Chapter 14: Improving Life
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The setting sun bathed Shi Nianqing in golden light as she raised the flame high and held it before the camera in the livestream.
Together with the smile on her face, the sight left the entire livestream speechless.
Everyone knew that in the wilderness, fire represented hope.
While all the other livestream participants were still suffering through their ordeal, Shi Nianqing had already managed to light a fire.
At that moment, the livestream chat exploded.
[Holy crap, did you see that? Shi Nianqing actually got a fire going!]
[The instant that flame rose, I got so excited. I don't even know why—my heart just started pounding.]
[Is this the legendary method of making fire by drilling wood? It actually happened right in front of me! That's incredible!]
[Shi Nianqing, you're amazing. I'll never bash you again.]
[Just being the first person to make a fire makes her more impressive than everyone else.]
[Gift: Heart ×100]
[Gift: Spicy Strip ×20]
[Gift: Demon Wings ×200]
[Gift: Carnival ×2]
…
The entire livestream was flooded with gifts. At the same time, the director and assistant director watched the scene, inexplicably moved to the point of tears.
Even the survival expert could not help exclaiming when he saw the fire.
“She got a fire going that quickly? It's unbelievable.”
“How did she manage that?”
“Could she really not have some kind of cheat?”
One question followed another.
The director and staff shook their heads. “Impossible. There is absolutely no cheating involved. This wilderness survival program is being produced in cooperation with the military. There is no way anyone could have a cheat.”
The survival expert immediately fell silent.
That was the military they were talking about. In that case, cheating was absolutely out of the question.
“Director, according to our traffic rules, shouldn't we put Shi Nianqing's livestream in the most prominent recommendation slot?”
The director paused for a moment.
Indeed, according to the rules, whenever a participant achieved a milestone victory, their livestream would be placed in the most prominent position for promotion, with each promotion lasting three hours.
Those three hours would bring in a tremendous amount of traffic. If the stream managed to attract enough viewers, it might even turn the situation around.
Thinking about how much Shi Nianqing had changed recently, the director was tempted to take a gamble.
“Do it. Put her up when the traffic is at its peak. I believe Shi Nianqing will give me a surprise…”
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If Shi Nianqing could raise the program's popularity, the director would be more than happy.
…
At the height of the program's popularity, footage of Shi Nianqing's livestream appeared on the homepage of the largest social media platform in the interstellar network.
Before long, countless people entered the livestream. What they saw was Shi Nianqing leisurely stroking a tiger cub while gathering firewood.
The golden sunset bathed her in light, seeming to surround her with a halo of gold.
The tiger cub lay beside her, purring contentedly, while the other two used their tender little teeth to tear at small fish nearby.
The scene was warm and romantic. It immediately made quite a few people pause and linger.
[Wilderness survival program? Is this some new show? It looks pretty good.]
[Is this a livestream? What are those furry little creatures beside the young lady? They look so cute! Are they some newly released pets?]
[What's so special about this livestream? Why was it placed in the most prominent position?]
[I don't know why, but seeing this scene has somehow made me feel much calmer.]
[Why does this person look so familiar? I feel like I've seen her somewhere before.]
[I know now! Isn't this Shi Nianqing, the one who loves pretending to be an innocent angel? Why is she here?]
[I was offline for a while. What happened while I was gone?]
[Why does this fake innocent look so charming?]
…
[Congratulations, Host. Your popularity has reached 200,000.]
[Congratulations, Host. You have unlocked the Detection Skill, Level 1. Using it requires points.]
Shi Nianqing had been stroking the tiger cub while placing wild taro inside the fire to roast.
She never expected the system's sudden voice in her mind to startle her.
Her popularity had previously remained steady at around 50,000. How had it suddenly risen so dramatically?
What had happened?
“What exactly happened in the livestream? Why did my popularity suddenly increase so much?”
“Did I do something today?”
Shi Nianqing thought back over the day, but she could not recall doing anything particularly earth-shattering.
“Could it be the fire? Can making a fire really attract this many people? Are people in this interstellar age really so… so ignorant?”
Her mind was churning with thoughts, but not a trace of them showed on her face.
She had no idea what was happening outside in the livestream, nor did she know how many viewers were watching.
She was extremely interested in the newly unlocked Detection Skill.
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The Detection Skill could identify various plants and animals in the surrounding area and collect usable resources.
However, at her current level, it could only detect an area within a radius of three and a half meters around Shi Nianqing.
Each use consumed 100 points. She currently had only 298 points, which was not even enough to use it three times.
Shi Nianqing suddenly thought of the points that had just surged, and a sharp pang of regret seized her heart.
Earlier, she had already used up all the chances she had for exchanging points that day.
If she had exchanged them now, she could have obtained at least another two thousand points.
And she still had no idea what had caused this sudden surge in popularity.
She did not know whether all these viewers would leave again at once.
What a waste!
It hurt so much she could hardly breathe!
It felt as though she had just missed out on a fortune!
Shi Nianqing gently rubbed her chest and forced herself to calm down.
She organized her current list of skills.
It looked like she had quite a few, but in reality, there were not many she could use.
Most of them were still beginner-level skills, with considerable limitations.
As she pondered, she heard her stomach growling.
Only then did Shi Nianqing react.
She had been busy all day and had barely eaten anything. By evening, she was starving.
She gazed at the taro buried in the fire, her eyes shining.
At last, she would be able to eat a relatively normal source of carbohydrates. The previous day, she had eaten only a little fish—and it had been raw.
As a true daughter of Huaxia, even after arriving in the apocalypse, she still preferred her food cooked.
Eating raw food always felt somehow lacking. Now that her life was no longer in immediate danger, she had to improve her living conditions as soon as possible.
Tomorrow, she would investigate the surrounding area and see whether she could find somewhere with food.
She also hoped the traps she had set the previous day had yielded something.
Shi Nianqing pulled the taro from the fire, ate a steaming hot dinner, and then lay down on the bed she had made.
The three tiger cubs obediently slept beside her. One of them even kneaded her with its tiny paws, looking unbearably adorable.
Shi Nianqing could not help hugging the cub and kissing it.
The viewers in the livestream watched with envious, burning eyes.
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