I Rely on My Versatility to Reach the Top of the Entertainment Industry [Ancient Times to Modern] - Chapter 36

The first episode of “I Can Survive in the Wild” soared to the top of the viewership charts.

Viewers watching from their homes were thoroughly entertained. As they watched, they began to think Fang Zexuan might be there for comedic relief.

He chattered nonstop until he was parched with thirst. Then, while following Jing Yi, he had his backpack snatched away by gibbons who were drinking water.

The backpack contained spare clothes and a sleeping bag. Without the sleeping bag, he might be carried off by carnivorous animals at night.

While everyone found Fang Zexuan annoying, they couldn’t help but worry about him.

But the next scene left them gaping in astonishment.

That figure swinging through the trees holding onto vines—was that really Jing Yi?

The calm and serene young monk, who could hold his own against the instructor in a fight, was actually on friendly terms with the gibbons! There were even gibbons bringing food to Jing Yi!

At night, the five celebrities experienced the thrill of sleeping in the trees, with gibbons standing guard nearby.

“Jing Yi might actually be a monkey in disguise.”

“I’m a keeper at the national zoo’s gorilla enclosure, and I want to say that Jing Yi once shared walnuts with a gorilla…”

“Where does Lu Yi fit into all this? Jing Yi is closest to Lu Yi!”

“Stop arguing. Aren’t there plenty of animals in the rainforest? Let’s wait until the end of the episode. Who knows, Jing Yi might get along with other animals too.”

“This is no ordinary person—he might be an immortal. I’m looking forward to tomorrow night’s episode.”

Jing Yi’s follower count on Weibo quietly grew to 100,000.

While netizens anxiously awaited the rerun during the day, the first part of the TV film “Xie Qiyun” unexpectedly appeared on the National Film Channel. Though it couldn’t be streamed yet, viewers could watch the trailer and browse through promotional stills.

“Will it be available for streaming at 2 PM? OMG, these promotional photos are so handsome.”

“We finally get to see stills of Emperor Lu on the cover – he looks absolutely enchanting.”

“The stylist deserves a bonus! @jimmy.”

“This is Hua Xiangrong brought to life, how can anyone be this beautiful?”

“The composition and lighting in these stills are incredible. The boss’s facial angle seems to be looking at Xie Qiyun no matter what.”

Though everyone focused on different aspects, without exception they praised the excellent cover art. Those who clicked into the trailer immediately shared their thoughts after watching.

“Holy crap, this is truly Director Gu Guochang’s work. The final battle in the bamboo forest got my blood pumping.”

“My martial arts dreams have been reignited. How can I move between bamboo stalks as gracefully as Xie Qiyun?”

Unlike previous occasions, the ratio of male to female commenters was roughly equal this time.

By 2 PM, when the film channel’s director saw the streaming numbers hit 100 million in under ten minutes, he couldn’t stop smiling. Currently, aside from Lu Yuzhi’s early martial arts film series, no other movie had achieved such success!

This proved the film had truly captured national attention!

Those who had previously worried that having young lead actors might affect viewership now happily streamed it themselves, using the excuse of assessing the film’s quality to openly slack off at work.

While netizens watched the “Xie Qiyun” cast enact tales of love and hatred in the martial world, their hearts racing over the brotherhood between Xie Qiyun and Yan Zihuan and the ambiguous tension between enemies and friends with Hua Xiangrong, the main cast in the tropical rainforest was staging a desperate escape.

The incident began with Fang Zexuan’s insistence on eating meat.

The staff were speechless, but they couldn’t stop him. Without a script, the guests fully expressing their natural instincts during Wild survival was the core theme of their program.

Burdened by the concept of “team,” the other members couldn’t simply ignore Fang Zexuan and could only stand before the cameras to persuade him.

“Wild animals carry various viruses. Just bear with it for now.” Ji Ling’s voice remained cool as he looked at Fang Zexuan, his eyes filled with utter speechlessness.

