WS - Chapter 34
Chapter 34
On this side, Song Shiyue and the other two rinsed the leaves, washed their hair ties, and finished up quickly.
Downstream, the three dealing with the snakes ran into a bit of trouble.
Even dead, the snakes' bodies hadn't fully stopped reacting. Carrying them over from the woods, the occasional convulsive twitches in their hands had already been hair-raising, and now that it was time to bring out a knife, the slick, slimy texture made them even harder to handle.
Song Shiyue produced two stone knives, and Zhuang Jiachuan and Guan Yongyi each took a snake to start cutting.
By the time Song Shiyue's group of three finished rinsing the leaves and walked down, Guan Yongyi had only just slit open his snake's belly and was clearing out the blood, while Zhuang Jiachuan had barely managed to cut through the skin of the snake's belly...
The gap couldn't be helped. Setting aside the difference in their physical strength, Zhuang Jiachuan's snake was the production team's that had been killed afterward, so the body naturally retained more post-mortem response and was harder to overcome and handle.
After Yu Nianbing had obliquely reminded her to avoid making stone knives within camera view, Song Shiyue had begun repeatedly telling herself that this was a reality show, not actual wilderness survival.
So now, watching Guan Yongyi and Zhuang Jiachuan working so hard they were drenched in sweat, Song Shiyue initially held back and didn't offer to help.
That lasted until Zhuang Jiachuan kept cutting. Whether his hand slipped or the snake slipped, the stone knife veered off course and nearly lopped his finger off.
"Let me," Song Shiyue crouched down and reached out a hand to the startled Zhuang Jiachuan, who was staring blankly at the stone knife.
"I..." Zhuang Jiachuan felt he could still give it another try.
"But I can't do it alone. When it's time to skin it, can you hold it up for me?" Song Shiyue pointed at the banded krait under Zhuang Jiachuan's knife.
"Fine. I'll hold it." After a quick internal assessment, Zhuang Jiachuan nodded.
Song Shiyue took the stone knife Zhuang Jiachuan handed over, scraped her foot on the dirt, and a small pit appeared. Then, gripping the stone knife, she hesitated and looked up at the people around her, raising her voice a little. "Does anyone want the snake gallbladder?"
Five heads shook back and forth like rattle drums.
Song Shiyue glanced at the snake in her hands and silently recited, This is a reality show, not actual wilderness survival. Then, she steadied the stone knife along the cut Zhuang Jiachuan had already made in the snake's belly skin, drew it down gently, and the blood and viscera fell into the pit she had just gouged out with her foot.
A bit of a pity, Song Shiyue sighed softly.
When she stood up, Song Shiyue met Yu Nianbing's gratified gaze.
Wonderful. Only gratification, no conflict or worry — which meant what she was doing now met the standard of "normal."
Over these few days with Yu Nianbing, Song Shiyue could sense the reminders Yu Nianbing was giving her. It was as if Yu Nianbing had glimpsed something, yet because it shouldn't be known to others, she offered only veiled warnings. That Yu Nianbing had glimpsed something didn't surprise Song Shiyue; after all, Yu Nianbing had seen with her own eyes when the table smashed through the wall, all the way into the room next door. Although Yu Nianbing had never asked, Song Shiyue knew Yu Nianbing had seen and had her suspicions.
Since Yu Nianbing didn't ask, Song Shiyue had no intention of fabricating an explanation. Once she entered this program, Song Shiyue thought she had been extremely careful — controlling her strength, controlling what made her different, at least working hard to keep that difference within the baseline of "normal." Like the stone sharpening that Yu Nianbing had felt was inappropriate. Song Shiyue had already restrained herself from sharpening with her hands and instead used stone on stone; she never expected... that it might still have been too much.
What kind of life had she led seven years ago? What level of strength had she had? Perhaps the days of the apocalypse were too intense — a single day of busyness and fulfillment, exhaustion and suffering, could match ten days, half a month, or even longer from before. Song Shiyue could barely recall any more details. She worked hard to be a "normal" person, yet in the end, oversights still crept in.
So stones couldn't just be casually ground into emergency items of every shape...?
How... unfamiliar this was...
Under Yu Nianbing's gratified gaze, Song Shiyue blinked, then continued to work swiftly, making a few cuts at the severed neck before handing the snake to Zhuang Jiachuan, who had been waiting to the side.
The head of this banded krait had already been chopped off and buried, but even so, the whole snake was still over a meter long — looked like a meter and a half.
But Zhuang Jiachuan was tall, over 1.8 meters. When he lifted the snake to face level, its tail didn't even brush the ground.
Using the opening she had just made, Song Shiyue pulled the skin down in one piece, top to bottom, like a snake shedding.
