Substitute Alpha Gets Confessed to by Her Ex’s Aunt on a Survival Variety Show – Chapter 98
by Little PandaThe Unclaimed Treasure Chest
Even Nan Huaixu, who had grown tired of eating fish, ate with such delight that it was clear how delicious this Jiro fish truly was.
Liu Yinxi quickly picked up a piece of the fish to savor. It melted in her mouth, leaving a slightly sweet aftertaste and a subtle, refreshing fragrance—reminiscent of fruitwood-roasted duck or lotus leaf-wrapped meat, where the clean scent of the plant was infused into the meat itself, making it both light and savory.
She picked up a few shredded bamboo shoots and ate them in a single mouthful along with the savory broth. The shoots were crisp, tender, and delightfully chewy, thoroughly soaked in the flavors of the fish soup. It was so incredibly fresh she felt like she was bubbling over with joy.
Liu Yinxi squinted her eyes happily as the cool breeze of the bamboo forest blew past. “High-end ingredients often require only the simplest cooking methods1. As long as the ingredients are fresh enough, you don’t need seasoning; enjoying their natural flavor is already a world-class delicacy.”
Nan Huaixu chewed on the bamboo shoots, which made a crisp, crunching sound. “This bamboo is so crisp. How is it so tender yet so crunchy? The bamboo shoots I used to eat were either soft and mushy or so fibrous they got stuck in my teeth. I never liked them, but I love this.”
“The produce sold in restaurants and supermarkets might be good varieties, but once they’ve been transported, they lose their freshness,” Liu Yinxi explained. “Besides, the variety and origin of the bamboo shoots heavily affect the texture. Why else do you think pandas are such picky eaters? Their bamboo has to be airlifted straight from its place of origin.”
“Right.” Nan Huaixu scooped up a few spoonfuls of fish soup with her wooden spoon and took a sip. “It’s a pity this place is so far away and the path is so treacherous. We won’t be able to come here often.”
Liu Yinxi consoled her, “At least we have our mini fridge. We can harvest a few young shoots and store them.”
They had one fish each, drank every drop of the soup, and finished all the bamboo tube rice, yet they were still left wanting more.
Liu Yinxi couldn’t exactly say she was full, but she’d at least restored some of her energy.
After lunch, when the sun reached its fiercest point of the day, the two of them retreated into the bamboo forest to rest in the shade.
Liu Yinxi found a spot where the stream cascaded down. She placed a smooth leaf over a rock to sit on, took off her shoes and socks, and dipped her feet into the falling water to cool off. At the same time, she pulled up her short sleeves to check for bugs, picking off a few tiny flying insects that had latched onto her.
Twisting her body into an awkward angle, she called out to Nan Huaixu behind her, “Ms. Nan, could you help me check if there are any on my back?”
Nan Huaixu took a sip of the water they had boiled by the river, set down her water bottle, and sat down behind her. She gently tapped Liu Yinxi’s shoulder. “Roll it up.”
Liu Yinxi reached behind herself, rolling up her shirt from her lower back to her shoulder blades to expose her back. Nan Huaixu leaned in close, carefully inspecting every inch of skin. She picked off two small insects and silently counted the tiny moles scattered across Liu Yinxi’s back before pulling the hem of her shirt back down. “All clean.”
“Thanks, Ms. Nan!”
Nan Huaixu also dipped her bare feet into the creek to cool down. The clear stream gurgled softly, and occasionally, fallen bamboo leaves drifted into the water, floating downstream past their feet.
Leaning back on both hands, Liu Yinxi looked up at the blue sky filtered through the rustling bamboo leaves. “This is so comfortable. It’s the perfect weather for a nap.”
Nan Huaixu rested one hand on her waist and propped her chin up with the other, looking at her. “Do you want to sleep?”
Liu Yinxi shook her head and let out a yawn. “I’ll just sit for a bit, then we’ll cut the bamboo, dig some bamboo shoots, and head back to the shelter early. The journey is long and we have to climb over the mountain. We aren’t very familiar with the route, so it’s best to leave ourselves plenty of time.”
“Mn-hmm.”
