After seeing the two trending topics, many netizens couldn’t help but click in for a look.

After viewing several photos with vastly different styles, the audience felt dazed and experienced a strong sense of dissonance.

What? You’re saying these two are the same person? Are you joking?

The girl scrunching her face from the fruit’s sourness had plain looks and didn’t resemble a celebrity at all. Rather, she looked like an ordinary person one could see anywhere. She had a bare face without any makeup, exuding youthful energy. She wore an outdated pair of glasses, her hair was slightly frizzy, and her movements and expressions were all natural and relaxed. She appeared very real and down-to-earth.

Standing beside Lu Jingdu and Shen Yueyue, she looked so plain that she blended in like a background character.

However, her indifferent attitude, as if she had no desires or ambitions, kept her from being completely overlooked. In fact, it made her stand out in a unique way.

But the beauty in the promotional photos? She was flawless from the tips of her hair to the tips of her toes. Every inch of her was stunning and exquisite, the kind of beauty that made people instinctively feel inferior, unworthy of even thinking disrespectful thoughts.

No matter how one looked at it, the two didn’t seem like the same person.

Someone must have made a mistake. How could they possibly be the same person?!

Meanwhile, Ning Xiaoyu’s fans were completely dumbfounded when they saw the promotional photos.

After a few seconds of stunned silence, they exploded.

【Qingxin, this is too much! What are you trying to do, photoshopping our Xiao Yu like this?】

【Is Qingxin trying to overhype our Xiao Yu just to tear her down later? You think we, her fans, will allow that?!】

【Wow, Qingxin! I thought you were decent, but you edited our Xiao Yu so much that even her own parents wouldn’t recognize her!】

【What the hell? Why did you give her a 3D model face?! What were you thinking?】

【Where’s Qingxin? Come out and explain! Playing dead now? What does this mean?】

【If you don’t give us a satisfactory response, we’ll boycott your brand! We mean it!】

Qingxin’s official Weibo account was flooded with outrage from Ning Xiaoyu’s rapidly growing fanbase.

At first, the company was caught off guard.

What? Everything was fine, so why were fans suddenly attacking them?

After reading the comments, the company found the whole situation both amusing and exasperating.

What photoshop? Ning Xiaoyu actually looked like this! Why were her own fans more willing to believe the photo was fake than to accept that their idol was naturally this beautiful?

Qingxin quickly issued a statement, clarifying that the female celebrity in the photos was indeed Ning Xiaoyu and that there was no excessive retouching. The reason she looked so stunning was simply because of her natural beauty. Qingxin emphasized that they respected every celebrity and would never arbitrarily edit their images.

Despite reading the statement, Ning Xiaoyu’s fans were still skeptical.

It couldn’t be helped. They hadn’t become her fans because of her looks and had rarely paid attention to her daily outfits. They simply couldn’t believe that their beloved Xiao Yu could look this ethereal.

Following her livestreams was all about laughing and cheering for their salted fish queen.

Makeup? Fashion? Did those even matter?

Not at all!

After all, beauty requires time and effort.

For instance, when Ning Xiaoyu took the promotional photos, the stylist gave her a breathtaking hairstyle that perfectly suited her face and aura. It was an absolutely perfect match.

However, maintaining that flawless hairstyle required meticulous daily care, which would take up a significant amount of time and energy. Without proper care, hair would inevitably become frizzy.

For Ning Xiaoyu, taking care of her hair was simply out of the question. She’d rather spend that time doing something else.

In reality, frizzy hair wasn’t uncommon.

Any girl who got a perm and neglected aftercare would find their hair becoming dry and unruly. Ning Xiaoyu’s hair wasn’t particularly bad, but it was definitely far from ‘perfect.’

As a result, her fans had never really paid attention to her hairstyle.

Again, their love for her had nothing to do with her looks.

But now that the official statement confirmed there was no excessive editing…… could their salted fish queen really look like this?

