Everyone was immersed in wild joy that the bear was finally killed. Some people jumped onto the wreckage, while others ran to kick the bear's paw.
"Scatter!" Song Juyao suddenly let out a roar.
The ruins suddenly exploded, and the huge beast stood up in an instant, grabbing the closest person and fiercely biting down in madness.
"Ah!"
The crisp sound of a blade coming out of its sheath rang out, and a cold, sharp gleam flashed by as a long knife was fiercely plunged into the bear's body.
The bear froze.
Everyone stared wide-eyed.
In front of the small mountain-like bear, stood a slender and delicate young girl. She held a long knife that she drew from its sheath for the first time on the island. Her gaze was sharp with an imposing aura.
Then she deftly pulled out the long knife, its sharp blade flicking in the air, sending droplets of red blood scattering. It caused the people's hearts to skip a beat and their nerves to tremble slightly.
The bear fell to the ground with a thud, kicking up a cloud of dust, and finally stopped moving. The impact of the explosion combined with the concrete pounding had left it weakened, but it was still enough for it to take another person to accompany it to the afterlife if not for Song Juyao's timely intervention.
"This... This time it should be truly dead, right!?." Others shivered with lingering fear, the previous ecstasy now replaced by a somber mood, almost turning joy into sorrow.
"Dead." Song Juyao moved her ankle and frowned, taking the handkerchief Evans handed her, she wiped the blood off the knife before sheathing it.
"Yao, Yao jie..." The one who spoke was five or six years older than Song Juyao, asking the question that piqued the curiosity of the audience: "Could it be that you're some kind of martial arts expert?"
That stance just now, that aura was simply too handsome, making people immediately think of terms like flying over rooftops and walking over the wall, both chivalrous and righteous.
Song Juyao froze and shook her head with a smile, "I wish I was. I bought this from an old master (shifu), I've only been learning for half a month, and I've just learnt how to draw and sheath the sword handsomely."
Being prepared for any danger, after realizing that she had almost mastered the wilderness survival skills, she had already started making plans for the next episode. But now it’s just a plan. Concentrating on in-depth study was not what she needed to do in this episode.
"Is that so? It was simply too cool just now!"
“Yao Jie knows too many things!” (Elder Sister Yao)
They were all surrounding Song Juyao, completely in awe.
With a pale face, Wen Yingting walked over. "Juyao... Mom..."
The joyful voices fell silent.
Song Juyao shook her head. "I was a step too late. When I got there, the bear had already bitten her."
Everyone had witnessed with their own eyes just how terrifying a bear's bite was, moreover Song Juyao originally didn't need to risk running over to save people. She risked herself to save Wen's mother and was chased by the bear to the balcony - everyone saw it. Even if she didn't succeed in saving, the Wen family would only have gratitude.
Wen Zhulian suddenly covered her face and began crying bitterly: "It's all my fault, if it wasn't for me, mom wouldn't...I should be the one to die, wuuu..."
Wen Yingting was in no mood to comfort her, with red eyes he blankly stared at the ruins, it would be difficult to even find the body in such a large pile of ruins.
Only Wen Guohua, seeing his daughter crying like this, forcefully held back his heartache and pulled her into his arms to comfort her.
"Child, your mother did it because she loved you, you..."
[If Wen Guohua and Wen Yingting knew how Li Xin really died, I wonder what kind of expression they would have.]
[Wen Zhulian is truly terrifying, spine-chillingly terrifying.]
[When she ignored Wen Yingting and ran off by herself, I thought she was just scared and forgot her brother. Turns out I was being too naive.]
[While it was a life-threatening situation, comparing Wen Zhulian running away to Song Juyao coming to rescue, it's clear being biological is different. If it's not biological there's no inherent feeling of blood connection.]
[You pigs, if you have guts then come out and whitewash some more. Supporting someone like this, won't you have nightmares at night?]
[Li Xin deserves it. It's understandable to have feelings for the fake daughter, but being biased like this is incomprehensible. Thinking of my own daughter suffering outside, while I was pampering another person's child, treating her like my own; I can't accept it.]
[I predict Wen Guohua and Wen Yingting will eventually be killed as well. Is this genius nourished by the flesh and blood of others? Disgusting.]
