147: Chapter 147 Must a knife be used to kill?

"What's the point?"

Wang Lan rolled those two words over the tip of her tongue and almost laughed out loud.

In a guy like Zhang Tao's brain, there was forever only that stuff in his pants and what to eat tomorrow.

Anything beyond that, he couldn't see at all.

She raised her hand and swatted away Zhang Tao's hand that was still resting on her waist. "To make Lin Fan see me."

Zhang Tao had used up some energy just now and hadn't fully recovered yet. "Doesn't he see you every day?"

"You work in the cave, gather firewood, and weave straw mats; he's not blind."

Wang Lan raised her head to look at him.

Moonlight leaked through the gaps in the trees, casting a flickering light and shadow across Zhang Tao's face.

Stupidity was sometimes even more glaring than the scars on a face.

"Seeing a laborer and seeing a useful person are two different things."

Zhang Tao was choked up by her words, but his mouth remained unconvinced. "Didn't you just recognize a few herbs? What kind of big skill is that?"

"At the company, it wouldn't count."

Wang Lan slowly buttoned up her collar. "Here, it does."

She pointed down at the Karst Cave below.

"Lin Fan currently has water, meat, a knife, and a crossbow in his hands, but supplies will run out, knives will dull, crossbow bolts will snap, and people will get injured."

"By that time, whoever can tell which plants are edible, which herbs can stop bleeding, and which herbs can be fatal will be valuable."

Zhang Tao understood only half of what she said.

He found these twists and turns annoying.

In his view, since Lin Fan was strong, they should suck up to Lin Fan. Since Wang Lan knew how to recognize herbs, she should just go and tell him directly.

If you were useful, you got to eat; how simple of an account was that?

"Then why don't you just go tell Lin Fan directly?" Zhang Tao clicked his tongue. "Say you can recognize herbs, do accounts, and do all sorts of messy things. If Lin Fan thinks you're useful, he'll definitely reward you with some benefits."

He paused, the more he spoke, the more he felt he made sense.

"If I knew how to do this, I would have gone long ago. Why would I need to go through such a huge roundabout way? We almost got Su Qingxue killed, and in the end, you called it off. Such a hassle."

Wang Lan looked at him and didn't speak for a long time.

Zhang Tao felt creeped out by her gaze. "What are you looking at me for?"

"That's why you can only ever be a lackey."

"You fucking..."

Before Zhang Tao could press on, Wang Lan spoke up. "If I proactively go tell him, Lin Fan will only be on guard against me."

"A guy like him, the more you say you're useful, the more he'll think: Why are you in such a rush to prove yourself? Do you have ulterior motives? Do you want a position?"

"Lin Fan isn't some idiot like Wang Qiang."

"If Wang Qiang kowtows to him twice, his tail can stick up to the sky. Lin Fan is different; he will first dig out your heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys to examine them all over again before deciding which corner you should sleep in."

Zhang Tao's lips moved.

He wanted to retort, but what popped into his mind were all scenes of Lin Fan's meticulous scheming.

"That's why we have to let him discover it himself."

"Song Ya picked the wrong medicine, I called to stop her, and Su Qingxue took the two handfuls of leaves to show Lin Fan. If Lin Fan couldn't even recognize those two herbs, he wouldn't have survived until now."

"Su Qingxue asking Lin Fan indirectly tells Lin Fan that I have value."

"A person who can distinguish poisonous herbs, a person who stops poisonous herbs at a critical moment, a person who knows what is edible and what is inedible, holds a different weight from a woman who only knows how to gather firewood, take beatings, and be bullied by men."

"He won't trust me immediately."

"But next time he goes into the woods, he will think of me and let me help him distinguish things."

"Only by gaining his trust will we have the chance to kill him."

Zhang Tao's back turned cold.

The mountain breeze blew over, raising a layer of goosebumps on his neck.

He was both shocked and scared. "Do you really want to move against Lin Fan?"

Zhang Tao lowered his voice and instinctively glanced toward the cave entrance.

