'All knowledge-based abilities?'
He blinked, but he didn't really see a problem with it. After all, what he lacked most right now was knowledge about the wild.
You should never think that just because you've watched a few years of survival shows, you could do it yourself. That's a total delusion.
Only when you're actually out in the wilderness, feeling that desolate and hopeless isolation, do you realize just how incompetent you are.
It was the same way back when he first went abroad to study culinary arts. He thought that after watching over a decade of cooking shows, he had some serious skills. In reality, he couldn't even cut a simple carrot into uniform shapes and nearly got chewed out by his chef instructor.
Don't be fooled by how effortlessly he seemed to be building his shelter just now. In reality, only he knew how completely clueless he was about what would happen next.
He was just a chef who liked watching variety shows, with absolutely zero practical wilderness survival experience.
He had only joined this show because he had his eye on the million-US-Dollar prize. That, and the constant encouragement from the regulars and friends he'd made at his food stall, who hyped him up about winning the money and opening his own restaurant. It was in a moment of impulse that he decided to sign up.
'Now that I've calmed down and thought about it, I'm afraid a lot of those people were probably just egging me on because they wanted to see me make a fool of myself.'
However, a good number of his foreign customers genuinely loved Great Xia cuisine and had encouraged him to join the show simply because they wanted to try a greater variety of his dishes.
Recalling the words of encouragement from his friends before he left, Lin Chen closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again, his gaze held a newfound resolve.
'So what if I'm one of the Da Xia People? So what if I'm a chef? I'll show these foreigners that we Da Xia People are the best in any field!'
'Didn't they look down on me before we started? Didn't they say nobody wanted to work with me?'
'Fine!'
'Just you wait!'
With that thought, a fire ignited in Lin Chen's heart. He could no longer lie still. He flipped over and wriggled back out through the opening below.
This season's show was different from the past. The addition of five "professional" contestants added many new possibilities to the wilderness challenge.
Since none of the five professionals were expert survivalists, the production team added a new rule: these five could trade or cooperate with the other ten contestants, but they couldn't form long-term teams.
In addition, this season adopted a brand-new broadcast method.
A 24/7 live stream!
The only thing was, the fifteen contestants were completely unaware of the audience's reactions.
「At this moment.」
On the YouTube homepage.
Over a hundred thousand viewers had already flooded into the official live stream on the *Wild Survival* production team's account.
Keep in mind, it was a weekday afternoon when most people were at work or school. The fact that so many viewers could still pour into the live stream was a testament to the show's popularity.
"Oh my god, this season's format is so interesting! A 24/7 live stream!"
"The addition of the five professionals is definitely going to create some new sparks in this survival challenge. I can't wait to see how they do!"
"I think it'll be tough. According to their bios, those five have barely any wilderness survival experience. It'll be hard for them to last more than three days on theoretical knowledge alone."
"The other ten contestants have to choose who they want to partner with and find their location in the shortest time possible. That's an extremely difficult challenge in the vast, remote mountains."
"Exactly! If they have to find each other, it means they can't build a permanent shelter right away. That makes the first few nights very interesting."
"Why do they have to cooperate? The contestants in the first thirteen seasons almost all completed the challenge on their own. There's no need to create extra difficulty for themselves."
"I can understand choosing a farmer, a butcher, a doctor, or a carpenter. They're all really useful. But what's the deal with picking a young chef from Great Xia? You might not even be able to get food in the wild. Is he going to cook with air?"
"Why else do you think they chose Alaska this season? It's because there's plenty of game, so it's harder to starve. It's like they're indirectly giving this young chef a handicap."
"I don't think so. My brother works in a restaurant. Chefs normally need to switch between four or five different knives, use all sorts of tools and seasonings, and cook with ovens and stoves. They can't use any of their skills in the wild."
"That's why they invited a chef from Great Xia. I heard they only need one knife and one pot to cook, not as complicated as Western chefs."
"Well, I'm curious to see what surprises this young guy can bring. Just please don't be the first one to quit!"
While the netizens were furiously posting comments, an oblivious Lin Chen had already crawled out of his hammock.
The sky was already starting to dim. If things went as expected, it would be dark in about an hour.
"I have to get a fire started first, then look for some food. Of course, I ate a big meal before setting out today, so it's okay if I don't eat."
He muttered to the camera, an Engineer Shovel in hand and a hunting bow and arrows on his back, as he headed in the direction he remembered the Yukon River being.
