Chapter 123: Final Slot Determination

"Qin, thank you. I won't forget you."

Holding Qin Yun, Laura's excited emotions had calmed. The two had long since washed up, and Laura was once again the elegant blonde beauty.

Qin Yun had also shed his hardships, but days in the wilderness still left him with a strong wild scent.

He lightly patted Laura's back, his gaze sweeping over several foreigners nearby, and he couldn't help but feel profound emotion. Without him, Laura might truly have died far from home.

"Laura, you have my number. We're in the global village now—communicating is as easy as pie."

Laura burst into a laugh, released Qin Yun, and brushed her hair back with her right hand.

"Qin, you're right, and I'll come find you. When I do, I'll give you a gift—but this isn't payment for saving me. That debt I'll carry in my heart for life."

"I'm looking forward to it."

Laura nodded firmly, kissed Qin Yun's cheek one last time, then waved goodbye.

…

The next day, Qin Yun took a bus from Mangya City back to the departure point, retrieved his stored belongings from the hotel, got in his car, and drove toward the airport.

Last night, he received a call from Liu Wei, saying the final communication for the China region of "Survival in the Wild" would be held on the 16th. As the only contestant who skipped the preliminary round and entered the final directly, he had to show up.

This season of "Survival in the Wild" granted China two slots, and since these live streams began, Liu Wei's recommendation of Qin Yun had gained increasing support among TikTok's senior management.

Liu Wei said he was coming on the 16th purely for formality—his slot was virtually already secured.

Had it not been for the initial agreement to conduct communications uniformly, even now, announcing Qin Yun's selection publicly would likely draw no objections.

The preliminary interviews for "Survival in the Wild" had been ongoing since their announcement.

Know that any program related to wilderness survival on TikTok draws massive traffic. For example, "Wilderness Solo Living," "Wilderness Overnight," "Wilderness Construction," and even borderline wilderness eating streams【dog head】have huge followings.

But most of these are foreign.

Only after Qin Yun entered this field did his few episodes of "Survival in the Wild" live streams become known.

TikTok's collaboration with "Survival in the Wild" has indirectly boosted the entire China region's enthusiasm for wilderness survival, evident from Qin Yun's current fan count.

Now, his fan count has surpassed forty million. Countless messages flood his backend, with people offering to buy his account—starting bids of five million yuan, absurd yet realistic.

Initially, Qin Yun joined "Survival in the Wild" for the money.

The winner receives two million U. S. dollars, plus two million RMB from TikTok—a huge temptation for Qin Yun, who then had far fewer fans.

Who could have imagined that in just over a month, his live-streaming earnings had reached a point where he could say: I'm not interested in money.

It's fucking lucrative.

Take this Qaidam Desert livestream: though scheduled for six days, it lasted barely five.

In those few days, his gift revenue reached over five million yuan. Though mostly from a few major patrons, even excluding their tips, his gifts still totaled two million.

That's more than he earned in ten years of working a regular job.

Yet he still chose to go.

One reason, naturally, is money; the other is his fans overseas.

As time passes, his domestic fan base will soon hit a threshold limit—look at TikTok's current top ten, their fan counts haven't moved.

Meanwhile, a single "Wuyu Ge" has nearly three hundred million fans across all platforms.

He's just a nonsense figure—if Qin Yun could break out, attract global fans, he believed that with his system skills, earning foreign currency wouldn't be better than earning RMB?

So, this time joining "Survival in the Wild" was primarily about using it as a breakthrough.

After confirming multiple times that daily fees had a cap, Qin Yun confidently parked his car in an airport parking lot—mainly because news of exorbitant parking fees had made him wary.

He feared returning to find parking fees absurdly high.

The flight from Qinghai to Beijing was short—just over two hours—and he landed at Daxing Airport, even faster than his drive from hotel to Qinghai Airport.

As he stepped out of the airport, he immediately saw Shen Hu and several others.

"Holy shit, how'd all of you show up?"

Qin Yun looked at Shen Hu, Zhang Chao, Jiang Bingbing, and Fan Chen—he'd only told Shen Hu to pick him up, yet Zhang Chao and the others had come too.

In Beijing, only these five from their class remained.

He'd stayed because he married early; Shen Hu and Zhang Chao were locals; the only workers left were Jiang Bingbing and Fan Chen.

After he left, only these four remained.

"Hey, you little guy's become a big internet celebrity now—talking real cocky."

Jiang Bingbing—name sounds female, but he's a giant from Shandong, taller than Qin Yun, nearly 1.9 meters.

He came over, slinging an arm around Qin Yun's shoulder, then exclaimed in surprise: "Damn, didn't feel it in the videos—this is actually solid as hell. You on steroids?"

"Where? Where? Let me feel."

Fan Chen was the opposite—only 1.6 meters tall, soft-spoken, but secretly mischievous.

He only opened up around close friends.

As for Zhang Chao, dressed in a suit, he looked every inch the high-ranking official.

"Let go!" Qin Yun shook off Jiang Bingbing and Fan Chen, turned to Zhang Chao: "Aren't you supposed to be working? Why'd you come out too?"