Nan Huaixu looked down and brushed some stray grass off her pants. “I wonder how our banana fiber is soaking. If it’s ready, we can make the bamboo bow tomorrow.”
Liu Yinxi smiled. “Even if it isn’t ready, it’s fine. We can use the cured vines first.”
“Alright. When do we start?”
“Let me check the time… It’s 1:17 p.m. How about 1:30 p.m.? Let’s try to wrap things up by 2:30 p.m. By the time we get back, the sun’ll already be setting.”
Nan Huaixu gave her an “OK” sign.
A gentle breeze swept through, rustling the green leaves in the bamboo forest. The serene atmosphere was incredibly refreshing.
Sitting quietly by the stream in the bamboo forest as the cool water flowed through her toes, it felt as though time itself had slowed down. Liu Yinxi felt she could easily sit here and space out all day.
After about ten minutes, their rest came to an end, and they began harvesting the bamboo.
Accounting for trial and error, Liu Yinxi estimated that two or three bamboo sheets would be enough to craft the bow. Fortunately, Huang Heshan had already given them four bamboo sheets, so she only needed to chop down two more stalks of bamboo to gather enough material for arrows. Arrows could be recovered, so they didn’t need a vast amount. She could also use Huang Heshan’s bamboo arrows as a reference to compare which design worked better.
Thanks to Huang-jie’s sponsorship, it only took them an hour to harvest enough bamboo. After digging up a few tender bamboo shoots, they packed everything into their woven vine basket.
The bamboo sheets were very light, so Liu Yinxi had Nan Huaixu carry the woven vine basket while she consolidated the heavy items from both of their backpacks into a single pack, which she carried on her own back. They walked out of the bamboo forest along the creek, crossed the river, and began climbing back over the mountain the way they came.
Nan Huaixu leaned on her trekking pole as she climbed the slope. “We seem so busy today, leaving early and returning late, but most of our time was actually spent on the road. Eating and collecting bamboo only took an hour or two.”
“Yeah,” Liu Yinxi agreed. “If we had paved roads and vehicles, this would have only taken half a day.”
“I suddenly understand why the ancients spent so much manpower and resources building roads, and why they loved prized steeds2 so much.”
“Because it really does save a lot of time.”
As they chatted, Liu Yinxi slowed her pace, then took a few quick steps forward to look around.
She retraced her steps, prompting Nan Huaixu to ask in confusion, “What’s wrong?”
“It doesn’t look like we came this way.”
“Did we go off course?”
“A little. Let me check…” Liu Yinxi raised her wrist to consult the compass on her bracelet, adjusting her direction as she walked until it pointed southwest. “We need to go down from here.”
Liu Yinxi used her trekking pole to test the path ahead as she headed down the slope. After descending a few meters, she turned around to find Nan Huaixu still standing in the distance, motionless.
“Ms. Nan,” Liu Yinxi called out to her.
Nan Huaixu turned around, her expression full of excitement. “Liu Yinxi, there’s a Spark flag over there,” she said in surprise.
It was a flag from the production team.
Liu Yinxi’s spirits instantly lifted, and she scrambled back up in a couple of bounds. “Where?”
Nan Huaixu led her to a cliff with sparse vegetation. Tucked between several rocks in the grass was a triangular flag bearing the Spark logo.
The cliff wasn’t very high but had a noticeable slope. To call it a cliff wasn’t entirely accurate; it was more of a steep hill.
Liu Yinxi walked in a circle around the flag, then squatted down. Behind the triangular flag, a thick metal spike was driven into the ground, with a sturdy nylon rope tied to it, hanging down over the edge of the slope.
Finding a firm foothold, Liu Yinxi braced herself against the ground, gripped the nylon rope with both hands, and slowly began hauling up whatever was suspended below.
Nan Huaixu held onto both sides of her waist from behind, preventing her from slipping and falling.
The suspended object wasn’t heavy. In less than two minutes, she’d pulled it up, and a golden chest came into view. Liu Yinxi and Nan Huaixu exchanged a surprised glance. Nan Huaixu picked up the chest and carried it away from the edge to examine it.
