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, and was left dumbfounded.

Seeing his expression, netizens burst out laughing.

"Hahaha, already screenshot, 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 kind of funny."

"Feels like the wind is howling."

Qin Yun looked at where the beacon block had been, now completely empty, and his heart instantly shot up.

This was the deep sea; without any 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, it essentially meant his survival attempt would end in failure.

His expression was grave as he looked toward the main camera: "I'll send the drone out to search—it might have drifted somewhere else."

Soon after, the drone flew out, maintaining a position about three hundred meters from him, while Qin Yun swam behind.

When they reached the original location of the beacon block, it was empty; the drone's camera swept the area but found nothing—vast ocean, with only Qin Yun floating on the surface.

"Shit!"

"OMG, God save me."

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

"Served you right for pretending to be a good guy—look at you now, hahaha."

"Black fans, get the hell out, damn it."

Seeing this, Su Huan's heart leapt; she immediately stood up 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, no need to rush, wait a little longer.

Qin Yun was also somewhat helpless.

"The drone's range is determined by the main unit's position—it can go no farther than three kilometers from the main unit. Though the main unit can move up to five kilometers away from me, 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—otherwise, this survival attempt will be my first failure."

Qin Yun's expression was grave. After the drone took off, he swam out slowly and steadily. Searching for a one-cubic-meter beacon block within a three-kilometer radius was undeniably difficult; after three full hours, he found nothing.

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, once night falls, I'll have to call for rescue."

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

"Qin Ye is truly awesome—three hours in the sea and he's fine."

"A god among men."

"This failure isn't due to lack of skill—there's nothing to be done, just bad luck."

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

But sometimes things work this way: as the sky began to darken, Qin Yun's desire to give up grew stronger.

And just then, the drone finally made a discovery.

Qin Yun quickly stabilized the drone's direction and locked onto the target. The beacon block was speeding forward, sometimes flung upward, 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, both frustrated and relieved. "But at least I found it—hope these dolphins don't play too long, or once night falls, it'll be hard to handle."

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

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

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

"But it's still far away—these 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 the netizens said, if he lost it again, it would be over.

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

Qin Yun judged the position—it was roughly 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, and quickly checked the supplies—thankfully, everything was still there, though the bait barrel's freshwater had been reduced by more than half, leaving only one-third.

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

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

"Friends, it's time to say goodbye again. Today, I was one step away from livestream failure, but my luck goddess still watched over me—she let me find the beacon block at the last moment."

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

"Luck goddess? Is that your girlfriend?"

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

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

"Hahaha."

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

Watching this, Su Huan felt delighted inside, while Song Ya in Beijing nearly ground her teeth to dust.

"Alright, no more talking—I've lost too much energy today. Though I refilled with one mackerel, I must rest soon."

"Friends, see you tomorrow."

After going offline, Qin Yun retracted the drone and finally let out a long breath.

The beacon block vanished for no reason—it was too close a call; luckily, I found it at the last moment.

Next time, I can't stray so far from the beacon block. If I run into another giant fish and it drags away my shelter, where will I cry?

But... I'm hungry!

Qin Yun lay down, staring at the starry sky above him; hunger completely enveloped him.

One island mackerel barely made a dent in his afternoon's energy expenditure; the hunger now was overwhelming.

But it was late at night—he could only endure it.

"Three days passed; six more to go. It feels endless."

With a sigh, Qin Yun crawled under the tarp, 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 a full circle of body mass, his entire vitality had plummeted. With only protein and fat intake daily, his body had shrunk considerably.

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

"Splash—!"

Qin Yun burst from the sea surface, clutching a kingfish.

Shaking water from his head, he faced the drone's lens and laughed: "Yesterday I spent another full day catching sardines; today, finally, some real catch—look, a kingfish. It's also called spadefish, a sea fish with a texture like shellfish."

"I've been longing for this for ages; I didn't catch one until day six. Guess my fishing skills aren't great."

Qin Yun flipped onto the beacon block; his lean body showed unmistakable muscle definition, for over time, all his fat had been burned away, leaving his muscles sharply visible.

Normally, this would be unhealthy.

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

"Mmm... tasty, firm."

But the moment he spoke, his expression collapsed.

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

"Haha, I thought Qin Ye looked so blissful—he was just pretending."

"Don't even say Qin Ye eats raw every day—even if I had to eat fish every day, grilled, fried, boiled, roasted, switching daily, I'd get sick of it."

"Turns out survival isn't easy."

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

"Of course—he'd be superhuman if he still looked as fit as he did in the wilderness survival show after this."

In a few quick bites, he finished the kingfish; the hunger finally faded, but his physical weakness grew more pronounced. Lacking carbohydrates, his body had to use protein for energy—this was inefficient, highly taxing, and led to insufficient brain fuel, causing fatigue.

Even though he occasionally consumed unpalatable plankton, he still couldn't escape micronutrient deficiency. For example, after sodium, potassium, and magnesium became imbalanced, his muscles weakened and fatigue never left.

Fortunately, the nine-day mark was near.

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

"Isn't it beautiful?"

Qin Yun's voice echoed through the livestream.

The setting sun had dyed the entire sea a flowing gold-red, shimmering waves stretching all the way to the horizon. Today's sky held many clouds, layered and blazing under the sunset, magnificent beyond words.

The sea breeze brushed his face, warm and gentle; without the pressure of survival, this view would be utterly breathtaking.

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

As time passed, darkness slowly fell; deep blue gradually swallowed the last glow. One by one, stars ignited across the heavens, and in but an instant, the entire night sky was filled with stars—the Milky Way clear as if within reach.

Sitting on the gently swaying beacon block, Qin Yun gazed at this breathtaking starry sky; his mood eased slightly.

Even for him, these six days had been immense pressure—but thankfully, aside from the storm on the second day, the past few days had been perfectly calm.

"Dadadada..."

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

This is...

Qin Yun's movement startled the livestream viewers.

"What's wrong with Qin Ye?"

"Did he find something?"

"Is a tsunami coming?"

"Think of Qin Ye!"

Qin Yun sprang up, crouched low, temporarily retracted the auxiliary camera, and kept only the main one hovering beside him.

"I heard the sound of a motor."

"..."

Qin Yun's words instantly silenced the livestream.

The next moment, the comment section erupted.

"Ma Da? Human? Fishing boat or cargo ship?"

"Has Qin Ye encountered humans?"

"No matter what ship, Qin Ye can ask for food now."

"Hahaha, time to upgrade the menu!"

Qin Yun's expression was far from relieved; his voice, like a passing breeze, instantly extinguished all the viewers' hopeful thoughts.

I am eight hundred kilometers from the nearest island, and the nearest official port is at least fifteen hundred kilometers away. Yet I heard the sound of an engine—this sound was very much like that of a speedboat. But how could a speedboat possibly reach here? It couldn't even travel that far on its own.

So I suspect I may have encountered pirates, and this speedboat either just returned to its mother ship after raiding, or just left the mother ship.

…