Chapter 188: Finding the Ticket

Boom—!

The deafening roar of a helicopter grew closer, then a fully armed figure dropped swiftly from the sky, sliding down a winch rope.

The opponent was completely encased, their face obscured.

Qin Yun stared at the figure, who placed a device resembling a cellphone on the ground without a word, pulled the winch rope, and ascended again; soon the helicopter's roar faded into the distance until it vanished entirely.

He looked puzzled at the camera: "It seems the show has finally entered its second stage—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 up, he kept talking.

"I wonder how many people have advanced so far—I hope Guo Yao makes it through to the second phase."

"Besides Guo Yao, I also hope Emily, Gerard, and Michael all advance successfully."

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, as the screen lit up, a clean radar interface appeared. He held the screen toward the camera, letting viewers observe with him.

As all functions of the locator gradually activated, a blinking light point flashed onto the screen.

The locator displayed distance—he glanced at the distance between the point and his position, and his expression 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."

"Damn, this is rigged—everyone else's distance was at most 30KM, but Qin's is the longest."

"Is this deliberate sabotage to make Qin's path harder? They don't want him to win the championship."

TikTok erupted in outrage.

"Wow, Qin's done for now."

"The production team went too far—even though I want my favorite to win, this blatant cheating is over the line."

"I don't think so—I believe the production team 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, this is a variety show."

"Covering 70KM in three days is exaggerated, especially through dense forest with deep snow—it's going to be tough."

"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 team camp.

George sighed helplessly—he'd only known about He Kou Red Pine Forest, never imagining its location would be this far from Qin's position. Had he foreseen this, he'd never have approved it.

Now, all he could do was wait and watch.

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

Daniel treated netizens' suspicions as truth, justifying the added difficulty by claiming Qin Yun was too powerful, and that increasing the challenge would enhance 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 overwhelming strength make it unfair to everyone else?

Can Qin Yun handle this?

He held the locator in his hand, staring at the blinking point, and sighed helplessly.

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

According to the production team's setup, all tickets are wrapped inside chunks of meat—obviously to force beasts to swallow them, increasing the difficulty of finding the key.

So once a beast swallows the key, the difficulty skyrockets. If the key's location is locked within three days, there's still hope. But if after three days no one knows where the key is, then just press the rescue button and end this 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 automatically."

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

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

"Production team is scum."

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

If the difficulty of the previous surroundings was one, then the difficulty 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 possibly arrive exactly on day three; by then, everything would be cold.

He wouldn't even get scraps to eat!

So in his plan, he must cover these 70KM in just two days.

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 method of travel.

"Normally, in such terrain, an average person moves about five hundred meters per hour, and even if they walk seven hours a day, they'd cover no more than three or four kilometers. But under my condition, I can manage about ten kilometers a day."

Qin Yun occasionally glanced at the drone flying beside him.

"But even this speed clearly won't get me there on time. So I'm forced to extend my walking hours at night—I plan to stop at ten p. m. each night and start again at five a. m., ensuring seventeen hours of movement daily."

"Even so, seventeen hours only guarantee me twenty-five kilometers per day—barely enough to reach the destination in three days. So I still need to find a way to increase my speed."

As Qin Yun explained, his eyes scanned the surroundings, occasionally reaching down to touch fallen logs.

"What's slowing me down is the obscured terrain and the snow covering it. If I could ignore the snow, my speed might increase dramatically. What kind of device can ignore snow?"

In the livestream's comment section, someone had already typed it out.

"Qin's probably 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 the snow? As long as it's faster than his current pace, it's a good solution."

Qin Yun couldn't see the comments, but his interactions made it seem as if he'd read them all.

"I think many of you already know—yes, snowboards."

"But regular snowboards won't do—I'm going to make two wider ones. If they boost my speed even slightly, it's a victory for me."

"I don't know how fast others find keys, so besides finding the key myself, I need to compete with others—so the faster, the better."

Qin Yun chattered nonstop, rummaging through the forest, and soon found suitable wood.

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

By the time the two oval snowboards were finished, more than two hours had passed. Qin Yun stood on the snowboards, as if standing on lotus leaves, looking utterly ridiculous.

He stepped onto the snow and watched the effect, laughing: "Hahaha, to do a job well, you must first sharpen your tools—it seems to have some effect; the sunken parts fit perfectly against the upturned edges."

Qin Yun's snowboards had upturned edges that curved upward all 360 degrees.

After finishing the snowboards, Qin Yun immediately sped up, pulled out his locator, and checked—it still hadn't moved, clearly not yet swallowed by any animal, which was good news for him.

As soon as he started walking, the advantage of the snowboards became clear—his speed doubled.

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

While he moved, the other nine contestants also carried their locators toward the target positions; those closer, like Emily and Jack, were only tens of kilometers away, while those farther, like Gerard, were under thirty kilometers.

In fact, except for Qin Yun, who had jumped ahead to seventy kilometers, the farthest any of the other nine had traveled was under thirty kilometers.

This was one reason why netizens were outraged, feeling it was unfair.

The distance gap was too large.

But soon, the production team gave everyone another surprise—less than a day later, the positions of the nine keys began to move, meaning that, except for Qin Yun, all others' keys had been successfully swallowed by animals.

Seeing this, netizens instantly felt things had become more balanced.

"Hahaha, I thought it was unfair to Qin, but now it doesn't seem so bad."

"Look at Tang Mu—he has no idea which way to go; I wonder what animal ate his key."

"Justin's key is getting farther from him—hahaha."

"No way, Gerard's key is moving toward him—what incredible luck."

As the keys were swallowed by wild beasts, the show's effect immediately exploded—viewership surged, and everyone instantly stopped complaining about the production team's arrangement.

But only Daniel knew the real situation—he hadn't wanted the giant beast in He Kou Red Pine Forest to swallow the key; the drug's effect on the giant beast hadn't kicked in yet, and the beast was sleeping too deeply in hibernation.

Of course, he wasn't worried another animal would eat the key, because the key lay right at the cave entrance—who would be bold enough to eat at the doorstep of a brown bear?

So, under current circumstances, he was perfectly content.

One and a half days passed in the blink of an eye.

The first person to obtain the "ticket" appeared.

Gerard effortlessly killed a Arctic fox, slit its belly open, and pulled out a key emitting a silver glow.

Wiping the key on his clothes, Gerard laughed heartily: "My luck's good—I found the key in less than two days. Now let's see where the treasure chest is on the locator."

Saying this, he pulled out the locator and pressed the key against its sensor.

The previously flickering dot vanished with a crisp "beep," and after a moment, a new flickering dot appeared on the locator.

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

He adjusted his direction and suddenly realized—the location was none other than Lin Hu.

"Look, if I head fifty kilometers from here, that's almost certainly Lin Hu—I hope I'm the closest to it."

With that, he set off.

At four in the afternoon, before dusk, Tang Mu successfully killed a lynx, slit its belly open, and retrieved the key. His position was about forty kilometers from the locator's dot.

Later, one by one, three more people (Xiao En, Jack, Justin) obtained the treasure chest key.

Kang watched the wolf pack and chose to give up; Johnson stared at the flying bald eagle, tears welling up as he pressed the rescue button.

As the third day dawned.

Five people had obtained the treasure chest key; two had given up; three were still struggling.

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