Inside the cave, there was firelight and figures.

Lin Fan was right down below. Despite this slight height difference, he still didn't dare raise his voice.

"Duh." Wang Lan glanced at him. "If we don't move against him, are we supposed to wait to gather firewood for him for a lifetime?"

"But he has a knife and a crossbow in his hands."

"That's why we can't attack forcefully."

"How did the others die? More than a dozen people wanted to snatch food, and what was their final end? The last thing Lin Fan fears is people like you—loud-mouthed, timid, thinking you can be bandits just because you hold a wooden stick in your hand."

Zhang Tao lost a bit of face.

"Zhang Tao, don't hate hearing this."

Wang Lan said, "A person like you can never accomplish anything in your life precisely because you always think about getting full in one bite."

"Snatching water, snatching women, snatching meat."

"You can snatch it for a moment, but when you can't, you panic."

"What truly allows a comeback is never rushing forward head-on to shout and kill, but waiting for the opponent to expose their back."

Zhang Tao's face twitched. "Lin Fan will expose his back to you?"

"He will." Wang Lan answered without pausing. "As long as he thinks I'm useful."

She glanced deep into the woods. The night pressed down on the tree crowns, suffocatingly dark.

"Now he has already taken us with him. In the past, when he led people into the woods, you guys were in front, and the women stayed in the cave. Today is different; he brought everyone out."

"Why?"

"Supplies aren't enough anymore?"

"No."

Wang Lan shook her head. "He's in a rush."

Zhang Tao was stunned. "What is he in a rush for?"

"I haven't quite figured it out yet."

Speaking up to here, a slight furrow appeared between Wang Lan's brows.

"Starting from this afternoon, something has been off about him. Originally, he was going to check the traps, but then he suddenly turned back and called everyone into the mountains. This pace is too rushed."

"A guy like Lin Fan won't make a move without a reason."

"He must have found out something."

The more Zhang Tao listened, the more annoyed he became. "Can you stop talking about this all the time? My head hurts just listening."

"That's why I said you can only be a lackey."

Wang Lan withdrew her gaze. "No matter what he found out, as long as he still needs to go into the woods, he needs people."

"Su Qingxue is crippled."

"That leg, even if Lin Fan rubbed medicine on it, won't be able to touch the ground for half a month. These few days she can only lie in that cubicle acting like an ancestor; Lin Fan can't take her with him."

Zhang Tao curled his lip. "So what? Aren't there other people?"

"That woman Song Ya is timid, full of a Virgin Mary complex, and trembles at the sight of blood."

"Today, she couldn't even get it right when asked to recognize a herb. If Lin Fan takes her into the mountains, she'll only be a burden and won't be able to stir up any waves at all."

Wang Lan continued counting on her fingers. "As for Liu Feifei, besides whimpering under Zhou Kai, what else can she do? She has to wail after walking just a few steps; Lin Fan finds her annoying just by looking at her."

Wang Lan took a step forward, closing in on Zhang Tao.

"The only usable people by Lin Fan's side have always been just Zhou Kai and you."

"Therefore, Zhou Kai has to disappear."

As soon as these words came out, the surrounding air seemed to grow a few degrees colder.

Zhang Tao was stunned for a moment, then let out an exaggerated laugh, lowering his voice to curse, "Are you fucking crazy? Zhou Kai disappear? Just based on you? You're going to kill him?"

"With those skinny arms and legs of yours, there are no laws in this place; Zhou Kai can snap your neck with a single slap!"

Zhang Tao felt that the woman in front of him was dreaming.

Zhang Tao's face was filled with contempt. "When you see Lin Fan, you don't even dare to breathe loudly, yet you dare to move against Zhou Kai?"

Wang Lan quietly watched Zhang Tao's performance.

After he finished laughing, she finally spoke: "Who said I was going to do it myself?"

Zhang Tao's laughter got stuck in his throat.

"Must you use a knife to kill people?" Wang Lan tilted her head to glance at the firelight in the direction of the Karst Cave. "That's something only brainless people would do."