Please Don’t Get Entangled With Me
The stream rushed over the shallows, forming a small pit at the foot of an earthen slope, where a great deal of sand, stone, and silt had collected.
The omega lying in the mud pit frowned, utterly disgusted by the filth covering her body. She grabbed onto the rocks on the slope with both hands and tried to pull herself up, but she couldn’t muster the strength.
Liu Yinxi bent down, watching her struggle in the mud pit from up close. “Ling-bao! What are you doing here? Why are you trying to be like Peppa?”1
Luoling had just managed to climb to the edge of the pit when she heard Liu Yinxi’s words and, with a plop, fell right back into the silt. Mud splattered across her face, nearly gluing her eyelashes shut. Luoling’s scalp tingled. “I should be asking you why you’re here.”
Liu Yinxi pretended to wipe the corners of her eyes, whimpering, “Ying ying ying…2 You heartless woman, I’m homeless now. I even have to hesitate before ordering takeout sausages that cost five yuan for two. I saw an ad that said I could win four million by joining this show, so I came.”
“Ling-bao? Why aren’t you talking to me?”
“Ling-bao, say something, Ling-bao!”
Luoling rested her arms on the slope, hands gripping the rocks tightly, as if the voice in her ears wasn’t human but the whisper of a demon. She closed her eyes, so tired she was completely out of breath. “Can… you… please… pull me up first.”
Liu Yinxi quickly grabbed her hand. “I thought you didn’t need me anymore… Don’t be scared, Ling-bao, I’ll pull you up.”
She had some strength, but not much. It took a great deal of effort to pull Luoling out of the mud pit. Midway through, Liu Yinxi let out a miserable cry. Luoling asked in alarm what was wrong. Liu Yinxi, looking as if she had suffered the greatest injustice in the world, whined, “I twisted my back, it hurts so much.”
The two of them sat panting on the muddy ground to rest. Liu Yinxi staggered over to the stream to wash the mud from her hands. “Ling-bao, it’s so dirty.”
“My name is Luoling.”
Luoling looked down at her mud-caked body in distress. Suddenly, she twitched her nose, brought her hand up to smell it, and her expression changed drastically.
“It stinks. Liu Yinxi, what did your hands touch?”
“I just touched you.”
“And before that?”
Liu Yinxi remembered. “Oh, I was cutting some grass earlier. That grass had a fishy smell.”
Luoling’s face filled with disgust. She propped herself up, trying to stand, but as soon as she put pressure on her foot, a piercing pain shot through her ankle. She let out a muffled grunt and sat back down, helplessly asking Liu Yinxi for help. “I sprained my ankle and can’t walk. Help me to the stream to wash my hands.”
Liu Yinxi walked over and put a hand on her shoulder to help her up, then paused.
Luoling asked, “What is it?”
Liu Yinxi looked troubled. “You’re not Ling-bao anymore, you’re my competitor. Tell me, if I leave you here and you lose, does that mean I can win the money?”
Money.
Luoling’s face instantly turned ashen.
They hadn’t seen each other for a month. How had Liu Yinxi become like this? Before, she would only ever talk about love, never something like this…
Luoling sneered inwardly. It seemed that now that Liu Yinxi couldn’t get any money from her, she was finally showing her true colors, too lazy to even pretend to be affectionate anymore.
Luoling clutched her ankle and waited for a moment. Once the pain had subsided slightly, she said in a soft, placating voice, “Who was the one who blocked me first? Where have you been this past month? Are you taking care of yourself, eating cheap takeout every day? That day at the restaurant, I told you I was meeting a client. Why didn’t you believe me? I looked for you everywhere afterward, but I couldn’t find you. You have no idea how worried I was.”
Liu Yinxi was deeply moved. “If you were so worried, why didn’t you call the police?”
“Liu Yinxi, you’re an adult. You’re an alpha.”
“Luoling, I was waiting for you the whole time. I believed you would come find me, but I was wrong, boo hoo hoo…”
Luoling quietly watched her dab at the corners of her eyes, but saw no tears. She was always like this.
Liu Yinxi glanced at her wristband. It was past two in the afternoon. It would take at least two or three hours to carry water back to the shelter. She couldn’t waste any more time.
Liu Yinxi let go of Luoling’s arm. “I’m hungry. I’m going to find something to eat.”
Without Liu Yinxi’s support, Luoling fell backward, nearly tumbling into the mud pit again. She quickly grabbed onto a nearby rock and said anxiously, “If you take me back to my shelter, I’ll give you a small piece of bread. How about it?”
Liu Yinxi turned back. “How big is the bread?”
Luoling made a small circle with her hands, the size of an egg. “This is all I can give you.”