"Took a day off," Zhang Chao smiled. "Came to see how our class's big internet celebrity turned out. You don't know—when I watched your stream, my jaw dropped. Didn't know you were so talented. Never noticed before."

"Pfft!" Shen Hu punched Qin Yun in the chest. "Who'd ever guess he could do this? Even Song Ya didn't know—or she wouldn't be regretting it to death."

"Don't bring that up," Qin Yun waved his hand, laughing. "Since we're all here, let's eat—I'm treating."

"Obviously you're treating. You're a TikTok big shot—we're all salary workers, making a few thousand a month."

Crowding around Qin Yun, the five got in the car and sped toward the city center.

Though they said Qin Yun was treating, in the end, all of them paid their own bills.

He politely declined Shen Hu's invitation to stay at his place and found a nearby hotel instead.

After all, Shen Hu was now living with his girlfriend—he didn't want to hear a whole night of bedroom noise.

…

"Mr. Qin!"

Seeing the familiar figure, Liu Wei's eyes lit up instantly; he shouted and ran over.

"Manager Liu, hello."

Qin Yun reached out and shook his hand.

"The communication session is at ten-thirty. Mr. Qin, follow me."

This is ByteDance's Beijing headquarters, located in Haidian District.

"Mr. Qin, including you, five people total will participate in today's final communication, competing for two spots," Liu Wei said directly as they entered the elevator—empty inside. "But your live stream from the Qaidam Basin has nearly convinced all the executives; it's essentially settled. As long as no mistakes occur, I'm sure Mr. George won't object."

"Mr. George?"

Liu Wei nodded: "George Bryant, one of the producers and deputy directors of the Wilderness Survival show, holds significant influence over the program. He's been in Beijing for several days."

"He's watched your live stream too and speaks highly of you. I'm sure there won't be any problem."

Qin Yun nodded, feeling no particular emotion—whether foreigner or Chinese, if he couldn't pass this selection, he'd rather not cooperate with the show at all.

This wasn't confidence; it was self-evident.

The elevator doors opened. As they walked down the corridor, Qin Yun suddenly felt a hostile gaze—he looked up.

It was a burly man, around thirty, wearing a T-shirt despite the mid-November chill; his thick arms nearly burst the sleeves.

He glanced at Qin Yun, then followed another person into a room.

"That's Luo Jiahai," Liu Wei whispered. "He's resentful about you being pre-selected."

Luo Jiahai?

Qin Yun raised an eyebrow—he recognized the name, just hadn't placed it at first glance. The man was also an outdoor streamer on Douyin, with over thirty million followers, a true mega-influencer.

But his outdoor streams weren't about pushing limits like Qin Yun's; instead, he spent long periods living on so-called uninhabited islands.

Clearly backed by a team.

Before Qin Yun appeared, this format was very popular on Douyin—after all, many people never even left their own cities, let alone ventured to remote islands.

So watching Luo Jiahai live in such places, full of longing, was quite entertaining.

Over time, he accumulated a loyal fanbase.

He wasn't a fake—he had real skills, or he couldn't have built such a massive following.

But why do you hate me? We're not even in the same category.

I didn't pre-select myself; the production team did. What's it to me?

Soon, Liu Wei led Qin Yun into a large office. Clearly, preparations had been made ahead of time, and two candidates were already inside.

One was Luo Jiahai; the other, a sly-looking man who, before Liu Wei could introduce him, stepped forward himself. He appeared to be around thirty, sharp and wiry.

He eagerly shook Qin Yun's hand: "Mr. Qin! It's really you! I knew you'd come for the selection interview—this is great!"

"I'm He Jian, an outdoor streamer on Constable. But after watching your streams, I realized mine are child's play."

"Haha, Brother He, don't say that. I just know a bit more—you're the veteran. Let's exchange ideas."

Qin Yun was this kind of person: if others treated him politely, he treated them politely. If someone was as rude as Luo Jiahai—nose out of joint, eyes full of disdain—he wouldn't even bother looking at them.

Seeing Qin Yun so approachable, He Jian—who had just been rebuffed by Luo Jiahai—was even happier: "I could never pull off your moves. I watched your Qaidam Desert survival episode. It was incredible, especially those two wolf-pack battles—I got chills."

Luo Jiahai sat in the center of the sofa, eyes closed, silent. Inside, he sneered.

"Hmph. Clearly backed by a team, yet claims to be solo. Annoying. I'll expose your trick soon enough."

Qin Yun naturally didn't know Luo Jiahai's thoughts. The guy staying quiet was best.

He chatted amicably with He Jian. Soon, two more people arrived, led by ByteDance staff.

Qin Yun met them all: one was Shang Bo, a retired soldier with reconnaissance background; the other was Guo Yao—a girl, and quite attractive, though her skin was rough. She streamed outdoors on Douyu.

In outdoor streaming, Douyu was better than Douyin or Constable.

But as times changed, Douyu's market share had been slowly declining.

So Guo Yao wanted to jump ship—this Wilderness Survival selection was a great opportunity for her.

If chosen as one of the show's contestants, even if she didn't win, she'd surely become popular on Douyin—and moving there would be natural.

Yet looking at the people before her, she had no confidence at all.