307: Chapter 307 Where is Dr. Xu?

Yang Ningcong reacted quickly, diving into the partition first, and Su Qingxue followed him in.

Only Song Ya didn't move.

Her feet seemed glued to the spot, her body leaning towards the cave entrance.

The wound on her arm was still bleeding, soaking half her sleeve, but she didn't care at all.

"Lin Fan... I'll stay and help—"

"Zhou Kai." Lin Fan didn't look back, "Drag her inside."

If Song Ya stood here, not only would she be unable to help, but she would also distract him.

Zhou Kai didn't waste words; he dropped his stick, grabbed Song Ya, and walked inside.

Song Ya was dragged away, stumbling. She kept turning her head back; although Lin Fan was very strong, there were simply too many of those things, and she was genuinely worried about him.

Only Lin Fan was left at the entrance of the Karst Cave.

The Strange Birds circling in the sky had descended extremely low, their wingtips almost brushing the top of the cliff.

The first one folded its wings and plunged down.

With its sharp talons in front, its entire dive trajectory headed straight for Lin Fan's head.

They moved extremely fast in the air; for an ordinary person, there wouldn't even be a chance to raise their head.

But Lin Fan saw its movements with crystal clarity.

He was waiting for it to get closer.

When it reached the distance Lin Fan wanted, he pushed off with his toes, propelled his entire body upward, and slashed down with his firewood chopper as momentum carried him.

Squelch.

The blade directly hacked into the base of the beast's left wing, and black blood sprayed out instantly.

The Strange Bird let out a miserable screech, its wings losing balance, and its massive body crashed diagonally against the edge of the platform from momentum.

Struggling twice, it rolled down the slope and fell into the darkness.

The second one followed closely behind.

This one was smarter; instead of attacking from the front, it cut across horizontally hugging the cliff wall. Lin Fan swung his firewood chopper horizontally.

Squelch.

The blade hacked into the side of the beast's neck.

The dull sound of shattering bones and the sound of tearing flesh overlapped.

That head was twisted to an impossible angle, hanging by just a layer of skin.

The corpse slammed onto the stone surface, its wings flapping incessantly.

Two had been cut down, but there were still more in the sky.

Lin Fan raised his head; they lunged simultaneously from three different directions.

He took a step back.

Holding the firewood chopper horizontally across his chest, even if his hands went numb from hacking tonight and the blade rolled, he had to block this opening.

Just as Lin Fan was about to counterattack, "Woo-squeak...!"

A long howl came from the depths of the distant dense forest, and the three charging at the very front paused simultaneously.

Their wings suddenly spread wide, abruptly halting their dive just a few meters away from the platform.

"Woo-squeak-woo..." The second sound rang out again.

All the Strange Birds flew up into the air, turning uniformly toward that direction.

Then they flew away, disappearing into the night towards the interior of the island.

Within a few minutes, the sky became empty once again.

Only the muffled sound of waves crashing against the reefs remained, and Lin Fan's arm slowly lowered.

The tip of the firewood chopper touched the stone surface, and black blood dripped down the blade drop by drop.

Staring at the direction where those beasts had disappeared, the rise and fall of his chest finally intensified by a few degrees.

That cry was a command.

It was exactly the same as the situation where the monkey troop in the dense forest was recalled.

All mutated species, whether flying in the sky or crawling on the ground, all obeyed the same signal source.

Unified command, unified dispatch, and they could almost achieve strict obedience to orders.

This fucking wasn't some beasts foraging for food; it looked more like an organized military operation.

That thing standing behind the scenes giving orders... what on earth was it?

Lin Fan temporarily suppressed this question in his mind.

He placed the firewood chopper against the stone wall of the cave entrance and turned to walk into the Karst Cave.

Inside was a complete mess.

The campfire had already gone out, leaving only a few charred logs emitting white smoke, accompanied by a choking burnt smell.

The supply pile had been knocked over, and water bottles rolled everywhere.

The stone slabs were covered in black blood and broken feathers, and the fishy stench choked one's throat to the point of nausea.

Lin Fan didn't care about these.

He gathered the scattered firewood back into the fire pit and ignited it.

The firelight lit up again, illuminating the inner walls of the Karst Cave in flickering light and shadow.

Then he spoke, "Come out."

Rustling sounds came from the partition, the cloth curtain was lifted, and Zhou Kai came out first.

Yang Ningcong followed behind, and Su Qingxue walked out last.

One, two, three...

Lin Fan's gaze swept from left to right.

Zhou Kai, Yang Ningcong, Su Qingxue, plus Song Ya.

Four people, why is Xu Zhixia missing?

It seemed that from the moment they stepped onto the Karst Cave platform to the end of hacking down the last Strange Bird,

Xu Zhixia was not seen the entire time. Lin Fan withdrew his gaze, looked at the four people in front of him, and asked, "Where is Dr. Xu?"