Chapter 36 Part 3

By the time the two adults and one child reached the washing area, the other guests sleeping in the straw-woven tents were also gradually waking up.

The previous night, after everyone finished the fish and crabs from the ground cages, they’d put the fish bones and crab shells back into the cages for reuse. Before lowering their cages, each family had sidled up to Lu Aotian, attempting to touch his little paw. This was because, after Chu Chengpeng first sneaked a hand-touch while the child slept, he immediately caught two extremely plump swimming crabs.

But how could the awake Lu Aotian let these ordinary mortals lay a finger on him?

A seemingly chaotic sequence of dodges successfully prevented these luck-leeching guests from even brushing the cub’s clothes. Finally, seeing the child’s dislike, Ji Nuo shielded the cub behind him, smiling as he politely declined on the child’s behalf.

Consequently, everyone’s expectations for the morning’s ground cage harvest were pretty low.

Moreover, even residents who frequently ate seafood by the coast couldn’t forgo staple foods like rice, noodles, tubers, and beans. Compared to the fish, shrimp, and crabs caught in the cages, the parents craved the coconut bread their children had been allotted even more.

Where there’s demand, there’s cunning Bai Yong.

The Day One accommodation problem was thoroughly solved. Day Three would involve all four guest teams welcoming a father-son pair from afar. Naturally, Day Two needed to focus on solving food issues.

Therefore, after everyone finished a very fresh but small-portioned breakfast that failed to satisfy Chinese stomachs, Bai Yong popped up again.

Beating a gong to announce new rules: “The guests have eaten so much seafood, our production team staff are all quite envious! So, we’re willing to trade staple foods and cooking oil for your seafood.”

“But! There are requirements! Our staff only like to eat fresh catches personally caught by the guests…”

The guests present looked at each other, faces collectively resembling the “old man on subway looking at phone” meme. The danmaku was even more direct:

[Bai Yong… do you have a screw loose?!]

[Yong Dog, a man who spends his whole life tap-dancing in the guests’ minefields.]

[Sigh, classic Bai Yong move. Can’t stay quiet for even a day without feeling stifled. This is worse than the time he didn’t even spare the husky following the shoot, deliberately provoking the village bully goose to harass the husky, causing the dog to crash into a beehive and become a bee-stung dog.]

Using only ground cages? Where’s the entertainment value? But after giving them a slap, Bai Yong handed out a sweet date, immediately adding that professional fishermen would come to teach them.

Soon, the previously grass-skirted native performer burly men all changed into long-sleeved, long-pants jellyfish suits and reappeared before the crowd.

Looking at little Zhenzhen, who was still drinking her milk, the burly man who had played the chieftain earlier blew her a flying kiss, scaring Zhenzhen into sucking down her remaining half-bottle in one breath.

The eight guests all knew how to swim, but after all, they hadn’t grown up by the sea. Unlike the local native performers, who not only had excellent water skills but could catch seafood barehanded on the spot.

Based on this, Bai Yong had the native performers first teach the guests to make a fish-hunting tool.

Its principle was similar to the simple crossbows made from chopsticks in childhood. The impact from the huge tension was enough to make the slender metal arrow pierce through the prey’s body.

The arrow’s tail was connected to the main body of the crossbow with transparent fishing line. After hitting the prey, a gentle pull would drag both arrow and prey back. Re-tightening the bowstring made from high-strength elastic cord allowed for another shot.

It happened to be early August, just after the local sea opened. Fish, shrimp, and crabs were not only abundant but many were still in the shallow waters. With such a powerful tool, theoretically, today’s fishing and hunting activity should have been extremely smooth.

However, Bai Yong hadn’t expected the meteorological data he’d previously checked to be inaccurate. The small typhoon originally forecast to hit three days later showed signs of arriving early. On their first day on the island, the waves had been rough. Returning to the shore today, the water was noticeably murkier, and the clouds on the horizon looked very thick.

The native performers pounded their chests, guaranteeing it was definitely fine today. Still a bit worried about the production team’s preparedness, Bai Yong hired six more native performers as safety officers.

With everything ready, Han Cheng, Weng Kai, Chu Chengpeng, and Kang Feier, as the first batch, donned GoPros and positioning safety devices, took up their crossbows, and went into the sea first.

Though it wasn’t a competition this time, it still carried a competitive element. The team that was the first to capture a specific species could exchange it for double supplies.

For example, if a team was the first to catch a swimming crab and brought it ashore, they could get two portions of supplies. But the second person to catch a swimming crab could only exchange for one portion. Guests could also choose to keep the seafood to eat themselves, as the two remaining meals today depended entirely on this fishing and hunting opportunity provided by the production team.

Thus, the first batch chosen should be the strongest. However, William proactively suggested letting Kang Feier go into the water first, reasoning that he was worried other guests might feel it was unfair, and given his background as a retired Special Forces soldier, it would be hard for him to hold back. But he also promised that regardless of Kang Feier’s first batch results, he was confident in making them the winning team.

