Chapter 15

Main Text 15 – Courtesy

The sound was very muffled and intermittent—deep and heavy, like it came from a lion or a bear.

There wouldn’t be lions in a rainforest, so it was most likely a bear.

Lin Qianyu couldn’t quite tell, only that it sounded kind of like one.

Judging from the Red-tailed Lanner’s reaction, whatever animal was down there clearly wasn’t friendly.

Maybe it was two predators fighting over prey, or some kind of territorial clash. Either way, things were getting heated down there, and the small animals caught in the crossfire scattered in panic.

“Hiss… sounds like a pretty fierce fight,” Lin Qianyu squinted. She couldn’t see anything, but the audio alone gave her a rough idea.

【?! Let me see! Let me seeee!】

【So we’re outsiders now? Keeping the good stuff to yourself, huh?】

【A brawl and we don’t get to watch? I’m gonna riot!!!】

“There’s no visuals,” Lin Qianyu noticed the rapid flood of bullet comments and explained, “They’re fighting down below, I can only hear them.”

From a certain perspective, she and the livestream viewers were seeing the same thing—nothing.

Still, the comment section was filled with: 【Don’t believe you.】

Many people had already started tagging the director and moderators to report her.

But… there wasn’t much she could do.

If she went back to grab her equipment now, it would be dark by the time she returned to base, and the fight would’ve been long over.

Lin Qianyu thought for a moment. “How about this—tonight I’ll do overtime and show you what the rainforest looks like at night.”

There was no requirement to make up lost time for the variety show—she just wanted to fill in the daytime gap for the audience.

While chatting with the comment section, Lin Qianyu noticed the noise below was getting quieter, and eventually the commotion faded away.

“Seems like it’s over.” Lin Qianyu stood up and brushed off the grass on her body. Looking down, she saw only branches still swaying gently in the breeze, and a faint metallic smell of blood lingering in the air as a trace of what had just happened.

“Wonder who won.”

The Red-tailed Lanner turned its head, flower crown still in its beak. “Chirp?”

Wanna go check it out?

“Nope.” Lin Qianyu picked up the chickens on the ground. “It’s getting late—we still have to deal with these. Let’s head back first.”

“Chirp!”Unknowingly, she had run all the way up to the mountainside.

When heading back down, Lin Qianyu didn’t go straight to the riverside. All the cooking tools were at the base—she had to grab the metal pot first before she could make soup.

There were too many chickens, so the Red-tailed Lanner helped by carrying two in its beak.

A fire had already been lit at the base, and from afar, one could see flickering flames under the dim light.

The guests were gathered around the fire, all holding up their watches and speaking—most likely interacting with the livestream viewers.

“Really? Just up there?”

“No, we didn’t hear anything, maybe it was too far.”

“How could that be? The director did a survey ahead of time—he said there were no dangerous beasts near our selected base location.”

…

Hearing this, Lin Qianyu raised an eyebrow in surprise. “What are you all talking about?”

“Qianyu-jie!” Hang Sisi had been repeating “I don’t know” to the livestream audience over and over again—her mouth was dry and she was practically exhausted. “Did you really see a bear and a leopard fighting up in the mountains?”

Everyone was extremely curious about this.

But since they weren’t familiar with Lin Qianyu, they held back—for now. Hang Sisi, being straightforward, blurted out the question.

Immediately, everyone’s eyes turned to Lin Qianyu.

After a brief silence, Lin Qianyu hesitated. “…Huh?”

Seeing her confusion, Hang Sisi waved her hands vaguely and described the scenario as told by the viewers: “The fans in the livestream said a Mozhou leopard and a bear were fighting to the death over food, and then a Dimobas tiger that had been lying in wait swooped in and stole the prey.”

Lin Qianyu: “……”

What in the world was that?

How did it spread like that—and with such detailed storytelling?

Seeing Lin Qianyu still wearing a dazed, slightly hesitant expression, Hang Sisi seemed to guess the answer and said disappointedly, “Ah… so it didn’t happen?”

