Hey... why is there a house here?
First of all, it’s this surprisingly chosen location for a shelter.
This place has obviously been chosen with careful consideration, balancing sunlight, wind shelter, and proximity to various resource points perfectly.
But the location is just the least impressive aspect of this shelter. When they saw the square, solid walls and the roof filled with the flavor of traditional Chinese architecture — even though it’s not yet officially completed — it was enough to shock people.
They exchanged glances and saw disbelief in each other’s eyes.
Mind you, every contestant can make mud walls, but such precise joinery in carpentry is beyond them.
Mud walls are just mud walls; the woodwork frame is the true architecture.
The framework is like number 1 and everything else is a zero; with this 1, the zeros behind it have meaning.
Although China’s mortise and tenon structure has spread to many places around the world, most foreigners do not understand this traditional Chinese technique.
The simplest reason is that during most of their growth, a small foreigner hasn’t been exposed to such buildings.
Chinese people are different; even in cities now covered by reinforced concrete, city folks have seen mortise and tenon structures in their childhoods.
Children today can also see mortise and tenon joinery in various high-end wooden furniture.
That’s why, upon seeing this building, the newly arrived staff even forgot the urgency to help Li Younan with a health check, unanimously wondering in their minds: With no glue, no nails, how did he connect all these wooden pieces together to make such a large framework?
You should know that every season’s Wilderness Survival contestants wish to build large shelters but simply can’t make it happen.
One season, a female contestant built a relatively large luxury shelter using several trees as direct columns, but it still paled compared to Li Younan’s design.
This is really a house, isn’t it!
While they were dazed, Li Younan who was seated, stood up and waved: "Hey, you guys worked hard!"
It was only then they snapped out of it and walked towards Li Younan.
The health check included basic items; first was weight measurement.
Considering each contestant’s daily weight fluctuation, a few kilogram margin is allowed.
Nonetheless, it’s the most straightforward indicator reflecting a contestant’s health status.
Besides weight, they also use a measuring tape for body fat percentage, and record other items like heart rate and blood pressure.
After completing Li Younan’s check-up, everyone’s expressions were a bit odd.
Curious, Li Younan asked, "What’s the matter? Is there anything unusual in the data?"
John shook his head: "No unusual results, extremely healthy sir. In fact, among the three contestants in our group test, your data is the healthiest, and your weight even increased by 0.1 kilograms. Due to margin, it might be more than that."
Li Younan nodded knowingly.
After all, for the past few days, he’s been eating quite a bit due to all the work. At first, he couldn’t finish a fish in a day, but later he even added more meals at night, finishing off a fish a day.
And to ensure sufficient energy, he would consume about 200 grams of roots and several blackberries daily, which offer vitamins and carbohydrates no less than someone living in a modern social environment.
Next, they needed to check Li Younan’s filming tools, satellite phone, and solar panels to ensure he can maintain communication with the program crew even in extreme conditions.
Li Younan had kept these devices well-protected.
While the staff was checking, John started chatting with Li Younan, briefly understanding his experiences over the past 7 days.
When hearing Li Younan casually mention "I’ve been fishing a fish daily," John and Jack exchanged incredulous glances.
It’s commonly known that Americans tend to make exaggerated gestures. John said stunned, "Buddy, are you saying you’ve been fishing for 6 days straight, each day with a catch? Is that it?"
What kind of divine fishing is this?
Li Younan nodded: "As you can see, my weight maintenance is closely linked to those lovely fish."
Jack laughed heartily beside him: "It really is incredible, alright, got video evidence?"
Li Younan nodded: "Basically recorded all fishing sessions, plus on the 4th or 3rd day, I also caught a rabbit, there’s footage too."
Jack and John couldn’t help laughing together.
Li Younan felt a bit puzzled.
Jack explained: "The previous contestant, I mean Connor whom we just checked, do you remember that female participant? She lost three kilograms, in these 7 days, she attempted fishing every day as you did, but sadly, never caught anything."
Beside him, John added: "No, you’re wrong, the day before yesterday she pulled out a plastic bag from the water, which is even rarer than catching a fish."
Li Younan began to understand, for after all this is Canada’s famous freshwater lake—though it’s wild nature, it still sees some hikers across other parts of the lake, during such trips they might toss plastic bags, leaving them to drift here with water flow.
Li Younan recalled once watching a season where a female contestant found a glass bottle by the lakeside.
While they chatted, the other side’s staff had completed all equipment inspections.
They took out the memory card from the device, replaced it with a new one for Li Younan.
