Chapter 35

“Roar! Roar! Roar!”

At that moment, a black bear several kilometers away let out a deafening roar toward the sky.

“This is too much even for a bear!”

Yesterday, the black bear had stared at its cave entrance all day long, waiting in vain for that damn human who had stolen its home.

Today, when it went out to forage and returned to its cave, it began to question its very bearhood.

Where was this? Was this even its cave?

The black bear had found no food today and was already hungry; it had planned to return to its cave and endure tomorrow by sleeping.

But upon returning, it plunged straight into a pit—yes, a pit—its eyes going black as it fell.

Naturally, this was Xiao Shen’s masterpiece: before leaving, he had dug deep pits at all three cave entrances, just to ambush this stupid bear.

If you crossed Xiao Yi, even a stupid bear wouldn’t be spared!

To mask his own scent, Xiao Yi had even plucked wildflowers and grasses, crushed them, and planned to use their fragrance to cover his trail.

The black bear crawled out of the pit, roared in fury, then looked at its ruined cave and let out a wail like a crying child—this was the place it had lived since birth.

Though Xiao Yi had masked his scent, the bear hadn’t noticed it at first, but its keen sense of smell eventually prevailed.

Soon, Xiong Zai detected the man’s scent mixed among the crushed flowers and grass.

“Roar!”

Another roar, and the black bear climbed out of the pit, left the cave, and began tracking its enemy by scent.

Meanwhile, Xiao Yi was pondering where to begin tomorrow’s work.

He had no idea that a black bear, brimming with hatred, had sworn vengeance against him—and was already on its way.

Night had fallen; after chatting briefly with viewers in his livestream, Xiao Yi went straight to sleep.

What Xiao Yi didn’t know was that in the forest near his shelter, a pair of glowing yellow eyes stared fixedly at his shelter.

The owner of those eyes was the black bear, drawn by Xiao Yi’s scent.

But in the end, the bear chose not to charge directly at Xiao Yi’s shelter—it still feared this man deeply.

After all, the first time it had felt death looming in this wilderness was in that instant when it faced off against the man.

…

…

The next morning, the wilderness challenge entered its sixth day.

The sun rose slowly, but its rise came later each day, signaling that Arctic winter was drawing near.

After waking, Xiao Yi greeted his livestream audience as usual, then began today’s work.

The clay was ready; next, he would mix water into it to form mud, then press it into brick molds.

Fortunately, Xiao Yi’s shelter was close to water, and he had a large steaming pot capable of holding water.

After mixing clay and water, Xiao Yi added sand, grass, and wood ash from burned fires to increase the mud’s cohesion.

He then packed this mixture into wooden molds he had bound together.

Soon, brick-sized lumps of mud emerged from the molds.

Normally, these mud bricks needed twenty-plus days of sun-drying before firing for best results—but Xiao Yi had no time to wait.

If he waited that long, winter would already be here, and building a heated floor would be pointless—he’d already be freezing.

So Xiao Yi planned to dry the mud bricks for one day, then fire them immediately.

By the time all the mud had been molded, it was already afternoon.

“Holy shit, did Xiao Shen actually make bricks? My Xiao Shen is legendary!”

“Yeah! But these bricks don’t look very good at all!”

“Bro, making bricks here is already legendary—do you even care how they look?”

“True, making mud bricks takes no skill—anyone can do it—but firing them? That’s real craftsmanship.”

“No problem—if my god made them, he’s confident he can fire them.”

“Honestly, I’m getting more and more confident in Xiao Shen’s heated-floor-and-log-cabin plan.”

“In my view, the only two with a real shot at winning are Xiao Shen and Wu En.”

“Don’t jinx it—my god’s eyes are only on the prize zone.”

“What’s the big deal? We’re not Ningningzi—we don’t have that kind of luck. I think the same.”

Yang Qingci “...”

Was this the one hurdle she’d never overcome?

…

…

Xiao Yi naturally knew nothing of the livestream chatter—he’d forgotten all about it in the sheer volume of work.

After a simple meal, Xiao Yi began building clay stoves—and stacked three of them.

There was no choice: the clay couldn’t support a large kiln, and Xiao Yi lacked the technical skill to build one anyway.

So he opted for many small stoves instead; though the bricks fired this way varied in quality, as long as they lasted him a few dozen days, it was enough.

Of course, Xiao Yi was very deliberate about the stoves’ placement—he didn’t just plan to use them for firing bricks; later, he’d convert them into indoor hearths to heat his floor.

Whether his indoor heated floor would truly keep him warm depended entirely on whether these stoves delivered.

Once the stoves were done, the sixth day passed uneventfully; it was already around five p.m., and the Arctic sky had turned black.

Xiao Yi’s work had to stop—he couldn’t light the stoves until they dried completely.

…

…

While Xiao Yi’s day had been dull, Wang Xing in Live Room #1 received good news.

His foot wound had healed well; he could now walk briefly without limping, and the wound had stopped worsening.

Clearly, in three or five days, even if it didn’t fully heal, it wouldn’t impede normal walking.

Looking at his injured foot, Wang Xing felt deep emotion.

He never imagined that, after entering the wilderness, he’d face such bad luck.

He’d even feared he’d be the first contestant eliminated.

Thinking of this, Wang Xing silently muttered, “Thank you, Yang Xinyue, for lifting me up!”

Indeed, yesterday, seeing how pitiful Wang Xing looked, Yang Xinyue had sent him a gift—and even offered a few words of comfort.

After Yang Xinyue left, Wang Xing heard that Mo De had been eliminated, bringing him some psychological relief.

He no longer feared being the first eliminated.

He even encouraged himself: “What’s stopping me from holding on? Can I be worse off than Mo De?”

Mo De “...”

He’d assumed that during his foot injury, he’d have to endure hunger.

But he discovered two rabbits caught in a trap he’d set nearby.

With these two rabbits, Wang Xing not only solved his meal for the day, but if he rationed them, he wouldn’t go hungry until he fully recovered.

In short: Wang Xing was finally turning things around!