WS - Chapter 101
Chapter 101
Whether to close the distance or break down barriers, food is always a good choice.
This day began with the Production Team's overflowing goodwill, and the guests' suppressed resistance over the past two days seemed to dissipate a fair bit over the hot porridge and warm buns.
Interestingly, before departing, the guests also received new bug and snake repellent powder from the Production Team. Step by step, they were being so generous it felt like a different Production Team altogether.
"We're not asking the Production Team to cover a meal or two for us every day. Just as long as they tighten the chain when it shouldn't slip, we'd really be grateful." Ning Chuyang was combining the leftover seasonings from last night into the previous sealed seasoning bag as she spoke.
This was still not very pleasant to hear, but it was considerably milder than what she'd said the past two days.
"Don't say that. What if they were about to cover two meals for us and it all disappears because you said that?" Mu Xingzhou chuckled and shook his head, then poured a basin of water over the fire that seemed to have already lost its spark.
Yu Nianbing packed the wild scallions with soil still attached—which she'd left out to air the night before—back into the bag. She didn't say much, but in her heart she agreed with Ning Chuyang.
Having this meal today was likely because, in the Production Team's original plan, the ingredients found along the way should have been used up the night before. Giving this meal in the morning was both a timely replenishment and a little treat for the guests, a way to ease up. Hadn't you noticed how much gentler everyone's gazes were when they looked toward the Production Team now?
A couple of sticks followed by a sweet date—such a trite but effective pattern.
Yu Nianbing accepted the Production Team's goodwill for now, but she didn't let her guard down in the slightest.
Originally, they'd saved some lamb's quarters from last night, planning to make porridge or noodle soup in the morning. Now they weren't used, and there was no time to dry them into dried vegetables. They could only pack them together with the leftover seasonings and the remaining uncooked rice, hoping they'd still be good by noon.
They could leave the heavy pots and pans, but they could take two more stainless-steel lunchboxes with them.
That way they'd have four stainless-steel lunchboxes—one containing beef tallow, and the other three could boil water together at noon to replenish their canteens, cutting down on both boiling and cooling time.
With the previous day's experience, the six quickly picked and chose from the limited supplies in the camp, doing their best to stuff them into the gaps in their backpacks.
Zhuang Jiachuan was rather reluctant to part with the pillows and mattress they'd painstakingly earned on the zipline course the day before. Unfortunately, although the pillows and mattress were inflatable, once deflated, they were still too bulky and heavy to carry.
They could only hope that tonight's necessities wouldn't have to be obtained through another task. If it came down to it, they'd simply have to keep relying on Song Shiyue.
Soon, they finished packing. At some point, Captain Yang had wandered over from the Production Team's cluster of tents and was already waiting at the camp entrance.
Depart, and on the road.
The camp lay between the foot and the waist of the mountain. If they continued in the same direction as the day before, they would be heading uphill.
Sure enough, when Captain Yang lifted his leg, it was the uphill direction.
Yu Nianbing's gaze followed Captain Yang from near to far. As she saw the group fall in line one after another, she instinctively reached out to tug at Song Shiyue's sleeve.
But that hand, halfway extended, hesitated, clenched into a fist, then dropped back down.
"You... see that wooden stick?" She didn't pull the sleeve, but she still had to say something. Yu Nianbing spoke while lifting her chin toward Captain Yang ahead.
"Mm." Song Shiyue didn't seem to have noticed Yu Nianbing's little move just now. She nodded. "It's not really a wooden club. Just a little stick, not even as thick as the ones we have in hand."
Ning Chuyang up ahead heard their voices. She shook the Song-style homemade trekking pole in her hand and looked back, lowering her voice to ask, "Hey, do you think he knows what we're going to catch for lunch and has secretly prepared the tool in advance again?"
Yu Nianbing nodded. "That's what I meant too."
"Just a wooden stick—hard to tell what we'll be catching for lunch... but it should be... something alive?" Song Shiyue wasn't quite sure.
"Whatever. Even if he prepared early, he still can't out-compete Song Shiyue." Ning Chuyang gave Song Shiyue a "go get 'em" gesture and then turned back around.
