Substitute Alpha Gets Confessed to by Her Ex’s Aunt on a Survival Variety Show – Chapter 160
by Little PandaYu Yan’s Illness
The southeast corner of Jiganbu Lake split into two streams—the very place called Shuangxikou, where Liu Yinxi and Huang Heshan had agreed to make their exchange.
By the time Liu Yinxi and Nan Huaixu reached Shuangxikou, it was nearly eight-thirty. From afar, they could already see Huang Heshan’s figure sitting beneath a tree.
Hearing footsteps, Huang Heshan turned her head and quickly rose to walk toward them.
Liu Yinxi stepped forward and apologized to Huang Heshan: “I’m sorry, Huang-jie. I overslept, so I’m late.”
She watched Huang Heshan approach with that dark scowl on her face and thought—surely this person wasn’t going to start cursing her the moment she opened her mouth? She couldn’t help stepping backward: “Huang-jie, I’m truly sorry for making you wait an extra half hour. Let me throw in a pack of gauze—please don’t be angry.”
The gauze she offered came from Liu Yinxi’s own standard first-aid kit.
Huang Heshan stopped in front of Liu Yinxi, and—lo and behold—that perpetually sour expression softened with visible relief: “Thank goodness. I thought you weren’t coming. Thank you—I don’t need the gauze. I only want to trade for some medicine.”
Huh? Liu Yinxi was taken aback. Huang Heshan’s murder-face1—the kind that said she would slaughter anyone in her path, mortal or divine—wasn’t actually an expression of anger?
“It’s my fault for being late, so I insist,” Liu Yinxi said with an awkward smile. She suddenly realized she had been misreading Huang Heshan’s demeanor all along. Huang Heshan wasn’t nearly as arrogant as she appeared.
It had to be said—there are people in this world who simply have naturally fierce faces. They might think they are smiling tenderly, but in reality only one pixel of their mouth corners tilts upward, leaving everyone else convinced they have a terrible expression.
Enough small talk—straight to business.
Liu Yinxi asked Huang Heshan: “What game are you trading?”
Huang Heshan turned sideways and pointed at a wild rabbit and a wild pheasant tied up at the base of the tree: “One rabbit, one pheasant. Yesterday was too rushed—I didn’t hunt more. If that’s not enough, I can give you another rabbit in a couple of days.”
Liu Yinxi said, “One rabbit and one pheasant is plenty. We can’t take too much from you for just one type of medicine.”
Huang Heshan walked over, picked up the rabbit and pheasant, and handed them to Liu Yinxi.
Liu Yinxi took them and turned around: “Teacher Nan.”
“Mm.” Nan Huaixu unzipped Liu Yinxi’s backpack from behind, took out the medical kit inside, and opened it for Huang Heshan to see.
She asked Huang Heshan: “Which one do you want?”
Huang Heshan picked up a mini medicine bottle: “Multivitamin tablets.”
Vitamins?
Nan Huaixu and Liu Yinxi exchanged a glance, both surprised.
Vitamins were certainly important, but in the rainforest they could be obtained through a variety of plants. Compared to a nutritional supplement like vitamins, medications that could actually treat illnesses were clearly more important in a survival competition.
They hadn’t expected Yu Yan, while ill, to choose a bottle of multivitamins.
Neither of them said much—if that was what the other party wanted, so be it.
Per their agreement, Nan Huaixu took out a small bottle and poured half the tablets into it, splitting them evenly between both sides.
To be honest, trading a rabbit and a pheasant for half a bottle of vitamins wasn’t a great deal, but the terms had been negotiated in advance. Since Huang Heshan had no objections, Nan Huaixu and Liu Yinxi naturally had nothing more to say.
Nan Huaixu handed the small bottle to Huang Heshan: “Are you sure you want the multivitamin tablets? Once the trade is done, there’s no chance to change, and we won’t trade with you again.”
Huang Heshan took the bottle and nodded: “I’m sure.”
She had just received the bottle when she glanced at the original packaging in Nan Huaixu’s left hand and made a request: “Can I have the original medicine bottle? Yu Yan told me it would be best if I could see the vitamin ingredient label.”
Nan Huaixu slowly rotated the bottle, looking at the ingredient label—come to think of it, she hadn’t examined it closely either.
