Yi Wan, Survival Expert

Chi Jixia tried hard to suppress the urge to howl in despair, completely failing to notice that several makeup artists beside him were staring at his phone with great interest.

Yi Wan returned to the campsite with three fish. When he got back, however, he found the camp quite lively. Several pampered artists could not stomach the rations. Yao Yue had brought a few packets of instant noodles and was bustling about, planning to make noodle soup. Jiang Bei had also taken several people to gather mushrooms and berries, intending to cook them together.

But making soup required a fire. Before they entered the woods, the production team had confiscated their lighters, leaving everyone at a loss. Jiang Bei did have a flint striker, but while everyone had been traveling and fooling around, he had gone to play by the waterfall. The striker had gotten damp and no longer worked.

"We can figure out how to make fire by friction," Yi Wan heard Jiang Bei saying as he arrived. "The most primitive method will do too."

Yao Yue immediately frowned. "Ah, I don't want to rub sticks together. It's so hard on your hands!"

"It's fine. I can do it myself," Jiang Bei said.

The livestream comments filled with praise for Jiang Bei. Yi Wan went to where he had set down his things and saw Ding Biehan studying his fish.

When Ding Biehan saw the three fish in Yi Wan's hands, he was startled. A trace of darkness flickered through his eyes. "Did you catch all of these yourself?"

So this was Yi Wan's true ability?

Three fish!

"How did you catch them?" Ding Biehan examined the fish closely. They all looked half-dead.

"Medicine," Yi Wan said.

...An expert at using medicine. Ding Biehan lowered his eyes, clearly overthinking it by an entire atmosphere.

If Yi Wan could poison three fish at once, could he poison three people at once too? Ding Biehan's thoughts leaped across another layer of atmosphere on the set in his own head.

"Oh, right," Yi Wan said. "Have you not found a way to start a fire?"

Yi Wan's bluntness interrupted Ding Biehan's thoughts and even made him a little embarrassed. But Yi Wan quickly added, "In that case, you clean the fish and I'll make the fire. Do you know how to clean fish?"

He put the fish in Ding Biehan's hands. Their cold, slimy texture made Ding Biehan shudder involuntarily. "Cut open their bellies, gut them, pull out the bloody intestines, throw them on the ground... Your knife skills are very good. Even if you're not good with medicine or starting fires, you should be good at this, right?"

Good with medicine and starting fires... Ding Biehan caught the key words.

Yi Wan's voice was like a subtle nightmare. His eyes fixed on Ding Biehan as though there were some hidden implication. Ding Biehan smiled in a chilly, combative manner. "What are you implying, Yi Wan?"

Yi Wan: ?

Seeing the sudden change in Ding Biehan's expression, Yi Wan thought perhaps his description of the process had been a bit disgusting. He smiled. "Don't be scared. It should be easy for you."

Ding Biehan: ...

"Fine. Then we'll work together," Ding Biehan said slowly after a long moment, smiling. "You 'expert' in medicine and fire-starting."

Yi Wan found that Ding Biehan was taking his praise so seriously and felt rather pleased. "Thank you. You kill the fish, and I set fires. We'll each play to our strengths."

Ding Biehan: ...

Yi Wan stepped past him and first used the charcoal he had brought to make a simple filter, collecting water from the stream. He filled half of it into his own cup and the other half into a bowl.

Next, he found three stones of similar size and shape. Seeing what he was doing, Bateman said on the livestream, "He's building a field stove."

The most common and simplest kind of stove, too.

He placed cattail fluff inside as tinder. The camera first switched to Ding Biehan, who was cleaning the unconscious fish as though he were taking it out on that lazy good-for-nothing, Yi Wan.

Then it switched back to Jiang Bei, still laboriously rubbing wood together. The group took turns working until they were sweating profusely, full of fervor. When it returned to Yi Wan, though, he was merely sitting there spacing out. A rack stood over his stove, and he seemed to have done nothing at all.

After waiting a while, the viewers began to stir again. Several paid trolls started seizing openings.

"He talked a big game just now. Why isn't he moving?"

"Did he go stupid? Can't start a fire?"

"Jiang Bei is still working hard, and he's just sitting there spacing out?"

Jing Jingjing had received instructions from Jiang Bei's manager. Earlier, she had kept slipping in remarks about how "Yi Wan doesn't fit in" and "Jiang Bei works hard." Now she put on a neutral act and said, "Oh, we can't expect everyone to know how to do everything. In wilderness survival, perseverance is actually more important than technique."

Bateman nodded as well. Just then, Yu Rongshi gave a soft laugh.

"I don't think Yi Wan is in the dark here. He always seems to have a plan," he said.

"Did you notice something?" Zheng Zilong asked curiously.

