157: Chapter 157 But this bastard treated me like a short-statured person.

Wang Lan, who had been hiding behind a thick tree in the distance, rushed out, still holding a stone in her arms.

Zhou Kai was still in a state of killing-induced stress and didn't notice Wang Lan approaching at all.

Lin Fan stood nearby, his gaze falling on Wang Lan.

Wang Lan did not look at Lin Fan.

Nor did she look at the blood-covered Zhou Kai.

Her gaze locked precisely onto the wild boar's back.

Stuck there was the greater part of the spear that Zhou Kai had previously fashioned by binding a long wooden stick with iron pieces.

During the earlier fight, the spear had broken, leaving only this half embedded in the flesh and skin, failing to hit any vital organs.

Wang Lan walked up to the wild boar, raised the heavy bluestone in her hands high, aimed at the end of the broken spear, and smashed it down fiercely.

"Thud!"

A muffled sound rang out.

The weight of the bluestone combined with the downward force drove that half of the broken spear several centimeters deeper into the flesh.

The spearhead instantly pierced through the wild boar's internal organs.

The wild boar's body twitched violently, its four thick legs stretching out straight and becoming rigid.

The wheezing breaths vanished completely.

It was thoroughly dead.

Wang Lan tossed the stone aside.

Using excessive force caused her fingers to scrape against the rough surface of the stone, and a few drops of foul, dark red boar blood splattered onto the back of her hand and her sleeves.

She didn't use a cloth to wipe it off.

She merely turned her head to meet Lin Fan's gaze.

This was the make-up assignment she was handing in.

She was telling Lin Fan:

Not only can I keep accounts, find water, and identify herbs,

but at critical moments, I also dare to step forward.

I am not a useless good-for-nothing.

Lin Fan looked at the blood on the back of her hand, then glanced at the broken spear completely nailed into the boar's back.

He merely used his cuff to wipe away the blood splattered on his face.

He said nothing and asked nothing.

Wang Lan's heart sank slightly; what made her most uncomfortable was this kind of reaction from Lin Fan.

He neither praised, scolded, exposed, nor took up the challenge.

It was just like an account statement she had painstakingly handed over, where the other party only needed to glance at it to know where the fake entries had been made.

On the other side, behind a large tree,

Song Ya watched the wild boar fall to the ground and stop moving, and the breath stuck in her throat finally dropped.

She saw Zhou Kai sitting in the mud covered in blood, and saw that Lin Fan's hands were also full of blood. Instinctively, she stepped forward, wanting to run over and help tend to their wounds.

Just as she took a step, the corner of her clothes was grabbed tightly.

Liu Feifei crouched behind a tree root, her hands gripping Song Ya's clothes tightly as she pulled her backward.

"Don't go!"

Liu Feifei lowered her voice, her tone shaking violently.

Half her body was pressed tightly against Song Ya's back, treating Song Ya entirely as a human shield.

"Wild boars always travel in packs! What if there are more in the forest? Are you running out there to throw your life away right now?"

Song Ya turned back to look at her.

Liu Feifei's face was covered in mud, but her eyes held only fear and self-preservation.

At that instant, Song Ya felt a chill in her heart.

Just now, Zhou Kai had almost died, and Lin Fan had almost been torn apart by the tusks.

Even Wang Lan had walked out to deliver the final blow.

Yet the only thing Liu Feifei had done from beginning to end was hide behind her and grab onto her to stop her from moving.

Song Ya bit her lip. "Lin Fan is injured."

Liu Feifei was so anxious her voice turned shrill. "What does it matter to you if he's injured? He's so formidable, he won't die!"

Song Ya didn't speak.

She simply used force to pull the corner of her clothes out of Liu Feifei's hands bit by bit.

Then she ran toward Lin Fan's side.

Her pace wasn't fast.

But she didn't stop.

Liu Feifei watched Song Ya's retreating figure, her complexion turning alternately green and pale.

She wanted to scold her.

