Chapter 4

Two hours later, the plane landed at a temporary airstrip near Southshore Island. The production team's speedboat ferried the six guests toward the island.

The ocean was a deep blue, the sand a brilliant gold, and the scenery was breathtaking. But the guests' faces showed no trace of relaxation. Instead, they were all tense and serious.

Wild Survival Live was the toughest reality show on the internet. There was no script, no outside help, and everything was real survival.

Plenty of past contestants had broken down and quit from exhaustion, let alone these pampered stars from the entertainment industry.

As the speedboat pulled up to the shore, the director grabbed a megaphone and shouted into the camera.

"Welcome, everyone, to Southshore Island. Here's your first survival challenge: in two hours, each of you must build a temporary shelter, find drinkable water, and gather edible food.

"Those who complete the task will get tonight's dinner rations. If you fail, you'll be going to bed hungry."

[Here it comes. The hardcore challenge is starting.]

[Scarlett's definitely not gonna make it. She's a pampered princess, she probably can't even twist open a water bottle.]

[Go, Vivian the Diva. Don't let Scarlett push you around.]

[Coach Chancellor should be fine. He's a real pro.]

As soon as the director finished speaking, the guests sprang into action.

Vivian immediately latched onto Ethan, her voice sweet and helpless. "Ethan, I don't know how to build a shelter, and I can't find any water. Can you help me, please?"

Ethan frowned, but still nodded. "Alright, I'll help you."

The two of them fumbled with branches, trying to set up some kind of shelter. But Ethan was just trying to look cool, he had zero clue how to actually build anything.

Every time they tried to stack the branches, they just collapsed. After forever, they still didn't have anything that looked like a shelter.

Zoey and Summer teamed up, but they had no idea what to do with the pile of leaves in front of them.

Zoey stomped her foot in frustration. "What kind of ridiculous task is this? We'll never pull this off."

Summer looked just as helpless, putting on a pitiful face for the camera. "Everyone, this is way too hard. I'm gonna go hungry tonight."

Michael Chancellor, with his years of experience, worked alone to gather materials and build his shelter. He wasn't the fastest, but he was steady and methodical.

Meanwhile, Scarlett walked alone to the edge of the forest by the beach. She scanned the terrain, picked a spot that was high, sheltered from the wind, and far from the tide.

Then she bent down, grabbed some thick branches, and stuck them firmly into the soil to form a triangular frame.

[What's Scarlett doing? Just messing around?]

[She actually looks pretty skilled. Did she grow up on a farm or something?]

[She's just putting on a show. She'll totally mess it up in the end.]

Scarlett ignored the barrage of comments in the livestream chat, working with both hands and feet as she tied thin branches across the frame.

Then she grabbed some huge banana leaves and layered them over the branches.

Her movements were fluid and practiced, like she'd done this a hundred times before. In just twenty minutes, she had a sturdy, rainproof shelter standing tall.