Chapter 39
Hearing Qin Ye’s sudden words, Mo Fan’s eyes lit up.
“Great! Then after we get out, we can still gather together often.”
“Little He said he can buy a house anywhere, so when the time comes, he’ll definitely buy one next to Boss and live there.”
“It’s a pity Little Gu has to study abroad, but he wants to be an actor. Isn’t the most famous Hengdian World Studios in Zhejiang? That’s close.”
“It’s just Little Qi who has to go to university in the capital. Maybe we’ll only be able to gather during holidays. We can persuade him to come to Shanghai or Hangzhou for work after he graduates.”
He analyzed it excitedly and methodically, already imagining their wonderful life after leaving the deserted island.
“How about it?” he asked Qin Ye and Shen Jinfeng.
Qin Ye nodded reservedly.
Then he shifted his gaze slightly, only to happen to meet Shen Jinfeng’s eyes beside him.
The two looked at each other for a few seconds, then tacitly looked away.
In the air, there seemed to be an unspoken atmosphere flowing between them.
Shen Jinfeng smiled faintly and answered Mo Fan, “We can ask and see.”
“But transportation is convenient. If we want to meet outside, it’s very easy.”
There was really no need to start deciding where everyone would settle down in the future so early.
Ahem.
“Tsk, some people really will use every trick in the book to chase a wife. Nothing has even happened yet, but he’s already thought about where they’ll live in the future. Watching the show.”
“But speaking of which, does Big Boss Shen feel it? Why does it seem like he half understands and half doesn’t? If you say he doesn’t feel it, he seems to be faintly indulging it. If you say he does feel it, there doesn’t seem to be much of a response from him yet.”
“He obviously feels it! And before Big Boss Shen even joined this variety show, he confessed to God Ye before. Although everyone said it was for hype, I don’t care. They’re mutually in love!”
“It would be strange if there were no response, okay! Look at how open he is with Little Qi, Shengsheng, and Little Purple Hair. He casually gives head pats without avoiding anything, but it’s like the indulgence of someone looking at children, so it doesn’t feel ambiguous. But whenever he and God Ye meet eyes, they immediately look away. Physical contact is also kept within an absolutely safe range. Just that accidental eye contact between the two of them earlier made even me, an outsider, blush, okay!”
“Actually, God Ye just talks too little, so he doesn’t seem as active as Little Purple Hair and Little Qi. But he’s famously irresistible to both men and women. When he stands with Big Boss Shen, that sexual tension is insane! And if you observe carefully, you’ll realize he’s actually done the most. His attitude toward Big Boss Shen is also the most special. There were signs from the beginning, when he refused to eat the bread. For details, go to the ‘Deep Affection’ bot!”
“Am I the only one who thinks Mo Fan is hilarious? He’s so excited, he really looks like an NPC atmosphere team, hahaha. Was that even said to you?”
In front of the screen, Madam Yun’s eyelids twitched when she heard Qin Ye’s words. “…”
She poked Qin Jianfeng’s arm. “Your son wants you to stop thinking about retirement and keep working.”
Otherwise, who would preside over things at headquarters?
Qin Jianfeng’s face darkened. “If he can’t balance work and relationships, is he still my, Qin Jianfeng’s, son?”
Madam Yun suddenly laughed.
“That’s true. It’s much easier than when you were young, right? At worst, let our son commute by plane every day. From Shanghai to Beijing, a one-way flight only takes two hours.”
In big cities nowadays, didn’t Shanghai drifters and Beijing drifters who lived far away sometimes spend that long commuting within the same city every day?
Qin Jianfeng had his old secrets exposed.
Back then, when he pursued Madam Yun, he had worked day and night, reversing his schedule. Most of the free time he squeezed out every month was spent on planes.
Because Madam Yun studied art at a university abroad, the distance had been even farther.
At the time, in order to cover up his little thoughts, the excuse he used was always business trips. But what decent person had to travel to the same country, even near the same university, several times every month for business?
He drank a mouthful of water to hide his embarrassment and agreed without the slightest sympathy for his son, “Wife, what you said makes sense.”