The chest looked similar to the treasure chest they had found before, but it was much larger.
—You have found the “Travel” treasure chest.
Inside are two ultra-light telescoping fishing trekking poles, two pairs of high-top silicone cut-resistant diving socks, and one pack of plantar fasciitis protective socks (4-pair pack).
Good luck, survivor!
This…
Today was June 2. It had already been four or five days since the last airdrop on May 27. Had some of the contestants failed to get their airdrop, or did they get the treasure map but failed to locate the treasure chest?
If they’d simply failed to find the chest, that wouldn’t be so bad.
But if they hadn’t even received their airdrop…
Was it because the waterfall was too far and they’d given up on it, or was it because their physical condition was so poor that they couldn’t make it to the waterfall at all?
Connecting this to the earlier incident where the meat jerky had been snatched, Liu Yinxi had a bad premonition.
She closed the treasure chest and let out a heavy sigh.
【Sigh…】
【In the end, it still turned out this way.】
【It can’t be helped. This is a competition; there’ll always be winners and losers, and someone always has to leave.】
【They’re probably about to announce the elimination info. I’m really sad to see them go, too (pity).】
【Seriously though, if they’re going to airdrop supplies, can’t they just put them in a regular crate? Why do they have to make it a treasure hunt? It really crushes people’s hopes.】
【The production team got absolutely roasted online. The official account said they won’t do this anymore in the future (stare).】
【What will come will come. Just take care of yourselves.】
【So now that Liu Yinxi has found a second treasure chest, will she take it? (doge)】
【What kind of nonsense are you talking? The production team’s rules state that each group of contestants can only take one airdrop crate.】
【But they didn’t say we could only take one treasure chest 0v0】
【Aren’t the treasure map and the treasure chest considered part of the airdrop content? =_=】
【Jokes aside, even leaving the rules violations aside, Xixi isn’t the type of person to steal someone else’s resources.】
【Who even are you? Do you actually know what kind of person she is? If Liu Yinxi were really a good person, she wouldn’t have spent three years freeloading off Luo Ling. Now she’s just trying to ride Nan Huaixu’s coattails (roll eyes).】
【I’m sorry, but even so, you don’t even have the capability to be a freeloader.】
【The supplies in this treasure chest are so rich.】
【Yeah, those trekking poles can be used as fishing rods. They’ve got fishing line and hooks included inside, which is super convenient.】
【According to the production team’s rules, they can’t take extra chests. It’s such a shame Manman and Xixi can’t use them.】
【Wuuwuu, Manman really wanted to go fishing. If they had this professional gear, they’d have been able to catch so much more.】
【Those diving socks are perfect for spearing fish in the shallow river shoals. Finding this chest would have made getting food so much easier.】
【Sigh, all we can say is, what a shame.】
The “Travel” treasure chest was left exactly as it was, returned to its original spot.
Ahead, the silhouettes of Liu Yinxi and Nan Huaixu gradually vanished into the shade of the forest.
“Ms. Nan, I’d like to submit a request.”
“Hmm?”
“Tomorrow I want to take a day off and request some time for solo activity. I’ll prepare a full day’s worth of food and leave it at the shelter, so you can just rest in the treehouse.”
“Where do you want to go?”
“Well…”
“I think I might have guessed what you want to do. I’ll go with you.”
Early the next morning, Liu Yinxi and Nan Huaixu went to the Great Rocky Shoal.
They stepped across the stones rising from the river to reach the opposite bank. Liu Yinxi carefully observed their surroundings as they walked, tracking signs of human activity. After over an hour, they finally discovered a grass shelter built beneath a tree by the creek.
Liu Yinxi paused, her brow furrowing slightly before relaxing again. Wearing a bright smile, she walked over. “Hello! I’ve got some incredibly important information to sell you. I can even be your tour guide for free, and it’s cheap—do you want to—”
As they drew closer to the grass shelter, Liu Yinxi’s voice cut off abruptly.
Lying inside the grass shelter was a woman. Her face was entirely bloodless, her cheeks deeply sunken, and there was no telling how long she had been unconscious.
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