Early in the morning, Song Juyao woke up early, while Evans was still sleeping.
Song Juyao had gotten used to sleeping outdoors, so she slept quite well and was full of energy.
Since her brother was the type to just wait patiently to be fed, Song Juyao got up to start preparing breakfast. Finding food in the forest seemed easy to her, as nature provided abundant gifts, as long as you had sufficient knowledge of what and how to do.
Song Juyao found a woodpecker's nest. She tapped on the tree trunk and heard an empty sound, so she used a flint to chip out a hole. Reaching in, she saw many acorns rolling out from the hole in a clatter. Song Juyao grabbed a big handful and plugged the hole back with twigs and leaves, to prevent the woodpecker's hard-earned food from being snatched away by squirrels.
She also picked a few wild bananas and apples. On the way back, she saw a good willow branch, she picked it up and bent it to test its flexibility. Finding it quite satisfactory, she carried it back with her.
Evans was still sleeping, not knowing what time he fell asleep last night. By the time he woke up, breakfast was ready. Song Juyao had made a bow out of the willow branch, removed a decorative shoelace from his shoes to make a string. She was now making arrows from the cattail reeds collected yesterday.
Reed is a good material - its fluff can be used to start fires, the poles are straight and hard, suitable for making arrows, and even its roots could be dug up and eaten.
"Sister," Evans called out groggily with disheveled hair.
"Good morning," Song Juyao greeted him with a smile. She used a flint to sharpen the stones she had collected into desired sharp tips, securing them on one end of the cattail reed and attaching bird feathers to the other end. Thus, one arrow was ready.
Song Juyao stood up, put the arrow on her bow, and walked to the edge of the stream, aiming at a swimming fish in the water. She waited patiently, like a patient hunter.
Song Juyao stood up, notched the arrow on the bow, and walked to the creek, taking aim at a fish swimming in the water. She waited patiently, like a hunter with infinite patience.
Whoosh!
Plop!
The arrow pierced the water, immediately causing ripples, and Song Juyao raised it, revealing a struggling fish impaled on the arrow.
[Damn, that’s too powerful!]
[Learned again, sister is too strong]
[Compared to the other side, it's too cozy here]
[If those people had heeded Song Juyao's advice earlier, they wouldn't be in this predicament. They're all asking for it.]
[At least the three children are innocent. I hope Song Juyao can help them.]
"Pah-pah-pah-pah-pah ......" Evans applauded.
Song Juyao Juyao smiled shyly, a bit embarrassed she said: "These are just basic survival skills that any wilderness survival expert would master."
"But not every wilderness survival expert has mastered so much at such a young age," Evans gave her a thumbs up.
After finishing breakfast and making a handful of arrows, before setting off, Song Juyao opened her smart bracelet and saw that Wen Zhulian's group had scattered. They scattered very far, it didn't look like they had scattered temporarily in order to find food.
"They've scattered?" Evans glanced at it too, also feeling something was amiss. "Many of their supplies were shared, scattering like this is courting death."
The forest was full of dangers, absolutely not a place where people who cannot make a fire without a lighter could survive alone. Even drinking from a creek could lead to desiccation or stomach problems and diarrhea due to too many bacteria and parasites. These were all big stars who were used to living a pampered life.
Song Juyao frowned.
[Sister is so smart, she must have guessed that they have encountered a bear]
[Last night was really horrible and tragic over there. I don't know if our sister has any way to help them, it's a little pitiful]
[Will the real heiress help? Those people have been standing beside the fake heiress, she might be very happy to know that Chang Zhenzhen is dead]
"It's possible they encountered some danger, hopefully it's not a bear." Song Juyao turned to Evans, "I see Li Quan and the others aren't too far from us, I'll go check on them. You wait here."
"I'm coming with you." Evans was worried.
Song Juyao ignored him and backhandedly unstrapped the long knife hanging on her backpack and gave it to Evans, "You'll get in the way if you follow me, wait here for me. There are shrimps in the stream, proving that the water is relatively clean, but the water here is not exposed to sunlight all year round, it is still dangerous to drink directly, so boil it for at least five minutes. The ash from the burned wood will keep the snakes from coming near, you scatter some later..."
Evans didn't want the knife, worried she might encounter danger: "Take this with you."
"No need." Song Juyao picked up the bow, stuffed the bundle of arrows into her backpack, and turned to run off quickly. Evans worriedly stood where he was, but afraid of holding her back he ultimately didn't chase after her.
Years of wilderness survival experience had honed Song Juyao's skills, including taking shortcuts and even the body posture for running downhill quickly. She had developed muscle memory for all of these. When she had been with Evans, her pace had been slower, as she had to consider his safety. Now, on her own, she moved swiftly. And at the same time she managed to stay alert and thinking while rushing, occasionally stopping to pick up something or observe her surroundings.
Her high ponytail was tied tightly at the back of her head, and her slender limbs had a mind-blowing explosive power. She was light and fast like a leopard, elfin and beautiful yet deadly.
Many watching on screen were struck by her nimble and handsome appearance.