"The camera is too far away. I can't see clearly," Yu Rongshi said.

His words could not have piqued everyone's curiosity more.

The viewers who had initially been led along by the trolls began to protest too. "What are you all making such a fuss over? Can't you just watch the livestream?"

"I think Brother Rong makes a lot of sense. Come to think of it, Brother Rong has been paying a lot of attention to Yi Wan."

Another, stranger wave of comments appeared. "Am I the only one who thinks Little Yi cooking while Little Ding kills fish looks really harmonious?"

"Little Ding actually obediently went to kill fish, hhh. The knife expert and the fire-starting expert are such a match!!"

"Little Ding's knife work is so good!"

"Honestly, when Little Yi handed the fish to Little Ding just now, the way Little Ding looked at him had so much tension. It was like, in the whole world, you're the only one I can see."

"But they just seem like ordinary acquaintances. It's not that much, right?"

Those comments immediately stirred up the anxious Ding-fan group chat. They had meant to post comments to kill the ship, but when they saw the last comment, they could not help wanting to cry.

Ordinary coworkers, my ass!! As solo stans, they knew best how to mine ship-fuel from lingering glances. Even while killing fish, Ding Biehan kept sneaking looks at Yi Wan!

Three of the girls had already given up resisting and secretly formed a small group chat to ship them.

Jiang Bei was still gritting his teeth and rubbing the wood. When he noticed that Yi Wan had begun spacing out without getting his stove lit, he felt much better. At that moment, though, Xie Tiantian called out delightedly, "Brother Yi, you're sharing your fish with us? Thank you, thank you! Ah, our stove just won't light..."

He felt Yi Wan's presence draw close, and that sensation made his fingers curl despite himself. So he smiled and said, "Yi Wan, your fire isn't lit either?"

Yi Wan looked at him, seemingly puzzled. "Are you sure you want to use the rubbing-wood method?"

"The flint got damp, so it won't make fire. You know that, don't you?" Jiang Bei snapped. His hands hurt too much; he truly couldn't keep his own fire from flaring up.

Yi Wan did not take the bait. "Oh... Anyway, there's still a little time."

He took several pieces of wood and a length of rope from the things he had brought. When he had seen the sky turn somewhat dark in the forest earlier, he had picked up this medium-hard wood. Just as seeing an overcast sky had made him think of making fire.

But the sun had come out now.

"What are you doing, Yi Wan?"

Yao Yue's voice sounded. Jiang Bei looked up and realized that the people beside him had somehow all gathered around Yi Wan. Yi Wan held an oddly shaped object and said, "This is a bow drill."

"A bow drill?"

"When the weather is fairly damp, people generally use this for friction fire. It's faster," Yi Wan said. "And the posture you used to rub the wood earlier was wrong, so it takes a lot of effort."

As he spoke, he demonstrated a few times. Smoke soon faintly rose from the friction point. Watching Yi Wan's handiwork, even Jiang Zefang, who looked down on idols, could not help showing an expression of envy and jealousy.

"How did you know how to make that?" Yao Yue asked curiously.

"Um..." Yi Wan thought about it, looking a little lost himself. "Maybe I read about it when I competed in orienteering in middle school..."

He could not remember himself.

Elsewhere, Chi Jixia slapped his thigh in frustration!

What middle-school orienteering! It was me! I taught you hand over hand! he screamed inwardly.

But who had made him delete Yi Wan's memories? Chi Jixia, the acting genius and ever-changing fox, suddenly felt like Andersen's Little Mermaid.

The camera turned back to Ding Biehan. Ding Biehan was expressionlessly killing fish. The killing intent in his eyes made Chi Jixia shiver, and he felt a certain sympathy with the fish.

Yi Wan gave the bow drill to the others. Yao Yue happily carried it back and handed it to Jiang Bei. Jiang Bei's face went from green to white, and he accepted it with great reluctance.

"What's with that?" someone began to complain in the comments. "Yi Wan took the initiative to give him the tool, and he still has that sour face."

The Polestars immediately explained, "Well, Yi Wan did bully him." But others began to think Yi Wan's personality was pretty good. He had skills and did not show off.

More people grew curious. "Which middle school did Yi Wan even go to for orienteering?"

"And he could only place second? What kind of terrifying middle school was that?"

"Or is this a Baidu ad? Use Baidu and become a real-life Brother Bei? Baidu, pay up, gkd."

"Wait, Yi Wan gave them his tool. What's he going to do himself?"

Yi Wan was not worried in the least. He even crouched down to inspect the mushrooms and berries the group had picked. Seeing his expression, the delicate Yao Yue took the initiative to ask, "Brother Yi, is something wrong with these mushrooms and berries?"