However, the strongest reaction did not come from the bullet comments, nor from Madam Yun, who was teasing her son but actually did not take it seriously…
In reality, when the general manager of Qin Group’s Shanghai branch heard Qin Ye’s words, his mind went blank. “…”
The Shanghai branch needed President Qin to personally oversee it?
Was he not doing a good job?
After President Qin came out, was he going to replace him and take over personally?
The general manager, who had already been diligently working for two hours early in the morning, felt a chill in his heart. President Qin was probably just going along with what that Mo Fan said, right? Just being polite and giving him face, right?
The secretary who came in to deliver documents and wait for his signature happened to see this scene. Her inner thoughts slipped out unconsciously. “President Qin really says anything for the sake of pursuing Big Boss Shen.”
“Uh, no.” She felt her direct superior’s fixed gaze on her and lowered her head in regret. “I was talking nonsense.”
Heavens, she had accidentally exposed that she was a CP fan with a strange composition.
Unexpectedly, her direct superior stared at her for a few seconds, then slowly withdrew his gaze. For some reason, he seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.
“No. You said it very well.”
Secretary: “Ah?”
The general manager waved his hand and, rarely, smiled. “You can go out first. I’ll call you once I’ve signed everything.”
The secretary responded in confusion and went back out to work.
She never imagined that before she revealed the truth, her direct superior had nearly finished calculating how much severance pay he would receive if he were fired.
With one sentence, Qin Ye had almost exposed his thoughts completely.
The viewers noticed it. The CP fans were celebrating wildly.
Madam Yun, who knew her son better than anyone, sensed it.
Shen Jinfeng sensed it too… He only felt that it was still too early to say such things now.
That was why he said transportation was convenient.
But Mo Fan, who also planned to change maps for work, did not get it. “That’s great! We can still meet after we get out. I used to hear people say comrades have deep bonds because they’ve been on the battlefield together and share life-and-death friendship. We’ve been stranded on a deserted island together, so that’s pretty much life-and-death friendship too.”
As he spoke, he walked at the front. Suddenly, his eyes lit up.
“Eh, Boss, is that bamboo shoot?” He pointed at the ground to the front-left of the forest.
The direction they had chosen today was not one they had taken before.
Because Shen Jinfeng already had a general idea of what was along the original route. Today’s main purpose was to explore routes in other directions.
This deserted island was very large, and the forest stretched endlessly as far as the eye could see.
Since they could not leave for the time being, knowing the terrain and details was especially important.
Shen Jinfeng looked in the direction Mo Fan was pointing and discovered that the forest there was not dense. There were only some low shrubs. On the still-damp ground after the rain, there indeed stood a few sparse bamboo shoots.
Judging by their appearance, they were thick and plump—ma bamboo shoots.
Ma bamboo shoots were large and sweet in texture, and they liked hot, humid environments.
This deserted island met the conditions, and now was also the season when ma bamboo shoots were abundant.
He nodded. “Yes. Let’s go over and take a look.”
Mo Fan had already taken the lead and run over. He had discovered them first!
After all, because Shen Jinfeng existed in the team, the others’ roles always seemed less significant.
Although being carried by a big shot was very happy, being able to show some value gave an even greater sense of accomplishment.
He moved quickly, running far ahead in just a few steps.
Shen Jinfeng and Qin Ye kept walking at their original pace behind him and did not speed up.
It looked like Mo Fan wanted to claim these few shoots all by himself.
Shen Jinfeng slowly spoke up to remind him, “Ma bamboo shoots are very hard to pull out by hand. If you use a knife, be careful not to cut through the shoot…”
As he spoke, his gaze swept around. When it passed over the ground Mo Fan had run across, it paused for two seconds, and his pupils suddenly contracted.
“Wait. Brother Mo, stop running! Come back first!”
But he was still one step too late.
Mo Fan had been running too fast. Even though he felt that the ground beneath his feet was a little too soft, he only thought it was normal after the heavy rain.
He did not notice at all that after he ran over it, the depth to which his ankles sank into the ground was different.
