79: Chapter 79 This isn't an office building, this is a deserted island

This scene left Zhang Tao and Xiao Zhou, who were squatting three meters away from the campfire, dumbfounded.

Zhang Tao had worked at Shengtang Group for three years, and he had a pretty good idea of what kind of person Song Ya was.

In the company, Song Ya was a notoriously good-natured person with excellent upbringing, and normally she would not even casually take a pen that someone else left on their desk.

Say she would steal food to eat? Zhang Tao would not believe it even if it killed him.

However.

Zhang Tao glanced at the mountain of material cardboard boxes, then touched his rumbling stomach and silently swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

This was not an office building; this was a Deserted Island.

When people were starved to the extreme, their eyes turned green and their brains went blank.

The stomach telling the brain what to do was an ironclad rule.

Seeing so much delicious food placed there with Lin Fan absent, it was not entirely impossible that Song Ya could not help herself and took a pack for a moment.

What is more, several people were now accusing Song Ya in unison.

Zhang Tao secretly glanced at the expression of Lin Fan.

Lin Fan did not have any expression; he did not even frown.

Just moments ago, Song Ya had recklessly talked back to Lin Fan and spoken up for them, only to be scolded mercilessly by Lin Fan.

The relationship between Lin Fan and Song Ya was clearly not as unbreakable as imagined.

If someone stood up to speak for Song Ya at this time, they might just be kicked straight down the cliff by Lin Fan to feed the Giant Lizard.

Zhang Tao hurriedly lowered his head and pretended not to hear anything.

He did not care whether Song Ya lived or died, as long as it did not implicate him.

Xiao Zhou glanced at Song Ya, who was isolated, besieged by several people, and shivering, and remembered that she was the only one who had dared to stand up earlier and speak a fair word for him at the risk of offending Lin Fan.

"Brother Fan!" Xiao Zhou took a deep breath, his voice stammering a bit due to tension, but he still bit the bullet and blurted it out.

"Brother Fan, this matter... this matter, I think there is something fishy."

Everyone followed the sound and looked at Xiao Zhou.

The expression of Lily sank: "Xiao Zhou, have you lost your mind? Is there any place for you to speak here?"

Xiao Zhou ignored her and looked straight at Lin Fan.

"Brother Fan, when we were at the company, everyone knew the character of Song Ya. She would not even borrow the tissues of someone else for free, how could she do something like stealing food?" Xiao Zhou swallowed a mouthful of saliva, pointing at Lily, Xiao Qin, and the others.

"Besides, what kind of virtue Lily usually has in the company, everyone knows clear as day. To boost sales performance, fighting for clients, and stabbing people in the back—has she done little of that?"

"Xiao Zhou! What kind of bullshit are you spouting!" Lily shrieked, her ugly deeds exposed.

Xiao Zhou did not even look at her, continuing to say to Lin Fan: "Brother Fan, Song Ya just made you angry a moment ago because she spoke up for us. If she were really that scheming, how could she do such a stupid thing?"

"I think it must be that the few of them went to steal food because they were starved crazy, and Song Ya happened to catch them. Now, to protect themselves, they have banded together to pin the blame on Song Ya!"

"Xiao Zhou, if you dare to talk nonsense again, I will tear your mouth apart!" Xiao Liu rushed up, ready to throw hands.

"Enough."

Lin Fan spoke suddenly.

His voice was not loud, but the moment those two words fell, all the quarreling, screaming, and cursing in the Karst Cave stopped abruptly, as if hit by a mute button.

Lin Fan leisurely pulled out his wrist, breaking free from the tug of Song Ya.

He ignored the plea of Xiao Zhou and did not look at the face of Lily, which was distorted with anger.

He merely turned his head, his calm gaze sweeping over the few people in the Karst Cave—Lily, Xiao Qin, Xiao Liu, and the two male employees.

"I will ask one last time." The tone of Lin Fan had no fluctuation whatsoever. "Did all of you see with your own eyes that Song Ya stole and ate things?"

The air remained dead silent for two seconds.

Lily was the first to react, nodding without hesitation, her voice crisp: "Seen with my own eyes! Brother Fan, I swear on my life!"

Xiao Qin glanced at Lily, swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and followed up by nodding forcefully: "Se... seen it, I saw it too."

Xiao Liu and the male employees also nodded frantically like pounding garlic.

"Saw it! There is definitely no mistake!"

"Song Ya, what else do you have to say!"

The corners of the mouth of Lin Fan twitched upward slightly.

He turned his head and looked at Song Ya, who was standing beside him.

Looking at the fleeting smile of Lin Fan, Song Ya knew the meaning of Lin Fan.

She suddenly stopped crying.

Tears were still spinning in her eyes, but her body had stopped shivering.

She looked into the eyes of Lin Fan, which lacked a trace of temperature, and looked at those pairs of faces around her filled with malice, greed, and calculation.

Zhang Tao lowered his head and played dead.

The face of Lily was full of smugness.

Xiao Qin and Xiao Liu evaded her gaze, yet hidden at the bottom of their eyes was the relief of having escaped disaster.

This was the person she had fought tooth and nail to protect just moments ago.

This was the group she had tried to protect, even willing to talk back to Lin Fan and lecture him on rotten principles like "colleague mutual assistance" and "huddling together for warmth."

Lin Fan was right.

On this Deserted Island, her kindness was poison.

The story of the farmer and the snake was not just giving her a lesson right now; it was holding a knife, slicing away her naivety and stupidity from her bones knife by knife.

She had compromised for their sake and eaten those pathetic scraps.

In the end, for their own interests, they turned around and pushed her out to take the hit.

A bone-chilling cold shot straight from the soles of her feet to her crown.

She did not open her mouth to defend herself again.

What use was defending herself? In front of absolute selfishness and malice, the truth was worthless.

Song Ya slowly loosened her grip on the corner of her clothes.

She took a deep breath, exhaling all the turbid air in her lungs.

Her gaze noticeably dimmed with the naked eye.

That original clear and pure light was replaced by a kind of dead ash.

She looked at Lin Fan, her tone so calm that even she herself felt frightened.

"I understand the rules."

Song Ya turned around, not taking a single thing on the ground, and did not even cast a glance at the cold-weather jacket.

"I will leave the Karst Cave right now."

She took strides and walked step by step toward the dazzling sunlight outside the Karst Cave.