Culinary God in Wilderness

He then dismantled all the fences, pushing them over to cover what had been the trenches. This way, once the snow melted, the wood and branches would naturally conceal the deep pits in the ground.

In time, with the combination of rainfall, accumulating leaf litter, and the burrowing of lemmings, these pits would slowly vanish, reclaimed by nature. They might even become new homes for some burrowing animals.

"Wait."

Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly remembered something. He cut a piece of brisket, about five kilograms, from his food pile and placed it on the snow beside the collapsed fence.

"Let’s go."

The helicopter could take some of his stored food, and the rest would have to be transported back by vehicle. The staff would handle the moving; he didn’t need to worry about it.

The rotor blades spun to life. As the helicopter slowly lifted into the air, a powerful gust of wind blasted outwards, becoming the final straw that brought the shelter down.

Sitting by the window, Lin Chen watched as the first "mansion" of his life—a place he had lived in for two months and built with his own hands—collapsed with a roar. A wave of complex emotions washed over him.

For a fleeting moment.

He thought he saw a flash of white darting back and forth in the snow, heading toward the ruins.

The remaining staff members had already taken their sleds and used the downward slope to head for the warehouse. All that remained on site were the wooden ruins and that piece of brisket.

"Goodbye, little fella. There won’t be any more food falling from the sky for you now."

...

"What the hell? It’s over just like that?"

"This is so sudden! Andre just quit last night. How is it that I get home from work today and the whole show’s finished? What about all the other contestants?"

"It’s kind of expected, though. Andre was the only one who could have caught up to Lin’s record. With him gone, what’s the point of the others even trying? No need to waste any more time."

"Isn’t this a show tradition, though? Don’t forget, in the old 100-Day Survival Challenge, when faced with the god-tier Roland’s record with the Black Bear and Musk Ox, his competitors also had on-the-spot mental breakdowns and quit. It’s perfectly normal."

"You’re all just sitting on your comfy sofas and beds watching the show, running your mouths. If you were actually thrown into that environment for a couple of days, you’d know what it’s like. Not everyone has the guts to fight a pack of wild wolves or a Musk Ox the size of a truck."

"Exactly. A lot of people from developed countries can’t even cook, let alone chop down trees and build a house. They probably wouldn’t even know what kind of wood to gather for a fire. Without water and fire, they’d be forced to quit within three days. The fact that these contestants lasted so long is already incredible."

"The show was supposed to be 100 days long! It’s not even two-thirds of the way through, and it’s already over? There goes my favorite show to watch while I eat!!!"

"Anyone know when the next season starts? I think this live broadcast format is great, but it would be even better if the contestants could interact with us."

"Interaction doesn’t seem realistic. What if they run into a problem and just ask for help in the live chat? Or what if someone gives them ideas? Wouldn’t that be cheating?"

"That’s for the production team to worry about. All I’m saying is that a live broadcast with no interaction is boring. It’s like watching a documentary."

"It would be cool if they had an online voting event next season. Let the audience vote on a theme for the next day, or which direction the contestants should go. That would be really interesting."

While the audience, still hungry for more, flocked to the comments section of the first episode of Season 14 to discuss, the television network’s executives and planning department were quietly gathering their feedback.

Before long, Robert’s call came in.

With all parties pooling their collective wisdom, a brand-new plan was taking shape at an unbelievably fast pace.

After listening to the report from the head of the planning department, the network executives exchanged glances, each seeing the pleasant surprise in the others’ eyes.

"It’s just a rough framework for now, but it already sounds much more interesting than before. Full of challenge and excitement, pushing the envelope between life and death, testing the absolute limits of willpower and physical endurance!"

"I agree. But that means contestant selection will have to be exceptionally strict. Someone without a strong enough resume would never be able to adapt to that kind of environment."

"Let’s go with this for now. Flesh out the details of the proposal as quickly as possible and submit version 2.0 within a week. We’ll meet again then to discuss it."

...

When Lin Chen returned to the production team’s cabin, he met the other remaining survivors for the first time.

Although their faces were familiar, he couldn’t put a name to any of them. Or rather, he couldn’t match the names he knew to the faces he saw.

Two months of wilderness survival had drastically changed everyone’s appearance. He hadn’t known them well to begin with, and being a foreigner, it was only normal that he couldn’t quite place them.

But when he saw Connor sitting outside the wooden cabin with the Coyote cradled in his arms, his eyes nearly popped out of his head.

’Wait, this guy actually brought the wolf back with him?’

"Hey, Lin! Long time no see. Congratulations on winning."

Connor didn’t know the others well, so he was relieved to finally see a familiar face and waved enthusiastically.

"I heard you had a Little Snow Fox you were feeding every day. Why didn’t you bring it back?"

"I decided against it." Lin Chen plopped down beside him, deliberately leaving about half a meter of space to avoid agitating the Coyote.

"Snow foxes are Arctic creatures. They belong here. Taking one back would go against its genetics and its very nature. They’re meant to be free, not kept in captivity for my own selfish reasons."