14: Chapter 14 The Scent of Power

The fire Chen Jian had started had completely turned into a disaster.

The soaked rotting wood and seaweed underwent frantic carbonization under the high temperature, releasing massive amounts of pungent sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide.

Thick smoke billowed.

Over a dozen ragged men and women huddled around the bonfire, tears and mucus streaming down their faces, coughing heart-rendingly, yet not a single person was willing to move even half a step.

Leaving this cloud of toxic gas meant facing the extreme cold of single digits and below.

"What time is it... What time on earth is it!" Su Qingxue grabbed her hair tightly with both hands, her voice hoarse beyond recognition.

Her originally delicate and aloof face was now smudged black and white by the smoke.

No one answered.

Everyone's watches were spinning wildly, the hands on the dials turning into a life-claiming countdown.

Wang Qiang and the others were choked to the point where their lungs felt like they were going to burst, and in their hearts, they had already cursed all eighteen generations of Su Qingxue's ancestors.

How wonderful it would have been if there had been no team-building event.

But at the thought of her promise that rescue would definitely arrive by twelve o'clock, along with the tempting position of sales director and the bonus, everyone forcefully swallowed their anger.

As long as they could hold out until the helicopter arrived, the suffering they endured now would be the pledge of allegiance for their future promotion and prosperity.

No one dared to cross Su Qingxue at this time; even if they were smoked until they looked like foolish dogs, they had to silently endure it like obedient grandsons.

...

"Why isn't the helicopter here yet! How long has it been?"

Extreme hunger and cold, coupled with the visual deprivation of darkness, completely disrupted this group's time perception system.

"Where is the rescue... President Su, didn't you say the rescue would arrive before twelve o'clock?"

"Looking at the time, I'm afraid it's already one in the morning. Where is the helicopter!"

Su Qingxue's body trembled violently, her lips trembling as she couldn't speak.

She also wanted to ask why the helicopter still hadn't arrived.

As for those freeloaders in the company, she would fire every single one of them when she got back.

Liu Feifei was curled up at the very outer edge.

The cicada-wing-thin lace cover-up on her body was already tattered long ago, and one of the straps of her purple bikini had been torn off, barely covering her private parts.

For an A-list superstar, this was a scene that countless people would normally pay to see yet never could.

The toxic smoke smoked her throat until it felt like it was smoking, her stomach was completely empty, and she didn't even have the strength to retch acid.

She raised her head.

Her gaze pierced through the heavy black smoke, staring fixedly at the mid-mountain slope.

There was no toxic smoke there.

There was only the warm, bright yellow firelight, and waves of drifting roasted meat aroma.

Liu Feifei swallowed a dry gulp of saliva, a tearing pain shooting through her throat.

She turned her head to glance at Su Qingxue, who was still in a state of madness, and then glanced at a few people who were beating each other up to grab a spot slightly closer to the fire source.

These people were done for.

Following them, she wouldn't survive tonight.

Liu Feifei bit her lip, using the pain to stimulate her nerves.

Supporting the sandy ground with both hands, she slowly stood up, and taking advantage of everyone going crazy on the verge of breakdown, she quietly withdrew from the crowd.

She turned around and walked unsteadily toward the rocky slope on the mid-mountain.

At night, unable to see the road clearly, she could only walk toward the light. The gravel cut the soles of her feet, and the vines scratched her proud Huadan face.

She didn't care at all.

Having struggled in the entertainment industry for so many years, she knew the rules of survival all too well.

Dignity? Bottom line? Pure persona?

Those were all luxury items one only deserved to have after being well-fed and warmly clothed.

In this damned place where even time was disordered, whoever had water, fire, and meat in their hands was the director.

And right now, the resources were sitting inside that Karst Cave.

Mid-mountain.

Lin Fan leaned against the dry rock wall, toying with the pitch-black tactical straight knife in his hand.

The camphor wood in the bonfire burned quietly, releasing a steady heat.

He slightly narrowed his eyes. Ahead of his line of sight, a golden omniscient prompt box floated in mid-air.

