Chapter 212: The Suddenly Disappeared Beacon Block

"What the fuck, my place got stolen?"

Qin Yun stared at the endless ocean, but could not see the beacon block anywhere—he was stunned.

Seeing his expression, netizens burst into laughter.

"Hahaha, screenshot taken, meme time."

"Damn, Qin Ye is in trouble."

"Without the beacon block, Qin Ye won't last long in the sea—but somehow it's kinda funny."

"Feels like the wind is howling."

Qin Yun looked at where the beacon block had been—now empty—and his heart instantly tightened.

This was the deep sea; without floating objects to push off from, he couldn't last long. Though he wouldn't drown, prolonged exposure to seawater would severely damage his body.

In other words, if he couldn't find the beacon block, this survival attempt would essentially end in failure.

His expression wasn't overly grim as he faced the main camera: "I'll send the drone out to search—it might have drifted somewhere else."

Soon after, the drone took off, maintaining a distance of about three hundred meters from him, while Qin Yun swam behind.

When they reached the original location of the beacon block, the area was empty; the drone's camera swept the surroundings but found nothing—only Qin Yun floated alone on the vast sea.

"Shit!"

"OMG, God please help."

"What do we do now? Is this over?"

"Served you right for pretending to be a good guy—now you're screwed, hahaha."

"Get the haters out of here, damn it."

Seeing this, Su Huan's heart shot up—she instantly stood from her chair.

She wanted to call for help, but stopped herself.

With Qin Yun's abilities, if he truly couldn't handle it, he'd say so himself—no need to rush, wait a little longer.

Qin Yun himself felt somewhat helpless.

"The drone's range is determined by the main unit's position—it can go no farther than three kilometers. The main unit can move up to five kilometers from me, but I still need to watch the drone's feed through the main unit's display, meaning I can only cover a three-kilometer radius."

As he spoke, he immediately sent the drone out again.

"Guys, wish me luck—if I don't find it, this will be my first survival failure."

Qin Yun's expression turned serious. Once the drone took off, he swam out slowly and steadily. Searching for a one-cubic-meter beacon block within a three-kilometer radius was extremely difficult—three full hours passed with no success.

He held his right hand up to the camera: "Look at my fingers—they've turned white from soaking. I can hold out at most five more hours. If I still haven't found the beacon block by then, and night falls, I'll have to call for rescue."

"I feel for Qin Ye—I'd be fish food in five minutes."

"Qin Ye is truly amazing—he's been swimming in the sea for three hours like it's nothing."

"A god among men."

"This failure isn't due to lack of skill—just bad luck."

Qin Yun shook his head, eyes never leaving the screen—the drone was still searching. As the distance widened, he gradually lost hope.

But sometimes things work this way: as dusk fell, Qin Yun's desire to give up grew stronger.

And then, at that moment, the drone finally spotted something.

Qin Yun quickly stabilized the drone's direction and locked onto the target. The beacon block was moving rapidly, sometimes tossed into the air, sometimes knocked aside—then dozens of dolphins leaping from the sea revealed why his beacon block had vanished.

"So unlucky—my beacon block was hijacked by dolphins," Qin Yun muttered, frustrated yet relieved. "But at least I found it. I hope these dolphins don't play too long—if night falls, it'll be hard to handle."

Seeing the beacon block and the dolphins on screen, netizens all exhaled in relief.

"Thank goodness we found it—if not, the stream would've ended."

"Qin Ye's luck is still good, hahaha."

"But it's far away—those dolphins might take the beacon block anywhere."

"Qin Ye can't catch up—if he loses it again, we're done."

Qin Yun took a deep breath and immediately sped up. As netizens said, if he lost it again, it would be over.

Fortunately, as time passed and darkness fell, the dolphins seemed to tire of their game, dropped the beacon block, and dove into the sea, vanishing from the camera's view.

Qin Yun estimated the position—it was right at the three-kilometer limit.

"Those bastards, piss me off," he cursed, quickly approaching. As darkness deepened, the ocean waves grew larger.

This slowed his swimming speed—if not for the drone's constant lock, he'd be in real trouble.

When he finally grabbed the parachute rope of the beacon block, night had fully fallen.

"Phew, what the hell—why has everything been so cursed these past two days?"

Qin Yun surged forward, flopping onto the beacon block. He quickly checked the supplies—thankfully, everything was still there. But the bait barrel's freshwater was down by more than half, leaving only a third.

He lifted the barrel and drank greedily, gulping down the water.

Night descended. Qin Yun sat on the beacon block, gazing at the star-strewn sky, finally relaxing.

"Friends, it's time to say goodbye again. Today, I was one step away from streaming failure—but my luck goddess protected me, letting me find the beacon block at the last moment."

He patted the beacon block beneath him: "Without this, I couldn't have lasted until dawn—I'd have failed for sure."

"Is your luck goddess your girlfriend?"

"Hehe, of course—Qin Ye's girlfriend is seriously top-tier."

"Wipe your drool—that's Qin Ye's girlfriend."

"Hahaha."