After hearing Shen Jinfeng call for him to stop, his body reacted reflexively. Without braking, he continued running forward two more steps, then one foot sank in.
Almost instantly, he sank up to his knees.
Mo Fan’s mind went blank. Because of his body’s momentum, the movement he had been about to make to turn his head stopped.
He lowered his head. After seeing the situation around him, fear rose in his heart, and he subconsciously began to struggle.
It was a swamp!
He had actually fallen into a swamp.
All of this happened in the blink of an eye.
It had only taken a few breaths.
As everyone knew, in a swamp, the more one struggled, the faster one sank.
Because Mo Fan panicked and struggled hard twice, he sank down another large section. Very quickly, the mud reached the top of his thighs.
“Don’t move!” Shen Jinfeng’s voice, carried through the air, sounded stern and slightly unreal.
Mo Fan froze after hearing it, then reacted and remembered that the more one moved in a swamp, the faster one sank.
He forced himself to control his body’s terrified reactions, worked hard to relax his breathing, and no longer dared to move.
The viewers who saw this scene nearly had their hearts stop from fright.
“What? There are swamps on this deserted island? Are they crazy!!! This is way too dangerous!”
“Oh my god, help! This is really my first time seeing someone fall into a swamp. I’ve only seen it on TV before.”
“And in movies and dramas, people who fall into swamps almost always die…”
“My hair is standing on end. What do they do? I just searched it up and saw a bunch of people who went into swamps to rescue others and ended up falling in themselves.”
“I searched too. Apparently, you can save yourself from a swamp. Wait? Can this really work? Damn, this method is so scary.”
“What method? The main thing is, in real life, who normally pays attention to this kind of knowledge for no reason?”
“Swallowed. Terrified! I just searched self-rescue videos on several platforms and watched several at double speed. If you want to save yourself, the first step is actually for the person trapped to actively lie backward. The principle is increasing the surface area bearing weight. But honestly, if I really fell into a swamp, I’d already be scared of sinking deeper. Even if I knew this principle, I might not be able to do it. Lying backward increases the area, sure, but what if during the movement I sink another section? Once I lie down, my body’s height becomes thinner, so what if my whole body falls in? How would anyone dare!”
“Fortunately, there are people beside him. Big Boss Shen and God Ye are both there. They should find a way to pull Mo Fan up. They need to pull slowly. Even if you pull someone out of this kind of swamp, the person being pulled can easily suffer joint injuries and things like that.”
“Be careful! Watch the distance. Don’t fall in yourselves!”
“I held back again and again, but I still want to curse. Is the production team sick!!! Old Dog Sun, you were told to let the guests suffer a bit, not to think up rotten ideas all day that endanger their lives! Are you trying to kill someone?”
“I feel like this swamp might also have been caused by the previous heavy rain plus typhoon. I’m really furious! What kind of terrible weather does this deserted island have?”
What they did not know was that Sun Xinping and the other production staff in front of the screen nearly died of fright when they saw this scene too.
Sun Xinping’s eyes widened. “What’s going on?”
He saw the bullet comments filled with overwhelming curses and fear…
But this time, it really was not his doing!
A living person falling into a swamp and dying—what kind of horrifying death would that be?
Wasn’t that the same as being buried alive?
No matter how insane he was, he could not do something like that.
Although the deserted island was a virtual world, it had its own simulated operating system.
This was something that naturally existed on the deserted island!
In fact, even in the real world, recording variety shows could not guarantee one hundred percent safety. Therefore, when it came to the virtual world of “Being Human,” the viewers were actually more tolerant.
It was not that guests could not encounter accidents. For example, last season, a guest had fallen into a cave.
But falling into a swamp and dying in the virtual world because of it was a completely different matter.
A person dying on livestream sounded like a horror story on its own.
After that, his show would probably truly be impossible to continue.
Sun Xinping was somewhat nervous and urgently instructed the head of the equipment team, “Goat, hurry and check. Can the swamp data be modified?”
Although he also knew that changing the swamp would be far too fake.
The person had already nearly sunk halfway. Were they supposed to remove the swamp now, or turn it into a puddle, and let Mo Fan crawl straight out?
