161: Chapter 161 After his teeth started to leak air, his speech became more pleasant to hear.

Zhang Tao gripped the broken branch tightly.

"Stop trying to use reverse psychology on me."

"I'm not."

Wang Lan turned to leave. "Anyway, with that cowardly look of yours, even if Zhou Kai beat you to death, you wouldn't dare say a single word of dissent."

Zhang Tao froze in place. He knew Wang Lan was right; as long as Zhou Kai held a knife to his throat, he could even make up how many times Wang Lan wet the bed when she was a kid.

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Wang Lan took two steps and stopped again.

"Zhang Tao, do you think retreating now makes you safe? It's already too late."

She didn't look back.

"Neither of us is clean in Lin Fan's eyes. The only difference is when he'll have the free time to deal with us."

Zhang Tao's breathing grew heavy.

After a long while, he threw the broken branch onto the ground.

"Then we take care of Zhou Kai first?"

Wang Lan didn't answer.

But silence itself was the answer.

Zhang Tao raised a hand to wipe his upper lip. "Those few punches that bastard hit me with, I'll pay him back sooner or later."

Only then did Wang Lan turn to look at him.

"Not sooner or later, tonight…"

Zhang Tao looked at her, the trace of hesitation in his eyes not completely gone.

Wang Lan delivered another slash.

"As long as we get rid of Zhou Kai, Lin Fan won't have anyone by his side. Although we still won't be trusted, life will definitely be better than it is now."

"That's easy for you to say, how do we do it?"

Wang Lan looked at him, slowing down her speech.

"We can't take him head-on."

"No shit, if I could take him head-on, would I need to listen to you?"

Wang Lan didn't answer immediately.

She put the vine basket on the ground, took a few steps, and then reached under a nearby cluster of dead leaves, pulling out a bamboo tube.

The bamboo tube wasn't long, about the thickness of an arm. One end was plugged with a wooden stopper, the middle was wrapped with a few circles of vine bark, and the outside was smeared with dry mud.

When Zhang Tao saw that thing, he instinctively took a step back.

"What is this thing?"

Wang Lan held the bamboo tube horizontally in her palm, her thumb pressing against the wooden stopper without pulling it out.

"Since we can't take him head-on, we'll use this."

Zhang Tao stared at the bamboo tube, his throat going dry.

"What's inside?"

"Black Ghost Centipede."

Zhang Tao was stunned for a moment. "A centipede?"

Wang Lan nodded.

"Mountain people call it Seven Steps to Death. A normal one is only as long as a chopstick. If you get bitten and don't get the special antidote in time, you're guaranteed to die. This one isn't normal; it's a full three times larger than the others."

"If it bites someone, I estimate it'll only be a matter of hours."

Zhang Tao's back went numb.

He stared at the bamboo tube, wanting to move further away, but reluctant to get too far.

If this kind of thing was really useful, it was better to use than a knife.

A knife would leave blood.

A centipede biting someone would just be bad luck on the Deserted Island.

"When did you catch it?"

"I don't remember the time, it should have been seven days ago."

Wang Lan glanced at him.

"It was full and slow to react. Just covering it with a bamboo tube and poking a branch in wasn't hard."

Zhang Tao swallowed his saliva. This vicious woman was always preparing for a rainy day.

It seemed that once they killed Lin Fan together, the next one to die would definitely be Wang Lan; she couldn't be kept alive.

Wang Lan shoved the bamboo tube into Zhang Tao's hand.

Zhang Tao's hand shook, and he almost threw it away.

"Hold it steady."

"Are you crazy? What if it crawls out and bites me?"

"The wooden stopper isn't pulled out, it can't come out."

Wang Lan lowered her voice.

"Tonight when sleeping, you just have to wait until everyone is fast asleep, shove the bamboo tube next to his mat, and pull out the wooden stopper."

Zhang Tao listened until his tongue went stiff.

"Will it bite?"

"Centipedes like warmth. After the fire in the Karst Cave gets smaller, it will burrow toward places with body heat. Zhou Kai is covered in the smell of blood, and his wounds aren't wrapped tightly. He smells better than you."

Zhang Tao's face twitched.

This didn't sound comfortable to hear.

But he didn't refute it.

"If you're really worried, stay a bit further away from Zhou Kai."

Wang Lan pointed toward the entrance of the Karst Cave.

"You were beaten by him during the day, so at night you move a bit further away from him. Others will only think you're afraid of him causing you trouble again and want to act obedient."