《Survivor》-supplied Multivitamin Tablets, Ingredients (per tablet):
Vitamin A—3000 IU
Vitamin D—400 IU
Vitamin E—30 IU
Vitamin B1—1.5 mg
Vitamin B2—1.6 mg
Vitamin B6—1.5 mg
Vitamin B9 (folic acid)—400 mcg
Vitamin B12—5 mcg
Vitamin C—50 mg
…
Nan Huaixu read through the content of each element in turn and couldn’t help speculating—could Yu Yan’s illness be caused by a deficiency of some particular element? If she got the vitamins, would she recover quickly? But with such abundant wild vegetables and fruit in the rainforest, that shouldn’t be the case.
Seeing that Nan Huaixu hadn’t responded, Huang Heshan worried she was unwilling and quickly added: “I don’t need the bottle—I just want to peel off the ingredient label sticker. Would that be okay?”
“I was just looking.” Nan Huaixu handed her the bottle and took back the small bottle from Huang Heshan’s hand. “It’s yours.”
Huang Heshan thanked them repeatedly: “Thank you both. I’ll be going now.”
Nan Huaixu said goodbye and watched Huang Heshan turn and leave.
Liu Yinxi asked Nan Huaixu in confusion: “Teacher Nan, why do you think Yu Yan only asked for half a bottle of vitamins that aren’t even that important, when Huang Heshan went through all that trouble to get this trade?”
Liu Yinxi held the pheasant in her left hand and the rabbit in her right, while Nan Huaixu helped carry the wild pheasant and said: “Maybe Yu Yan has beriberi2?”
It was said that in the past when living conditions were poor, vitamin B deficiency could cause this illness, which in severe cases could damage nerves and lead to motor impairment.
Liu Yinxi was puzzled: “That can’t be right. They have rice, which can supplement B1, and the competition only lasts two or three months. Modern people’s baseline nutrition is sufficient—it’s impossible to develop a serious illness in such a short time.”
They weren’t in a rush to get back to the shelter, so they strolled along the lakeside: “What do you think?”
Liu Yinxi frowned, thought for a moment, and shook her head: “I don’t know. Maybe there wasn’t anything she wanted, so she just picked at random.”
“That doesn’t seem right. Even if she were picking at random, she could have chosen more useful antibiotics or anti-inflammatory medication.”
“That’s true.”
Nan Huaixu lowered her gaze toward the emerald surface of the lake: “If forward thinking doesn’t work, then try thinking in reverse.”
“Reverse thinking?” That was an interesting angle.
“Meaning—aside from the vitamins, Yu Yan couldn’t take any of the other medications casually.”
“Couldn’t take them? Why?”
Nan Huaixu shrugged: “I’m just guessing. Alright, stop thinking about it—let’s go back and roast that rabbit.”
Now that was something Liu Yinxi could get excited about.
She quickened her pace: “Here I come—fragrant roast rabbit leg!”
A stream divided the dense thicket of shrubs.
Hurried footsteps sounded from the grass.
Suddenly, the noise stopped. Beside the earthen slope, blades of grass were pushed aside, and a rough hand covered in fine scratches reached through.
An orchid.
On the earthen slope where the stream flowed past, a pure white orchid was growing on a piece of decaying wood.
Huang Heshan crouched down and carefully lifted the flower together with the rotting wood, placed it in a plastic bag, and positioned it securely, being careful not to damage the petals or leaves. Then she continued on her way, carrying it with her.
She looked up toward the green-canopied path ahead and her eyes curved gently.
Such a beautiful flower—Yu Yan’s mood would surely brighten when she saw it.
And when her mood improved, her body would recover faster, wouldn’t it?
When they first met, hearing Yu Yan say she liked flowers, Huang Heshan knew this was a girl who had grown up in good conditions.
Because the environment she lived in could nurture flowers, which meant it was a peaceful and safe place.
Merely not having to hear explosions and gunshots—for Huang Heshan’s childhood, that had been pure fantasy.
A child who slept among ruins and piles of corpses would not like flowers.
Because they never saw them.
Because they couldn’t eat them.
Huang Heshan liked guns.
With a gun, she could kill the enemy before they took her life.
Yu Yan liked flowers—she was so full of vitality.
Tending flowers required giving of oneself—it meant sustaining life.
In the same way, Yu Yan had treated many patients on the front lines, prolonging many lives.
Sometimes Huang Heshan wondered—if she stayed by Yu Yan’s side, could the filth she had accumulated from taking lives be purified?
Yu Yan told her: It couldn’t. She was inherently clean.
Killing sinful people was itself an act of removing impurity.