“If you want to die, don’t drag us down with you.” Sheng Xiaguang curled one corner of his lips, not even glancing at Fang Zexuan. “Why don’t you just leave the team? We have two protectors anyway.”

“The monkeys brought us plenty of nuts. We can eat those for now.” Jing Yi said gently, “After we complete the challenge and return, Senior Fang can eat whatever he wants.”

Lu Yuzhi stood beside Jing Yi and said coldly, “I agree with Jing Yi.”

He didn’t look at Fang Zexuan either.

Sensing Lu Yuzhi’s coldness, Fang Zexuan’s lips twitched as he lowered his head.

After a long pause, he suddenly looked up and said seriously, “The doctor advised me to get nutrition from meat to help with bone development later. Could you all help me out? Jing Yi, your martial arts are so impressive – catching a wild rabbit should be easy for you.”

Jing Yi frowned and refused directly, “Sorry, I don’t kill living creatures.”

Fang Zexuan’s eyes showed a hint of grievance: “You don’t need to make up such an excuse to reject me, do you? Jing Yi, do you hate me?”

“No.” Jing Yi only offered this brief explanation.

Lu Yuzhi looked coldly at Fang Zexuan: “If you insist on eating meat, go get it yourself.”

Fang Zexuan shuddered, forcing a smile as he replied: “Boss, sorry, I was being unreasonable.”

Everyone continued moving forward, staying as close to the edge of the rainforest as possible.

The deep rainforest likely contained large wild animals, making it unsuitable for living. The requirement only specified the distance to travel, without dictating the route. Previous challenge participants who hadn’t lasted the full month had also exploited this loophole.

Jing Yi’s five senses were naturally more acute than ordinary people’s. As they walked, he suddenly stopped.

“We can’t go any further.”

“Why?” Fang Zexuan was the first to object. “We’re always listening to you, but you’re not the team leader.”

After saying this, Fang Zexuan looked at Sheng Xiaguang: “Right, Sheng Xiaguang, you don’t want to listen to him either, do you?”

Sheng Xiaguang turned his face away, unwilling to respond to Fang Zexuan.

Ji Lin noticed Sheng Xiaguang’s expression, which looked like he’d swallowed a fly, and smirked secretly.

Sheng Xiaguang glared at Ji Lin before replying to Fang Zexuan: “If we have to choose a team leader, of course I’d choose Jing Yi.”

Ji Lin raised his hand: “I agree.”

Lu Yuzhi: “I think this is universally acknowledged.”

Fang Zexuan fell silent.

Jing Yi gave his teammate Fang Zexuan a helpless look, then glanced up at the sun’s position.

“I’ll go gather some wood. We’ll boil water and eat.”

Lu Yuzhi immediately spoke up: “I’ll go with you.”

Water in the wild couldn’t be consumed directly.

Lacking other equipment, they could only use containers made from folded broad leaves to hold water, boil it over fire, then pour it into other leaf containers to drink.

After Jing Yi left, the others either stood or sat, resting on the spot.

Fang Zexuan looked around, then finally approached one of the protection officers.

“Your mission is to protect me, right? I want to go deeper to look for other food. Could you accompany me?”

The protection officer glanced at the instructor, who nodded in agreement, before standing up.

The cameraman hesitated for a moment, then chose to stay and film Ji Lin and Sheng Xiaguang.

These two weren’t sitting idle either—they were also searching the surrounding area for dry wood.

Fang Zexuan followed the direction Jing Yi had been unwilling to take, advancing quite a distance. His search for food was just an excuse; his main purpose was to leave the team to vent his frustration and consider ways to cause trouble for Jing Yi.

The rainforest vegetation was dense, with green or brown vines tangled between trees.

Fang Zexuan held a branch, probing here and there, before finally throwing it with force.

The branch hit something and bounced back.

The protection officer looked up and immediately felt his scalp crawl.