[Am I the only one looking forward to Wen Zhulian discovering that she's actually in a virtual world, and we all have seen her true face?]
To be able to abandon her own mother so decisively, coupled with Song Juyao's daring rescue - many desperately struggling Zhuzhu fans had no choice but to accept the reality that their house had collapsed. In turn, they vented their anger, and comments turned dark. Some occasional supportive fans who were still speaking for Wen Zhulian, all aroused public anger and were attacked en masse.
A large wave of comments flashed before Li Xin's eyes, causing tears to roll down her red eyes.
She had just woken up and understood what was happening, and then had a fight with Chang's mother, who was now hugging her son and daughter crying bitterly. Looking at Li Xin's expression, she felt very smug in her heart.
"This is your good daughter, the white-eyed wolf you raised for 18 years. It's really laughable. That saying online is spot on, what was it called?" Constantly gloating, Chang's mother said proudly, with no love left in her heart for Wen Zhulian after learning what she had done from the comments online. She was relieved that Wen Zhulian already had Wei Yan and didn't give her son a chance to pursue her. Otherwise, it would be their family facing the disaster now!
Even for a person like her, the thought of someone like Wen Zhulian living in her home would make her hair stand on end.
"Mom, stop talking," Chang Youqing said, stopping her from further attacking and adding insult to injury.
Li Xin's eyes were on the verge of shedding tears of blood.
It turned out that Wen Zhulian had also abandoned her son in a critical situation before; it wasn't the first time. The people she abandoned were not just her, which seriously touched her bottom line. Human emotions are complex; she might be able to forgive Wen Zhulian for abandoning her and being selfish to survive, but she couldn't accept Wen Zhulian abandoning and putting the person she loved in danger.
In the end, whether it was Wen Yingting or her, in the end, it was Song Juyao who stepped forward to rescue. Her heart was filled with regret and pain, how she regretted her attitude towards Song Juyao, her biological daughter. Why did it turn out like this?
Watching the screen, where her husband and son were blinded by Wen Zhulian's pitiful appearance, and thinking about how she had once been one of them, giving so much love to Wen Zhulian, a surge of resentment welled up in her heart.
Was she crazy? Why did she turn a blind eye to the piece of flesh that fell from her body, holding that hypocritical and cruel thing, Wen Zhulian, in the palm of her hand?
Chang Zhenzhen sneered, feeling extremely excited. She couldn't wait to see the day when Wen Zhulian discovers that her ugly side was all seen by everyone.
In the real world.
Wen Zhulian's actions caused a large wave of disgust from viewers , to the point that even their dislike for Jiang Mi had reduced a lot.
【Compared to Jiang Mi, Wen Zhulian seems more disgusting】
【Don't talk about scripts or acting, I just want the character to rise to the real person. It's too disgusting】
【I used to like Wen Zhulian before, but now when I see her I think of all the things she did in there. You say it's acting? How do you know it's not her true nature?】
【Hehe, from when she plagiarized songs from the real world to bring into the virtual world playing the role of a genius girl, I felt something was off with her. She entered the virtual world so early, stayed there for eight years, couldn't she learn something? Couldn't she create something herself? The virtual world is years behind the real world, right?】
【Song Juyao is truly beautiful with a kind heart, whether it is this episode or the previous one! The Wen family treated her like this, yet she risked her life to save them. It's truly heartbreaking.】
*
Judgment show studio hall.
Watching Song Juyao's increasing number of votes of appeals for retrial and Wen Zhulian's various performances inside, Tan Wei was so angry that he almost fainted due to his surging blood pressure.
He kept reflecting, finally understood the root cause of why this season turned out like this.
"Inviting these entertainment industry artists as judges was the biggest mistake. What else can they do besides singing and dancing? What kind of education do they have?!"
Tan Wei was fuming and the staff didn't dare to squeak. Thinking carefully, in all fairness, Wen Zhulian was somewhat wronged too. Other celebrity judges had done similar things in the past, so why didn't audiences react much then? Wasn't it all because Song Juyao was an outlier among all the defendants?
