Chapter 281: Chapter 278: Incurable

“Achoo!”

As soon as Marcus woke up, he felt uncomfortable in his nose, and the next second, his face twisted sharply, his lungs contracted violently, and he sneezed, the air with droplets racing out of his nostrils.

A faint stench wafted through the air, and Marcus’s heart sank after the dizziness subsided.

Damn.

He had caught a cold!

But then he harbored a sliver of luck, thinking it might just be an uncomfortable nose, spring had arrived, perhaps some flowers had bloomed, maybe it was pollen…

“Achoo, achoo.”

The two sneezes that followed mercilessly shattered Marcus’s wishful thinking. He snuffled, his face indescribably sullen.

In the city, a cold was no big deal, something that would get better in a couple of days, but being alone in the wilderness…it was a huge deal.

Feeling his blocked nostrils and heavy body, Marcus cursed under his breath just as he was about to get up, and lay back down on the dry leaves.

Little did he know that this whole scene had been witnessed by all the spectators. While Marcus was still asleep, people realized something was wrong. It was well into the morning, and the other competitors were already up and about hunting or looking for food; only he was still sleeping.

With him getting up and sneezing several times in succession, anyone could tell he had caught a cold.

[Is it over, is he going to be eliminated on the second day?]

[The first one to be eliminated!]

[Not necessarily, he hasn’t given up yet, can everyone please not be so discouraging?]

[Where’s Master Fang, hurry up and tell us, how is it?]

“Whether he gets eliminated or not, I’m not sure, it still depends on the individual’s will and development. However, it’s highly likely he won’t make it through,” Bi Fang stroked his chin, pondering Marcus’s performance.

“Marcus hasn’t eaten for almost more than thirty hours since the airdrop, and all the water he’s drunk has been frost, further aggravating his energy consumption. Now he’s caught a cold; it would be impressive if he still had the energy. And you see the way he is, almost curling up into a ball.”

On the screen, Marcus was like a cooked shrimp, completely curled up inside the shelter, shivering severely, clearly averse to the cold, and occasionally coughing violently.

“So this is not just an ordinary cold, but a wind-cold cold, characterized by a heavy aversion to cold, mild fever, clear nasal discharge, and coughing. Typically, one needs to prevent cold and keep warm to feel better. Judging by Marcus’s behavior, it matches exactly. It might even turn into a fever later on.”

A fever?

The audience was startled; a fever was quite serious. Even in normal life, a fever was unbearable, enough to make one not want to go to work, let alone in the wilderness.

If he developed a fever, Marcus’s challenge could almost be declared a failure.

This was clear to the audience, and, of course, Marcus understood as well. He didn’t want to be eliminated so soon. Struggling, he got up from the ground and tried to find something to eat.

But as soon as he steadied himself, he felt the world go dark and nearly fell, but the light quickly returned, allowing him to see his surroundings clearly.

Coughing twice, Marcus headed towards the simple trap he had made the day before. In his current state, hunting was virtually impossible, so he could only hope that the trap set overnight had yielded something.

Unfortunately, the first trap was completely empty.

It was a fairly simple trap, using two small branches to hold up a noose, one end of the noose tied to a tree, ready to tighten instantly if any prey passed through.

Bi Fang took the opportunity to introduce to the audience: “This is the simplest and most primitive type of noose trap, commonly known as a neck-hanging noose. Although it’s simple, it covers a wide range of prey, from small ones like squirrels and rabbits to big ones like wild boars.

Setting this kind of trap requires familiarity with the animal’s size, consideration of the height off the ground, and, most crucially, finding the animal’s path. Otherwise, it’s very difficult to have any success.”

[So are there animals that often pass by here?]

“No.”

The audience was dumbfounded. No, what do you mean?

“Anyway, I didn’t see any animal paths here. Marcus probably just took a gamble. Didn’t you notice? He set up many traps; this is already the third one.”

Bi Fang shook his head. The traps set by Marcus were scattered at various distances, and it would take a long time to check them all.

The production team had no intention of following him continuously and switched the scene to the other participants.

The bow that Mugalen had been smoking overnight was now complete. He bent it to test its strength, which was surprisingly high. Clearly, it was a fine bow. He couldn’t wait to string it and set out as soon as it was done.

Running a full day late, there was no telling if he could turn things around.

Ji Zuodong’s luck wasn’t bad either; backed by a wild river, he had indeed caught a small fish last night. Unfortunately, it was so tiny it could barely fill a tooth gap. He got up early this morning and walked along the riverbed, obviously looking for a good spot to fish. If he caught a big fish, it would mean he wouldn’t have to worry about food for the next two or three days.

Bonuo, Doligong, and several others were still unhurried, continuing on their way.

However, two participants did something unexpected as they stayed put to maintain their shelters; they dug into the thick soil, half a meter deep, and pulled out a bunch.

Earthworms!

The soil acts as insulation. In the winter, earthworms don’t all die but burrow deep underground, near half a meter.

Watching the serious contestants, the audience had an ominous feeling.

[Damn, what’s with this déjà vu!]

[That day, the screams of being dominated by earthworms rose once again…my apologies, wrong set.]

