WS - Chapter 67
Chapter 67
"Is there a strange smell?" Song Shiyue vaguely felt something but couldn't quite put her finger on it. Before Yu Nianbing could even stand up, she crouched down beside her and asked.
Yu Nianbing nodded, and the relaxed expression on her face tightened slightly as she glanced again at the stone slab in Song Shiyue's hand — the one originally used for roasting meat. "It should be a mix of insect repellent and snake repellent powder. When I was filming on location in the wild before, the production crew would sprinkle a ring around the set for safety. Skin contact is probably fine, but you'd better not use that slab to prepare food anymore."
"It's fine, there are plenty of usable stones in the stream. Oh, I remember now! There should be realgar in this, right?" Song Shiyue finally recalled something she recognized in the mix of smells. After the apocalypse began, ordinary snakes like this had long gone extinct, and the few formulas that could temporarily repel mutated beasts no longer used Earth-origin materials. A thing like realgar was indeed hard to recall on the spot.
"Mm, there should be a bit." Yu Nianbing lowered her head to sniff the soil again and confirmed with another nod.
Only, that remark about "plenty of usable stones in the stream" sounded really...
Unaware of Yu Nianbing's faint internal grumble, Song Shiyue just stared at the dirt for a moment, then thought of something else. "Then do you think this camp also has a ring sprinkled around it?"
"Very likely." Yu Nianbing stood up as she spoke, looked around, then traced a circular path from where Song Shiyue had dug, walking leftward for over ten steps before stopping and kicking at the soil with her foot.
"That won't work, the range is too narrow. They can't have used a compass to draw a perfect circle when sprinkling." Song Shiyue snatched up the slab again and, while speaking, quickly walked over to Yu Nianbing's side to help dig.
Though called helping, once Song Shiyue got that stone slab swinging, Yu Nianbing didn't need to lift a finger. All she had to do was step back a few paces out of the way and watch Song Shiyue, using an unsuitable farm tool with the practiced skill of a seasoned farmer, quickly turning over a large patch of soil around her as the center.
"Even though their circle isn't perfect, it looks like they really did sprinkle it in a ring." Song Shiyue stood on a freshly turned patch of fragrant soil and grinned.
"..." Yu Nianbing did not doubt for a moment that, given a little more time, Song Shiyue could turn over every inch of ground in the camp.
Since there was something good under the soil, they naturally turned it back the way it had been.
But when filling this spot back in and returning to the pit where they had originally planned to bury the bloodstained soil, Song Shiyue paused, then turned around and grabbed the Dog, which was busy gnawing on a big bone slathered in marrow, and hauled it over.
"This stuff smells, but you can't eat it. And even when you're idle, don't go digging around randomly near the camp, you'll get poisoned." Song Shiyue lifted the Dog by the scruff of its neck, pressed it down near the fragrant soil to warn it, and then let it go.
Watching from the side, Yu Nianbing wanted to laugh. "You think it can understand that?"
"It generously gave us meat, so I'm returning the favor righteously. Whether it understands depends on each dog's intelligence and fate." Though the words sounded like a joke, Song Shiyue said them with utter seriousness.
If the reminder had been a form of tenderness, this moment had a touch of coldness.
Yu Nianbing hesitated. She felt that it shouldn't be just like this, but she couldn't say exactly what it should be.
It seemed that in Song Shiyue's heart, there was a different set of principles for dealing with the world. Most of the time, she accommodated others' common rules; it was only in an occasional moment like this that a tiny corner of her true self would show.
But sadly, it was just such a tiny corner. When Yu Nianbing tried to follow that corner and peer inside, for the moment she could see nothing clearly.
And Yu Nianbing was hardly the only one who wished to see more from just a tiny outward hint of a person.
"So has Sister Song actually accepted the Dog as one of her own? Any tech geniuses want to discuss?"
"A dog's life is tough. It got beef hooves, bones, and blood, and Sister Song even went to the trouble of digging out the marrow for it. I thought Sister Song was just being tsundere and had already accepted it in her heart."
"Hahaha, right up until I saw Sister Song still remember to warn the Dog not to dig randomly, I believed in the simp's success."
"So who knows if the Dog realizes that all hustle and bustle in the world is for profit..."
"So now being a qualified simp requires studying hard? Hahaha!"
"Sister Song's reward was so practical, I momentarily had the illusion that everyone was already good friends."
"Some people are cold on the outside and warm inside, others are warm on the outside and cold inside..."
"Haha, is the commenter above comparing our Little Ice Block and Song Shiyue?"
"Honestly, I think it's great. Even if the other party is a simp, Song Shiyue still values honesty and acts with a sense of duty, showing restraint and not meddling excessively. That's really something."
