After lunch and a brief rest, everyone set off again.

Now everyone is much more familiar with each other than when the show first started, and they are more comfortable talking and joking. Dai Yang, a comedian who started out as a host, was eloquent and humorous throughout the whole process, which made the atmosphere of the whole team become relaxed, and the two female guests were even more amused.

At the same time, the program team also randomly distributed various strange tasks to everyone. If they completed the tasks, they could exchange them for daily necessities from the program team. Although the journey was long and rugged, everyone had a good time, and there were no sudden accidents like those in the morning. The atmosphere along the way was very relaxed, and even time seemed to pass very quickly.

Shenkong is being free from the situation throughout the whole process.

Apart from occasionally joining in the interactions around him so as not to appear too abrupt, he spent the rest of the time trying his best to marginalize himself.

But things did not go as planned. Every time he wanted to reduce his presence, Ran Wan, whose life he saved in the morning, would always subtly pull him into topics and tasks, focusing more shots on him and giving him more exposure. Duan Mingcheng, who had partnered with him once, seemed to treat him as a junior who could be promoted and was always very cooperative. Not to mention Zhuang Xiangyang, who instantly became his fan the moment he saw him throwing a knife, and would pester him with questions whenever he had the chance. The camera had been circling around them ever since Zhuang Xiangyang came over.

Shen Kong: “…”

It's really hard to be a transparent person.

Before the sun set, the group arrived at the camping site selected for them by the program crew.

In an open space, six tents that had not yet been erected were quietly lying side by side. Everyone stared at the open space in silence for a while, then turned their heads in unison and looked at the program director in condemnation. Feeling everyone's gaze, the director walked forward calmly, cleared his throat, and said:

"Now we will give you a new task. The guest who sets up the tent first will receive a mysterious reward from the program team."

No one present had any experience in setting up a tent, so they could only rely on their intuition. Everyone was in a panic and there were many jokes. One moment they were trying to support the tip of the tent that had fallen over, the next they were trying to pull the rope that had suddenly broken. They wished they had two pairs of arms. The camera recorded everyone's busy and embarrassing looks in great detail. I'm sure it will generate a lot of discussion after it's broadcast.

Half an hour later, everyone collapsed on the ground exhausted, but the tents still did not stand up. They were tilted and tilted, with some sticking up and some sinking. They looked like six crooked faces.

Shen Kong was equally exhausted.

The tent was so obedient in his hands that it was difficult to act unskilled. He even had to deliberately disrupt his own steps before he was finally able to keep pace with everyone else and set up the tent in a crooked shape.

In the end, it was the instructor who personally demonstrated to everyone, and everyone was finally able to set up their tents in the standard manner.

In the end, since no one qualified, not only did no one get a special reward, but everyone was punished.

The instructor had a strange smile on his face and took out the mysterious punishment he had prepared for a long time.

The huge leaves were crawling with big, soft, fleshy insects that were moving around everywhere. They were wriggling in the bowl-shaped leaves, but every time they climbed to the edge of the leaves, they would be quickly shaken off by the instructor.

The timid Ran Wan couldn't help but scream at the first glance. Even several men couldn't help but look pale. After taking a few cautious glances, they couldn't accept it and dared not look in that direction again.

Only Shen Kong swallowed silently.

Four years ago, when he was on a mission in the jungle, he had eaten them for a week straight. This kind of insects was a delicacy under the food shortage conditions at that time. Not only were they rich in protein, but they were also juicy and tender, almost melting in the mouth. They were delicious whether they were alive or cooked. He and three other free mercenaries ate almost all the insects within a ten-mile radius to extinction, and only then reluctantly switched to exploiting other species.

I didn't expect to meet you again here, it's really fate.

After enjoying everyone's frightened eyes, the instructor finally mercifully told everyone that these insects would be divided into three portions, two cooked and one raw. The group of guests who completed the slowest in the next task would be punished by eating live insects. Everyone ignored their restraints and tried their best to keep up with the others, while Chen Kong continued to paddle along, trying his best to maintain his useless and pretentious personality.

——It doesn’t matter to him whether it’s raw or cooked.

Because they are all delicious.

