327: Chapter 327 You guard the gate for me, and let me hear your voice.

Lin Fan squatted in front of him, the dagger still clutched in his hand, momentarily at a loss for how to react.

Kill him? Inappropriate. This fellow was clearly Zhou Kai, but the things coming out of his mouth didn't seem like something he would say.

Beat him up? That didn't seem appropriate either, just in case it stimulated him into transforming on the spot.

"And there's more." Zhou Kai hadn't had enough yet, spreading his hands in front of his chest. "From now on, all the women who come here belong to me."

"You guard the door for me and listen to the sounds."

Lin Fan set the dagger down on the ground, but Zhou Kai didn't sense the danger signal in the slightest and continued spouting nonsense, "Brother Fan—no, Fan-zai, didn't you do the same thing back when you were the boss up top? Women belonged to you, and the chores were left to the subordinates to do."

"Now the tables have turned. You, come over here and pound my back."

"If you won't pound it, that's fine too; I'll starve you for a few meals."

Lin Fan rubbed his temples, turned his head to look at Xu Zhixia, and asked, "Zhixia, did this fellow develop a split personality?"

Xu Zhixia walked over, squatted down, pressed two fingers against Zhou Kai's temples, and then felt the occipital region.

Zhou Kai obediently cooperated, even nudging his head further into her hands.

"The skull is intact, with no depressions or abnormal protrusions." Xu Zhixia let go of her hands. "There are no signs of intracranial injury."

"Then why is he talking nonsense here?"

"He might have just woken up, leading to temporary cognitive confusion." Xu Zhixia stood up and took a step back. "Or perhaps he was exploited by you for too long and wants to—"

Zhou Kai slapped his thigh. "Look! Even Dr. Xu says I've been exploited by you for too long... Fan-zai, I was indeed exploited by you for too long."

"You unconscionable guy, you have three women and don't even know to share one with me."

"Now they've all come down here!"

"Although they've come down, don't worry, I won't fight you for these three. But if any other women arrive, they must all belong to me."

Song Ya couldn't help it anymore. She took two steps forward, squatted down next to Zhou Kai, and said, "Zhou Kai... I want to ask you a question."

Zhou Kai glanced at her. "A-Ya, call me Brother Kai from now on. I won't hold it against you this time. Ask whatever you want, go ahead."

"Have you ever thought of a possibility..." Song Ya's voice softened considerably, "that is... you didn't die."

Zhou Kai: "?"

"And none of us died either."

"This is not hell."

"This is still that island."

Zhou Kai's hand hovered in mid-air, maintaining the boss-like waving posture, and his entire person froze for a few seconds.

"Impossible." He shook his head. "Someone sliced my belly open, and my intestines and belly were visible. Even a pig would die if it turned out like that, let alone a human."

"If I didn't die after all that, I'd be an immortal."

Song Ya bit her lip and changed her angle: "Then does your body hurt?"

Zhou Kai felt around for a moment, and Song Ya continued, "Dead people cannot feel pain."

Song Ya reached out and gestured, "You can pinch yourself to try. If it hurts, it means—"

"No need to pinch."

Lin Fan's voice suddenly chimed in.

Song Ya turned her head.

"Click."

A crisp sound echoed through the Karst Cave.

Lin Fan's hand had already landed on Zhou Kai's skull.

Lin Fan retracted his fingers very quickly. By the time the sensation of pain reached the cerebral cortex, he had already steadied himself and assumed a defensive posture.

He was worried that this thing would mutate if stimulated externally, but if he didn't hit him this once, he wouldn't feel right all over.

"Hiss..."

Zhou Kai cupped his head with both hands, his entire face wincing into a ball.

Yang Ningcong reacted even faster than Zhou Kai. "Brother Fan, what are you doing! Why did you hit him! What if this beast mutates the moment it feels pain! Do you want us all to die together?!"

Lin Fan glanced at him and ignored him.

Zhou Kai rubbed his head, baring his teeth as he sucked in a breath of cold air.

"Does it hurt?" Song Ya asked cautiously.

"...It hurts." Zhou Kai took his hands down from his head and rolled his eyeballs around.

