Chapter 398: Chapter 198: Wait, Others Are Still in Wilderness Survival, and You’re Already Making Art?

Overall, it’s safe, kind of has its pros and cons.

Later that afternoon, Li Younan went fishing.

These days, he’s not even bothered to record the entire fishing process on camera, since he knows he always catches something and even the audience would get bored.

Being an internet influencer for so long, he’s developed a sensitivity to highlight moments; he only records when he actually catches a fish.

Today, he spent a long time by the lake and caught a total of six fish before calling it a day.

As soon as he pulled each fish out, he immediately processed it: gutting it, removing the gills and scales, but leaving a layer of fish skin—this helps reduce the loss of meat quality with moisture evaporation.

Since these fish are stored as food reserves for the coming days, taste is not a concern; preservation is the priority.

In wilderness conditions, preserving meat for extended periods, especially when temperatures haven’t dropped below freezing before winter, relies on dehydration methods to block bacteria and prevent microbial growth.

The best method for this is using salt’s high osmotic properties to extract water from the meat.

However, the high-density salt provided by the show is enough to last through the next year, but a bit scarce for curing meat. So Li Younan chose to use a combination of smoking and slow-cook drying.

After slicing the fish into fillets and bringing them back to his shelter, Li Younan hung the fillets above a charcoal fire to slowly roast.

By the time he finished milking the goat and making butter, the fish fillets were thoroughly dried.

He then hung all these fillets above the fireplace—the drier the environment, the longer the preservation period, at least a month if hung on the shelter’s rafters.

With food reserves taken care of, he’s planning to start searching for larger prey tomorrow.

...

Before Li Younan officially sets out, he still needs to wait for the third medical check-up.

At this point, this group of staff was heading to Pacini’s location for his check-up first.

At dawn, they took a speedboat to the shore, then walked about half an hour to reach Pacini’s shelter in the forest.

It’s clear that Pacini is in great condition, even having spare time to trim his beard.

When the staff arrived, he warmly invited them to sit on the wooden stump stools he’d made.

His shelter was entirely constructed with wood, covered with a waterproof tarp, and all gaps filled with moss.

Pacini was extremely satisfied with his shelter—naturally, there was a small stove built from stones inside to ensure warmth.

Overall though, the shelter was quite low; strictly speaking, the interior space wasn’t even taller than he was, serving only as a sleeping area, requiring people to crouch when inside, and only as large as space for two beds.

Even so, he felt his shelter far surpassed the others, as the wood used was very sturdy, offering a strong sense of security.

The most striking feature was the sheep’s head hanging at the entrance—a trophy from his first large hunt, akin to a medal of honor.

The staff completed Pacini’s medical check-up.

As expected by everyone, Pacini’s health was quite good, with some weight loss, but still in a very healthy range.

Before leaving, Pacini couldn’t help but ask, "How many competitors are left now?"

The staff politely responded, "Sorry, sir, we can’t tell you the exact number at the moment. I can only say it’s still early; as long as there’s one competitor left, we can’t disclose that information. We had a colleague accidentally reveal some details earlier and they were punished."

Pacini nodded, "I’m sorry, please forgive my boldness."

"It’s alright." After a pause, the staff added, "Good luck to you."

"Hahaha, definitely! I’m a devout Christian, God will bless me. I think next time you see me, there’ll be more than just a sheep as my trophy; you might see something different, like a deer or a cow."

Pacini believed he was on the smoothest path among all contestants.

He already had the safest and warmest shelter, a goat, and over the past period, he’d caught plenty of small animals, like rabbits and porcupines, enough to last at least three weeks.

Within this time, he was confident he’d hunt another large animal.

He seemed to see the million-dollar prize waving at him.

After bidding goodbye to Pacini, the crew rushed back to their yacht, proceeding towards Li Younan’s direction.

On the yacht, some team members discussed the insights from the health check-up: "We have to admit, Pacini is indeed an excellent wilderness survival expert."

"Yes, it’s evident from his shelter and specially made smoking room."

"Do you think he has a chance to be the final winner?"

"Hard to say... everyone knows how formidable his competitor is."

The group fell silent for a moment, then nodded. "That contestant from China is indeed Pacini’s biggest rival, but there’s one thing we must admit—although Li’s current living environment is more comfortable, after all, this is ’Alone in the Wilderness’, where survival is the only criterion for victory. I think you understand what I mean."

"Hahaha, indeed, that’s what makes our show more interesting, right?"

They were all quite pleased, as this episode presented two seemingly evenly matched competitors, adding more spice to the show, and the more interesting it was, the better their paycheck.

After a while, they finally reached Li Younan’s shelter.

At this moment, Li Younan was leisurely making a lounge chair outside his shelter, using traditional tenon-and-mortise craftsmanship.

Seeing the team arrive, he warmly invited them to sit on a wooden stump, then brought out a teapot and some matching teacups from his shelter: "Hey, folks, you’re just in time, I just brewed some wild tea from here. To be honest, it tastes quite good."

As Li Younan arranged the tea set on the outdoor wooden table, the group’s eyes were instantly drawn to the exquisite teapot and teacups.

They were momentarily stunned, then suddenly widened their eyes in disbelief.

One of the staff even frowned, "Where did these come from?"

Li Younan casually shrugged, "As you can see, they were crafted with limited resources. In fact, I documented the entire process of making these porcelains in my videos, you’ll know when you watch them later."

The group exchanged looks, somewhat bewildered – it wasn’t their fault for such a reaction, as these porcelains were so exquisite, they clashed with the wilderness setting.

One staff member carefully picked up a teacup, inspecting it closely and exclaiming repeatedly, "This is practically a work of art!"

Then they looked at Li Younan with a look as if he were a strange creature.

No way... while others are struggling to survive, enduring hunger, this guy from China is already playing with artworks?