After chopping all the bamboo into sections, he stuffed them into the shelter and fitted the wooden door.

"Alright, everyone, I have to get some sleep. I’m going to forage at the beach in the morning. See you all then!"

...

While Lin Chen turned in early, the show’s production team was in a frenzy.

Ever since Contestant #39 announced their withdrawal, another seven contestants had dropped out one after another.

Without exception, all of them were wanderers who had failed to build a shelter.

Some of them had wanted to build a treehouse, others tried to dig a burrow, and some even attempted to find a rock crevice like Lin Chen had.

But after three days, they were all still wandering through the forest. They had found a few suitable locations, but they were either limited by the types of trees available, making it impossible to craft tools, or they lacked broad leaves like banana leaves for protection from the elements.

Not only had they failed to build shelters, but none of them had even managed to start a fire. After being drenched by another night of rain, they simply couldn’t go on by relying solely on cold, raw fruit.

"Four of them have low-grade fevers; they need IVs and antipyretics immediately. Another three contestants have temperatures at or above 39 degrees Celsius—the highest is 39.8. They have to be transferred to a hospital right away!"

Ariana was practically frantic, spinning like a top inside the wooden cabin. She had even fired up the cabin’s spare ice maker, constantly replacing the towels on the contestants’ foreheads to keep them cool.

On top of that, she had to give them antipyretic injections, inquire about their food intake and current condition, and then formulate different treatment plans based on her own examinations.

Seven people quitting in a single day—this was an unprecedented event in the show’s history.

Robert and the others were glued to the screens, terrified that another contestant would drop out at any moment.

"What’s the status on the Forestry and Health Bureaus? Haven’t they dispatched the helicopters yet?"

"Their response half an hour ago was that the nearest hospital is closed for the day. They have to get doctors from a larger hospital farther away. On top of that, the helicopter pilot’s car drove into a ditch because the road was too dark. He’s waiting for rescue..."

"Damn it!"

Robert cried out, "Those damn n-words! I knew they were unreliable!"

"Don’t look at me, Hei. I’m not talking about you, you know that."

Hei shrugged. "But I am, in fact, a n-word."

"The Panamanian n-words! Is that better?"

"Theoretically, they’re just tanned, not Black people. So they don’t count as n-words."

"Hey! You’re going to argue with me, too?"

"I’m just reminding you that as a host of the show, you need to be precise with your words. Otherwise, you’ll get roasted by the viewers online. You know how it is—they aren’t as easygoing as I am."

"Both of you, shut up!"

Ariana shot them both a fierce glare, pointing right at them. "My patients need peace and quiet. If you don’t stop yapping, believe me, I will throw you out!"

...

...

The two men exchanged a look. Hei silently walked to the doorway, sat down, and lit a cigarette. Robert scratched his head, forced an awkward smile, and gave a salute.

"Yes, ma’am!"

Daniel, who had been staring at the monitor nearby, just shook his head. He was used to this kind of scene. He pointed to a section of the screen and spoke to a staff member.

"Zoom in on this contestant’s feed for me. He doesn’t look well."

...

「A little after six in the morning.」

Lin Chen was already on the beach.

He first skillfully dug up two large handfuls of razor clams, then found a patch of fresh abalone on the surface of a reef. In a crevice next to the abalone, a palm-sized black sea cucumber lay quietly.

In addition, he found a jellyfish and two strips of kelp.

He didn’t find any sea urchins today, however, which left him a little disappointed.

The sweet and slightly briny flavor of fresh sea urchin is distinctly different from other seafood. It can be eaten as a snack on its own or used as a condiment to accompany other foods.

"Sea urchins prefer to live among coral clusters and in crevices between undersea rocks. This reef area by the beach is probably too shallow."

He couldn’t help but speculate that the only reason he had found sea urchins by the shore last time was likely due to the signs preceding the storm; the larger waves must have washed a few unlucky ones onto the beach.

"Alright, let’s head back to the shelter for breakfast!"

He hadn’t forgotten about the half a coconut crab waiting for him back at the shelter. If he let it sit too long and it went bad, he’d be so full of regret he’d lose sleep for nights.

Fortunately, his shelter was built into the hillside, making it a natural cellar with a relatively low temperature.

Plus, only half a day had passed since dinner. When he took out his prized coconut crab, it was still cool to the touch and smelled perfectly normal.

"It’s already the fifth day. It’s about time I made some proper dishes to show everyone, and give Gray a little something new to see."

He laid out all the ingredients he had collected on a large banana leaf. As his eyes scanned over them, his mind raced, arranging them in various combinations.

"Right now, I have half a coconut crab, a lot of razor clams, about ten abalone, one sea cucumber, one jellyfish, two strips of kelp, and seven bamboo shoots. For fruit, I have fresh mango and coconut. And for seasoning..."

"I have fresh basil leaves and allspice."

"It might not look like a lot of ingredients, but with the right combinations, I can actually make a proper meal."

"But before that, I need to make some salt."

Making salt in the wild isn’t a common task. While it’s not actually difficult, the lack of proper tools and materials means you can only really extract crude salt.

Eating too much crude salt is bad for you, and contestants from places like America, with their more delicate constitutions, need to be especially careful.

He had also brought two bamboo tubes with him from the beach, which he had filled with clear seawater.

"To extract sea salt, the first step is to get relatively clear seawater. You can’t use the water near the beach; it’s best to collect it from the surface a bit further out, or from a calmer body of water like a Mangrove Forest."