WS - Chapter 105
Chapter 105
After joining the variety show, Song Shiyue had indeed done plenty of physical labor.
But trivial tasks like tossing pebbles, grinding stones, and chopping wood barely amounted to even a fraction of the energy she used to expend in a single battle against mutated beasts back in the apocalypse.
Moreover, before entering the show, Song Shiyue had properly compensated for seven years of apocalypse-time deprivation of food cravings; her energy reserves were long since saturated. Although Yu Nianbing had been supplementing her meals after the program officially began, the food was only average in quantity. But since her energy consumption was low, even with just average replenishment, the two roughly canceled each other out.
It could be said that just over a minute ago, a dozen or so steps back, the power within Song Shiyue was still abundant, vigorous— enough to knock out a large tiger with a single punch.
Yet now...
Song Shiyue halted, no longer moving forward.
The power in her body continued to drain away.
Not rapidly, but in an alarming, unending flow.
"No, I can't go any farther." Song Shiyue still couldn't tell what was wrong, but the deep, seemingly endless cave ahead now truly gave her a suffocating feeling.
Was it a discomfort with the environment after her strength had drained?
Song Shiyue couldn't put it into words.
But her subconscious told her that if she kept going forward, her body would definitely not get better— it would only get worse.
"Then we turn back." Yu Nianbing tightly squeezed Song Shiyue's hand in return, not doubting her words in the slightest.
"What's wrong? Why turn back all of a sudden?" Feng Qianqian had been walking behind the two side-by-side figures and naturally heard the unlowered voices clearly.
When Feng Qianqian spoke up, Ni Jinghe, who was walking behind Feng Qianqian, quickly stepped forward as well. "Is someone feeling unwell? Let me take a look."
Right, there's a doctor in the team!
In the darkness, Ni Jinghe's voice was like a life-saving straw floating in a vast ocean. Yu Nianbing instantly turned to look.
However, before she could grab onto that straw, her hand was released by Song Shiyue.
"I feel like something's not right ahead. I think it's best if you all don't go any farther either. If you insist on continuing, I'll turn back, and we can meet up at the camp tonight." Song Shiyue spoke a little faster than usual.
Yu Nianbing, whose hand had suddenly become empty: "..."
"Teacher Song, wait— what's the matter? You can't go out alone. If not through here, how will you get to the camp?" Feng Qianqian instinctively reached out to grab Song Shiyue.
"Yes, Teacher Song, don't panic. Is there some discomfort? Is it a breathing problem? Let me check you first, okay?" Ni Jinghe echoed, following up.
The commotion was so loud that people both at the front and back of the team heard it.
Director Zhang and Zhao Da at the rear couldn't press forward because Feng Qianqian and the others had already crowded around; for safety's sake, it wasn't suitable to push ahead. But Zhao Er, who was at the front, stopped and stepped past Wang Daming, walking back as he asked, "What's the situation, Teacher Song? How about letting Doctor Ni check first? If we turn back now, it will take a long time just to get out. We'd be uneasy letting you wander off alone. What if everyone waits here a bit for you to rest?"
In the darkness, Yu Nianbing looked forward.
Although she couldn't see Zhao Er clearly, she could still pick up the implication in his words— that Song Shiyue was holding back the team's progress.
So was this why, because someone might say such things, Song Shiyue had wanted to go out alone?
In the eyes of this person Song Shiyue, did she also consider Yu Nianbing someone who would think and say that?
The irritation simmering in Yu Nianbing's heart flared up rapidly, but now was not the time to lose her temper.
Song Shiyue also caught the veiled meaning in Zhao Er's words. But she had never been someone with a strong sense of collective duty; moreover, given the current circumstances, she had even less mind to accommodate others and play the perfect person.
