Chapter 188

«Boom—!

The deafening roar of a helicopter grew closer, then a fully armed figure slid down a winch line, descending rapidly from the sky.

The opponent was completely encased, face obscured.

Qin Yun stared at the figure, who silently placed a device resembling a cellphone on the ground, pulled the winch line, and ascended again; soon, the helicopter's noise faded into the distance until it vanished entirely.

He frowned, looking at the camera: «So it seems the show has finally entered its second phase—I thought I'd at least make it through this week.

Saying this, he walked to the locator, picked it up, and pressed the power button.

While waiting for it to boot, he kept talking.

«I wonder how many have advanced so far—I hope Guo Yao makes it to the second stage.

«Besides Guo Yao, I also hope Emily, Gerard, and Michael all advance smoothly.

Hearing the voice from the phone, Michael let out a bitter laugh.

«Sorry to disappoint you, Qin, but Guo, Emily, and Gerard all advanced successfully.

Soon, the screen lit up, revealing a clean radar interface. He held it up to the camera, letting viewers observe with him.

As the locator's full functions activated, a blinking light point appeared on the screen.

The locator displayed distance—he glanced at the point's distance from his position, and his face darkened instantly.

«Fuck, 70KM? The production team is insane.

«Walking 70KM in three days is already insane; if the key's been swallowed by a beast, the distance becomes impossible to estimate—this is just unfair.

«Bullshit, I saw everyone else's distance max out at 30KM—only Qin's is the longest.

«Is this deliberate sabotage against Qin? They don't want him to win the championship.

TikTok erupted in outrage.

«Wow, Qin's done for.

«The production team went too far—even though I want my favorite to win, this blatant cheating is outrageous.

«I don't think so—I believe the producers gave him this challenge because they think he can handle it. Right now, others are surviving in the wild, but for Qin, it's just a trip. After all, it's a variety show.

«Crossing 70KM in three days is ridiculous, especially through dense forest with deep snow—it's extremely difficult.

«Let's see how Qin solves this—I'm sure he has a way.

Whether domestic or overseas, the moment viewers saw the distance displayed on Qin Yun's locator, massive criticism erupted.

Production camp.

George sighed helplessly—he'd only known the location was He Kou Hong Song Forest, never imagining it would be this far from Qin's position. Had he known earlier, he'd have never approved it.

Now, all he could do was wait and watch.

Many crew members only just learned of this situation; some even rushed to directors like Daniel and George to demand answers.

Daniel treated netizens' suspicions as truth, claiming Qin Yun was too powerful, so they deliberately increased his difficulty to boost the show's entertainment value.

When someone called it unfair, Daniel smiled and tacitly agreed.

Of course it's unfair—doesn't Qin Yun's strength make it unfair for everyone else?

Can Qin Yun handle this?

He held the locator, stared at the blinking point, and sighed.

«Looks like I've got a long trek ahead—I'll probably have to walk through the night, or I won't make it on time. I hope this 'ticket' stays put a little longer.

According to the show's rules, all tickets are wrapped in meat chunks—obviously to force beasts to swallow them, increasing the difficulty of finding the key.

So once a beast swallows the key, the challenge becomes unimaginable: if the target is locked within three days, there's still hope; if after three days you still don't know where the key is, you might as well press the rescue button and end your wilderness survival.

Hearing Qin Yun say this, many viewers temporarily forgot the production team's unfairness and grew excited.

«Haha, Qin's going to push nonstop—he'll probably reach the destination before the locator shuts off.

«No sleep? Damn, Qin's wilderness survival has only just begun.

«Hope he makes it—if Qin's gone from the show, what's even the point?

«Production team is fucking cruel.

Qin Yun calibrated his direction, wasted no time, and set off.

If the difficulty before was one, the challenge of finding the key in three days is five—he must reserve ample time to search for a key possibly swallowed by a beast. He can't afford to arrive exactly on day three; by then, the key would be long gone.

He wouldn't even get scraps to eat!

So his plan: two days, just two days, to cover these 70KM.

In January, the Ate Lin Lake primeval forest was blanketed in snow, littered with fallen trees—every step was extremely difficult, so he had to abandon his usual movement method.

«Normally, an average person moves about five hundred meters per hour here; even walking seven hours a day, they'd cover only three or four kilometers. But under my condition, I can manage about ten kilometers a day.

Qin Yun occasionally glanced at the drone trailing beside him.

