Substitute Alpha Gets Confessed to by Her Ex’s Aunt on a Survival Variety Show – Chapter 80
by Little PandaChilled Honey Coconut Egg
The mini fridge was highly energy-efficient, so its fan power was limited. With the door open, it simply couldn’t gather any cold air.
Liu Yinxi shut the fridge door and turned off the switch. She moved it to the outer campfire area under direct sunlight to absorb solar power, saving it for when they needed to keep supplies fresh.
They had rice and beans, so they didn’t have to worry about carbohydrates for the time being. What they pondered every day was how to find meat.
The airdrop calendar on their bracelets showed that after May 16, the intervals between airdrops had increased. The next airdrop day was May 27.
It was a long gap, and since they had already mapped out the route to the waterfall, Liu Yinxi wanted to take a couple of days to relax.
“Teacher Nan, how about we go to the beach this afternoon?”
“Aren’t we going to check the traps and the fish trap?” Nan Huaixu had assumed they were going today and was currently packing her backpack.
“We’ll go tomorrow. We need to boil some salt to restock, gather a couple of young coconuts, and catch some fish and shrimp in the evening. When we get back, I want to try out the mini fridge’s ice-making function.”
Nan Huaixu went to the storage rack and dug out the salt bottle. Only a shallow layer remained. They had gone through it much faster than expected; it really was time to restock. Constantly rationing without replenishing their source was not a sustainable solution.
She agreed. “All right.”
Thanks to their recent climbing training, Nan Huaixu’s hiking speed had drastically improved. She scaled gullies and slopes without needing Liu Yinxi’s help, moving with total ease.
As they chatted on the trail, Nan Huaixu mentioned, “I saw them this morning. It was shocking. They’ve only relocated to the Toa River a week or two ago, but some of them look like they’ve shed an entire layer of skin.”
Liu Yinxi replied, “No food. Hiking every day burns a lot of calories, plus they have to deal with mosquitoes and insects. With energy only going out and nothing coming in, even losing two kilograms becomes glaringly obvious.”
“The difference between the beach and the riverbank really is massive.”
“Rivers don’t have ocean tides to wash fish and shrimp ashore, so the difficulty of catching food increases significantly. The distance from the Toa River Estuary to the beach is quite far. If their hiking skills aren’t up to par, the tiny bit of food they get from beachcombing won’t even cover the energy spent on a one-way trip. The beach has easily treatable fresh water, coconuts, and a simple way to obtain food—beachcombing. It’s one of the easiest starting modes1 for survivalists.”
“One of the easiest? What other simple starting modes are there?”
“A peaceful, abandoned village. You get decent shelters, and scavenging through houses might yield some surprises.”
“Does that count as survival? That falls under the category of human ruins.”
“I think it counts. Refugees in temporary ceasefire zones live exactly that kind of life. Survival is seeking a way out to stay alive. The threats you face could be natural disasters, wild beasts, or even our own kind—humans.”
“Ah…”
Hearing Nan Huaixu’s sigh, Liu Yinxi quickly changed the subject. “Right now, out of the eight of us, the wealthiest is Xue Yunshao.”
“Because of that box of meat jerky her fans sent?” Nan Huaixu asked.
It certainly couldn’t be from Luo Ling’s fans voting. Her meager follower count wasn’t even a fraction of Xue Yunshao’s.
Liu Yinxi mentally calculated. “If they ration that box of jerky, it could last a month.”
“Do you think they can ration it? Even though we can’t see how their survival life is going, I’m guessing that if her fans sent them food, they must be starving.”
“Didn’t Xue Yunshao come to trade salt with us last month?” Liu Yinxi pointed out. “She said Luo Ling doesn’t eat sea fish. So whenever Xue Yunshao gets her hands on anything good, she feeds it all to Luo Ling.”
Nan Huaixu’s lips curled up. “You certainly remember the details quite clearly.”
Liu Yinxi paused, switching topics once again. “It’s a pity for all that jerky to just be hoarded by Xue Yunshao.”
“You want to trade with her? I get the feeling she won’t. Having both meat and salt, she’s practically invincible.”
“Let’s observe for now. Someone will inevitably want to trade with her.”
Nan Huaixu thought for a moment. “Yuan Fang?”
“Yeah.”
At present, Yuan Fang and Lu Yiqi were in the worst physical condition. They were constantly in a state of starvation. If they suffered any further setbacks, Nan Huaixu deduced they would be eliminated. Whether they could continue surviving depended entirely on whether Xue Yunshao was willing to trade them some food.
