Who gave this heretical practitioner permission to cook?

Chapter 216 Seeing Mountains Not as Mountains, Seeing Seas Not as Seas: Xia Ming Crossing the River on a Reed (Second Update)
Just as the three contestants were riding their motorcycles at breakneck speed toward the source of the smoke.

Xia Ming and the others also began to climb up the mountainside along the path.

At this moment, with the same path, the difference in the players' movement speed quickly became apparent.

In just 20 minutes, Xia Ming, who was walking in front, looked back and could no longer see the shadow of the last row of people in the group.

Meanwhile, another wisp of smoke rose from the mountain.

Seeing this, the other contestants objected.

"What's going on? Why are there more and more of them?!"

"No, is the production team blatantly trying to scam us?"

"Make sure you remember the initial location, or you'll get lost as you walk along!"

"This is utterly unsportsmanlike! How can you do this?!"

"Inside the broadcast van of the Wuyi people's tribe"

Yan Ming grinned as he watched the motorcycle on the screen gradually pull ahead of the others.

"The gifts that fate bestows come with a price. I hope the three of you arrive safely!"

Just as he was laughing, on a nearby broadcast camera, McGrady, who was sitting on a motorcycle, suddenly felt a jolt in his buttocks.

Then, with a "whoosh," the motorcycle suddenly stopped.

Maddie was stunned.

"Hey buddy, what do you mean?"

The young man shook his head.

"My tire's blown out, I can't drive this car!"

McGrady panicked when he heard this. He knew he was a paying user, and if the car didn't arrive, his points would be wasted.

"No, you have to deliver it to me!"

The young man waved his hand helplessly, indicating that he was powerless to help.

"This is a special circumstance, there's nothing I can do. How about this, I'll refund your points!"

Upon hearing that the points could be refunded, McGrady's expression improved significantly. Realizing that staying there would be a waste of time, he quickly got out of the car and prepared to find another way out.

Only then did he realize that he had no map and didn't know where the guy had led him.

Looking up, I tried to use the smoke from the cooking fire to determine my location, but suddenly I realized that what was originally one wisp of smoke had become four.

He could no longer distinguish which direction was the "Uyi tribe".

At this moment, he realized he had been tricked.

He was so angry that he cursed loudly in the mountains.

"Shit! Where can I complain about this?!"

Watching McGrady, stroking his bald head, searching for a way out in the unknown mountains, some viewers in the live stream were also dumbfounded.

["IP Bear": Isn't this a bit too much?]

["IP Hua": Okay, okay, you took a shortcut but ran into a ghost halfway through!]

[“IP Day”: Is this a parody? How did a perfectly good wilderness survival show turn into this?!]

[IP Hua: Don't just look at the motorcycle side, the area where Xia Ming is is now an absolutely pristine wilderness.]

["IP Kangaroo": It feels like if there are a few more smoke trails, players with poor sense of direction won't even be able to find the village. And you're saying there are 28 seats? You might as well just give us 8 seats.]

[IP Gentleman: You can't blame anyone. The host explained the rules from the beginning. Some people wanted to take shortcuts. Besides, motorcycles do travel a certain distance. If someone knows the way, they definitely have an advantage!]

Just as the three contestants were being tossed about by the motorcycles, Xia Ming began to rapidly advance from the side of the first mountain towards the shallows below.

Qiao Ruoning once told him that the "Wuyi people" in southern Thailand were also known as the "Pusai people of the sea".

Their traditional way of life is closely linked to the ocean, and they likely live along mangrove coastlines or on near-shore islands. "This actually contradicts the smoke from cooking fires depicted by the program crew."

At first, he thought it was a trap deliberately set by the production team, but halfway through the journey, he finally realized that the place where everyone arrived on the island was actually a very magical location.

"From the point of arrival on the island, you can see two large mountain peaks in front and a long coastline on the side."

"Smoke was rising from the lower part of the second mountain peak, indicating that it would take crossing two mountains to reach the designated area."

"But in reality, there is a sea mouth right between the two mountains."

"Furthermore, because the mountain appears to be of different sizes when viewed from the side, the smoke appears to be rising from the lower part of the mountainside, based on the difference in perspective."

"But actually, the place where the smoke is rising is behind the second mountain, and there is a very high probability that it is right next to the sea."

Having confirmed this was the case, Xia Ming naturally wouldn't be foolish enough to cross the mountain to reach the seaside.

In this situation, the best approach is naturally to bypass that extremely long coastline, enter the sea through the estuary, and then drift directly along the sea.

Therefore, Xia Ming needs a tool to cross the water.

"Haikou happens to be a location with old green bamboo, and we only need to cut some down to use for crossing the sea."

So, Xia Ming walked to the coastline and began cutting down a clump of green bamboo that looked quite old.

Seeing Xia Ming's actions, the viewers in the live stream also realized what was going on.

[IP Hua: Are they preparing to build a bamboo raft? But isn't Ke Yan in the mountains?]

[IP Eagle: It's obvious the wind direction of this smoke was altered; it was ignited around the beach!]

[IP Kangaroo: Theoretically speaking, it's reasonable for the Ui people to live by the sea.]

[“IP溙”: This refers to the people who live by the sea, while those who live in the mountains are a different group. The host had already explained this, but most of the contestants were still misled by this unique terrain.]

[IP Bear: 66666, this round of assessment felt incredibly tricky. Even Xia Ming had to climb half a mountain before he could react.]

[IP Hua: Oh dear, wouldn't Maddie, Koyama Seizo, and that American girl who were taken away by the motorcycle and abandoned in the mountains be dumbfounded? Their location is quite far from the sea!]

[IP Kangaroo: I understand now. Those guys on the motorcycles were going really fast, but they stopped in a really tricky spot. They now have no choice but to take the mountain road to get around it; taking the sea route is too late.]

[IP Hua: Actually, looking on the bright side, if the later competitors don't notice the issue with the coastline and also choose to go through the mountains, then the motorcycle riders will still have a significant advantage!]

"In the control room"

Yan Ming looked at Xia Ming cutting down bamboo, a hint of appreciation in his eyes.

He did indeed take advantage of the local terrain to present the contestants with a question that was easy to misunderstand.

However, there are still contestants like Xia Ming who can spot the problem. This kind of program effect, which is both within the rules (with a predetermined destination) and relatively natural (choosing the route to the destination), is the state that Yan Ming is pursuing.

"If a superior assigns a short-term task and you can complete it within a certain period, regardless of the method you use, then you are considered excellent."

"Moreover, our internal staff have calculated that even if there is a detour, there are only about ten possible scenarios."

"This greatly reduces the chances of them having any accidents. Similarly, any lack of entertainment value can be compensated for by the production team's own arrangements!"

Yan Ming felt that taking control of the rhythm first would make the subsequent filming much easier.

"However, although Xia Ming is currently in first place, building the bamboo raft will inevitably take up his time. If the other contestants are faster, he may not be able to secure first place."

Just as he was wondering how long it would take Xia Ming to build the bamboo raft, he suddenly realized that Xia Ming had only cut a long section of bamboo and a thin section of bamboo.

Then he threw the long bamboo into the water and tentatively stomped on it a few times.

After confirming that Hsinchu had good load-bearing capacity and stability, Xia Ming jumped directly onto the bamboo pole.

Yan Ming's eyes widened as he watched Xia Ming float in Haikou using only a single bamboo pole.

"???"

"What is this? Is this some kind of attempt to cross the river on a single reed?!"

(End of this chapter)