After Binding the Face-Slapping System, I Rose to Fame [Entertainment Industry] - Chapter 10

Before the morning livestream of Celebrity Wilderness Survival began, the digital world, unbeknownst to the isolated guests was still reeling from the aftershocks of a massive, comical scandal that had dropped the night before. Many fans who had pulled an all-night shift defending their idols had just fallen asleep, while the “melon-eating” public greedily devoured the leftovers of the drama before heading to work or school.

It was dubbed the “Heaven-Sent Farce” because it hadn’t originated from any marketing account or paparazzi. Instead, it arrived in a way so absurd that even a soap opera writer wouldn’t dare script it.

It started when a certain “Lackey A,” the lead sycophant for a notorious Young Master Wang, got a bit too drunk with his boss. In a momentary lapse of sanity around 9:00 PM, he logged into his official Weibo account and dropped a bombshell audio file.

The content was colorful, to say the least. It implicated no fewer than eighteen top-tier celebrities. However, the undisputed star of the recording was Young Master Wang himself—the very man Lackey A usually worshipped.

In the four-minute clip, the Young Master offered crude critiques of the female stars among the eighteen, claiming one’s chest was fake because he’d “felt it” and another was “loose” because he’d “sampled it.” He spoke as if there wasn’t a woman in the industry he couldn’t bed. As for the male stars, his insults were vile, accusing one “pretty boy” of trading sexual favors with wealthy older women for resources and calling another a “double-ended plug” who swung both ways. His language was so foul it was practically a series of Morse-code bleeps.

The comedy peaked when, while the fans of eighteen superstars were tearing through Weibo and the official websites of Wang’s family companies like a plow through a field, the Young Master was still at the KTV, arm-in-arm with his “loyal” lackey, howling songs. When someone finally checked their phone and broke the news, the drunken Young Master didn’t think to delete the post. Instead, he smashed a wine bottle over Lackey A’s head, sending him straight to the ER in critical condition.

Now, with the source incapacitated and the password known only to the victim, the Wang family had to scramble to pressure Weibo officials to crack the account. But it was too late. A hacker calling themselves a “Messenger of Justice” had locked the account. Even the platform admins couldn’t delete the audio. To top it off, as punishment for the Young Master’s violent outburst, the hacker pinned the audio to the very top of the Hot Search list.

Chu Jinzhi was 100% satisfied with the quality of the items in the System shop. She hadn’t expected a “Minor Scandal” to cause such a tectonic shift.

She couldn’t help but feel hopeful: [If the RNG gods bless me with a ‘Major Scandal’ one day, could I send Young Master Wang straight to prison?]

The System replied proudly: [Small. Your vision is too small. Why not imagine taking down the entire Wang family backing him?]

Chu Jinzhi gave the System a mental “thumbs up” and a row of “666” (kudos).

Having enjoyed the first bite of fresh “melon” thanks to her System partner, Chu Jinzhi had slept soundly. She woke up refreshed and performed a quick wash using the dew she’d collected in leaf-depressions overnight before heading out with her cameraman to forage.

Fresh water was the priority. The best method was to follow the coastline to find where a stream met the sea, then track it inland to find the source nearest her camp.

Once at the beach, she took some vines gathered along the way and tied weighted stones to the ends, preparing to use them as “bolas” to harvest coconuts. Coconuts weren’t just a water source; they were the “pots” she desperately needed.

Since the livestream hadn’t started yet, only Da Jie was following her. He silently adjusted his camera angles to catch her process.

While searching the trees for a solitary coconut, she bumped into Lin Shuyu, who was there for the same reason.

An Unexpected Alliance

So far, Lin Shuyu’s team hadn’t found fresh water either. They had used seawater to skin the rabbit she’d “found” that morning, and they were currently using the rabbit’s innards to bait a makeshift tide pool among the reefs.

Lin Shuyu had come to get coconuts for breakfast while Tong Zixuan and Cao Xu combed the coast for freshwater inlets, shells, and wild greens. Her attitude toward Chu Jinzhi remained friendly. Noticing the crude tool in Chu Jinzhi’s hand, she offered, “Are you trying to get coconuts? I can help you.”

Chu Jinzhi tilted her head, looked at her for a moment, and then smiled. “Sure. In exchange, I can show you a type of edible plant root.”

