Substitute Alpha Gets Confessed to by Her Ex’s Aunt on a Survival Variety Show – Chapter 132
by Little PandaA Close Call
Liu Yinxi set up the trap cage. It was still early, and she didn’t like the idea of Nan Huaixu fishing alone, so she returned to the shelter and then walked over to the lake where they usually fished.
She had just passed the pool when she heard dog barks from the lake — definitely the Little Black Dog’s voice, which meant Nan Huaixu might be in some kind of danger.
Liu Yinxi ran to the lake. The basic life raft floated in the shallow lake area, carrying the little dog and the Robot Dog — with an arrow sticking out of it.
Worst of all, Nan Huaixu had fallen into the water. A brown-skinned person who appeared to be from an indigenous tribe was in the water too, her hands touching Nan Huaixu’s back. Her motives were unclear, but the arrow on the raft was definitely connected to her.
“Let her go!” Liu Yinxi angrily warned again in English, pointing at the brown-skinned person. “Who are you? Why are you hurting her? We’re here filming a TV show. If you’re from the Tuowa Tribe, you should have received notice.”
Both people in the water looked at her.
Nan Huaixu had already climbed onto the basic life raft with the brown-skinned person’s help. She hurriedly told Liu Yinxi, “Liu Yinxi, she didn’t hurt me.”
Liu Yinxi looked at them suspiciously and quickly grabbed the rope connecting the tree to the basic life raft. “Teacher Nan, don’t worry — I’ll get you to shore first.”
Then Liu Yinxi pointed at the brown-skinned person treading water. “Behave yourself. Teacher Nan is a very important person. Keep your hands to yourself.”
The brown-skinned person showed no anger at this. Instead, she smiled, revealing white teeth.
She pushed the basic life raft forward as she swam, wiping water from her face with one hand. When she spoke, it was with a pure London accent. She tilted her head up toward Nan Huaixu on the raft and said, “Your alpha, Annan?”
Nan Huaixu was surprised by this indigenous person’s British accent. After a half-beat delay, she answered, “She’s my partner. We’re filming a competition show. I’m Chinese — Nan is my surname. I’m not called Annan.”
The brown-skinned person’s eyes were very clear, especially the gray-blue one, like glass beads soaked in water. “Are you a teacher who teaches classes?”
“No, we’re contestants in a competition. Are you from one of the indigenous tribes nearby? The production team communicated with the tribes — we won’t disturb your way of life.”
The brown-skinned person shook her head. “I don’t belong to any group.”
Nan Huaixu’s eyes showed a hint of confusion at her words. The brown-skinned person gave a hard push, and the basic life raft reached the shore.
Seeing Liu Yinxi standing on the basic life raft to steady it, Nan Huaixu felt completely relieved. She turned to the brown-skinned person in the water and said, “Thank you.”
The brown-skinned person swam to the side of the basic life raft, pulled the arrow from the raft, and looked at Nan Huaixu with a smile. “Fei Tuoma. My name. It means ‘Pride of the Earth’ in the Tuowa language.”
She walked onto shore and whistled toward the wolf-dogs running from a distance. The Little Black Dog, who had just come ashore, also ran toward her, wagging her tail furiously.
Fei Tuoma bent down and stroked the little dog’s head and back. “Wofu, welcome home.”
Nan Huaixu lifted the Robot Dog out of the basic life raft and looked at them. “So this little dog is yours. No wonder she knows commands.”
Liu Yinxi reached out to help Nan Huaixu onto shore. “Teacher Nan, are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?”
“No, I’m fine.” Nan Huaixu tied her soaked hair back up.
Liu Yinxi helped her take off the life jacket. “Get some sun first — once you’re dry, we’ll head back. I’ll brew you some herbal medicine when we get there. Don’t catch a chill.”
Liu Yinxi settled Nan Huaixu in the shade of a tree on the lake beach and walked over to Fei Tuoma and her wolf-dogs.
“Thanks for your help. I’m Liu Yinxi.” She stood before Fei Tuoma and pointed at the little black dog nuzzling Fei Tuoma’s calf. “This is your dog, right?”
Fei Tuoma nodded. “Yes. Hello.”
