180: Chapter 180 Who got played to death? Stop spreading rumors.

Yang Ningcong had only two words echoing in his mind right now: It's over.

He had regained consciousness the moment that man first roared "Young Master Yang".

As soon as he opened his eyes, the back of his head hurt terribly.

He slightly forced his eyelids open a crack, only to see all of his bodyguards tightly bound on the ground.

Looking further ahead, a man whose clothes were as filthy as a beggar's and who was holding a crossbow was standing there.

Yang Ningcong was not stupid; a fool could not become a rich second generation.

He immediately squeezed his eyes shut, adjusted his breathing, and began playing dead.

A burning pain from the hemp rope came from his wrists, and his feet were also bound.

The situation was extremely dire.

Although his family was rich, in this out-of-the-way, desolate island, no one knew him.

Moreover, these people dared to tie up Liu Feifei and even dared to kill Su Qingxue.

His family's status fell far behind Su Qingxue's, so falling into their hands meant either becoming a hostage or a corpse.

As long as it wasn't discovered that he was awake, he could buy some more time, or find an opportunity to saw through the ropes when these people weren't paying attention.

Yang Ningcong made up his mind, burying his face in the muddy water that exuded a fishy stench, remaining completely motionless.

Water soaked through his hair, but he forcibly held back from shivering.

"You can't see me, you can't see me, please don't come over."

He chanted desperately in his heart.

Lin Fan walked a couple of steps closer and stopped in front of Yang Ningcong.

His muddy boots stepped less than ten centimeters away from Yang Ningcong's cheek.

Yang Ningcong held his breath, his heart beating wildly in his chest.

Lin Fan looked down at him from above.

The windbreaker on this guy was indeed good; the water droplets all hung on the surface without soaking through.

But his exposed neck and face were long smeared with mud.

Lin Fan raised his foot and kicked Yang Ningcong in the waist with the tip of his boot.

The force was not big, but the chosen spot was very precise.

Yang Ningcong clenched his back teeth, desperately resisting his body's instinctive recoil response, and stubbornly didn't make a sound.

"That's enough." Lin Fan withdrew his foot, his tone extremely cold, "If you hold your breath any longer, your face is really going to turn purple."

Those bodyguards stopped their discussion about Su Qingxue and all looked over.

Yang Ningcong's heart shook violently, knowing that his cover was blown.

Continuing to pretend was pointless; the other party had long seen through his clumsy acting skills.

He slowly opened his eyes, spat out a mouthful of muddy water, and managed to lift his head with difficulty.

Catching sight of Lin Fan's cold gaze, Yang Ningcong immediately put on an expression of extreme cooperation.

"Big Brother, hero!" Yang Ningcong raised his voice, his tone reeking of practiced submission, "Don't use violence! Let's talk things over! My family is rich, name your price. Account numbers, passwords, Swiss bank cashier's checks—I can arrange all of them for you. Don't kill me, I'll cooperate completely!"

Even the bodyguards nearby were stunned by his neat and crisp speed of admitting defeat.

Lin Fan ignored this remark, shifted his gaze away from him, and turned to look in the direction of the uphill slope.

Liu Feifei dragged her suitcase halfway up, truly having no strength left.

She tossed the suitcase aside, panting heavily, and happened to hear every single word of those bodyguards clearly.

What pirates, what doing coolie labor, what Su Qingxue being played to death.

She was already burning with fatigue, and all the grievances she had suffered on this lousy island over the past few days gathered together.

Brushing away the hair stuck to her face, Liu Feifei charged down the slope barefoot.

"You're the pirate! Your whole family are pirates!"

Liu Feifei rushed up to those bodyguards in a few steps, pointing and cursing at the Short-haired Bodyguard who had recognized her first.

"Are your dog eyes blind?! Is this old lady being hijacked? Who has the time to hijack an unlucky wretch like me who can't even wear shoes?!"

Liu Feifei pointed furiously at her own feet, "Take a good look, this is a shipwreck! A shipwreck! That lousy cruise ship capsized, and all of us were washed ashore onto this lousy island."

"We are all trapped here!"

Liu Feifei glared at them, "Two months? We've spent two months living the life of savages in this lousy place! And look at you lot, still putting on a grand drama here? Qingxue is sitting safe and sound right up there, who got played to death? Stop spreading rumors over there!"

Scolded thoroughly by Liu Feifei, the bodyguards lost their collective voice.

The Short-haired Bodyguard opened his mouth, then closed it again.

The gossipy excitement on his face completely vanished, replaced by an extreme sense of awkward suffocation.

Just a moment ago, they were solemnly analyzing how Su Qingxue had been played to death and thrown into the sea to feed the fish, yet the person herself was still alive and well.

If these words were to spread back home, forget about keeping their jobs as bodyguards—the grass on their graves would be manicured into a golf course by the Su Family.

"Miss Liu..."

The bodyguard who had woken up first gave a couple of dry coughs, muddy water streaming down his chin, his voice growing several shades weaker.

"It's a misunderstanding, truly a misunderstanding. We just woke up, our brains are still muddled."

He hurriedly added, "Please don't pass along what we just said to Miss Su."

Liu Feifei sneered.

"Now you know to be scared? Weren't you weaving stories with quite a bit of gusto just now? Anyone who didn't know better would think you guys were reincarnated marketing accounts, spitting out a ten-thousand-plus view clickbait article with every word."

The bodyguards felt even more awkward.

Usually following Yang Ningcong, they frequented high-end clubs, business banquets, and private yachts; they had seen all sorts of scenes.

But they had truly never experienced anything like this—tied hand and foot, lying flat in the mud, being pointed at and cursed by a female celebrity.

What felt even more aggrieved was that they didn't dare talk back.

The crossbow was right there beside them.

Yang Ningcong lay flat in the mud, his brain spinning rapidly for several rounds.

A shipwreck?

Not pirates?

He turned his head sideways, gesturing toward Lin Fan with his mud-stained chin.

"That... that kid, is he also a shipwreck survivor?"

Just now he had subconsciously wanted to call him "Big Brother", but the words were abruptly changed right at the tip of his tongue.

Since they weren't pirates, there was no need to lower his posture so much.

Liu Feifei was in the middle of a heated scolding; hearing this question, she reined in her temper slightly and nodded once.

"Duh, what else? Did you think he came running to this lousy island specifically to clear wasteland and farm?"

Yang Ningcong blinked.

Not pirates.

These words passed through his mind once, twice, and by the third time, he finally processed them fully.

The change in expression on his face could be called textbook-level.

Three seconds ago, he still wore the cowardly face of "Big Brother spare my life, my whole family's money is yours".

Three seconds later, his brows furrowed and the corners of his mouth turned down.

That young master demeanor brought straight from the womb inflated instantly as if pumped with air, swelling up in a flash.

"Turns out we're our own people after all."

Yang Ningcong wriggled his body, attempting to sit up in a dignified manner.

But his wrists and ankles were tightly bound; after struggling twice, he was no different from a stranded fish.

After tossing and turning for ages, he was still lying flat.

But this didn't affect his confidence to speak in the slightest.

"Then why did you tie me up?"

Yang Ningcong craned his neck to look at Lin Fan, his tone spiking by more than one octave.

"Everyone is in the same boat as shipwreck survivors, is it appropriate for you to tie people up like zongzi right off the bat? Who gave you the guts?"