Chapter 317: The Impact of the Two Bears Leaving!

Soon, Xiao Yi and his group arrived again near the log cabin camp.

But this time, Xiao Yi still did not stop here; he passed directly through the vicinity of the camp and headed straight west.

After all, he couldn’t live here—what difference would it make even if he lingered to take a few more glances?

To be honest, in the dozens of days Xiao Yi had spent in the wilderness, he had explored southward, not to mention the east—he even went farther than the Second Black Hole Cave while searching for reindeer.

Though the north was cold, Xiao Yi had still made short trips into that region due to the wolf packs there.

Only the west remained unexplored by Xiao Yi—not because he had any superstitions, but because a towering mountain rose directly west of his cabin.

Adjacent to this mountain stretched dozens of miles of rolling hills; if they weren’t so low, they could pass for a small mountain range.

Of course, calling it a “tall mountain” was somewhat exaggerated, but it still looked to be about eight hundred meters high.

In highland regions, eight hundred meters wouldn’t even count as tall—barely the runt of the mountain range.

But this was the Arctic wilderness plain; as far as the eye could see, apart from around the mountain, there weren’t many hills even two or three hundred meters high, let alone an eight-hundred-meter peak.

It was the tallest among dwarfs!

With this mountain blocking the way, Xiao Yi simply didn't bother exploring the west, since climbing through such deep snow was still dangerous.

But now, Xiao Yi had to face this choice: climb over the mountain, or detour dozens of miles?

Of course, both options carried their own dangers—if he crossed this small mountain range, no one knew what might live inside.

Shallow waters have many turtles! It wasn’t impossible for wolf packs, bears, lynx, and wildcats to dwell within this range.

Compared to climbing, detouring might be safest—but Xiao Yi’s terrible sense of direction made him fear he’d get lost in the process.

But now wasn’t the time to ponder this—he still had an entire night to think.

After passing the log cabin camp, Xiao Yi spent another half hour before finally reaching the foot of this “tall mountain.”

The sky had begun to darken again; based on his estimate, it would be fully dark in another hour.

So Xiao Yi abandoned the idea of pushing further and decided to set up camp nearby.

After observing his surroundings, he found a relatively flat spot and began constructing his temporary camp.

As usual, he piled snow into his steamer pot, dumped it out, and molded individual snow blocks to build windbreak walls.

The process wasn’t fast—it might take over an hour—but Xiao Yi was already very skilled at this.

Fortunately, he had already lit a fire; under its glow, he didn’t have to work in complete darkness.

Though Xiao Yi’s immediate surroundings were quiet, the aftermath of his sending away Heidan and Goudan continued to ripple—even leaving the production team exasperated.

First, the topic of Heidan and Goudan’s departure surged to the trending list within half an hour.

Within two hours, the two bears had climbed to eleventh place on the trending list.

With this level of discussion and popularity, it was certain they’d reach number one soon.

Many netizens were confused when they saw Heidan and Goudan on the trending list, wondering how two bears had made it so high.

Only after clicking in did they finally understand!

This winter, if any topic had the most attention and popularity, it was undoubtedly the wilderness survival showdown hosted by YinFu and SuShou, the two giants.

After all, few young people didn’t use YinFu and SuShou’s short-video platforms.

Anyone who used them would inevitably see clips from these two shows pop up on their screens.

Xiao Yi was the most discussed figure in both of these phenomenon shows, and his long-term care of Heidan and Goudan gave him immense public recognition.

Even many who didn’t watch the show knew Xiao Yi had raised two bears, Heidan and Goudan.

Moreover, these two black bears were especially famous among children.

So when netizens opened the trending list and saw that Xiao Yi had sent the two bears away and left alone, they were stunned.

Second, regarding Xiao Yi’s livestream: after he left Goudan’s den, over five million viewers gradually left his livestream.

But later, the viewer count didn’t just recover—it surged past thirty-five million.

Of course, these additional viewers were netizens who came to watch the spectacle after hearing Xiao Yi had sent Heidan and Goudan away.

Perhaps tomorrow, after the frenzy dies down, they’ll gradually leave again.

The production team found this whole scene both amusing and exasperating.

They didn’t know whether to welcome these new viewers—or not, since the numbers had indeed climbed.

Of course, that wasn’t the real issue—the real dilemma for the production team was this:

The viewers who left weren’t truly disengaging from Xiao Yi’s livestream; most had instead flooded the production team’s official website and started causing trouble.

A poll even appeared, asking viewers to vote for Xiao Yi to go retrieve Heidan and Goudan.

Seeing this, the production team felt a strange sense of déjà vu.

But they couldn’t ignore it—the poll, once posted online, had already drawn over a million participants within hours.

At the base control room, the production team’s senior staff exchanged uneasy glances.

“Mr. Li, what should we do? Should we talk to Xiao Shen privately?”

“Right, I think we should talk. We know Xiao Shen’s mindset—after the show ends, we can just transport Heidan and Goudan back to this wilderness.”

The two bears had brought the production team enormous attention and discussion—they knew that well.

So as long as viewership remained high, a little extra trouble was worth it.

Wasn’t Xiao Yi worried about the bears’ safety? Wasn’t he worried they wouldn’t easily return to this relatively safe wilderness?

The production team could handle that—just at the cost of some manpower and resources.

They could even use a helicopter to return the two bears.

To the production team’s senior staff, how much did that manpower and resource cost really matter?

Compared to the discussion and attention the two bears brought, the cost was entirely worth it.

After the bears returned from their journey, the production team could even provide them with more and better food before their hibernation.

Of course, all these plans hinged on one condition: Xiao Yi had to agree.

To be honest, Xiao Yi was stubborn—the production team knew that well.

Once he made a decision, it was nearly impossible for anyone to change it.

And Xiao Yi was different from the other contestants—he was the only one who had mutually elevated the show.

So the production team dared not pressure Xiao Yi into doing things he didn’t want to do; they could only negotiate.

At this moment, Li Yong was also headaching—he knew exactly what the others were thinking.

But how easy was it to persuade Xiao Yi?

“Mr. Li, there’s another solution—I’m not sure if I should say it!”