Chapter 39: World Two [9] Part 1

After being woken up by Jing Ke on time, Shao Qing freshened up a bit and then started taking stock of her remaining food reserves.

Of the eight coconuts Liu Chang had given her earlier, Shao Qing had given two to Yu Hongjun. Yu Hongjun, claiming she didn’t like drinks, gave all three bottles of soda she had previously received to Shao Qing.

So Shao Qing’s current food and water supplies consisted of: one bottle of mineral water, six coconuts, two packs of instant noodles, six sausages, six cans of soda, and some basic seasonings.

If she conserved, these things would last Shao Qing an entire day alone. This greatly reduced her urgency to complete missions.

But eating away her reserves without replenishing them was a very bad habit. Thinking about how she still had to stay in this place for six more days, Shao Qing planned to gather some more supplies before nightfall.

After confirming Li Liming didn’t need the multifunctional entrenching tool, Shao Qing poured the juice from one coconut into her water bottle as usual. She greeted Yu Hongjun, then grabbed the empty supply box in one hand and the entrenching tool in the other, heading off to the beach to scavenge for food.

The most abundant thing on a sandy beach was, naturally, shellfish. With Jing Ke’s reminders, she quickly discovered clams burrowed in the sand. A few casual scoops of sand with the entrenching tool revealed many clams as thick as two fingers.

[Three meters ahead, slightly to the left, there’s a small bump. It should be a moon snail burrowed in the sand. It’s quite big.]

[There’s a small octopus inside that sea snail shell up ahead. You can take the whole shell with you, then eat it later or even keep it as a little pet.]

[There’s a pretty big portunid crab in the rock crevice ahead. You can press it down with the entrenching tool first, then pick it up.]

“Will it pinch me?” Seeing the energetic portunid crab still waving its claws, Shao Qing hesitated for a rare moment and didn’t immediately follow Jing Ke’s instructions.

[Based on your current luck, it probably won’t.] Jing Ke paused, then quickly added.

[But accidents can’t be ruled out. If you’re afraid of being pinched, you can try scooping it up directly with the shovel and then tossing it into the box.]

Shao Qing hesitated slightly. She could be fierce during filming, but she was actually someone who was quite afraid of pain.

This crab looked big and very tempting, but the two claws it was waving in the air also looked very powerful. If one of her fingers got pinched, it would definitely draw blood.

[Shao Qing, the live stream camera just switched to your perspective. The cameraman zoomed in on the scene.] Jing Ke reminded her.

Hearing Jing Ke’s words, Shao Qing subconsciously furrowed her brows. Not wanting to leave the audience with a timid impression, she steeled her nerves and skipped the step of pinning the crab with the entrenching tool. She directly reached out for the portunid crab’s back.

Afraid of being pinched, Shao Qing’s movement was exceptionally fast. So fast that the crab didn’t even react before it was picked up, tossed into the supply box, and shut inside with a thud.

Phew, she hadn’t been pinched. Looks like her luck was indeed pretty good.

Shao Qing unconsciously let out a sigh of relief, glad she hadn’t left a dark history like “crying after being pinched by a crab” on the live stream.

But the audience’s eyes were sharp. They could tell whether Shao Qing was moving fast because she was afraid of being pinched or because she was skilled.

Seeing many barrage comments joking and making memes, Jing Ke hesitated for a moment. After confirming none of the comments were malicious, she decided to ignore them for now.

Shao Qing seemed to care about her image. Since she wanted to show a better side to the live stream audience, Jing Ke decided not to rain on her parade right now.

Thus, with Jing Ke’s reminders, Shao Qing easily discovered the abundant seafood left behind by the receding tide.

Because she had the entrenching tool, Shao Qing smoothly pried off several decently sized oysters. On her way back, she also found an edible kelp strand, managing to balance the seafood with some vegetation.

There were practically no obstructions on the sea surface. With only a hat to block the sun, Shao Qing returned to camp around three o’clock, carrying the supply box full of seafood.

“Teacher Shao, did you find a wild supply box?” Seeing Shao Qing return with a full box, Zheng Xingxing, who had only just found some sour wild fruits, came over.

Zheng Xingxing wasn’t someone who could endure much hardship or physical work. So while the other guests were still out completing tasks or gathering supplies, he had already returned to camp early to rest.

“No, I just wandered around the seaside. There are a lot of things on the beach, especially crabs and clams,” Shao Qing said, openly placing the supply box on the ground so Zheng Xingxing could clearly see the contents.

“Wow, so many! Teacher Shao is amazing.” Zheng Xingxing’s heart was moved. “Teacher Shao, which direction did you go, left or right?”

