226: Chapter 226 When did Su Qingxue learn to use her beauty to seduce others?

After asking this question, she could almost hear the sound of her own heartbeat.

This was a gamble; if she lost the bet, Lin Fan would kick her down right now.

Lin Fan was stunned for a moment.

He hadn't expected that Su Qingxue's initiative was actually just to ask this.

Since when would Su Qingxue use a honey trap? And use it so clumsily.

However, asking this question was equivalent to asking for nothing.

For Su Qingxue, the outside civilized world still held too much attraction.

The title of the Su Family's eldest young miss still lingered in her heart.

But no matter what, the facts were right before her eyes: rescue wouldn't come, and they couldn't go back.

Lin Fan didn't answer, nor did he argue with her; if he didn't take a woman who offered herself up, it would instead make him seem devoid of romance.

He rubbed her smooth chin with his thumb.

Su Qingxue's breathing was completely disrupted.

His silence terrified her more than any direct answer.

"That depends..." Lin Fan finally spoke up, leaning close to her ear and gently biting her earlobe, "...on your performance."

Su Qingxue's movements paused for a second. Her performance?

What kind of answer was this? Was it a transaction? Was it charity? Or... a reminder to make her completely recognize her current identity?

All her dignity was shattered at this moment.

But what followed was not anger, but a feeling of a stone finally dropping to the ground.

At least, he had given a direction she could work towards.

At least her performance still had value to him.

"I..." Su Qingxue's throat was a bit dry; she opened her mouth, only to find she couldn't say anything.

Language appeared incomparably pale at this moment.

She simply gave up on words and answered with actions.

The next second, she lifted her head, no longer probing, but kissing him directly.

This time, she cast aside all her reserve and disguise.

...

Outside the partition, the campfire crackled.

The torrential rain lashed against the rock wall at the cave entrance, and the howling wind wailed through the valley like ghosts crying.

But these sounds from the outside could not completely mask the faint human movements coming from behind that tattered cloth curtain.

At the very beginning, it was just the overloaded spring sound of the few pieces of wood when the bed was pressed down by a heavy object.

Song Ya was adding firewood to the fire pit; upon hearing this sound, her hand movements paused for a moment, and an uncontrolled blush spread across her cheeks.

She subconsciously glanced at the curtain, then quickly lowered her head, pretending to focus intently on tinkering with the firewood.

Xu Zhixia sat by the stone wall a bit further from the campfire; her hearing was sharper than Song Ya's.

She heard that suppressed grunt tinged with a trace of pain, belonging to a woman.

Immediately following was the man's deep, emotionless breathing.

As well as... the ripping sound of fabric being torn open.

Her face turned completely red in a flash, spreading from her cheeks all the way down to her fair neck.

This was a purely physiological reaction, completely beyond the control of reason.

She forced herself to calm down, yet uncontrollably floating in her mind was Su Qingxue's arrogant face, which was always covered in frost.

She couldn't imagine what that woman behind the curtain was experiencing right now.

Was it forced?

No, it didn't look like it.

If it were sheer violence, the sound wouldn't be like this.

There was a complex, contradictory... and you could even say accommodating nuance mixed inside it.

But her morals and reason were frantically screaming.

What kind of person was Su Qingxue? She was the only daughter of the Su Family; how could she possibly abas...

Su Qingxue was forced; she must have been forced!

After experiencing devastating blows like the cruise ship capsizing and drifting onto a Deserted Island, that woman's psychological defense line had long since collapsed. Lin Fan, the man holding absolute power on the Deserted Island, was exploiting her vulnerability to carry out the most barbarous possession.

As a doctor, she had seen too many cases of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Some patients would exhibit emotional dissociation, showing no reaction to the ongoing infringement behavior, and might even display submission to please the assailant.

This was a morbid form of self-protection.

The creaking sounds inside became rhythmic.

A muffled grunt was choked off midway and couldn't escape.

Then came the man's whispers, the content of which couldn't be clearly heard.

Xu Zhixia clenched her back teeth together.

Liu Feifei was the only one whose expression didn't change much. She leaned against the cave wall, arms crossed, her eyelids half-drooped.

There was even a trace of an imperceptible smile at the corners of her mouth.

But that smile had nothing to do with happiness.

Su Qingxue could actually take the initiative.

This was certainly too fresh.

Two months ago, this President Su still held a mineral water bottle as if it were a red wine glass, walking with a strong sense of déjà vu, but what about now?

Behind the curtain, the sound grew a few decibels louder.

Xu Zhixia stood up abruptly.

Two dozen reasons why she shouldn't rush in flashed through her mind.

Grown-ups' business, other people's right to privacy, the special circumstances on the Deserted Island, Lin Fan's temper...

But her legs were faster than her brain.

In two steps turned into three, Xu Zhixia yanked open that tattered cloth curtain.

The sound of the curtain being lifted exploded inside the partition.

The light from the campfire outside poured in without any obstruction.

In the orange-yellow firelight, the scene was laid bare at a glance.

Su Qingxue was sitting; the clothes on her body were no longer intact, with one shoulder strap slipped down, revealing a large expanse of fair skin.

The movements of the two froze, and they turned their heads at the same time.

Su Qingxue's pupils shrank abruptly, and the flush on her face whipped up by emotion completely faded away under the illumination of the light.

Replaced by a paleness of extreme wretchedness at being caught red-handed.

She subconsciously used her arm to block her chest, her body shrinking into Lin Fan's shadow.

Lin Fan's reaction was half a beat slow.

Not because of embarrassment.

It was because of anger.

The partition fell silent for about two seconds.

"Xu Zhixia."

Xu Zhixia stood at the entrance of the curtain, her hand still grasping the corner of that tattered cloth.

Her heartbeat was fast, but her facial expression was well controlled.

A doctor's professional ethics allowed her to maintain the stability of her facial muscles in the vast majority of predicaments.

But her breathing betrayed her—rapid and uneven.

"Are you sick in the head?" Lin Fan stared at her as he spoke.

Xu Zhixia pressed her lips together.

"Whether I'm sick or not is hard to say." Xu Zhixia's voice was also kept very low, but there was an unyielding firmness in it, "But the two of you are definitely sick. Can't you two show a little discretion?"

She pointed behind herself.

"There are still three living people sitting outside."

This sentence made Su Qingxue's body shrink downward a few more inches.

Her fingers loosened from around Lin Fan's neck, her knuckles curling as she pulled them back and grasped the corner of the tattered blanket beneath her.

Lin Fan didn't answer immediately.

He patted Su Qingxue's hand, signaling her to get down.

After Su Qingxue got up, Lin Fan also stood up. The partition was very narrow; after Lin Fan stood up, there was less than a step's distance between him and Xu Zhixia.

He looked down condescendingly at this female doctor.

Xu Zhixia didn't back down.

The two of them stood in a standoff just like that.

Lin Fan's gaze crossed Xu Zhixia's shoulder and swept a glance outside.

Song Ya was burying her head in her knees, Zhou Kai was still counting numbers, and Liu Feifei had actually looked over, her gaze carrying the implication of watching the show.

He withdrew his gaze and let it fall onto Su Qingxue...