"Dear viewers, welcome to the fourteenth season of Wild Survival!"
"To boost the show's entertainment value and unpredictability, this season's production team has adopted an extremely bold and innovative strategy: we've invited contestants from a wide variety of professions!"
"Among them is a mega-rancher whose spread covers over a hundred square miles!"
"A genius carpenter with exceptional skills who runs a furniture emporium!"
"A top medical expert who began studying medicine at age six and has cured tens of thousands of patients!"
"A hard-as-nails butcher who slaughters over a hundred head of livestock a day!"
"And a young chef from an ancient country on the other side of a distant ocean!"
The moment the host's voice fell, over a dozen pairs of eyes swiveled to lock onto him.
Lin Chen, who was starting to doze off, suddenly snapped awake and subconsciously flashed a peace sign at the camera.
"A young Asian in his early twenties?"
A few of the older-looking foreigners, their faces covered in stubble, showed a hint of disdain, not bothering to hide it in the slightest.
Although the other contestants weren't as brazen, their disdain was still visible in the subtle shifts of their expressions.
Yellow-skinned, young, and a chef.
These three descriptors, when combined, made him look less like a contestant on Wild Survival and more like a tourist.
The host, who had taken in all the contestants' expressions, smiled faintly.
"In total, we have fifteen contestants competing. In addition to ten contestants with extensive wilderness survival experience, there are also five 'professional' contestants with special skills."
"Of course, these five are also loyal viewers of our show and have a considerable reserve of wilderness survival knowledge. As for how they'll do in practice, well, let's wait and see!"
With a grand wave of his arm, the host gestured to a nearby staff member, who immediately pulled off an olive-drab waterproof tarp.
"As is tradition, besides the essential survival tools provided by the production team, contestants can also select ten items from this collection to take with them, as well as five auxiliary items."
...
The roar of the helicopter faded into the distance. Lin Chen, limbs outstretched, felt the pain of the biting cold wind lashing against his body as he free-fell.
Only now did he finally feel the overwhelming pressure of the vast wilderness.
Beneath his goggles, his eagle-like gaze scanned the ground below, searching for a suitable landing spot.
Not far from him in the sky, three other black dots could be seen falling rapidly, but the distance between them was gradually increasing.
'Three competitors, huh...'
Lin Chen withdrew his gaze and quickly locked onto a stream meandering through a forest.
He yanked the cord. With a powerful jolt, the sky-blotting parachute successfully opened.
By the time he landed, swaying on his feet, he found himself on a flat hill.
This was central Alaska, near the banks of the Yukon River, in an area between Thunder Mountain and Wolf Mountain.
Just a moment ago, the deafening roar of the helicopter blades had been echoing in his ears. But when his feet touched the soft grass, the entire world fell silent in an instant.
No chirping insects, no birdsong, only a dead silence.
"AWOOOO~~~"
Suddenly, a chilling wolf howl echoed from deep within the forest.
Lin Chen felt his back tense up. He hurriedly rolled up his parachute and started moving in the opposite direction.
He unclipped the camera from his chest. He couldn't even see himself clearly in its soybean-sized lens.
"Alright everyone, I have some good news and some bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?"
Though no one answered, he continued to talk to himself.
"You probably all want to hear the good news first, but I'm the kind of person who likes to consider the worst-case scenario. That way, I won't feel any disappointment later."
"The bad news is, I seem to have landed near Wolf Mountain. I used to think it was just called Wolf Mountain because wolves roamed the area, but I didn't expect there to be a wolf right here!"
Alaska is located in northwestern North America. It's a territory of the United States, but in reality, it's a largely undeveloped region used only for mining, forestry, ranching, and fishing.
It's sparsely populated, with most residents living in the southeastern region. The rest is all primordial forests and glaciers.
Its sparse population and unique environment have created a place rich in biodiversity: humid forests, cold glaciers, towering seaside cliffs, jagged, rocky shoals, and the Yukon River, which sustains countless lives.
Here, the most aggressive animals are brown bears, Black Bears, and grizzly bears.
Besides them, there are the infamous war gods of the Wolf Race: the Alaskan Interior Wolf, also known as the Yukon Wolf, and the Alaskan Tundra Wolf.
The ferocity of these two wolf packs is world-renowned. The largest males can grow to over two meters long and weigh nearly eighty kilograms.
When hunting as a pack, they can even take down a North American Bison weighing nearly a ton!
Hearing a wolf howl right after landing was basically like having a giant "DANGER" sign flashing over his head.
"Now that we've covered the bad news, how about we hear the good news?"
Lin Chen walked through the forest at a steady pace, making sure each step was firm and stable before taking the next. This was the key takeaway from his years of watching survival shows.
"The presence of a wolf pack means there's a high probability that there are no bears nearby. Doesn't that count as good news?"
