American Hunting: Starting with Solitary Life in the Wilderness

Chapter 194 Only Three Remaining
He didn't use many fancy words; instead, it read like he was writing a profound book review.

Dr. McCorz Lane:
Hello there.

My name is Lin Yu-an, and I am the one who found your box. I found it on the Labrador coastline.

I'm sorry, I had to crack your combination lock because at the time, I didn't know what was inside.

That password, 1984, is very clever.

I suspect the box might belong to a scientist. For the intellectual community to which scientists belong—scientists, scholars, and geeks—George Orwell's *Nineteen Eighty-Four* has long transcended the realm of a novel; it has evolved into a cultural symbol.

It is an indispensable classic in your general education, a powerful symbol of thought, representing a perpetual vigilance against totalitarianism, a defense of truth and history, and the ultimate pursuit of freedom of thought.

Quotes from the book, such as "Big Brother is watching you," "War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength," have deeply resonated with readers.

Using "1984" as a password is a low-key, tacit "identity" for scientists, scholars, and geeks.

It implies that the user is someone with independent thinking ability, who values ​​freedom, and has a touch of idealism and rebellious spirit.

As it turns out, I was right.

This perfectly matches the image of you that I glimpsed in your journal—an image of untamed spirit, resilience, and a thirst for exploration.

I'm sorry, I read part of your log. I didn't mean to pry into your privacy; I just wanted to find some clues about the owner of the box.

Your writing, your passion for science, and the humor that shines through your words gave me a wonderful sense of companionship during my loneliest moments.

I have kept your information safe and sound; this data is far more valuable than anything I could find here.

I hope you can reunite with them soon.

Wishing you and your friend JC good health.

—Lin Yu'an

He carefully folded the letter, tucked it into McCormick's journal, and then personally placed it in the dark green box.

After doing all this, he felt as if he had accomplished something extremely important, and the restlessness in his heart subsided considerably.

Mark watched him finish, a flicker of approval and gratitude in his eyes. He was also happy to have added an interesting element to the show, and secretly resolved to find this Michaelz before the show aired!
He glanced at his watch: "Alright, Lin. Our time is almost up. We still need to check on the other contestants. Take care of yourselves. We'll see each other again next time, which might be when the competition decides the winner."

Lin Yu'an nodded, watching them lift the green box onto the helicopter. The moment the cabin door closed, his last connection with the civilized world was severed.

The helicopter took off again, kicking up a cloud of snow, and flew south.

Lin Yu'an stood there until the black shadow completely disappeared beyond the horizon before turning back to his shelter.

The world returned to silence.

The helicopter flew south for about forty minutes and arrived at the second runner's camp—Vonia's home.

Unlike Lin Yu'an's workshop, which was full of primitive industrial atmosphere, Vonia's camp blended perfectly into the surrounding environment, with almost no trace of human intervention.

Her shelter was a semi-subterranean hut cleverly built from moss and branches in a recess of a huge rock, warm and secluded.

-

When Vonya emerged from the shelter, her condition was equally astonishing.

She wore a thick scarf made of fox fur that she had sewn herself. The fluffy fox tail swayed gently with her movements, adding to her menacing aura in the snow.

Her camp was also filled with scenes of abundant harvest.

In the sheltered, sheltered spot, hung several clean snowshoe hare pelts, while in a natural ice cellar enclosed by stones, piles of frozen rabbit and fish meat were stacked up.

Everything was in perfect order, exuding a raw and efficient sense of order.

During the medical examination, Vonya didn't say much and wasn't in a hurry to show off her results. She simply calmly extended her arm for Anna to check her blood pressure and blood oxygen levels, while her eyes would occasionally look towards the distant forest, as if she were thinking about the next hunting route.

"How have you been these past twenty-odd days?" Mark asked from the side.

“Very good.” She took the medical report Anna handed her, glanced at the numbers, and nodded in satisfaction, as if everything was under her control.

"When the storm came, I hid in my cave and was safe. After the storm, the sea brought me a gift."

She pointed to a rocky outcrop on the distant coast: "There are lots of mussels there, and some fish too. I spent two days collecting enough to eat for a long time."

Then, Vonya frowned slightly and revealed her predicament: "But it's not without its difficulties. All my lasso traps were completely destroyed by the storm."

"The delicate spruce roots used to make the traps are buried under thick ice and snow and are hard to find. I need to make a new batch, but that will take time."

As she spoke, she gently twirled the spruce root bracelet on her wrist with her fingers, as if she were feeling the texture of the material or calculating the amount of work needed to repair the trap.

Mark asked with some curiosity, "That Arctic fox... how did you get it? As far as I know, they are extremely cunning and rarely fall into simple traps."

For the first time, a faint smile appeared on Vonya's face, a smile that carried the confidence of a top hunter who knew the weaknesses of his prey.

"It was greedy and arrogant, always trying to steal my rabbits. So I used the rabbit's entrails as bait and set up a simple lasso trap on a route it considered absolutely safe."

"It came, and then it stayed, and I'm very grateful to it."

