Chapter 17: Surprising Popularity

Before three minutes had passed, the snoring sounds began, one after another, as if competing with each other.

Steve smiled bitterly. He was a light sleeper. Unless he was extremely tired, he usually woke up at the slightest noise. With so much snoring around him, it was a bit difficult to fall asleep.

After tossing and turning for a while and still unable to sleep, Steve suddenly remembered that it was already past midnight and the system's popularity value should have updated, so he casually opened the system.

Host: Steve

Age: 25

Strength: 31

Physical fitness: 30

Agility: 46

Spirit: 55

Skills: Singing level 3, Dancing level 4, Acting level 4, Cooking level 1…

Popularity value: 1,230,687 (anti-fans included)

Lottery

Mall: (Not open yet)

Character favorability: (Not yet available)

Seeing the popularity value surpass one million, Steve counted it again in disbelief. It was indeed over a million.

"Wow, I've really made it big. It's really thanks to this globally popular program. The popularity value has gone up by more than 1 million in less than a day. Isn't that incredible?"

At this rate of increase, Steve figured it wouldn't take long to restore his physical condition to normal levels.

However, after Steve saw the explanation behind the popularity value, he started to understand something.

His popularity of over 1 million might not have been earned through winning everyone's love.

The reason he had gained so much attention was largely due to the large number of anti-fans.

Thinking this over, Steve didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"Forget it. As long as the popularity is there, it doesn't matter where it came from."

He thought for a moment about how to spend his 1.2 million popularity points.

After some pondering, Steve felt that improving his physical fitness should come first. Everything else was secondary, and his health was the most important.

Physical fitness determined whether he could avoid sickness, endure long hours of work, or withstand harsh environments. It could be said that physical fitness was the most useful of all the attributes.

"Add 1 point to physical fitness," Steve muttered to himself.

System: "Are you sure you want to spend 100,000 popularity points to increase your physical fitness by 1 point?"

"Sure," Steve confirmed.

As soon as Steve gave the command, he felt his body tremble and go numb, and a warm current surged from his lower abdomen, flowing throughout his body. The sensation was like soaking in a hot spring surrounded by girls massaging him — it was so comfortable that he felt like he was floating in the air.

Steve nearly screamed out loud. After a few minutes, the feeling slowly subsided, and Steve let out a long breath.

"That feels amazing. Good thing I didn't add 10 points all at once; I added them little by little. I can only imagine how intense it would have felt otherwise."

After adding a small amount to his physical fitness, Steve felt that all the fatigue from a long day disappeared. He felt energized and full of vitality.

But something felt a bit off. Steve realized he was feeling hungry. Although he wasn't starving, the fullness from his earlier meal had vanished quickly.

It was probably because the added physical condition had burned up some of the energy stored in his body.

"If this happens often, will I become a big eater in the future?" Steve mused.

Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal — just eat a little more and spend some extra money. But now they were in the wild, where finding food was already difficult, and this side effect seemed a bit ridiculous.

Still, compared to the side effects, improving his physical fitness was more important. After all, it was related to his life, so he had to push forward.

"Forget it, I'll just eat more. At worst, I can find extra food myself," Steve decided.

But he was careful not to overdo it. Otherwise, it would definitely draw attention.

"System, add another point to physical fitness," he said.

Once again, that familiar sensation returned, and Steve felt a little addicted to the warmth that spread through him.

However, the feeling of an empty stomach stopped Steve from continuing.

"If I add more, I'll definitely feel hungry again. And it's not pleasant to be hungry late at night."

Since he wasn't able to sleep anyway, Steve thought it might be a good idea to go out and find something to eat. The most important thing was to improve his physical condition as soon as possible.

With that in mind, Steve quietly stood up and walked out.

"Where are you going?" A voice suddenly called out from behind, causing Steve to jump in surprise.

Turning around, he saw it was Jarvis. Steve sighed in relief and said, "You scared me. Why aren't you asleep yet?"

"I couldn't sleep, but what about you? What are you doing sneaking around in the middle of the night?" Jarvis asked suspiciously.

Steve rolled his eyes. "Which one of your eyes saw me sneaking around? I was just trying not to wake you up. I'm going to the bathroom. Are you going?"

"Pff, go by yourself," Jarvis responded dryly.

"Bye-bye," Steve said.

"Be careful," Jarvis called after him.

"Mm-hmm," Steve replied, then walked out of the shelter and looked around. Where could he find food?

There were plenty of options — kelp, sun-dried snail meat, and even some grilled grouper from earlier that hadn't been eaten.

However, these were reserved for everyone, and Steve felt too embarrassed to take any of them. After thinking it through, he decided to try to find some food on his own.

As Steve walked along the beach, he suddenly remembered the crab trap he and Kevin had set earlier that evening. He figured he'd check it to see if any crabs had been caught.

At this hour, there weren't many people watching the live stream. It was almost 3 a.m., and dawn was just around the corner. The time zone in their location was nearly identical to that of China, so most people there were already resting.

Even though there weren't many viewers, considering China's large population base, there were still tens of thousands watching the live stream.

They saw that Steve wasn't asleep in the middle of the night and wondered what he was doing.

"Hey, what's this kid doing up at this hour instead of sleeping? Is he planning to do something bad?"

"Could it be that he can't control himself after being surrounded by so many beauties and wants to release some energy?"

"Then why are you still awake? What's your excuse?"

"No, if there was anything to do, I'd be asleep by now."

"I bet he's out to catch crabs."

"No way? Even if he wants to show off, he shouldn't skip sleep."

"It looks like he's grilling the crabs he caught. Damn, he wants to have a barbecue."

"Holy crap, this kid is nuts, releasing poison in the middle of the night. This is inhumane."

"F**k, this kid is too much, who can stand this?"

"I'll take a delivery job anytime, where's the work?"

That's right — Steve was planning to barbecue.

While sand crabs didn't have much meat, they could still be delicious if cooked with the shell crispy. Fortunately, there were plenty of sand crabs around here, with dozens caught in just a few hours.

Although the crabs were small — only slightly bigger than the tip of a finger — this was actually the usual size for these crabs.

Steve threaded the crabs onto sticks or bamboo skewers, making dozens of strings of crabs. Then, he placed the crab skewers upright near the fire and began to roast them slowly.

Soon, a tantalizing fragrance filled the air. The crabs gradually turned red, signaling they were almost done. If Steve wanted to cook them further, he could leave them a little longer to make the shells crispy and the meat even more flavorful.

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