Chapter 61

Xiao Yi, frozen awake, opened the wooden door and immediately checked the outside conditions.

Looking up at the sky, under the drone’s light, he saw heavy snowflakes swirling and drifting through the air, turning the entire wilderness into a blanket of white.

At that moment, Xiao Yi beneath the light appeared utterly isolated and detached from the world in the endless snowy expanse.

Seeing how heavy the snowfall was, Xiao Yi wasted no time; he used a flint to ignite the stored sandgrass and immediately started the stove.

Xiao Yi hadn’t anticipated that his newly built fire-heated hut would be put to use on the very first day.

The dry sandgrass ignited easily.

Soon, as the stove burned, the heated bed naturally warmed up, and the indoor temperature rose several degrees.

Yet the instant Xiao Yi opened the wooden door, the cultivators in the livestream erupted with excitement upon seeing the snowscape.

“I checked—it’s snowing! As a southern person, I’ve rarely seen snow since childhood; it’s so beautiful.”

“I love the silence of this wilderness under the snow—everything seems to have fallen still.”

“I’m raising my hand too—I’ve hardly ever seen snow. At eighteen, I’ve only seen snow three times in my life, and never enough to cover the ground. Today, I finally feel the northern scenery described in books.”

“Damn, what’s my god Xiao Shen doing? This is a crime against the other contestants—he’s already lit the heated bed! This is too comfortable!”

“Of course, only Xiao Shen has foresight! The real challenge of the Arctic wilderness is coming.”

“Exactly! Anyone who wants to win the grand prize must endure the cold—though I take back what I said about Xiao Shen.”

“Haha, my Ningningzi is truly the eternal god—he just blessed the contestants to have smooth sailing, and yet before even a day passes, snow falls from the heavens.”

“Pfft! I laughed out loud—I just checked other contestants’ livestreams; nearly all of them woke up freezing. This snowstorm must have covered the entire Lake Ryan shoreline.”

“By the way, Xiao Shen, don’t forget Heidan and Goudan! With snow this heavy, don’t let them freeze to death.”

“That’s right! I’m Xiong Zai, still young—I can’t die this early!”

…

…

Of course, what the livestream viewers realized, Xiao Yi quickly grasped too.

After the stove ignited, Xiao Yi put on his hat and headed toward his temporary bear den.

The den was mostly buried under snow, with only a few strands of sandgrass exposed.

Xiao Yi then used a wooden stick to dig through the snow.

Beneath the snow lay the pile of sandgrass Xiao Yi had stacked inside the den.

Within the sandgrass pile, Xiao Yi found Heidan and Goudan, their heads poking out.

They were sleeping soundly, barely affected by the heavy snow.

Clearly, the sandgrass had insulated them from some of the external cold.

Still, Xiao Yi woke the two giants with a stick—he feared the snow might completely bury the den and suffocate them.

“Roar! (What are you doing?)”

Heidan instinctively roared, then rolled over and went back to sleep.

In contrast, Goudan was far more alert than Heidan.

The moment Xiao Yi’s stick touched her, Goudan immediately rose, tense and defensive.

She assumed a posture of defense and counterattack—but when she saw it was Xiao Yi, she relaxed.

“Heavy snow is falling. You two big guys, move into my old shelter.”

Xiao Yi pointed toward the direction of his former shelter and spoke to Goudan.

He believed this dumb bear could understand him.

Compared to the temporary den, his original shelter was clearly warmer and sturdier.

For these two bears, living there was far safer than staying here.

After all, the snow was still falling—no one knew how long it would last.

“Slap!”

“Roar!”

Hearing this, Xiong Zai swung a massive paw straight onto his foolish brother’s head.

As for Heidan, still sound asleep, he jolted awake with a furious roar after being slapped by his brother.

Clearly, he was in fighting mode.

But when he saw his brother glaring at him, his aggressive energy instantly dimmed by three-tenths—he turned from a furious bear into a docile one.

Then, under Xiao Yi’s lead, the two bears headed toward his original shelter.

Xiao Yi entered first, spreading the stored sandgrass across the entire floor, then let the two bears in.

Xiao Yi’s original shelter wasn’t large; with both bears inside, it was cramped—but much warmer.

“Roar!”

“Roar!”

Looking at their new home, the two bears roared excitedly.

Xiong Zai had long coveted this shelter—but now, he coveted Xiao Yi’s wooden hut even more.

Once both bears were settled, Xiao Yi no longer paid attention to them and headed back to his own hut.

On the way back, his footsteps crunched through the snow, and suddenly Xiao Yi felt childlike joy, as if he’d returned to his youth.

He remembered how, as a child, he most looked forward to snowfall—so they could have snowball fights and ski.

But as he grew older, Xiao Yi began to resent snow—he hated its cold, hated how it disrupted daily life.

Now, alone in this wilderness under heavy snow, Xiao Yi felt as if he’d returned to his unbound childhood.

…

…

After walking in the snow for over ten minutes, Xiao Yi finally returned to his hut.

He shook off the snow from his body at the door before stepping inside.

Inside and outside the hut were two different worlds—the temperature difference reached twenty degrees Celsius.

With the warmth rising, drowsiness naturally followed.

He opened the makeshift stove lid—made from a scrap iron sheet he’d collected—and added another log, as thick as a thigh, then climbed onto the heated bed and went to sleep.

With that thick log, he could at least guarantee a deep sleep through the second half of the night.

…

…

Xiao Yi’s situation was still fine, but others weren’t so calm—some had already chosen to leave.

“Crack!”

Wu De’s makeshift shelter collapsed under the weight of the snow.

Wu De, who had been shivering from the cold, was instantly buried beneath it.

Seeing this, the viewers staying up late in his livestream grew anxious.

At the moment the shelter collapsed, the drone’s livestream briefly lost video feed—clearly, it had been buried along with Wu De.

In the control room, Li Yong, upon seeing Wu De’s shelter collapse, felt a sudden tightening in his chest.

Since the snow began, he had been closely monitoring all the contestants.

When he saw Xiao Yi light his heated bed, he couldn’t help but envy his own room’s small space heater.

The abandoned airport base, though improved by Yin Music, had only been wired for electricity.

Air conditioning, heating—these were mere fantasies for the staff.

After all, it was only a hundred days; though Yin Music wasn’t short on money, they couldn’t afford to throw cash around recklessly.

Li Yong silently felt relieved.

Yang Qingning’s mouth—still as blessed as ever—thankfully, she hadn’t finished blessing the production team.

Really scary!