"It was almost my only source of protein during the days my trap was destroyed. Its fur was also very warm."

Her tone was so calm, as if she were talking about something trivial. She subconsciously adjusted the fox fur scarf around her neck, the movement as natural as if she were fixing her hair.

Mark and Anna exchanged a glance, both seeing the same thought in each other's eyes.

This is a truly formidable competitor. Her strength does not come from transforming nature, like Lin Yu'an creating tools with fire and iron, but from the fact that she herself is a part of nature.

She doesn't fight against nature; she simply follows its laws and uses them to become the apex predator in the food chain.

The production crew bid farewell to the composed Vonnia, and the helicopter continued south, arriving at Kelly's camp.

Kelly's campsite was located on the edge of a relatively dense coniferous forest dominated by birch and spruce trees.

The terrain here shielded her from most of the storm's power.

Kelly is a tall woman with long flaxen hair. Her temperament is like that of a forest elf, quiet and perceptive.

Her shelter was an intricately constructed A-frame wooden cabin with a roof covered in thick spruce branches and moss.

Compared to Lin Yu-an and Vonya's abundant marine protein, Kelly's food sources seem somewhat "light".

There were no piles of fish and shellfish in her camp, only a few cleaned grouse and ptarmigans.

"The coastline here is not rich in resources."

"After the storm, I only found some seaweed and a few snow crabs. My main food source will still be this forest."

She picked up the longbow she cherished as her life and stroked its smooth surface: "Fortunately, the birdlife here is abundant. Grouse and ptarmigan are wary, but with enough patience, you can always find an opportunity."

“But patience is wearing thin.” Kelly’s eyes held an undisguised weariness.

“After the storm, the animals in the forest became unusually wary, and I needed to spend twice as much time tracking them before I could get a chance to shoot an arrow.”

Moreover, she glanced at her empty quiver: "I only have seven arrows left. I lost three in the snow. I tried to make new ones with spruce wood and bird feathers, but I didn't have suitable arrowheads, so the results were very poor."

“Every shot with a homemade arrow is a huge gamble for me.”

Kelly's archery skills were truly superb. Mark saw in her character cards her textbook-perfect stealth and shooting, piercing the throat with a single arrow and never wasting a second.

But when Anna examined her, she discovered a potential problem.

“Kelly, you’re losing weight a little too quickly.” Anna frowned slightly as she looked at the data.

"Although bird meat is a high-quality protein, it is too low in fat. If you lack fat intake for a long time, your body will start to consume its own muscle for energy. You must find a way to supplement your fat intake."

Kelly nodded, a hint of worry flashing in her eyes: "I know, I'm trying to catch an Arctic fox, but they're too cunning! Maybe I should try my luck somewhere further away."

Mark looked at her somewhat frail body and sighed inwardly.

Kelly's skills are top-notch, but her survival strategy relies too heavily on a single resource, making her exceptionally vulnerable to risks.

However, this is also directly related to the resource ratio of the area where she was deployed; land resources are abundant, while seawater resources are not particularly prominent. After saying goodbye to Kelly, they were about to meet the last person, Colton, whose situation was likely worse.

Inside the helicopter cabin, the deafening roar shut out everything from the outside world. Mark took off his headphones and rubbed his ears, which were aching from being pressed so hard.

His gaze remained fixed on the desolate coastline rapidly receding into the distance outside the porthole.

"Now, what do you think of him?" he asked Anna, the doctor beside him, without turning his head.

Anna was organizing the physiological data she had just recorded for the athletes when she looked up. She knew Mark was asking about Lin Yu'an, and she thought for a moment.

"From both a physiological and psychological perspective, he is the player in the best condition I have ever seen."

She said with a hint of amazement, “His vital signs are all very stable, and his mental state is exceptionally healthy. He wasn’t crushed by loneliness; instead, just as you said, he turned this place into his ‘kingdom’.”

"He wasn't just enduring survival; he was enjoying creation! This mentality is terrifying."

“Yes, it was terrifying.” Mark leaned back in his chair, a complicated smile on his face.

"I insisted on inviting him to participate in the eighth season of Wilderness despite all the opposition, and now it seems like the wisest decision I ever made. That's what gave him the opportunity to participate in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne again, and he's redefining the game."

Anna asked curiously, "So who do you think will be the final champion? Right now, besides Lin, there are three other people on the field: Kelly, Vonya, and Colton."

Mark paused for a moment, seemingly quickly assessing the strengths and weaknesses of each person in his mind.

“Vonia is very strong.” He first mentioned the woman from Siberia who had hunter blood.

"She has an innate intuition for this land. She has an extremely stable mindset and knows how to coexist with nature rather than fight against it."

"If Lin is an engineer, then she is a druid; she is definitely Lin's most formidable opponent."

"Where's Kelly?"

"Kelly is an excellent archer."

Mark continued, "Her archery skills are superb, giving her an unparalleled advantage in hunting small animals. Moreover, her camp is located in a relatively flat forest area, which is least affected by storms."

"Her strategy is to proceed steadily and accumulate strength gradually, but her problem is that her resources are relatively limited. Once small prey migrates or decreases, or as she is now, she runs out of arrows, she will immediately be in trouble."

