200: Chapter 200 Lin Fan, let Yang Ningcong go.

Hearing this, Zhou Kai and Lin Fan froze for a moment, and Xu Zhixia continued, "Whether it can be saved is another story."

Xu Zhixia looked at him. "The next twenty-four hours are critical. Fever, the wound turning black, and toes losing sensation are all bad signs. You must take your antibiotics on time and not skip them. Don't move your leg around, and keep it dry."

Zhou Kai nodded and said in a low voice, "Thank you, Dr. Xu."

Xu Zhixia packed away the remaining gauze, stood up, and walked toward Yang Ningcong.

Yang Ningcong was driving himself crazy waiting.

Song Ya removed the cloth from his mouth, and his first words rushed out.

"Xu Zhixia! Are you out of your mind? I'm the employer! My neck is still bleeding, and you spent all that time patching him up first?"

Xu Zhixia squatted down, pinched his chin, and turned his head to the side.

"Shut up."

Yang Ningcong wanted to keep cursing, but a cotton swab was pressed directly onto his wound.

"Ah..."

His scream was much more miserable than Zhou Kai's.

Xu Zhixia cleaned away the blood scabs and mud spots on Yang Ningcong's neck.

The wound was shallower than it looked; the blade had only cut through the skin and flesh without hitting any major blood vessels.

The trouble was that it had been stained with muddy water and soaked in sweat.

"The wound isn't deep."

Yang Ningcong was just about to breathe a sigh of relief.

Xu Zhixia pressed the iodophor down again.

"But if you thrash around again and it splits open, it's hard to say what will happen."

Yang Ningcong immediately stiffened his neck.

"I won't move, I promise I won't move."

"You need to take your antibiotics too."

"Fine, fine, fine, give me imported ones."

"Right now, we only have what's available."

"... That works too."

Xu Zhixia applied a dressing to him, wrapped a layer of bandage around it, and didn't hold back her strength when tying the knot.

Yang Ningcong rolled his eyes from being choked. "A bit lighter! I'm a wounded man!"

Su Qingxue had been standing at the doorway of the partition all along without speaking.

She only shifted her gaze to Lin Fan after watching Xu Zhixia finish treating both of them.

"Lin Fan."

Lin Fan raised his head.

"Come inside with me for a moment."

The few people in the cave all heard it.

Liu Feifei covered her still-swollen face, rolled her eyes around, and didn't interrupt.

Yang Ningcong originally wanted to call out to Su Qingxue, but he was afraid that the moment he opened his mouth, Song Ya would stuff the cloth back in, so he could only hold it in.

Lin Fan glanced at the cave entrance.

Below the slope, Wang Laoliu and the others were still on the beach.

The flare had been used, but it wasn't yet certain if the PLB had been activated.

All three waterproof boxes were down there; this matter wasn't over.

But given Su Qingxue's demeanor, something was clearly up.

Lin Fan lifted the curtain and entered the partition with Su Qingxue.

Su Qingxue didn't sit down.

She leaned against the stone wall, waiting for Lin Fan to let down the curtain before speaking.

"Lin Fan, let Yang Ningcong go."

Lin Fan looked at her.

Su Qingxue didn't dodge.

"Let him go down and start the equipment. The Yang Family, the search and rescue teams, and the maritime forces of nearby countries will all come looking as soon as they receive the coordinates."

Lin Fan didn't speak.

Su Qingxue continued, "We can go back earlier. Zhou Kai's leg can also be saved. You won't have to risk going into the forest to look for things anymore, and you won't have to waste time dragging it out with Wang Laoliu."

Hearing this, Lin Fan let out a chuckle.

The laugh wasn't loud, and it held no joy.

"Are you acting foolish again?"

Su Qingxue's brows twitched.

Lin Fan took half a step closer. "How many people are down there? Wang Laoliu, three bodyguards, not counting those women on the boat for now. If I let Yang Ningcong go and the five of them get together, can I handle them all by myself?"

