166: Chapter 166 Survive tonight first

Zhang Tao panicked, and the torch in his hand flickered.

"How can that be! That Karst Cave is the best natural shelter on this island."

"It has natural barriers, is easy to defend and hard to attack, and there is so much wild boar meat and water inside."

He swallowed hard, his eyes filled with greed, "Didn't we take such a huge risk and go to all that trouble to kill Zhou Kai just so we could stay in that shelter?"

Wang Lan sneered, turned around, and continued to push aside a cluster of weeds with her hands.

"Then didn't you hear Lin Fan's words?"

"What words?"

"Twenty minutes." Wang Lan pulled off a thorny vine, "If we can't go back in twenty minutes, we will die."

Zhang Tao curled his lips dismissively: "Looking for herbs is not like going to the supermarket to buy cabbages. Pitch dark, how easy is it to find a few herbs in this damn forest?"

"When we go back then, we'll just say it was too dark to find them, or we got lost. Can Lin Fan really kill someone over this?"

"That's you." Wang Lan pushed aside the decaying leaves, dug out a plant with muddy roots, and threw it into the rattan basket on her back.

"He set twenty minutes, it wasn't just made up at random."

Zhang Tao was stunned.

"Lobelia likes shade and moisture, and plantain grows by ditches. We walked across this slope during the day, the soil moisture is enough, there must be these kinds of herbs."

Wang Lan spoke very fast, with clear logic.

"To prove my value before, I recognized herbs in front of him and talked about plant habits, Lin Fan knows my ability."

She turned her head and stared into Zhang Tao's eyes, "The twenty minutes he gave is already more than enough. If we can't go back in twenty minutes..."

"Lin Fan will conclude that we are deliberately stalling for time. He doesn't need evidence; as long as he has doubts, he can smash the rest of your teeth tonight."

A layer of cold sweat broke out on Zhang Tao's back, and when the night wind blew, it felt chilly.

"If you don't want to arouse his suspicion, shut up right now and look down to find them."

Wang Lan squatted down and deftly uprooted a few Spanish needles.

Zhang Tao panicked, hurriedly waving the torch around blindly, and feigningly rummaging through the bushes.

After searching for a few minutes, the rattan basket was already padded with a layer of green herbs.

Zhang Tao looked at those herbs, and the unwillingness in his heart churned up again.

"Then are we just going back like this?" Zhang Tao said grinding his teeth, "With so much done tonight, if Lin Fan really saves Zhou Kai, wouldn't we have wasted our effort? If Zhou Kai doesn't die and wakes up tomorrow, what if it traces back to me..."

Wang Lan stopped walking.

A gust of wind blew by, whipping up the dead leaves on the ground.

"Zhou Kai can't live."

Hearing this, Zhang Tao stopped his steps.

"Are you serious?"

Wang Lan squatted down, pulled out two more plantains, and shook the mud off the roots.

"These herbs can only suppress the poison, not detoxify it."

Zhang Tao frowned with his swollen face, "Then why did Lin Fan still let us come out to look?"

"Because he has a little pharmacological knowledge and knows a few rural folk remedies. He doesn't want anything to happen to Zhou Kai either, so he's just clutching at straws."

She paused.

"But this is not a hospital. There is no antivenom, no antibiotics, no tetanus shot, and no sterile instruments. Even suturing cannot be done."

Zhang Tao half-understood, but he understood the three words "can't save him".

The trace of panic in his eyes gradually faded away.

"So Zhou Kai is still done for?"

"The best result: his life is saved, but half his leg rots away."

Wang Lan put the rattan basket on her back, the torch illuminating half of her face.

"Even worse: high fever, wound necrosis, and he won't last three days."

Zhang Tao grinned, pulling on his wound, and hissed in pain.

"Then why are we still in such a rush?"

"In a rush."

Wang Lan looked at him, "The more urgent we are, the more it looks like we genuinely want to save him."

Zhang Tao understood.

This was the account she wanted.

If Zhou Kai died, it was because he was bitten by poisonous insects.

They went out to find medicine, came back on time, and brought the herbs back as well.

Even if Lin Fan suspected anything, he had no reason to slash someone on the spot.

Zhang Tao swallowed hard, "What about the centipede? What if it runs out and they see it..."

"Even if they see it, it's too late."

Wang Lan turned and walked toward the Karst Cave.

"There is meat, blood, grass mats, and rock crevices in the cave. Who can prove that you brought it in?"

Zhang Tao followed closely, the torch jumping erratically in the wind.

Half of the heavy stone pressing on his heart was lifted.

But the other half was still there.

Because Lin Fan was not a person who talked about evidence.

He talked about whether things were worth it.

When the two hurried back to the cave entrance, the inside was already in complete chaos.

Zhou Kai was pinned to the ground. His right leg was tied tightly with a cloth strip above the knee, the flesh around his ankle was cut open, and black blood mixed with water flowed all over the floor.

Liu Feifei squatted next to him pouring water, shaking three times per bottle, while muttering: "I have never served anyone like this in my life. Zhou Kai, if you make it big in the future, don't forget this bottle of water of mine."

Zhou Kai's face was twisted in pain, and he had no strength to speak anymore.

Lin Fan raised his head.

Wang Lan put down the rattan basket.

"Lobelia, Spanish needles, plantain. All here."

Lin Fan grabbed a few plants and glanced at the roots and leaves.

Correct.

He handed the herbs to Su Qingxue.

"Wash them."

Su Qingxue didn't ask questions, rinsing off the mud and sand with mineral water.

Lin Fan grabbed some warm plant ash from beside the campfire, picked out the unburnt wood thorns, pounded the herbs, and mixed them into the ash.

The herb juice was squeezed out, its color a dark, gloomy green.

A raw, bitter smell overpowered the smell of blood.

Zhang Tao stood at the cave entrance, pretending to pant heavily.

"Brother Fan, twenty minutes, we really didn't delay."

Lin Fan didn't look at him.

"Stand back."

Zhang Tao quickly retreated to the stone wall.

Wang Lan sat back down by the campfire, lowering her head to poke the firewood.

She didn't look at Zhou Kai.

Looking too much would easily give her away.

Lin Fan pressed the medicinal mud around Zhou Kai's wound, not directly blocking the cut, but applying it in circles along the bruised edges.

Zhou Kai trembled all over from the pain, the wooden stick in his mouth already bitten to pieces.

Lin Fan wrapped his ankle with a torn dry cloth, leaving a bleeding spot below the wound to prevent the poisonous blood from being entirely trapped inside.

At the end of the bandaging, he loosened the cloth strip above the knee by half a turn and tightened it again.

Zhou Kai let out a muffled groan.

"Whether it can be saved is unclear."

Lin Fan spoke.

No one spoke in the cave.

"I can only make the poison travel upward a bit slower. The rest depends on yourself."

Zhou Kai lay on the ground, his sweat sticking all his hair to his forehead.

He stared at the cave ceiling, recovering for a good while before spitting out the shattered wooden stick.

"Brother Fan."

Lin Fan packed away his knife.

"Speak."

"My life is yours."

Zhou Kai panted twice.

"From now on, whoever you tell me to hack, I will hack. If you tell me to block a knife, I won't duck."

Zhang Tao felt a sour sensation in his back teeth listening to this.

With these words spoken, if Zhou Kai survived, Zhang Tao wouldn't even have a doghouse to sleep in from then on.

Lin Fan put the dagger back over the fire to roast, "Survive tonight first."