This Ning Chuyang...
Song Shiyue managed a helpless smile and then looked at Yu Nianbing. "Don't worry. I can make a stick like that pretty fast. Even without prep, I could whip up a bunch in just a minute."
Yu Nianbing: "..."
Whether a wooden club or a wooden stick, it was just a pretext to start a conversation to break the awkwardness and silence.
But the topic slid all the way to whipping up a bunch of sticks in a minute; it had really slid too far.
Idiot!
Yu Nianbing thought to herself.
But as for whom that "idiot" was directed at, even Yu Nianbing herself probably wasn't completely sure.
Walking, talking, an occasional steadying hand—on the surface, nothing on the journey was all that different from the previous two days.
Yet Yu Nianbing couldn't shake the feeling that something was off, something was missing—as if things shouldn't be just this way.
This doubt and dissatisfaction, without a known source or discernible end, was like a small cluster of candle flames—hot but not raging, persistently scorching the heart.
With fire in her heart and pent-up frustration, the only way to keep it from showing on her face was to suppress it.
This groundless little temper—Yu Nianbing didn't want to vent it on anyone, so she could only bottle it up inside, pressing it into her trekking pole and into every step she took.
But Song Shiyue beside her seemed to have grown a pair of dog ears. Whenever Yu Nianbing's steps grew just a bit heavier, she'd lean her head over with a concerned look and ask, "What's wrong?" "Are you tired?" "Is anything uncomfortable?" "Shall I help support you for a while?"...
Nothing!
Not tired!
Not uncomfortable!
No!
Every time Song Shiyue's head leaned in, Yu Nianbing felt as if a fresh log had been thrown onto that small fire in her heart.
The fire was getting hard to bear. It kept Yu Nianbing from calming down enough to figure out what she was angry about when Song Shiyue hadn't done anything wrong.
The uphill path was long and far.
The trees were tall and dense; looking up, one could barely see where the summit was.
How long was this road, really...
Yu Nianbing glanced at Song Shiyue beside her, who seemed not to perceive anything unusual about her.
And like this, how far could they walk...
This was clearly a journey of a group of people—since when had there only been one person in her heart?
With the next step, Yu Nianbing jabbed the ground hard with her trekking pole.
"What's wrong? Are you okay?" Song Shiyue's head leaned over again.
"I'm fine." Yu Nianbing was once again terse in her reply.
"Are you a bit tired today?" Song Shiyue seemed completely oblivious to the chill Yu Nianbing was putting out to hide the fire in her heart.
"Mm." This time Yu Nianbing didn't deny it. Instead, she turned her head and gave Song Shiyue a deep look before adding, "If only the sky would get dark sooner."
Song Shiyue: "..."
A bit of sixth sense honed from surviving in the apocalypse made Song Shiyue sense a hint of danger, and she instinctively shut her mouth.
Setting aside the words, when Yu Nianbing said "If only the sky would get dark sooner" just now, the look in her eyes was anything but simple anticipation.
It felt... too complicated. Song Shiyue couldn't parse it.
Sigh, so there had been hugging, coaxing, even eye compresses—was last night's matter... still not over?
It really was too hard.
Song Shiyue didn't much like the way it felt walking with Yu Nianbing right now, and she deeply missed the ease and cheerfulness of the two days before.
Unfortunately... the one who got a little peck on the lips the night before was herself.
If it had been the other way around, and she had been the one to peck Yu Nianbing that time, to resolve the current awkwardness, Song Shiyue felt she would very likely be willing to let Yu Nianbing peck her back.
If back then...
Song Shiyue unconsciously thought of the creamy white... and the faintly visible... if that time she had been the one to...
Wait...
Song Shiyue raised her hand and touched the back of it to her cheek.
What the heck!
She just casually thought about last night's business and her face was already boiling over!
What else could she say? She could only be thankful that this world's technology hadn't advanced to the point where livestreams could read minds. Otherwise she would truly explode on the spot.
The sky had better get dark soon...
Song Shiyue somewhat missed the time that could serve as a mosaic.