"And... what about Colton? The security guard said his voice sounded weak." Anna's tone was tinged with worry.

Mark's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly: "Colton is a warrior. Based on the information we got from the satellite phone conversation a few days ago, he adopted the highest-risk, highest-reward strategy from the very beginning: hunting large animals."

"But every attack a warrior makes must hit the target! If he misses, or if the target doesn't appear, he will run out of energy faster than anyone else. He's already in danger, and he's the player I'm most worried about."

"If I had to say who is most likely to make it to the end," Mark finally gave his opinion.

His gaze became very certain: "I bet it's Lin Yu-an."

Anna was somewhat surprised: "Why? Vonnia looks equally flawless."

Mark shook his head: "No, they are different. Vonnia's strength comes from her extreme adaptation to the existing environment; she can make full use of 100% of what nature has given her."

"But Lin Yu'an's strength comes from his ability to create things that don't exist in the environment. He's not using the rules of nature; he's defining the rules of nature!"

Mark held up his finger and gestured in the air: "Look, Vonnia's trap has been destroyed, and she needs time to find new materials to repair it. And Kelly has run out of arrows, so she has lost her most important weapon."

“But Lin Yu’an, if his axe breaks, I have no doubt that he will find a way to forge another one himself.”

"That's the difference: one group consists of users, and the other group consists of creators. In this long war of attrition, creators have unlimited potential."

"I'm particularly optimistic about his 'ice fishing plan.' He not only made his own ice fishing rod, but also crafted an ice drill! The other contestants can only use axes to chisel through the ice, so Lin Yu'an has the highest probability of catching fish among all the contestants."

Anna nodded and said nothing more. She knew that in this game, the first to be eliminated were often not the weakest, but the strong who made strategic mistakes or ran out of luck.

The helicopter flew over a rugged hill and finally found Colton's camp in a tundra ravaged by fierce winds.

His shelter was a triangular shack barely constructed from a few huge pieces of driftwood, covered with tattered tarpaulins and spruce branches.

The entire structure looks like it could be blown down by the next gust of wind at any moment.

When Colton emerged from the shack, everyone gasped.

In just over twenty days, the once confident and muscular "warrior" in front of the camera has become somewhat emaciated.

His cheeks were sunken, his eye sockets were dark, his lips were cracked, and his eyes were filled with exhaustion and an undisguised despair.

“Hey… guys.” He tried to force a smile, but it looked worse than a grimace.

Anna immediately stepped forward and began examining him without even saying hello first.

"Colton, when was the last time you ate anything?" Anna's voice was more serious than ever before.

"About three days ago."

Colton's voice was a little hoarse: "These are the last of my stored frozen wild blueberries."

"What about protein? Fish or meat?"

Colton shook his head, avoiding her gaze: "The trap I set to catch the seals before the storm was completely destroyed."

"After the storm, I spent two days repairing it, but there was nothing. The coastline here looks like it has been ransacked, and I can't find anything."

Anna's test results confirmed her worst suspicions.

Colton's heart rate was too slow, his blood pressure was low, and his body temperature was below normal. These were dangerous signs that his body was shutting down non-essential functions to conserve energy during prolonged starvation.

His body was already showing early symptoms of severe protein-energy malnutrition.

“Mark…” Anna turned her head and looked at the executive producer, her eyes conveying a clear meaning.

Mark walked up to Colton and put his hand on his shoulder.

“Colton, you are a true warrior.” Mark’s tone was full of respect, but also left no room for doubt.

"You chose the most difficult challenge and have persevered until now. You have proven your courage and perseverance."

Colton's body trembled slightly; he knew what was about to happen.

Mark continued, "However, this challenge is based on safety. Your body has reached a dangerous critical point. Anna's medical advice is that you must withdraw from the competition immediately and receive treatment."

Colton didn't speak; he simply lowered his head slowly, looking at his hands, which trembled incessantly from the cold and weakness.

He once thought that he could conquer this land with his own strength and will. But now he understands how fragile willpower is in the face of absolute hunger.

"Can...can I try for one more day?"

He raised his head, his eyes filled with a final plea: "Maybe tomorrow...maybe tomorrow there will be seals."

“Colton.” Anna’s voice became stern for the first time.

"Your body is nearing its end! If you continue to stay here, your kidneys and heart will soon suffer irreversible damage. This is no joke."

Ultimately, Colton gave up.

He didn't cry out loud, but let the tears slide down his stubble-covered, gaunt face, and then quickly freeze in the biting cold wind.

He was helped onto the helicopter by Anna and "Grizzly".

He had nothing worth taking with him. As the helicopter door slowly closed, completely shutting out the white world, the cabin fell into a deathly silence.

This is the wilderness; it is generous, yet ruthless.

It will reward the wise who make the right choices with the richest treasures, and punish the brave who make even the smallest mistake with the cruelest methods.

Now, only three people remain on the field.

Engineers, druids, and archers.

This contest between ice and fire has entered its most exciting chapter.

(End of this chapter)