Liu Yinxi suddenly said, “There is another possibility.”
Nan Huaixu stopped walking and looked at her. After two seconds of thought, her eyes widened. “You mean stealing supplies?”
A smile danced in Liu Yinxi’s eyes. “I wouldn’t do something like that, but Huang-jie definitely would. And if Yuan Fang gets driven mad enough, she’d probably do it too. That’s why I say the production team is passively wicked2. They could have just quietly delivered the fans’ gifts to the contestants, but they insisted on announcing it publicly. Resources that you lack the ability to protect are nothing but a fat piece of meat lying on a chopping block.”
She was a good person.
The production team’s rules forbade death matches between contestants, but fighting within certain limits fell into a regulatory gray area. Openly plundering other teams’ supplies was not allowed, but stealing in secret was tacitly permitted.
Therefore, in the later stages of every season of 《Survivor》, contestants had to guard against not only venomous insects and wild beasts, but also their predatory rivals. Unless under special circumstances, they absolutely could not expose their supplies and shelter location.
Nan Huaixu said, “The unspoken rules tacitly permit it. If Huang-jie and Yuan Fang can do it, why can’t you?”
Liu Yinxi: “?”
Meeting her incredulous gaze head-on, Nan Huaixu stared right back. “Why are you looking at me like that? Are you surprised I’m a despicable thief?”
“No.”
Nan Huaixu raised her eyebrows slightly, her expression impish and quirky. “The law of the jungle. You taught me that.”
Liu Yinxi hadn’t expected the usually noble and principled Nan Huaixu to possess such a wild side.
However, Liu Yinxi preferred to create a good life with her own two hands. She replied, “Teacher Nan is right. If it comes down to it, it’s not entirely out of the question.”
Nan Huaixu smiled. “Mhm. The competition’s difficulty is ramping up; we can’t afford to be too conservative.”
“Teacher Nan, if—and I mean ‘if’—it happens, could you really bear to make a move against your Big Niece?”
“I don’t care whose niece she is.” Nan Huaixu crossed her arms, standing in front of Liu Yinxi. “This is a survival competition. I have to stay alive and win in the end. In my eyes, everyone other than you is just background.”
Liu Yinxi’s eyes reflected Nan Huaixu’s resolute stance. She was like a thorny rose, vibrant and sharp—a unique kind of beauty that Liu Yinxi had never seen before.
She gazed at her with admiration for a second before giving a firm nod. “I understand, Teacher Nan.”
The moment Teacher Nan said she wanted to eat meat jerky…
Liu Yinxi would quietly pay a visit to Xue Yunshao and Luo Ling’s shelter.
【Ah?】
【I never thought you were this kind of Nan Huaixu （Shocked）】
【Man, you’ve changed. You weren’t like this before you met Liu Xixi.】
【Don’t drag Xixi into this. Xixi clearly stated she didn’t want to launch a sneak attack =.=】
【The competition tacitly permits it, so there’s no problem. The Resource Defense War has always been a major highlight of 《Survivor》.】
【In reality, many contestants get eliminated before they even make it to the point of being sneak-attacked.】
【tbh4, Liu Yinxi single-handedly boosted this season’s retention rate. Just looking at the salt alone—if it weren’t for Liu Yinxi taking the lead in boiling salt and being willing to trade, based on the standards of previous seasons, at least two teams would’ve been eliminated by this point.】
【And Yu Yan, going around teaching people how to treat wounds and identify herbs. It’s the two of them joining forces that boosted the retention rate （Laughing cry）】
【A Sly War God and a Dog-training Saint, descending to the mortal realm to deliver all living beings from suffering.】
【Ever since Huang-jie suspected her of leaking the secret of the coral gully, Yu Yan doesn’t help people anymore.】
【Yu Yan wants the prize money. An orphanage she funded in the war zone was bombed and destroyed. She wants to raise money to build a new building with a bomb shelter.】
【Don’t panic6, hasn’t Great Philanthropist Xue Yunshao arrived with a massive hoard of meat jerky? （Doge7）】
【I really don’t know what goes through the minds of those people who voted. I’ve said it so many times—sending too much high-energy food at once will get them targeted! Even if you sent a bag of oatmeal, it wouldn’t be this dangerous! Originally, Yuan Fang’s team was the most likely to be eliminated first. Now both Huang and Yuan have their eyes on Yunshao. If they take advantage of Yunshao not being at the shelter and follow Luo Ling back to steal the jerky, it’ll be too late for tears!】
【Don’t even mention it. Yunshao said she’d give the jerky to Luo Ling to eat, while she herself sticks to her old routine of making traps to catch fish （Frantic）】
【To find a lover like Xue Yunshao in this lifetime, one would have no regrets.】
【A Yun is mine.】
【Mine.】
【Stop dreaming, you have everything in your dreams8.】
【While you guys are all fighting over Xue Yunshao, I’ll take advantage of the chaos to carry off my family’s Xixi. Kiss, kiss, kiss （Red lips）】
【Xixi belongs to Manman! Kick the heretic out!】
【@Patrol Captain of the Vegetarian Team, hahahahaha!】
The splash of crashing waves echoed along the beach.