That would be too fake. It would be strange if the guests did not become suspicious.
If the guests began to doubt the authenticity of the virtual world, then that would be a serious problem.
“If we urgently cut off Mo Fan’s consciousness now, will it damage his brain?”
There were three ways to leave the show.
First, the guest died in the program, and their consciousness automatically disappeared from the virtual world and returned to their body.
Second, the production team forcibly cut off the guest’s consciousness. But generally speaking, they had to prepare in advance to ensure the guest’s physical and mental condition were stable.
Mo Fan was currently in an extremely panicked psychological state. Forcibly cutting him off could potentially damage his mental consciousness.
Third, theoretically possible but never tried before: the guest became suspicious of the virtual world and, in both consciousness and belief, completely stopped believing in its existence.
The real consciousness and the virtual world would collide. If the consciousness won, the guest could also leave.
Goat was also a little stunned. “How about I try transmitting the self-rescue method directly into Mo Fan’s mind?”
That was also one method.
Inside the air-conditioned room, Sun Xinping was sweating all over from fright.
At that moment, Little Li suddenly tugged at his sleeve. “Director, Mo Fan should be fine. Look at Big Boss Shen.”
Sun Xinping froze and looked up at the screen.
On the screen, Shen Jinfeng pulled a familiar-looking leaf rope from the leaf basket on his back. With a swing of his arm, he threw it out. The other end of the leaf rope landed accurately in front of Mo Fan.
“First, take off the leaf basket on your back.” His voice was extremely calm. “Move slowly. Grab the leaf rope.”
Mo Fan relaxed slightly as well.
Because he was completely still in the swamp, he had now almost stabilized and was no longer sinking.
If he had moved a little slower earlier, or if he had stopped immediately when he heard Shen Jinfeng’s words, perhaps this current danger would not have happened.
Now, he trusted Shen Jinfeng’s words completely. He treated Shen Jinfeng as his only lifesaving straw.
Therefore, after hearing Shen Jinfeng’s instructions, Mo Fan carefully ran them through his mind.
Move slowly, then grab the rope.
He looked at the leaf rope within arm’s reach, suppressed his excitement, and thoroughly carried out the instruction. His hand moved extremely slowly, with very small movements, until he grabbed the leaf rope.
After Shen Jinfeng saw that he had a firm grip, he gave the next instruction. “Mo Fan, face my direction and lower your upper body.”
He knew this instruction was a little difficult for someone trapped deep in a swamp, because a person’s survival instinct would resist such a seemingly dangerous action.
“Don’t be afraid. I will definitely save you. Lowering your body is to…”
But before he could finish explaining, Mo Fan had already acted.
He slowly, minimizing his movements as much as possible yet without hesitation, lowered his entire upper body, almost pressing it against the swamp.
Although his movements were slight, his body still inevitably sank a little more.
Shen Jinfeng had already positioned himself at the safest distance where he could exert force most easily.
“Good. Just cooperate by holding the rope tightly. You don’t need to use any strength. Wait for me to pull you out.”
Qin Ye grabbed the front end of the leaf rope and helped as well.
Shen Jinfeng said, “Don’t use all your strength at once. Control the speed.”
Because when pulling someone out of a swamp, one could not use brute force. Otherwise, it was very easy to injure the person being rescued.
The two slowly but powerfully pulled the leaf rope, and Mo Fan cooperated very well.
Even though, during the process, the swamp submerged up to his neck, he still did not straighten his body in resistance.
The three of them completed a rescue with near-perfect cooperation.
When Mo Fan’s upper body was dragged to the edge of the swamp, Shen Jinfeng let him move on his own.
“Now, move your legs. Put in some effort and swing your lower body out.”
Because once his upper body was dragged out of the swamp, he was basically no longer in danger.
They had to let Mo Fan move and complete the final step of escaping the swamp by himself.
Only then could he shake off the fear and psychological shadow of the swamp to the greatest extent.
Sure enough, Mo Fan was much less afraid now. The strength he had saved earlier happened to come in handy.
