57: Chapter 57 How did he know we wouldn't be able to go back anytime soon?

Ten minutes passed.

Half an hour passed.

One trip, two trips, three trips.

They made three round trips carrying dead branches to the Karst Cave.

The woods were dead silent, without even a single bird chirping. There was no sign of the tens-of-meters-long giant python appearing at all.

As time passed, the sense of fear began to fade bit by bit.

Zhao Na wiped the cold sweat from her forehead, threw a bundle of firewood on the ground, and let out a long breath.

"It really didn't come out."

"Song Ya." She leaned closer to Song Ya, glanced towards the Karst Cave above, and asked, "What on earth is going on with Lin Fan?"

Zhao Na lowered her voice, her tone tentative. "The day before yesterday when we drifted here, he started frantically collecting supplies. Mineral water, self-heating hot pots, first aid kits. He even managed to get tomahawk steaks. How did he know we wouldn't be able to go back anytime soon?"

Several women stopped what they were doing at the same time and perked up their ears.

They all had this question in their hearts; Lin Fan's behavior was too abnormal.

When normal people encounter a shipwreck, their first reaction is to look for valuable items and then wait for rescue, but Lin Fan seemed to be preparing to fight a protracted survival war.

"I don't know," Song Ya answered honestly.

"How could you not know?" Zhao Na didn't believe it. "You were the first one to be with him. Didn't he give you a hint?"

Song Ya shook her head. She looked at the deep Mangrove Forest, her voice sounding astringent.

"Lin Fan only told me one thing."

Zhao Na pressed further, "What thing?"

"The magnetic field here is abnormal." Song Ya looked into the eyes of the other women, speaking word by word. "He said the cruise ship's positioning system completely failed before the ship capsized, and the rescue team simply cannot find the coordinates here."

"Lin Fan said we're afraid we won't be able to go back for the rest of our lives."

"Never go back for the rest of our lives?"

Lily screamed out, and Song Ya hurriedly covered her mouth.

Lily pulled down Song Ya's hand, and her tears burst forth like a broken dam.

She slumped to the ground, her hands clutching her hair tightly.

"I just paid the down payment for a small two-bedroom apartment in Jiangcheng! Exactly six hundred thousand! That was the money I saved up for four years!"

Lily cried in a breakdown, "Next month I have to pay the first mortgage! If I can't go back, what will happen to my house?! The bank will take my house away!"

An emotion of despair instantly spread.

The young girl from the Administrative Department leaned against a tree trunk, her eyes losing focus.

"I just started dating a boyfriend last week," she said with a trembling voice. "He's a second-generation rich kid whose family owns a chain of hotels. We agreed that after this team-building trip, we'd go meet our parents once we got back. As long as we get married, I won't have to work for the rest of my life."

"I can't die here! I'm going to be a wealthy lady soon! I can't pick firewood on this damn island for the rest of my life!"

The other few women also began to sob softly.

There was no rescue, no civilization, and no law.

There were only man-eating monsters and endless hunger.

But Zhao Na did not cry.

She stared fiercely at the dead branches on the ground. Couldn't go back?

If they really couldn't go back, then Su Qingxue's title of CEO wasn't even worth a piece of toilet paper on this Deserted Island! Wang Qiang, that sales director, was an utter and complete piece of trash!

On this Deserted Island, whoever had food in their hands, whoever had purified water, and whoever could provide a safe shelter was the king here!

Lin Fan was this king.

Zhao Na subconsciously straightened her chest.

She was twenty-six this year, right at a woman's most mature and supple age.

Although there were a few scratch marks on her face, her physical assets were still there.

Since they couldn't go back, she had to find the strongest backing in this new world.

As long as she could crawl into Lin Fan's bed, even if he tormented her with all sorts of tricks every day, it would still be ten thousand times better than freezing and starving to death down there in the wind gap.

"What are you crying for?!" Zhao Na gave a low shout and kicked Lily. "Save your strength for work! If you want to stay alive, hurry up and collect firewood. If you don't finish the task, you won't even get half a biscuit tonight!"

Lily was kicked and her tears stopped.

She raised her head to look at Zhao Na's determined expression and instantly understood something.

Lily gritted her teeth, got up from the ground, and desperately stuffed branches into her arms.