Zhang Tao's face darkened.

These words sounded harsh, yet they made complete sense.

"When he gets bitten, you shout."

Wang Lan continued, "You have to panic more than anyone else, you have to be the first one to go help, and then stomp this centipede to death with one kick."

"What if Lin Fan figures it out?"

"There are many bugs in this place. Zhou Kai was covered in blood today, rolled around in the forest, and was bitten to death by venomous insects. That's not strange."

"Lin Fan has no evidence. As long as you don't show weakness tonight and don't do extra things, no one can get a hold on you."

Zhang Tao lowered his head to look at the bamboo tube. After a long while, he made up his mind. "Fine."

Wang Lan didn't show any joy; she was just giving instructions. "When pulling, don't use your hand to touch the tube opening, use a branch to push it open. Face the opening toward Zhou Kai, not toward yourself."

"I'm not an idiot."

Wang Lan looked at his face swollen like a pig's head and didn't take up that sentence.

Zhang Tao felt his anger flare up again from her gaze.

He put down the bamboo tube, then reached out and grabbed Wang Lan's arm.

"I've agreed to the matter."

Wang Lan looked at his hand.

"Let go."

Zhang Tao didn't let go.

That bit of dignity that was crushed during the day surged up again at this moment.

He didn't dare look for Lin Fan, nor did he dare look for Zhou Kai.

He didn't even dare look at Su Qingxue much.

Only Wang Lan.

This woman was tied to the same rope as him.

"What about what you promised me?"

Wang Lan didn't speak.

Zhang Tao forced a step forward.

"Stop pretending. Do you really think I'm a dog in your hands? Whoever you tell me to bite, I bite?"

Wang Lan suppressed disgust deep in her eyes.

When Zhang Tao saw it, he became even more energetic.

"Today I took a beating, and you stood out to speak well. To put it bluntly, you're afraid I'll rat you out."

"Zhang Tao, now is not the time."

"Cut the crap."

Zhang Tao dragged her behind a tree.

"Every time is not the time. I've got a bellyful of fire right now, and if I don't vent it, my hands will shake when we go back. Can't you calculate accounts? Calculate this account."

Wang Lan's fingers twitched slightly.

For a split second, she really wanted to pull open the wooden stopper of the bamboo tube and shove it directly into Zhang Tao's pants.

But she couldn't.

This rotten dog still had to bite people.

If Zhou Kai didn't die, both she and Zhang Tao would be slowly worn to death.

Wang Lan closed her eyes. When she opened them again, the resistance on her face was reined in.

"Hurry up."

Zhang Tao was stunned for a moment, then his breathing became erratic.

He pressed her against a wind-sheltered tree.

The leaves made faint rustling sounds as they were pressed.

Not long after, Zhang Tao cursed, and then that was that.

Wang Lan straightened her clothes with an expressionless face.

She bent down to pick up a few pieces of firewood that had fallen on the ground and stuffed them into the vine basket.

Zhang Tao leaned against the tree panting, full of reluctance, yet too embarrassed to throw a fit.

Wang Lan didn't look at him.

"Don't look at me after we go back. The more you look at me, the more it looks like we're up to something."

Zhang Tao pulled up his waistband, growing angry out of shame.

"Do I need you to teach me?"

Wang Lan shouldered the vine basket.

Zhang Tao picked up the bamboo tube and pressed it against his lower back.

That thing pressed against his skin, and he always felt something moving inside.

He cursed and followed along.

"If this damn thing bites me, as a ghost I won't let you off."

...

When the two returned to the Karst Cave, the fire had already been banked down.

Zhou Kai sat not far from the entrance of the Karst Cave, poking at the firewood with a branch.

His chest was wrapped in cloth, and there was still uncleaned blood and mud on his face. He looked extremely exhausted.

But when he raised his head to look at Zhang Tao, Zhang Tao still instinctively shrank his neck.

"You took this long just to gather some firewood?"

Zhang Tao dropped the vine basket onto the ground and put on a fawning smile.

"It's hard to find on the slope, and the firewood is all wet. Brother Kai, you're injured, so I ran a couple extra steps."

Zhou Kai looked at him.

"After your teeth started leaking air, you actually sound pleasant."

Someone in the Karst Cave couldn't help letting out a chuckle.

Zhang Tao's face burned, and his hand pressed against his lower back.

He endured it.

After tonight, let's see who still laughs.