But time and space never bend to human will. Even though Yu Nianbing and Song Shiyue were united in their wish to speed up time, the seconds still ticked by one by one.
They walked like this for a long time before finally nearing noon.
Along the way, far off parallel to them, there was a rather large lake, but it probably wasn't on the Production Team's planned route, so they didn't near it.
However, a waterway stretched down from the lake, winding and twisting, and it gradually grew closer to their direction of travel.
Before long, they were at the confluence.
A pond—another pond.
This mountain was a bit shorter than the ones before. By the time they saw the pond, they had already passed the summit and were on the downhill path.
Although the woods were still dense, once they got closer, they could more or less make out the pond ahead.
After following the Production Team through these mountains for two days, the guests had more or less gotten a feel for their patterns.
Their canteens were only so big, and the water they could carry was limited; they needed to refill at noon and in the evening.
Evenings were easier to solve: either there was a stream nearby they could use directly, or the filtered groundwater from the bathhouse worked just fine. As for noon, if there was no running water like a stream, a pond like the one with frogs from the day before, with fairly clear water, could be boiled and used.
So when they saw the pond ahead near noon, the words that surfaced in the guests' minds were "water," "Noon Rest Stop," "lunch"... and so on.
And Captain Yang did not disappoint. When they were still some distance from the pond, he stopped in his tracks.
"Up ahead is our Noon Rest Stop for today," Captain Yang announced loudly.
The six wily veterans who'd been toughing it out in the wilderness for several days nodded; there wasn't much surprise or excitement.
Captain Yang didn't seem to mind their reaction and continued, "We'll arrive at today's Noon Rest Stop soon. We can replenish our drinking water at the pond ahead. And there are plenty of fish in the pond—if you catch some, they can serve as lunch. I'm sure everyone is familiar with fishing methods. You can choose to use a fishing rod, or do as I do and make a net to scoop fish."
So saying, Captain Yang pulled a vine-woven net from his backpack and fastened it to the long wooden stick he'd detached from the side of his pack.
"Knew it," Ning Chuyang muttered under her breath.
"Each method has its pros and cons. Using a net is quicker, but you'll get wet. Fishing with a rod is slower, but you can keep yourself dry. The pond is large enough, so you can each take a side if you choose both methods." Captain Yang continued, "I also have some earthworms here. If you want to fish, I can lend you a couple as bait."
The guests were a bit taken aback at this.
What day was it today? Not only had the Production Team given them breakfast, but even Captain Yang was offering bait?
If things had been like this on the first day, they might have even become temporary friends.
Feeling he had said what needed saying, Captain Yang didn't ramble on. He just waved his hand and led the group onward toward the pond.
"What do we pick?" Ning Chuyang looked back at Song Shiyue.
"Let's go with netting fish. I don't mind getting wet. Like catching frogs yesterday, it'd be super efficient," Mu Xingzhou turned his head to say. But he stole a glance at Yu Nianbing, who seemed to show no sign of agreement. After a brief pause, he shifted his tone and added, "But whatever—let's follow Song Shiyue's lead."
"We're fine with anything too. No need to worry about us foot soldiers," Zhuang Jiachuan also slowed his pace, gradually drawing closer to those in the back. He looked back and said, "If there's another method, we'll all cooperate."
Having come this far and facing this kind of situation, everyone naturally regarded Song Shiyue as the decision-maker, each expressing their willingness to follow without holding anyone back.
However, Song Shiyue, having been thrust into the position, was actually feeling rather complicated.
Half an hour ago, Song Shiyue had already heard Wang Daming leave the group from the rear. Given the timing and comparing it to the previous day, it wasn't hard to guess what he was off to do.
And as Song Shiyue expected, as far as she could hear, Wang Daming did indeed take a detour, going ahead in the direction they were continuing to travel.
However... just now, Wang Daming returned to the director team's side from behind the trees where he'd been hiding, and he reported some rather strange news.
"The fish seem to be gone..."
Right now at the back, Director Zhang was grilling Wang Daming in a low voice about what exactly was going on.
