163: Chapter 163 It's better to lose a leg than to lose the whole person.

He hurriedly pointed at Zhou Kai's leg, his voice trembling slightly from tension.

"I was the first to get up and help Zhou Kai just now, and I really don't know how this happened. Maybe there are a lot of bugs in the cave, and since we dragged so much wild boar meat back during the day, the blood smell is strong, so attracting bugs is normal, right?"

He spoke very fast.

It was so fast as if he was afraid others wouldn't hear him, or as if he was afraid that if he were half a beat slower, Lin Fan would slash him with a knife.

These words were too hasty.

So hasty that even Liu Feifei could tell something was wrong.

She shrank against the stone wall, her messy hair blocking half her face, and she secretly glanced at Zhang Tao before quickly lowering her head.

Zhang Tao was like a landmine right now.

Whoever touched him would have bad luck. Lin Fan didn't speak; he just raised his eyes and glanced at Zhang Tao.

That look was expressionless, yet it felt like a knife scraping across Zhang Tao's throat.

Dried noseblood still hung at the corner of Zhang Tao's mouth, and his swollen face twitched slightly as he forced himself not to shrink back.

He wasn't a fool; the more he dodged, the more it would show that something fishy was going on.

Lin Fan withdrew his gaze and reached out to yank away the mat underneath Zhou Kai.

There was nothing underneath.

No snakes, no bugs.

Nor was there anything that could immediately prove Zhang Tao had a problem.

Zhang Tao's throat moved as he cursed inwardly, thanking his ancestors for their protection.

He had clearly seen that dark ghost centipede crawl under the mat just now, but now it was gone.

Maybe it crawled into a crack in the stone.

Maybe it ran off somewhere else.

As long as it couldn't be found right now, it meant the heavens were still on his side.

Lin Fan didn't continue searching.

He pinched Zhou Kai's calf and pressed upward along the swollen area.

The moment his fingers touched the edge of the bruised purple, Zhou Kai's entire leg stiffened abruptly, and sweat rolled down his forehead like water.

"Mm!"

Zhou Kai bit down hard on the strip of cloth in his mouth, his teeth almost tearing the cloth to shreds.

The blue-purple color had already crawled up from his ankle to his calf, like a clump of black ink seeping into his flesh along his blood vessels.

The speed was extremely fast, abnormally fast.

If this dragged on any longer, once the poison passed the back of his knee and entered deeper blood vessels, whether he could survive would truly depend entirely on fate.

Zhou Kai was in unbearable pain, and he grabbed Lin Fan's wrist, his knuckles turning white from the force.

"Brother Fan."

Lin Fan raised his head to look at him.

Zhou Kai was breathing heavily, shaking with every word he spoke.

Yet he still managed to force out half a smile.

"Cut it off."

Everyone in the cave fell silent for a moment.

Song Ya held up the torch, her face instantly turning pale.

Su Qingxue also furrowed her brow tightly.

Liu Feifei was even more frightened, covering her mouth and not daring to even breathe heavily.

Zhou Kai gritted his teeth, his voice raspy.

"Cutting off a leg is better than losing your life."

Hearing this, Zhang Tao almost laughed out loud.

Cutting off a leg was great.

Fantastic.

With one less leg, what would Zhou Kai use to kick him in the future?

But the moment this thought popped up, Zhang Tao hurriedly lowered his head and forcefully suppressed the expression on his face.

He didn't dare to laugh.

He even put on an anxious look.

"Zhou Kai, stop talking nonsense. Brother Fan definitely has a way."

After saying that, as if afraid his performance wasn't genuine enough, he reached out to help Zhou Kai.

Zhou Kai's eyes were red from pain, and he slapped Zhang Tao's hand away with one strike.

"Get lost."

Zhang Tao's hand froze in mid-air, and the flattering expression on his face almost cracked.

He lowered his head and said nothing more.

The light of the torch flickered on the cave wall.

Lin Fan stared at the two tooth marks on Zhou Kai's ankle.