Curious, fans rushed into her livestream, eager to compare the real Ning Xiaoyu with the glamorous celebrity in the photos.

However, at that moment, their idol was fast asleep in a sleeping bag. Completely unaware of the online uproar, she smacked her lips twice in her sleep, as if savoring something delicious. She clearly had no intention of putting on a show for anyone.

Seeing this, fans couldn’t help but comment.

【No matter what Xiao Yu looks like, she’s great as she is. Being lazy has its own charm.】

【Alright, let’s disperse. As long as Xiao Yu is happy every day, that’s all that matters.】

【Honestly, looks aren’t that important.】

【That said, I wouldn’t mind seeing Xiao Yu all dressed up again. She looked so ethereal…… Slurp.】

【There will definitely be more chances in the future!】

【Fans vs. Salted Fish Queen: Who Will Live Longer.jpg】

After all, they had chosen to support a salted fish. They couldn’t ask for more.

They couldn’t exactly force Ning Xiaoyu to put on makeup and dress up every day, right?

That was impossible. And unrealistic.

Besides, if they really did that, wouldn’t it defeat the whole purpose?

Ning Xiaoyu didn’t bother with makeup or fancy outfits because she genuinely preferred it that way. She felt more at ease and comfortable. Forcing her to change wouldn’t be love, but selfishness.

True fans should respect and support their idol’s choices. And this? This wasn’t bad at all.

While Ning Xiaoyu was still asleep, completely oblivious to the emotional rollercoaster her fans had gone through overnight, everything had already settled down by the time she woke up.

Her fans had already handled the situation for her.

As for Ning Xiaoyu, she just needed to continue living worry-free.

After waking up, Ning Xiaoyu scratched her slightly messy hair. After washing up, she turned to Lu Jingdu, who had woken up ten minutes earlier, and asked, “What’s for breakfast?”

Lu Jingdu replied, “There are some compressed biscuits in the bag. Enough for one meal.”

The production team had not prepared much food for the guests. Aside from staple food, there were only a few pieces of candy and chocolate.

The candy and chocolate were meant to prevent low blood sugar and couldn’t serve as proper meals.

Even the staple food was only enough for two meals. Once it was gone, there would be no more. That was why Ning Xiaoyu had chosen not to eat the biscuits last night.

But early in the morning, Ning Xiaoyu felt lazy all over and couldn’t be bothered to scrounge food from the natives. She decided to wait until she was full before trying to mooch off them.

With that thought, Ning Xiaoyu took out a compressed biscuit from her bag, drank some water, and started eating.

By the time she finished, Shen Yueyue had also gotten up. After all three of them had eaten breakfast, Ning Xiaoyu led her two companions back to the natives, hoping they could trade for some more porridge.

Perhaps because they had already met once yesterday, the natives now regarded them as familiar faces. As soon as they saw them, their leader seemed to understand their intentions.

Ning Xiaoyu lacked everything except chocolate. The production team had prepared a lot of it to prevent low blood sugar among the guests.

She wasn’t greedy— she only wanted to trade for some more of the porridge from last night.

However, this time, the tribe leader didn’t order his people to bring porridge. Instead, he had them fetch several boxes.

Before Ning Xiaoyu could get a clear look, Shen Yueyue gasped in surprise. “Are those self-heating hotpots?”

How did the natives have self-heating hotpots? Where did they get them?

The leader pointed at the self-heating hotpot in his hand, then at himself, and shook his head.

Then, he pointed at Ning Xiaoyu and nodded.

【What does this mean?】

【Language barriers make communication so difficult!】

【Body language is simple and direct, but when it gets complicated, it becomes really hard to understand.】

Shen Yueyue pressed her lips together and asked softly, “What is he saying?”

Ning Xiaoyu, however, had somewhat understood.

Perhaps because she had a simple way of thinking, she tended to view problems in a straightforward manner without overcomplicating them. That was why she could grasp the native’s meaning.

