Chapter 77

“Huh!”

Zhong Yicheng, returning to the shelter with the rescue team, also couldn’t help exhaling a long breath.

For the past month in the wild, he had lived in a state of constant tension; now, he could finally relax.

Those who have never experienced survival in the wild will never understand how hard it truly is.

At this moment, he finally understood how arduous it must have been for early humans to survive in the dense wilderness.

Remember, he brought ten tools into the wild this time—early humans had none.

“Welcome back!”

At that moment, Li Yong walked over with a smile to greet him.

Li Yong’s earlier anger had vanished completely, for the data from Zhong Yicheng’s livestream had greatly pleased him.

Li Yong believed that tonight’s content, combined with the show’s existing popularity, would surely make Zhong Yicheng’s livestream moment tomorrow’s top trending topic.

As long as it brought traffic to their wilderness challenge show, he could understand even if contestants did something extreme.

Seeing Li Yong approach, Zhong Yicheng felt awkward—he knew his impulsive actions might have negatively affected the head producer.

“Sorry, Mr. Li, I’ve caused you trouble this time!”

“Hahaha, you’re being too formal! What trouble? This kind of heartwarming display of positive romantic values is exactly what our wilderness survival show should strongly support!”

“...”

“...”

Hearing this, Li Yong’s staff behind him stared wide-eyed—was this really the same Li Zong who had cursed and raged when he first learned the details?

Even though they’d seen this fickle side of Li Zong before, each time still left them stunned.

“By the way, this is for you. Password is six sixes. Take it, rest well today, and get ready to return home tomorrow—of course, may you and your fiancée grow old together in eternal harmony.”

At that moment, Li Yong suddenly remembered something and pulled out a bank card from his pocket, handing it to Zhong Yicheng.

Seeing this, Zhong Yicheng was stunned, then asked curiously, “Mr. Li, I didn’t even reach the prize zone—what’s this...?”

Hearing this, Li Yong couldn’t help but smile and spoke up.

“What’s a prize? Unless you make it to the grand final prize, that’s just a tiny fraction of your earnings from this show.”

“Forget the contract you signed when you joined? All tips received during your participation belong to the contestants. Don’t you remember saying before you came that you wanted to earn money for renovating your new home? For ordinary renovations, the money in this card could fund three homes.”

Zhong Yicheng: “...”

Rescue Team Member A: “...”

Rescue Team Member B: “...”

Zhong Yicheng: “Mr. Li, can I choose to return to the show? This time, I’d rather die in the wild.”

In fact, Zhong Yicheng wasn’t the only one with this thought—all the rescue team members were tempted.

Some even wanted to ask Li Yong if the show would return next year, and if they could get a backdoor entry for rescue team members.

After suffering for a month, according to Li Yong’s words, there was at least fifty thousand yuan in that card—who wouldn’t be tempted?

Hearing this, Li Yong rolled his eyes and turned away without another word.

“Dream on? You think you’re the only one who regrets being eliminated?”

“...”

“...”

The next morning, when Xiao Yi woke up, he learned that Zhong Yicheng had been eliminated last night.

But Xiao Yi’s heart had grown numb—he’d already witnessed this happen three times in the past month.

Besides, the show had now reached Day 30 of the wilderness challenge; eliminating contestants at this stage was perfectly normal.

To go further in the wilderness challenge, you must have both skill and luck—clearly, those eliminated now likely had neither.

Of course, other contestants in their livestreams reacted the same way as Xiao Yi.

But now, facing the wild, they would be even more cautious and careful.

While the contestants remained unmoved, the outside world had erupted.

As Li Yong had initially predicted, Zhong Yicheng’s heartfelt proposal last night once again pushed their show viral, further boosting its popularity.

Of course, the main topic in the comment section right now was still the giant snow figure left in the wilderness.

Even the 9th livestream, which should have been shut down, was reopened at Li Yong’s direct order—mainly to film the snow artwork.

The viewership of the 9th livestream didn’t disappoint Li Yong—it peaked at over ten million concurrent viewers and still retained over five million.

If Zhong Yicheng could see this now, he’d be in tears—he’d never once reached three million viewers during his own livestream.

But the moment he left, the livestream’s viewership briefly rivaled Xiao Yi’s monstrous numbers—truly, a person can’t compete with a drawing!

Also, Wang Yumeng’s name had climbed to tenth place on the trending list.

Zhong Yicheng couldn’t fathom how his impromptu proposal had made his fiancée famous.

“...”

“...”

As for the three guests in the main livestream, they were too exhausted to comment—what kind of contestants were these this season? The classic moments always happened after their shifts ended.

Every day during daytime livestreams, the contestants either set up traps or walked to check them.

They all secretly wished they could witness live moments like Xiao Shen sweeping away a pack of wolves or Zhong Yicheng proposing in the snow.

Bai Lin couldn’t help complaining, “If I’d known Zhong Yicheng would propose in the snow last night, I wouldn’t have stayed up watching Xiao Shen’s livestream...”

At that moment, Bai Lin realized his slip and quickly clamped his mouth shut.

“What did I just say? Did I just admit I stayed up all night watching Xiao Shen’s livestream?”

“Bai Lin, be honest—have you been lusting after Xiao Shen’s beauty?”

“Has Bai Lin really fallen for him? No, please don’t!”

“If you’re not the same type, don’t force a pairing! I don’t want this couple!”

“You mean Xiao Shen isn’t good enough for Bai Lin? I laugh! Xiao Shen is a graduate of a prestigious university. In popularity, Bai Lin may be a popular idol, but he’s not necessarily more popular than Xiao Shen. In looks, Xiao Shen’s decent enough—just a little less handsome than me? Why not?”

“No, I meant Bai Lin isn’t good enough for Xiao Shen!”

“Dude, are you insane? You’d dare say that?”

“...”

“...”

But watching the scrolling comments, Bai Lin rolled his eyes—he seriously suspected he was cursed by Xiao Yi.

Then, helplessly, Bai Lin spoke up to explain.

“Don’t speculate wildly—I was secretly watching Xiao Shen’s livestream just hoping for something exciting. Isn’t there a saying online that Xiao Shen’s livestream is most interesting at night? I just wanted to see if there was anything special—but I couldn’t stay awake long and fell asleep.”

This was truly Bai Lin’s honest words—he knew how wild internet rumors could get, and now he could only hope his explanation would help.