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 visibly and rapidly.

If this continued, he wouldn't last long.

The production team, seeing this, immediately prepared the rescue squad—ready to act the moment Michael pressed the distress button or the life monitor triggered an alarm.

Although contestants and the production team had agreed that the team bore no responsibility even in life-threatening situations, the team naturally sought to avoid such outcomes—because if someone died, it was rarely just about money.

Michael braced his hands against the ground and slowly pushed, gradually freeing himself from the hollow.

In just that short time, his entire body trembled 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 fast, or hypothermia will hit me faster than I thought."

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 sharply, he cleared a patch of ground nearby, gathering dry twigs to start a fire.

But due to the extreme cold, friction fire failed repeatedly—until viewers in the livestream clearly saw Michael's hands shaking 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 lens: "I never thought my wilderness survival journey would end in the second week. I'm sorry to disappoint my supporters."

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

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

Daniel glanced at the main screen—eighteen livestreams had now gone 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 was 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—but 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 its apex predator.

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

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

If not for all the petty intrigues and political rivalries above, Qin Yun's victory here would've been effortless.

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

With that, Qin Yun ended the livestream, packed up the equipment, swapped in fresh batteries, and placed the old ones back in the compartment to charge.

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

He slept soundly all night.

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

After eating and drinking his fill, he cleaned up his traces, then opened the livestream and prepared to depart.

…

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

Strong competitors like Tang Mu and Jack showed signs of fatigue and pallor, but still retained sufficient stamina and maintained decent physical condition. Others, like Aolin and Kunta, struggled desperately to survive.

In past seasons, they might have fared well—but this season, with seven-day cycles and such long distances to cover, the danger wasn't just 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 meant unbearable suffering.

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 tackle them first. Only after securing these basic life needs could you consider deeper strategies.

The difficulty had skyrocketed.

At this moment, Guo Yao finally 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. Without 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, rotten branches and leaves—igniting anything was nearly impossible.

So she'd carefully prepared bundles of dry, fluffy material inside her homemade pack, anticipating the moment her matches ran out.

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

Her dinner tonight was a frozen white fish—she'd found it accidentally by the lake. 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 shadow slipped silently behind the rock where she sat.

"Holy shit, Yao-jie, danger!"

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

"What the hell is that?"

"Looks like a lion? Are you kidding—there are lions here?"

Guo Yao couldn't see the comments. She kept her head down, roasting the fish, chatting idly—frustrating the viewers to no end.

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

She leapt forward, face-to-face with the mountain lion perched on the rock.

Her heart pounded; she swallowed hard. "It's a mountain lion. But how…? Mountain lions exist in Atlin, but their density is low. My luck is terrible."

As she spoke, she raised the drone's camera, holding the roasted fish, and slowly stepped back.

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

Watching the lion's movements, Guo Yao had an idea—she quickly placed the roasted fish on the ground. "I hope the lion only wants my fish… but I don't recall mountain lions eating fish?"

If Qin Yun were here, he'd tell her: fish weren't the lion's main food, but they occasionally scavenged dead fish by the lake—snacks, really. Clearly, this lion was starving—otherwise, it wouldn't risk stealing from a large animal like her.

After Guo Yao set the fish down and stepped back a few paces, the lion sniffed the air, then moved toward the fish, gulping it down in two or three bites.

After eating, the lion cast a cold glance at Guo Yao, then leapt away, vanishing from her sight.

Watching this, Guo Yao exhaled in relief—but also felt like crying.

"My dinner…"

…

The second week ended quickly. This week, twenty-seven survivors remained—three fewer than the first week.

After being eliminated, these contestants naturally became the livestream's main viewers—only to realize that even if they'd survived to the end, victory was impossible, because one superhuman monster was in the game.

Yamamoto Kazusuke, Park Buncheng, and others thought Qin Yun wasn't human—while everyone else suffered, he ate well, drank well, slept well—it was two entirely different worlds.

Michael was stunned—he never imagined Qin, whom he'd casually bonded with in training camp, was this powerful. It was terrifying.

Losing to such a powerhouse wasn't shameful—Michael even felt a touch of schadenfreude.

The schadenfreude was aimed at Jack and others who'd been so arrogant in training camp—wait until the show ended, and see how they'd boast then.

As time passed, the show grew more thrilling—and the later it got, the more tense everyone became.

Since the production team hadn't announced anything, it meant over ten contestants were still holding out. The show wouldn't move to the next phase until only ten remained.

January 25th—the fourth day of the fourth week. At the production team's main livestream hub, only eleven streams remained active; all others had gone dark.

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

Not because she was strong—but because she was the most likely among the eleven to be eliminated next.

Aolin, a physically strong Black woman.

She'd nearly been eliminated on day one, yet clung on through sheer willpower.

Today, her luck didn't hold—she'd been poisoned.

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

Starting at midnight, she vomited and diarrhea, nauseated and dizzy, growing weaker by the hour.

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

Still, she refused to give up—she wouldn't press the distress button on her chest.

But the rescue team didn't wait passively—if the life monitor triggered an alarm, they'd act immediately.

Now, Aolin's life monitor had turned yellow—close to the red alarm.

A few minutes later, when the red light flashed, Daniel waved his hand—the rescue team moved instantly.

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

"I haven't given up—why are you here? I could've made it!"

"Let go of me—I can still hold on!"

"No! My child is watching—I must reach the second round!"

Everyone watching Aolin's stubbornness felt moved—but her condition was visibly deteriorating; without rescue, she'd face life-threatening danger.

With Aolin's elimination, the number of contestants finally dropped to ten. The air-drop and equipment teams, already prepared, immediately deployed.

The air-drop team would deliver "tickets"—meat parcels containing treasure chest keys. The equipment team would locate contestants and deliver positioning devices.

The contestants didn't yet know the show had entered its second phase—they continued marching toward the PEP.