Chapter 7

The production team notified Jack three days in advance precisely because they were afraid he might get a sudden urge to pack up and move on a whim.

As for the two-way livestream, Jack didn't really care much about it. His main focus right now was finding enough supplies.

Ever since moving to the pine forest shelter, Jack had noticed his life getting a lot more comfortable.

No more snow wolves threatening him, no more the suffocating feeling of a brown bear breathing nearby, and even the bitter cold wind was mostly blocked by the dense trees.

Not to mention this new territory meant a much richer supply of resources. Jack had spent the past few days scouting around the pine forest and found quite a few good things — wild berries still clinging to branches, mushrooms sprouting from dead wood, and his most familiar prey: snowshoe hares.

Since pine forests tend to be relatively dry and warm, the rabbits here were plentiful and well-fed. Just as Jack skillfully snapped another hare's neck, the livestream chat started buzzing again.

"I seriously think this guy is cheating somehow. How does he always find rabbit dens so accurately?"

"You just haven't been paying attention. Snowshoe hare tracks are actually pretty easy to spot."

"Easy for you to say. So why can't the other contestants find even a single rabbit hair?"

"Alright, alright, stop arguing. The fact that he can catch rabbits shows Jack really knows what he's doing."

Jack had no idea about any of this debate. He just did what he always did — skinned the rabbit, cleaned the pelt, and froze the meat as food reserves.

On the third day, the day before the two-way livestream, Jack wandered around camp again. This time he walked a bit further north, and suddenly his awareness caught a blue light.

Blue? Jack had never seen that color signal before.

He followed where the light was pointing, brushed away the snow, and his fingertips touched something hard.

[Manufactured object detected. Type: Metal container (can). Status: Contents have spoiled. Container still usable after cleaning.]

Jack felt the cold metal under his fingertips, paused for a second, then immediately started digging.

Before long, a can roughly 5.9 inches long and 7.8 inches tall appeared in front of him.

Jack pried open the lid with his axe, dumped out the spoiled contents, then scooped up some snow right there and stuffed it inside, washing the can out thoroughly.

Once it was completely clean, he examined the rim carefully from all angles. The seal was tight with no damage at all. Jack was very satisfied.

Having this can meant he could finally cook things. During his days on the snowfield, he'd had no shortage of meat, but water had always been a big problem. Without any container to boil water in, he'd had to pack snow into his water pouch and leave it near the fire, waiting for it to slowly melt.

This meant every drink of water he got was ice cold.

Jack carried the can back to his shelter, first held it over the fire to sterilize it, then boiled a pot of hot water and filled his water pouch.

After that, he scooped up a fresh handful of clean snow, put it in the can along with the rabbit meat he'd prepared earlier.

The fire burned steadily underneath as the rabbit meat in the can slowly stewed, filling the air with a rich aroma. Jack whittled a simple fork with his axe and carved himself a small spoon.

That evening, he finished every last bit of the rabbit stew without holding back, then fell into a rare, deep, satisfied sleep.

Early the next morning, Jack was woken by the roar of rotor blades.

He had just crawled out of his shelter when he spotted a helicopter hovering overhead, marked with the production team's logo.

It was the same crew member who had come to notify him last time, jumping down from the aircraft.

"Good morning, Jack!" the crew member called out with a wave, as if they were old friends.

He handed Jack a pile of livestream equipment and walked him through how to use everything.

"This is the livestream camera — it automatically tracks you as you move. This small screen lets you see the live comments in real time. And this is the microphone — it picks up sound clearly within a 9-foot range."

Jack nodded, taking it all in. The crew member was about to leave when he couldn't help turning back for one last look.

"Honestly, you're in the best shape of anyone in this group. I hope you keep going."

Jack didn't say much — just gave a quiet nod.

After seeing the crew member off, the livestream went live shortly after.

Jack switched on the camera and glanced down, a little awkwardly, at the small screen hanging at his waist.

The screen was still dark and silent. Then, in the next second, Jack watched in stunned disbelief as a flood of viewers poured into his stream all at once.

"He's here, he's finally here — the legend of wilderness survival is walking toward us."

"Jack, I'm your fan!"

"I'm going to be one of Jack's very first fans!"

Jack stared at the dense, constantly refreshing stream of comments, his mouth hanging open.

And his completely dazed expression had the viewers cracking up.

"How does it feel? Bet you didn't expect to be this famous."

"Totally understandable. Going viral overnight like this — that's a lot to take in."

"Look at this guy's face, he's completely lost. This is hilarious."

Jack slowly came back to his senses as he read through the comments. He glanced at the live viewer count —

37,482.

Over thirty thousand people watching. Jack swallowed hard, his throat tight.

"You're all here to watch me?"

That was the first thing Jack said in the livestream, and the viewers immediately lost it.

"No, I'm not here for you. I'm here for that snowfield behind you that you've conquered."

"Jack, I am absolutely here for you — my whole family loves you!"

"Jack, you're the biggest star on this platform right now."

Jack took a slow, deep breath and looked straight into the camera, suddenly feeling strangely nervous.

"Jack, relax. You're already the undisputed number one wilderness survival guy on the entire internet."

"This platform would've gone broke without you."

"Come on, introduce yourself to everyone! And tell us what you've been up to these past few days, yeah?"

Jack's lips moved, but no words came out. He picked up his water pouch, took a sip of hot water, and finally felt his head clear a little.

"Hey everyone, I'm Jack!"

The comment section exploded all over again.

Over the next stretch of time, with thousands of viewers watching eagerly, Jack answered a few simple questions and gradually got the hang of interacting with the live audience.

In the middle of chatting, a question suddenly occurred to him, and he turned to the camera.

"Can anyone tell me how the other contestants are doing right now?"

The moment he said that, the comments went wild.

"Jack, guess how many people are left!"

"Besides you, there are only three left — Mark, Ivan, and David. So Jack, you have to hang in there. You've totally got this!"

From all the overlapping comments, Jack managed to piece together a few useful facts.

Besides himself, three contestants remained: Mark, Ivan, and David. All three were moderately well-known wilderness survival experts, and one was a retired special forces soldier.

But apparently none of them were doing great. Mark had gotten into a face-to-face fight with a lynx a couple days ago and was injured. Ivan was severely short on supplies and had reportedly wasted away to skin and bones. And David's condition was said to be pretty rough too.

Just then, a new message flashed across the stream.

"Breaking news — David just passed out on his own livestream. The production team has already sent someone to get him."

Jack froze. He hadn't expected that barely twenty days into the competition, it was already down to just three people.