After the group photo was taken and everyone had lunch together, Jiang Dao learned that Zheng Yaojun was a retired special forces soldier who had fought against terrorist organizations at the border, and Eleven was his partner in the army.
In addition to Zheng Yaojun, the guests invited to this show include a doctor Zhao Yuhong, a just-retired women’s gymnastics world champion Zhu Huayun, a well-known traffic actor Lin Chu, and Yuan Shu, a livestreamer in the tourism section of UP’s live broadcast platform.
Six people and one dog are the protagonists of this reality show.
In addition to them, there are hundreds of staff members including professional consultants, a medical team, a comms team and so on.
Seeing this group of people, Jiang Dao understood why Longqi would rather find him instead of postponing the recording. WIth such a large team, once any changes occur, it will inevitably be troublesome.
At two o’clock in the afternoon, the program team’s chartered jet took off from Yan City with the entire team and filming equipment. Five hours later, the plane landed safely in the country they would be filming in. It took another two hours for the team to finally officially arrive at the starting point – the Talor Canyon1I couldn’t find anything matching Talor canyon (Talor was spelled out in the raws) only the Grand Canyon, so I assume it’s based off that.
Seeing that there were no traces of anything man-made around them, Lin Chu couldn’t hide his surprise: “Are we going to live in a tent today? Don’t we start recording tomorrow?”
The program leader replied with a smile: “We want you to try it tonight, so if we find something’s missing, there’s still time to remedy it. If you want new supplies after going deep into the canyon, you’ll have to wait for the helicopter supply drop.”
At this time, Yuan Shu raised his hand: “Is there signal in the canyon?”
He originally heard that the show could be broadcast live, and thought they would be walking around a city. He didn’t realize that it would be the real wilderness, and worried whether live broadcasting could still be done.
“There is definitely no mobile phone signal.” The team leader shook his head. “Strictly speaking, our program is not a live broadcast, but the images collected by the communication team every day, which are edited and uploaded to the live broadcast platform at a fixed point the next day. —It’s the same principle as uploading videos.”
Yuan Shu was a little disappointed. He was a temporary replacement to fill a vacancy, and thought he’d be able to boost his popularity with this live broadcast. However, the other party gave a lot of money. If he can’t live broadcast, he can’t live broadcast, and won’t lose anything anyway.
After the two asked questions, the show leader’s eyes fell on Jiang Dao’s face.
Jiang Dao blinked his eyes, his face full of doubts: “Huh?”
Team leader: “Do you have any questions?”
Jiang Dao shook his head: “No.”
During the process, guests can bring personal belongings and mobile phones, and the program team will provide charging services together with GoPro, which has solved Jiang Dao’s biggest problem – sleeping.
The leader turned to Zhu Huayun: “You are the only girl among the guests. If you need anything, you must communicate with the staff in time.”
Zhu Huayun looks small, but she’s quite easygoing: “No problem.”
Next, the team ran through some on-site training.
In Yan City, the program team only ran through theory, but today, they had hands-on practice on how to set up tents, use outdoor stoves, tie ropes… Everything was taught carefully.
Because of the time difference, after a few hours of study, everyone began yawning just as twilight fell.
Except for Zheng Yaojun, who originally knew these skills, Jiang Dao was the fastest to learn them. Even if he had never been exposed to such beautifully crafted things back then, he quickly understood how they worked and how to use them.
Zheng Yaojun liked such a savvy child very much. After training finished, he walked to Jiang Dao and sat down: “You learned pretty fast…”
As soon as he finished speaking, Eleven, who was lying obediently beside him, suddenly rushed over, bit his trouser legs and tried dragging him away from Jiang Dao.
Jiang Dao: …
Zheng Yaojun: …
“Eleven, get down, stand by.” Zheng Yaojun said solemnly.
“Woooo…” Eleven pulled his ears back, lying on the ground obediently, and bared his teeth at Jiang Dao, a warning voice coming out of his throat.
“That won’t work.” Zheng Yaojun frowned, “We have to move together, and it’ll be a problem if it continues to guard against you like this. Jiang Dao, come here.”
“Huh?” Jiang Dao was puzzled.
“Come here, let me help you get acquainted with him.” Zheng Yaojun stretched out his hand, held the back of Jiang Dao’s hand, and led him toward Eleven.
Eleven looked a little restless, but didn’t refuse because it was his master who initiated it. No matter how wronged he was, he could only hold his tail and let Jiang Dao’s fingertips fall on his head.
Touching the wolfdog’s warm forehead, the fluffy texture between his fingers melted Jiang Dao’s heart into a puddle, and the corners of his mouth couldn’t help pulling up.
He looked into Eleven’s eyes and called out softly, “Eleven.”
Eleven bared his teeth at him.
Zheng Yaojun told Jiang Dao to continue stroking Eleven, until Eleven seemed to relax a little, baring his teeth while leaning his nose to Jiang Dao’s wrist, smelling his scent.
