Humans who wish to survive in the wilderness need a few things besides the most basic material conditions…

First, a healthy body.

Second, a strong psychological endurance.

Third, sufficient survival knowledge.

Only those who possess these three things are qualified to compete with nature in a dangerous environment.

But now, the character played by Feng Bujue is clearly not up to par…

The second and third points might not be a problem for Brother Jue; mentality and wisdom are his own. The problem lies in the first point—a healthy body.

Feng Bujue thought… that the people who came to participate in this show shouldn't be addicted to the point of being hopeless, but now, after experiencing it, he understood… that drug addicts, let alone survive in the wilderness, even if you let them stay in a relatively comfortable civilized world, they are just a pile of mud that can't do anything.

"Ha… Huff… Fucking hell…" At this moment, Feng Bujue was panting heavily, staggering through the jungle, "After walking for twenty minutes, I've only gone this little distance…" He glanced at the game menu again, "But the stamina value has dropped by a thousand points…"

Brother Jue leaned against a tree, gasping, "Huff… Stamina is worse than the average person, and much worse…" He shook his head, "The worst thing is… this 'withdrawal reaction' just won't stop… ha… ah~" As he spoke, he yawned, and at the same time… tears, saliva, and snot flowed freely.

"Ugh—spit!" Brother Jue spat out the unknown salty liquid in his mouth and wiped his face with his sleeve. "Huff… This won't do… It's getting more and more uncomfortable. Dizziness, chills, fever… I can bear these; but the soreness in my limbs is gradually turning into numbness, and the nausea in my stomach is developing into pain… This is not a good sign; and this huge amount of sweating… will lead to excessive water loss…"

Feng Bujue understood that he had two choices now: first, rest in place and use willpower to get through the peak of this withdrawal reaction; second, find something to relieve the addiction as soon as possible and alleviate the physical pain.

"Well… although I really want to choose a more proactive strategy…" Brother Jue's vision was a little blurry at the moment, but he still tried his best to observe his surroundings, trying to find some clues, "But there doesn't seem to be any clues nearby…"

Just as he was about to sit down, suddenly…

"Neigh neigh—" Two low animal whimpers came from the forest.

Feng Bujue didn't dare to be careless and immediately looked towards the source of the sound.

However, what came into his sight made him wonder… if he was hallucinating due to drug addiction.

Da da… De de…

The animal slowly walked past Brother Jue, its hooves moving deliberately. It didn't show any interest in the human not far away, nor did it show any fear.

"Are you kidding me…" Feng Bujue thought he was seeing things, quickly rubbed his eyes, but the facts proved… he was not mistaken.

The animal that strolled past him was a quagga (once distributed in South Africa, extinct in 1883. Its whole body was tan, no different from an ordinary solid-colored horse, only its head, neck, and shoulders had zebra stripes).

"What kind of horse is this…" Brother Jue knew very little about this extinct animal and had never seen it before, so he complained in his heart, "This horse's family is messy enough…"

As he thought this, he had already picked up the military shovel, quietly circled to the side and rear of the horse, and slowly approached.

"Brother Horse, don't blame me…" Feng Bujue muttered in a low voice, "After I take care of you, my three-day supply of rations will be in hand. Solving the food problem at the beginning of the competition will undoubtedly give me a great advantage. And the extra food can also be used as a bargaining chip for trading with others…"

As he spoke, he had approached within two meters of his prey.

Just as Brother Jue was about to strike, but hadn't yet… suddenly, the quagga seemed to sense something. The next second, it raised its head and neighed, then ran away.

The three hundred and fifty kilogram creature dashed out with lightning speed, turned and sprinted, disappearing into the forest… In the blink of an eye, it was gone, with only the faint sound of hooves still lingering in the ears.

At this moment, Feng Bujue suddenly realized… that his previous actions were extremely dangerous. If his first strike failed (given the physical fitness of a drug addict, this was highly likely), and instead injured and angered this beast weighing more than four times his weight, then he would be in serious trouble… Being knocked over or bitten would be considered light injuries; if the horse turned around and kicked him, he would probably die on the spot…

"Not good…" Brother Jue covered his forehead with one hand, trying to adjust his breathing, "It seems that the 'withdrawal reaction' has already affected my thinking…"

At this point, Feng Bujue discovered the true horror of the [Withdrawal Reaction]—its symptoms not only bring superficial discomfort but also affect the nervous system.

