to find a suitable area to build a permanent camp."
After packing his gear, he wore the heavy backpack on his chest. He slung the North American Hunting Bow and quiver over his back, carried the Multi-Functional Engineer Shovel in one hand, and held his pot of spoils in the other. Guided by the beam of his Hat Lamp, he followed the tracks he'd left before sleeping and began moving toward the water source.
Along the way, the sound of flapping wings came from above from time to time, occasionally mixed with the strange cries of unknown creatures.
Lin Chen looked around. The darkness was so thick you couldn't see your hand in front of your face, making his skin crawl. In the lamplight, his breath quickly condensed into wisps of white vapor.
"This is terrifying. At night, the forest is like a demon's castle. I keep feeling like a pair of eyes is secretly watching me from somewhere."
His voice was very low, and he spoke to himself, not caring if the camera could pick it up.
"Wolves are a lot like dogs. Their sense of smell and hearing are extremely sensitive, so it's not hard for them to pinpoint a living creature within a kilometer or two. For safety's sake, I can't speak again until dawn."
He was in luck. Not long after he fell silent, a faint glimmer of light appeared on the horizon.
Lin Chen deliberately turned off his Hat Lamp and waited quietly for five minutes to let his eyes readjust to the darkness.
"The sun's coming up. It should be just after six in the morning now."
The nascent dawn reawakened the courage that had slumbered within him. He picked up his pace and soon arrived at the spot where he'd made his score yesterday.
After walking for another two hours or so, his ears twitched. He could finally hear the faint sound of running water up ahead.
A long-awaited smile finally broke through his tense expression.
"Looks like we're not lost. Good luck!"
The words had barely left his mouth when he felt something soft underfoot, a distinct sensation of having squashed it.
A second later, a foul stench assaulted his nostrils. He hastily covered his nose and took two steps back.
On the brown, leaf-strewn ground, a large patch of chocolate-chip-shaped pellets was scattered everywhere. A portion of them had clearly been crushed by his foot.
"This is... sheep or deer droppings!"
The shape of these droppings was very distinctive and easy to identify. He used to see them all the time back when he watched whole-roasted-sheep videos every day, but he couldn't tell right now which specific animal had left them.
"These 'chocolate chips' are still fresh. They must have been produced within the last hour or two."
This discovery thrilled Lin Chen. The closer he got to the water source, the more prey there would be.
But he didn't let his guard down. On the contrary, he became even more cautious.
The Yukon River is a large river that cuts across all of Alaska before flowing into Canada's Yukon Territory. It is also one of the main migration routes for salmon.
It was currently migration season, so the river was most likely full of salmon. While this meant no shortage of food, it also meant bears could be lurking nearby at any moment.
Salmon only migrate twice a year. Especially now, with winter approaching, it was the perfect time for them to store fat. The various types of hibernating bears would certainly not pass up a free buffet.
After finding the Yukon River, he briefly surveyed the surrounding terrain and located a relatively shallow area.
Through the clear, rushing water, he could distinctly see a dense mass of red shadows swimming upstream, nearly covering the entire surface of the river.
"Red Salmon!"
He pumped his arms in excitement. "Yes! This is the perfect source of fat and protein. With these, getting through the first half of the hundred days won't be difficult at all."
It was mid-October. A hundred days from now would be the end of January, the coldest part of the season.
The salmon run would start to dwindle in November. This meant that if he wanted to rely on salmon to get through the entire winter, he would have to store enough rations in advance.
But this wasn't the Arctic Circle, after all. Although the temperature at night could drop to between minus twenty and minus forty degrees, the sun was still out during the day, and temperatures in the teens or twenties were no problem.
In these temperatures, it would be a miracle for any meat to last more than three days.
He quickly calmed down. Instead of rushing to catch fish, he turned and headed back into the forest.
"The water here is shallow and full of fish, which means it's also a perfect spot for Black Bears to hunt. But there are also likely wolf packs in the area. For now, I don't want to run into either of them, so I have to find a suitable location to build a permanent shelter."