A staff member displayed his hand-cranked generator: "Please take good care of this hand-cranked generator regularly."
At this point, the inspection and video submission work is concluded.
John patted Li Younan on the shoulder, saying, "Buddy, good luck."
Li Younan responded, "Thank you. Can you tell me how many contestants are left now?"
The group exchanged glances, and John hesitated before speaking: "I can’t tell you the specific situation of the other contestants, but I can let you know that one contestant has called to withdraw after being attacked by a lynx."
"So, my advice is to be prepared against wild animal attacks, especially large carnivores."
"The spot you’re in has a good view and is quite far from the area where bears often appear, but you should still stay vigilant."
Li Younan said, "Thanks for the reminder."
After the team left, Li Younan eagerly prepared to forage once more.
Currently, there’s no meat left at home, and going vegetarian isn’t an option for Li Younan.
He’s someone who can’t live without meat, but he’s gotten a bit tired of eating fish these past few days. Even though he’s caught three different kinds of fish, he’s hoping to find something different to eat next.
Moreover, while fish is high in protein, it’s still white meat and prolonged consumption can lead to deficiencies in essential branched-chain amino acids, taurine, and other nutrients required by the body.
Furthermore, fish really doesn’t have any fat, and Li Younan wants to eat something fried but doesn’t have the means.
So today, Li Younan planned to take advantage of the early hours and explore further afield.
This time, he was better prepared for the trip. To ensure he could easily carry back any prey he caught, Li Younan strapped a basket to his back.
This basket was something he crafted last night after his work was done, using the vines he gathered in the woods.
Then he took along his bow and arrow, hunting knife, and an axe, all his arrows, put on his hunter boots, and set off.
Not long after Li Younan was all set and departed, the staff who had just completed his inspection quickly returned to the camp.
Once their group returned, all the dispatched work teams were back at camp.
The staff inserted all their video memory cards into a computer and sent them directly to the headquarters’ video editing center.
Once the editing center received all the contestants’ videos, they began processing them.
First, they had to eliminate the useless footage, like scenes where the lens was covered or accidental and chaotic shots.
Next, they needed to categorize each contestant’s video, tagging different scenes like hunting, building shelters, gathering, encountering accidents, and other finds, for the director to later select.
The entire process was time-consuming and laborious.
To ensure the contestants weren’t disturbed or cheated while surviving alone in the wilderness, and because editing these videos takes time, the first episode wouldn’t air until at least the fourth episode was completed.
According to the routine, the first episode should be made only after completing at least two physical examinations.
As the staff began reviewing all the contestants’ footage, they couldn’t help but vent.
One staff member said, "Ugh, really, what on earth have these guys filmed! Look at this video, the action camera is stuffed inside a shirt the entire time, the lens all wobbly, you can’t tell what’s happening at all."
"He seems to have caught a porcupine, but you can’t see how he did it."
"And in this video, the camera fell to the ground while chopping wood, and he didn’t even notice."
But everyone was understanding; after all, surviving while also filming was indeed challenging for these non-professionals.
Yet among the many videos, there were some standout ones.
Like Pacini, who hunted a goat on the fourth day.
He was lucky; he had just set up the camera while chopping wood and spotted the goat, chasing it without even retrieving the camera.
From the video, you could clearly see him shooting at the goat, then running back to grab the camera, shouting excitedly into it, "I’m certain I hit it, I’m certain I hit it!"
What followed was a pursuit along the blood trail.
After being hit, the goat remained vigorous, and Pacini chased it for over two hours before finally taking it down.
As the staff watched Pacini’s video, everyone gathered around, all infected by his enthusiasm.
Someone exclaimed, "Hey, he’s a lucky guy. I bet, I really have confidence in him. He stood out even back in the training camp."
Another marveled, "Catching a goat by the 4th day, and it must weigh at least 120 pounds, that’ll provide over 50 pounds of meat, goodness, that’s enough for 20 days. He can focus on building a shelter now; I think he’ll make the most exquisite shelter!"
Just then, an employee working on the videos suddenly shrieked, "Oh my god, come and see what this is!"
People gathered in curiosity, only to see a tracking shot playing on the computer.
In the footage, the lens smoothly zoomed across a meadow before panning up to reveal the lake’s scenery, with subsequent shots capturing the lake from different angles.
Everyone exchanged looks, completely astounded. Whether it was the lighting, composition, or filming techniques, it was almost like the work of a movie-grade cinematographer.
The assistant director had a peculiar expression and asked, "Whose video is this?"
The employee replied, "It’s from the Chinese contestant, sir."

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