Seeing these teasing comments, Qin Yun admitted openly: "Hahaha, someone got it right—my luck goddess is definitely my girlfriend. When I have time, I'll introduce you to her—you'll all love her."

Watching this, Su Huan felt delighted, while Song Ya in Beijing nearly bit her teeth in half.

"Enough for now—I've lost too much energy today. Though I replenished with one horse mackerel, I must rest soon."

"Friends, see you tomorrow."

After ending the stream, Qin Yun packed up the drone and finally let out a long breath.

The beacon block vanishing without warning had been terrifying—thankfully he found it just in time.

Next time, I won't stray so far from the beacon block—if some giant fish drags away my shelter again, where will I cry?

But… I'm so hungry!

Qin Yun lay down, staring at the starry sky above—hunger completely engulfed him.

One horse mackerel barely made a dent in his afternoon's energy drain—the hunger now was overwhelming.

But at this hour, he could only endure it.

"Three days passed—six more to go. So far away."

With a sigh, Qin Yun crawled under the parachute cloth, preparing to rest.

…

In the blink of an eye, five days passed—it was the evening of the sixth survival day.

Qin Yun's appearance had changed drastically compared to six days ago.

Not only had he lost weight, his entire vitality had plummeted. With only protein and fat intake, his body had shrunk significantly.

Still, his overall strength remained decent—only one-third less than six days prior.

"Splash!"

Qin Yun burst from the sea, clutching a mackerel.

He shook water from his head, grinned at the drone's lens: "Yesterday I spent all day catching sardines—today I finally got something. Look, a mackerel—it's also called spadefish, a sea fish with a texture like shellfish."

"I've been craving this for ages—six days and I finally caught one. Guess my fishing skills suck."

Qin Yun flipped onto the beacon block. His lean body showed sharply defined muscles—after prolonged depletion of fat, his muscles stood out starkly.

Normally, this would be unhealthy.

Quickly, he sliced a thin piece of raw fish and shoved it into his mouth. As he chewed, a sweet, clean flavor instantly filled his mouth.

"Mmm… tasty, firm."

But the moment he spoke, his expression collapsed.

"But no matter how tasty, after six straight days of raw fish, I'm sick of it—now even the best fish tastes like chewing wax."

"Hahaha, I thought Qin Ye was savoring it—he was just pretending."

"Don't even joke—give me fish every day, grilled, fried, boiled, roasted—still, I'd get sick of it."

"Survival really isn't easy."

"Did you notice? Qin Ye's lost a ton of weight."

"Of course—he'd be superhuman if he still looked like he did during his wilderness survival days."

In minutes, he finished the mackerel—the hunger faded, but his body grew increasingly weak. Lacking carbohydrates, his body was forced to use protein for energy—inefficient and exhausting, leading to insufficient brain fuel and fatigue.

Even though he occasionally ate disgusting plankton, he still couldn't escape micronutrient deficiency. Imbalances in sodium, potassium, magnesium caused muscle weakness and relentless fatigue.

Fortunately, the nine-day mark was near.

After dinner, he cleaned the scraps and sat on the edge of the beacon block, pointing the drone's lens toward the distant sunset.

"Isn't it beautiful?"

Qin Yun's voice echoed in the livestream.

The setting sun had dyed the entire ocean a flowing gold-red, shimmering all the way to the horizon. Clouds filled the sky, layered and blazing under the sunset—magnificent.

The sea breeze brushed his face, warm and gentle. Without the pressure of survival, this scene would be breathtaking.

Qin Yun thought: this must be how tourists in the Maldives feel.

As time passed, darkness deepened, the deep blue slowly swallowed the last glow of twilight. One by one, stars ignited across the heavens—within moments, the entire night sky was filled with stars, the Milky Way clear and almost within reach.

Qin Yun sat on the gently swaying beacon block, gazing at the breathtaking starry sky, his mood slightly eased.

Even for him, these six days had been immense pressure; fortunately, aside from the storm on the second day, the skies had remained calm.

"Dā dā dā dā…"

Suddenly, an unexpected sound pierced Qin Yun's ears; he snapped his head around.

This is…

Qin Yun's movement startled the livestream audience.

"What's wrong, Master Qin?"

"Did you find something?"

"Could a tsunami be coming?"

"Think of Master Qin, please."

Qin Yun sprang to his feet, crouched low, and retracted the auxiliary drone, leaving only the main drone hovering beside him.

"I heard the sound of an engine."

"…"

Qin Yun's words plunged the livestream into silence.

The next moment, the comment section erupted.

"Engine? Humans? Fishing boat or cargo ship?"

"Did Master Qin encounter humans?"

"No matter what ship it is, Master Qin can ask for some food."

"Hahaha, time to improve the rations."

Qin Yun's expression was no longer relaxed; his voice, like a gust of wind, instantly extinguished all the audience's hopeful thoughts.

"The nearest island is eight hundred kilometers away from my position; a proper port is at least fifteen hundred kilometers. What I heard was an engine—this sound resembles a speedboat. But how could a speedboat reach here? It couldn't possibly travel that far on its own."

"So I suspect I've encountered pirates—this speedboat either just returned from its mother ship or has just left it."

"…"