Substitute Alpha Gets Confessed to by Her Ex’s Aunt on a Survival Variety Show – Chapter 157
by Little PandaMind Eating Vegetarian for Two Days?
Nan Huaixu sensed something amiss and looked toward Huang Heshan. The Robot Dog’s camera also zoomed in for a close-up of Huang Heshan’s hands.
Because the branches used to make the fire bow lacked flexibility, cracks had formed under the prolonged high-speed friction. The grass rope serving as the bowstring had worn through at the middle where it connected to the drill, and the knots tying the rope to both ends of the branch had also loosened somewhat.
The rules of the contest had been set by Huang Heshan herself: both competitors were only allowed to gather resources on-site from within a one-kilometer radius within the allotted time, and aside from the knife uniformly issued by the production team, no other items on their persons could be used.
The drilling motion abruptly stopped, nearly ruining all prior effort. Huang Heshan immediately set about remaking the fire bow, but there was simply no better material to be found on this stretch of the meadow. Gritting her teeth, she used grass rope to bind the cracked section of the fire bow, then rewove a new grass rope, threading it through to form a bowstring.
Throughout the entire mishap, Liu Yinxi never once looked up. She kept her head down, wholly focused on rolling the drill between her palms, adjusting the angle of the drill tip and the V-shaped notch in the baseboard according to the drill’s depth and friction level, as well as the rhythm of the drill’s rotation. Occasionally she leaned down to check the condition of the tinder and blew gently to nurture the ember.
Rhythm and stability were paramount in hand-drill fire-making—it was a process of gradually accumulating heat energy, allowing not the slightest distraction.
Huang Heshan spent several minutes rebuilding the fire bow, securing it to the drill, and rapidly pulling the bow back and forth to drill.
Having learned from the earlier incident, she made the bowstring thicker this time. Once she started, Huang Heshan discovered that while the thicker string was sturdier, it drilled more slowly than a thin one, so she pulled the bow with greater force and faster speed.
About twenty minutes later, Huang Heshan’s tinder faintly began to produce smoke, and Liu Yinxi’s tinder also started giving off smoke.
Huang Heshan urgently pulled harder on the bow, wanting to seize the momentum and ignite the tinder. Both feet braced against the ends of the baseboard, arms accelerating—when suddenly, with a sharp snap, the fire bow’s string broke again.
Huang Heshan froze. She picked up the fire bow and inspected it: the newly woven grass rope had snapped, the break frayed with worn fibers, and the grass vines binding the branch had loosened while the crack in the branch had deepened.
Why was she so unlucky? The string had broken again.
Huang Heshan didn’t give up. She hadn’t even managed to start a fire with tools; there was no way Liu Yinxi could succeed with bare hands alone.
Huang Heshan hurriedly checked the remaining tools, wanting to switch branches to make a sturdier fire bow—when suddenly she caught the scent of an ember catching. She turned around. Liu Yinxi had blown the tinder into flame. Orange-red sparks grew swiftly like luminous flowers blooming.
The sparks converged into a vigorous flame, swaying and burning in Huang Heshan’s disbelieving eyes.
Liu Yinxi showed no winner’s elation. Her expression calm, she stood up and walked directly in front of Huang Heshan. “It’s over.”
She opened her hands palm-up. Nan Huaixu quickly parted her fingers to examine them and frowned.
Liu Yinxi’s palms had rubbed raw into several blood blisters—it looked incredibly painful.
Huang Heshan snapped the branch in her hand in frustration. After two minutes of silence, she said in a heavy voice, “Liu Yinxi, you won.”
Liu Yinxi said to her evenly, “The content and rules of the contest were all set by you. A bet’s a bet—I’m taking the comprehensive medical kit.”
“Where are you going? Sit down.” Nan Huaixu tugged Liu Yinxi’s hem downward, making her sit.
The medical kit was in Nan Huaixu’s hands. She immediately opened the box and took out syringes and iodine to disinfect Liu Yinxi’s blood blisters.
Liu Yinxi obediently sat with her hands spread open, letting Nan Huaixu disinfect and bandage them.
Beside her, Huang Heshan sat in place staring blankly for a while, her hands gripping the broken fire bow with a slight tremble, her voice hoarse like a long-neglected instrument. “Why? Why…”
Liu Yinxi listened to her anguished voice for a moment, then called her name. “Hey, Huang Heshan.”
Huang Heshan kept her head down, completely submerged in her own misery.
Liu Yinxi asked her, “Huang Heshan, do you think you’re incredibly unlucky?”
Huang Heshan fell silent for a few seconds, then fixed her with a cold glare. “Isn’t that obvious? My fire bow broke twice, and you actually hand-drilled a fire in forty minutes. If it’s not my bad luck and your good luck, then what is it?”
