WS - Chapter 86
Chapter 86
If the benefit obtainable here was a house, it would be very difficult to make people retreat despite the difficulties and give up.
Regardless of whether this guess is right or wrong, climbing a tree bare-handed with only a safety rope is really quite difficult for the guests.
Zhuang Jiachuan had tried his best the previous night, but he couldn't make it past three meters.
And now, the platform with the benefit ball on this tree looked at least eight or nine meters high...
In the earlier wooden bridge, aside from Song Shiyue with her special method, according to the normal procedure those who obtained the envelope were Mu Xingzhou and Yu Nianbing, and Ning Chuyang, if not for a slip of hand, could actually have gotten it. And on the rope bridge, with Song Shiyue's help, everyone obtained the benefit, but if Song Shiyue hadn't intervened, the six of them each taking one-sixth of the path and climbing while feeling their way up, two or three people should have still been able to get the yellow-centered transparent balls.
In other words, the two previous challenges both had a success rate.
But now, this tree-climbing task was different.
With the success rate of a two-person team tied together, even Song Shiyue would probably find it difficult to get this benefit.
"This tree climbing is too difficult. Before we go up and try, let's declare our positions first, and see if there's any need to take turns trying it. After all, it's getting late." Zhuang Jiachuan said, raising his hand first. "I'll go first. I don't think I can do it. The height I reached yesterday was basically my limit."
"I can't do it either." Ning Chuyang raised her hand and honestly admitted.
Then came Mu Xingzhou.
Guan Yongyi thought for a moment, feeling that he could still give it a try, but then thinking of the team rule — two people as a group, and if one can't do it the whole team fails — he could only shake his head along with them. Still, he couldn't help but glance at Song Shiyue. If Song Shiyue were teamed with him, there should still be a fighting chance...
Of course, right now, this was something Guan Yongyi could only think to himself.
Guan Yongyi was usually just a bit careless, but he wasn't stupid, and besides, he had his management company advising him behind the scenes. When the initial guest list for The Wilderness Journey was finalized, the production team's intention wasn't hard to see. Three men and three women — not necessarily saying they would definitely be grouped on the show, but there was certainly a tendency toward pairing men and women for easier work.
Mu Xingzhou and Ning Chuyang, that bickering couple, were currently riding high on their hit drama collaboration, their CP fervently promoted; they were definitely locked.
Then, in terms of status, experience, and age, it should be Zhuang Jiachuan with Yu Nianbing, and Guan Yongyi, who had just recently transitioned from sports to the entertainment industry, paired with Song Shiyue, who only had one daily sitcom to boast of.
And from the perspective of freeloading off fame and camera time, Guan Yongyi was certainly better off grouped with Zhuang Jiachuan as things were.
Only, in terms of comfort and happiness on the survival journey, it was absolutely not as good as following Song Shiyue.
Guan Yongyi's daring heart, after Zhuang Jiachuan was the first to chicken out, gradually sank back down.
Just how much subtle resentment arose was something only Guan Yongyi himself knew.
Leaving aside Guan Yongyi's unmentionable little thoughts, at this moment four of the six had already declared their stance; now it was up to Song Shiyue and Yu Nianbing.
More accurately, it was up to Yu Nianbing.
"The production team has made notches in the tree." While they were talking, Yu Nianbing had already circled the tree once, and now, touching the bark, she turned her head and spoke.
As soon as she said this, the others, who had been standing between the two trees, immediately swarmed over.
"It really is." Guan Yongyi touched the bark and pointed at a rather deep notch, smiling. "I thought so — climbing a tree nearly ten meters bare-handed would really be too harsh."
Zhuang Jiachuan also reached out and felt the indentations which were about two palm-widths apart.
It seemed as if something had been used to grind them into the tree; they weren't very deep, just enough to fit most of a finger joint in.
"With this, I think I can give it a try." Guan Yongyi declared his stance first this time before looking at Zhuang Jiachuan. "Teacher Zhuang, what do you think?"