Although slight, the sensation of pain was indeed there. If this were hell, there shouldn't be any pain!

That means...

"I'm not dead?"

No one answered.

"Really not dead?"

Still no one answered.

Zhou Kai lowered his head and glanced at his abdomen; it didn't seem to hurt.

He reached out, and through his clothes, he could feel that suture line traversing across his belly.

He touched his face again, his fingers brushing past his mouth, and the tip of his tongue licked around his toothless gum.

Three teeth were indeed gone, and there was still a lingering bloody taste in his mouth—faint, but present.

"Bro... Brother Fan, what on earth is going on? Didn't that bastard disembowel me? How am I still alive?"

He tugged at the stitches on his belly and looked around.

"Could it be..."

Zhou Kai's gaze lingered on Xu Zhixia for three seconds.

"Dr. Xu, are you pregnant?"

"...What?" Xu Zhixia felt completely baffled. She was even starting to doubt whether his brain was truly injured.

"Did you awaken some kind of resurrection Superpower after getting pregnant and save me?"

A vein on Xu Zhixia's forehead twitched.

Lin Fan glanced at Zhou Kai. "Xu Zhixia is not pregnant."

"Then who is?" Zhou Kai's brain spun rapidly. "Song Ya?"

Song Ya stepped back half a step, her face instantly turning completely red.

"Can you stop guessing wildly?" Song Ya waved her hands. "I am not pregnant at all."

"Then how did I survive?"

Lin Fan: "It's a long story."

Zhou Kai: "Then make it short."

Lin Fan looked at him, and Zhou Kai looked at Lin Fan.

"You mutated." Lin Fan spoke first after all.

Zhou Kai blinked. "Mutated?"

"Just like Chen Jian, but milder than him."

"Perhaps the things inside that tube entered your body and modified you."

"You died for a few hours, then crawled out of the grave and turned into a three-meter-tall wolf."

Zhou Kai opened his mouth wide, his gum missing three teeth exposed to the air.

"...A wolf?"

"Black fur, vertical pupils, and when you stood up, your head could reach the rock wall."

Zhou Kai lowered his head to look at his hands—ten fingers, normally human.

He touched his face again; his chin, nose, and ears all had the shapes a human should have.

"What about now?"

"Now you've changed back."

"What about the future?"

Lin Fan didn't answer immediately.

The Karst Cave fell silent for a few seconds, with only the muffled sound of waves crashing against the rock wall coming from afar.

Zhou Kai stared at Lin Fan's face, thinking of how that knife was held against his throat when he first woke up.

He understood...

He must have done some bad things after turning into a wolf.

Wait?

They were still alive, so what about the things he had said just now?

He was finished.

If he didn't make up for it now, Lin Fan could bury him right back on the spot.

And this time, he'd probably have to be buried a bit deeper, with two layers of stones pressed on top.

Zhou Kai violently shook his head, the expression on his face instantly switching to a blank and innocent look.

"Brother Fan... Brother Fan, wait."

Zhou Kai waved his hands randomly in the air. "Just now... what did I say just now?"

Lin Fan didn't move, just looking at him.

"No, let me tell you." Zhou Kai's brows furrowed, putting on an expression of straining to recall. "Before I woke up... my mind was pitch black all the time, and then I felt like I woke up, but I couldn't make a sound."

"It seemed like... it seemed like something was fighting with me for this body."

Zhou Kai spoke with extreme earnestness, gesturing with both hands. "It's that kind of feeling, understand? I wanted to speak, but my mouth wouldn't obey; I wanted to move, but my hands and feet weren't my own."

"And then I muddledly said a bunch of messy things... That wasn't me saying it! That was that... that wolf saying it!"

The Karst Cave fell silent for two seconds. Lin Fan stared at him, and Zhou Kai stared at Lin Fan.

The campfire crackled once.

"Zhou Kai." Lin Fan spoke up.

"Huh?"

"Stop pretending. Your acting skills are so cringe-worthy it makes my toes curl."

Zhou Kai's face stiffened for a moment, and then he continued to struggle, "No! Brother Fan, I'm really not pretending! Just think, I eat your food and drink your drinks, how could I possibly say that kind of..."