Chapter 141: Alone Enters Mount Qixing

The room was warmly heated, and when Su Huan stepped out of the bathroom, she felt not the slightest chill.

She glanced at Qin Yun's room, poured herself a glass of water, sat on the living room sofa wrapped in a bathrobe, and began texting someone with a cold sneer.

"So cold and aloof, Miss Su? I thought you were so reserved—yet as soon as someone divorced, you rushed right in?"

Looking at this reply, Su Huan didn't get angry; instead, she smiled faintly: "Regret it? You've been divorced for months and still track every move Qin Yun makes?"

"Regret? I've never regretted a thing. I just wonder if you actually think Qin Yun would ever like someone like you who only rides coattails? When he had no power before, why weren't you around?"

"You've probably forgotten—I knew Qin Yun long before you did." Su Huan crossed one leg, the bathrobe slipping, revealing a smooth, slender calf—yet she felt no cold at all. "Besides, Qin Yun has always been capable. Why, in your mouth, was he ever incapable? Yet when you were with him, you never noticed—only after you left did he suddenly seem capable?"

Song Ya flew into a rage: "Su Huan, you bitch, you can only pick up what I threw away."

"Then thank you for abandoning Qin Yun." Su Huan's gaze turned icy. "I'll be honest—I've liked Qin Yun since freshman year. I just never expected a shallow woman like you would get to him first. Hmph. But luckily, someone as shallow as you was enough to push Qin Yun back into my arms. Honestly, I should thank you."

"Bitch, filthy bitch, whore, you disgusting whore."

Words had no power—furious, Song Ya immediately called a voice message.

But Su Huan had no intention of giving her that chance; she casually hung up and replied: "Song Ya, some things in life have no cure for regret. You must clearly understand: the Qin Yun of today is beyond your reach. You discarded him like trash—I treasure him like jade."

After typing those words and hitting send, she swiftly deleted Song Ya as a friend.

Far away in Beijing, Song Ya stared at the glaring red exclamation mark and screamed in fury, her foul curses echoing through the room alongside the sounds of smashing and throwing things.

In high spirits, Su Huan opened Weibo notifications, glanced at Qin Yun's Weibo, then thought for a moment and went to knock on his door.

"Qin Yun, are you asleep?"

'Click!'

The door opened, and Qin Yun's figure appeared before Su Huan.

"Hmm, just getting ready to sleep."

As he spoke, he noticed her expression was unusually cheerful and asked: "What's so happy?"

"Hehe, nothing!" Su Huan squeezed past Qin Yun into his room. "I just gave a nasty piece of trash a real beating—left her speechless and fuming."

Qin Yun chuckled. He never expected gentle Su Huan had this side.

Yet watching her pace around his room, he felt a strange unease.

"Say, why are you in here? Late at night, alone together—I'm very careful about my reputation."

Hearing this, Su Huan angrily slammed his arm—but the hard muscle jolted her own hand with pain.

"Ugh, why are you so hard?"

Qin Yun rolled his eyes: "Sis, please don't say things that make people misunderstand."

Su Huan's face instantly flushed red. She hurriedly protested: "I meant muscles, muscles! Don't go imagining things!"

"I'm not imagining anything." Qin Yun shook his head, gripped her shoulder, spun her around, and pushed her toward the door. "But it's late—I need to sleep. You should too, you woman obsessed with muscles."

Su Huan fumed, struggling to break free—but against Qin Yun, her strength was useless.

'Bang—!'

Watching the door shut, Su Huan stomped her foot in frustration: "You're the one obsessed with muscles, idiot!"

Then she burst into a soft laugh, her eyes filled with tenderness, whispering quietly: "Goodnight," before returning to her room.

Meanwhile, Qin Yun stared at the system panel before him, a quiet joy stirring in his chest.

……

The next morning, he accepted from Su Huan the product for the commercial order—five Snickers bars.

He slung his backpack over his shoulders and set out directly from the hotel.

The trails inside the scenic area were relatively even, paved with stone slabs, flanked by dense forests where the wind rustled through leaves with a 'shush-shush' sound.

The scenic area had not yet opened for business; apart from the mountain hotel, there was no sign of life along the path.

After walking over half an hour, he finally saw a massive green stone—the Seven Stars Boundary Marker. The four large characters on it were faded, surrounded by overgrown weeds.

He checked the time—about ten minutes before eight. He began preparing.

The signal still relied solely on DJI's AI drone, but this signal couldn't be used to make phone calls. Honestly, DJI's product had solved countless obstacles on his self-media journey.

Without solving the signal issue, his livestreaming career would be dead—places like Yao Mei Peak, the Greater Khingan Range, or the Qaidam Basin? Impossible.

He launched the drone, activated all lenses, sent the auxiliary drone flying ahead, then clicked "Go Live" just after eight.

As his figure appeared on screen, viewers instantly flooded in.

Within one or two minutes, the viewer count surpassed 100,000—and kept climbing rapidly.

"Brother Qin, good morning."

"Brother Qin, was what you said yesterday true? What actually happened?"

"It must be true—I've seen that guy before."

"Brother Qin, go live, go live, we're waiting!"

"Brother Qin 5666!"

Looking at the comments, Qin Yun greeted them.

"Hello everyone, I'm Qin Yun, a temporary wilderness rescue expert. I'm currently at the Seven Stars Boundary Marker in Mount Qixing Scenic Area. This marker divides the front and rear zones of Mount Qixing. Beyond the rear zone lies primeval forest—no signal, treacherous terrain, and wild creatures roam. Today, I'm not here for wilderness survival—I'm here for a fan named Zhang Kui."

