291: Chapter 291 You Smell It?

Yang Ningcong stopped talking.

He buried his head deeper, his knees almost touching his chin, curling his whole body into a ball.

Those documents were forcefully memorized using fragmentary memories when he peeked into his old man's study safe many years ago. Whether this was the island, he couldn't even be sure himself.

But these few things were his final amulet.

Once emptied out, he would be completely useless.

"If I say it, I'll definitely lose my life," Yang Ningcong's voice muffled out from between his knees. "We're going to die anyway, why should I tell you?"

Xu Zhixia did not press him.

She stood up, patted the dust off her hands, walked over to the supplies area, and rummaged through a pile of gathered plants.

"The herbs on this island are very interesting."

"Some promote blood circulation and remove blood stasis, while others clear heat and detoxify."

She pinched a leaf, rubbed it between her fingertips, her voice unhurried.

"But there are also some that can paralyze human nerves."

Xu Zhixia raised her face and looked at Yang Ningcong.

"Of course, there is something even more interesting."

Her gaze suddenly turned to Zhou Kai.

"Zhou Kai, roll up your pant legs."

Zhou Kai froze for a moment, not understanding what this was about, but still subconsciously followed suit.

The right pant leg was rolled up, exposing the lower part of his calf.

A palm-sized scar.

The skin was an unhealthy dark purple, sunken in the middle, and the surrounding flesh tissue shrank inward, forming circle upon circle of ugly wrinkles. It looked as if something had hollowed out the flesh from the inside.

Yang Ningcong only took one look, and his scalp tingled.

"What is this..."

"Bitten by a bug," Xu Zhixia's reply was breezy. "Its venom is very special, but it doesn't kill instantly."

She paced over to Yang Ningcong and squatted down again.

"Instead, it will dissolve your muscle and adipose tissue."

"Starting from the bitten area, it rots outward bit by bit. First the skin, then the flesh, and finally the bones."

"Throughout the whole process, you remain conscious."

"You can clearly feel how your body turns inch by inch into rotting flesh and pus."

Xu Zhixia's voice had no fluctuation; the calmer she was, the more terrified Yang Ningcong became.

"Fortunately, Zhou Kai was not bitten deeply, received effective treatment in the early stage, and later used antibiotics to save his leg and life."

She paused.

"Unfortunately, I know where we can still find that kind of bug."

Yang Ningcong's body began to tremble uncontrollably. "You... you wouldn't dare!"

"You are a doctor! Your professional ethics don't allow you to do this!"

"If you dare touch me, once I get back, my dad won't let your Xu family off! I'll bankrupt your entire family!"

Xu Zhixia smiled.

The threats of the civilized world, on this island, were as light as a speck of dust.

She paid no more attention to Yang Ningcong.

She stood up and looked straight at the silent man leaning against the stone wall near the cave entrance.

"Lin Fan."

Lin Fan raised his face.

"What are you dazing off for?"

Xu Zhixia jerked her chin outward.

"Go find the bugs."

Lin Fan was stunned for a moment.

This woman's wings had hardened; after sleeping together once, she even started ordering him directly.

But she was truly smart, and ruthless enough.

She knew that simple threats were useless on someone like Yang Ningcong; she had to drag in the island's highest combat power to turn abstract intimidation into impending action.

Lin Fan twitched the corner of his mouth.

"Fine."

A single word fell lightly to the ground.

The color on Yang Ningcong's face instantly drained away with a swish.

If Xu Zhixia's threat was cutting meat with a slow knife, then Lin Fan's single word "Fine" was a guillotine already set against his neck.

"Don't!"

"Don't go!"

"I'll talk! I'll tell you everything!"

Snot and tears streamed down his face as he completely broke down.

Xu Zhixia stood in front of him.

"Speak."

Yang Ningcong's Adam's apple bobbed twice, and he raised his hand to wipe away his snot and tears.

"I'll make it clear first..."

"The report I saw isn't necessarily complete."

"Those were the materials my dad hid in the study safe. When I peeked at them back then, I didn't dare look for too long."

"Some were photos, some were English originals, and a portion were translations."

Zhou Kai moved half a step forward.

"Starting to leave yourself a way out again?"

"Leave your mom's—!" Yang Ningcong got anxious, cursed, and immediately shrank his neck, stealing a glance at Lin Fan.

Seeing that Lin Fan didn't move, he continued.

"What I said is the truth."

"That stuff isn't a Chinese textbook or an instruction manual; it couldn't possibly be written with crystal clarity."

"Many parts are just speculations."

Xu Zhixia crossed her arms.

"Speak of the speculations too."

Yang Ningcong swallowed his saliva and nodded.

"There is a sentence in the report that I remember very clearly."

"Everything on this island has no fundamental difference from the normal world."

Zhou Kai snorted.

"Does that even need you to say? A stone is a stone, a tree is a tree, water is water."

Yang Ningcong turned his head and glared at him.

"Can you let me finish?"

"There is another sentence later in the report."

He rubbed his fingers, as if recalling the specific phrasing on that piece of paper.

"The difference is... inside some of the animals and plants here, they speculate that they carry an unknown factor."

The few people in the cave all stopped their movements.

Unknown factor—a factor is a factor, what does "unknown" mean?

"The original text in the report used an analogy."

Yang Ningcong paused, struggling to rummage through the remaining fragments in his memory.

"It said this kind of factor... is essentially similar to a virus."

"A virus?" Zhou Kai chimed in.

Yang Ningcong ignored him and continued on his own.

"That batch of scientists had done a comprehensive test; the soil, rock layers, groundwater, vegetation, and animal specimens were all checked through."

"The conclusion was: not everything carries that factor."

"High concentrations of the unknown factor were detected inside some plants, and these plants mutated. Their size, color, and toxicity all deviated from the category of normal species."

"As for another portion of plants and animals, that thing could not be detected inside them, and they had no difference whatsoever from the varieties in the outside world."

Yang Ningcong licked his lips.

"Therefore, the report gave a preliminary conclusion: the abnormal phenomena on this island are not comprehensive; they are local and random."

"Which grass, which tree, or which snake has that factor inside it has no rule to follow."

Lin Fan stood in place, local and random.

This explained why some things on the island were completely normal—the fresh water in the Karst Cave, most of the herbs Xu Zhixia gathered, and the wild fruits they had eaten had never had any issues.

But at the same time, that giant python, those mutated lizards, and the gray monster from last night all exceeded the limits of normal organisms.

With the factor, they mutate.

Without that factor, they are normal.

A simple and crude dichotomy.

"You're talking bullshit."

Zhou Kai finally couldn't hold it in anymore.

He took a step forward, leaned on his wooden stick, and tilted his head to look at Yang Ningcong.

Yang Ningcong's courage grew a lot, and he retorted to Zhou Kai, "Did you smell it?"

Zhou Kai's cheeks bulged from being choked by this sentence, and for a moment he didn't know how to retort, so he could only change the question and speak, "I believe you when you say plants mutate, and I saw that big snake with my own eyes."

"But you said this thing can infect like a virus, then let me ask you."

Zhou Kai reached out and pointed at himself, then pointed at Lin Fan and Xu Zhixia.

"Living people like us have stayed on this island for so long, drinking the water here, eating the fruits here, and breathing the air here."

"How come I still have two feet, two hands, and a height of over 1.6 meters?"

"According to what you said, we should have long grown into three-meter-tall giants, right?"

After Zhou Kai finished speaking, he looked around, obviously feeling that his rebuttal made a lot of sense.

Yang Ningcong raised his head, a trace of impatience surfacing on his dirty face.

The sense of superiority deep in his bones emerged again...