Chapter 32: Chapter 032: Wool Gathering Chapter 32: Chapter 032: Wool Gathering Night fell.
A figure emerged from one of the tents.
The figure quickly crossed a patch of shaded woods and slipped toward the river.
In the gleaming river water, the surface was suddenly bisected by a black line that drew closer and closer.
The black line began to twist, smoothly slicing through the water.
“Splash!”
A figure rapidly grabbed the writhing line and lifted it up before swiftly leaving.
The shadow avoided the camera positions and tossed the thick line into one of the tents.
It then returned to its own tent in complete silence, took off its shoes, and lay down on the makeshift bed as if it had never left.
Five minutes later.
“There’s a snake! A poisonous snake!”
Screams accompanied by the sound of collisions traveled far and wide.
Director Li, who had just fallen asleep, was startled awake by the scream, his eyes flying open.
“Director Li, Director Li!” someone called out as they ran toward him.
Director Li instantly came to his senses, dressed, and stepped out, nearly colliding with the person running toward him.
“Director Li, a poisonous snake has been found near Mu Jincheng’s tent!”
The staff member’s face was extremely grim.
Director Li’s face changed color, and without hesitation, he ran toward Mu Jincheng’s location.
Mu Jincheng was sitting on the ground disheveled, half-drenched and smeared with mud, having apparently stepped somewhere unsavory.
Mu Jincheng’s complexion was ashen, appearing deeply shaken.
Director Li’s eyelids began to twitch uncontrollably.
Weren’t checks in place?
How could there be a snake in the rest area!
“Director Li, it’s not a poisonous snake, just a common water snake. Mu Jincheng has been bitten. Although it’s not venomous, we’d be more reassured after a check,” the on-site doctor was already treating Mu Jincheng.
“Hurry up with the examination,” Director Li urged upon hearing about the bite, his heart leaping to his throat.
With more snakes appearing, Director Li’s complexion grew increasingly darkened.
Can tomorrow’s show still go on?
This episode was just one day short when the incident occurred.
Poisonous or not, Mu Jincheng needed to be evacuated immediately.
There were no adequate medical facilities here, only emergency medications and procedures.
They were also equipped with necessary antivenom.
Mu Jincheng’s agent received the news and rushed to a nearby city to make arrangements overnight.
While the outside was noisy through much of the night, Shen Yan’s area remained eerily still.
The next day, except for Shen Yan, who was full of energy, everyone else looked as though they had their vitality drained throughout the night, with dark circles clearly visible.
“What’s wrong with everyone?” asked Shen Yan, feigning ignorance.
An active Qin Ding Yue forced a smile, “Yanyan, didn’t you hear anything last night?”
“I slept very deeply, what happened?”
“A poisonous snake appeared in Mu Jincheng’s tent, and he was bitten. He was taken to a hospital outside last night. My God, these poisonous snakes are too fierce. I didn’t dare close my eyes the whole night.”
Qin Ding Yue shrank her neck as if still frightened.
Shen Yan gave her a glance. Wasn’t this girl supposed to be full of adventure spirit?
To be scared by such a trivial matter, and yet talk of adventure.
“Director Li hasn’t shown up today; I reckon he’s ending this episode’s live broadcast early,” Zhou Jingming said.
The looks on everyone else’s faces weren’t relaxed.
Because there were still three more episodes to go.
They needed to continue live broadcasting from this island.
“Director Li has taken emergency measures and this matter is to be kept confidential. Let’s not leak any information,” suddenly, the assistant director, Director Ji, appeared behind them and advised the group.
Chu Jinghe suddenly looked at Shen Yan with an odd expression in her eyes.
“We understand the seriousness.”
If this program were to be canceled, it would also be a huge loss for them.
When they signed up for this survival show, they were drawn by Director Li, and indeed, their popularity had noticeably increased after the last episode.
“After this incident, I’m afraid we won’t be able to continue with today’s live broadcast,” said Wen Yan as soon as Director Ji left, slumping into a chair.
Liu Qiang took out her mobile phone to contact her agent, mumbling something indecipherable.
Xu Zishen’s gaze fell on Shen Yan, with something seemingly brewing in his mind.
Chu Jinghe vaguely felt that something was off with the situation, but then again, it seemed all too normal upon reflection.
Qin Dingyue was a bit worried and took out her phone to communicate with her agent.
Seeing this, the others also relayed the situation to their own agents.
Shen Yan, however, was the most relaxed among them.
The production team was so anxious it was enough to turn their hair white.
In the end, Director Li made the decision not to form teams anymore, but to continue with the live survival broadcast along designated routes.
None of the guests had any objections.
However, without Mu Jincheng today, and with the solo survival participants in low spirits, the entire broadcast was off-kilter.
Viewers immediately noticed the absence of Mu Jincheng.
Mu Jincheng’s fans bombarded the comment section, asking what happened, and the official response from the program’s team was that Mu Jincheng had suddenly fallen ill and wouldn’t be participating in that day’s broadcast.
This instantly tugged at the heartstrings of hordes of fans.
[I feel like today’s survival is a bit fake.]
[Be confident, remove the ‘bit’; everyone is out of sorts today.]
[My girl seems so listless too, did something happen?]
Others could be understood, but why was the always energetic Qin Dingyue looking so deflated as well?
Director Li was on one hand contacting the hospital and on the other monitoring several live streams.
Once he confirmed that the water snake was not poisonous and Mu Jincheng was safe, Director Li breathed a sigh of relief.
Then his phone blew up again with another bombardment—it was Xu Zishen’s agent, who was quite upset about the near miss with the poisonous snake and didn’t hesitate to criticize the production team’s irresponsibility.
With a forced smile that nearly broke his back, Director Li managed to make amends with Xu Zishen’s side by doling out a favor to settle the matter.
No sooner had he hung up that another call came in.
His expression grew even worse.
He picked up the call, and it turned out to be Shen Yan’s agent.
Huh, didn’t he remember that Shen Yan’s agent was Xinyu’s Zhang Lu? When did it change to a serious-sounding man?
Liu Su made it clear from the start that he was Shen Yan’s new agent and started leveraging Shen Yan’s heroic act for a favor from Director Li.
Director Li’s mouth twitched.
Another one looking to fleece him.
Liu Su repeated his dissatisfaction with Director Li’s branding of survival on a desert island as romantic reality show marketing.
Director Li’s mouth started twitching again.
Liu Su hinted indirectly that he considered him a director not devoted to his craft.
Director Li: “…”
Shen Yan’s new agent was a tough nut to crack, and Director Li was tempted to hang up.
Finally, gritting his teeth, Director Li mentioned that a friend of his was shooting a commercial movie, with a role that might suit Shen Yan.
Liu Su finally stopped his personal attacks.
After hanging up the call, Director Li cursed and laughed to himself.
*
Shen Yan was still diligently doing the survival show, finding tasks easy when working alone.
She moved along the designated route in a playful manner, occasionally stopping, and then reached the Jujube tree. In front of the camera, she reached up, grabbed a branch, and with a little effort, swung herself up.
[Wow! Skyrocketing monkey!]
[The reincarnation of a splendid Monkey King is born!]
[This scene makes me involuntarily recall Mu Jincheng’s mysterious butt…]
What followed was a series of exclamation marks.
The two crew members trailing behind: “!!!”
Stubborn haters: Fancy schmancy!