[ Current Time: 21:05 ]

[ Ambient Temperature: 8°C ]

[ Beach Target Group Status: Mass hysteria outbreak, time perception disordered. The first case of hypothermic shock is expected to appear within three hours. ]

It was only nine o'clock.

The corners of Lin Fan's mouth hooked up.

This bunch of usually high-and-mighty elites hadn't even survived the first half-night on the Deserted Island before half of them had gone crazy.

"Rustle, rustle..."

A faint scratching sound came from outside the cave entrance.

The hand with which Lin Fan held the knife tightened instantly. A beast?

Just as he stood up, a fair palm stained with mud and blood grabbed the rock on the edge of the Karst Cave.

Immediately following that.

A pitiful, tear-stained, and scarred face poked in.

Liu Feifei.

She panted heavily, the breathtaking snowy whiteness on her chest rising and falling violently with her breathing.

The purple bikini simply could not contain those two full mounds, leaving large patches of skin exposed to the air, covered in tiny scratches.

She saw Lin Fan.

She also saw the roaring bonfire behind Lin Fan, as well as the half-empty iron box of luncheon meat beside it.

Liu Feifei's eyes lit up instantly.

"Lin Fan..."

Her voice was hoarse, though it was hard to tell whether she was deliberately putting on a seductive act or if it was caused by the smoke.

Lin Fan looked at her coldly, the tip of his knife pointing obliquely at the ground.

"Get out."

Three words devoid of any emotional coloring.

Liu Feifei's body stiffened, and her tears instantly breached the dam.

Instead of retreating, she crawled into the Karst Cave using her hands and feet.

She knew men's soft spots all too well.

In the company, this Lin Fan was merely a bottom-rung intern who didn't even dare to raise his head when talking to her.

As long as she cast a slight flirtatious glance, a naive little boy like this would lose his soul completely.

"Lin Fan, I'm so cold... I'm really so cold..."

Crying, Liu Feifei crawled forward.

She deliberately slowed down her movements, twisting her waist into an extremely exaggerated curve.

The already tattered cover-up slipped off completely, revealing a large expanse of smooth back and a slender waist that could be spanned with a single grasp.

She crawled to Lin Fan's feet, reached out with both hands, and hugged his lower leg tightly.

"I beg you, let me warm myself by the fire... just for a little while..."

She raised her head. That pure and flawless face on the screen now bore undisguised desire and ingratiation.

She deliberately pressed her chest tightly against Lin Fan's lower leg, even rubbing against it extremely covertly twice.

Lin Fan looked down at the woman beneath his feet.

The top-tier Huadan of the domestic entertainment industry, the dream lover of countless men, and the national first love, Liu Feifei.

Back in civilized society, if Lin Fan even glanced at her from afar at the annual meeting, he would be roughly pushed away by men in black bodyguards.

Those bosses worth over a hundred million had to line up and throw money just to have a meal with her.

On the screen, she was a cold and aloof immortal sect goddess, a high-altitude flower that could not be desecrated.

But what about now?

This high-altitude flower was prostrating herself without any dignity at the feet of a bottom-rung intern, wagging her tail and begging for pity.

The intense visual impact and the extremely exaggerated status gap rushed straight to the brain along the nerves of the lower leg.

Lin Fan was a normal man.

Twenty-four years old, hot-blooded, and single since birth.

Although his mind was terrifyingly clear, his physiological reactions simply could not be completely suppressed.

He clearly felt a wave of wicked fire surging from his lower abdomen.

"Let go." Lin Fan's voice deepened.

Liu Feifei keenly captured this subtle change.

She believed that looking like this would definitely make all men in the world unable to help themselves.

"I won't let go..."

Not only did Liu Feifei not let go, but she instead groped all the way up along Lin Fan's lower leg.

That pair of exceptionally well-maintained hands, though stained with mud and sand, were still unbelievably soft.

"Lin Fan, down there is too terrifying... They've all gone mad... Only here with you is the safest."

She raised her head, her gaze lingering and stringy, her voice so coquettish it could drip water.

"As long as you let me stay and give me a sip of water... I'll do whatever you want me to do."

"What... Anything?" Lin Fan sneered out loud.