[Awesome, awesome, I thought I’d never see this scene again. This round might witness Old Fang’s miraculous move!]

The audience exclaimed in admiration, recalling Bi Fang’s prior example, most could anticipate what would happen next.

As expected, one of the contestants frowned deeply. It’s quite amusing, though, this trick he actually learned from watching Bi Fang’s videos, and this was also his first attempt.

After squeezing the soil out of his stomach, leaving a deflated worm behind, the contestant closed his eyes and gulped it down in one go!

“Ugh!”

The thick earthy stench exploded, and the contestant couldn’t hold back, vomiting out the acidic liquid along with the worm, and within the mess vomited out, one could vaguely make out a red worm wriggling, but this scene was quickly censored by the show’s production team.

It was a bit of a mood killer.

Another contestant seemed to fare a bit better, swallowing it in one breath, and then kept dry heaving.

It’s just not fit for human consumption!

At least until the two of them absolutely couldn’t continue anymore, there was no way they were going to eat worms again, whether mentally or physically, they were extremely uncomfortable.

Then there was a large group of viewers asking how Bi Fang managed to eat them in the first place, but Bi Fang wouldn’t say. After a hearty laugh and observing everyone’s reactions, he switched the screen back to Marcus.

Marcus had already finished making his rounds, and attentive viewers had counted a total of thirteen noose traps.

All of them were empty.

“Traps are of use only in the right places; otherwise, it’s like waiting for a rabbit by the stump—a laughably low chance of success. Think about it, on a hundred-meter-long stretch of land, how much space does your noose take up? Twenty centimeters? The odds of an animal running right through it are next to none. But if you set up the trap in places that animals frequent, like a passage that is only a few meters wide, the chances of catching something are much higher.”

Having made a full loop without any catch, Marcus nearly fainted on the spot. He staggered backward, leaning on a tree, as his stomach acid burned his stomach lining like boiling water, causing an excruciating pain.

It’s all over now, truly over.

Forget about the competition, even just surviving these twelve days now seemed like a luxury.

With a sense of despair, Marcus sat down on the ground and, in a fit of frustration, ripped out some weeds from beside him and threw them on the ground, then clutched his head in his hands.

Yet, what Marcus had tossed aside caught Bi Fang’s attention. He furrowed his brow, looked for a long while, and after confirming Marcus didn’t realize what he had done, he regretfully said, “Such a pity, actually, his chance to turn things around was right in front of him.”

[Turn things around? What do you mean?]

[Did Master Fang notice something? Come on, tell us!]

[Stop being so mysterious!]

[He’s still thinking about turning things around?]

“Do you know what he just threw away?” Bi Fang pointed at the “weeds” near Marcus and said, “That’s Echinacea, also known as Coneflower.”

Echinacea?

The audience looked at the muddy plant on the ground and slowly typed out a question mark.

[Is that supposed to be a flower? Where’s the flower?]

[No one believes that; I don’t believe it either (Dog’s head)]

“The flower hasn’t bloomed yet.”

Bi Fang wasn’t surprised by the audience’s reaction because the Echinacea now didn’t look at all like a flower but seemed like simple weeds. However, it is indeed a very common herbal plant.

“Echinacea is originally from North America, and indigenous residents used it to treat toothaches, sore throats, colds, and infections. Especially at the onset of a cold, it is very effective in treatment.

To recover from a cold quickly in the wild, you either take a hot spring bath like I did last time—if you have a strong physique, a single soak is almost enough.

Otherwise, you rely on medicinal herbs. Many common herbs have the effect of treating colds, such as Schizonepeta, Isatis root, mulberry leaf, Imperata root, dandelion, hedge mustard, and these things are very common, found worldwide.”

[Damn, dandelions can cure colds?]

“Yes, but the effect is not as good as Echinacea. This herb is the best-selling health product in Ugly Country, particularly suitable for times when the body needs the immune system to work hard.

I’ll tell you an interesting fact: there are no medicines in the world that can cure a cold…”

How is that possible?

[Nonsense, I feel much better after taking medicine!]

[Right, there are so many cold medicines, how can that be?]

[Old Fang, aren’t you sensationalizing a bit much?]

[I’m a medical student, actually]

The screen was filled with doubtful comments, with occasional support that was quickly drowned out by the voice of the crowd.

“Mr. Bi, are you serious?”

Not just the viewers, but even the staff on-site cast skeptical glances after hearing this. If there were no medicines that could cure a cold, then what had they been taking all this time?

For comfort?

“You can check it out.” Bi Fang raised an eyebrow, “I know it contradicts what you’ve always believed, but that’s the reality. Since colds are viral infections, no medicine can cure them. The medical community’s approach to treating colds still revolves around rest, symptomatic treatment, and preventing secondary infections.

The symptoms in symptomatic treatment refer to nasal congestion, runny nose, cough, sneezing, fever, and other issues caused by a cold. The cold medicines on the market today target these symptoms.

Which is to say, all the cold medicines available now don’t ‘cure the cold’, they’re just there to alleviate the various discomforts a cold brings.

The only defense that can kill the cold virus is our own immune system, so this is the best time to take Echinacea.”