The closer he got to the river, the more complex the biodiversity became.
He set a low goal for himself. He didn't need to hunt anything; even a handful of berries would do.
Even if he couldn't find any berries, he already had a backup plan in mind.
He wandered around the vicinity for a bit, gathering plenty of dead branches and dry moss. He returned, dug a shallow pit, and surrounded it with rocks. Only after securing his fire pit did he feel at ease enough to set out again.
The air grew increasingly damp, carrying a faint, pungent odor. It could be animal droppings or rotting plants; with his current knowledge, he couldn't tell which.
The only thing he was sure of was that he was heading toward a water source.
PLIP.
Lin Chen stopped in his tracks, quieting down to listen closely. He thought he might have been imagining things.
A few seconds later.
PLIP.
There was another sound of a falling water droplet.
He walked about a dozen meters in the direction of the sound when his foot suddenly slipped. Luckily, his reflexes were quick. He grabbed a nearby tree trunk, saving himself from a fall.
"Hey!"
He bent down, aimed the camera at the ground, and used the dim light to finally get a clear look at the culprit that had almost made him slip.
"Guys, look at this. A patch of fresh moss!"
"When you're walking in the wild, you have to be careful to avoid these things. If you accidentally step on one, it'll most likely mean the end of your trip. It might even earn you a ticket for a multi-day stay in the hospital."
After spotting the moss, he soon found a tiny puddle of water nearby.
"Looks like rainwater collected after a shower. Too bad I can't drink it."
He was getting used to talking to himself now. It was one of the essential skills for participating in this show. Otherwise, staying silent for over three months in the cold and hungry wilderness would definitely take a toll on one's mental health.
"Huh?"
Just as he was searching around without finding any food, he caught a glimpse of dark green mixed in with the patches of lighter green moss by the puddle.
He carefully approached and crouched down, brushing away the top layer of fallen leaves and excess moss to reveal large patches of the dark green substance hidden beneath.
"What is this?"
As the viewers looked at the unfamiliar moss, which resembled seaweed in color, a series of question marks floated across the screen.
"If it's growing with moss, it can only be moss, right?"
"A different colored type of moss?"
Perhaps because of Lin Chen's unique identity, his live stream actually had the most viewers. As for how many of them were just there to see him fail, only the viewers themselves knew for sure.
While other contestants were setting traps all over the mountains searching for prey, and one had even caught a squirrel, Lin Chen was filming a close-up of a patch of moss. This peculiar scene only heightened the audience's curiosity.
The camera suddenly flipped around to face Lin Chen himself.
"Look what I found! Haha, tomorrow's food and nutrition are sorted!"
A confident smile appeared on his young, boyish face. He put the camera back on his chest and began gathering handfuls of the wrinkled, oval-shaped, dark green moss from the ground.
In just ten minutes, his cooking pot was more than half full.
After clearing out all the dark green moss in the area, Lin Chen didn't linger for a moment longer and turned back the way he came.
"Did he really just collect a pot of moss to take back??"
"Oh my God, has this young man gone crazy from hunger? Why would he think of eating moss?"
"Even the herbivores in the forest probably wouldn't choose moss for food. If he gets food poisoning from that, he might be beyond saving."
It wasn't just the audience; even the production team members who were monitoring the live feed had looks of concern on their faces.
"What's going on with this guy from Great Xia? Does anyone know what kind of moss he's digging up?"
"Well…" The host scratched his head. "He's the only person from Great Xia ever invited on the show, and he's a chef. Maybe East Asian eating habits are a little different from ours?"
"You have a point. He's a chef, after all, so he definitely knows more types of food than we do. But just to be safe, Daniel!"
A tan, middle-aged man jogged over.
"Take a look at what this contestant has gathered in his pot. Is it edible?"
Daniel just leaned over to glance at the small screen, and his eyes lit up.
"It's edible."
"Are you sure?"
"I guarantee it with my forty years of wilderness survival experience! Not only is this stuff edible, it's also very nutritious. Most importantly, it's high in calories. You might even gain weight if you eat too much of it!"
"What the—? What did you say? This moss is not only nutritious, but you can get fat from eating too much of it??"
Daniel nodded enthusiastically.
"I heard about it by chance from a friend. Later, I tried it myself. I collected over thirty pounds, dried it, and used it every day to make soup with fish, shrimp, and bacon. When I went for a check-up three days later, not only had I not lost any weight, I'd actually gained two pounds."