“Tch.” Liu Yinxi couldn’t help but laugh. She turned to face Huang Heshan properly. “I admit, your combat skills and physical conditioning are stronger than mine—I gladly concede that. But Huang Heshan, you also need to understand something. Survival skills are an incredibly complex and comprehensive system. A little field experience doesn’t cover everything.”
Nan Huaixu finished bandaging one of her hands, and Liu Yinxi switched to offer the other side. “Thank you, Teacher Nan.” Then she continued speaking to Huang Heshan. “Have you ever learned hand-drill fire-making before?”
Huang Heshan wore an expression that said, Are you stating the obvious? “You think you’re the only one who knows how?”
Liu Yinxi didn’t waste words with her. “When was the last time you made fire by hand-drill?”
Huang Heshan paused, thought for a moment, then answered, “About two years ago.” In the field, they used magnesium rods and lighters; they almost never used such primitive methods unless their packs were lost and there was truly no other option.
“What was the fire bow you used two years ago made of?”
“Bamboo strips and nylon cord.”
The moment she said it, Huang Heshan’s expression shifted and her brow furrowed involuntarily.
Liu Yinxi held out her gauze-wrapped hands. “Looks like you’ve figured out the crux of the problem yourself.”
Huang Heshan lowered her head. “So you knew from the very beginning that my fire bow was bound to break?”
“An experienced survivalist can tell just by surveying this small area that the resources here can’t produce a proper fire bow. Rather than having it snap halfway and waste all your effort, it’s better to put in the hard work and maintain steady friction to accumulate heat.”
Liu Yinxi didn’t spare her feelings at all. “Your technique wasn’t good to begin with, you haven’t practiced in too long, and your rhythm and angle control were off. Even with nylon cord you might have worn through it. With these rotten branches and soft grass vines, what kind of results did you expect?”
Huang Heshan looked up, her neck stiffening. “If you prepare wild materials properly, they can work too.”
Liu Yinxi: “You said it yourself—’if prepared properly.’ Are there flexible bamboo strips and willow withies here? Are there durable animal sinews and treated hemp rope? Having tools is certainly faster than bare hands, but the prerequisite is correctly using the correct tools. Well, your shoelaces might have been worth a try, but you banned those yourself.”
Huang Heshan: “…”
True enough—she was the one who had stipulated that no items on their persons could be used except the knife.
Huang Heshan looked at her own hands with a sense of helplessness. She had still had tactical gloves protecting her palms—if she had gone barehanded, perhaps…
Liu Yinxi: “Don’t learn from me. And to all the viewers watching the livestream right now—don’t try this at home either. I have extensive experience and proficient technique, and most importantly, I have good endurance and fast hand speed, so I could pull it off. Besides, if there were suitable resources here to make a proper fire bow and fire plow, I wouldn’t have gone barehand either. It hurts, doesn’t it? And then I had to trouble Teacher Nan to bandage me—how embarrassing.”
Huang Heshan: “…”
Livestream: 【…】
【Did you really have to call us out?】
【We get it, your endurance is great and your hand speed is fast, so impressive (eye roll)】
【I didn’t realize it was this hard. I thought you could just casually make a fire bow and be done with it. The bloggers I watch in short videos all do hand-drill fire-making so fast—they get it done in just a few minutes (chin in hands)】
【If you bring your own tools, an experienced hand can start a fire quickly. But using only raw materials gathered on-site is extremely difficult. No matter how good your technique, without the right materials, there’s nothing you can do—even the cleverest housewife can’t cook without rice1.】
【Who would normally learn a skill like this for no reason? Even outdoor adventurers bring lighters and matches (laugh-cry)】
【Ahhhh Xixi is so amazing!】
【I told you our Xixi could do it! Slapping the faces of all those who said she’d lose, nyah nyah nyah!】
【I mean, did she really have to rub those blood blisters into existence? The airdrop was already in hand—why agree to Huang’s contest? Totally unnecessary.】
【I think it’s because Liu Yinxi wanted to respond to Huang Heshan’s seriousness with her own seriousness—like in wuxia novels: a summit duel, crossing mountains and seas to honor a pledge2.】
【@Desert Eagle, your top priority right now is to uninstall that wuxia novel app】
【Huang-jie actually lost? Oh my god, without the medical kit, what about Yuyu? QAQ】
【Sigh, Huang-jie tried her best. Liu was kind enough to give her the chance—after all, it was a contest, and the demands couldn’t be too unreasonable. Let’s leave it at that (teary-eyed)】
【How sick is Yu Yan really? Call for outside help—why aren’t they calling for outside help?】
【Huang-jie has mentioned it several times. Yu Yan won’t let her.】
【Yu Yan warned Huang-jie not to call for outside help behind her back, or she’d stop talking to her 0^0】
【?】
【What is Yu Yan even thinking?】
【Probably afraid of being eliminated. Yu Yan really wants the prize money.】
【At least call for outside help to get checked out first. She can choose not to withdraw—dragging out her illness like this, is she trying to ascend to immortality3? And she’s someone who studied medicine—what kind of bizarre logic is that (baffled)】
【It’s simple. If Yu Yan won’t call for outside help, it means she knows her situation well enough that calling for help would definitely lead to elimination. That’s why she insists on not calling.】
【That makes sense (thinking)】
【Ugh, this is killing me! So what’s really going on! (driving me crazy)】
They extinguished the fire and cleaned up the contest site.
