Chapter 195: Treasure Chest Secured

For Emily and the others, giving up the treasure chest so close at hand was naturally hard to accept.

But their abilities were limited, and there was nothing they could do—this fortune lay beyond a chasm between them, visible but unreachable.

They had tried before; in this extreme environment, even Tang Mu, strong as an ox, had less advantage than Emily. The stronger one was, the more oxygen they needed, and the less time they could stay underwater.

As for Xiao En, he figured if both Tang Mu and Emily had failed—and both had barely escaped with their lives—he believed third time was the charm, and if he went down too, it would truly be his end.

Before one's life, two million dollars aren't worth it.

Watching Qin Yun put his clothes back on, the others thought silently and did not disturb him, standing quietly aside to wait.

Since they now knew the treasure chest was at the bottom of the lake, today would surely bring a result—this season of "Wild Survival" had reached its final stage.

Qin Yun thought for a while and suspected the problem might still lie with the treasure chest itself.

Knowing the production team's nature, he felt the chest's weight was certainly heavy. If made of pure iron, given its size, it might weigh as much as 30kg.

Even underwater, 30kg of iron would feel like about 80% of its weight—equivalent to him hauling back a fifty-jin stone, a difficulty far beyond carrying Emily up.

Of course, the main issue was still energy consumption.

He looked at his drone, then squatted on the ice, picking up nearby stones to draw a right triangle.

"Look, the ice hole is here, the treasure chest is here."

The moment he spoke, the livestream camera instantly cut to him, and Emily and the other three immediately walked over.

Qin Yun tapped the ice with a stone: "This is already the best spot we've found for drilling—the ice thickness increases further in. From the ice hole to directly above the treasure chest is roughly 45m, and from there to the chest vertically, I estimate about 33m. Thus, according to the Pythagorean theorem, the straight-line distance from the ice hole to the treasure chest is about 55 meters."

"Now that we know the position, 55 meters isn't a problem for me—the issue remains the chest itself."

Qin Yun looked up at the drone: "It's an iron chest, as wide as my body. I conservatively estimate its weight exceeds 30kg. Even at 30kg, my physical exertion and oxygen consumption will multiply. Remember, 30 meters underwater is a high-pressure deep-water environment—the deeper you go, the more oxygen you consume, and the faster your stamina depletes."

"I recall the deepest ice diving record is 56 meters, but that was just for the record—I still have to bring the chest back up."

Listening to Qin Yun's explanation, the livestream viewers gradually understood the difficulty.

"Fucking hell, the production team is truly ruthless, putting an iron chest at the bottom."

"I think the higher the difficulty, the more exciting it is—if it were easy to get, it wouldn't be interesting."

"The problem is, without Qin Ye, Emily might be dead—this production team completely disregards life."

"Let's see what Qin Ye does—I'm sure he has a way."

Domestic fans maintained their unwavering faith in Qin Yun; foreign viewers, though less certain, still hoped he would successfully retrieve the chest.

"Boom—!"

Daniel's office door was shoved open, and George stormed in.

"Daniel, don't you owe us an explanation?"

Daniel pinched his brow, looking weary: "Explain what? The chest's location? That I rigged it?"

Hearing this, George grew even angrier.

"Why did you do this? Didn't you say they gave up?"

Daniel spread his hands, calmly facing him: "It was a precaution added from the start. If Tang Mu and the others approached the chest, they could easily retrieve it in shallow water—but Qin can't."

"FUCK!"

"Don't FUCK yet," Daniel leaned back in his chair. "I swear this was arranged last time, not added later. They didn't want a Chinese contestant to win, so they had me make the chest sink to the lake bottom when Qin neared it. But if he still gets it, they'll have nothing to say."

"34.5 meters, bringing back a 44kg iron chest—you know that's impossible," George hissed, lowering his voice.

"…."

In truth, for Qin Yun, it boiled down to one question: could his body's oxygen sustain a round trip?

Ice water itself consumes extra oxygen, raising metabolism. A 50-meter swim out consumes a terrifying amount of oxygen, let alone the added cost of hauling the iron chest back.

"So, according to my calculations, if swimming from the ice hole to the chest consumes 1 unit of oxygen, carrying the iron chest and performing all the necessary work would consume three times that—or more."

Qin Yun calmly analyzed the problem, breaking down each difficulty step by step for the livestream, so viewers could grasp the true challenge.

"That means I'd need to carry over 4 units of oxygen to return safely after diving. But the average person can hold only 0.2 units; even my body can't store 4 units. That's the core problem—consumption far exceeds storage."

As Qin Yun laid out each detail, viewers gradually grasped the sheer magnitude of the difficulty.

But…

"Qin Ye, I can only hold 0.2—you're close to 4? That's a huge gap?"

"After Qin Ye's analysis, he doesn't even seem human anymore."

"Damn, this is insane—I don't believe it."

"I can hold my breath for a minute—according to Qin Ye, that means he could hold it for twenty?"

"What's so special? Try holding your breath for a minute in the ocean, then try it in sub-zero water."

"What's sub-zero water? Water freezes at zero degrees."

"Idiot—that's the freezing point of pure water."

Emily and the others heard Qin Yun's analysis clearly.

Emily said: "Qin, isn't the nearest breathing hole closer? That could save a lot of energy."

"The distance isn't much different," Qin Yun shook his head, standing and looking toward Su Huan. "Maybe I'll go check the shore."

Tang Mu frowned: "Qin, are you thinking of making a breathing tube from plants?"

