"Damn, the host’s expression seems rather cheeky, is it genuine, or is he just teasing us on purpose?"
"+1 to the brother above, maybe the food is disgusting, and he’s just making us drool on purpose."
"Whether it’s on purpose or not I don’t know, but seeing the host drink soup made the covered rice in my hand instantly lose its fragrance."
"Don’t just drink soup, arrange some swan meat for us too. We can’t eat it, but at least we can look."
"Arrange a wave of swan meat!"
The bunch of guys instantly got noisy again.
Lin Yang wasn’t muddled either. He used his homemade pine chopsticks to clip in the jar, and quickly lifted out a plump thigh.
Without any superfluous words, he just tucked in with large bites.
Swan meat is firm and tasty without the gamey flavor of domestic poultry.
The feeling was like when you were a kid watching Jigong eat dog legs on TV; the deliciousness was indescribable.
"Outdoor host, live eating swan meat, I’ve discovered the host has a talent for being a food streamer, damn, it’s making me drool."
"An outdoor host with millions of fans making them crave swan meat on air, it’s so inhumane."
"Does anyone know if we have small swan farms in the country, the kind you can eat legally, damn watching the host’s live streams makes my life feel so boring, I really want to eat it."
"I’ve had bear’s paw, I’ve had snow rabbit, I’ve had porcupine, I’ve had Thunderbird, not to mention all the various cold-water fish, what’s next? Let’s guess, brothers."
While the viewers were fancifully venting, suddenly a message popped up in the bullet comments, immediately attracting everyone’s attention.
"Stop the noise, everyone, Number 8 just hunted down a muskox, the host’s top competitor is here."
"Number 8, Claude? That black guy, the ex-soldier? For real?"
"Yes, on his way back from tracking prey, he stumbled upon a solitary muskox, bled it out execution style, and is doing a live stream right now."
"Damn, an adult muskox weighs at least a thousand pounds, let me check it out first, I’ll be back in a bit."
"I’ll go have a look too, host wait for me, I’ll come back as soon as I confirm the news."
"Me too, going to check it out!"
In an instant, one-third of the audience in the live stream of over a hundred thousand people left.
Compared to other live streams, the Number 8 black guy’s channel caught a lot of attention from the national audience. This guy, although not as entertaining as Lin Yang in his content, was equally strong. Lately, he’d been everywhere chasing after big game, and unexpectedly, he succeeded.
A few minutes later, the first wave of viewers returned, bringing back firsthand news.
"One good news and one bad news, the bad news is that Claude, Number 8, really did kill an adult muskox single-handedly. With this huge catch, he doesn’t need to worry about food for the coming days, even if he doesn’t hunt anymore.
The good news is, he’s at least three kilometers away from the camp, the journey is far, and just now, the scent of the muskox’s blood seems to have attracted the wolves in the nearby territory. It’s nearly impossible for Claude to take all the muskox meat back to camp. Tonight, there’s almost a hundred percent chance he’ll get robbed by the wolf pack."
Reading this message, Lin Yang felt not the slightest ripple in his heart.
The wilderness survival challenge was assessed on multiple dimensions.
The first dimension was the challengers’ healthy survival, the second was the level of civilization in wilderness living, such as the variety and quality of daily food. The third was live broadcast performance: interaction rate, viewership, etc.
Even if Claude managed to get a large muskox, it was akin to Lin Yang fulfilling the first dimension of healthy survival.
As for subsequent indicators, Claude was not even on the same channel as him.
In other words, as long as Lin Yang didn’t unexpectedly end the competition early, the other party was virtually no threat to his championship.
Lin Yang, watching patiently as the viewers shared the news they’d brought back, calmly said, "No need to worry, everyone. A typical small wolf pack, six to fifteen adult individuals, assuming each can eat up to ten kilograms of meat in one meal, could, at best, consume one to two hundred pounds of meat in one night. The rest of the muskox meat will still suffice for Claude’s upcoming days."
"If it were me, I’d prioritize removing the muskox’s innards for the wolves to feed on, trying as much as possible to preserve the lean meat and fat."
"Well, that’s exactly what Number 8 is doing. Just now, he was disemboweling the muskox, moving the innards a few hundred meters downwind. My English isn’t that good, so I can only understand the gist, but it seems like he’s planning on temporarily burying the muskox with stones and coming back tomorrow morning to carry it back to camp."
Lin Yang chuckled and, satisfied, took a sip of the hearty meat soup from the coarse ceramic bowl: "It’s a good decision. I hope the guy can hold out for a few more days. Bros, don’t fear I’ll lose. As long as I don’t drop out midway, I won’t be defeated."
"Exactly, look at those self-proclaimed survival experts and wilderness masters from abroad, they’re starving one by one. Only Number 8, Claude, is a bit stronger. His food reserves and the like are far less plentiful than what the host has here."
"Exactly, the host is munching on swan meat, so what’s there to fuss about fetching a mere muskox."
Lin Yang: "The nice mukbang atmosphere was killed, I just gnawed on a leg and it wasn’t enough to fill me up. While it’s still the first hot meal, let’s go for a swan wing next, gnawing as a tribute."
"Damn, swan wings are so thick and long."
"I want to eat too!"
....
The next day, as usual, Lin Yang woke up early. Although he only had two meals yesterday, because he was greedy, he drank a few more bowls of piping hot soup, which had him visiting the toilet twice overnight.