Chapter Eleven

On the other side of the camera.

"Ye, we did it!" Mo Fan stared intently at the oddly shaped device set up on the beach before him.

A water bottle, a hollowed-out bamboo tube, and a metal pencil case hastily pulled from Gu Shengsheng’s backpack—the kind he hadn't discarded after finishing his college entrance exam—had been assembled into the simplest distillation apparatus.

Beneath the metal pencil case, a roaring fire blazed. The bamboo served as a conduit, dripping clear droplets of water.

Gu Shengsheng watched the fire closely, clutching a handful of dry twigs, and whenever it seemed the fire was dying, he tossed more wood onto the blaze.

Seeing the fire still burning but the fuel running low, without needing any reminder, he darted back and forth between the woods and the beach, gathering branches to serve as backup firewood.

After several hours of effort,

the water bottle had already collected a generous mouthful of distilled fresh water derived from seawater.

About one-tenth of the 500ml bottle.

Gu Shengsheng counted on his fingers: "Fifty milliliters is eight bottle caps."

"If we boil for two more hours, that'll be sixteen caps; another two hours, twenty-four caps. Six of us, each can get four caps’ worth of water!"

[Your math is really good!]

[Haha, why does this sound so bittersweet?]

[Help! Gu Shengsheng’s face just can’t look grimy. Covered in soot, yet he still looks like a stranded elf—how can he be so handsome!]

[Seriously, I’m crying. He’s willing to lose face just for a sip of water.]

[Qin Ye really has leadership skills. He’s the only one this season who immediately grasped the urgent task. People can survive seven days without food, but only three without water. Using distillation to turn seawater into fresh water and extracting salt is truly killing two birds with one stone!]

[Most importantly, Mo Fan and Gu Shengsheng worked well together.]

[I’m dying laughing at Gu Shengsheng. Didn’t he do well on the college entrance exam? His academic scores passed the line, right? And now he’s clapping with admiration: "Wow, Qin Ye, you still remember your middle school science!"]

[Even funnier is Mo Fan. He’s just staring blankly at them: "I recognize the word ‘distillation.’" Hahaha.]

[Actually… there’s no need to praise too much, isn’t this a standard science experiment?]

[Um, is this younger brother or younger sister? Using your middle school level to test us college students is a bit much!]

[An adult working for three years is sweating buckets.]

[Haha, I’m breaking down, can’t say more! I beg you, I’m on my knees!]

[Seriously, learning it is simple, but applying it is really hard. If Qin Ye hadn’t taken the lead to make the distillation device just now, I never would have realized seawater can’t be drunk directly.]

Sun Xinping wiped sweat from his forehead in front of the screen.

Sorry, he hadn’t expected this either.

Before Qin Ye started making the distillation device, he hadn’t even added the debuff that drinking seawater causes dehydration.

Beside him, Xiao Li watched the screen with wide-eyed excitement.

Wow, this is the most harmonious barrage of comments in all three seasons.

Even Gu Shengsheng, who had been labeled “selfish and arrogant,” wasn’t causing trouble.

But just as he thought this, Gu Shengsheng, who hadn’t made a fuss for a long time, spoke up.

He glanced sneakily toward Qin Ye. Seeing Qin Ye didn’t notice, he quickly looked away.

A few seconds later, he looked again, then withdrew his gaze.

Back and forth several times, his face twisted with conflict.

[Come on, dude, if you want to say something, just say it!]

[Seriously, you’re killing me!!!]

Fortunately, Qin Ye noticed.

“What do you want to say?”

Gu Shengsheng was startled.

[Wait… has he taken on the role of timid and cowardly Qi Xiu? Why is he so easily scared?]

Qin Ye looked up at him.

After hesitating, Gu Shengsheng finally spoke: “Can I boil for two more hours to get one more cap of water?”

“Yeah, the extra eight caps of water, can each person have one? And the remaining two caps, can I have half?”

Xiao Li’s heart skipped a beat.

Sure enough, the persona isn’t jealous, Gu Shengsheng is definitely trying to get an advantage.

But something felt off?

[??? Boiling for two more hours just to get one more mouthful of water?]

[To be precise, one bottle cap, a tiny sip, haha.]

[No, he’s so humble! Real job pays 208 per day, and here he’s trading two hours of work for a sip of water. I suggest all celebrities try this.]

[… Is he confused? He’s just boiling water nonstop, and he actually wants to make water for everyone else? Is this selfish? No, this is selflessness to the point of foolishness.]

Mo Fan didn’t feel anything wrong.

“What about the extra bottle cap of water?”

Gu Shengsheng blinked and asked Qin Ye, “Do you want it?”

Qin Ye paused, then asked, “What if I don’t want it?”

Gu Shengsheng thought for a moment: “Then ask the leader if he wants it.”

[Why? To repay that world’s most delicious fish?]

Gu Shengsheng said, “Starting a fire by rubbing sticks was something I learned from the leader. He helped too.”

Mo Fan nodded approvingly: “Makes sense!”

“Xiao Gu, your ideological consciousness has improved!”

[This is not scientific.]

Qin Ye hadn’t expected that answer either.

He nodded in agreement: “Very reasonable.”

Gu Shengsheng continued, “If the leader doesn’t want it either—”

?