Liu Yinxi asked again, “How far is your shelter?”
“About a kilometer.”
Liu Yinxi beamed. “Alrighty!”
Liu Yinxi picked a few leaves and wiped the mud off Luoling to avoid getting her own clothes dirty. Then, she helped her up, supported her by the arm, and followed her directions upstream.
After about twenty minutes, Liu Yinxi saw a shelter roof made of a fertilizer bag and a broken fishing net under a towering Wangtian Tree ahead. That must be Luoling’s shelter.
The fertilizer bag was probably found on the beach. A very creative building material. The guest who built this must be quite the talent. They should be thankful it hadn’t rained these past two days. Otherwise, that hodgepodge of junk was neither waterproof nor well-drained; it would collapse in a downpour.
Further ahead, there was a half-meter-high slope with stone steps built into the middle.
Liu Yinxi stepped onto it and turned to help Luoling, but Luoling didn’t move. She said softly, “This is far enough. I’ll give you the bread. You can go do your thing.”
With that, Luoling took off her bag and pulled out a small piece of whole wheat bread for her.
Liu Yinxi took the bread, wrapped it in a banana leaf, and put it in her backpack, a suspicion growing in her mind. Luoling had traded precious bread for her help, yet with a difficult slope still ahead, she was saying this was far enough. Was there something in the shelter she didn’t want Liu Yinxi to see?
Liu Yinxi peered toward the fertilizer-bag shelter. “There’s still a ways to go. Let me help you over there. Mmm… Luoling, is it that you don’t want me to go to your shelter?”
Luoling’s delicate brows knitted together. “We’re competitors. I don’t want a competitor in my shelter.”
Liu Yinxi put on a hurt expression and looked at her pitifully.
A gentle voice came from the direction of the fertilizer-bag shelter. “Luoling? How are you back so soon?”
Liu Yinxi blinked in surprise and whispered to Luoling, “Your teammate is here too? Let me go say hi~”
“Stay right there.” Luoling grabbed her. “We didn’t invite you. We don’t want to be disturbed.”
Seeing her panicked expression, Liu Yinxi immediately guessed who her teammate was.
If there was one person Luoling absolutely did not want her to meet, it had to be Xue Yunshao.
“Luoling? Did you go to the beach? Was the walk too tiring?”
Xue Yunshao’s footsteps grew closer.
Luoling said to Liu Yinxi, “Weren’t you going to find food? You should go.”
Liu Yinxi deliberately put on a wounded expression. “Did you bring your other woman3 to this variety show for a honeymoon?”
“Nonsense!” Luoling scolded in a low voice. “You were the one who brought up breaking up. Fine, you wanted to break up, so we did. It has nothing to do with anyone else. The competition is the competition, and it has even less to do with other people. Don’t create something from nothing4 and spread rumors about others.”
Luoling’s tone grew heavier. “Liu Yinxi, please don’t get entangled5 with me.”
Liu Yinxi was actually a little curious about what would happen if she met Xue Yunshao.
But she glanced at the time on her wristband. It was getting late, and she didn’t know if Nan Huaixu’s stomachache was any better. It was best to head back soon.
Liu Yinxi huffed at Luoling and deftly slipped into the bushes.
Luoling watched her leave, then gritted her teeth against the pain in her foot and climbed up the rocks, waving to the woman walking out of the woods. “Yunshao.”
“Luoling! What happened to your foot? Sit down, let me see.”
Xue Yunshao hurried over and worriedly checked Luoling’s injury, her eyes full of pain for her. “So careless.”
“I’m sorry, Yunshao. I slipped and fell on that slope by the stream.”
Xue Yunshao bent down and lifted her into her arms. “It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have let you go to the beach alone.”
Luoling wrapped her arms around her neck and leaned on her shoulder.
“Huh? Luoling, how did you get back with your foot injured?”
“Um… I ran into another guest. She helped me for a bit.”
“Then we should thank her properly. Invite her to the shelter for some water.” Xue Yunshao turned to look back, but there was only the verdant rainforest, with no one in sight. “Where is she?”
“She’s busy looking for food,” Luoling said, trembling slightly. “Hiss, it hurts.”
Xue Yunshao quickly carried her back to the shelter. “Don’t worry, don’t worry. We’ll put some medicine on it, and it’ll be better soon.”
In the sky above, a drone was filming.
The livestream chat was flooded with comments.