After Xie Tiantian, she too had begun calling Yi Wan, who was younger than her, Brother Yi.

At the mention of mushrooms, Jiang Bei's expression became difficult to maintain again. He had led everyone to pick those mushrooms and berries.

"This berry can't be eaten." Yi Wan picked a red berry from the pile. "It looks a lot like a raspberry, but it isn't one. For example, its core is smooth, and its sap is white. Generally, wild plants with white or yellow sap can't be eaten. It's best to choose plants with dark-colored sap."

"Oh..." Yao Yue realized bluntly, "Little Bei picked that berry just now..."

Jiang Bei suddenly felt as though he were sitting on pins and needles.

"Sometimes people who know a great deal from books still stumble in practice. As the old line goes: what is learned from paper is always shallow—true understanding demands we act it out ourselves."

Bateman asked Yan He what the line meant on the livestream, then smiled and nodded.

The comments expressed their understanding as well. Some Polestars wiped away a cold sweat, never expecting Yi Wan to speak for Jiang Bei. In the hearts of those who trusted Jiang Bei most and believed the bullying rumors most firmly, seeds of doubt were planted too.

Some comments, however, started "joking." "Jiang Bei talks like he knows so much, but turns out he's just an armchair expert."

Chi Jixia, watching the livestream, had gone numb. Yi Wan's question from his dream flashed through his mind again:

"...Why do these two plants look alike? The berry you picked can be eaten, but the one I picked can't?"

Yi Wan also found it strange. Looking at those berries, the knowledge for distinguishing them simply sprang naturally into his mind.

Could the Baidu learning method really be this terrifying?

"Brother Yi, you're amazing." Xie Tiantian looked at him worshipfully, temporarily forgetting Qu Pingqiu, Jiang Zefang, and the others. "Oh, what about these mushrooms?"

"Generally, it's best not to eat mushrooms when surviving in the wild," Yi Wan said. "Many mushrooms look alike, but one tiny difference in appearance can make them an entirely different species."

He examined the mushrooms and named their scientific names one by one. In the end, Yi Wan said, "We're very lucky this time. They're all nonpoisonous mushrooms."

The experts accompanying the production team came over to identify them, and their conclusion was unexpectedly exactly the same as Yi Wan's.

"Polestars used to mock Yi Wan for being so washed up he grew mushrooms in a corner. Is he actually a mushroom expert?"

"Fuck, from bondage expert and fishing expert to fire-starting expert, and now he's a mushroom expert?"

"What the hell is a bondage expert, hhh? That sounds so sexy."

"I declare Yi Wan my new husband! Someone competent and steady like this is seriously so heart-fluttering."

"I strongly suspect Yi Wan has failed to get popular all these years because he spends every day studying mushrooms."

Quite a few malicious netizens even went to the popular Weibo post where one of Jiang Bei's major fans had cursed Yi Wan as washed-up enough to grow mushrooms in a corner, leaving a flood of mean comments and memes.

The two girls on the show became thoroughly interested. They clung to Yi Wan and asked him to teach them tricks for identifying mushrooms. The production team hurriedly aimed the camera at him as well.

Yi Wan picked up a mushroom and tore apart its stalk. A clear secretion immediately flowed out. "This is one of the simplest ways to tell. Mushrooms whose secretion does not easily change color are mostly nonpoisonous. If the secretion is thick reddish-brown and oxidizes and changes color easily, it's a poisonous mushroom."

The two girls were both greatly surprised. At that moment, Jiang Zefang, who had been ignored and had been intent on putting on the airs of a big brother, spoke sourly. "Little Yi, stop fussing over those mushrooms. Your stove isn't even lit yet, is it?"

"It's fine. Thanks for giving us the fire drill. In a little while, you can come borrow a light from me," Jiang Bei, sweating profusely, said too. His hands were numb, and a flame was gradually about to catch beneath them.

He made it sound as though Yi Wan had deliberately schemed, made a tool to play the good guy, and was freeloading on their labor of rubbing wood together.

Jing Jingjing commented at the perfect moment on the livestream, "That's a pretty clever method. Yi Wan won't need to start a fire himself..."

Then she saw Yi Wan walk toward his stove. "It's about time."

Jing Jingjing: ??

A wisp of smoke rose from the tinder, followed by a flame glittering like hope. Yi Wan added a few dry twigs, then removed a transparent object from above it.

The camera had not caught that little object before. Every viewer craned their neck to see—

"A convex lens," Yu Rongshi said.

He stared at Yi Wan's fingers as if contemplating something.

Author's Note:

That's about it for the common-sense portion! The next chapter will start the refined wilderness lifestyle and the physical-skills portion of wilderness survival: rappelling down a waterfall.

All-purpose Yi Wan is terrifyingly awesome!