……
Meanwhile, Li Quan, Meng Cong and Wei Shu were huddled together, looking extremely haggard - their faces had several scratches from tree branches, and their clothes were torn, with wounds all over their bodies they looked very pitiful.
The three boys had their backs against each other, relying on each together. Their hands were tightly gripping the flint Song Juyao had given them, which brought a sliver of security. They were so nervous and fearful that they kept swallowing saliva, their pupils were also trembling with nervousness and fear, and their little calves were twitching.
Only to see three wolves staring at them intently, with wild, predatory eyes, salivatingly staring at the three.
Wei Shu's tears kept falling in terror: "I...I'm scared..."
"Listen to me," the oldest Meng Cong forcefully suppressed his fear and took on the role of leader, "We'll slowly back up to that tree over there, Wei Shu climbs up first since wolves can't climb trees. After Wei Shu is up, Xiaoquan climbs up, and I'll hold them off."
"Brother......" Li Quan was about to cry out at the moment.
"Don't cry, listen to me, let's go."
Following Meng Cong's lead, the three young men moved toward the tree, and the three wolves followed suit, pressing even closer than before. The assessment of these three prey was already about to be completed-whether to attack directly or wait for the arrival of other companions.
However, it's easier said than done though – Wei Shu had never climbed a tree before, and hadn't rested since last night, and had been desperately running for their lives the whole time. Now with three wolves staring hungrily, his legs were too weak and feeble to climb up.
Meng Cong was so anxious that his legs were shaking even more violently. He told Li Quan to go up the tree, but Li Quan also couldn't make it either. Meng Cong couldn't leave his brother and Wei Shu to climb the tree by himself.
The wolves didn't give them any more time, they had already determined that these were three weak prey that could be hunted, and pressed down and opened their mouths, lunging forward to eat them.
"Ahhhhhhhhh go away go away!" They frantically swung the hard stone they were holding, almost knocking the wolf's teeth out, successfully making it warily back up for now.
But wolves, once they launch an attack, don't easily stop. They lunged forward again.
Despair and intense fear had corroded the hearts of the three boys, and their fighting spirit began rapidly draining away like their body heat, leaving behind only instinctive struggles with no hope.
The wolf opened its mouth full of fangs wide, bringing a smell of blood as it pounced over, Meng Cong blocked in front of his younger brother and closed his eyes in despair.
"Whoosh!"
An arrow tore through the air and heavily struck the pouncing wolf in mid-air. Its wide-open mouth immediately let out a whine as it fell to the ground, warily retreating.
Quickly, several more arrows shot over in succession. The arrowheads were made of stone and would hurt if stepped on by accident, let alone this kind of hard shot. The three wolves were all shot several times each, letting out whines as they warily backed further away repeatedly.
The three teenagers' eyes erupted in ecstasy, they looked ahead, and sure enough, they saw Song Juyao.
Song Juyao slowly stepped out, still holding her bow and arrows in her hand, her gaze sharp and fierce, full of aggression as she stared at the three wolves. At the same time, she spoke to the three: "Face the wolves squarely and slowly retreat behind me."
When encountering wolves in the wild, you must absolutely not turn your back to them, you must face them and look straight into their eyes, you cannot be afraid. Wolves can sense your fear, and once they do, you are finished.
Seeing Song Juyao appear, the three immediately had a backbone. In their eyes, Song Juyao had authority and weight, she knew how to survive here better than anyone else.
They listened and faced the three wolves, slowly retreating towards Song Juyao. At this time, the three wolves still had no intention of giving up, still cautiously and stubbornly following forward.
But just as the wolves took a step forward, an arrow shot out from Song Juyao's hand, and they immediately withdrew their claws. They saw Song Juyao as the wolf leader of these three, their gazes fixed on Song Juyao, and under her gaze, they warily stood in place.
After the three retreated behind Song Juyao, she slowly lowered her bow and arrows, turned around and led them away calmly and composedly.
The three wolves stood where they were, staring at Song Juyao's back, and eventually did not follow further.
Only after walking for a good distance and confirming that the wolf didn't follow them anymore did Song Juyao let out a slight sigh of relief. Whether it was the live broadcast room of the survival show or the judgment show, all the viewers subconsciously followed and breathed a sigh of relief as well.
The atmosphere just now was too tense and terrifying.
The comment section then went crazy again.
【Ahhhh Song Juyao is just too cool!】
【That gaze pierced my heart!】
【Ahhhh I'm in love I'm in love!】
The three young people had long since burst into tears. The fright they received was just too great.
"I don't know what happened to you, but there is no time to ask now. We must get away from here as quickly as possible," Song Juyao said. Her self-made bow and arrows weren't strong enough to kill wolves, and she had no intention of killing wolves in the first place anyway, as that would be courting death – killing one wolf would mean attracting the hatred of the whole wolf pack and waiting to be chased down and torn apart by the wolves.
But she also couldn't confirm that those three wolves wouldn't bring their whole pack to find them again, after all, these three young people look too unthreatening. Relying only on Song Juyao's intimidation might not be enough.
When Song Juyao said this, Wei Shu immediately started crying, saying, "Sister, save my family..."
