Substitute Alpha Gets Confessed to by Her Ex’s Aunt on a Survival Variety Show – Chapter 84
by Little PandaThe First Elimination
In the morning, they relocated their traps.
Liu Yinxi taught Nan Huaixu how to identify animal tracks and droppings, selecting suitable locations to set them up.
Compared to before, they had crafted two extra ground cages, plus a pitfall trap, a rope-trigger trap, and a stone slab trap.
They left the fish traps where they were. Recently, in her spare time, Nan Huaixu had crafted a new woven trap. Liu Yinxi took her to the mid-upper reaches of the Toa River, letting her choose a spot in the water to submerge the new fish trap.
On their way back at noon, they ran into Yuan Fang by the rocky shoal where last night’s accident occurred.
Yuan Fang had her pant legs rolled up. She was gripping a wooden spear, spearing fish in the shallows, and looked over at them from a distance.
Yuan Fang waved an arm in the air. “Hi, Sister Liu, Teacher Nan, good afternoon~”
Her smile was as exuberant as ever, but her sunken cheeks made her look incredibly haggard. She no longer had her former flamboyant, vibrant presence; her whole person seemed dull and gray.
Liu Yinxi broke into a grin and was just about to joke around with her like usual when Nan Huaixu stepped in front of her.
“Good afternoon.” Nan Huaixu’s expression was gentle, her tone soft as she returned the greeting. “Did you catch any fish? Are you eating here for lunch?”
Yuan Fang offered a small smile and lifted her crude woven fish basket. “Two little ones. But I have to head back to the shelter. I’ve got a mouth waiting to be fed1 over there.”
Liu Yinxi felt that Nan Huaixu was being uncharacteristically gentle with Yuan Fang this time. In the past, whenever they ran into Yuan Fang, Nan Huaixu had always worn a cold expression; they simply didn’t get along.
Come to think of it, it made sense. Her teammate was injured, making things even worse for a team already short on supplies. The fact that Yuan Fang could still greet them with a smile was a testament to her mental fortitude, but it didn’t mean she was in the mood to joke around and banter with others.
Liu Yinxi understood. Teacher Nan truly was gentle. This meticulous care wouldn’t waver just because of her personal likes and dislikes. Whether someone else was good or bad had nothing to do with her; she simply adhered to her own principles.
Nan Huaixu took two wild fruits out of her bag, walked to the water’s edge, and handed them to Yuan Fang. “We picked a lot on the way back. They’re heavy to carry, so help me share the burden.”
Yuan Fang stared at the fruit in her hand for a moment before curling her lips into a smile and taking them. “No problem.”
She looked past Nan Huaixu to Liu Yinxi. “Sister Liu, how could you let Teacher Nan carry so many things? An alpha needs to be diligent, otherwise no omega will like you.”
Liu Yinxi laughed. “Our Teacher Nan shared her fruit with you, so you should just be secretly thrilled.”
Nan Huaixu shot Liu Yinxi a glance, and Liu Yinxi silently stepped back.
“Yuan Fang, how is Xiao Lv? What did the outside assistance say when they arrived last night?” Nan Huaixu asked softly.
“That girl is stubborn, you can both see that.” Yuan Fang briefly relayed what they already knew. “The doctor bandaged her up, but the specifics depend on her own wishes. We’re all adults; we have to be responsible for our own actions and choices.”
Nan Huaixu nodded and gave her two more fruits. “For Xiao Lv. Give her our regards.”
Yuan Fang paused, not taking them immediately. “Teacher Nan, if you do this, we don’t have anything to give you in return. Playing the kind-hearted fruit farmer in a competition might just get you bitten by a snake.”
Nan Huaixu stepped up onto the higher bank and smiled faintly. “In this competition, haven’t you eaten snake meat yet?”
When food was scarce, she had braced herself and eaten rats and bugs. She hadn’t eaten snake yet, but she imagined it would be just as delicious as lizard meat.
Nan Huaixu draped a hand over Liu Yinxi’s shoulder from behind. “Yinxi makes delicious roasted snake meat.”
Yuan Fang stood in the shallow river water, watching them. After a moment, a smile broke across her face. “What a pity. I haven’t tasted it yet.”
“That’s the difference between you and me.” Nan Huaixu waved at Yuan Fang. “Goodbye, and good luck.”
The biggest difference between her and Yuan Fang was that she had Liu Yinxi.
If any snake dared to try and hurt her, Liu Yinxi would absolutely skin it, skewer it, and roast it for her to eat.
Liu Yinxi raised both hands and waved. “Bye-bye, Boss Yuan.”