For example, in those three minutes just now, Feng Bujue's "memory and behavior" were disturbed… His brain's memory, attention, calculation ability, and judgment ability all experienced temporary decline. His thinking became dull, wooden, and accompanied by phenomena of memory confusion.

This led to… that during that period, he subconsciously believed that he still possessed unrestricted combat ability. That's why he picked up the military shovel without thinking and wanted to kill a horse…

Of course, the thought-interference effect of the [Withdrawal Reaction] is not permanent…

This deBuff is actually very interesting—it has randomness, stages, and uncertainty. Although it contains all the reactions of drug withdrawal, these effects will not all occur at once.

Anyway… every few minutes to a dozen minutes, its effect will change, as for what it will change into… only heaven knows. The next time it changes, maybe it will only have the painless effect of "loss of appetite"; but it is also possible… that seven or eight effects will occur simultaneously, just like the state Brother Jue is currently experiencing.

"Well… in that case, I can't stop to rest even more…" Feng Bujue thought for about a minute and decided to continue moving forward. "I must find a marijuana stash as soon as possible… otherwise, I'll become an idiot…" He didn't know that this deBuff had a changing effect, only thinking that the situation would further deteriorate…

So, Brother Jue cheered himself up again, concentrated as much as possible, and staggered towards the depths of the forest.

After walking for another five minutes or so, his stamina value had dropped to 17344600; and the effect of the "withdrawal reaction" was refreshed at this moment.

"What's going on… after walking for a while, it seems a little better." Feng Bujue, who was freed from thought interference, quickly realized this, "Could it be… that the effect of this deBuff will… Holy shit!"

In this instant, he didn't suddenly realize something, but was interrupted by a sudden stench.

"A corpse, perhaps…" Feng Bujue's first reaction was this.

His reaction also represents the reaction that the vast majority of players would have… Any player who has been in Thriller Paradise for a while basically has the ability to instantly identify the smell of corpses and blood (whether in the game or in reality), which, in a sense, can also be regarded as mastering a skill…

"Hehe… Great…" Brother Jue wasn't surprised but delighted when he smelled the stench. He immediately quickened his pace and ran towards the source of the smell.

Unsurprisingly, he found a corpse next to a big tree a few dozen meters away.

It was a male corpse, wearing only a pair of underpants and handcuffs on his wrists. At this moment, the corpse's decomposition was already quite severe, and there were traces of animal bites on the flesh.

"Suffocation… putrefaction green spots… abdominal distension… no human footprints nearby…" When Feng Bujue inspected the corpse, a lot of information flashed through his mind, and he instinctively turned it into clues like puzzle pieces, "Two kinds of bite marks, one after another… hyena… unknown creature… scavenger?"

In just a few dozen seconds, Brother Jue had initially completed the survey of this scene. He spat unhappily, "Tch… the weather is too hot, and the corpse has been destroyed by wild animals… Now it's hard to judge the time and cause of death…" At this time, he couldn't help but say, "Sigh… if Xiao Tan was here, after all, he's a professional…"

"Wait…" Two seconds later, Feng Bujue was slightly stunned, "Hum… Why am I analyzing those things… This is a TV show." Thinking of this, he suddenly understood, "The entire island is under the surveillance of the production team, and everything on the island… is naturally arranged by the production team."

After figuring this out, Brother Jue re-examined the corpse in front of him and found something indeed, "Heh… I see. No wonder there are only animal tracks nearby, but not his own footprints…" His expression changed slightly, "This corpse was transported here… and those who transported it cleared their footprints before leaving."

"So… what is the production team's intention in placing a male corpse here… what information do they want to convey to the contestants…" Feng Bujue gently stroked his forehead and bridge of his nose with his fingers, thinking, "Well… the corpse's posture is obviously meaningless. They should know that it will most likely be moved by wild animals when they leave the corpse here." He paused and said again, "According to this line of thinking… ways of providing clues such as tattoos, blood writing, and carving words on flesh are undoubtedly unreliable, after all, no one can predict where the wild animals will bite."

In the end, Feng Bujue's gaze locked on two things—the underpants and the handcuffs.