After a few downward tugs, all that was left in Zhuang Jiachuan's hands was a skinless strip of stark-white snake meat.
"That fast?" Guan Yongyi walked over from the creek, lifting the snake whose belly he had just cleaned, and said to Song Shiyue with a smile, "Please do this one too, Teacher Song. If I took my time, we probably wouldn't be able to set off until noon."
That was the honest truth, and Zhuang Jiachuan felt it deeply. If it had been up to him, they could have just had dinner right here.
Or maybe, he might have injured himself and gone back by plane altogether...
Song Shiyue... Song Shiyue... Zhuang Jiachuan silently repeated the name in his mind.
Was this young woman brought in by the production team to create a CP with Yu Nianbing, or was she their secret weapon to boost ratings?
If it was the latter, then the production team was far too resourceful, having managed to dig up such a talent in the entertainment industry.
The two snakes were skinned in just about a minute. Mu Xingzhou silently presented his assigned share with both hands.
On StarNet, the viewers who had been feeling low because Song Shiyue abandoned grinding stones by hand now shot back to peak excitement now that she had processed three snakes in a flash.
"Textbook handling."
"Did you see Song Shiyue's expression? No fear, no brutality, only earnest focus..."
"Like a professional chef!"
"No, I disagree!"
"I disagree too. I think she's more like a professional hunter. Processing prey with practiced ease, yet no excess emotion over it."
"Wait, I don't know much about this Song Shiyue. Has she acted in something where she played a hunter or a killer? How does she look so calm and professional?"
"Hahaha, being able to extract practical skills from a filmed drama — that's our Little Ice Block for you."
"Let me introduce you: Song Shiyue has only been in one sitcom, playing a specialist in delicate, weepy, coquettish roles."
"??? Trash production, ruining Sister Song's image!"
"To be fair about the timeline, that crew probably didn't know Song Shiyue was such a capable woman either. But from another angle, Song Shiyue's acting is pretty good."
"Right, back when I watched that sitcom, I thought Song Shiyue's character was so annoying — always so delicate or crying all day, so real and irritating. I assumed Song Shiyue herself was just as annoying. Never expected, never expected, such a formidable woman..."
"All I want to know is what Captain Yang thinks after seeing this."
"Captain Yang: The production team totally dug this pit for me!"
"Hahahaha..."
"Dying of laughter here. This kind of team member is not easy to lead."
"I hope the show picks its leaders fairly. I think our Sister Song can do it."
"Sister Song can!"
"Send a round of 666 for Sister Song."
"Strongly request enabling a tipping feature. What garbage platform launches a livestream but doesn't open tips — at least let us throw a 666."
"Count me in for the 666!"
"The production team is so bad at making money. Not only do they not earn for themselves, they're not even giving our Sister Song a chance — one snake, one 666. I'm booking three!"
...
Song Shiyue never imagined that just from processing three snakes, a whole crowd on StarNet would want to give her money. Unfortunately, The Wilderness Journey production team wasn't short on cash and hadn't enabled tipping; otherwise, it could have been "Show the Little Hunter some love; let's all help pay off that debt."
Since they hadn't yet figured out how to cook the snake, and didn't know if the production team would properly supply the necessary cooking items by noon, after the snakes were skinned, they merely rinsed them under running water to wash away the blood, shook them dry, and wrapped them layer by layer in large leaves.
What followed went so smoothly it surprised Song Shiyue a little.
Whether it was the bag in Wang Daming's hands or their request to go back to the area near the aircraft again, Director Zhang agreed to every single one with an obliging nod.
Only when seasoning was mentioned did Director Zhang say, "Don't rush on that one," and didn't hand it over immediately. But from the way he phrased it, that sounded less like a refusal and more like they'd probably need to do a small task, or endure a minor balk, before getting it.
That was only fair, and could be counted as good news.
The lemongrass was at the spot where Yu Nianbing had encountered the king cobra earlier.
The group headed back. When they were nearly there, Song Shiyue, walking at the very front, stopped and even blocked Yu Nianbing, who had been right beside her all along.
"How about I go over, pick those stalks, and you don't go over there," Song Shiyue said, her blocking hand patting Yu Nianbing's sleeve. She added, "It's that clump you were staring at before, right? I know which ones."
Yu Nianbing glanced at the grass over there, which was clearly much taller than on this side path, and felt inclined to nod.
But at that moment, Ning Chuyang spoke up: "Right, Teacher Yu, you stay here. Song Shiyue and I will go over."
Yu Nianbing's impending nod halted. She turned to Ning Chuyang, whose eyes held only concern and friendliness.