“No way, of course not.” Lin Qianyu couldn’t help laughing. “They’re just making stuff up.”

Since there was no video footage, there was plenty of room for imagination.

And with people jumping between multiple livestream channels, plus bullet comments being character-limited, whatever was posted ended up copied and reposted by other clueless fans.

After circulating through all seven livestreams, the story had been embellished beyond recognition.“Pfft.” Guo Yanpeng scoffed. “I knew it was fake. If she had really run into those animals, how could Lin Qianyu have come back in one piece? Hang Sisi, use your brain for a second, will you?”

Hang Sisi wasn’t having it. She pouted and muttered, “You were clearly just as eager to hear Qianyu-jie’s answer earlier.”

Guo Yanpeng: “What did you say?”

Hang Sisi secretly rolled her eyes and pretended she didn’t hear him. “So, Qianyu-jie, did you actually run into a bear? They said they heard a bear growl.”

“I only heard the sound too.” Lin Qianyu disassembled the livestream equipment and adjusted it to follow mode. “It probably was a bear. Be careful going up the mountain—try to avoid areas where bears might show up.”

Hearing her say that, Guo Yanpeng let out a sharp breath through his nose. Though his eyes were fixed on his watch like he was talking to fans, his tone was laced with barbs. “The director already said there are no bears. Some people just love to make themselves the center of attention. Maybe someone just wanted clout, deliberately didn’t bring their equipment, then made a bunch of noise and claimed they encountered a bear.”

“If you’re so curious whether it’s real or not, why don’t you go find out for yourself?” Lin Qianyu noticed it was getting dark and switched on the night vision mode. “If someone gets slapped to death by a bear, I’ll be more than happy to accept a request from the director’s team to help recover your body in one piece.”

Guo Yanpeng flung away the weeds in his hand and raised a finger at Lin Qianyu. “Who are you talking about?!”

An Lanqing quickly grabbed his hand and held it down, apologizing with a smile. “Sorry, it’s been a rough day scavenging for food. Yanpeng’s just in a bad mood. Please don’t take it personally.”

Then she whispered to Guo Yanpeng, “We’re all trying to boost livestream engagement. Don’t say things like that. It’s not easy for Qianyu either.”

It sounded like she was speaking up for Lin Qianyu, but in truth, she was painting her as someone faking drama for views.

Lin Qianyu couldn’t help laughing at their little act. “I’m number one in livestream popularity. What’s not easy about that? You two are the ones who’ve really had it tough—no hot topics, nothing appealing enough to retain new viewers, just barely hanging on with a few loyal fans. The fact that you’re still broadcasting is honestly impressive.”

She added sincerely, “You’re the real inspirational icons of our production crew.”

“Pfft…” Jiang Ke couldn’t hold back a laugh and quickly covered her face, trying to suppress it—but her trembling shoulders gave away just how hard she was laughing.

Some of the other guests had visibly tense cheeks, clearly struggling not to laugh.

【Hahahaha for real, talking about “not easy”—without fans, your stream would be in the single digits.】

【Your gift count isn’t even a fraction of Lin Qianyu’s. What are you acting all high and mighty for?】

【When did An Lanqing become a comedy star? It’s late and she’s out here telling jokes.】

Each guest’s livestream had a popularity ranking.

This was meant to encourage them to interact more with viewers.

Guo Yanpeng and An Lanqing always acted as a pair. At first, their stream did decently among the guests.

But the content was bland—no creativity, no highlights, nothing to attract new viewers. Only their fans stuck around, still screaming about how attractive they were.

To make matters worse, their fans dominated the bullet comments and couldn’t tolerate a single negative word, silencing a lot of casual viewer comments.

Over time, the livestream’s popularity steadily declined.There was a faint trend of slipping toward the lower middle.

After Lin Qianyu’s seemingly mild yet actually barbed comment stirred up a wave of discussion in the livestream chat, Guo Yanpeng’s face turned green. An Lanqing barely managed to maintain her expression, her lips twitching as if she wanted to say something.

Lin Qianyu picked up her things and called out, “Xiao Diao, let’s go.”

