Chapter 62: Xiong Da and Xiong Er

The raft was crude, but sturdy, and he controlled his center of gravity effortlessly, standing on it with evident ease.

But after a while, he couldn't hold out anymore and had to plop down, facing the wind, occasionally feeling the spray on his face—thankfully it was daytime and the temperature was tolerable; if it were night, the water would be cold enough to raise goosebumps.

"I just checked the time—it's been less than half an hour, but we've drifted at least twenty kilometers. If we'd walked, that'd take four hours; now I've only spent half an hour."

"And look—hasn't the current gotten much faster? The river's widened too. Lucky I chose a birchwood raft; if I'd used any other driftwood, it would've sunk by now."

Qin Yun spoke as he watched the river ahead, wary of colliding with any rocks.

"This Titanic's pretty sturdy—still holding together after all this time. Bad review."

"The host looks like he's enjoying himself."

"Qin Ye is drifting—awesome."

At that moment, Qin Yun raised the drone's secondary unit, steering it forward to scout ahead—just in case of submerged rocks or other dangers ahead.

Just five minutes after launching the drone, a massive shape appeared in the river within its feed.

The drone had already flown past, but instantly reversed, locking its lens onto the object in the frame.

"Holy shit… Host, stop! It's Xiong Da and Xiong Er."

"We're screwed—drifting and we run into bears? Looks like brown bears, and they're huge."

"Host, run! Die die die!"

"Bo Lang Ge sent the host five Carnivals—Qin Ye, be careful."

"Feng Liu Jie sent the host five Carnivals—Qin Ye, danger ahead."

Qin Yun paid no mind to their gifts; he suddenly stood up, staring at the screen, expression grave.

"Friends, my luck doesn't seem good—the river ahead holds two hunting brown bears. Judging by their sizes, the larger one is likely the sow, the smaller her cub. But you can probably tell—even the cub is about one and a half meters long, nearly two hundred kilograms. The big one, standing upright, may reach two and a half meters tall, weighing over four hundred kilograms."

"Facing such apex predators, I have no recourse but to flee—but the river's too swift. If I jump in, once the bears spot me, I won't escape. So I've decided…"

Qin Yun's gaze was calm; though his expression was grave, not a trace of panic showed.

The viewers who heard him grew restless.

"Holy crap—is Qin Ye planning to feed the bears?"

"The host's clearly going for a suicide run."

"We're done—stream's about to end. Gotta record fast."

"Qin Ye, don't be reckless. Hold steady."

Qin Yun ignored the comments. He strapped the drone to his body, turned on his action camera, tightened his backpack, and flattened himself onto the raft.

"This lowers the chance of the bears spotting me early. Since I'm in the water, my human scent is minimized. Brown bears have decent eyesight, especially motion detection—but at distance, they rely more on smell. Brothers, I've already seen them with my own eyes."

At this moment, the drone's AI switched the feed to Qin Yun's action camera; the water rushed loudly, and the distant brown bears' shapes, though blurry, were unmistakable.

Qin Yun couldn't say he wasn't nervous—even though the river had widened and the raft moved fast enough that if he just skimmed past the bears, they'd likely not catch him.

"We're dead—holy shit, I'm so nervous."

"Same. Qin Ye's way too calm—this is basically delivering a five-star meal."

"Host is awesome—daring to the extreme."

"Hope the host survives."

"Incredible—way more thrilling than foreign wilderness survival shows. Qin Ye, mighty."

Qin Yun was now less than thirty meters from the bears. He pressed a control button—immediately, the drone's propellers surged in speed, noise exploding upward. The sudden sound instantly drew the attention of the bears fishing in the river.

They both looked up at once, spotted the circling drone, and let out warning roars.

The low, rumbling sound traveled through the mic into the lens, sending chills down spines.

At that moment, Qin Yun's raft glided past the thirty-meter gap, slicing past the bears' left side, a mere three meters away—dancing on the edge of a blade.

He held his breath, eyes locked on the massive brown bear.

Only up close can you truly feel the gulf between species—there's simply no comparison.

His master-level combat skills made him formidable against humans—but facing this bear, Qin Yun knew they'd be useless. Even if he kept leveling up, he'd never inflict damage on such an apex predator.

Unless he had a weapon—say, a top-tier bow—he might survive by dodging, kite-fighting, wearing it down.

'Splash—!'

The sow suddenly lowered her head, snapping her gaze toward Qin Yun—she'd just caught the scent of meat, and now saw Qin Yun lying flat on the raft.

Even as Qin Yun turned his head, his eyes met the bear's.

"Holy shit—I've been spotted."

Qin Yun shouted, frantically thrashing his bamboo pole in the water, while the massive bear charged toward him.

The drone's lens now faced the bear—every roar, every thunderous charge streamed directly into every viewer's screen.

"Dead dead dead—the host's gonna die!"

"Faster, faster, Qin Ye, go faster!"

"It's fine—Qin Ye's raft's fast enough. The bear won't catch him."

As they spoke, the distant bear suddenly sank—its entire body plunged into the water, as the river's depth had sharply increased.

This instantly boosted the raft's speed. Qin Yun exhaled softly, sat up, watched the bear recede into the distance, and smiled.

"Brothers…"

Before he could finish the word, his whole body jolted—the raft beneath him crashed with a loud 'clang' against something hard, the vines snapped instantly, the raft disintegrated, and he plunged into the water.