He shook his head: "This season, there's no such vegetation along the edge of Atlin Lake. In summer, maybe cattails or reeds would work."

Qin Yun smiled and walked straight toward the shore: "Not plants."

"Not plants?" Tang Mu was puzzled—what else could possibly work?

But since Qin Yun said so, he clearly already had a plan.

The others followed behind, curious.

Not just them—the livestream viewers were all dying to know.

But Qin Yun said nothing, so no one's guesses mattered.

Arriving at the shore, Qin Yun turned back to look at them: "Don't follow me for now—I'll be back soon."

Saying this, he crouched low and slipped directly into the forest.

"What's Qin Ye going to do?"

"Curiosity."

"Has Qin given up?"

"…"

"Die, Chinese."

After plunging deep into the forest, Qin Yun took down his bow and arrows, then said calmly: "It's exactly as Tang Mu said—I want to make a long enough breathing tube to reduce the burden. But vegetation suitable for making tubes won't survive this season, so I've decided to use animal intestines."

Upon hearing this, ordinary viewers were merely surprised, but PETA fanatics immediately went berserk—vile curses erupted wildly in the comment section, though only the audience could see them; Qin Yun had no idea.

He didn't even know he now had a group of foreign fans who hated him intensely.

"Using animal intestines as a temporary breathing tube is the only solution I can think of right now," Qin Yun smiled faintly. "But ordinary animal intestines won't work—wolves, foxes, rabbits—their intestines are too thin, their walls too fragile; they collapse instantly under water pressure and are unusable."

"Here, the animals I can think of that are suitable are moose, reindeer, and musk ox. Musk ox intestines are best—thick enough, long enough, extremely tough, about five centimeters in diameter, eight meters in length—more than enough for me."

"If I can't find a musk ox, I'll have to settle for reindeer or moose." He sighed helplessly. "Actually, I once had the perfect one—you know it—the brown bear's intestines were ideal too, but I didn't value them."

How could he have known the treasure chest lay beneath the water? Naturally, he discarded the intestines like trash.

Now, he had to return to the forest and hunt again.

Half an hour later, Qin Yun finally spotted signs of a North American reindeer herd; with his skills, he easily killed a male reindeer without expending much effort.

Carrying the seven- to eight-meter-long intestine, Qin Yun returned and began processing it.

Emily, Tang Mu, Xiao En, and Justin stared at what Qin Yun held in his hands and immediately understood.

Tang Mu looked at Qin Yun with admiration: "You found a reindeer and hunted one down in such a short time."

Qin Yun shrugged, rinsed it clean with icy water, then prepared to act.

He stripped off his clothes again; the cold wind bit his skin, raising goosebumps—even the strongest human would struggle against this extreme cold of minus thirty degrees.

"Qin, be careful—life matters most," Emily added as Qin Yun prepared to enter the water.

He nodded, gripped the intestine, and jumped in, swiftly swimming toward the farthest breathing hole. When he reached it, he took a breath, then shoved one end of the intestine upward. Emily immediately grabbed that end and pulled it up, securing it with something.

Qin Yun gave them a thumbs-up, bit the other end in his mouth, tied the rope around his wrist, flipped over, and dove into the lake.

Soon, the seven- to eight-meter intestine reached its limit; he took a deep breath—there was some resistance, but airflow remained smooth. Yet from this point on, he was entirely on his own; by the time he returned, the intestine would surely freeze and become unusable.

Besides, the water teemed with omnivorous fish—who knew if a pike might come along and eat the intestine?

After ensuring his oxygen intake reached its limit, Qin Yun bit down hard on his high-beam flashlight, and his limbs moved lightly, swiftly swimming toward where the treasure chest had sunk.

Fortunately, Atlin Lake was freshwater; the temperature grew colder near the surface but rose gradually downward, stabilizing around three to four degrees.

By the time Qin Yun reached twenty to thirty meters, the temperature was already above freezing.

The flashlight's beam illuminated two or three meters ahead; Qin Yun swam further, estimating he'd gone beyond thirty meters—but still no lakebed in sight.

"Damn, miscalculated."

He cursed inwardly, continued descending another four or five meters—then a glint finally appeared in his vision: nothing but the massive treasure chest.

His heart leapt; he reached out and grabbed the iron ring on top of the chest. With a slight tug, the chest rose from the lakebed.

But its weight made his expression flicker.

"Holy shit, over forty kilos—the production team never intended to pay out the prize."

He was furious. Who, outside this show, could haul a forty-kilo iron chest up from over thirty meters underwater? Pure fantasy.

Yet recalling where he first saw the chest, perhaps it had merely fallen there by accident.

Without further thought, he hugged the chest tightly and began his ascent. The chest's immense weight dragged heavily on him; his remaining oxygen plummeted rapidly. After swimming only ten meters up, his chest grew heavy and tight.

Qin Yun knew: the lower the oxygen, the faster it burned—like a phone battery. At 100%, it lasts long; once it drops below 70%, consumption spikes.

At that moment, some unknown creature suddenly charged straight at him, slamming its massive force against his back and flinging him sideways.

Qin Yun's back burned with pain.

"Damn, what the hell was that?"

He wasn't afraid—but the sudden collision from the dark creature nearly disrupted his breath.

In the live stream, countless viewers stared at the screen, tense and waiting.

Su Huan clasped her hands together, praying nonstop; though the room was heated, she still felt cold all over.

A sense of fear kept swirling inside her.