He fiercely tried to pull his leg out, then cried out in pain.
Shen Jinfeng laughed without mercy. “Take it slowly. Rock left and right upward, and slowly swing yourself out.”
Mo Fan was embarrassed.
He had forgotten that the most useless thing when getting out of a swamp was brute force.
He copied the force point Shen Jinfeng had used to pull him earlier and swung his legs outward at an angle.
After several minutes, he finally got out.
Now, his whole body, from his chin to his feet, was covered in mud.
After walking out of the swamp, he ran as if flying toward Shen Jinfeng and Qin Ye.
Subconsciously, he wanted to give the two of them a hug.
Qin Ye pulled Shen Jinfeng one step back.
Mo Fan reacted and smiled embarrassedly.
Having survived the disaster, he patted his chest in lingering fear, then patted off a puddle of mud.
He jumped on the spot. He jumped fiercely. After jumping for a long while, mud shook off him.
The more mud he shook off, the more his fear seemed to be shaken away as well.
He did not even mind the dirtiness. He directly reached out and grabbed the mud that had not shaken off his body, throwing it away hard.
Shen Jinfeng looked up and saw the sun hanging high.
“How about you just take off those clothes?”
Mo Fan suddenly understood. “That’s true. It seems like I’m wearing a suit of mud right now.”
He laughed foolishly, then neatly stripped off his clothes, leaving only his underwear.
Qin Ye pressed his lips together and said nothing.
Inside the production team’s control room, the technical team did not react at first.
Because all the staff also felt as if they had survived a disaster, and they were cheering, relieved that nothing had happened to Mo Fan.
Then suddenly, they saw a bare body appear on the screen. Although it was also covered in mud, some parts were patchy, and there were still bright, clean areas.
“Damn, Mo Fan has abs?” a staff member blurted out subconsciously.
The head of the equipment team snapped awake and, with lightning-fast hands, put a full-body mosaic over Mo Fan.
He hesitated for a moment and did not cut Mo Fan out entirely. Instead, he let Mo Fan’s face remain clear while his whole body appeared as a mosaic on the screen.
“…My lingering fear was suddenly interrupted. I held back once, then held back again, but I couldn’t stop laughing.”
“I’m speechless. Is the production team having a breakdown? Why not just turn Mo Fan’s whole person into a mosaic?”
“Wuwu, damn it, I was really scared to death just now. I didn’t even dare breathe! Luckily, Mo Fan didn’t keep moving around in panic and stopped in time. Luckily, he didn’t go out alone. Luckily, Big Boss Shen and God Ye were there!”
“I was really frightened to death. I’m currently opening swamp self-rescue and quicksand self-rescue videos to study! I suggest everyone go learn!”
“Mo Fan, please don’t end up with trauma like Sun Fei from last season!”
Fortunately, on the livestream screen, Mo Fan’s emotions seemed relatively stable.
After stripping himself clean, some time had passed since he was rescued, and his emotions had basically settled.
He even had the mood to ask Shen Jinfeng, “Boss, if I take those clothes back and wash them, I still won’t have anything to wear now.”
“Can you help me make a set of clothes too?”
However, when he thought of the pigskin back in the wooden cabin that had been removed but not yet made into clothes—mm, that should be left for Qin Ye.
“I want leaf clothes like Gu Shengsheng’s.”
Shen Jinfeng did not know whether to laugh or cry. “…”
He assessed Mo Fan and saw that he was not forcing himself through fear. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.
“All right. I’ll make you one when we get back.”
“Feel whether there’s anywhere uncomfortable on your body.”
Mo Fan said, “No. I’m not uncomfortable.”
But because Shen Jinfeng had asked, he truly sensed carefully, and then discovered, “My arms hurt a little.”
Shen Jinfeng stepped forward and pinched his bones, finding no problem.
“It’s because they bore force just now. They might become even more sore later, but after you go back and sleep, they’ll be much better tomorrow.”
“Let’s go. We’ll go back first.”
Mo Fan shook his head in embarrassment. “But we haven’t done anything yet, and we’re going back?”
