149: Chapter 149 As planned, it's time to set up the stage and put on the show.

On one side was Lin Fan's unfathomable terror, and on the other was the fatal leverage Wang Lan held in her hands.

Death was certain either way, but doing as Wang Lan said would at least give him a fighting chance at survival.

Furthermore, he could also get Su Qingxue and Liu Feifei.

The temptation of beauty still worked, even on a Deserted Island.

After a long time, Zhang Tao's tightly clenched fists slowly loosened.

"You had better make thorough preparations." He raised his head, his eyes bloodshot. "If the wind direction isn't right, I'll be the first to sell you out, and at worst, we'll both go down together!"

Hearing this utterly non-threatening harsh remark, the corners of Wang Lan's mouth curled into an almost imperceptible arc.

"Happy cooperation." She said softly.

When settling accounts, what one feared least was the other party bargaining. As long as he was willing to sit at the table, the rest was just like boiling a frog in warm water.

Wang Lan adjusted her clothes and turned to walk toward the outer edges of the woods.

"Let's go. With your ability, staying out too long will arouse suspicion."

Zhang Tao did not retort to Wang Lan; he merely followed mechanically behind her like a soulless puppet.

The second before, he still thought he was a big shot who played with women; the next second, he had already become fish meat on the chopping block.

When they returned to the entrance of the Karst Cave, the firelight below was still flickering.

Everything looked no different from when they left.

He patted the mud off his trouser legs and silently found a stone slightly farther from the fire to sit down.

His whole person appeared somewhat numb and blank.

Wang Lan quietly retreated to her own edge position.

Throughout the entire process, the two did not make eye contact, nor did they exchange a single word.

Lin Fan was poking the charcoal fire with a branch, and he did not ask what they had been doing.

In this place, everyone had shameful thoughts that couldn't be controlled.

As long as it didn't delay work or threaten his position, he couldn't be bothered to probe deeply.

The most fatal problem right now was not human hearts, but supplies.

Lin Fan's gaze shifted to the deep corner of the Karst Cave.

In that place, a few stones were piled up to form a simple enclosure, inside which hundreds of empty plastic bottles were stacked—all accumulated over these past few days.

The water was running out.

The mineral water collected when they first arrived on the island had long been mostly consumed.

This was just for himself, Su Qingxue, and Song Ya to drink mineral water.

The others relied entirely on the fresh water produced by the simple distillation equipment Chen Jian had previously made to sustain their lives.

If everyone drank mineral water, I'm afraid the water would already be gone.

If a person didn't drink water for three days, even an immortal would turn into a mummified corpse.

There was simply no water on the outer edges of the woods. If a new batch of people really came and controlled the beach, it would be difficult to get water again.

To find water, one had to go deeper inside.

Lin Fan narrowed his eyes, weighing the risks of entering the mountain.

He knew very well what entities were entrenched in the deep woods.

Those mutated bugs, and that large snake that made one's soles feel chilled at the sight of it.

If they were to run into it, just the few of them wouldn't even be enough to fill the creature's teeth gap.

That bullshit system installed in his brain.

This thing was usually as good as dead and ignored whatever was asked.

But it had one good point: when encountering an absolutely fatal threat, it would forcefully pop up a red-text warning.

The route to be taken tomorrow was still completely clean on his retina right now, with no warnings.

This indicated that the snake was not active in this area these past two days.

While it wasn't around, they should push deeper inside to find water sources and edible things.

To stay alive, one had to gamble.

"Eat first." Lin Fan suddenly spoke.

Lin Fan was the local emperor on the island, so distributing meat naturally depended on his mood.

Holding a dagger, Lin Fan ruthlessly sliced a large chunk of prime meat, a mix of fat and lean, from the blackened, smoked piece of beast meat on the rack.

Grease dripped down the blade's edge, sizzling as it fell into the campfire.

Using the tip of his knife, he picked up that piece of meat and directly tossed it onto Zhou Kai's stone slab.

The portion was fully twice the usual amount.

Liu Feifei watched from the side with her eyes staring straight, her throat involuntarily making the sound of swallowing saliva.