She quickly caught up with Nan Huaixu. “Teacher Nan, do you want to eat snake meat? Next time I see one, I’ll catch it for you to eat.”
They walked into the woods, the insects in the grass chirping a melodious tune.
Nan Huaixu used her trekking pole to tap the grass and bushes. “Not for now. We can talk about it when we can’t catch any fish or other prey.”
“Oh… I thought you wanted to eat it.”
“Snake meat actually tastes pretty good. The texture is somewhere between chicken and fish. Teacher Nan, have you ever eaten swamp eel?”
“Yes. I’ve also had snake soup before, but I didn’t eat the meat.”
“It’s quite similar to that. But wild snakes have a lot of parasites, which is really annoying.”
Nan Huaixu rubbed her forehead. “Alright, there’s no need for a detailed introduction on parasites.”
Liu Yinxi obediently snapped her mouth shut. “Mhm.”
The babbling of the river grew further and further away.
Dazzling sunlight danced across the ripples on the water.
Yuan Fang carried the handful of fruit up onto the river shoal, leaving a trail of wet footprints in the sand.
She slung her bag on her back, picked up her fish, and headed back to the shelter. Lu Yiqi was sitting in the structure, changing her bandages.
Yuan Fang dropped her bag and handed her a fruit, catching sight of her swollen leg out of the corner of her eye. “How long do you plan on dragging this out?”
Lu Yiqi meticulously wrapped the gauze.
Yuan Fang placed the fruit beside her. “I ran into Nan Huaixu by the river. She gave this to you.”
Lu Yiqi glanced at the fruit and said, “Next time you run into her, tell her thank you for me.”
“Tell her yourself.”
Lu Yiqi shot her a cold look, tied off the gauze, and lay down, ignoring her.
Yuan Fang carved off a piece of the fruit with her knife and took a bite, the juice wetting the corner of her mouth. “Even if you ignore the fracture and keep hanging on, I can’t take care of all your daily needs. When the airdrop migration comes, I’m going to move and leave you behind. Once you pass out from hunger, the production team will forcibly eliminate you.”
Lu Yiqi buried her head. “…”
She had no retort.
Yuan Fang was speaking the cruel truth.
Even if she endured the pain, she wouldn’t be able to hike normally. Being forcibly eliminated was only a matter of time.
But did she have any other path left to take?
Yuan Fang took another crunching bite of her fruit. “Look, every family goes through illness and death. You just have to do the best your family can. Even if you hold on, you’re not going to win the three million. Can you beat Liu Yinxi? Can you beat Huang Heshan? You’re just being stubbornly resistant2 here and wasting time. When the time comes and your sister… ahem, your leg is left with a chronic condition, do you think she’ll be happy?”
Lu Yiqi glared at her. “Your family is rich, so of course it’s easy for you to say. You’ve been a hedonist since childhood, completely ignoring your family responsibilities. Have you ever considered your younger sister? My mother’s health has always been poor. She saved money on her medical bills to put my sister and me through school, which caused her condition to drag on and worsen. My sister dropped out of school and left home at a young age to work, earning money to treat my mom’s illness and pay for my education. Later, when I passed my exams, my sister collapsed from exhaustion. I’ve feasted on the fruits of my mother and sister’s blood and sweat. What right do I have to say ‘do the best we can’? I’ve never done my best for them. Before I graduated and started looking for a job, all the effort I put in was entirely for myself.”
“Yuan Fang, I feel sick. I thought about it for a long time yesterday, and I realized that I’m actually exactly like you—the person I hate. We are both selfish people. You squandered your family’s money, and I squandered my family’s love.”
Yuan Fang irritably spat out the fruit pit. “What a garbage day. One says we’re different, the other says we’re the same. Why do I have to be constantly compared to you people? It’s ridiculous.”
Lu Yiqi was confused. “Who else?”
Yuan Fang waved her off. She lowered her eyes in thought for a moment before speaking. “What kind of cases did you follow your mentor on? How many projects have you handled since you started working? Do you have experience with independent auditing?”
Lu Yiqi lifted her cold eyes. “None of your business.”
Yuan Fang picked up the second fruit and took a bite, lowering her voice to a volume only the two of them could hear. “My family’s case was audited by authoritative experts back in the day. You know how it is—no team is willing to re-audit and pull the evidence. You’re just dragging me down here. Why don’t I offer you a high-paying job instead? You promptly3 withdraw from the competition, and it’ll benefit both of us.”
“…” Lu Yiqi fell silent for a while, remaining noncommittal as she turned her back to her.