Two leopards were on a large tree, their bodies lowered in clear hunting posture.

“Run!”

The protection officer pulled Fang Zexuan, and the two ran back.

The two leopards—one large, one small—jumped down from the tree and chased after them.

Soon, the cameraman who had remained behind filming the surroundings was the first to spot the protection officer and Fang Zexuan.

Just as he grew puzzled, he saw the leopards chasing them.

Judging by their patterns, they appeared to be national protected animals—leopards.

The previous guests weren’t this reckless. Though they were supposed to follow a planned route, they would only walk short distances each day and actively ask the rangers which areas were safe to traverse. If they truly lacked food or water, they’d simply stop filming. Failing the challenge wasn’t a big deal.

But what’s happening now?!

The cameraman even abandoned his equipment, shouting: “Ji Lin! Xiaguang! Run!”

The instructor was helpless.

If it were just one leopard, he and his teammate could coordinate to lure it away.

But with two, it was impossible.

Moreover, leopards are protected animals. Shooting them with tranquilizer darts could easily lead to their deaths in the tropical rainforest.

Everyone started running and soon encountered Jing Yi and Lu Yuzhi.

After a brief explanation about the leopards chasing them, they all fled for their lives.

After running for a while, Jing Yi found it strange.

Leopards are fast creatures, so why were these two so slow?

He grabbed a vine and swung up into a tree to observe the leopards, only to discover that one had an injured leg, limping and slowing them down. The other had slowed its pace to accompany its mate.

Both leopards had sunken bellies, clearly having starved for a long time.

Encountering humans made them see an opportunity to hunt and fill their stomachs.

Though the leopards were pitiable, he couldn’t let his companions be endangered.

Jing Yi descended from the vine and deliberately led the leopards to chase him.

The starving leopards chose Jing Yi and pursued him into the distance.

Lu Yuzhi was horrified and chased after Jing Yi.

The instructor gave quick instructions to another ranger before following.

The ranger then had everyone stop and wait where they were, advising them not to wander around, and to await Jing Yi’s return.

A malicious glint flashed in Fang Zexuan’s eyes.

He hoped the leopards would devour Jing Yi, with Lu Yuzhi and the instructor arriving too late to save him.

…

That evening, the broadcast was delayed by an hour.

Fans who had just finished watching the first part of “Xie Qiyun,” devastated by the ending, gathered around their TVs with pained expressions.

In the drama, the emperor was decadent and oppressive, imposing heavy taxes and harsh punishments, making life miserable for commoners. Hua Xiangrong believed that “kings and nobles aren’t born to rule” and wanted to become emperor himself. But his schemes were exposed by Xie Qiyun, and he ultimately died by Xie Qiyun’s sword.

With his long hair flowing and his delicate, feminine beauty, the man spat blood, his eyes fixed on Xie Qiyun as he died—it was truly an unsatisfying, heartbreaking scene!

They urgently needed to see more of “Hua Xiangrong” and “Xie Qiyun” to replenish their sugar intake.

However, this episode was only half an hour long! And it was a terrifying half-hour at that!

The obnoxious Fang Zexuan had provoked a pair of leopards.

In the footage, the two leopards leaped agilely toward the camera, giving viewers a cold sweat. The subsequent shots showed someone picking up the camera and filming the guests.

Jing Yi was there, Lu Yuzhi was there, Ji Lin was there, Xiaguang was there.

Fang Zexuan was missing!

Fang Zexuan’s fans flooded the program team with questions, and at ten o’clock, the program team issued a statement.

The pair of leopards had been sent to a protection center. One of them had been shot in the leg, and although the wound had healed, the bullet remained embedded in its flesh, requiring surgery for removal.

As for Fang Zexuan, while waiting to reunite with his teammates, he had casually plucked leaves from a nearby bush and was bitten by a venomous snake on it.