The Red-tailed Crested Eagle grabbed the meat chicken and followed her.

Hang Sisi checked the time and asked, “It’s so late, Qianyu-jie, where are you going?”

Lin Qianyu replied, “Going to the riverside to cook for Xiao Diao. I’ll be back later.”

Hang Sisi responded with an “oh,” then said, “Be careful.”

...

The river in the evening looked completely different from midday.

It was like melted sunlight had receded, replaced by a cold-toned, hazy filter.

It was quieter than during the day—even the cicadas’ chirping had softened.

The Red-tailed Crested Eagle rested nearby, pecking at chicken liver and heart.

On the leaves beside it were pieces of boiled meat—not fully cooked, still pink in the center when bitten open.

There were a few pieces that had been roasted too, but the eagle wasn’t very interested.

The cleaned pot was set aside. Lin Qianyu rested her chin on one hand and mused, “For the next mission, we really should get a bigger pot first.”

Focused on cooking, Lin Qianyu didn’t notice that exclamation marks had started popping up again in the smartwatch’s bullet comments.

A few vague “something happened” messages flickered past, but they were quickly drowned out by a flood of “help” and “we’re doomed” spam.

Once the Red-tailed Crested Eagle had eaten its fill, Lin Qianyu packed up the cooked meat. “Let’s take this back for the baby birds.”

“Chirp!”

Lin Qianyu waved. “I’m heading back.”

The Red-tailed Crested Eagle rubbed against her, then grabbed the meat bundle.

Having acted as the eagle’s personal chef for quite some time, Lin Qianyu stretched. Sitting for so long had really done a number on her back.

Since she had promised an extra broadcast for everyone, Lin Qianyu thought sitting around showing scenery was boring, so she said, “Let’s go up and look around, maybe we’ll find some thatch-like plants.”

As she lifted her hand, she caught a glimpse of the bullet comments and frowned. “Run…? Run from what?”The bullet comments were a chaotic mess. From the rapidly scrolling text, Lin Qianyu could barely make out words like “bear” and “coming this way.”

She raised her eyebrows. Could it be Guo Yanpeng again, using the bear as an excuse to stir up trouble with the other guests?

“Roar——!”

A sudden angry roar was followed immediately by a girl’s panicked scream.

“Ah!”

“Sisi!” — It was Yin Youlin’s voice.

Lin Qianyu’s heart sank. Something was wrong. She rushed over to check what had happened.

Pushing aside the branches in front of her, she saw Hang Sisi curled up on the ground. Yin Youlin stood not far away, but didn’t dare move forward. Most importantly — a black bear was rapidly closing in behind Hang Sisi.

Lin Qianyu’s eyes widened in shock. Without time to think, she dashed past Yin Youlin, lunged forward, and rolled on the ground while holding onto Hang Sisi, barely dodging the staggering black bear.

She was just about to pull Hang Sisi to her feet, but the girl was trembling all over from fright. Lin Qianyu dragged her twice, but she had gone limp like a puddle of water — completely unresponsive.

【Holy shit ahhhh!? Stop dragging her down and stand up!】

【Run! Don’t bother with her, Lin Qianyu, just run!】

【@Director @Moderator @WorldWildlifeFund is anyone going to do something!? Help! Someone's going to die!】

The black bear, having lost its target, flew into a rage and lunged at them again, pressing down on Hang Sisi’s clothes, ready to bite.

The overwhelming pressure and guttural roar made every viewer in the livestream hold their breath — it felt like a giant hand was gripping their pounding hearts, their fingers trembling uncontrollably from the tension.

Seeing that Hang Sisi still couldn’t get up and Lin Qianyu also appeared frozen in fear, motionless —

Fans covered their mouths, not even daring to breathe.

“Wait a second!” Lin Qianyu gave up on dragging Hang Sisi. As the black bear paused in brief confusion, she softened her tone. “Let’s not get violent. We can talk this out.”

...

...

The livestream was so tense it felt like even the air had stopped moving: 【??? What?】

Lin Qianyu, are you here doing stand-up comedy?!