“It was just luck, what’s so great about it?” Chen Nan muttered, refusing to admit defeat even while his voice grew softer and softer.
The others returned to their respective resting spots, whether intimidated by Wei Yan or simply too ashamed to keep comparing themselves.
Zhou Youlan brushed the remaining wood chips from his hands and sat down by the campfire.
He stared at the broken tree trunk, still unable to figure out how Wei Yan had pulled it off.
Once everyone had mostly dispersed, Big Mac walked back to sit beside Zhou Youlan.
Before Big Mac could even speak, Zhou Youlan spoke first: “Take a chance when you can and ask the production crew’s staff about Wei Yan’s background.”
Ever since Big Mac brought it up last time, lingering doubts had formed in his mind.
Big Mac sat in silence for a moment, rubbing his chin as he stared up at the sky with an all-knowing expression.
“I’m talking to you.”
“Bro, I think,” Big Mac narrowed his eyes and assumed a profound tone, “Wei Yan must be a descendant of a legendary ancient martial arts family.”
“Look at the way he first appeared, that unique styling, that icy demeanor, and that untainted vibe; he clearly doesn’t fit in with anyone else. He speaks in a literary tone from time to time, and it’s obvious he has very little exposure to the internet. Yet he understands these wilderness survival skills way better than anyone else. And did you see that palm strike of his just now? Didn’t it look just like the inner energy used in martial arts novels?”
“When Teacher Zhao performs for us, the thickest branches he uses are only about the size of an arm, and even then, he clearly has to store up his strength for a good while before he succeeds. Look at this,” Big Mac nudged the broken tree trunk on the ground. “It’s this thick, and he snapped it with a single slap. Do you think that’s possible? Is that normal?”
The more Big Mac talked, the more convinced and excited he became, even transforming his previous bias against Wei Yan into an attitude of admiration.
“So I’m willing to bet Wei Yan isn’t an ordinary person. The Zhou family has managed to pass down its heritage from the Great Qi Dynasty for hundreds or thousands of years, so who’s to say he isn’t also from an ancient martial arts family that has lived in seclusion for years, only coming down the mountain to experience life?”
The world was vast and full of wonders, and there were far too many existing things that exceeded their comprehension.
Actually, Big Mac was only guessing, but Zhou Youlan had witnessed Wei Yan’s combat skills firsthand. Simply pulling off feats like leaping several meters high without any external assistance was something ordinary people could never achieve.
He had also seen with his own eyes just moments ago how Wei Yan snapped a tree trunk of that thickness with a single palm strike. If it were him, or anyone else on site, no one could have done it.
It was obviously absurd and defied science, yet it had happened right before his eyes in reality.
An ancient martial arts family, did that actually make sense?
Zhang Tongtong had also overheard Big Mac’s words. Wei Yan was about to fall asleep when Zhang Tongtong woke him back up.
Zhang Tongtong’s eyes sparkled with a bright, inquisitive curiosity: “Brother Wei, are you really a descendant of one of those legendary ancient martial arts families who masters martial arts?”
Wei Yan: “?”
An ancient martial arts family?
Wei Yan fell silent for a brief moment, then replied with a calm expression, “Yeah.”
In this place where danger could erupt at any moment, and under the scrutiny of so many pairs of eyes, his differences from ordinary people wouldn’t remain hidden for long.
As for the identity of an ancient martial arts family, it served as an exceptionally good cover for him, making everything appear reasonable.
“Really?!” Zhang Tongtong couldn’t suppress his excitement. “Ancient martial arts families actually exist?”
Zhang Tongtong pestered Wei Yan with questions left and right, remaining pumped with excitement all night.
Little did Wei Yan know what kind of massive trouble this casually acknowledged identity would bring him in the future.
That very night, search terms like #WeiYanAncientMartialArtsFamily#, #HellSurvivalHeavyweightGuestWeiYan#, and #HellSurvivalFace# surged onto the trending topics list.
In truth, ever since Wei Yan made his first appearance, quite a few people had searched everywhere for information about him, but to no avail.
Everyone had initially been curious about Wei Yan’s background and origins, but now that this background had leaked out, everything suddenly seemed to click.
The production crew hadn’t originally planned to respond, but since the show’s discussion volume had continued to soar and capture nationwide attention over the past few days of broadcasting, they had no choice but to step in and ride the wave of public opinion.
Since Wei Yan had originally been shoved into the lineup midway by the Zhou family, and the Zhou side remained silent, it served as a tacit endorsement of the narrative. The production crew naturally had no choice but to roll with it.
