Wilderness Survival with Druid System

Chapter 616: Chapter 115: Fred’s Broken Will

As the chief director, Greg naturally saw more than others.

Roland’s hellish start saw his situation steadily decline, yet he managed to turn things around halfway through.

The reason wasn’t luck, but his ability!

Roland’s planning skills are very strong. In Greg’s view, he might even be stronger than Chen Wen.

In a situation where food was extremely scarce, Roland managed to survive on berries and still had the energy to hunt musk ox.

This is enough to prove it.

Moreover, Roland is very good at leaving room for error for himself.

Previously, he had collected and stored dozens of pounds of berries for himself.

He also dug up dozens of pounds of fireweed roots and stored them in the shelter.

Although these foods aren’t considered proper foods, they provided Roland with enough room for error.

Allowing him to accept failure.

In contrast, Gaston gave himself no margin for error.

So he’s about to be eliminated!

...

When Roland brought down the musk ox.

The other contestants, as if on cue, all began to take action.

But unlike the turning tide for Roland,

Fred’s situation took a turn for the worse.

Previously, after discovering the grizzly bear,

Fred had been preparing to hunt it.

To this end, he set up many traps and prepared bait, planning to hunt the grizzly.

But he didn’t expect that,

his comprehensive preparations would ruin everything!

When the snow turned lighter,

Fred started looking for a chance to hunt the grizzly.

He set up a trap a little farther from the bear’s den, made of large logs.

The idea was for Fred to lure the bear over and then trigger the mechanism, causing the huge logs to swing over from the front, pulled by ropes.

At that time, Fred could easily dodge by lying flat on the ground.

But the grizzly would get smashed head-on by the logs, dying a gruesome death!

The idea was good.

But when Fred approached the bear’s den, his heart pounding, he was stunned.

The grizzly bear he had been watching was no longer there!

”Why?!”

Fred circled the area carefully but couldn’t find a trace of the bear, not even its droppings.

”Where did it go?!”

Fred looked up at the sky, but no one answered him.

...

”Where’s the grizzly bear?”

Fred’s situation naturally caught others’ attention.

Moments later, an old hunter guide with bear-hunting experience offered his guess: ”Fred was misled. This den should be one of the ones the bear previously dug. Its activity here doesn’t mean it would hibernate here.”

”Grizzlies dig new dens every year for hibernation. This bear likely only came here to forage, and when it’s truly time to hibernate, it probably went to its newly dug den.”

Upon hearing the hunter guide’s words, everyone realized.

For many, it was the first time hearing about this grizzly habit.

However, some were still puzzled: ”But what about the bear that Chen Wen encountered....”

The hunter guide shook his head: ”That’s different. Chen Wen made sure his tamed beast kept watch near the bear’s den. If the bear didn’t leave, that was fine. But if it did, his tamed beast could precisely track the bear.”

So that’s it!

Everyone nodded in agreement, their doubts resolved.

But when they turned back to Fred, their eyes held a hint of sympathy.

After all that effort, it ended up being for nothing.

For Fred, whose situation was already not the best, it was an even greater blow.

Unsurprisingly to everyone,

Fred, after angrily kicking the ground a few times, returned dejected to his shelter.

The failure of his plan, the lack of food, the loneliness of long-term solitude...

All these negative emotions converged, and finally, he let out a long sigh.

Fred began to entertain thoughts of giving up, and this idea was growing stronger.

An hour later,

Fred made a call: ”I give up....”

On the show’s end, the staff promptly arranged a helicopter to retrieve Fred.

”I’m quite surprised that the second one eliminated is Fred. I thought it would be Gaston or Phil,”

Director Greg said, shaking his head.

This time, Fred was defeated by the failure of his plan and couldn’t handle the pressure, leading him to voluntarily withdraw.

Simply put, his spirit was broken.

In truth, he still had the resources to continue surviving. With a positive mindset and continued perseverance, he might have found a way forward.

But unfortunately, Fred couldn’t adjust.

It’s quite normal. Most survivors entertain thoughts of giving up after a major survival decision fails.

Even Chen Wen felt the same way in the past.

But truly strong survivors gradually reverse this mindset and adjust their attitudes.

Compared to such survivors, Fred was still a step behind.

After bringing Fred back, Greg shook his head and continued to observe the other contestants.

...

On Chen Wen’s side.

He didn’t know that two contestants had already been eliminated; based on his estimates, he predicted no one would have been eliminated yet.

But that didn’t really concern Chen Wen.

At this time, he was with three young coyotes, arriving at his storage room.

Of course, he wasn’t there to feed the coyotes.

He intended to find and collect any vocabulary entries he hadn’t yet obtained.

After carefully searching around, Chen Wen found a few mushrooms.

These mushrooms were treasures he previously discovered on that deserted island, hidden by ground squirrels.

After sorting them out, Chen Wen cooked himself a musk ox mushroom stew in the evening.

The fresh aroma of the mushrooms and the musky scent of the meat, mixed with salty seasoning, tasted quite good.

However, the meal only gave Chen Wen the income of one tag.

Most of the mushrooms unleashed three tags, which were entirely ineffective negative ones.

This left Chen Wen somewhat helpless.

Luck is like the tide.

When you suddenly become lucky, it won’t be long before the situation turns sharply, and misfortune knocks at your door.

But after a streak of bad luck, things might turn for the better, and good fortune will visit again.

Chen Wen shook his head, long accustomed to such things.

Nevertheless, the positive tag he obtained was quite nice.

[Above the Tree Line (Purple): You’re more adapted to survival above the tree line, increasing your survival skills in such environments and making you more climate adaptive.]

[Note: Above the tree line, our paradise! — Red Mushroom]

It turned out to be the red mushroom, quite unexpected.

Chen Wen shook his head, he still had an impression of the red mushroom.

Red mushrooms are a generic name for certain types of mushrooms.

They are widely distributed, some in warm and humid tropical and subtropical areas, and others above the cold tree line,

even near the Arctic Circle.

Meanwhile, these mushrooms are considered delicious, but their only flaw is that wild red mushrooms are slightly toxic.

After eating this red mushroom, Chen Wen’s mouth felt a bit numb.

”Delicious as it is, it’s toxic, tch.”

Chen Wen shook his head.

At that moment, footsteps sounded outside.

He sensed it and believed it was the red fox and others returning from hunting.

Indeed, shortly after, the red fox and the old wolf brought a few rabbits back to the shelter.

These rabbits became dinner for the animals, providing a delightful meal for the three young coyotes.

Chen Wen glanced at the rabbits, estimating in his mind the traps he had set earlier. Tomorrow, he should go and check on them.

Otherwise, if they remain buried under the snow, those traps become no different from being useless.