But she didn't dare speak loudly.

Because Lin Fan had already turned his head to look over.

Those eyes were so cold they looked as though they were going to settle accounts later.

Liu Feifei forcefully swallowed back the words that had reached her lips.

Up in the tree, Zhang Tao was still hugging the trunk.

He remained stiff as a board, his face pressed against the damp tree bark, not even daring to loosen his legs.

Until he confirmed that the wild boar was truly unmoving, he tremblingly looked down.

The bloody water on the ground had already mixed into the black mud.

Zhou Kai was covered in blood.

Lin Fan's hands were covered in blood.

Wang Lan's cuffs were also covered in blood.

Only he was clinging to the tree, completely clean.

Zhang Tao suddenly felt that something was amiss.

Such cleanliness was no good thing at a time like this.

Zhang Tao slid down from the tree, swallowed a dry gulp of saliva, and forced out a smile that was uglier than crying.

"Brother Fan... Brother Kai, you guys are too awesome! This is a two- or three-hundred-pound wild boar, and you actually managed to kill it."

Zhang Tao said as he shrank his neck back slightly. "Brother, it really wasn't that I didn't want to help just now; my legs started cramping as soon as I walked over from the pool. In my anxiety just now, they completely locked up, and I really couldn't stand up..."

"Besides, when I climbed the tree, I wasn't just looking out for my own escape. I was taking the high ground to observe the enemy situation for you guys."

The more he explained, the weaker his voice became.

His darting eyes swept back and forth across Lin Fan's and Zhou Kai's faces, trying to glean something from them.

Zhou Kai shifted his gaze away from the dead boar.

He picked up the black dagger and slowly stood up.

Muddy water and blood dripped down his hands.

He did not answer Zhang Tao's words, but instead walked with heavy strides straight up to Zhang Tao.

Zhang Tao watched Zhou Kai approach; that blood-smeared face was terrifyingly cold.

He instinctively wanted to back away. "Zhou Kai, listen to me—"

Before his words could finish,

Zhou Kai raised his right leg and kicked Zhang Tao fiercely in the stomach.

This blow held back no strength whatsoever.

Zhang Tao couldn't even let out a scream as he stumbled backward a few steps and then slammed heavily onto a pile of rotting fallen leaves.

His stomach churned violently.

The crushed vine fragments he had been chewing earlier and the few sips of cold water he had drunk, mixed with stomach acid, instantly spewed out completely.

Zhang Tao clutched his stomach, curled up in the mud, and gasped in pain repeatedly.

Zhou Kai didn't even bother to look at him again, turning around to meet Lin Fan's gaze.

"Brother Fan, don't blame me for breaking the rules." Zhou Kai wiped the blood and mud from his face, spitting out a mouthful of dirt-tainted saliva. "It's just that this bastard acted too unethically."

"I jumped down just now to save him."

"Yet this bastard treated me like an idiot."

"I expected him to lend a hand from behind, but he climbed faster than a rat."

"If it weren't for you, I'm afraid I'd be dead by now..."

Zhou Kai knew very well that Lin Fan was the absolute core of this team; without Lin Fan's nod, taking it upon himself to hit someone was crossing the line.

But if he didn't beat this son of a bitch up, he couldn't forgive himself.

Lin Fan stepped forward and bent down to pick up the military shovel.

Lin Fan bent over to pick up the military shovel that had fallen into the muddy pit.

He raised his hand, wiped his thumb across the blade to scrape off the mud, folded the handle, and clicked it back onto the tactical belt at his waist with a snap.

Zhang Tao clutched his stomach, coughing violently while spitting up sour water.

He scrambled over toward Lin Fan's feet, unable to care about any remaining face or dignity.

In this remote wilderness, with a single word from Lin Fan, he could be turned into rotting meat just like that dead wild boar.

"Brother Fan, Brother Fan, I was really wrong! That really was an instinctive reaction, my legs went soft, I truly didn't mean to screw over Brother Kai..."