"Wait a minute, didn't I click on this to watch a wilderness adventure video? How did it turn into a food section?"
"I logged in as soon as I got off work, and when I saw the grilled shrimp on the stone slab, I really thought I had clicked the wrong channel. I went back and checked the channel name again."
After eating and drinking his fill, Song Shi'an wrapped the remaining shrimp in large leaves, dug a small pit in the shallows by the river, and kept the few fish he had caught in it, covering them with a layer of branches for camouflage.
I looked up at the sky; the clouds were low and the air was getting increasingly humid, so it was highly likely to rain tonight.
He hurriedly collected large amounts of palm leaves and dry branches, and after working hard for most of the day, he finally built a simple shelter.
The frame was supported by crisscrossing thick tree branches, covered with several layers of palm leaves for waterproofing, and tightly bound together with vines on all sides.
There was only a small opening left for someone to squeeze through from the side, and a layer of dried fern leaves was laid out inside as a mattress.
As darkness fell, he waved to the camera and said, "That's all for today. Goodnight."
At the request of the production team, the cameras could not be turned off except for personal reasons when they needed to be covered, and they were kept on even when sleeping.
There is a time difference of more than ten hours between domestic and international times.
When Song Shi'an fell asleep, it was still broad daylight in China, and many people were slacking off at work by leaving live streams running in the background.
Exhausted from a long day, Song Shi'an fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, and his breathing gradually became steady.
In the middle of the night, a light rain began to fall in the rainforest, and the temperature plummeted. In his drowsy state, he felt something furry and warm next to him, like a giant hot water bottle.
It is instinctive for people to move closer to a heat source while sleeping; he unconsciously rubbed against that direction.
The director, seeing two glowing dots appear in the night camera footage behind the monitor, jumped up from his chair in fright and grabbed the walkie-talkie to send someone to rescue him.
The jaguar had been wandering around the area all day, and could smell the grilled shrimp and fish from afar.
Without breaking a sweat, he used his claws to peel off the leaves that Song Shi'an had wrapped and ate all the remaining shrimp and fish in the pit.
They ate it all up, leaving not even fish bones.
After eating and drinking their fill, the rain intensified. The jaguar looked around and its gaze fell on the small shelter built with palm leaves.
To protect against rain, Song Shi'an built the shelter much larger than needed, and lined it with dried fern leaves, making it much more comfortable than the damp bushes outside.
It silently walked over using its paw pads, and peeked out from the gap to sniff the humans inside.
The scent was unlike any animal it had ever encountered before, but it didn't seem aggressive or threatening.
The jaguar lay down an arm's length away from Song Shi'an, tucking its tail around its side, perfectly blocking the only gap.
The night camera captured the entire scene, and many viewers went to watch the other explorers travel through the night, while only some of Song Shi'an's fans remained in the live stream.
Suddenly, two glowing green dots appeared on the screen, getting closer and closer. Only when the jaguar was further away from the camera could the viewers realize that it was a real beast.
The live chat exploded instantly.
"Holy crap, holy crap! What's the production team's phone number?! Help! Someone's in danger!"
"Is that a jaguar?! A fully grown jaguar! This thing has a bite force that can crush a human skull!"
"My hands are shaking, An'an, wake up! Don't sleep, there's a leopard next to you!"
Then they saw the jaguar lie down next to Song Shi'an, resting its head on its front paws and slowly sweeping its tail across the dry fern leaves, looking just like an enlarged house cat finding a comfortable corner for an afternoon nap.
"????????"
"This is the nth time I've been shocked today!!!"
"I suspect this continental explorer cheated. First, it was a venomous snake, and now it's a jaguar. Did he bring something to ward off wild beasts?"
"What do you mean 'drive away'? This leopard is sleeping right next to him; it's more affectionate than my cat."
"Was he a plant? Leopard, say something!"
"That leopard was huge! His shelter was just big enough for one person and the leopard to lie down comfortably. It felt like the leopard was just there to freeload."
The jaguar blocked the gap, preventing the cold wind from getting in, and the shelter was much warmer than before.
The night passed peacefully for most of it. In his sleep, Song Shi'an habitually reached out towards the heat source and touched a furry, warm body.
The feel was completely different from the blankets he used in the villa; this blanket seemed to breathe, rising and falling with each step.
His eyes snapped open.
A pair of amber vertical pupils were staring directly at his face, so close that you could count the hairs on the leopard's whiskers.
The jaguar probably didn't expect the human to suddenly wake up. A visible hint of doubt flashed in its vertical pupils, but it remained lying down without moving.
Song Shi'an felt his blood instantly freeze from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.
Oh no, he was eating shrimp this afternoon, and now he's being eaten as a midnight snack by someone else.
His back was pressed against the wall made of tree branches, his legs were weak, and his whole body was as stiff as a piece of frozen meat just taken out of the refrigerator. His mind was racing through his short but fulfilling life.
He hasn't even finished playing the role of a hundred cannon fodder characters, he hasn't received the 10 billion reward from the system, and he hasn't even warmed up his bank account balance yet. He can't just become the leopard's snack like this.
He swallowed hard, his voice dry and hoarse. "Uncle Leopard, let's keep to ourselves. If it really comes to it, you can have this place, and I'll leave, okay?"
The jaguar stared at him for a moment, then stood up and slowly swept its tail across the dry fern leaves.
Then it shook the water droplets off its fur, yawned, and turned and slipped out through the gap.
The rain had stopped, and the leopard's figure flashed and disappeared into the night without even turning its head.
Song Shi'an collapsed to the spot, and it took several seconds before he felt his heart start beating again.
The subtitler who was doing the simultaneous translation fell asleep in the middle of the night, so foreign viewers could only hear a segment of Chinese and had no idea what was happening.
All I saw was this young Asian man say a few words to an adult jaguar, and then the jaguar walked away.
The online commentators were frantic, scratching their heads in frustration.
"What did this continental explorer just say? Why did the jaguar leave after he said just one sentence?"
"Is this the mysterious power of the East? He can talk to animals?"
"I need translators! Right now! I'll crowdfund a subtitler with five dollars!"
"The first five dollars is too little, I'll offer ten."
"Did you guys notice that the leopard didn't tuck its tail between its legs when it walked? It wasn't scared at all; it walked like it was 'slept enough and didn't want to sleep anymore.'"