This approach covered all angles. Kang Feier naturally had no reason to refuse, even feeling grateful that Xu Chengyi had used an excuse not to come this time.

Lately, the more she interacted with her husband, the more distant she felt. She didn’t know if she’d been blinded by love back then, or if his acting was just too good. Now she felt he’d already bound her using their child, and her career, devastated by three years out of the spotlight, was almost completely uprooted…

Kang Feier shook off her worries and picked up her sweet, soft daughter for a big kiss.

The little dumpling Zhenzhen immediately smiled, her eyes crinkling, and offered the chubby cheek on her other side to her mom’s lips: “This side! This side!”

Kang Feier laughed and kissed the other chubby cheek too. After taking a fierce sniff of her daughter, she felt fully revitalized. She looked over at little friend Lu Ao’ao, who was resting his chin on his hand, lost in thought. An idea struck her, and she pounced like a hungry tiger to hug the cub.

But Lu Aotian was long prepared. The Kang Feier mother-daughter duo were both on his blacklist. A swift sidestep effortlessly made Kang Feier grasp air.

Having missed many times now, Kang Feier wasn’t embarrassed at all. Laughing, she bid farewell to the cluster of cubs, tied the net bag for storage to her waist, and turned to walk toward the rocky shore.

After the first batch went into the water, the second batch of contestants arrived early at the rocky shore to warm up and practice using the crossbows.

At this point, most of the follow cameramen had already gone into the water. Only one large livestream camera remained onshore, simultaneously capturing the cub waiting area and the second batch practice zone.

Lu Aotian stared at William, who, after picking up a crossbow, seemed to casually drift closer to Ji Nuo. A cold, sharp arc curled at the corner of his mouth.

Nearby, Little Fatty didn’t know the specifics of William’s plan, but he knew today was the date the man had promised him.

Since their first meeting, constantly stumbling against Lu Ao’ao had made this unbearable for him. He almost showed the first hints of a future obsessive, domineering CEO as he leaned close to Lu Aotian again, repeating like a stuck record: “My uncle is the strongest special forces soldier. Today he’s for sure…”

This time, before Little Fatty could finish, Lu Aotian had already left the cub waiting area first. He walked to the table where fishing nets were laid out. Under the staff members’ confused gazes, he jumped up and yanked down a fluorescent yellow net bag. Without a single word of explanation, he turned and left, leaving behind a cold, domineering small silhouette.

However, the height disadvantage wasn’t limited to this one area. A net bag tied around an adult’s waist reached at most to the knee, not hindering movement at all.

But Lu Aotian not only needed to wrap it twice around his waist to secure it, but the net bag’s length also dragged on the ground. Lu Aotian looked like he was wearing a fluorescent yellow floor-length dress. Ultimately, he had no choice but to tie the net bag around his neck like a cape, so it at least wouldn’t affect his movement underwater.

Lu Aotian walked to Ji Nuo’s side, and the two exchanged whispers. As per the script they’d agreed upon early that morning, Ji Nuo cooperatively asked: “You really want to go into the water in my place?!”

These words not only surprised William, who had been secretly watching from nearby, but also drew over Peng Li and Ming Yu, who were stiffly practicing with their crossbows: “No way, that’s too reckless. How can a child go into the sea to fish?”

Ji Nuo also chimed in: “The production team won’t agree.”

Having been pre-briefed, and after the production team’s lifeguards had tested Lu Ao’ao’s swimming abilities in advance, Bai Yong also agreed to let this so-called sea-raised orphan boy substitute for the waist-sprained intern dad in going into the water.

To prevent the audience from wrongly assuming the show had pre-arranged scripts, they acted out this scene. So, when Ji Nuo said the production team wouldn’t agree, Bai Yong’s voice, dripping with a slumlord-like essence, immediately blared from the loudspeaker: “I agree.”

Peng Li and Ming Yu were utterly baffled, while Ji Nuo continued his token resistance: “You might not be able to hold this crossbow.”

Lu Aotian, from the corner of his eye, watched William, who was desperately wanting to intervene but was tongue-tied by his poor Chinese. Lu Aotian smirked crookedly: “Remember, the truly strong never need tools.”

Ji Nuo: “…”

Finishing his words, Lu Aotian flung his cape behind him—[Note: the cape was made of a fluorescent yellow net bag]—and stepped onto the shore’s reef against the surging waves, ready to unleash his ultimate power.

If you ignored the fact that the cape was a fluorescent yellow net bag, matched with the thick clouds above and the howling sea wind, he truly had a bit of the air of a dwarven kingdom’s great general standing alone against an overwhelming force.

This dragon-like demeanor, tone, and action successfully made everyone around him, who a second ago had been worried or anxious, simultaneously twitch their mouths.