She raised three fingers, then pointed at herself, Lu Jingdu next to her, and Shen Yueyue.

The native across from them nodded and made a few unintelligible “Ah ah” sounds, as if trying to communicate despite the language barrier.

【Ahhh, what does this mean? I can’t understand at all!】

【Hurry up and explain, Xiao Yu!】

【LOL, Xiao Yu must be asking for three self-heating hotpots, right? The leader nodded, so it must be a deal.】

【But why are they being so generous? And where did they even get these hotpots?】

Ning Xiaoyu accepted the self-heating hotpots from the leader. Even after taking three boxes, the natives still had plenty left.

Lu Jingdu raised an eyebrow. “They’re giving these to us?”

Ning Xiaoyu hummed in affirmation, then added, “But there’s a condition.”

Lu Jingdu frowned slightly. “What condition?”

If it was something unreasonable, then they might as well not take the hotpots.

After all, they were only staying there for three days, which would pass in the blink of an eye.

Even if they had to go hungry, they could just endure it.

Noticing his hesitation, Ning Xiaoyu quickly explained, “They don’t know how to eat these. They want me to demonstrate and teach them how to use them. The reward is these three self-heating hotpots.”

After speaking, Ning Xiaoyu glanced at the production date and shelf life printed on the packaging.

Good grief, they were set to expire in half a month. If they didn’t eat them soon, they would go to waste.

【Damn, that simple body language exchange had so much meaning behind it?】

【The salted fish queen is amazing!】

【The salted fish queen is seriously awesome! Is Xiao Yu actually a master of body language?】

【Now the real question is— did the movie king just got soft rice from her again? First, it was porridge, and now it’s upgraded to self-heating hotpots!】

【Movie King: Thanks, I won again effortlessly. Don’t be jealous, you can’t replicate this.】

【Other guests came here for extreme survival. These three are just here to mooch. Absolutely legendary!】

Ning Xiaoyu had no idea where the natives had gotten the self-heating hotpots from. Most likely, they had been left behind as compensation by a research team or a documentary crew that had come to the area.

However, those people hadn’t considered the natives’ actual situation and they had left without teaching the natives how to use the hotpots.

Ning Xiaoyu demonstrated the process for them in person. First, she removed the transparent outer packaging, then placed the heating pack inside and added cold water. Finally, she poured in the various seasoning packets.

Once all the steps were complete, all they had to do was wait for the food to cook.

The natives watched Ning Xiaoyu intently. After observing the whole process, they quickly grasped how to do it themselves. One of them even gave Ning Xiaoyu a thumbs-up before the group excitedly began preparing their own self-heating hotpots.

Meanwhile, in the neighboring livestream room, several other guests were anxiously worrying about what to eat for the day— while Ning Xiaoyu and her group were already happily feasting on fragrant, delicious self-heating hotpots.

The love system couldn’t help but chime in sweetly, 〖The movie king is responsible for being handsome, and the host is responsible for mooching food and supporting the household. My ship is truly adorable!〗

Adorable?

Ning Xiaoyu: “……” Thanks, I guess.

When some viewers shared the news that Ning Xiaoyu’s group was eating self-heating hotpots, the other guests’ first reaction was disbelief.

What nonsense? Self-heating hotpots? How could there possibly be self-heating hotpots there?

It had to be a joke.

But as more and more viewers kept saying the same thing— and sounding utterly serious— Sister Liu from 《Extreme Survival》 finally couldn’t hold back her curiosity and entered Ning Xiaoyu’s livestream room to verify it herself.

The moment she entered and saw Ning Xiaoyu actually eating a self-heating hotpot, the famously tough and fearless female powerhouse of 《Extreme Survival》 couldn’t help but curse.

“Sh*t, I can’t believe I just ran into a girl who’s even better at extreme survival than I am. Damn, damn, damn.”