"I feel very unwell. Maybe it's fear of the dark or something. If I keep going, my legs will give out. Never mind whether I'm comfortable— I just get a very bad vibe from what's ahead. But I can't explain it clearly. I suggest we all turn back. However, as I said, if you think going ahead is fine, I won't stop you." In the end, Song Shiyue offered a few extra words of explanation, then turned to Yu Nianbing. "Let's go."
Yu Nianbing, who had been getting anxious and irritated because she couldn't fathom Song Shiyue's condition, was momentarily stunned.
"I thought you were going back alone..." Yu Nianbing gently clenched her empty left palm.
"Didn't you say we'd go together? Changed your mind?" Song Shiyue experienced another dizzy spell, her thoughts becoming even more sluggish, but her tone grew much firmer. "No. I don't care about them, but you absolutely must come out with me. There's nothing to discuss about this."
"Then why did you let go..." Yu Nianbing muttered under her breath, but after a pause, she added, "Never mind."
Song Shiyue paid no attention to Yu Nianbing's mumbling; right now the most important thing was to get out. She simply reached out, turned Yu Nianbing around one hundred and eighty degrees, took Yu Nianbing's right hand with her left, and said, "Let's go."
Yu Nianbing, who hadn't expected that Song Shiyue had let go earlier just to turn her around: "..."
Fine, so all that previous frustration had been self-inflicted.
"Looks like you remember what I said before about trying not to separate," Yu Nianbing said softly.
"Back then, it was 'try.' But now it's not a matter of trying." Feeling her strength fading bit by bit, Song Shiyue grew anxious and her words became more curt. But after a pause, she looked at Yu Nianbing again. "If I lose all my strength in a bit..."
"Even if you have no strength, I'm still following you." Yu Nianbing shot Song Shiyue a sidelong glance in the darkness.
Song Shiyue smiled but said nothing more.
But to Song Shiyue, this arrangement was the most appropriate.
Back then, she had said those words because she felt she had the ability to protect Yu Nianbing. Now the situation was different; compared to staying with her— someone in an unknown state— Yu Nianbing would be safer sticking with the team that had bodyguards and staff. The problem was, Song Shiyue felt that the disappearance of her strength was too strange; even if this cave was only somewhat suspicious, she couldn't leave Yu Nianbing behind here.
Weighing the lesser of two evils, naturally it was better to take Yu Nianbing along.
If after going out she regained her strength, they could then use their energy to find the camp supposedly at the foot of the mountain on the other side and reunite with the others.
If not...
"I'll go out with you. If anything happens, we'll have each other. Director Zhang can see our position; if our position stops moving for a while, then we can request a rescue." Yu Nianbing's tone was resolute, though she was still annoyed inside and couldn't help squeezing Song Shiyue's hand.
It felt somewhat soft— definitely different from usual.
Right... and there's the rescue option... Song Shiyue's eyes brightened.
If her assessment was wrong and there was nothing wrong with the cave after all, Yu Nianbing could still be located and rescued; in that case, this decision was even more appropriate.
The rescue idea had just occurred to Yu Nianbing.
No matter what state Song Shiyue was in, if after exiting the cave things didn't improve, Yu Nianbing felt they could simply quit the program and return to Mingtan Prime.
Song Shiyue as a person... indeed had some unusual aspects; if a regular hospital wouldn't do, there were always places like Ciming. With money, they'd always find a better solution.
The moment Yu Nianbing's words "apply for rescue" came out, everyone fell silent for a beat.
When they signed the contract, there were quite a few clauses about safety, whether in terms of on-set security or insurance.
One of them pertained to circumstances under which a guest could prematurely terminate filming and leave the program.
The first case was if a guest got injured during filming and couldn't continue. Of course, the severity of the injury and whether they could keep filming had to be determined by the accompanying doctor. If the doctor judged that the guest's physical condition was indeed unsuitable to continue, the guest could then stop filming and call for a ship from Mingtan Prime to pick them up. In this case, the guest only needed to refund the proportion of income corresponding to the remaining unfilmed days.