Liu Yinxi built a crude stone stove to boil salt, while Nan Huaixu brought back young coconuts, carving them into coconut eggs for easy carrying.
At dusk, they caught fish and shrimp along the edge of the mangrove forest. This stretch of coast lacked the expansive reef clusters found near their landing zone, making it easier to find seafood in the mangrove areas. They returned fully loaded before dark.
The moment they got back to the shelter, Liu Yinxi carried the mini fridge to the base of the treehouse. She turned it on and poured boiled water into the small ice-making compartment. There was a dedicated start switch on the outside of the ice compartment, which was kept off when not in use to save power.
Nan Huaixu placed the extra live fish they couldn’t finish today into the bucket to keep them alive, then set up a wooden rack over the Dakota fire hole to roast fish.
She washed the rice to cook, asking Liu Yinxi, “Do you want to eat the coconut egg?”
Liu Yinxi started the ice-making compartment and turned back to answer her. “Not yet. I’ll open it later.”
“Okay. Come eat.”
Liu Yinxi closed the fridge and went over to the fire hole to roast sea shrimp and shellfish.
Halfway through the meal, the mini fridge let out three beep-beep sounds. Liu Yinxi hurriedly set down her mess tin and ran over.
Nan Huaixu looked up. “There’s no rush. Look at it after we finish eating.”
Liu Yinxi pulled out the ice tray and popped the ice cubes onto a banana leaf plate. The clink of the ice striking against each other was crisp and pleasant to the ear.
Nan Huaixu also put down her tin and walked over to look. It had been so long since she last saw ice cubes!
Liu Yinxi skillfully sliced open a coconut egg. She chopped the coconut meat with her knife, poured in the coconut water, added a spoonful of honey, tossed in two tender, chewy palm fruit pieces, and finally added the ice cubes.
“Ta-da~” Liu Yinxi offered the freshly made dessert to Nan Huaixu. “Xiao Liu’s special honey ice coconut is done. Teacher Nan, please have a taste.”
“Wow, it looks delicious.” Nan Huaixu quickly scooped up a spoonful to taste. The icy sweetness seeped right into her soul, so delicious that her eyes crinkled into crescents.
Liu Yinxi asked expectantly, “How is it?”
Smiling, Nan Huaixu scooped up another spoonful and fed it directly into her mouth. “Here.”
Liu Yinxi swallowed the sweet coconut water. “Mhm, not bad.”
Nan Huaixu pulled back the spoon and took the coconut egg for herself. “I’ll eat this one first. There’s another coconut egg for you to make yours.”
“Okay!”
Liu Yinxi brought over the second coconut egg and sliced open the meat, but her movements abruptly came to a halt.
She sheepishly rubbed the back of her head, belatedly realizing something.
Teacher Nan had just fed her.
Footnotes
- Gaming slang for the initial conditions or difficulty of a scenario.
- A Northern Chinese dialect term (niān huài) meaning secretly or passively malicious, doing bad things quietly without being obvious.
- Internet slang (sà) originally meaning the sound of wind, now commonly used to describe someone who is extremely cool, badass, or stylishly competent.
- Internet slang (pinyin acronym for 有一说一, yǒu yī shuō yī), meaning 'to be honest' or 'truth be told'.
- A dialect slang term (ó huō) expressing surprise, 'oh no', or mild schadenfreude when something goes wrong or is ruined.
- Internet slang, a phonetic play on 莫慌 (mò huāng, don't panic).
- A reference to the 'dog head' (gǒutóu) or Doge emoji, widely used on the Chinese internet at the end of a sentence to indicate sarcasm, joking, or to protect the speaker from being taken too seriously.
- A sarcastic internet phrase telling someone their desires are impossible in reality.
- Fandom slang used playfully to denounce fans who support a different romantic pairing.
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