"It's fine. I'm not afraid." Yu Nianbing turned to Song Shiyue. "Didn't we say we'd try not to split up from now on?"
Song Shiyue: "..."
From where they stood to the plants was only a dozen or so steps... Fine. Something had happened earlier at just as close a distance.
And it was her own fault too, Song Shiyue felt some self-reproach. Although she was a Strength-Type Ability User with better-than-average hearing, that only applied to louder sounds, or in situations where she actively focused. She wasn't like a Hearing-Type Ability User, able to pick up any sound within range no matter how faint. Earlier, Yu Nianbing had clearly not been too far away, but the sound of the snake moving was very small, and Song Shiyue, just off the aircraft, hadn't thought to concentrate and stay on alert — and then what happened earlier occurred...
Thinking back now, indeed, people needed to be within arm's reach to be secure.
"Right." Song Shiyue nodded emphatically. "Whether you're afraid or not, let's go together."
With that, Song Shiyue took the initiative to grasp Yu Nianbing's wrist and drew her closer to her side.
"I already said I'm not afraid..." Yu Nianbing muttered quietly, yet didn't resist and leaned in with the pull.
In the apocalypse Song Shiyue came from, both flora and fauna had mutated. Looking at the cluster of plants before her, which looked like an oversized version of ordinary grass, she couldn't identify a thing.
Yu Nianbing, however, reached out and plucked a stalk, crushed it in her hand, and held it under Song Shiyue's nose. "Smell. Isn't there a lemon fragrance?"
Song Shiyue took a deep breath and her eyes lit up at once. "It's perfect! Let's try wrapping the snake meat in this to roast it! Ah, or chop it up and marinate the meat first? Lemon removes gaminess — this should work too, right?" Spices were a good thing. Without scallions or garlic, they had to rely entirely on this to save the taste of food. At least with this, the snake meat's gamey odor could be reduced a lot, making it much more palatable.
"It can remove gaminess. If we can't find other seasonings, we'll have to depend on it entirely — it can go into soup to cook as well." As Yu Nianbing spoke, she brushed aside the lemongrass clump in front of her. "Where's the stone knife from just now? Let me cut some. Let me estimate — hmm, for three snakes, isn't thirty stalks more than enough no matter what?"
"Not enough." Song Shiyue brought out the stone knife but didn't hand it to Yu Nianbing. Instead, she smiled and said, "These few clumps — this one, this one, and this one — they all look quite similar. They should all be lemongrass, right? Give me a little time. I'll cut them fast."
"Wait... all of it? For just three snakes? There are over a hundred stalks in these clumps..." Yu Nianbing reached out to stop her, but Song Shiyue had already moved nimbly and pounced into the nearby grass clump.
"There'll be more meat." Song Shiyue cut the grass swiftly, turning her head during a pause to say, "Now that we even have a hunting dog, prey will come too."
Yu Nianbing: "...That's probably not a hunting dog, is it?"
"So you bring a dog that isn't a hunting dog into the wilderness... to use as emergency rations?" Song Shiyue cut grass without lifting her head. "Then the production team's a little cruel."
Yu Nianbing: "..."
Does a dog only get to exist here as a hunting dog or as food? Don't you know that it's currently very trendy to add a pet to a reality show to be cute and attract fans?
Never mind... Yu Nianbing shook her head and smiled. If it was Song Shiyue, not thinking of such a simple reason for a dog to be there was perfectly normal.
Not far away, Wang Daming, who for the moment had nothing to arrange, was walking the dog to help it get familiar with the environment as quickly as possible. That way, it would be easier to manage when they set off shortly.
Come to think of it, this dog was strange. Earlier at the Old Castle it had been fine, but halfway through a food-sniffing task it suddenly chickened out almost to the point of wetting itself. Now, when they got here, it seemed to have recovered its usual liveliness... Fortunately, they only brought it down from the aircraft after the earlier snake incident had passed. Otherwise, with this much high energy, if it had startled a snake in the grass, both Yu Nianbing and the production team would have had big trouble.
It truly counted as good luck for everyone... Otherwise, forget being cute and attracting fans — this dog would probably end up at the point where everyone would cry out to beat it.
Wang Daming watched the dog in his hands, running gleefully with the leash pulled taut. Smiling, he thought about picking up his pace to slacken the leash and let the dog stretch out and relax for a moment.
But before his smile fully settled, he saw the dog suddenly slow down, then... sneeze a few times, flatten its ears, and trot back. It pressed against his feet and refused to move again.
Honestly...
The guests were strange, and now even the dog was strange. He had a feeling that the lunch arrangements weren't going to follow normal steps either... Wang Daming had a rather bad premonition.
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