Nan Huaixu, sitting where she was, called out to Fei Tuoma: “When we found the little dog, her hind leg was injured. The people shooting arrows from the forest just now were attacking her too.”
Fei Tuoma crouched to check the little dog’s wound. The dog whimpered pitifully. Fei Tuoma gathered her into her arms, smoothing her fur, and turned to thank them both. “Thank you.”
Liu Yinxi added, “Your dog sneaked into our shelter while we were away and ate one of our camellia chickens. The worst part is, that chicken was laying eggs. We also looked after your dog for two days — she ate some of our fish and sweet potatoes.”
In truth, keeping the little dog hadn’t cost them much in supplies. But Liu Yinxi was here for a survival competition, not running a charity. Fei Tuoma was taking back the little dog Nan Huaixu had grown fond of, and the dog had genuinely killed one of their chickens. Liu Yinxi wanted the owner to compensate them for their losses.
Nan Huaixu could see the situation and understood the little dog wouldn’t be hers. This lovable, exasperating little creature had only sought temporary shelter with them after being injured and separated from her owner, while she searched for her master.
She walked over slowly and stopped at Liu Yinxi’s side, joining the conversation between her teammate and Fei Tuoma. “We saved your dog, and you helped me — those two things cancel each other out. But your dog killed one of our egg-laying chickens. Chicken meat and eggs are important food sources for us. This loss is devastating for us — it directly affects our competition results.”
Fei Tuoma listened to them, her expression full of confusion. Finally, she asked: “I apologize for Wofu’s damage to your chicken, and I thank you for helping her. But what competition are you in? And what results do you want? Why are you telling me this?”
Liu Yinxi was irritated by her unconcerned expression. “Our competition has nothing to do with you, and we won’t disturb you — your dog disturbed us first. Why am I telling you this? Aren’t you going to compensate us for your dog killing our chicken?”
Nan Huaixu felt that someone who had saved her life probably wasn’t a bad person. She tugged Liu Yinxi’s sleeve and stepped forward. “Fei Tuoma, we’d like food equivalent in value to one camellia chicken and a few eggs. If you don’t believe us, we can show you the crime scene.”
Fei Tuoma’s expression cleared with understanding. She nodded. “I’ll give you food. I believe you.”
Liu Yinxi asked her, “When will you give it to us? Let’s meet right here.”
Fei Tuoma thought briefly, gazing at the distant mountains and sky. “Heavy rain is coming. We’ll have to wait until it passes. I don’t know when the Rain God will leave, but you can come here after the rain stops. I’ll wait for you.”
Liu Yinxi looked at the horizon. There were no obvious signs of rain. “Rain?”
Fei Tuoma smiled and pointed to her own nose. “When the Rain God comes, the jungle’s scent changes.”
Liu Yinxi agreed. “Fine, I’ll come the morning after the rain stops.”
The afternoon sun was fierce, the weather hot. The water on Nan Huaixu dried quickly.
Liu Yinxi inspected the basic life raft — fortunately, the material was tough and hadn’t been punctured by the arrow. She packed up the backpack and fishing net, pushing them toward the pool, then turned to call Nan Huaixu. “Teacher Nan, let’s head back.”
“Coming.” Nan Huaixu took a few steps forward, then remembered something and turned to look at Fei Tuoma, still standing in place.
Looking closely in the sunlight, Fei Tuoma had Oceanic features, with a trace of Germanic heritage as well. In the harsh glare, she closed her blue eye.
Light-colored irises weren’t suited to tropical regions — intense sunlight could damage the eyes. Clearly, part of Fei Tuoma’s ancestry came from genes that didn’t belong to this rainforest.
Nan Huaixu said to her, “Thank you. Goodbye.”
Fei Tuoma raised her hand, making a fist and placing it against her left chest — apparently a farewell ritual of the rainforest.
“Have you ever been to a classroom with electric fans, Nan?”
Nan Huaixu and Liu Yinxi had just settled into the basic life raft when Fei Tuoma suddenly asked.
Liu Yinxi frowned and squinted. What kind of question was that?
Nan Huaixu paused briefly. She thought for a moment, then told Fei Tuoma, “Yes, I have. Most classrooms in our country have electric fans.”
Fei Tuoma smiled in the sunlight. “How wonderful. Goodbye!”