None of the other defendants could escape the manipulation of the production team and judges, each one revealing various degrees of ugliness and giving audiences the impression that this was their true nature. But Song Juyao was different. No matter what trials she faced, she always showed up with a side that exceeded their expectations.
Inside, there wasn't even a shred of a criminal shadow in her; both in appearance and personality, she was so beautiful, radiating a dazzling light without burning others that irresistibly compelled people under the influence of her wisdom and charismatic personality. Under her backdrop, the judges seemed like mere clowns, failing to bring out the ugly side of the defendants. Instead, they ended up looking particularly unsightly themselves.
If Wen Zhulian and Wei Yan were like Tang Kai and Ming Shu from the last episode, it would be fine. But Wen Zhulian's ambitions were big, and she had tried too hard. Perhaps she thought she could push anything she did to acting as a celebrity judge. Being from the entertainment industry herself, she hadn't considered that most viewers wouldn't be so rational, especially since this wasn't a TV drama but a reality show, people would particularly feel that this was her true nature.
Of course, she couldn't be blamed either, after all she didn't see Jiang Mi as a precedent. In her mind, she had only the experiences of those successful celebrity judges from before.
A staff member suddenly realized, this show seemed to have suddenly changed from judging the defendants, to judging the judges.
Tan Wei angrily said: "With Wen Zhulian and Wei Yan, the sky would cave in before they could judge anyone! Quickly put in some temporary NPCs! Pick them carefully, they should be highly educated, have the ability to survive in the wilderness, and be able to severely injure Song Juyao!"
A deputy director said: "They've already been screened."
"That fast?"
"After the first episode, the number of people signing up as temporary real NPCs dropped drastically. Adding to the difficulty of survival in the wild in this episode, it naturally filtered out another group of people. For those still daring to sign up in this situation, they should all have exceptional abilities."
According to the rules, they chose the top few candidates who offered the highest amount of money among the applicants. This was the so-called screening process.
"But how do we put the temporary real person NPCs in this situation? We don't know which character to put them into."
"The most reliable option would be to plug them into the boss of Fanxing Group, right?"
"Don't act rashly." Tang Shan spoke up: "Haven't you learnt enough lessons from last episode?"
The NPCs in the virtual world were very much like real people. If temporary real-life NPCs were plugged in the characters of high authority, the threat of being discovered will be greater. Last episode, they were too audacious, even plugging into characters like the Prime Minister, which led to a complete defeat and even made Song Juyao sense that something was wrong with that world.
Fanxing Group owns half the wealth of the world - who knows how many powerful figures have their eyes on that boss. It's not someone they could afford to casually plug into.
They need to carefully consider who to plug in...
...
In the virtual world.
Survival Island Paradise project team.
"They really killed the bear."
"The second phase should be ready to launch soon."
As they were speaking, Jiang Baiqi suddenly appeared again, making them tremble with fright.
"Boss?"
Jiang Baiqi walked up to a holographic capsule and laid down, saying: "I want to enter Survival Island Paradise, mixed in with the people in the second phase."
The staff was stunned. Jiang Baiqi had already laid down and closed his eyes.
Song Juyao was injured. He was certain her foot must have been injured when she fell from the first floor.
...
Inside Survival Island Paradise.
Because the glass villa base had been destroyed, the group had no choice but to set out again. Even those grieving could only pick up their mood and follow the main group, setting off again.
It was then that they finally discovered that Song Juyao was injured.
"It was twisted when I landed, it's not too serious," said Song Juyao.
Evans' expression darkened as he scolded, "What degree do you consider serious? A broken foot?"
"Why are you yelling at her?" Wen Yingting heard Evans scolding Song Juyao and immediately spoke up unhappily. Evans was useless, relying on his sister the whole way. What right did he have to scold her now?
"What's it to you?" Evans scornfully glanced at him. Who was he? What right did he have to butt in here?
"You..."
"Alright brother, then you carry me." Song Juyao spoke up, interrupting their inexplicable quarrel.
Evans immediately showed a victorious expression, and Wen Yingting looked unhappy.
Song Juyao leaned onto Evans' back. Though Evans looked tall and thin, he actually had toned muscles, the type that look thin when dressed but reveal strength when undressed. So carrying Song Juyao was not difficult for him.