"When I was landing, I saw the Yukon River not far from here. It's late autumn now, the peak of the salmon run. As long as I can find a suitable spot near the Yukon River, I at least won't have to worry about food."
"Also, there are definitely a lot of berry bushes growing around the Yukon River. Alaska is a paradise for berries, and berries mean there will be a lot of small animal activity—things like North American gray rabbits, wolverines, porcupines, and squirrels."
The autumn air in the Alaskan mountains was damp with a hint of chill, and the cold wind that brushed past from time to time made him shiver uncontrollably.
He only started to feel his body slowly warm up after walking for nearly an hour straight.
Lin Chen looked up at the sky, his expression turning serious.
"Looks like I can't keep traveling today. This leg of the journey is much farther than I thought, unless I want to freeze to death in a night that's more than ten degrees below zero."
The official recording for the show had started at 1:00 PM. After all the procedures and the hike just now, it was already past 3:30.
Having lived in Canada for several years, he knew well that North America only has two seasons: winter and spring.
Winter takes up about half the year, while spring, summer, and autumn split the other half. But in reality, even in the hottest months of July and August, the average temperature is only just over twenty degrees Celsius, and the wind feels like an eighteen-degree air conditioner blowing on you.
On top of that, this place was only a two or three-hour journey from the Arctic Circle, so night would fall even earlier than he expected.
He immediately stopped traveling and quickly scouted the surrounding area. Soon, he found a relatively dense fir forest.
The firs here were only three or four meters tall at their highest, with the shorter ones not even as tall as a person. Their needles were dense, and their unique scent could repel mosquitoes and other insects, making them one of the most popular shelter-building materials in the show's history.
"I'm not going to be staying here long, so the shelter doesn't need to be perfect. It just needs to block the wind, be big enough for me to sleep in, and protect me from wild animals."
He shrugged off the heavy backpack he was carrying and took out a Multi-Functional Engineer Shovel from inside.
This was a new piece of equipment for this season, an essential survival tool that combined the functions of an axe, a saw, and a shovel.
"Are you all thinking I'm about to start chopping down trees to build a temporary camp?"
He gave the camera a mysterious smile, casually tossed the Engineer Shovel onto the ground, and pulled a large bundle of high-strength paracord from his backpack.
He wound the cord back and forth between three fir trees several times, tying it securely. He then stood on the ropes and stretched another line higher up.
After setting up the basic frame, he continued to wrap the paracord between the main lines to increase their load-bearing strength and stability. Finally, he spread the waterproof tarp and parachute over the top and tied them down.
In just thirty minutes, a simple, windproof hammock was complete.
But this was only windproof, not warm.
He spent another half hour gathering a large number of fir branches from the surrounding area and tying them layer by layer onto the surface of the waterproof tarp.
The fluffy fir needles, layered thickly, soon covered the hammock completely. Looking from the inside, almost no light could get through.
Lin Chen dusted off his hands, stood back to take a look, and saw that at first glance, it was impossible to tell that a shelter was hidden within the fir grove.
He moved the camera to the underside of the hammock. "I made the entrance here. Since it's enclosed by the waterproof tarp and the parachute, and I don't want to cut them this early, I just made an overlapping entrance."
"Once I crawl inside, I can just pull the two sides of the tarp over from the inside and use my body weight to hold them down while I sleep, forming a perfectly sealed space."
He also left two small holes at the top of the hammock on both sides to serve as vents, so he wouldn't have to worry about ventilation.
To show the audience his handiwork, Lin Chen deliberately crawled inside to demonstrate.
As he lay completely inside the hammock, the cold north wind could no longer touch his body. The dark, quiet, and narrow environment instead gave him a great sense of security.
[Lying in a comfortable hammock in the cold North American wilderness. Happiness +1]
Just as he was enjoying this brief moment of happiness, a strange, mechanical voice suddenly rang out in his mind.
[Welcome to the Happiness Life System. Whenever the host gains a sense of happiness through their own efforts, they will receive an equal number of Happiness Points.]
As the prompt faded, a panel slowly unfurled in the empty space before his eyes.
[Happiness Points: 1]
[Strength: 5]
[Stamina: 6]
[Intelligence: 6]
[Current Abilities: Culinary Mastery, Basic Wilderness Survival, Basic Biological Atlas]
[Redeemable with Current Points: None]
When he saw the big word 'None,' he froze on the spot.
'Seriously? Where's my starter pack?'
He casually swiped up, and a series of redeemable abilities quickly came into view.
[Wild Mushroom Encyclopedia] [Wild Plant Encyclopedia] [Wild Animal Encyclopedia] [Wild Bird Encyclopedia] [Wild Mineral Encyclopedia] [Wild Fish Encyclopedia] [Complete Collection of Outdoor Tools]...