Chapter 63

The Wilderness Challenge production team reminds all contestants: Contestant Wu De from Live Room 7 has voluntarily withdrawn from the competition; Live Room 7 will be shut down immediately.

The Wilderness Challenge production team reminds all contestants: Contestant Wu De from Live Room 7 has voluntarily withdrawn from the competition; Live Room 7 will be shut down immediately.

……

……

After the indoor temperature rose, Xiao Yi was still reluctant to get out of bed, lingering under his thick cotton quilt.

The production team initially provided each contestant with ten tools or household items, to be chosen freely by the contestants.

The other nine all chose cold-weather sleeping bags, but Xiao Yi chose two thick cotton quilts.

Even when Xiao Yi selected the two cotton quilts, the production staff and other contestants were left stunned.

Li Yong: “Are we quitting because you picked quilts? Don’t you have any sense of reality? Choosing quilts we can understand—but what the hell is ‘The Ultimate Guide to the Postgraduate Entrance Exam’?”

In fact, Xiao Yi chose the quilts specifically for this moment; the instant his system awakened, he had already planned to build a heated kang wooden cabin in this wilderness and spend the show in comfort.

Why need a sleeping bag when you have a heated kang? Of course, cotton quilts and a kang go perfectly together!

But then a sudden voice from the drone woke Xiao Yi up, and he instinctively sat upright.

“Hss!”

Then Xiao Yi immediately lay back under the covers—clearly, the log had burned out completely after a night of combustion.

Although the cabin’s temperature was still much higher than outside, Xiao Yi could still feel a faint chill.

But then Xiao Yi frowned. “Another one eliminated?”

Wu De’s elimination surprised Xiao Yi, yet also felt entirely reasonable.

Yesterday in the main live room, Xiao Yi could already tell Wu De’s condition wasn’t just bad—it was unsustainable.

But what Xiao Yi hadn’t expected was that the man had chosen to leave overnight.

It seems this heavy snowfall has had a significant impact on the show.

Yet with another contestant eliminated, Xiao Yi’s mindset remained calm—he was no longer the first to be eliminated.

Of course, upon hearing of Wu De’s elimination, the others reacted with varying emotions.

In Live Room 9, Zhong Yicheng lay in his sleeping bag, staring blankly after hearing Wu De had left.

Last night, his situation hadn’t been good either; though his shelter hadn’t collapsed like Wu De’s, its poor construction caused drafts everywhere.

Even though he’d gotten up during the night to make repairs, Zhong Yicheng, still inside his cold-weather sleeping bag, could still feel his hands and feet freezing.

Today, he finally understood what Arctic cold truly felt like.

But Wu De’s departure struck him more as a psychological blow.

In his view, among all contestants in this show, Wu De was the only one he still felt he could match.

In fact, the very belief keeping Zhong Yicheng going had been: “Wu De hasn’t left yet—I should still be able to hold on.”

So upon hearing Wu De had been eliminated, Zhong Yicheng suddenly felt his resolve crumble.

Deep inside, a voice kept whispering to him.

“Wu De’s gone—what are you still holding on for? You don’t seriously believe you’ll win the prize money, do you?”

Thus, now awake, Zhong Yicheng was locked in a fierce inner battle.

Compared to Zhong Yicheng, Liu Hong in Live Room 8 was far more comfortable.

After her shelter was destroyed twice, Liu Hong had poured immense effort into rebuilding it.

Perhaps it was true that fortune follows misfortune, and misfortune hides within fortune.

While everyone else’s shelters were tested by this snowstorm, Liu Hong’s shelter—aside from Xiao Yi’s wooden cabin—was the sturdiest and warmest.

Even this woman, upon seeing the frozen landscape at dawn, was visibly excited.

In high spirits, she even built a snowman outside and asked the drone audience to take screenshots as keepsakes.

Upon hearing the drone announce Wu De’s elimination, she took it in stride and joked to the viewers:

“Wu De can finally go home and eat a hot meal. I wonder when I’ll get to go home and eat some warm dumplings—just hope it takes a while longer, so I can earn more prize money.”

As for Wu En and Wang Xing, upon hearing of Wu De’s elimination, they remained calm—this snowstorm had little effect on them.

Wang Xing had served in northern border regions; he was no stranger to extreme cold and had his own coping methods.

Wu En, being a grassland native, faced such heavy snowfalls every winter.

In fact, the winter cold on the grasslands was hardly less severe than this uninhabited zone beyond the Arctic Circle.

To better preserve his moose meat, Wu En even considered building himself a natural refrigerator.

Compared to Wu En and the others, the snowstorm affected one person more than anyone else besides Wu De: Jiang Yiyi in Live Room 10.

She was a southern girl—from the far south, where she’d barely seen snow since birth, like some of the live viewers.

Naturally, she’d never experienced such extreme cold, and this snowstorm delivered her a terrible message:

She seemed to have caught a cold—her forehead felt hot, her throat hurt.

But Jiang Yiyi was a careful woman and a part-time wilderness botanist; upon sensing her cold, she immediately boiled herself a large quantity of hot herbal tea.

Then she pulled out a plant and joked to the live audience:

“Unfortunately, I think I’ve caught a cold—which is deadly in the wild. But luckily, I prepared for this in advance.”

“This is a stinking herb that grows in frigid regions, yet it’s a treasure—it can cure my current cold.”

“The ancient Inuit used it to treat their colds. On the third day of my wilderness survival journey, I was lucky enough to find it, so I harvested it for future use—and now it’s finally come in handy. I just hope it actually works.”

After sharing this bit of knowledge with everyone, Jiang Yiyi then heard the drone announce Wu De’s elimination.

She felt little emotion—she wasn’t surprised anyone had been eliminated; she’d already witnessed the snow’s power herself.

If her cold worsens over the next two days, she might be the next to leave the show.

Mu Tingwei in Live Room 3 felt a touch of sadness upon hearing Wu De had also been eliminated.

Wu De was the first person he met on this show—he seemed like a kind, genuinely good man, and was the only friend Mu Tingwei had here.

But compared to Wu De, Mu Tingwei’s situation was only slightly better.

Still, Mu Tingwei was cheerful; though still far from his prize goal, these days on the Wilderness Challenge had clearly made him lose weight—and to him, that was the show’s best reward.

Also, Wei Wenchang in Live Room 2 was feeling somewhat excited.

Another contestant eliminated—his pressure eased a little.

Yet as he felt his numb, frozen feet, he couldn’t help but feel bitter.