"... I've emphasized repeatedly in my livestreams that many things are simple for me but not for you. This time, Zhang Kui is a lesson—I hope he's safe." He glanced at his Casio watch. "So far, Zhang Kui has been missing for fifty-four hours. I've already reported him missing to the police, but before they verify it, I'll enter the primeval forest ahead of schedule to rescue him."

"Whoa… so it's real."

"Missing that long? He's probably dead."

"Someone actually followed Brother Qin into the wilderness? I thought everyone had some self-awareness."

"Damn, seeing how easy Brother Qin makes it look, lots of people probably think they can do it too."

"If this guy dies because of the streamer, the streamer might get banned too. Heh."

"Poor Brother Qin!"

Qin Yun looked up at the sky—last night had been full of stars, but now the morning was overcast.

Beyond the boundary stone, the path immediately became rugged; the stone slab road vanished, replaced by muddy dirt paths and stony slopes.

The slopes were thick with trees; once a person entered, their vision instantly darkened.

Qin Yun did not walk quickly; he moved while observing the ground for traces, searching for possible clues left by Zhang Kui.

As he walked, he occasionally pulled out his phone to check for signal.

After about two hundred meters, the surrounding forest grew denser, branches and leaves intertwining, completely blocking out the sky, with only faint light filtering through.

"The air is filled with the smell of rotting leaves, but there's also a faint fragrance of trees. Still, look—my phone still has signal, so we're clearly still within range of a cell tower."

He held up his phone in front of the camera.

Just as he finished speaking, his gaze halted; he stepped forward a few paces, squatted down, and picked up a wrapper from a custard pie.

Zooming in, Qin Yun said gravely: "This custard pie wrapper looks fresh. No one normally comes here, so I suspect it was almost certainly left by Zhang Kui. But all the footprints along the way have vanished—over such a long time, they've been blown away."

Walking and searching, he found several more food wrappers scattered across the forest floor.

"Damn, this Zhang Kui drops trash everywhere."

"Speechless—he's supposed to be doing wilderness survival streaming, so why did he bring so many snacks? That was Wei Long spicy strips, right?"

"Heh, so you can imagine how absurd most wilderness survival streams on Douyin are—hardly anyone is as hardcore as Brother Qin."

"Brother Qin is currently the number one outdoor streamer on the entire platform. Luo Jiahai is still in his videos sniping at Brother Qin's streams, claiming they're filmed by a crew—no idea if his brain is wired wrong."

Qin Yun glanced at the comments and smiled: "You're praising me so much, I'm getting embarrassed. But there are still plenty of hardcore streamers on Douyin—for example, the other contestant from China in this wilderness survival segment, Guo Yao. She's a girl, but anyone who's watched her streams knows she has no crew. If you're interested, go follow her. Oh, and she's really good-looking—she could be a beauty streamer easily."

Guo Yao, watching Qin Yun's stream, was suddenly mentioned—and froze in shock. Then, seeing Qin Yun praise her looks, she even felt a little embarrassed.

But mostly, she felt delighted.

Douyin has already announced the two contest slots; she switched from Douyu and now has over three hundred thousand fans. But after hitting three hundred thousand, gaining more fans became difficult.

With Qin Yun's push, there was no doubt her follower count would surge.

Qin Yun walked another hundred meters when his phone signal suddenly cut out—meaning from here on, they had officially entered the uninhabited zone of Zhangjiajie.

Soon, he found more traces left by Zhang Kui, but after following them for three or four hundred meters, they vanished completely. The surrounding vegetation was lush; any traces had long since been covered by nature over these past few days.

"A hint of stench!" Qin Yun quickly squatted, his eyes alert; he drew his dagger from his waist and remained still, listening carefully to the surroundings.

Aside from the sound of wind rustling leaves and birds calling, there was no other noise—but the stench grew stronger.

"The stench is getting stronger—there's likely a wild animal nearby. In primeval forest zones, besides treacherous terrain, there's also these sudden appearances of wild animals. I'm different—I can advance or retreat with ease—but ordinary people would just panic if they encountered one."

"Comfortable—Brother Qin is showing off again."

"Brother Qin's hunting time has come—let's all pray together."

"What kind of wild animal could it be? Could it be Xiong Xiazi?"

Qin Yun twitched his nose, his gaze locking onto a patch of grass ahead; then a low "oink" echoed, and the stench instantly turned foul.

He quickly retreated a few steps, hiding behind a large tree, eyes fixed on the swaying grass. He then lifted the auxiliary drone to avoid noise, while the main drone's propellers stopped spinning.

Soon, a black wild boar appeared in the frame.

"It's Brother Ba Jie again."

"Brother Ba Jie, who fled from Qin Yun in Daxing'anling, is back online."

"This wild boar is huge—bigger than the one Qin Yun encountered in Daxing'anling."

"Damn, those sharp tusks are terrifying."

Qin Yun observed the wild boar in the frame, then retreated further; wild boars have keen senses. Though he'd sprayed scent-masking mist before entering, who knew if this one could smell him?

He said nothing, simply watching quietly.

The wild boar didn't notice Qin Yun; it kept its head down, rooting through the grass as if searching for food.

Minutes passed; the wild boar rooted for over ten minutes, seemingly found nothing, grunted in dissatisfaction, turned, and walked deeper into the forest, vanishing from the frame soon after.

Only when the wild boar's figure had completely disappeared did Qin Yun exhale in relief.

"I've got good luck—this place isn't far from the boundary stone, yet a wild boar shows up? Unbelievable."