The sun slowly sets in the west and finally sinks into the horizon. The golden red color of the sunset paints the dense primeval jungle with a beautiful layer of paint color, and then is gradually replaced by the deep night. The color of the sky gradually deepens from the colorful light blue, and finally settles into the dark deep blue, as profound and beautiful as the spread of ink.

A day of shooting made everyone exhausted.

A bonfire was lit in the center of the camp, making crackling sounds. The rising flames looked extremely small under the vast sky.

Shen Kong picked up a dead branch from beside him and threw it into the fire.

The blazing bonfire made loud crackling sounds, and the suddenly leaping flames were imprinted on Shen Kong's face, reflected in his pupils, and dancing on his sharply contoured face, as if shadow and light were floating and competing with each other, making him look as if he was separated from the entire world.

Ran Wan, who was sitting next to him, pulled the cloak tightly around her body, looked up at the clear night sky, and sighed with emotion:

“So beautiful…”

Shen Kong looked up following his gaze.

There are countless stars in the high sky, twinkling slightly, forming a spectacular and moving picture.

"Yeah yeah."

"You can't see so many stars in the city."

The sighs of the people around him seemed to come from the distant sky, as distant and vague as through a layer of mist. Chen Kong gazed deeply at the deep, vast and boundless night sky in front of him, and slowly narrowed his eyes. There was no trace of the jumping fire in his amber pupils, only a deep and cold silence and indifference.

Like a lightless abyss, a silent empty well.

Shen Kong suddenly called the system in his mind:

"System, is it there?"

The system, which had been silent for a long time, seemed to pop out of his mind as if it was always on standby, and a monotonous mechanical voice sounded in his ears:

"Yes, is there anything I can help you with?"

Chen Kong lowered his head, his neck aching slightly from looking up for too long. He slowly looked around at the people sitting around the campfire, his eyes slowly passing over their faces that were illuminated by the fire and had different expressions, and then he asked in his mind:

"I thought you said this was a world in a book, right?"

The system answered clearly and without hesitation: "Yes, that's right."

Chen Kong reached out and grabbed a handful of soil from the ground, twisting it gently with his fingertips. Tiny particles of soil fell from between his fingers and silently merged into the soil in the night.

"I remember that you told me the contents of this novel once when I first came here. If I remember correctly, it's a clichéd entertainment industry love story, and the protagonists are two men. The entire story revolves around these two people and ends when they get married. Is that right?"

The system's voice remained unchanged: "Yes."

Shen Kong's eyes were gloomy, and he continued to ask:

"Then how can such a clichéd third-rate romance novel with a melodramatic plot as its main content construct such a huge world view?"

The system did not answer, and Shen Kong did not intend to wait for its answer, but continued to speak:

"In theory, although Han Li is the villain with the most scenes in the novel, he is not the protagonist after all. However, his entire life since childhood is portrayed in a detailed and complete way. From the kidnappers who kidnapped him to every classmate in his high school class, they all have independent contexts and lines, even these people who sat in front of the campfire with me. If I ask anyone about his life experience, he can tell me the whole story. In addition, there is the political situation and geographical structure of the entire world, and even the grass and trees, snakes and insects in these mountains and forests. Some are the same as the world I used to live in, and some are completely different from the world I used to live in, and are obviously unique to this world-"

There was still silence on the system side. Chen Kong had long been accustomed to its pretending to be dead, so he continued speaking without caring:

"But no matter what kind of thing it is, it is not something that a novel with love as the main theme would spend a lot of space to describe. It is a world-building that transcends the context of the story."

He paused, but there was still silence in his ears, as if the system had disappeared from his mind.

Chen Kong lowered his eyes, his gaze fell on his palms illuminated by the bonfire, traces of mud still remained between the lines on his palms:

"I had already sensed the discomfort this place brought me, but it was not until I entered this jungle that I finally had enough evidence. After all, I am familiar enough with the original jungle, at least familiar enough to distinguish the differences between species. I am not surprised that things in the novel are exactly the same as in reality. After all, it can be explained by the default transplantation of real concepts. But why are there different background structures outside the main storyline?"

He paused and asked calmly:

"So where do these things come from that the author couldn't possibly have taken the trouble to describe?"

——In other words, is the world I entered really this book? ”

The author has something to say:

Are you surprised? Are you unexpected?