“Right. Go straight down, then walk to the right for a bit and you’ll reach where I was scavenging. But the clams are mostly hidden in the sand. You’ll need to look carefully,” Shao Qing said.

“Okay. Then, Teacher Shao, can I borrow something from you?” Zheng Xingxing put on a fawning smile and even took a step forward, closing the distance between him and Shao Qing.

“I don’t have the right tool on hand. I wanted to ask to borrow your entrenching tool. But please rest assured, Teacher Shao, I won’t borrow it for nothing. After I find some stuff, I’ll share it with you,” Zheng Xingxing said.

Shao Qing’s eyebrow twitched. Highly sensitive to the camera, she instantly realized there was a problem with Zheng Xingxing’s positioning.

[The live stream is broadcasting from the perspective of Zheng Xingxing’s following cameraman. From that angle, your posture looks somewhat ambiguous.]

[Zheng Xingxing’s fans are already on the attack, demanding that their idol ‘walk alone beautifully’ and not get entangled with you.]

Hearing Jing Ke’s words, a flicker of understanding passed through Shao Qing’s eyes. So he indeed wanted to create a buzz by linking himself to her.

Was she being used as a rumored romance tool again? Why did these male celebrities with no real skills always love to use her reputation for marketing? Then, after reaping the heat and traffic, they would gracefully kick her aside, turning themselves into a pure, unsullied male white lotus untouched by the mud.

“You can take the entrenching tool if you want to use it. I probably won’t need it for a while. But don’t worry about giving me anything in return. My haul today is enough to fill my stomach. Seafood is all about freshness. If there’s too much left for tomorrow, it won’t be fresh anymore.”

Shao Qing said, then held the entrenching tool up horizontally, forcing Zheng Xingxing to take half a step back.

“Oh, by the way, there are quite a few people who always love to fabricate ambiguous relationships between me and certain celebrities. Even when I’ve publicly clarified, they still believe the rumors spread by paid trolls.” Shao Qing looked at Zheng Xingxing with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile.

“To avoid dragging you into trouble, Teacher Zheng, let’s keep our distance when no other guests are around. After all, my anti-fans aren’t very reasonable. They only believe what they want to believe.”

Shao Qing wasn’t someone without a temper. Small things like stepping on her for clout were one thing, as the cameraman was always there, and the production team could clarify later.

But if it escalated to rumors and staged romantic pairings, that was a completely different matter. As long as one party refused to clarify and chose to play deaf and dumb, no amount of video evidence from the production team would help.

Hearing such direct words, the smile on Zheng Xingxing’s lips stiffened. His tone was no longer as smooth and natural.

“Don’t worry, Teacher Shao. My fans are all very rational. They won’t overthink our normal interactions,” Zheng Xingxing said dryly. “It’s past three already. I’ll go check out the beach first. I haven’t found a decent side dish for my white rice yet.”

After saying that, Zheng Xingxing grabbed the entrenching tool and quickly scurried away. His idea of using Shao Qing to climb the ladder was temporarily suppressed.

Why wasn’t Shao Qing’s attitude the same as his agent described? Wasn’t she used to being used for pairing up and had just given up? How come she warned him the moment he tried to make a move?

If he couldn’t hype a romantic rumor, hyping a ‘big sister-little brother’ dynamic would also work!

Zheng Xingxing was different from other celebrities with representative works. His biggest claim to fame was winning first place on a talent show. Although he had acted in some supporting roles in TV dramas, none had made much of a splash.

So Zheng Xingxing needed a channel to boost his popularity and traffic, thereby getting more and better resources, and ultimately achieving a career ascension.

—

[Netizens also have independent thinking abilities. After you pointed it out directly, many clear-headed passersby stood on your side and started refuting the brainless comments from Zheng Xingxing’s fans.]

[The overall proportion of paid trolls isn’t high. Perhaps the previously ordered service has expired, and the person who bought the trolls decided not to renew.]

Shao Qing sat in the tent and began sorting her scavenging haul.

Crabs, oysters, and sea snails could be eaten directly, but the clams needed to purge sand for a while first. Maybe adding a little cooking oil would speed up the process?

“What about Xu Yin? What is he doing now?” Shao Qing asked while sorting.

[Still chopping wood. He seems unwilling to admit defeat and wants to use wood to exchange for another supply point hint, trying to fend for himself.]

[The remaining three are moving together, trying to pick and gather some edible plants. They’ve already found quite a few root vegetables that can serve as staple food, though the texture will be relatively poor.]

[Oh, and the camera is still on Zheng Xingxing. Seems like they want to see what he can harvest with the same tool in the same place.]