From what Song Shiyue gathered, it sounded like the Production Team had put fish into this pond a few days ago and let them grow, just waiting for the guests to catch them for lunch. To keep the fish from swimming up the waterway into the big lake above, the Production Team had specifically built a rather high stone dam at the spot where the pond connected to the waterway.
Wang Daming had left the group early precisely to clear away those piled stones, so that when the guests arrived, what they'd see would be a natural pond connected to the lake above, not an artificially stocked fish pond.
But something must have gone wrong. According to Wang Daming, when he got there, the stone pile was still in place, yet the fish that had originally been visible as shadows near the surface were gone. Even when he tossed in a handful of dog food, not a single one came up.
When it got close to noon, Song Shiyue had kept an ear out for the Production Team's goings-on—she hadn't expected... to overhear such speechless news.
Now, facing the united group who seemed not to want to leave Captain Yang even a single fish, Song Shiyue really wanted to say, "Don't bother. Maybe no one will catch anything."
Unlike Captain Yang, who was forcing calm but was clearly itching to get going, Song Shiyue walked steadily the next short stretch.
But whether eager or unhurried, the road always has an end.
This pond was much larger than the one from the noon before. It also looked deep—you couldn't see the bottom at a glance, and it didn't seem very suitable for wading in and scooping fish.
The pond with frogs from the day before was likely newly built for this program. But this one here seemed more like an existing pond that had been slightly modified for the show.
Once Captain Yang had led them here, he waved his hand and told everyone to disperse.
Since they weren't feeding him anyway, it was every person for themselves.
"What now?" Guan Yongyi looked at Song Shiyue. "It doesn't look easy to wade in. Should we go get some vines and weave a fishing net as well?"
"We have so many people. We could weave a big one, then pull it diagonally from the shore and slowly reel it in. We're bound to catch at least one at a time, right?" Ning Chuyang had also thought of an idea.
Yu Nianbing, however, saw that Song Shiyue hadn't spoken for a while. She looked up at Song Shiyue, then quickly followed her gaze into the distance.
It was a pile of stones on the bank where the pond and waterway connected. Nothing special about it at first glance.
"Wait. Let's watch Captain Yang first." No matter how good Song Shiyue's eyesight was, she couldn't see underwater. Captain Yang had already started pulling a packet of what looked like fish food from his bag and scattering it into the pond. They could observe first.
Actually, the thing Captain Yang brought out was hardly fish food.
The day before, he had thrown the frogs and the stuff he got from the guests into one pot and cooked it. After eating, he added water to the pot and boiled it to make something to drink.
By the end, at the bottom of the pot there was some scorched rice paste that couldn't be scraped off after the meal. This time, after boiling the water, it had actually loosened and settled at the bottom in bits and pieces.
This was all food—stuff to fill the stomach. Naturally, Captain Yang had nothing to disdain about it.
Not only did he not disdain it, but thinking about today's pond fish, he was even a bit reluctant to eat it. He thoroughly heated it over the fire, turning and tossing it until it was mostly dry, then pinched it into tiny fish-food-sized bits, and put them back into the pot to dry further over the fire.
But since that pot of rice had been very meager, there naturally wasn't much of that scorched rice paste. Placed in a leaf wrap, it was just a tiny pile, smaller than half a palm.
Captain Yang carefully pinched out a little and scattered it into the pond before him.
The thoroughly dried scorched rice paste floated on the water's surface, slowly dissolving.
Even after it had all dissolved and spread so thin it was no longer visible, not a single fish appeared beneath the water.
Captain Yang knitted his brows tightly, as did Song Shiyue, who saw it clearly from afar.
"Let's talk about fishing later. I'll go check over there first," Song Shiyue said, pointing to the side of the pond where the stone pile she'd been eyeing was.
Though puzzled, everyone instinctively nodded in agreement.
And Yu Nianbing, of course, followed the moment Song Shiyue took a step.
The waterway connecting to the pond wasn't wide, only about a meter, and it wasn't deep either. At least when Song Shiyue dipped her hand in, it only came up to just above her elbow. It was so clear she could see the stones on the waterway's bottom, and on top of them...
When Song Shiyue withdrew her hand from the waterway's edge, she casually pinched a small, slightly shiny thing between her fingers.