“Then can the last bottle cap of water be mine?”

[… Showing off.]

[Actually, this shows the selfish persona, right? But… dare you be just a little more selfish? Right now it’s like playing house!]

“What do you mean the leader doesn’t want it?”

He Erwang, having given up practicing picking coconuts with stones after Shen Jinfeng agreed to teach him, strode out of the forest with a spring in his step.

As soon as he left the woods, he heard Gu Shengsheng talking about “the leader doesn’t want it.”

Excitedly, he waved to the three teammates remaining on the beach: “Comrades, the leader and I brought you something great!”

Determined to surprise Qin Ye and the others, he wrapped the coconut carefully in his clothes as he walked out.

Not only did he wrap one himself, but he also encouraged Qi Xiu to wrap one.

Qi Xiu stood beside Shen Jinfeng, smiling without offense that He Erwang hadn’t included his name, looking proud to be part of the group.

Shen Jinfeng was blocked behind the two of them, holding a coconut in one hand, completely hidden.

He Erwang shouted, and Qin Ye and the others turned to look.

Viewers watching the “stay-behind” trio’s livestream were puzzled.

Stay-behind group: [What’s going on! What’s the good stuff? Let me see!]

Stay-behind group: [Found gold?]

Traveling group: [No way, did the stay-behind group leave their brains behind too? What use is gold on a deserted island?]

Stay-behind group: [We have surprises here too! Guess what Qin Ye, Mo Fan, and Gu Shengsheng have been tinkering with?]

Traveling group: [No, you won’t believe it. Shen Jinfeng just took a stroll in the woods and totally solved the food crisis.]

Traveling group: [With Shen Jinfeng around, is this season still about surviving on a deserted island? Shouldn’t the producers raise the difficulty?]

Stay-behind group, stunned: [We solved the food crisis too!]

Stay-behind group: [Why do I feel He Erwang’s gaze at Shen Jinfeng is a little too intense?]

Traveling group: [Haha, go check Weibo now, and you’ll understand.]

Traveling group: [If you missed Shen Jinfeng’s livestream, you really lost out. You can’t imagine how awesome Shen Jinfeng is! How happy He Erwang is being “let go of the leash!”]

Stay-behind group: [What leash? Did they go kite flying in the woods?]

Traveling group: [Haha, what kite flying? It’s actually a zipline, a kindergarten favorite.]

Stay-behind and traveling groups’ comments merged into a lively scene.

Meanwhile, Gu Shengsheng’s attention was successfully diverted: “What good stuff?”

Qin Ye and Mo Fan also looked up curiously.

He Erwang, beaming with pride, dramatically threw open his clothes.

“Coconuts! We found coconuts!”

“Sweet and delicious coconuts!”

“Tonight, we can feast on coconut meat and gulp coconut water! We can even stew coconut fish with the juice!”

“Drink up without worry! If we finish the coconuts, we’ll just pick more. Plenty to go around!”

Qi Xiu cooperated by showing off his coconut.

The two stepped aside to reveal Shen Jinfeng behind them, also holding a coconut in one hand.

Shen Jinfeng: “……”

He pressed his lips awkwardly.

Suddenly, he understood what it meant to be awkward to the point of scratching the floor with one’s toes.

Gu Shengsheng and Mo Fan opened their mouths in surprise.

They had both bought coconuts and drunk coconut water before.

Gu Shengsheng subconsciously counted on his fingers, confused: “How many bottle caps of water are in one coconut?”

Qin Ye was struck by the question.

With so many coconuts, the distillation apparatus they made seemed somewhat redundant.

Mo Fan stepped forward, taking a coconut with a smile and spoke about their recent achievement: “Ye just showed us how to distill seawater into fresh water. Leader, when you get tired of coconut water, you can switch things up.”

Shen Jinfeng’s eyes brightened.

This team really had people who knew what they were doing.

Coconut water quenches thirst, but you can’t drink it forever.

“Great,” he praised generously. “Fresh water is an indispensable precious resource.”

Qin Ye smiled quietly.

They gathered the coconuts in one place.

He led Shen Jinfeng to show him another achievement that had taken over two hours.

“It’s late today, no time to build a wooden hut. I used torn tent fabric to make three beds.”

After finishing the distillation setup, Qin Ye had handed over remaining tasks to Mo Fan and Gu Shengsheng.

Their supplies were scarce; the camping tent they brought had fallen apart after drifting at sea.

Not enough parts remained to assemble a new tent.

Qin Ye selected a few relatively intact pieces of tent fabric and used tree trunks to build three beds.

Around them, he stood a ring of upright branches shaped like peaks, and covered the branches thickly with banana leaves.

The result was three rustic little huts.

Only three because of limited tent fabric.

Six people, neatly paired two per hut.

His gaze swept over the five teammates and stopped decisively on Shen Jinfeng.

“Squad leader, you and I will share a hut tonight.”

Shen Jinfeng’s heart skipped a beat and he looked up sharply.

Before he could respond,

He Erwang jumped up: “No way! I want to share a hut with the leader!”

Qi Xiu hesitated, then also stepped forward: “I want to share a hut with the leader too.”

“Let’s settle it with rock-paper-scissors!”