Zhuang Jiachuan hooked his finger into a notch, pulling upward with most of a finger joint — it was indeed a bit better than relying solely on bare hands as he had last night. But it was only marginally better, since most of a finger joint didn't provide much leverage... If only the stone knife were here, they could grind them a bit deeper, and keep grinding while climbing...
"Teacher Zhuang?" Guan Yongyi, seeing Zhuang Jiachuan hadn't spoken, called out again.
"Fine, I'll try too. But I can't guarantee it'll work..." Hearing that Guan Yongyi really wanted to try, Zhuang Jiachuan felt he couldn't just hold him back; he had to go up and try to satisfy his teammate.
"I think I still can't do it." Ning Chuyang also felt the bark but honestly looked at Mu Xingzhou.
Mu Xingzhou shrugged indifferently. "I can't either."
Great, Ning Chuyang was free of her mental burden, and applauded for her fellow couch-potato teammate.
"I think... I can't do it either..." Yu Nianbing sighed and looked at Song Shiyue.
Although Yu Nianbing had discovered those notches on the trunk, asking her to climb up bare-handed relying solely on those shallow grooves was still too difficult.
"Don't worry, I'll go up first, and then you can try. If you can't do it, we'll drop it." Song Shiyue had already thought of a method while they were discussing whether to give up.
But for Yu Nianbing, the intensity might still be a bit too much...
It was just that if the benefit really was a house, giving up like this would worry Song Shiyue that Yu Nianbing wouldn't be able to manage that night.
With Song Shiyue saying this, Yu Nianbing nodded. Even though she felt she'd struggle to climb even one meter, she wouldn't refuse without even trying the moment Song Shiyue suggested it.
The two exchanged this question and answer, each with their own thoughts. No one noticed the surprised look on Guan Yongyi's face when he heard Yu Nianbing say she couldn't, and the next second Song Shiyue directly asked her to try.
In Guan Yongyi's view, Song Shiyue would definitely succeed, and Yu Nianbing would absolutely fail. So what Song Shiyue said really seemed like pressuring her teammate, rushing for results — it sounded even more blunt and tactless in conversation than himself...
Even Guan Yongyi, usually the least perceptive person, thought of this; how could the others present, including the StarNet audience, not think of it?
"Honestly, Little Ice Block already said she can't, yet Song Shiyue still insists on making her go up — that's not very friendly..."
"Pushing your CP to strive forward — is that also a kind of sweetness? — From a Little Mooncake trembling as they pick sugar out of glass shards"
"Forcing brings no happiness. Obviously this tree is so tall that not everyone can do it. Song Shiyue's expectations of her teammate are really too high; my heart aches for Little Ice Block."
"Song Shiyue also said to try, and if it doesn't work, then forget it. That's not too excessive, is it?"
"For between teammates, it's not too excessive. But... if it's someone you like, and they said they can't, yet you still push them to go up — that's a bit too much, isn't it?"
"Crying in fear — is it now about to be revealed that all the sugar I'd been eating before was fake?"
"I personally still feel we should give Sister Song a little trust — she's not the type to push her teammate without a plan."
"Right, maybe this benefit is really important. Didn't they say it might be a house?"
"But no matter how important the benefit, can it be more important than Yu Nianbing? From a CP perspective..."
"Sigh, just like some earlier danmaku said, our current disappointment is based on the hope that they're a real CP. If they were just teammates, trying once together for a common benefit really wouldn't be a big deal."
"Pity me, one second I was buried alive in a sugar jar drowning in sweet dog food, the next I'm pulled out and thrown into a deserted street in a rainstorm..."
"Friend up ahead, why do you have to describe it so bleakly yet accurately! I'm about to cry!"
...
Life is too bitter; when you want to eat sugar, you hope for only sweetness.
It was hard for Song Shiyue to imagine how much of a storm the previous incident had stirred among the StarNet audience munching on CP sugar, nor could she have imagined how a simple sentence of hers shattered into a pile of glass shards and poured into their sugar jar.
After all, in Song Shiyue's view, if things went according to her plan, there was still a good chance she could earn a house for the two of them for the night.
Of course, the premise was that the benefit ball really had "house" written inside.