"We have to do heavy work tomorrow and go deeper inside. You will walk in front to clear the path."

Lin Fan wiped the grease off the blade with a rag. "Eat more and save up your strength."

Zhou Kai lowered his head to glance at that glossy piece of meat, uttering no nonsense.

He grabbed the meat and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing until his mouth was full of grease.

This was the deposit for risking one's life. Having taken the meat, even if a mountain of knives and a sea of fire lay ahead tomorrow, he would still have to push forward as the first one.

Sitting on the stone, Zhang Tao swept a glance out of the corner of his eye at Zhou Kai's eating manner, a wave of sourness rising in his stomach.

Just now upstairs, Wang Lan's plan spun through his mind once more.

This idiot Zhou Kai was still eating happily here; one of these days when he got his tendons pulled and skin peeled, he wouldn't even know how he died.

After finishing dinner.

Lin Fan picked up the dagger and tapped it twice against the stone.

The two crisp clanging sounds were exceptionally piercing within this enclosed Karst Cave.

Disarmament time.

This was the iron rule every night. No matter who performed a meritorious service during the day, no one other than Lin Fan could keep a single edged item in their hands at night.

Zhou Kai was the first to hand over the skinning knife.

Zhang Tao dawdled for a moment and took out the piece of iron used for self-defense on his body as well.

When handing it over, his fingers trembled uncontrollably.

Lin Fan lifted his eyelids.

The hair on Zhang Tao's back stood straight up with a swish, and he hurriedly pulled his hand back into his pocket, lowering his head and taking a step back.

The instinct of a guilty conscience was infinitely magnified on this oppressive island.

Lin Fan did not speak and threw all the collected tools into the partition room.

The sleeping arrangement in the Karst Cave was in itself a microcosm of status.

Lin Fan patted the dust off his hands, lifted the tattered cloth curtain, and brought Su Qingxue and Song Ya into the partition room.

The four berths on the outer periphery were arranged with distinct boundaries.

Liu Feifei slept at the entrance of the partition room, her body half squeezing over.

Zhou Kai slept next to her, and Zhang Tao was separated by a certain distance, though not far from Zhou Kai.

As for Wang Lan, she slept on the outermost side, right next to the drafty position at the entrance of the Karst Cave.

For Lin Fan, Wang Lan's dangerousness was the highest.

Early the next morning, just as the sky was faintly brightening, the fog in the woods was extremely heavy.

Lin Fan turned out all those shriveled mineral water bottles and packed them all into the back basket woven by Zhou Kai.

The swelling on Su Qingxue's feet had mostly subsided, and the large area of frightening purplish-black under her skin had also dissipated into a greenish-yellow.

But it had pulled her fascia; stepping down, let alone walking, even standing and bending caused excruciating pain.

She was simply a dead weight right now.

Lin Fan walked over, took half a bottle of purified water and a small, shriveled piece of fruit, and placed them beside her hand.

"You guard the Karst Cave!"

"Mm!" Having adapted for over a month, Su Qingxue had slowly grown accustomed to her role.

The team assembled completely.

Zhang Tao carried a back basket filled with empty bottles, and Song Ya carried another relatively lighter one.

Lin Fan was at the front, closely followed by Zhou Kai.

Liu Feifei walked in the middle, and Wang Lan still trailed at the very back.

Upon entering the deep woods, the light instantly dimmed by several degrees.

Underfoot was no longer that soft sandy soil, but decades-accumulated rotting fallen leaves.

With a single step down, dark brown mud welled right up onto the shoe uppers, exuding a nauseating, fishy stench.

The surrounding vegetation was frighteningly dense, vines coiled around tree trunks like snakes, and all sorts of bizarre bugs crawled back and forth on the undersides of the leaves.

After walking for over an hour, the clothes of everyone in the team were soaked through by sweat and fog.

Zhang Tao panted heavily, his eyes seeing stars.

He glanced at Lin Fan in front, then stealthily peeked at Wang Lan lagging at the very back.

According to the plan, it was time to set up the stage...