For so many years, this was the first time anyone had told Huang Heshan that she was righteous, brave, and that they wanted to help her.
After experiencing many partings of life and death, Huang Heshan had originally decided not to form deep connections with anyone ever again.
But there was such a pure white flower, about to bloom upon soil soaked with blood and filth.
—”Heshan, flowers aren’t afraid of blood. They bloom even more beautifully.”
[Image: White Orchid on Decaying Wood]
Huang Heshan returned to the shelter. Yu Yan was lying in the lean-to as usual, quiet and still.
“I’m back.”
Huang Heshan gently set down the orchid, wanting to show it to Yu Yan, but Yu Yan didn’t greet her or tell her to drink a bottle of water. Instead, she lay silently on the bed.
Was she asleep? It was afternoon now. Yu Yan had been sleeping a lot lately—sometimes her naps lasted a long time.
Huang Heshan didn’t dare disturb her. She tiptoed out of the lean-to and, following the method Yu Yan had taught her before, placed the orchid under a tree in a spot facing the bed, so Yu Yan would see it the moment she woke up.
Worried about mosquitoes biting Yu Yan, Huang Heshan lit some mosquito-repellent grass, then checked the storage box. Inside was leftover dried roast meat, so she took a little and ate it with some banana core.
After a while, the sky clouded over and a cold wind blew off the lake. Huang Heshan got up and walked to the bedside, picking up a jacket to drape over Yu Yan.
She bent down, and her gaze fell on Yu Yan’s other side. She noticed a small dark stain on the grass mat near Yu Yan’s thighs.
Having struggled in war zones for years, Huang Heshan recognized it at a glance. She hurriedly reached out to touch it—the liquid seeped into the grass mat hadn’t fully dried yet. Huang Heshan lifted her hand; her fingertips were smeared with a trace of red.
“Yu Yan, you’re bleeding? Yu Yan? Yu Yan!”
No matter how Huang Heshan called, she couldn’t wake her. Yu Yan’s face was so pale it had turned ashen. Looking at the unconscious Yu Yan, Huang Heshan furrowed her brows tightly, filled with boundless remorse.
She shouldn’t have followed Yu Yan’s every word just because Yu Yan understood medicine.
Even if it meant going against Yu Yan’s orders, even if Yu Yan never spoke to her again for the rest of her life, she should have insisted on calling for outside help sooner.
It was too late.
All she could do now was fight for every second of the golden rescue window.
Huang Heshan frantically found the satellite phone and called for outside help. Over forty minutes later, a helicopter landed on the east bank of the lake. The rescue team rushed over, and medical personnel immediately assessed Yu Yan’s condition.
Huang Heshan stood to the side, waiting anxiously, but the nurse had set up a white curtain for isolation and told her to wait outside.
Under these circumstances, even without the doctor stating Yu Yan’s condition, Huang Heshan understood that Yu Yan could no longer continue the competition with her…
Rumble—
The sound of rotor blades churning the air echoed from above. Huang Heshan looked up in shock—there was a second rescue team?
Quickly, she noticed something was off. This helicopter didn’t bear the 《Survivor》 Spark logo—it was a camouflage-colored aircraft with a serial number on its tail.
Huang Heshan’s heart plummeted.
The second aircraft landed swiftly. Two upright alphas walked over, one in front of the other, followed by two betas carrying medical equipment, and an omega in a white coat.
The omega entered the isolation area first, exchanged a few words with the medical staff inside, then walked out with a grave expression.
“How is Yanyan?” The lead alpha had sharp, hawk-like eyes beneath sword-shaped brows. Her voice wasn’t loud, but it carried absolute authority.
The omega hesitated slightly, then spoke: “Commander Yu, may I have a word in private?”
Yu Jing frowned and walked aside with her. The omega cupped her hands and whispered in her ear.
Just a few short words, and Yu Jing’s eyes blazed with fury.
She strode furiously toward Huang Heshan, trampled the white orchid under the tree, and delivered a solid slap across Huang Heshan’s face—smack!
Footnotes
- The original Chinese expression '人挡杀人佛挡杀佛' literally means 'kill those who block you, whether human or Buddha,' describing someone so fierce and unstoppable that nothing—mortal or divine—could stand in their way.
- 'Beriberi' (脚气病) refers to the historical illness caused by thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency, which in severe cases can damage nerves and cause motor impairment. In modern Chinese, the term 脚气 is often colloquially used for athlete's foot, but the medical context here refers to the classical vitamin-deficiency disease.
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