The toxins had been cleared, but he still needed to remain hospitalized for observation.

Fang Zexuan’s fans checked Weibo again and indeed saw Fang Zexuan’s account explaining the incident.

However, shortly after, Fang Zexuan himself posted another Weibo update.

“Sigh, I’m still not as capable as Jing Yi. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been bitten by the venomous snake. If Jing Yi had been there, he might have been able to catch the venomous snake barehanded, and I wouldn’t have been injured like this.”

Attached below this post was a photo of him lying in a hospital bed with gauze wrapped around his face.

Fang Zexuan’s fans comforted him, saying things like “You’re still amazing,” but some of Jing Yi’s fans couldn’t stand it and commented below: “The official statement already said you were the one bitten by the venomous snake. How can you drag our Yi Zai into this? Shamelessly riding on his popularity.”

Fang Zexuan’s fans immediately replied: “How is this riding on his popularity? Isn’t our Zexuan just praising Jing Yi?”

“Is that how you praise someone? With that sarcastic tone? In the show, he kept trying to show off and ended up provoking the leopard, nearly causing the whole team to be wiped out. It’s laughable.”

“It’s a tropical rainforest. Isn’t it normal to have wild animals there?”

“Oh, so now you say it’s normal? Then isn’t it also normal for him to get bitten by a snake? Serves him right.”

The fans from both sides went back and forth, engaging in a heated war of words.

Fang Zexuan started posting on Weibo again: “Please stop arguing. It’s my fault for being useless.”

He posted a long image on Weibo, criticizing himself as completely worthless while repeatedly praising Jing Yi’s excellence.

By the next morning, he posted again, sharing screenshots of private messages containing insults and bluntly stating he wanted to commit suicide.

The hashtag #FangZexuanDepression# quickly trended, with some claiming that Jing Yi’s fans cyberbullying him led to such thoughts.

What started as a minor incident escalated dramatically due to the connection to depression.

Xu Sisi asked in the fan group: “Did any of you send private messages insulting Fang Zexuan? If you did, step forward and apologize. Don’t tarnish our Yi Zai’s reputation.”

Every fan following Jing Yi spoke up, stating they had never insulted Fang Zexuan and had only engaged in arguments with Fang Zexuan’s fans without using any profanity.

The young celebrity they supported had risen from being unpopular to famous, always treating everyone with kindness, like a breath of fresh air in the entertainment industry. He deserved their self-restraint, making their fan group a refreshing community as well.

But this false accusation was unfairly thrown at Jing Yi’s fans. Even though they assured everyone, they couldn’t silence the public opinion.

Just as the fans were at a loss, Galaxy Entertainment actually posted on Weibo!

[Due to our artist employing malicious methods to slander competitors, violating Clause 73 of the contract, we hereby terminate the contract in accordance with the terms!]

When Fang Zexuan received the termination notice, he was utterly stunned.

He had indeed fabricated a batch of insulting private messages, but Galaxy shouldn’t have known about it.

He adamantly demanded that Galaxy provide evidence, only to have the evidence anonymously released.

It seemed a hacker had breached Fang Zexuan’s Weibo account, listing all the private message users, with all their IP addresses being identical. The records even included Fang Zexuan’s transaction history for purchasing “insulting private messages.”

Such shady dealings couldn’t serve as legal evidence, but they undeniably exposed Fang Zexuan’s actions as factual.

The news of Fang Zexuan being “dealt with” by Galaxy left his fans deeply disappointed.

Within moments, the number of Weibo followers plummeted dramatically, dropping from the original six figures to four digits in just a day.

In the Galaxy office, Lu Yuzhi’s assistant Jiang closed Fang Zexuan’s Weibo page and sighed quietly: Why couldn’t Fang Zexuan just maintain his original image? Did he have to draw the boss’s attention? Now look – completely washed up, isn’t he?

Perhaps he had been too pampered before, becoming so swollen-headed that he forgot everything.