【What kind of dog blood6 survival show is this?】
【I didn’t used to believe that 《Survivor》 was scripted…】
【Wait, what’s the relationship between these guests? Let me sort this out @~@】
【My own irresponsible speculation: 1. Liu and Ying are ex-girlfriends, Liu initiated the breakup; 2. The reason for the breakup might be that Ying cheated; 3. Ying and Xue Yunshao might be having a secret affair.】
【My goddess Yunshao would never have an affair with Ying! I’ve been a fan for six years. She’s warm and considerate. Lots of celebrities and influencers have wanted to create a CP with her, but she has publicly stated that she has no plans to date and won’t be looking for a girlfriend.】
【Liu Yinxi is that influencer from three years ago who hyped herself up for ‘looking just like Xue Yunshao’!】
【Holy shit, a substitute trope?!7 I searched up her old makeup and styling where she imitated Xue Yunshao. From some angles, she really does look like her!】
【Why do I feel a little bad for Liu…】
【Who the hell is feeling sorry for a drama queen? Hard to judge.8】
【Hot knowledge,9 Luoling is Nan Huaixu’s niece.】
【???】
【Wait, that’s not right. If Liu is Ying’s ex-girlfriend, Nan Huaixu, as Ying’s aunt, should know Liu. Why did Nan Huaixu and Liu act like strangers when they met?】
【Do you know every single person your relatives’ kids date?】
【I just hope Liu doesn’t act up anymore. Just cooperate with Manman and survive. Manman is carrying their team all by herself, it’s really tough QAQ】
【Drama queen my ass. Right now, it’s obvious Number 6 and Number 7 have the strongest survival instincts and execution. If you brain-dead fans10 can’t see that, then shut up!】
【I’m done. A perfectly good survival show has been turned into a gossip show by two celebrities. Fandom circle11 people, quiet down, got it? Don’t pollute the viewing experience for us survival enthusiasts.】
The sky gradually began to glow orange.
The wristband showed the time as 6:27 PM.
When Liu Yinxi returned to the shelter, a stone slab was placed over the stone stove, with a small flame burning inside.
No one was in the shelter, and the bags were gone too. Stone Xi lay forlornly in the middle of the bed, with a small leaf placed over it like a little blanket.
Liu Yinxi let out a whistle. There was no response. Nan Huaixu wasn’t nearby; she had probably gone shore foraging. This meant Nan Huaixu’s condition had improved, and Liu Yinxi felt a little relieved.
Liu Yinxi picked up the green coconut from the crate. Nan Huaixu had drunk half of the juice. She finished the rest, then lifted the stone slab, placed the mess tin over the fire to boil stream water, and once it was boiled, filled several plastic bottles to store it.
“You found fresh water.”
A voice suddenly sounded from behind her.
Liu Yinxi turned around. Nan Huaixu lifted a toy bucket and gave it a shake. “I caught a big fish. We can have a feast tonight.”
She set the bucket down. Liu Yinxi peered into it excitedly. Two silver pomfrets, about twenty centimeters long, were flapping their fins inside, along with a flower crab and a few tiger prawns.
“Wow! Amazing! Nan-jiejie, is your stomach still hurting?”
“Much better.”
Nan Huaixu sat down in the shelter, and Liu Yinxi poured her some of the boiled stream water.
She hadn’t had plain water in two days. Nan Huaixu took two large gulps, then quickly stopped and switched to sipping slowly to wet her throat.
Liu Yinxi took a small, banana-leaf-wrapped bundle from her bag and handed it to Nan Huaixu. “Nan-jiejie, here’s something tasty for you.”
“What kind of fruit is it? So mysterious.” Nan Huaixu carefully unwrapped the banana leaf. It was a small piece of bread!
This was a primeval rainforest. There was no way to find a fresh, man-made product like this, unless…
Nan Huaixu asked sharply, “You ran into other guests? Did they do anything to you? You’re not hurt, are you?”
After the fight during the last airdrop, Nan Huaixu was very worried about Liu Yinxi’s social skills, afraid she would offend someone and suffer for it again.
Liu Yinxi shook her head, hugged her knees, and continued to cos the original owner. “Jiejie, I ran into my ex.”
She still hadn’t figured out how the Book Transmigration Reading System worked. To avoid any unknown plot changes caused by going OOC, she didn’t want to break character too quickly.
“…” Nan Huaixu lowered her gaze, her fingertips sliding lightly over the plastic bottle. She thought to herself: What if Liu Yinxi’s love brain12 kicks in during the competition? What if she steals from home to give to the enemy?13 No, I have to make her see clearly.
Nan Huaixu asked with a serious expression, “Liu Yinxi, why did you come to this competition?”
Liu Yinxi’s voice was loud and clear. “To win the prize money!”
“What are the other people in this rainforest to us?”
“Enemies!”
“Liu Yinxi, win and show your enemies.”
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