The other two also looked at her tearfully with pleading eyes.
"Did you encounter a bear?" Song Juyao spoke the worst possibility.
At the mention of a bear, the three boys shivered in unison, fear in their eyes was so obvious.
It turned out that after finding Chang Zhenzhen's corpse last night, Chang Youqing's loud shouts attracted the bear again. The bear was full but didn't mind killing for fun. In the chaos, they lost the flashlight as well, and the people fled in a panic like headless flies.
The three happened to be together and ran in this direction. Perhaps the smell of blood on them had attracted the wolves.
When Song Juyao heard Chang Zhenzhen was eaten by the bear, she froze in her tracks, a look of sheer terror on her face, causing the audience to raise their hearts high.
Song Juyao exclaimed, "The bear ate Chang Zhenzhen?"
The trio nodded fearfully.
"This is bad..." Song Juyao murmured, quickening her pace: "Hurry up!"
"Sister..."
"People are too scattered now, you all want me to save someone – who should I save?" Song Juyao looked at the three gravely: "Also, I'm not a god, I can't do everything. I just have a bit more experience and knowledge than you. I can briefly confront the wolf pack, but there's no way I can fight an adult brown bear."
Seeing their fearful and helpless eyes, she added with some sympathy, "Your family will definitely also want to find you, they can see through the bracelets that we're together and will take the initiative to come over – this is also the best way now, so that they can come out of the bear's territory as soon as possible, otherwise they will be also be killed by the bear."
Hearing this, they nodded and stopped asking her to go back to save people. Seeing Song Juyao look very nervous and also a bit scared, the nerves that just relaxed a bit immediately tensed up and they quickened their pace following Song Juyao.
Even though Wei Shu and others were crying while following in fear of making a sound, the life-and-death test and fear brought by this isolated island quickly matured their once-childish hearts.
Evans leisurely sat on a rock eating the roasted acorns his sister had given him, and stood up when he saw his sister hurrying back with the three brats.
"What's wrong?" Evans knew something very serious had happened just by looking at Song Juyao's expression.
Song Juyao quickly bent down to pick up useful things, "There's no time to explain now, quickly pack up and let's leave here immediately."
The four followed Song Juyao's swift pace, and as they walked, she explained the situation to Evans, "Someone was eaten by a bear."
Evans stared wide-eyed, stunned. What?? A prank by the program crew?
"It doesn't seem to be a prank, anyway, it's better to think in the worst direction than to harbor vain hopes."
"But haven't we already left the bear's territory? Why do we have to run?"
"Because the people coming for us may bring the bear with them," Song Juyao said: "That bear has already eaten a person, it now knows that humans are easy prey, with tender skin and rich in fat. There's one more very important thing, through an animal's feces we can know a lot of information, and I learned from its feces that it's been hungry for some time, so it's in a bad mood. But why would it be hungry when there is plenty of food in the forest now and plenty of fish and shrimp in the river? Originally I didn't know why, but now I probably know."
"What?"
The live broadcast audience also curiously perked up their ears.
"That bear might have gotten tired of eating things in the forest, or maybe it got anorexia. And the bear that hadn't been eating at all for a long time ate a person last night, what does that mean?" Song Juyao looked at Evans.
Evans' throat was dry and he said with difficulty, "It finds human flesh delicious."
【!!!!】
【Creepy! Scared the hell out of me】
【So scary! A man-eating bear!】
Song Juyao nodded, "It thinks human meat is delicious, and it's already tired of eating in the forest. It doesn't want to go hungry, and there just happens to be other humans on the island."
So the bear would hunt them down.
As if still not giving them enough stimulation, not making their sense of crisis great enough, Song Juyao continued: "I'll tell you a true story, a brown bear driven by hunger broke into a village, eating a child and woman before fleeing, since then it developed a taste for humans, later it repeatedly attacked the village, hunting only children and women, even cutting open pregnant women to eat their unborn babies. It only bit, injured or killed men without eating them."
"It finds young children the most delicious, with tender and flavorful meat, and women second. Ultimately it's human flesh that's on its menu. So in general, an animal that has eaten a human must be killed otherwise its offspring will inherit the genes for hunting humans, and will have the diet passed down from its parents with the addition of the humans."
In most cases, beasts don't attack humans, because humans aren't on their genetic diet and they don't know if they can eat them or not, not that there's something inherently special about the status of humans that keeps the beasts from attacking.
But trying to kill an adult brown bear without a gun is delusional, the bow and arrows in Song Juyao's hand couldn't even give it a single scratch. They could only escape.
Listening to the story, the four showed frightened expressions, from now on they would surely keep their distance from bears, especially brown bears!
Evans said: "Let's hurry." He definitely didn't want to come face-to-face with a man-eating bear.
Song Juyao lowered her head to look at the bracelet on her wrist, the families of the three boys were all moving toward them. Some remained motionless in their original place, probably hiding, and some ran in the direction they just came from, probably wanting to go to the beach, after all it was too dangerous in the forest. It's just too bad the only way out was probably the other end of the island.
Song Juyao had to wait for them and also choose the safest and most suitable place, which she quickly found.
"This is it."