56: Chapter 56 They really treat us like black slaves.

Lin Fan looked into her eyes, his tone calm: "Do you trust me?"

Song Ya did not hesitate at all, nodding heavily: "Trust."

From the capsizing of the cruise ship until now, everyone had been starving and freezing, struggling on the edge of death, while only Lin Fan brought her roasted meat and purified water, letting her sleep in a warm and dry Karst Cave. Even if Lin Fan told her to jump off a cliff right now, she would still feel that there was a cushion at the bottom.

"Good." Lin Fan sheathed the tactical straight knife in his hand back into the scabbard on the outside of his thigh, pointing at Zhao Na and the four other women collapsing on the ground, "Take them to the edge of the Mangrove Forest to gather firewood."

Before Song Ya could react, the several women on the ground blew up once again.

"Lin Fan, really..."

"Shut up."

Lin Fan interrupted them.

"I made my rules very clear just now; this place does not feed idlers, let alone bargaining trash."

"There are a lot of dead branches blown down by the wind at the edge of the Mangrove Forest, which are ready-made dry firewood. I want you to fill the open space on the right side of the cave entrance before dark."

"Those who don't want to go can get lost right now."

Lin Fan pointed at the empty mineral water bottles on the ground, a sneer curling up the corner of his mouth.

"That half bottle of water just now can be considered as my offering to the dead."

As soon as these words came out, the crying and shouting stopped abruptly.

The color on Zhao Na's face drained completely clean.

She glanced at the rock crevice below that didn't even have a single piece of dry firewood, and then looked at the mountains of supplies piled behind Lin Fan.

Returning was certain death, but going to the edge of the forest might still offer a glimmer of survival.

Song Ya gripped the thick wooden stick in her hand, her palms covered in cold sweat.

Hearing Lin Fan's words, she was actually scared to death too; the visual impact brought by that tens-of-meters-long giant python was too terrifying.

But she was even more afraid that Lin Fan would be disappointed in her.

Song Ya took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the fear in her heart, turned around to look at everyone, "Everyone, get up."

Although her voice was somewhat trembling, her tone was exceptionally firm, "Lin Fan's decisions have never been wrong. If he says we can go, we can definitely go."

"Think about it carefully. From the day before yesterday until now, of all the things Lin Fan has done, which one was wrong? Everyone trust Lin Fan. As long as we don't go deep into the forest and just pick up dry branches at the outermost edge, and move a bit faster, absolutely nothing will happen."

"Let's go then!" Zhao Na's eye sockets were red, her voice hoarse, "Anyway, death is death either way. Dying in a snake's belly is just a quick moment, much better than being tortured to death by freezing and starvation."

Seeing this, Lily and the other three women could only climb up from the ground in despair; they had no way out.

Lin Fan turned his head to look at the few men, "Are you waiting for me to carry you?"

Zhang Tao shivered all over, not daring to let out a single fart, and listlessly crawled down the slope.

Watching the dozen or so people disperse to carry out their orders, Lin Fan sat back down by the campfire and picked up that piece of unfinished tomahawk steak.

Of course he wasn't really sending this group of people to their deaths.

Just at the moment when the giant python retreated back into the deep forest, a line of small text that only he could see had refreshed on his retina.

[Omniscient Prompt: The mutant reticulated python has swallowed an adult male weighing 75 kilograms. Its stomach is extremely distended, and it has entered a deep dormant digestion period.]

[The creature has retreated to the geothermal nest in the center of the island. It is estimated that within 48 hours, it will not leave the nest by even half a step.]

[Current safety coefficient of the Mangrove Forest edge area: 99%.]

Such are the habits of cold-blooded animals.

After a full meal, they often need several days, half a month, or even longer to digest it.

Especially after swallowing prey exceeding the conventional proportion, they will become extremely sluggish and will only find an absolutely safe place to lie motionlessly.

At the edge of the Mangrove Forest right now, let alone a giant python, not even a slightly larger wild beast would be there, because they were all scared away by that monster's aura.

...

On the slope below.

Zhang Tao picked up some rotten wooden boards, his face flushed red, crawling up step by step.

"Damn it... They really treat us like slaves..." Zhang Tao gritted his teeth and cursed in a low voice.

Xiao Zhou followed behind holding a stone, panting heavily: "Brother Tao, save your breath. Save your energy to work, at least you can exchange it for half a biscuit tonight. If you roll down right now, you won't even have a sip of water to drink."

Zhang Tao glanced downward.

Inside the rock crevice where Su Qingxue was, it was lifeless.

Those eight corpses were still lying haphazardly outside, attracting a few unknown seabirds to hover in mid-air.

In comparison, although they were currently as tired as dogs, as long as they crawled up, they would be able to see that pile of burning campfire and feel the heat coming from the Karst Cave.

Zhang Tao swallowed a mouthful of saliva, lowered his head resigned to his fate, and continued crawling upward.

Isn't this just a replica of what it used to be at the company?

It's just that previously Su Qingxue sat in the office giving orders, while they, a group of bottom-tier employees, ran their legs off outside drumming up business.

Now, the person sitting in the high position had been replaced by Lin Fan, and they were still those beasts of burden selling their physical strength.

Such is fate.

On the other side.

Song Ya led the five women, trembling with fear, and arrived at the edge of the Mangrove Forest.

Still a dozen meters away from the woods, that strong, nauseating fishy stench hit them head-on.

The bushes had been flattened into a wide passage, the surrounding large trees were crooked and tilted, and a few huge dark-brown scales were still stained on the broken tree trunks.

Old Li's single leather shoe lay forlornly in the grass, covered in sticky bloodstains.

Seeing this scene, Lily's legs went soft, and she directly knelt on the ground and began to retch.

"Don't look! Hurry up and pick!" Song Ya forcibly endured the churning in her stomach, and tapped a withered tree nearby with her wooden stick, "Just pick right here on the outside, absolutely don't go inside! Once we gather a full armful, we'll go back!"

Zhao Na's face was pale, her hands trembling as she picked up a dry branch from the ground.

The surroundings were frighteningly quiet; apart from the rustling sound of the sea wind blowing through the leaves, there was no movement of any living creature.

The few women were like frightened birds, trembling all over at the slightest rustle.

They didn't dare to raise their heads to look at the deep woods at all, and could only keep their heads down, frantically gathering the dry branches from the ground into their arms.

Song Ya stood at the innermost side, her hands gripping the sharpened wooden stick tightly.

Her palms had already been soaked through with sweat.

She was very afraid, but Lin Fan's words "Do you trust me?" kept echoing in her mind.

Since Lin Fan let them come, he would definitely guarantee their safety.