Nan Huaixu waved, then turned to check inside the basic life raft and asked Liu Yinxi, “Where’s the fish basket?”
Liu Yinxi paddled. “Didn’t see it.”
Nan Huaixu sighed. “It probably fell in the lake.”
Liu Yinxi reassured her. “It’s fine, we’ll weave another one. As long as you’re safe.”
Nan Huaixu rested her chin in her hands, sneezed, and said with a sniffle, “I cast the net three times and only brought up two small fish once.”
She asked Liu Yinxi, “Should we catch some more fish to take back?”
Liu Yinxi took off her jacket and draped it over Nan Huaixu’s back. “I’ll catch fish tomorrow. The most important thing right now is getting back to the shelter. You need to heat water for a bath, then drink your medicine.”
“But Fei Tuoma said heavy rain is coming — if it rains tomorrow, fishing won’t be easy — achoo!”
Liu Yinxi’s tone grew slightly more emphatic. “That’s exactly why we need to get back and get you drinking medicine right now. Even if it rains, we’ll be fine. I picked fruit today, and we’ve got lizard and leftover meat in the mini fridge, plus instant noodles and freeze-dried rice. Stop worrying — I won’t let you go hungry.”
Nan Huaixu lowered her head and sat at the back of the basic life raft, hugging her knees.
Without the little dog, everything suddenly felt quiet and empty.
Liu Yinxi paddled and asked Nan Huaixu, “Teacher Nan, what was the deal with that arrow on the raft earlier?”
Nan Huaixu still felt a jolt of fear thinking about the arrow that had come flying out of nowhere. She recounted everything that had happened to Liu Yinxi.
Liu Yinxi’s expression was grave. “That was way too dangerous. The people shooting arrows must be from the Tuowa Tribe. What is the production team even doing? They said the tribes were friendly and wouldn’t interfere with us.”
Nan Huaixu said, “Those people wanted to kill Black Fur — I was just collateral damage. Why would they want to kill a dog as small as Black Fur?”
“Maybe Black Fur stole a lot of their chickens.” Liu Yinxi was making this up — otherwise, why would a little dog attract that much hatred? “Or there’s a grudge against her owner.”
Nan Huaixu thought of this too and sighed. “Most likely internal tribal conflict.”
【The raft’s rocking again, I’m getting seasick @x@】
【So dangerous — why shoot arrows straight at the raft? Can’t they see people on it? Even if they wanted the dog, they should’ve just talked it out!】
【Uncivilized indigenous tribe — love and hate, breaking news （笑哭）】
【But isn’t that Fei Ma still reasonable? She can even speak English.】
【Her name is actually Fei Tuoma. She’s of mixed blood — probably taught by one of her parents.】
【What reason did she even show? Xixi told her to compensate and she didn’t listen — she only agreed to pay with food because she saw Manman is an omega.】
【Um, is it possible she just didn’t understand our way of putting things? Xixi only said they were in a competition, the dog killed their chicken, and so on — she never explicitly asked for anything. Manman was the one who directly told her what value of goods they wanted, and that’s when she agreed.】
【So many accidents this season — the organizers are asking to get sued.】
【As long as the show makes money, pushing a few scapegoats out there is easy.】
【You know how operations work （狗头）】
【Is Manman okay after falling in the water? Hope she doesn’t catch a cold.】
【The airdrop is the day after tomorrow — please don’t let anything go wrong.】
【Don’t worry, if the sky falls, Xixi will hold it up （叉腰）】
“Achoo! Achoo!”
After wiping down with hot water, Nan Huaixu changed into a spare T-shirt, put on Liu Yinxi’s jacket, and sat by the fire pit to warm herself.
She had washed her hair. Now that the sun was setting, she could only use her dirty clothes to towel it dry, waiting by the fire for it to finish drying.
Liu Yinxi was boiling water in the mess tin.
Nan Huaixu wrinkled her nose, catching a rich aroma of alcohol.
She followed the scent to Liu Yinxi’s side and peered into the mess tin. “You put that in too?”
Yuan Fang’s Alcohol couldn’t be mentioned openly — if the production team found out, it would mean trouble.
Liu Yinxi looked at her, lips curving. “I added a little to the water — to drive out the cold.”
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