Chapter 187: Ten Make the Cut (Support Please)

More terrifying than his injured left foot was the cold.

At minus thirty degrees Celsius, even through thick clothing, the temperature spread at a visibly rapid pace.

If this continued, he wouldn't last long.

The production team, seeing this, immediately prepared the rescue squad—should Michael press the distress button or trigger a life-monitor alarm, they would launch rescue operations immediately.

Although contestants and the production team had an agreement that the team bore no responsibility even in life-threatening situations, the team naturally sought to avoid such outcomes—when a life was lost, it was rarely just a matter of money.

Michael braced his hands against the ground, slowly pushing himself upward until he freed his entire body from the hollow.

In just that brief moment, his whole body had begun trembling from the cold. He lay on his side, quickly checking his left leg—blood had soaked through his pants, leaving a palm-sized tear.

Standing up, he tried moving his limbs and let out a sigh of relief.

"Good, it's only a surface wound," Michael said, glancing at the drone, relief on his face. "But I'm freezing— I need to start a fire quickly, or hypothermia will set in faster than I imagined."

Michael began to act.

He first used his available tools to wrap the tear in his pants, preventing further heat loss.

With his body temperature already dropping significantly, he cleared a patch of ground nearby, gathering dry twigs to start a fire.

But due to the extreme cold, fire-by-friction failed repeatedly—until viewers in the livestream could clearly see Michael's hands trembling uncontrollably.

"It's over—Michael's getting eliminated."

Viewers in the livestream flooded the chat with comments.

Michael sighed helplessly. After closing his eyes for a moment, he smiled bitterly at the drone's lens: "I never expected my wilderness survival journey to end in just the second week. I'm sorry to disappoint those who supported me."

With that, he helplessly pressed the button on his chest.

The production team received the signal and immediately dispatched the rescue unit.

Daniel glanced at the main screen—eighteen livestreams had now gone completely dark, leaving only thirty-two contestants still struggling in the extreme cold of Atlin Lake.

Oh, no—only thirty-one.

Daniel turned to another screen, where livestream #32 had been enlarged to full size: Qin Yun was calmly sipping tea, utterly at ease.

While others fought for survival, Qin Yun was clearly on a leisurely outing.

For everyone else, every danger along the way demanded caution—yet Qin Yun ignored them all, even turning many dangers into food.

In nature, a single human doesn't even rank on the food chain—but Qin Yun entering the forest made him the apex predator.

Even when surrounded by six Arctic wolves, he managed to turn the tables and kill them all—what in this icy, snowy Atlin Lake forest could possibly stop Qin?

Too bad… there were still things in the forest that humans simply couldn't handle.

If not for all the petty intrigues and political rivalries above, winning this contest would have been effortless for Qin Yun.

"It's getting late—I think I'll rest now. See you tomorrow, bye!"

With that, Qin Yun ended the livestream, packed up his gear, replaced the battery, and inserted the old one back into the compartment to recharge.

After finishing, he stepped outside the cave, too lazy to set traps—just cleared enough space at the cave entrance, stacked sufficient firewood, and prepared to sleep.

He slept soundly all night.

The next morning, Qin Yun woke precisely on time—the cave's temperature was comfortable, around minus ten degrees Celsius, even warmer than last night before bed.

After eating and drinking his fill, he erased all traces of his presence, then opened his livestream and prepared to depart.

…

After enduring countless dangers, the contestants' conditions had become starkly divided.

Strong competitors like Tom and Jack, though pale and weary, still retained sufficient stamina and maintained relatively good physical condition. But others, like Ailin and Kuntai, struggled desperately to survive.

In previous seasons, they might have fared well—but this season, with seven-day cycles and such long distances to cover, the danger wasn't just about survival—it was the countless unpredictable threats along the way.

Every day, you had to solve four problems: fire, water, food, shelter.

Failure to solve any one of them was excruciating.

In past seasons, once you survived the initial phase, you didn't need to worry about these anymore—but this season, every morning you woke up, you had to address them first. Only after securing these basic life necessities could you consider deeper strategies.

The difficulty had skyrocketed linearly.

At last, Guo Yao had finished building her shelter. She checked the map, compared her position, and smiled: "I'm still over twenty kilometers from the next PEP—I still have a good chance. But now I face a new problem."

She pointed the camera at the matchbox in her hand—only one match remained.

"Thank you, Master Qin, for letting me choose matches—if not for them, I wouldn't have lasted this long."

Guo Yao could certainly start fire by friction—it was a fairly simple skill—but knowing how and succeeding were two different things.

This hellish place was frozen solid, everywhere damp, soaked twigs and leaves—igniting anything was nearly impossible.

To prepare, she had carefully stocked her homemade pack with plenty of dry, fluffy fibers, anticipating the moment her matches ran out.

After successfully lighting the fire with her last match, Guo Yao began preparing dinner.