This was a pleasant surprise. A faint smile touched Lin Shuyu’s lips as she joined Chu Jinzhi in scanning the canopy. Once they picked their targets, Lin Shuyu used her crossbow to snip the stems. She quickly brought down seven or eight.

Chu Jinzhi took two, and Lin Shuyu piled the rest together to carry back in shifts.

As they chatted, Chu Jinzhi learned that Lin Shuyu was struggling with aiming at moving targets.

“I think I overestimated myself,” Lin Shuyu admitted, her usual composure wavering into a moment of self-doubt. “I didn’t realize hitting a moving target was this hard. Maybe I should have picked a different tool.”

Chu Jinzhi reached out to examine the crossbow, gesturing toward the sea. “It’s all about practice. Given the laws in our country, who gets to play with a crossbow in their spare time? You can’t rush it. Why not try a different angle? Set a trap with some food, and when an animal pauses to investigate, that’s your window to shoot.”

Lin Shuyu thought it was a brilliant idea. “That makes sense. Thanks! I’ll try that when I get back.”

Knowing Chu Jinzhi wouldn’t want to join their group, Lin Shuyu didn’t press the invitation. The two soon parted ways, returning to their respective tasks just as the day’s broadcast prepared to go live.

Director Chen waited until the various factions online had teamed up to suppress the chaotic buzz surrounding the scandal before finally starting the livestream.

It was exactly 12:00 PM—the perfect window when students and office workers finally had a moment of free time.

As soon as the broadcast went live, crowds of interested viewers flooded in. Upon entering, they saw Lin Shuyu’s trio huddled around a set of clean banana leaves, preparing to dig into their meal. When the camera panned over the “dining table,” the audience was met with a feast: stir-fried diced rabbit, stewed seafood soup, cold-dressed wild greens, a pile of washed wild fruit waiting for dessert, and oysters sizzling away on a hot stone slab.

Since the show originated from a nation of legendary foodies, the production crew didn’t force the guests to start from scratch by evaporating seawater for salt. Instead, the show featured a “Seasoning Mini-Mart,” where guests could trade their harvests for essentials like oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar.

That morning, Lin Shuyu had traded the rabbit pelt and several coconuts for a small bottle of oil and basic seasonings like chili, salt, and MSG.

In his early career, Cao Xu had hosted a food show where he learned how to toss a wok, making him a fairly capable cook. Since Lin Shuyu had done the heavy lifting for the team, Cao Xu took over the duties of head chef, while Tong Zixuan was relegated to kitchen hand.

Though Tong Zixuan grumbled plenty about the chores, a quick comparison to the other guests left her with no ground to stand on.

The audience was first shocked by the over-the-top lunch, but then they noticed something else: without her heavy stage makeup, Tong Zixuan actually had “baby fat” on her cheeks.

Baby fat! On a twenty-six-year-old!

【Omg, who is this little sister?!】

【Hahaha, I’m dying. Is this why Tong Zixuan wears thick makeup 24/7?】

【Wow, it’s so lavish! Meat on the second day?! Shuyu is the GOAT!】

【After comparing this to the two “lone wolf” streams, I declare the Trio has the best catering!】

【There’s actually abalone and sea cucumber in the soup. Is this a survival show or a food documentary? [drool][drool]】

Knowing the audience would be stunned by Tong Zixuan’s bare face, Cao Xu ever the comedian voluntarily shared a blooper. “Everyone must be amazed by Zixuan’s real look, right? Haha, to be honest, when I saw her this morning, I was so spooked I fell flat on my butt and screamed that an intruder had snuck into our camp, hahahaha!”

Tong Zixuan rolled her eyes at him. “You’re just a coward. Shuyu wasn’t surprised at all.”

Lin Shuyu chimed in at just the right moment. “Actually, I was startled too. I just have better facial expression management, so I kept my cool.”

Her calm and composed demeanor paired with such dry humor sent the easily amused Cao Xu into fits of laughter. When Tong Zixuan joked that he sounded like a honking goose, Cao Xu leaned into it, standing up to mimic a goose’s waddle while cackling “quack quack,” leaving both women in stitches.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the island, Chu Jinzhi was smugly grilling a fish the size of two fingers and boiling a pot of wild green soup. With some plant tubers roasting in the embers, she boasted to the camera:

“I bet my life on it—with starch, vegetable soup, and protein, I definitely have the most lavish lunch of all the guests!”