Having gotten Yu Nianbing's nod, Song Shiyue didn't rush to start climbing the ladder on the other tree. Instead she looked at the other guests present and added, "Can I still go first in a moment?"
How could there be any objection?
But a few people keenly picked up on a different meaning in Song Shiyue's words.
What was that "in a moment" about?
However, before they could ask more, Song Shiyue soon spoke, a little sheepishly: "I'll go take care of a personal matter first."
Saying this, Song Shiyue headed toward the nearby woods, activating her privacy shield as she went.
No idea if the others believed it, but Yu Nianbing was always a little doubtful whether Song Shiyue was really going to deal with a personal issue.
She couldn't help feeling this was one of those many times she couldn't keep an eye on her...
Yu Nianbing watched Song Shiyue's departing figure, and at this moment could only let out a soft sigh.
The more time they spent together, the more Yu Nianbing sensed the freedom in Song Shiyue, and although she was still very worried, she was increasingly unwilling — no, not unwilling, but rather afraid — to bind her.
She didn't want to become a rope that Song Shiyue would detest, yet she couldn't suppress that layer of worry. Yu Nianbing's feelings were truly complicated.
Perhaps because her feelings about Song Shiyue's actions were so complicated, Yu Nianbing for a moment couldn't even see clearly that she actually already cared so much about her image in Song Shiyue's eyes — cared enough that someone who had always lived very self-centeredly had begun to grow somewhat hesitant and timid.
Ever since Yu Nianbing had hinted with the muddied stream water, Song Shiyue had felt she had been very restrained in her actions.
Just like this moment, without the stream as cover, Song Shiyue proactively found an excuse to activate the privacy shield, then walked a bit further away to freely search for a suitable stone.
Not long after, Song Shiyue's shielding time ended, and the StarNet audience saw her on her way back, carefully examining the grass on both sides, then picking up a rather sharp stone from behind a tree as she neared the group.
"What good luck." Song Shiyue chuckled as she returned to the two trees with the stone, then said to the others, "Give me two more minutes."
Then she turned and set to work on a nearby thin tree.
Such "luck", such "violence" — not to mention the guests, even the audience who watched every full session still couldn't escape the word "dumbfounded."
Only Yu Nianbing, at this moment, just wanted to say... "heh."
Although she didn't know exactly what Song Shiyue was planning to do, in the end... it was certainly not something ordinary people like them could do at the moment.
Earlier when making trekking poles, it was only Guan Yongyi who went to help; the rest of them — this was the first time they saw how Song Shiyue turned a tree into sections, into strips, and then into pieces...
The stone in Song Shiyue's hand did look very sharp, true.
But even if you gave them ten such sharp stones, they probably couldn't accomplish even one ten-thousandth of what Song Shiyue was doing.
Silence, quiet, admiration — various emotions swirled among the guests.
Yu Nianbing knew this was not the first time Song Shiyue had done something like this, yet she still couldn't help but mentally give that audacious little figure called Song Shiyue a thorough beating.
Is it so hard to be an ordinary person!
However, after that mental beating, seeing the undisguised admiration in the eyes of Zhuang Jiachuan and the others nearby, as well as the irritation radiating from Captain Yang not far away, Yu Nianbing inexplicably felt a little proud of Song Shiyue.
Of course, this emotion that might encourage wrong behavior was quickly suppressed by Yu Nianbing — but that's another story.
Song Shiyue worked very fast; in just two or three minutes, that small tree turned into a pile of small wooden blocks, each about a palm in length, narrow on one side and wide on the other.
She picked up the wood blocks and tossed them under the tree they were to climb later. Without further explanation, Song Shiyue said one line and headed over to the tree with the spiral staircase.
One had to admit, walking up the spiral staircase around the tree trunk was indeed... a bit dizzying.
Song Shiyue stood on the tree platform, took a couple of deep breaths, then went onto the zipline to reach the platform where the benefit balls were placed.
Of course, she still couldn't open the benefit ball now.
Following Captain Yang's instructions, Song Shiyue quickly slid down the tree and returned to the guests' side.
All this effort was just to hang the safety rope on the tree. Now that the safety rope was hung, it was time to officially start climbing.