“How about we change directions and keep walking? I really don’t want to see this swamp anymore. After going back, we’ll have to remind Little Qi and the others too.”
Shen Jinfeng refused. “No. We’ll send you back first.”
After such a life-or-death incident, although everything was ultimately fine, Mo Fan’s current state was clearly unsuitable for continuing to walk through the forest.
Mo Fan was silent for a few seconds, then nodded. “All right.”
He had completely thrown the ma bamboo shoots that had tempted him earlier to the back of his mind. Now, he had no desire to pull them out at all.
They turned around and stepped onto the path back. Only after leaving that area of the forest did he completely relax.
“Boss, I was joking earlier when I said we had life-and-death friendship.”
Mo Fan scratched his head in embarrassment and smiled gratefully at Shen Jinfeng and Qin Ye. “Now I really owe you and Little Qin a life.”
“In the future, if there’s anything you need me for, I, Mo Fan, will not refuse!”
Mm… this was a bit too sentimental.
Shen Jinfeng and Qin Ye were silent for two seconds, then both nodded and accepted.
They did not refuse, also so that Mo Fan would not feel too much pressure in his heart.
“This really is… Mo Fan owes Big Boss Shen and God Ye a life! It’s just that this is in the virtual world. Who knows if he’ll still acknowledge it after he gets out?”
“I carefully thought back just now. Actually, it’s not just Mo Fan, right? Before, when He Erwang couldn’t get down from the tree, Big Boss Shen used a leaf rope to lower him. When Gu Shengsheng got sick and had a fever, Big Boss Shen brewed medicine for him and massaged him. I won’t say those were life-saving debts, because they weren’t as serious as Mo Fan’s, but one by one, they really do owe Big Boss Shen huge favors.”
“Speaking of which, this leaf rope is kind of amazing. It has already saved two people.”
“Does this show have bad feng shui? Please, Little Qi and God Ye, absolutely don’t get into trouble!”
After returning to the wooden cabin, Mo Fan took a bath.
Shen Jinfeng kept his promise and made him a set of leaf clothes.
After Mo Fan changed into the leaf clothes, he was incredibly happy.
They were similar in style to Gu Shengsheng’s, only without as many floral decorations. The overall look was plain and elegant.
Mo Fan himself had a refined appearance. When he was young, he had also been famous as a beautiful man in historical costume.
After he put on the leaf clothes, the viewers in the livestream were stunned for a moment.
“My god, his title as a historical-costume beauty really wasn’t exaggerated at all.”
“He really has that feeling of a gentleman like jade. So refined. His temperament is so good. It doesn’t show much in modern clothes, but even when wearing a leaf outfit with a historical-costume-like style, it immediately appears.”
“So stunning!!! Sensible historical drama directors, come quickly and hand him scripts! With this image and acting skill, he’s genuinely rare in domestic entertainment!”
The others who had stayed by the beach returned at noon. After hearing about Mo Fan’s experience, they were also filled with lingering fear.
The group had lunch together.
“My god, from now on, whenever I go into the forest, I’m going to watch the road under my feet at every moment. I’ll walk every step carefully!” He Erwang said.
Qi Xiu agreed too. “Which direction was it? I absolutely won’t go in that direction again. And when we go into the forest later, we must never act alone!”
Gu Shengsheng nodded and asked Shen Jinfeng, “Boss, you guys shouldn’t go this afternoon, right? The forest is so dangerous. We can just eat pork and seafood.”
Shen Jinfeng shook his head and comforted everyone with a smile. “It’s fine. I’ll pay attention to safety. This time, I’ll head toward the coconut trees from before. We’ve gone there several times, so there’s no problem.”
Seeing that he insisted, the others could not keep persuading him.
It was just that Mo Fan was not going, so only Shen Jinfeng and Qin Ye remained.
In the afternoon, the two set off toward the forest again.
After just a few steps, Qin Ye felt something was wrong. “Are the coconut trees in this direction too?”
This was clearly the direction they had taken in the morning.
Shen Jinfeng shook his head. “No. We’re going back to the place where Mo Fan had his accident.”
“I think I discovered something.”