The other case was when a guest wished to stop filming and leave purely out of personal will, without a doctor's verdict. That wasn't impossible, but in that scenario, the guest not only had to refund the full program income but also pay a hefty penalty. Because The Wilderness Journey paid its guests very generously and the conditions were genuinely tough, in order to prevent guests from running off halfway after just a couple of days, the penalty was certainly not just skin-deep.
Just now, Song Shiyue had been unwilling to let Ni Jinghe examine her closely, and now Yu Nianbing came out with that "apply for rescue." Didn't that mean taking the second route?
Thinking about the string of zeros behind that penalty amount, Wang Daming swallowed and said an unusually honest remark: "Teacher Song, if you really can't go on, it's best to let Doctor Ni check you first. If you directly apply for rescue and go back to Mingtan Prime, not only will you have made this trip for nothing, but the money you'll have to pay afterward is really..."
Before Wang Daming could finish, a rather forced cough sounded from behind— Director Zhang. Wang Daming promptly cut himself off and said no more.
"Right, how about we stop here, Teacher Song, and let Doctor Ni check you to see what's going on, whether you can still keep going," Zhao Er also urged.
Song Shiyue: "..."
Her body was perfectly normal— she knew that very well.
Even at this moment, she felt her strength was still beyond an ordinary person's. But if it continued to drain away like this, what would happen next was hard to say.
Ni Jinghe might be a good doctor.
But Song Shiyue knew very well that this ability, which seemed to follow her soul, did not fall within the scope of this world's medicine.
Having Ni Jinghe examine her from head to toe wouldn't help the situation at all— it would just be a waste of time.
In the time it took to go back and forth with this chatter, Song Shiyue's strength had dissipated considerably more. And when she looked toward the gloom ahead, whether due to psychology or physiology, she just felt even more uncomfortable.
"We definitely have to head out." In the end, out of the goodwill built over these past days, Song Shiyue spoke again. "I can't force anyone, but I do hope you'll consider it. Going out will indeed take a lot more time. My feeling might not be right. But isn't there a saying— if you know there might be danger ahead, even just a one-percent chance, why insist on challenging it?"
"Is there such a saying..." Yu Nianbing muttered softly.
"Mm, I just said it," Song Shiyue replied, equally quietly.
The crowd, who had all heard: "..."
Song Shiyue's inexplicable assertiveness left the people in the cave somewhat speechless.
And of course, they weren't the only ones.
"I believe in Sister Song— this is her beast-like intuition! I feel like if they keep going, there might be a blind bear up ahead or something!"
"Whose bear would run into this kind of winding karst cave to live? It would've gotten lost long ago! What would it eat to survive? Bat droppings?"
"Hey, don't hit us with that during afternoon tea time! Call them 'night-bright sand'!"
"Song Shiyue is acting a bit strange here— if she didn't want to enter the cave, she should've said so earlier. They've already walked for over ten, nearly twenty minutes, and now she's making a fuss about leaving."
"Yeah, according to the production team earlier, this cave takes less than two hours, and they've covered about a quarter. Turning back now is a bit of a loss."
"The past couple of days have been pretty intense; if they walk this long needless detour, then have to go out and reroute to camp, won't they be walking until tomorrow morning? This time I really think Song Shiyue is being a bit willful."
"And from the earlier conversation, Song Shiyue just feels a bit weak. Strength naturally lessens the more you walk. Would turning back and going out give her more strength?"
"Alright, alright, Sister Song just wants to leave herself; she didn't hold a gun to anyone's head demanding everyone else go. Those who want to leave can leave, those who don't can keep going."
"Didn't hold a gun? Didn't she insist on dragging Yu Nianbing out? Little Ice Buckets? All gone for afternoon tea? Not saying anything?"
"Oh, sounds fine— just leave. Our Little Ice Cube said from the start, 'Then we turn back.'"