When Song Shiyue chopped the small tree into a pile of wood, most of the guests had already guessed what she was planning to do. Now that Song Shiyue began to act, it naturally confirmed their guess.
"What a kind soul..." Ning Chuyang looked at Song Shiyue, who was hugging the small wood blocks, climbing up while using a stone to chisel holes in the trunk, then hammering the small wood strips into the trunk, her face full of emotion.
But Zhuang Jiachuan, after Song Shiyue had gone up half a meter, walked over and touched the small wood strips Song Shiyue had hammered into the trunk.
They weren't as smooth as the trekking poles, but they were flat, free of splinters, quite thick, and hammered in very solidly. The part sticking out from the trunk was over half a palm in length, making it convenient for both gripping and stepping.
Alright, tree climbing had turned into rock climbing.
Before going up the tree, Song Shiyue temporarily took out the items from her waist pack and replaced them with the small wood blocks. However, when she had climbed one-third of the way, the blocks ran out.
Fortunately, this challenge had no time limit; Song Shiyue made the round trip twice more and finally managed to hammer the wood blocks all the way from the base to the platform.
On her last ascent, Song Shiyue obtained the benefit ball.
The word inside was quite similar to what they had guessed — house.
"What I got is a tent." After Song Shiyue came down the last time, she showed the small ball she'd obtained to the other guests.
Without a word or visible emotion, Captain Yang also arrived at the platform above them, unhooked the safety clip of Song Shiyue, who had already reached the ground, tossed it down, and said, "Next."
There was nothing more to say; what else was there to say? Song Shiyue had done things to this extent; even Captain Yang couldn't find anything to nitpick.
One could only say... Song Shiyue was truly annoying!
"I wonder if everyone's is a tent. Are we not even getting little wooden huts this time?" Ning Chuyang couldn't help griping about the production team's stinginess. "To think even a tent is a benefit — if you don't get that ball, do you have to sleep out in the open..."
"Probably not out in the open; we'll likely have to build lean-to shelters." Mu Xingzhou spoke quietly.
Since Song Shiyue had hammered in these wood pieces, naturally Yu Nianbing would go first.
"Don't rush; this time there's no time limit. Lift one foot at a time, step securely, and then move the other." Song Shiyue hoped Yu Nianbing could sleep in a tent that night, but feared her getting injured even more, so she couldn't help repeatedly instructing her, "I purposely made these wood pieces close together, so you can keep a layer of wood between your hands and feet; that way each step up won't require too large a stride."
Yu Nianbing had originally been a little nervous, but soon she was amused and relaxed by Song Shiyue starting to nag again, and smiled: "Alright, I understand, I'm going up."
"Give it a try; if you get tired, come down, it's fine." Song Shiyue thought for a moment and added, "If your foot slips, don't be afraid — the safety rope is above, and I'm below. Just be careful if you slide not to get scratched by those wood pieces and bark. You can push off the tree with your feet first to swing out a bit. These wood pieces aren't in a straight line with the safety rope above; as long as you're careful not to bump it at the start, you'll swing back on your own afterward."
Yu Nianbing nodded again and again. It took a while before she finally, amid Song Shiyue's nonstop nagging, went to the spiral staircase on the nearby tree.
The direction Song Shiyue had hammered the wood pieces was different from where they had rappelled down; Yu Nianbing quickly rappelled down, turned around, and began climbing up.
Earlier, watching Song Shiyue climb up and down, chiseling and hammering wood, doing several round trips in no time, looking so effortless...
Once she actually went up herself, she immediately recognized the gap between them, and the "I can do it too" had truly been an illusion.
Even though there were places for both hands and feet to grip, by the time Yu Nianbing reached over three meters, she was already struggling. And at this point, she was only a third of the way up the tree.
Looking at the long distance still above, her limbs starting to ache, the sky growing late, and so many people waiting behind... Yu Nianbing feared that if she dawdled too long she'd lose her strength, and worried about the time, so her heart grew anxious and her movements sped up.
She was already climbing up unsteadily; with the faster movement, her foot suddenly slipped and missed the grip.