Her dinner tonight was a frozen, rock-hard white fish—she'd found it accidentally by the lake's edge. She planned to roast it; without seasoning, roasting tasted better than boiling—less fishy, at least.

But just as she skewered the fish and placed it over the fire, a shadowy figure appeared silently behind the rock where she stood.

"Holy shit, Yao-jie, danger!"

"Yao-jie, look behind you—there's something behind you!"

"Holy crap, what is that?"

"Looks like a lion? What the hell, lions in this place?"

Guo Yao couldn't see the comments—she kept her head down, roasting the fish, chatting idly to herself—making the online viewers frantic.

When the fish was nearly done, she brought it close to the camera, about to speak—then caught sight of what was behind her on the monitor and jumped back in shock.

She lunged forward violently, coming face-to-face with the mountain lion perched on the rock.

Her heart pounded wildly; she swallowed hard. "It's a mountain lion—but how is there a mountain lion here? Atlin region does have them, but their density is low—my luck is just too good."

As she spoke, she raised the drone's camera upward, holding the roasted fish in hand, slowly backing away.

But as she retreated, the mountain lion bared its teeth, leapt down from the rock, crouched low, and began its attack stance.

Guo Yao watched the mountain lion's movements, her heart stirred, and she quickly placed the grilled fish on the ground: "I hope the mountain lion only wants my fish—but why don't I remember mountain lions eating fish?"

If Qin Yun were here, he'd tell her that while fish aren't the mountain lion's main food, it sometimes scavenges dead fish by the lake—considered a snack. Needless to say, this mountain lion must be starving, or it would never dare come snatching fish from a large animal like her.

After Guo Yao put down the fish and stepped back a few paces, the mountain lion indeed moved its nose, approached the grilled fish, and swallowed it whole in two or three bites.

After eating the fish, the mountain lion cast a cold glance at Guo Yao, then leapt away a few times and vanished from her sight.

Watching this, Guo Yao exhaled in relief, yet felt like crying.

"My dinner..."

The second week quickly reached its deadline; the total number of survivors this week was 27, three fewer than the first week.

After being eliminated, these contestants naturally became the main viewers of the livestream, and when they watched, they realized that even if they held on until the end, they likely couldn't win—because the show had an insane super-competitor.

Yamamoto Kazusuke, Park Bucheng, and others thought Qin Yun wasn't human: while everyone else struggled to survive, he spent his days eating well, drinking well, sleeping well—it was like two different worlds.

Michael was stunned with delight—he never expected that Qin, whom he'd casually bonded with during training camp, was this powerful, almost terrifying.

Losing to such a powerhouse wasn't shameful; in fact, Michael felt a touch of schadenfreude.

The schadenfreude was aimed at Jack and the others—who had been so arrogant during training camp; let's see how they'll boast after the show ends.

As time passed, the show grew more thrilling each day, and the longer it went, the more taut everyone's nerves became.

Since the production team hadn't announced anything, that meant more than ten contestants were still holding out—until only ten remained, the show wouldn't enter the second phase.

On January 25, the fourth day of the fourth week, the main livestream room for the production camp now had only eleven livestreams still active; all others had gone dark.

At this moment, livestream #28 reached its highest viewership ever.

Not because she was the strongest, but because she was the contestant most likely to be eliminated among the eleven.

Arolin, a physically strong Black woman.

She had nearly been eliminated on day one, yet stubbornly held on through sheer willpower until now.

Today, her luck didn't shine again—she was poisoned.

After prolonged consumption of needle-leaf water without sufficient food to neutralize it, her body finally rebelled.

Starting at midnight, she vomited and had diarrhea, plagued by nausea and dizziness, growing utterly weak.

In the livestream, she leaned against her shelter, face pale, too weak even to stand.

Still unwilling to give up, she refused to press the rescue button on her chest.

But the rescue team's actions weren't fixed—whenever the life sign monitor triggered an alarm, the rescue team would deploy.

At this moment, Arolin's life monitor had already turned yellow, nearing the red alarm.

A few minutes later, when the red light flashed on screen, Daniel waved his hand, and the rescue team immediately moved.

Even as the rescue team arrived, Arolin's eyes still burned with defiance.

"I haven't given up—why are you here? I can still hold on."

"Let go of me—I can still make it."

"No, my child is watching the livestream—I must reach the second round."

Everyone watching Arolin's stubbornness felt moved, but her condition was visibly dire—if the rescue team hadn't come, she might have faced a life-threatening crisis.

With Arolin's elimination, the number of contestants finally dropped to ten; the prepped air-drop and equipment teams immediately deployed.

The air-drop team was responsible for dropping the "tickets"—meat parcels containing treasure chest keys; the equipment team would locate contestants and deliver positioning devices.

The contestants didn't know the show had entered its second phase—they continued advancing toward PEP's location.