"Is that... a fish scale?" Yu Nianbing, who had lagged a step behind, hadn't even managed to tell Song Shiyue to roll up her sleeve higher before her attention was caught by the thing in her hand.
"Yes, and it's quite fresh." Song Shiyue tossed that little piece of fish scale onto the ground and pointed at the waterway in front of her. "Look, there are lots more stuck on the stones below. It seems the fish that passed through were pretty big."
Yu Nianbing caught the key word and couldn't help but repeat with some doubt, "Fish that passed through?"
"Mm. Judging from the direction of the scales, they probably got scraped off when the fish swam from the pond upstream and this part of the waterway was too shallow." So saying, Song Shiyue stood and walked upstream along the waterway for several meters, then turned back. "It isn't until the deeper part here that they stop."
"You mean the fish here went into the lake above?" Yu Nianbing glanced at the nearby pond. "Then in this pond..."
Song Shiyue shook her head. "Hard to say. Just now Captain Yang seemed to put some food down, but not a single fish came over."
Yu Nianbing: "..."
Song Shiyue walked back and crouched beside the pile of stones on the bank.
The pile wasn't large, but considering the height of the stones still below at the connection between the waterway and the pond, it should have been enough to pile up half a meter to a meter above the water's surface.
No wonder Wang Daming needed to leave the group so early and take a shortcut. Clearing out so many stones must have been quite a task.
Song Shiyue casually flipped over some of the stones on top, but couldn't see anything particularly unusual.
Only when Song Shiyue toppled the whole pile and exposed the stones at the very bottom did she spot something different.
Song Shiyue picked up one of the bottom stones. On one face of this irregular stone, not only were there many fish scales, but also... what looked like traces of fish blood.
She lowered her head and sniffed. Song Shiyue could be about eighty percent sure the stains were indeed fish blood.
Stones with these fish scales and blood traces weren't limited to one—almost all of those pressed at the very bottom had them, many in fact.
Theoretically, these stones should have been the ones on the very top of the pile blocking the waterway and the pond...
Song Shiyue had a bold idea.
"These... these stones weren't originally here, were they?" By the time Song Shiyue had pulled the pile apart, Yu Nianbing had also come over and crouched down, but she added with confusion, "But the fish scales on them don't look very old. Could it be..."
That clever? Could she really guess the Production Team's setup without hearing their conversation? Song Shiyue looked into Yu Nianbing's eyes, her gaze carrying hopeful inquiry, and it grew even brighter.
Then, she heard Yu Nianbing's next words: "Could there really be other people on this Wilderness Planet?"
No, no... friend... you're letting your imagination run a bit too wild.
Hearing the familiar nervous breathing beside her, Song Shiyue couldn't help but gently pat Yu Nianbing's back with the clean hand that hadn't touched the water or the stones. She smiled and said, "No, don't let your imagination run wild. This was probably the Production Team's way of blocking the waterway to raise the fish."
"Then..." Before Yu Nianbing could ask further, Song Shiyue tugged her and pointed at the connection between the pond and the waterway.
Oh.
Yu Nianbing still hadn't figured out why Song Shiyue seemed so aware of the Production Team's movements, but that didn't hinder her trust in Song Shiyue.
Since she had said it so firmly, it was probably just like that.
"Looks like the Production Team's fish farming failed." Song Shiyue glanced at the pond and added, "Personally, I think under these circumstances... even if there are still fish in the pond, we'd better not eat them. And the water... later we should ask if they have conserved enough water to last another half day. If not..."
Song Shiyue hadn't finished speaking when her arm was suddenly grabbed by Yu Nianbing.
"Your hand!" With a sudden epiphany, Yu Nianbing was so anxious she couldn't speak smoothly, and her eyes instantly reddened.
The hand?
What's wrong with the hand?
Song Shiyue looked at her hand—the one Yu Nianbing was holding, which was no longer dripping and seemed perfectly normal—and she instinctively reached with her clean hand to touch Yu Nianbing's eye.
Why was she suddenly looking so pitiful, as if about to cry?
In Song Shiyue's heart and eyes, there was only this.
Who even had the mind... for hands...
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