"If simps could succeed so easily, where would the term 'simp' have even come from?"
"Hahahaha, I actually can't argue with that!"
"The wordplay faction in the front row wins. We were too naive!"
"So then the question is: is Song Shiyue's kindness toward Yu Nianbing warm outside and cold inside? Or warm outside and warm inside?"
"Hello, the Little Mooncake you called will arrive at the scene in ten seconds. Please pack your bags in advance."
"..."
Perhaps the StarNet viewers, relying only on their eyes and imagination, might still harbor some doubts about Song Shiyue.
But Yu Nianbing, experiencing everything firsthand on Wilderness Planet, never once doubted Song Shiyue's earnest heart in repaying kindness.
Perhaps it was precisely because of this certainty, this absence of doubt, that occasionally a pent-up frustration whose source Yu Nianbing herself couldn't grasp would arise — but that's a story for later.
Before long, both patches of dug-up soil had been filled back in.
Song Shiyue's hands moved swiftly, but the abacus in her mind was clacking away at full speed.
What she didn't yet know was that, at this very moment, Yu Nianbing was having the exact same thought.
Soon Zhuang Jiachuan came out, the shower room was free, and everything here was tidied up. Finally, it looked like they could go rest.
But after walking barely two steps back from the fire, Song Shiyue again felt something was off, as if she'd forgotten something.
Not until she rummaged through her backpack once more and pulled out a packet of dried snake bones did Song Shiyue realize what it was.
Well, of course. Having suddenly gotten a whole cow, the beef bones for soup wouldn't even fit in a normal pot. This leftover pile of dried snake bones — what use were they? She'd naturally forgotten to just toss them.
That would likely be the carefree thought of most people, who wouldn't mind and would think such forgetfulness meant nothing.
But for Song Shiyue, it was a mistake.
A mistake she would absolutely never have made during the apocalypse.
As expected, she had been made too lax by this wonderful world overflowing with food...
Yu Nianbing, who had gone back to the room first, sat by the bed for a while. After waiting and waiting, neither seeing Song Shiyue come in nor hearing her go to the bathroom next door, she couldn't help but get up and go back out.
Inside with a bit of soundproofing, it hadn't been noticeable, but the moment she came out, Yu Nianbing heard a strange grating sound, its source still at the fire by the camp entrance, where Song Shiyue sat with her back to her.
How to put it? Compared to the ordinary life of filming, wrapping up, filming again, and wrapping up again, these past few days for Yu Nianbing had already held plenty of "surprises."
And now, of course, one more.
"I'll be done soon. Weren't you tired? Go rest first. I'll be quiet when I come back." Song Shiyue heard the familiar footsteps behind her and her hands sped up even more.
Yet those footsteps didn't stop or turn back because of her words; instead, they drew closer.
Fine. Song Shiyue had guessed this reaction even before she spoke.
Song Shiyue glanced at the things beside her hand and realized she couldn't finish before Yu Nianbing reached her, so she simply stopped, turned around on her own, and piled on a smile as she explained, "The snake bones from this afternoon — we boiled them and baked them dry, right? They're really crispy. I saw we didn't eat them tonight and was afraid they'd go bad tomorrow, so I roasted them a little more just now. I can make snake-bone powder that will keep for a long time. They're really roasted so crispy — just a little pounding and grinding and they turn to powder!"
As she finished, Song Shiyue ingratiatingly raised the mortar in her hands.
Whether the snake bones were dry, crispy, crumbly, or easy to grind — Yu Nianbing truly had no idea.
However, the small stone mortar in Song Shiyue's hand and that little stone pestle for grinding things — they looked really... very freshly made.
How could they not be fresh? They were all just fished out and ground on the spot...
But lowering her gaze to look at Song Shiyue's innocent and well-behaved smile, like a little quokka, what could Yu Nianbing even say...?
"Hurry up and finish, then come back. Oh, and if you go to the bathroom, don't forget to turn on the privacy shield." Yu Nianbing could only helplessly accept it like this.
After Song Shiyue finally tidied everything up and turned the fire under the soup pot down to a tiny flame, on her way back to the wooden cabin she finally had a moment to look closely at the cluster of pitched tents.
There were singles and doubles, about eight in total, filling most of the courtyard. It looked like everyone was sleeping here in the front yard. That was good — they'd be close by and could look after one another.
However, by the fence on the camp side, there was a simple shed that made Song Shiyue look twice. That seemed to be the production team's dedicated simple shower — it looked much more rudimentary than the one the guests used.
Song Shiyue followed Yu Nianbing's instruction, turning on the privacy shield before entering the bathroom.
Although the small wooden cabin wasn't big, the bathroom had everything it needed.
Song Shiyue found the locked chest that belonged to her on the shelf and opened it.