"Yeah, no objections, it's fine. One wants to take, one wants to be taken; I see no problem."
"Not only doesn't feel like a gun's being pointed, but it actually feels sweet. Don't line up; I know I'm not alone."
"Even though Song Shiyue emphasized several times hoping everyone would go out, she really didn't force. Otherwise, with Sister Song's strength to uproot a weeping willow, Zhao Da and Zhao Er wouldn't be enough to stop her."
"Right now I'm just worried about what's going on with Sister Song. She's definitely not someone who'd be randomly dramatic."
"I hope the production team will all go out together; after all, this is a reality show, I don't want to watch a documentary..."
...
Song Shiyue was very strong. After these two days together, even Captain Yang, who disliked her the most, had to admit this.
Precisely because of this strength, when Song Shiyue uttered words that were clearly unreasonable and even difficult to explain, everyone somehow couldn't immediately reject them.
Moreover, Song Shiyue's attitude was resolute; after a few words, she surprisingly didn't try to persuade them further and simply pulled Yu Nianbing along as she headed back.
The remaining people looked at each other in the dark by the light of their flashlights.
"Let's keep going. Once we reach camp, we'll check their position and then see if we should go meet them," Zhao Er spoke up, breaking the silence.
"I think... we should go out with them," Ning Chuyang said, her voice soft and tinged with dejection.
That Song Shiyue, who only had eyes for Yu Nianbing, was too awful. Clearly she also wanted to follow them; she had only hesitated a bit, considered for a moment, and then those two were already gone.
"That way we'll lose too much time. Taking the detour means we won't reach camp until at least after midnight. No one will get proper rest," Zhao Da objected aloud, then tugged at Director Zhang's sleeve. "If it comes down to it, I'll go out and guard them while you all keep moving forward; Zhao Er can stay with you."
In the darkness, Zhao Er moved his lips but ultimately made no sound.
Indeed, with two bodyguards in the team, they couldn't exactly leave none with that side.
"I think that's fine— one with this side, one with that side," Director Zhang indeed agreed, then added, "If something's wrong with Song Shiyue physically, depending on the situation, you can also send out a rescue signal from your end."
Zhao Da nodded.
But before Zhao Da could turn back, someone else in the team spoke up.
"After midnight it is, then— I'll go out with you and take a look," came Zhuang Jiachuan's voice in the darkness.
"I'll go too," Ning Chuyang naturally followed up.
Mu Xingzhou, who had been pinched on the arm by Ning Chuyang in the dark, sucked in a sharp breath and said, "Then I'll go as well."
Zhao Da: "..."
"Since the majority of guests feel we should turn back and join them, splitting up loses its point. Might as well all head back," Feng Qianqian's voice rang out toward Director Zhang, and she added, "What do you think, Director Zhang? Otherwise, it'd turn into the production team taking the shortcut while the guests are the only ones making the detour outside— that wouldn't look good, would it?"
"Fine, fine, fine— let's go, let's go," Director Zhang said, shaking his legs, which had been aching for most of the day, and sighed. "Let's go, everyone out, we'll take the other route. I'm saying this upfront: whether we walk until after midnight or into tomorrow morning, it's all your own choice. When the time comes, no collapsing by the roadside and refusing to move, alright? Dinner and beds are all at the camp."
In the darkness, some people checked the time on their wristbands and fell silent.
With a surface consensus reached, the large group also began its march back. However, with so many people, they couldn't move as quickly as Song Shiyue and Yu Nianbing, who were traveling light.
With the team reversing course, Zhao Da took the lead while Captain Yang brought up the rear.
Zhao Da seemed even steadier than Captain Yang, planting each step firmly without rushing or dawdling.
Once the large troop turned around, the audience on StarNet naturally exploded again.
Unlike Song Shiyue and Yu Nianbing, who were in perfect agreement and willing, there were still some in the turned-back group who had remained silent, not voicing their opinion but forced to turn back with the rest.