"To the southeast lies the volcanic plain, north is the direction we came from, so I suggest heading west. Fanxing Group wants us to cross the island to end the game. I believe there might be a chance of survival after we cross it." Wen Yingting said. He tried hard to show Song Juyao that he was different from Evans, this trash.
The others looked at Song Juyao.
Song Juyao responded, "I don't have any better suggestions."
So, they decided to follow Wen Yingting's plan.
They began survival in the wild once more. But this time the atmosphere was much more harmonious than when they started.
"Pan Yue, is your stomach hurting?" Wen Zhulian's caring voice came.
Song Juyao turned and saw Pan Yue holding his stomach, face pale and hunched over. His stomach didn't seem to have been doing well.
"There was no stomach medicine left in the villa." Pan Yue said with a bitter smile. His stomach troubles stemmed from the past, a result of irregular meals when he wasn't famous in the past.
Song Juyao spoke: "Pan Yue, do you see that tree with cone-shaped buds?"
As soon as Song Juyao spoke, the others all perked up their ears, looking towards the tree Song Juyao was talking about.
"If you cut it with a knife, milky white juice will flow out of it, which can relieve your stomach ache."
Pan Yue listened and hurried to do so. Drinking the tree sap, his stomach soon felt much better.
"Up ahead, there's a Tamarisk forest. Tamarisk plants love water, and their lush growth indicates there must be a water source nearby. Let's head in that direction."
"Don't rush into the river, don't be fooled by its current calm appearance, you can notice the raging undercurrents from the whirlpools near the rocks poking out of the river surface, making quicksand traps along the riverbank. I've seen an elephant suffocating to death after getting trapped before…"
"There are traces of wild boars passing through here..."
"......"
With the guidance of Song Juyao, the wilderness survival expert, their journey was much easier than they imagined. They learned all sorts of survival techniques in the wild, and her voice was so pleasant, gentle and melodious, making people feel like a clear spring had flowed onto their restless hearts.
As night fell, they rested in the makeshift shelter they built and with the comforting campfire they felt a sense of security amid the unknown fears about the future in the night.
After everyone fell asleep, Wen Zhulian and Wei Yan sneaked away from the campsite.
"Now what?" Wen Zhulian, aware that the real-world audience was watching, forced herself to hold back her irritation and calmly asked.
Wei Yan: "...... The company told me to listen to you."
If I told you to die, would you die? Wen Zhulian thought viciously, and said on the surface: "I've tried my best, but it seems to have no effect at all. She's still progressing so smoothly."
"Why don't we just learn some survival skills properly?" Wei Yan had started to enjoy the fun of surviving in the wild, and wanted to be a salted fish like the senior, Tang Kai, from the first episode.
What he got in return was Wen Zhulian's stiff expression.
[??? What are they talking about?]
[Is this how Wen Zhulian and Wei Yan get along privately? I thought Wei Yan was the dominant one]
[Who is this 'she' that they're talking about progressing so smoothly?]
[Company??? Aren't Wen Zhulian and Wei Yan from different companies?]
[Confused.]
The audience in the real world knew what Wen Zhulian and the others were talking about, while the viewers in the virtual world were all baffled. They desperately wanted them to say more so they could figure out what was going on.
A hand emerged from the ground in the darkness and grabbed Wen Zhulian's ankle.
Startled, Wen Zhulian screamed in fright and Wei Yan also quickly took a step back.
The people sleeping not far away were awakened. "What happened!"
"Ahhhhhhh!" Wen Zhulian was still screaming.
Wen Guohua and Wen Yingting quickly got up and rushed over, with the others quickly following behind.
"Dad, brother! Something grabbed my foot!" Wen Zhulian was terrified. The hand on the ground had a very tight grip on her foot, no matter how hard she pulled, she couldn't break free from it.
When the torch was lit, others were startled as well. It was indeed a hand! A dirty human hand!
Song Juyao was brought over by Evans. She frowned slightly, "Dig up the soil from the edges and take a look."
Others, with a mix of fear and curiosity, picked up tree branches and started digging. Some cautiously touched the hand, then immediately cried out, "It's warm! There's a temperature in it!"
"Could it be a living person?!"
"Quick, dig faster!"