Although she was flat-chested, she was young, and she absolutely couldn't let Zhao Na take the lead all by herself.

Several women, each harboring their own thoughts, hugged the dead branches and strode back.

The scorching sun hung high in the sky.

The temperature skyrocketed.

On the slope, Zhang Tao had a huge piece of anti-corrosive wooden board on his shoulder.

The wooden board was wreckage from the cruise ship's deck, washed ashore by the waves.

An entire day.

From morning until sunset.

The five of them ran back and forth between the beach and the Karst Cave more than a dozen times.

There was no water and no food.

Extreme hunger and dehydration made spots dance before their eyes.

"Thud."

Zhang Tao threw the last piece of wooden board onto the platform in front of the Karst Cave.

His whole body collapsed directly onto the gravel.

His chest rose and fell violently, and his throat was so dry that it seemed there was no saliva left.

Xiao Zhou put down the stone, slid down against the stone wall, and didn't even have the strength to speak.

On the right side of the Karst Cave.

The dry firewood that Zhao Na and the others had picked back had already piled up into a small mountain, enough to burn for half a month.

"Are the wooden boards all moved?"

Zhang Tao struggled to sit up.

"They're all moved, Brother Fan. All the usable wooden boards, stones, and canvas on the beach are right here."

Lin Fan stood up and walked over to the pile of supplies.

He kicked the huge anti-corrosive wooden board and tugged at the waterproof canvas.

He confirmed the quality was not a problem.

Watching Lin Fan's actions, Zhang Tao couldn't help speaking up.

"Brother Fan, these wooden boards are all anti-corrosive wood filled with chemical agents. They can't be used for burning at all—they produce too much smoke and choke people. Stones and canvas can't be eaten either."

Zhang Tao pointed at the pile of things.

"Why did we go through so much trouble to carry these things up? It'd be more practical to just pick up more dry firewood."

Zhang Tao didn't understand.

They were half-dead from exhaustion, and carrying this garbage with zero survival value up the steep slope was a complete waste of physical strength.

Lin Fan turned around.

He looked at Zhang Tao.

"Burning a fire?" He chuckled softly.

He walked to the deepest part of the Karst Cave and pointed at that dry, flat area.

"This cave is too open."

"I want you to set the wooden boards upright, fix them with stones, and hang the canvas over them."

"Make partitions?" Zhang Tao's face was full of astonishment.

"Right," Lin Fan nodded.

"What are partitions for?" Zhang Tao's brain hadn't turned the corner yet. "Isn't it warmer for everyone to sleep squeezed together?"

Lin Fan generously took a few bottles of mineral water.

Zhao Na, Lily, Song Ya, and six other women were sitting on the other side of the campfire at this moment.

The six women, although covered in mud and tattered in clothing, had unmistakable graceful curves that, under the reflection of the firelight, exuded a primitive temptation.

Zhao Na even intentionally straightened her waist and back, and her tattered underwear simply couldn't conceal her proud assets.

Lin Fan's gaze swept over the six women one by one.

Finally, his sight fell back onto Zhang Tao's face.

"With so many women on the island and no internet here, the only way to pass the time is to have children."

"Could it be that when I'm entertaining myself at night, I have to let you big fellows watch from the side?"

Dead silence.

Wooden boards, stones, canvas.

They weren't used to block the wind at the cave entrance at all.

Lin Fan was going to use the blood and sweat of these men to personally build a private, enclosed harem for himself deep inside this absolutely safe Karst Cave!

Zhang Tao turned his head to look at Zhao Na and Lily.

Zhao Na did not refute.

Even when she heard the word "entertainment," a trace of fanatical hope flashed in her eyes.

Lily lowered her head, her cheeks flushed scarlet, her fingers twisting the tattered corner of her clothes.

The young girl from the Administrative Department bit her lip, looking at Lin Fan with complicated eyes.

Not a single person stepped forward to rebuke Lin Fan's ruffian behavior.

Not a single person felt that there was anything wrong with this.

On this isolated Deserted Island.

Lin Fan controlled the water, controlled the food, and controlled the fire.

Moreover, he also had a shovel and a dagger.

Asking several women to sleep with him was simply even more a matter of course than eating and drinking water.

By what right?