Su Qingxue said, "You have a gun in your hand."

"How many bullets?"

Su Qingxue couldn't answer.

Lin Fan patted his waist. "It's my first time using a handgun; out of the four shots just now, I didn't hit a single one. Holding a sniper rifle is about the same as carrying an iron pipe for me. Wang Laoliu not having a gun in his hand doesn't mean he has no way of killing people."

He stared at Su Qingxue. "When you're having a meeting at the company, whoever has the loudest voice at the table can be suppressed by you through the legal department and the board of directors. What about here?"

"Whoever has a knife in their hand and whoever doesn't sleep at night can slit someone else's throat."

Su Qingxue's lips pressed into a straight line.

Lin Fan continued, "Yang Ningcong is a rope right now. A rope tying down Wang Laoliu. Once that rope loosens, we're all going to be finished."

Su Qingxue's chest heaved slightly as she listened.

"Lin Fan, the rescue is real..."

Lin Fan interrupted her. "If you could just send out a few signals and get out, why have we been stuck here for more than two months?"

"Because they aren't sure of our location."

Su Qingxue answered quickly, "After the tsunami, shipping routes drifted, wreckage scattered, satellite images have a delay, and the sea search range is simply too vast. The ocean currents around the Devils Triangle are complex, and search and rescue is like using a magnifying glass to find a single red dot on a map."

She paused for a moment. "But it's different now. Yang Ningcong has the equipment. A PLB isn't an ordinary flare gun; it's a satellite positioning beacon. As long as it's turned on, the search and rescue system will receive the coordinates."

Lin Fan looked at her for a few seconds.

"Do you really believe this island can be left that easily?"

Su Qingxue frowned. "What do you mean?"

"We've been here for two months."

Lin Fan pointed outside. "We haven't heard the sound of an airplane, we haven't seen the shadow of a ship, compasses jump around randomly, the tides don't follow conventional patterns, and there are places in the forest where even birds won't land. Do you think this is just some tourist island whose development failed?"

Su Qingxue didn't refute him.

Over these past few days, she had also seen some things that weren't quite right.

It's just that when people are in desperate straits, seeing a rope makes them treat it like a bridge.

Lin Fan said, "Whether the beacon can be sent out, whether anyone will come after it is sent out, and whether the people who come can even land on the island are all question marks. Yang Ningcong falling into my hands is the only thing we can be certain of right now."

Su Qingxue looked at him.

The light inside the partition was very dim. Her face was pale and devoid of color, but half of that stubborn, hard-nosed attitude of a female executive had returned.

"Lin Fan, I understand what you're thinking."

Lin Fan didn't respond.

Su Qingxue said, "On this island, you've indeed transcended your original social class. You have water, food, weapons, and a cave. No one asks about educational background here, no one looks at positions, and no one cares whether you're an intern."

"Here, you've pretty much become a mountain king."

Su Qingxue's voice lowered a bit.

"I can understand you."

"In the company, you were ordered around, looked down upon, and treated as a bottom-feeder who came at everyone's beck and call."

"Once you arrived here, all the rules shattered. You survived by your own capability and even made us, the people who used to stand above you, look to you for our cues."

She paused.

"Anyone in your shoes wouldn't want to easily let go of a feeling like this."

Lin Fan didn't speak.

Su Qingxue took a step forward.

"But this isn't a kingdom."

"There are too many uncertain factors on this island. There are poisonous insects, snakes, fierce beasts, and things we've never seen before. Food will run out, medicine will run out, people will fall ill, go crazy, and stab each other in the back."

She looked at Lin Fan.

"I can understand that you don't want to go back. But staying here isn't winning; it's just dragging things out."

"Dragging it out until the day something happens, when no one can save anyone."

Su Qingxue's tone held no command, nor did it carry the softness of a negotiation.

She simply peeled back that layer of skin that everyone was reluctant to touch.

"We have to leave." She just looked at Lin Fan, saying every single word clearly: "If we stay here, we'll lose our lives sooner or later."