After resting, Liu Yinxi and Nan Huaixu shouldered their packs and prepared to return to the shelter.
Before leaving, they glanced back at Huang Heshan. She was still sitting in the same spot, looking terrible.
Liu Yinxi turned and started walking away, but after a few steps she slowed down, seemingly hesitating.
Nan Huaixu’s gaze had been on her face the entire time, reading every shift in her expression, every flicker in her eyes.
Nan Huaixu understood. After spending so much time with Liu Yinxi, she had gradually come to realize that this person sometimes had a tough mouth but a soft heart—she needed someone else to help her make the decision.
“Liu Yinxi.” Nan Huaixu gently lifted Liu Yinxi’s wrist, careful not to touch her wounds, and said softly, “Your hands won’t heal anytime soon. You can’t hunt, and I can only catch some fish. What are we going to do for meat these next few days?”
Liu Yinxi looked down at her gauze-wrapped palms. “True. Teacher Nan, do you mind eating vegetarian for two days?”
“I—mind.”
“Then…”
Nan Huaixu curved her lips, glanced at the medical kit, and then signaled with her eyes toward Huang Heshan.
Their unspoken understanding had always been reliable.
Liu Yinxi guessed Nan Huaixu’s meaning. “You mean, we could trade?”
Nan Huaixu nodded. “There’s so much in the medical kit. Trading one or two items for rabbits and wild pheasants shouldn’t be a problem, right?”
Liu Yinxi said, “No problem at all. Whatever Teacher Nan wants to eat, we must trade for.”
By late morning, the sun climbed ever higher, its dazzling light pouring over the emerald meadow.
Huang Heshan spent a long time digesting the pain of her defeat.
This failure was different from past ones. Not only had she failed to be of any use to Yu Yan, she also had to accept the fact that her skills were inferior.
She had lost.
Not just in technique, but in vision and generosity of spirit.
She had been taught the importance of teamwork by the person she looked down on the most, and had even been given the chance to compete.
—Liu Yinxi could have simply ignored her.
If it had been her, she would never have given Liu Yinxi the chance to compete.
Huang Heshan clenched her fists and sighed deeply.
I’m sorry, Yu Yan.
I’m not nearly as strong as you think. I can’t protect you.
I also know I have a terrible temper, a terrible personality, and flaws all over.
Someone like me—even the King of Hell4 would despise me.
I’m sorry, Yu Yan. I’m useless.
Just as useless as I was over twenty years ago in that orphan camp that was gunshot.
I couldn’t protect anyone I wanted to protect.
I don’t deserve…
Huang Heshan walked toward the forest with heavy steps, a solitary shadow trailing behind her.
“Huang Heshan!”
“Huang Heshan! Wait!”
Someone was suddenly chasing after her from behind, calling her name loudly.
Huang Heshan’s heart leapt. She spun around. Liu Yinxi was running toward her against the wind, carrying the medical kit. “My hands are injured and I can’t hunt. Teacher Nan wants to eat meat. See if there’s anything in the kit you need—we’ll trade for rabbits and wild pheasants!”
The drifting clouds parted, and golden sunlight fell directly on Liu Yinxi’s face. Huang Heshan saw her smile—it seemed to be glowing.
Footnotes
- Chinese idiom 巧妇难为无米之炊: literally 'even a clever housewife cannot cook without rice,' meaning even the most capable person cannot accomplish a task without the necessary resources.
- Chinese phrase 巅峰对决，山海赴约: a wuxia-genre expression meaning 'a duel at the peak, crossing mountains and seas to keep one's appointment,' evoking the solemn commitment to face a worthy challenge.
- Chinese expression 升仙: literally 'ascend to immortality,' used sarcastically to mean 'are you trying to die' or 'are you courting death.'
- Yan Wang (阎王): the ruler of the underworld in Chinese mythology, who judges the dead and determines their fates.
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