Zhang Tongtong informed Zhou Youlan of the matter bright and early the next morning. He had even wanted to broadcast it to everyone, but Wei Yan stopped him.
“I guessed right, didn’t I?” Big Mac crossed his arms. “No wonder Wei Yan dared to take Teacher Zhao’s spot on the very first day of the show. If I had his background and identity, I’d be even more arrogant than him.”
Zhou Youlan didn’t reply. He simply found it hard to fathom that descendants of ancient martial arts families, who had lived in seclusion for years and were practically fading into obscurity, would actually harbor an interest in chasing celebrities.
“Spit, spit, spit!” Upon hearing this, Zhang Tongtong hurriedly cut Big Mac off and explained anxiously, “Don’t talk nonsense. Brother Wei didn’t mean to take Teacher Zhao’s spot on purpose.”
Pushing Big Mac aside and facing the livestream camera, Zhang Tongtong deliberately spoke up to defend Wei Yan: “My Brother Wei doesn’t like talking much, so today I’ll help explain for him. When he first arrived on the first day, he didn’t intentionally take that spot to steal anyone’s screen time. I asked him about it later; he really didn’t mean it that way. He just saw an empty space over there and walked over. Well, he had just come down from the mountains, so there’s a lot he doesn’t understand yet. Everyone please bear with us, haha. Besides, time reveals a person’s true character. Just keep watching the show and you’ll see what kind of person my Brother Wei really is. Love you guys, heart.”
He flashed a cute hand gesture toward the livestream, but his actions threw the livestream fans into a panic.
[Tongtong, shut up!]
[Zhang Tongtong, what are you doing? Is it your place to say things like that?]
[How can a kid this naive survive in the entertainment industry, hey?]
[You’ll say anything, won’t you? Putting aside how other people might view this, aren’t you afraid of vouching for someone today, only for things to go wrong in the future and getting yourself dragged down into who knows what kind of mess?]
[It’s over, my baby is so pure.]
[So that’s what happened! No wonder Wei Yan hates having cameras shoved in his face.]
“Yo, even doing heart gestures,” Big Mac mimicked his movements with an affected, overly dramatic tone. “Heart gestures, huh.”
Zhang Tongtong chased after him and beat him up.
Zhou Youlan thought to himself that since Zhang Tongtong worked in the entertainment industry, he knew what could be said and what couldn’t, meaning he wouldn’t recklessly vouch for Wei Yan without a reason.
Could it be that he had truly misunderstood Wei Yan?
After eating and drinking the soup brewed from blackberry lily and star anise tree roots, Hu Lu’s spirits were clearly much improved after resting for two days.
Today was the ninth day. The production crew’s staff, who had been following alongside them for filming, finally brought up the topic of supplies to the guests.
The production crew would randomly select one location along the guests’ mandatory route to drop supplies, operating on a first-come, first-served basis.
However, the production crew didn’t announce what the supplies were; they could only be unveiled once someone actually retrieved them.
The weather began to grow muggy, and the guests distinctly noticed an increase in bugs and mosquitoes. In densely wooded areas, they gathered in swarms, startled into scattering whenever humans accidentally blundered close.
Even wrapping scarves and gauze around their heads didn’t help much, as everyone was surrounded by swarms of mosquitoes. Fortunately, these flying pests were merely the most common house mosquitoes.
Zhou Youlan mentioned that a heavy rain might hit before nightfall, urging them to speed up and leave the area.
Walking in a rush without taking a single break, they kept marching straight into the afternoon.
“Brother Zhou, Hu Lu hasn’t fully recovered yet. Her body probably can’t handle this pace,” Ruan Mengmeng said, tilting her head up to look at the sky. “The weather looks pretty nice though, blue skies, white clouds, and the sun is shining bright.”
It probably wouldn’t rain, right?
Zhou Youlan explained: “Look at that patch of clouds in the sky. The cloud layers are gathered together in thick, heavy masses, and their shapes are mostly arc-shaped. This kind of cloud formation is called cumulonimbus. Since it hangs overhead and refuses to dissipate for a long time, it indicates that bad weather may arrive very soon. Based on our current location, if the warm air in the downwind direction circulates without dispersing, this rain is very likely to land right in the area we’re walking through. Of course, it might just be a short-lived shower, but we don’t have any rain gear, so rain isn’t good news for us.”
“But there’s no path ahead.”