In the blink of an eye, he vanished without a trace.

"... Did the Titanic sink?"

"Heaven—what happened to Qin Ye?"

"Where is he?"

Twenty seconds passed—the drone's feed showed no sign of Qin Yun, only the raging river.

"It's over, Master Qin is done for."

"You're kidding, right?"

"Impossible, Master Qin is that badass…"

Just then, the drone's footage cut, switching to the camera on Qin Yun's action cam. In the pitch-black underwater, limbs flailed, then a head suddenly surfaced from the water — who else but Qin Yun. His body couldn't withstand the rushing river's force at all, and the whole person continued to be swept forward at great speed.

"Master Qin is badass, he didn't even die."

"666, scared me to death, I thought Master Qin was done for."

"The danger isn't over yet, this current is pretty strong. Master Qin's earlier guess is very likely to come true — there might really be a waterfall up ahead."

"Eight Gifts a Day gifted the streamer a sports car — Go, Master Qin."

"I Love Handsome Guys gifted the streamer a luxury cruise ship — You can do it, Master Qin."

"Sister Isn't Cute gifted…………"

A huge wave of gifts scrolled across the screen monitor. Qin Yun had no time to pay attention to them, but he remained very calm — not a trace of anxiety could be seen on his face.

"Brothers, bad luck — the raft probably hit a rock and fell apart. I have to stabilize my body and get to shore as soon as possible, otherwise if a person hits the rocks, death is certain."

Qin Yun said a word to the drone, then began engaging his core, quickly sinking to the riverbed to grab the rocks at the bottom.

However, several consecutive attempts ended in failure — it was just too slippery.

Fortunately, his action cam and drone were both waterproof, so there was no worry about damage. DJI had taken waterproofing into account when designing these devices.

Qin Yun resurfaced: "It's hard to grab anything underwater, so I can only swim. I hope the waterfall or cliff ahead is a bit farther from me."

After saying that, the drone rose into the air, capturing the full panorama, while he began swimming hard on camera, edging bit by bit toward the riverbank.

It was called swimming, but it was mostly drifting — though it wasn't without effect; at least he got a little closer.

But after another bout of effort, Qin Yun gave up. His stamina was being wasted tremendously. He pulled the drone close again: "Brothers, the river current shows signs of getting faster and faster. The probability of a cliff waterfall up ahead is extremely high. I can't keep going like this — I have to actively get close to a big rock, otherwise I just can't stop."

"But in the river I can't see anything, so I can only rely on the drone. I hope my luck is a bit better."

He sent the drone out, and before long spotted a huge protruding gray rock. The rock wasn't large, but the fact that it could stand there the whole time meant its base was very solid.

His eyes lit up. He immediately adjusted his direction, getting his hands ready to make contact.

"Here it comes, go Master Qin!"

"You can do it, Master Qin — Must succeed."

"The streamer is done for. If he doesn't grab it, he's getting smashed to death."

"Trust Master Qin."

Qin Yun's focus was razor-sharp. The instant he neared the rock, he flung both arms back sharply, using the reaction force to slow down a little, then quickly reached out and gripped the upper edge of the rock with both hands — and his whole body was instantly yanked backward.

But he exerted force with both hands, veins bulging. Once his body became one with the gray rock, that force gradually faded.

"Phew… not bad luck."

Qin Yun gave the drone a thumbs-up, then observed for a moment, quickly sank down, picked up a rock in the river, and walked along the riverbed toward the bank.

In an instant, he successfully crawled onto the shore, soaking wet, looking utterly bedraggled.

He didn't bother with anything else, first checking the drone's condition. After confirming no water had seeped in, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Not bad. Although it was thrilling, I've successfully crossed nearly a hundred-plus kilometers. I have a premonition — finding humans isn't far off."

After Qin Yun finished speaking, he saw a pile of gifts scroll across the monitor. The biggest were already from Bo Lang Ge and Feng Liu Jie, of course others also sent Carnivals — all rich tycoons, all big spenders.

Qin Yun thanked them one by one, then directly took off his clothes.

"The streamer goes straight to smut without a word — love it."

"If I had Master Qin's body, I'd streak outside every day."

"I'm licking the screen—"

Qin Yun glanced at the comments and laughed: "The river water is still a bit cold. Wet clothes will sap my warmth, so taking them off is the safest thing."

Fortunately, his body was strong — without the wet clothes in the way, he didn't feel the slightest chill, but going without clothes indefinitely wasn't going to work.

"Looks like I can't leave today, I have to make a fire and dry my clothes. And relying on just the river, I might get to eat some delicious fish soup today."

"Master Qin, is there any chance Xiong Da and Xiong Er could catch up?"

Qin Yun replied: "From encountering the brown bear till now, the distance drifted far exceeds the brown bear's sense of smell, so no need to worry about them catching up. After all, compared to human meat, fish meat suits their taste better."

He rested a moment, then began building a stove on the spot and lighting a fire. In an instant, a simple stove took shape, flames leaping up and driving away the chill on his body. He stripped himself completely, cut the camera away, and hung his clothes beside the fire.

"Why doesn't Master Qin switch the camera back? So stingy."

"Upstairs — the instant he switches it back, the livestream goes black, believe it or not."

"Hahaha, Master Qin isn't really doing smut, you bastards."