The distance between the tooth marks was small.

It didn't look like a snake.

Tooth marks from a snake wouldn't be this dense, nor would there be this kind of transparent mucus oozing out from under the skin.

The edges of the wound were dark, the swelling was glossy, and the blue-purple color spread along the superficial blood vessels, indicating a ferocious toxicity.

A trace of darkness sank into the depths of Lin Fan's eyes.

The next second, cold red text suddenly popped up on his retina.

[High-Risk Toxin Alert!]

[Wound Determination: Mutant Black Ghost Centipede Bite.]

[Toxin Type: Neuroparalytic Mixed Hemolytic Toxin.]

[Habitat: High humidity, low light, leaf litter layer, cave rock crevices. Attracted by the smell of blood and human heat sources, nocturnal activity increases.]

[Current Toxin Spread: Superficial blood vessel network of the calf, advancing toward the back of the knee.]

[Estimated Loss of Mobility: Twenty minutes.]

[Estimated Respiratory Muscle Paralysis: Within two hours.]

[Recommended Treatment Plan: Immediately block and restrict circulation to delay the upward spread of toxins; incise and bleed to drain superficial venom; scorch the wound with fire to destroy some residual toxins.]

[Auxiliary External Herbs: Alkaline plant ash, half-side lotus, beggar-ticks, plantain.]

[Half-Side Lotus: Clears heat and detoxifies, has an inhibitory effect on snake and insect bites.]

[Beggar-Ticks: Stops bleeding and reduces inflammation, can slow down wound decay.]

[Plantain: Reduces swelling and expels toxins, can be used for external application.]

[Recommendation: Mash the three herbs, mix with warm plant ash, press and apply around the wound; replace every ten minutes, and continuously observe whether the toxin line continues to move upward.]

[Remarks: If circulation restriction, bloodletting, fire cauterization, and external application are completed within forty minutes, the probability of saving the affected limb is relatively high.]

Lin Fan's gaze turned cold.

It can be saved; it isn't necessarily crippled.

Furthermore, if it were cut off and the bleeding couldn't be stopped, he would still die.

Zhou Kai as a person was still useful.

Lin Fan raised his hand, yanked off a relatively clean strip of cloth from nearby, wrapped it directly above Zhou Kai's knee, and pulled it tight with force.

Zhou Kai let out a muffled grunt, blue veins bulging on his forehead.

Without the slightest pause, Lin Fan grabbed a wooden stick, tucked it into the cloth strip, and violently twisted it.

The cloth strip twisted tighter and tighter.

The spread of the blue-purple color on Zhou Kai's calf slowed down slightly with a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Bear with it."

Lin Fan's voice was very low.

It wasn't comfort.

Thinking that Lin Fan was really going to cut off his leg, Zhou Kai bit down on the half-broken cloth strip and squeezed out two words from between his teeth.

"Do it."

Lin Fan raised his head to look at Song Ya.

"Fire."

Song Ya was stunned for a moment, then hurriedly brought the torch closer.

Her hands were trembling.

The firelight illuminated her eye sockets, turning them red, but she didn't step back.

Lin Fan looked at Su Qingxue again.

"Blade."

Su Qingxue turned and rushed into the compartment, taking out the combat dagger.

Lin Fan took the dagger and extended the tip into the flame to burn it.

Licked by the tongues of fire, the black blade caused the remaining blood scabs to emit a charred, stinky odor.

No one in the cave spoke; everyone knew Lin Fan was about to make a move. With this knife slash down, there was a high probability Zhou Kai would be done for.

Zhang Tao stood nearby, a layer of cold sweat coating his back.

He suddenly had a very bad premonition.

Zhou Kai might not necessarily die.

This bastard had a hard life.

Even the wild boar didn't manage to kill him during the day; could a single centipede really kill him now?

Lin Fan brought back the burned blade tip and pinned down Zhou Kai's calf.

"It's going to hurt a lot."

Covered in sweat, Zhou Kai grinned and smiled.

"Come on, Brother Fan."

The next second...