«But even this speed won't get me there on time. So I'm forced to extend my walking hours into the night—I'll stop at ten PM and start again at five AM, ensuring seventeen hours of movement daily.

«Even so, seventeen hours only lets me advance twenty-five kilometers a day—barely enough to reach the target in three days. I still need to find a way to increase my speed.

As Qin Yun explained, his eyes scanned the surroundings, occasionally touching fallen logs on the ground.

«What's slowing me down? Unclear terrain and the snow covering it. If I could ignore the snow, my speed would increase dramatically. What can ignore snow?

In the livestream comments, someone had already typed it out.

«Qin's going to make snowboards again.

«But snowboards aren't very useful in the forest, right?

«Didn't Qin say he just needs to avoid being slowed by snow? Any speed increase is a win.

Qin Yun couldn't see the comments, but his reactions felt like he could.

«I know many of you guessed it—yes, snowboards.

«But regular snowboards won't work—I'll make two wider ones. Even a slight speed boost is a victory for me.

«I don't know how fast others will find their keys, so besides finding mine, I must compete with them—the faster, the better.

Qin Yun kept muttering as he rummaged through the forest, quickly finding suitable wood.

He cleared the snow on the spot and started a fire.

By the time he finished crafting two oval snowboards, over two hours had passed. Standing on them, he looked like he was balancing on lotus leaves—comically absurd.

He stepped onto the snow, tested it, and laughed: «Hahaha! To do a job well, you must first sharpen your tools—this actually works. The snow sinks perfectly just outside the board's edge.

Qin Yun's snowboards had 360-degree upturned edges.

With snowboards ready, Qin Yun immediately sped up, checked his locator—the key hadn't moved at all, still not swallowed. Good news.

As he walked, the snowboards' advantage became clear—his speed doubled.

At this pace, he could reach his destination in one and a half days.

As Qin Yun moved, the other nine contestants also advanced toward their targets using their locators—those closer, like Emily and Jack, were only tens of kilometers away; farther ones like Gerard were under thirty kilometers.

In short, while Qin Yun had jumped to 70KM, the other nine were all under 30KM.

This was one reason netizens erupted in outrage.

The distance gap was too extreme.

But soon, the production team delivered another surprise: within less than a day, all nine keys began moving—meaning, except Qin Yun's, every other key had been swallowed by animals.

Seeing this, netizens instantly felt more balanced.

«Haha, I thought it was unfair to Qin, but now it seems okay.

«Look at Tom—he has no idea which way to go. Must've been eaten by some beast.

«Justin's key is moving farther away from him—hahaha!

«Holy shit, Gerard's key is moving toward him—what luck!

With keys swallowed by beasts, the show's drama exploded—viewership surged, and criticism of the production team vanished instantly.

But only Daniel knew the truth—he hadn't wanted the giant beast at He Kou Hong Song Forest to swallow the key; the drug's effect on the beast hadn't kicked in yet—it was sleeping too deeply in hibernation.

Of course, he wasn't worried another animal would eat it—the key sat right at the cave entrance. Which animal would dare enter a grizzly bear's den to snack?

So he was perfectly content with the current situation.

One and a half days passed in a flash.

The first person to claim the «ticket» appeared.

Gerard effortlessly killed a polar fox, slit its belly open, and pulled out a glowing silver key.

He wiped the key on his clothes and laughed loudly: «Lucky me—I found the key in under two days. Now let's see where the treasure chest is.

He pulled out his locator and pressed the key against its sensor.

The blinking light point vanished with a crisp «beep»—then, after a moment, a new blinking point appeared.

Gerard checked the distance between the two points—about fifty kilometers.

He adjusted his direction, then realized—the new point was exactly where Ate Lin Lake lay.

«Look, if I head fifty kilometers from here, that's Ate Lin Lake—hopefully I'm the closest.

Saying this, he set off.

At four PM, before dusk, Tom successfully killed a lynx, opened its belly, and retrieved his key. His position was about forty kilometers from the locator's point.

Soon after, three more contestants (Xiao En, Jack, Justin) claimed their treasure keys.

Kangtai watched the wolf pack and chose to quit; Johnson stared at the flying bald eagle, then tearfully pressed the rescue button.

As the third day dawned.

Five contestants had claimed their keys, two had quit, and three still struggled on.

Except for Qin Yun, Guo Yao and Emily had already begun hunting their targets.