The clothes inside were prepared by the guests after signing their contracts, reviewed by the production team, and shipped over in advance.
Every night, the camp had a complete set of fresh clothes for them to change into, sparing them the privacy hassle of washing and drying clothes. As for the worn set they were wearing, next to the shelf was a mini incineration device: just put the clothes in, press a button, and they'd turn to ash. It also saved the guests from worrying about how to dispose of their worn garments.
These conveniences naturally didn't need to be shown to the audience; they only needed the guests to use them with ease and peace of mind.
However, when Song Shiyue removed her clothing, she made a point of taking off the hair tie she'd washed at noon and the waist sash she wore, putting them into the chest first before placing the rest into the incineration device.
With the press of a button, Song Shiyue appreciated the thoughtful design, but she couldn't help thinking about how the production team had acted today.
In that case, all she could say was that the people who designed this program and the ones who had come to Wilderness Planet with them now were probably two different crews under the same system.
When Song Shiyue entered the room, clean and feeling light all over, what she saw was Yu Nianbing sitting properly on the edge of the bed, head slightly lowered as if lost in thought.
"Are we supposed to activate sleep mode now?" Song Shiyue, who had been forced to study the wristband manual many times the previous night, looked like she was seeking praise.
Yu Nianbing, however, gave Song Shiyue a look as if she wanted to say something but held back, and in the end just nodded.
Song Shiyue reached out to touch her wristband but suddenly felt something was off.
"Huh? Where's my sleeping bag? Didn't Ning Chuyang bring it? I'll go check." As she spoke, Song Shiyue turned to go out.
"Wait." Yu Nianbing stood up somewhat stiffly. "She came by, I told her to take it back. The floor isn't very clean. We... you... together... anyway, last night was also one bed."
Yu Nianbing had rehearsed a draft in her head for a while, but when she actually spoke, she still stumbled a bit.
Song Shiyue turned back around and looked at the bed.
It looks only 1.2 meters wide... Is that a bit small...?
Last night's bed was so big.
As for the floor, it doesn't seem that dirty either — it's wooden planks, far better than the lean-to dirt floor Ning Chuyang and the others were originally supposed to sleep on.
Song Shiyue didn't need to say a word; Yu Nianbing could tell at a glance what she was thinking.
It's just that some issues, once they become worth discussing and the discussion begins, turn into real problems.
If you don't treat them as problems, they just pass.
Yu Nianbing steadied herself and beat Song Shiyue to the punch. "Ning Chuyang is already asleep. Let's hurry up too. Do you want to sleep on the inside or the outside?"
"The outside." Song Shiyue was successfully diverted.
"Alright. Then I'll turn on sleep mode, and you close the door and blow out the candle." Yu Nianbing sat on the edge of the bed and gestured to Song Shiyue.
Fine. 1.2 meters isn't too small. They could make do.
Song Shiyue didn't insist and simply followed Yu Nianbing's instructions, doing things in turn.
Yu Nianbing had only wanted to cut the knot cleanly and interrupt Song Shiyue's thought process, unaware that her words, to the ears of StarNet viewers, were such sweet and sticky fluff.
"Save the children! Why would our Little Ice Block say 'let's hurry up' like that! This old mother is shedding tears of fear..."
"Our Little Ice Block is still a child! Mother doesn't allow you to do this! Wuwuwu!!!"
"Hahaha, Teacher Yu truly lives up to the title. Even at such a warm moment, it's like asking a multiple-choice question in class!"
"Laughing so hard. So, commenter above, are you the old mother or the child..."
"Finally, the moment I've been waiting for. I was expecting all kinds of shyness — what's with this practiced ease?"
"I feel like, choosing to sleep on the inside or outside, is there some hidden meaning?"
"Why would you say that, commenter above! I just wanted a bite of sweetness! But you started driving a car! Now the candy is smeared all over my face, how am I supposed to eat it!"
"Ah, two mosaics... Why, why must there be such an anti-humanity setting as sleep mode! Production Team, come out, let's have a chat worth five bricks!"
"Little Ice Block's words really leave so much room for imagination. Although I'm still a Little Ice Bucket on the outside, inside I've already become a Little Mooncake!"
"Every time this moment comes, even knowing that removing the mosaic wouldn't show much, I still hope some expert will appear and give me a clear, mosaic-free version!"
"Excuse me, can buying a membership remove the mosaic?"
"..."
Yu Nianbing had no idea that on StarNet, the number of shippers for her and Song Shiyue had already reached unimaginable levels, nor did she know how many fantasies her unintentional words had sparked.
In fact, she didn't have the energy right now to think about any more than that.
Because, right now, at this very moment, a warm hand — not her own — was pressing firmly against her arm, with a tendency to gradually start wandering.
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