“Good boy.” Zheng Yaojun released Jiang Dao’s hand, took out a fingertip-sized piece of jerky from his pocket, and rewarded Eleven.
After a friendly exchange, Jiang Dao was extremely excited, he immediately picked up his mobile phone, and took advantage of having signal to send a message to Chu Yinlong: “I finally touched a dog!!!”
Chu Yinlong replied in seconds: “I’m glad. Congratulations.”
At the end, he added: “What dog? It didn’t run away when it saw you?”
Jiang Dao asked Zheng Yaojun, took a photo of him and Eleven, and sent it to Chu Yinlong.
“The military dog brought by Brother Zheng was on the battlefield before. It’s very courageous.”
“I originally wanted to ask Brother Zheng if I could adopt it, but Brother Zheng said that this dog is his comrade-in-arms, so it’s unlikely he’ll let anyone take it away.”
“I don’t know if there will be a chance to go to Brother Zheng’s house to visit after returning to Yan City.”
Chu Yinlong: …
Very good. On the first day of letting people go, he has already begun to regret it.
…
That night, the program team leader announced the tent distribution method: “Yunyun is a girl and lives alone in a tent. Next, we have a two-person tent and a four-person tent. Mr. Zhao, Lin Chu, and Yuan Shu will share the four-person tent, and Brother Zheng and Xiao Dao will live in the two-person tent?”
No one objected.
The leader continued: “You guys have to watch the bonfire at night, so the six of you need to take turns on duty at night. In groups of two. Yunyun and Yuan Shu will watch together from ten o’clock to one in the morning. Xiao Dao and Brother Zheng will have to work hard from one to four in the morning. Finally, Dr. Zhao and Lin Chu, you will take over until morning. Does this work?”
No one had any objections, so the night shift started that night.
At ten o’clock in the evening local time, everyone tidied up and got into the tents to rest.
Jiang Dao slipped into his sleeping bag skillfully and started up the e-book he had downloaded earlier. He closed his eyes and was about to fall asleep quickly when he heard Eleven whining and expressing dissatisfaction outside the tent.
Zheng Yaojun ordered: “Get down and sleep!”
Eleven bit the corner of his sleeping bag.
When Zheng Yaojun raised his finger, Eleven obediently released his teeth, but lay on the tent door aggrievedly, looking inwards. Zheng Yaojun stretched out his hand and pulled the tent door closed. He heard Eleven whine twice, then pressed his ears to the tent tightly, lying on his stomach and didn’t move.
“Tsk, I don’t know why he’s defensive against you.” Zheng Yaojun was really puzzled. “I don’t think you have any ill will…”
Jiang Dao smiled and said nothing.
At more than one o’clock in the morning, Jiang Dao was woken up by Zheng Yaojun and got up to take over the night shift.
In fact, there is no danger at the entrance of the canyon, or even inside the canyon. This kind of forested hiking project will not happen in areas with large predators. The night duty is to ensure the bonfire doesn’t go out, and keep an eye out on any unexpected situations.
Jiang Dao was actually quite used to doing nothing for three hours.
Different from staying at home, he will not get bored when he has nothing to do when he is out in the field, as if this kind of idleness is part of the “job”, and the content of the job is to wait.
Zheng Yaojun looked at Jiang Dao and suddenly became curious: “Have you ever done field training?”
Jiang Dao blinked: “No.”
Zheng Yaojun smiled. “It seems that you are quite used to being woken up in the middle of the night. This hour is the hardest to wake up to, and you’re not sleepy at all. When I was a new recruit, I would easily be dizzy by now.”
Three hours later, Dr. Zhao got up to change night duty, and Lin Chu followed him sleepily, yawning as soon as he sat down.
Jiang Dao went back to the tent and took off his jacket, got back into his sleeping bag, and reopened the e-book.
“Are you used to listening to music to sleep?” Zheng Yaojun was surprised.
“Yes,” Jiang Dao admitted, “if I don’t listen to sounds, I can’t sleep.”
“You’re like my comrade-in-arms.” Zheng Yaojun remarked casually. “He was sent to a war zone for two years, and after he came back, it was like this. He couldn’t sleep without listening to sounds. What did the doctor say, the sequelae after being in war…”
Jiang Dao was slightly stunned: “Sequelae after being in war?”
Zheng Yaojun hummed. “Probably because he was used to being vigilant on the battlefield, he was uncomfortable after returning to a quiet environment. But it was cured later.”
Jiang Dao’s curiosity was roused. “How did he get cured?”
Zheng Yaojun smiled. “He was fine after he got married. He told us that he feels secure sleeping with his wife, probably because he subconsciously knows someone else is guarding him.”
Hearing this, Jiang Dao lowered his eyes in thought.
The times he slept well… aside from the times Chu Yinlong recited scriptures, the first time he fell asleep without listening to anything seemed to be the evening he lost his headphones when filming in Taoyuan…
He hadn’t forgotten that when he woke up that day, he was holding onto Chu Yinlong’s arm.
That’s not how PTSD works in RL, but it does help move the plot along.
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