This unspoken debt was, of course, pinned on Song Shiyue.
Fortunately, over the past two days, Song Shiyue had indeed gained a big wave of genuine, heartfelt fans. The Little Ice Buckets, moreover, had completely changed their view of her and become Little Moons' most powerful external support. Along with a large contingent of Little Mooncakes who juggled multiple allegiances, they held their own in the fan battles, keeping the livestream windows relatively harmonious for the moment.
In Song Shiyue's livestream window, only she and Yu Nianbing remained.
The two walked side by side on the return path, hands tightly clasped.
Song Shiyue didn't speak further, and Yu Nianbing didn't ask.
Yet, every now and then, an involuntary squeeze from Song Shiyue's hand seemed to clench around Yu Nianbing's heart.
Inside Yu Nianbing, prayers never ceased.
Hope Song Shiyue is fine. Hope the audience won't notice anything off about Song Shiyue...
Yu Nianbing was filled with regret.
If I had known I would grow so close to Song Shiyue, close enough to...
I should have settled Song Shiyue's debts back then; then she wouldn't have come to this variety show and wouldn't be in this state...
Perhaps I shouldn't have moved out of the Xingzhu Garden house in the first place.
If I had kept living there, maybe I would have inevitably spent days and nights alongside her, perhaps would have sooner developed these concerns, and then could have sooner settled her debts...
In the darkness, step by step, Yu Nianbing walked with a regret only she knew, seeing thoughts only she recognized.
But...
In the end, it was just wishful thinking.
Without this program, without these days and nights spent together, how would I have ever known...
That Song Shiyue is this kind of person?
Yu Nianbing took a deep breath and gripped Song Shiyue's hand tightly. Yet, unlike before, she didn't lean on it for strength; instead, she strove to keep her arm steady, trying to offer the person beside her an extra measure of support.
The two walked hand in hand, their pace considerably quicker than when they had entered.
In the darkness, there was the sound of Yu Nianbing's soft panting, and also Song Shiyue's.
Such faint sounds, yet to Yu Nianbing's ears, they boomed like war drums.
All these days, Song Shiyue had done so many things and walked so many paths at Yu Nianbing's side, yet Yu Nianbing had never heard Song Shiyue pant like this.
This was fatigue.
Perfectly normal fatigue.
Song Shiyue hadn't had it before.
And now, she did...
Yu Nianbing didn't dare ask. The only thing she could do was walk steadier, steadier, faster, faster.
Yu Nianbing wasn't the only one who wanted to hurry.
Halfway through the return journey, not only was Song Shiyue's strength draining continuously, but the dizzy spells had also started occurring more frequently, and her ears even buzzed from time to time.
Yet, that wasn't the most frightening part.
The most frightening part was that Song Shiyue heard something.
She heard a roaring, seething sound.
In this dark, dim cave, somewhere farther or deeper, something was rumbling and churning...
And now, the two were already moving extremely fast. Most importantly, given Song Shiyue's current strength, even if she picked Yu Nianbing up and ran, she might not be faster than the two of them striving together now...
Thankfully, thankfully, after passing through corridor after corridor and traversing cave after cave, the cave entrance was already not far away.
Light, right ahead.
At this moment, the large group still inside the cave had only covered about two-thirds of the distance back.
And they did not hear the sounds that Song Shiyue was hearing.
On Mingtan Prime, in front of Yao Yuxi were two enlarged livestream interfaces placed side by side.
They showed the same return route, but the walking speeds of the two sides differed enormously.
One side was moving as if fleeing for their lives; the other was even slower than when they had entered.
Unconsciously, Yao Yuxi gripped the armrests of her office chair; the fine mahogany now felt so hard it hurt her hands.
Her heartbeat quickened; Yao Yuxi even felt an urge to reach out and push the sluggish team on the right screen forward a couple of times.
And the sudden change occurred right at that moment.
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