If Yu Nianbing had steadied herself in time, there was still a chance to get her foot back on. But at that precise moment, she recalled Song Shiyue's words about sliding and being careful not to get scratched; suddenly afraid, she cried out and her whole body swayed and fell.
Luckily, Yu Nianbing remembered to push off ahead before falling, swinging out to the side. Fortunately, she hadn't climbed too high; the safety rope caught her, and after swaying a bit, she was quickly lowered.
But before Yu Nianbing's feet touched the ground, her body had already leaned against something warm and a bit hard.
Yu Nianbing reached back to push, rescuing her waist from Song Shiyue's waist pack.
But at the same time, that reassuring warm embrace also left...
Still drenched in cold sweat from the earlier mishap, Yu Nianbing had no time for further reflection before she was quickly spun around and rapidly felt up from head to toe.
Okay... it was just her waist, abdomen, hands and feet — nothing sensitive — but Yu Nianbing still couldn't help blushing instantly.
"Did you bump into anything anywhere?" Song Shiyue asked anxiously, even after scanning Yu Nianbing, her heart still hanging in mid-air, filled with regret, adding, "It's my fault, I shouldn't have had you go up and try."
"No, I'm fine." Yu Nianbing somewhat stiffly moved her hands and feet, which Song Shiyue had just quickly felt over, then found it hard to keep meeting Song Shiyue's eyes. She turned to the others instead. "I'll rest a while and try again. You who want to go up, go ahead. Actually the wood pieces are close together so it's pretty easy to get a grip; I just rushed a bit and moved my hand and foot at the same time and slipped. If you take it slow, it should be fine."
Before anyone else could speak, Song Shiyue, still scared, firmly opposed: "No, you shouldn't try anymore. I'll figure out something else for where we'll stay tonight."
"..." Yu Nianbing had no choice but to keep looking at Song Shiyue. Perhaps because of lingering embarrassment, her tone when she spoke was a bit stiff. "It's fine, I can do it. It was just a mistake earlier."
"No." Song Shiyue was partly mindful of the people behind who wanted to go up but hadn't yet, so she didn't say things like "too dangerous" that would dampen morale; she just continued her firm opposition.
As the two of them stood their ground, neither yielding, Guan Yongyi glanced at the sky and went up to be the third to test the method.
Climb the spiral staircase, the zipline, rappel down, and start climbing...
Guan Yongyi truly lived up to being the de facto strength specialist among the guests; using the small wood blocks, he climbed up smoothly without a hitch, and in no time he had obtained the benefit ball and rappelled back down.
"Mine's a tent too." Guan Yongyi smiled as he showed the benefit ball in his hand to the others, then his gaze toward Zhuang Jiachuan inevitably carried a hint of expectation.
Alright, even though Guan Yongyi didn't say much, Zhuang Jiachuan subtly sensed a bit of the awkwardness of being forced into it, so without much more to say, he began repeating the sequence Guan Yongyi had just done.
One had to admit, Zhuang Jiachuan was also someone who could climb over three meters bare-handed with only a safety rope.
Although his climbing process wasn't as smooth as Guan Yongyi's, after pausing to rest twice midway, he eventually obtained the benefit ball and came down as well.
"A tent." Zhuang Jiachuan was a bit out of breath when he came down, but his face showed more relief than anything.
"Three tents; looks like there really aren't any little wooden huts." Ning Chuyang said, then glanced at Mu Xingzhou and asked, "How about I go up and try first? If I can't do it, there's no need for you to go up."
There was nothing wrong with that statement, so Mu Xingzhou naturally nodded without any comment.
"If Ning Chuyang goes up, I'm going to go up again too." Facing Song Shiyue's firm refusal and absolute refusal to budge, Yu Nianbing finally retreated a step.
Song Shiyue smiled gently.
But before Yu Nianbing could feel any joy, she heard the other person smile and speak again: "That won't do."
Yu Nianbing: "..."
If you've got the guts, take your hand off the gear on my waist! Then tell me I can't! See if I'll pay you any attention!
Yu Nianbing puffed with anger and twisted her waist.
Song Shiyue... didn't budge an inch.
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