Seeing her resolute attitude, Yuan Fang clapped her hands clean and stood up to go roast her fish. “Fine, pretend I didn’t say anything.”
Lu Yiqi asked in a low voice, “How much is the pay?”
Yuan Fang exhaled. Squinting her fox-like eyes, she crossed her arms. “How much are the medical bills?”
This was a conversation between two sisters.
But the older sister was not her older sister.
The younger sister was not her younger sister.
Yet both of them were trying to find redemption for the guilt they felt toward their own sisters through each other.
Splash—
Whoosh—
Pure white waves surged and crashed along the winding coastline.
The stone stove under the shade of the trees puffed out plumes of smoke.
Liu Yinxi fanned the flames with a banana leaf to stoke the fire. The seawater on the stove bubbled and blubbed as it came to a rapid boil.
Nan Huaixu fetched a few young coconuts, hacked them open, and held one to drink from. “Before we go back, I’ll carve out a few more coconut eggs.”
Gripping a wooden stick, Liu Yinxi stirred the seawater. “Two is enough. You can’t eat too much cold food; you’ll get diarrhea easily.”
Nan Huaixu curled her lip, then put on a serious face. “Cold? Do you know what I’m going to eat?”
Liu Yinxi smiled. “Ice-chilled honey coconut water.”
Having been seen right through, Nan Huaixu conceded. “Two it is. I’ll eat two today.”
Liu Yinxi: “?”
“No, Teacher Nan. What I meant by two is that you have one, and I have one.”
Nan Huaixu batted her eyelashes, clutching her coconut as she stood up. “I know. I’ll carve out three.”
Feeling helpless, Liu Yinxi wiped away the beads of sweat the sun had drawn from her forehead.
Congratulations to her for experiencing Teacher Nan’s insatiable sweet tooth once again.
It was a rare opportunity to be on the island. With no manager or nutritionist to manage Nan Huaixu, she could indulge in cold and sweet foods as capriciously as she pleased.
The sweets didn’t matter. Liu Yinxi’s main concern was that if Nan Huaixu ate too much raw, cold food, she would get a stomach chill.
The food they ate on the island was quite rough, and Nan Huaixu had a weak stomach. Drinking too much coconut water could already cause diarrhea on its own; adding ice into the mix and eating two in one sitting really was too much.
Liu Yinxi planned to cut corners when making the iced coconut eggs: she would use less ice, pour out some of the coconut water, and brew some stomach-warming long pepper fruit spikes tonight.
“Liu Yinxi, don’t even think about getting any crooked ideas. I am eating two.” Nan Huaixu’s voice drifted over faintly from behind her.
Liu Yinxi shuddered. “Okay, okay, okay, you can eat two.”
Was Teacher Nan a mind reader? How did she guess she was planning to cut corners?
“Liu Yinxi, has anyone ever told you that whenever you’re thinking up a terrible idea, you give off a heavy thief feeling4?”
“No. Teacher Nan, I wasn’t thinking of any terrible ideas.”
“Well, now I’m telling you. Remember this: don’t think those little schemes of yours will ever escape my eyes.”
Huh?
Liu Yinxi set down the wooden stick and dutifully walked over to Nan Huaixu. “Teacher Nan, what does my heavy thief feeling look like?”
Nan Huaixu looked straight at her, her gaze patrolling downward from her brows, sweeping past the bridge of her nose and her lips.
Liu Yinxi silently swallowed, staring into her eyes without blinking…
Beep-beep-beep!
An emergency notification from their bracelets.
Liu Yinxi and Nan Huaixu hurriedly tapped to view it.
—Elimination Notice.
Date: May 20
Time: 16:28 pm
Number of Eliminated: 1
Eliminated Contestant: Contestant 5 – Lu Yiqi
(The unconsumed standard pack supplies of the eliminated contestant shall be inherited by the teammate from the same group)
(To the survivors still holding the line: Good luck!)
Footnotes
- An idiom (áo áo dài bǔ) meaning 'crying piteously for food,' often used to describe starving dependents.
- A dialect slang term (sǐ jiàng) meaning to be incredibly stubborn or headstrong, refusing to listen to reason.
- A Northern Chinese dialect term (máliu de) meaning to do something quickly, efficiently, and without hesitation.
- An internet slang phrase (tōugǎn hěn zhòng), literally 'heavy thief feeling'. It refers to someone acting overly cautious, stealthy, or looking like they are secretly plotting something or feeling guilty, similar to 'imposter syndrome' but applied to suspicious or sneaky behavior.
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