The male supporting character was actually myself.

"Well done!" Jiang Chen gave it a thumbs up as he went down the mountain and distanced himself from the others. He said softly, "You don't need to worry about the poison anymore. Now go to every household in the village and see if anyone has any hidden antiques."

It should be shaped like a bottle or jar, and not very big.

If you can find something similar, bring it over so I can see it.

The little white cat was delighted to receive the praise, wagging its tail and waving its paws, saying, "Don't worry, host, I will definitely complete the mission!"

When the group arrived at the main square, the scorching sun made everyone sweat profusely.

"Village Chief, you've worked hard! Have a bowl of tea!" A pot of boiling water was used to brew fine tea, which was then brought over. The woman pouring the water asked curiously, "Village Chief, how much money does Li Mingliang have?"

The village chief wiped his sweat, shook his head, and clicked his tongue, saying, "He must have at least tens of millions in assets."

He seized his sister's assets back then—such a huge villa and millions in savings! And over the years, he's been running companies, doing business, and taking a cut of tourism profits. How could he have been shortchanged?

The village woman beamed with joy, "Wow! With all the money going to the public treasury and the year-end dividends, each family will get at least a hundred thousand! We're rich!"

"Make a fortune my ass!" the village chief cursed viciously. "That bastard Li Mingliang killed a young girl who came to the island for tourism! This is a big deal, he'll have to pay her with all his assets first."

It's hard to say how much will be left in the end.

Otherwise, I would have stopped him from being beaten to death.

If the authorities investigate the tourist's murder and it turns out we killed Li Mingliang and still want a share of the money? The whole village will be arrested and imprisoned!

As he said this, he glanced at the three tourists watching the spectacle not far away, then lowered his voice and instructed, "Tell them to watch their mouths after drinking. These people don't know that we used vigilante justice to take care of Li Mingliang's wife and parents first..."

Before the words were even finished, a scream could be faintly heard from the beach: "Help! Murder!"

The instruments on the stage weren't playing, but a man was singing in a low, guttural voice.

Hearing the cries for help, everyone looked blankly toward the beach.

The village chief immediately stood up, furious. "Damn it, who the hell is causing trouble again? Can't the sea god worship ceremony be conducted properly? Come on, come on, let's go see!"

He had just taken a few steps when the village chief suddenly grabbed his throat, collapsed to the ground, and began to convulse.

"Village chief, what's wrong?"

"Dalin, Erlin, come quick and see what's wrong with your dad!"

The people who surrounded him shouted twice, and soon someone also grabbed his own neck and fell to the ground convulsing.

Within two minutes, the people in the square began to take the poison, and tables, chairs, benches, bowls, chopsticks, and plates were knocked over and scattered in a chaotic mess.

Song Gang turned pale and ran towards the back mountain without looking back.

Jiang Chen and Duan Chengze were not alarmed; they simply looked towards the beach together.

"Wang Dayou's cries for help came much later than usual. What could be stopping Zhang Qiang?"

"Li Dahan should not have been poisoned, so he wouldn't have died silently in his hiding place. The two of them probably fought each other."

Where do you think the poison was placed today?

"Water, the water used for cooking here is stored in jars, so it's easy to access."

"The wine that Zhang Qiang stole wasn't poisoned. What will he do after he comes back from killing people?"

Jiang Chen looked at the houses in the village, some old and some new, and pondered, "Perhaps we should search all over the village."

He and Li Dahan found an antique while turning over the soil today, which was the trigger for their conflict.

Perhaps this is also why his wife suddenly arranged to meet with her lover, Wang Dayou.

"Looks like you've had a good day." Duan Chengze looked at him in amazement, and while pushing Jiang Chen toward the back mountain, he said softly, "Let's hide for a bit, Zhang Qiang is back."

"Damn it! You dare to cuckold me? I'll chop you up!" Zhang Qiang cursed as he walked out of the bushes, a bloodstained axe tucked into his waistband, his body covered in blood.

After the initial impulse subsided, the murderous intent in his eyes gradually faded.

Thinking about what he would do after killing someone, Zhang Qiang gritted his teeth and made up his mind to sneak back to the village before anyone found out, first find the antique that Li Dahan had stolen, then pack his bags, steal Li Mingliang's boat, and escape to the outside world!

"What the hell happened?" When he crawled out of the woods and saw the corpses lying haphazardly in the square, he was so frightened that his legs trembled and he almost wet his pants.

"Damn it!" Zhang Qiang pulled out a small flask from his pocket, took two gulps, spat hard, and mustered his courage to go over and take a look.

These people had clearly only recently died; their bodies were still warm.

He first snatched the big gold watch from the village chief's wrist, then rummaged through the wallets of several wealthy people. The rich haul lessened his fear, and Zhang Qiang hurriedly put the watch on his own wrist. He accidentally pulled on the wound on his shoulder and immediately winced in pain.

"How could they all be dead?" He leaned over and sniffed, and everyone smelled strongly of alcohol. He immediately realized what was going on and kicked the village chief twice. "Damn it! They're so rich but they can't bear to buy alcohol and brew their own?"

Alcohol poisoning will kill them all!

"Luckily I didn't drink much, or I would have fallen for your trick too!"

The kick was a bit too forceful, causing the wound on his shoulder to reopen and blood to drip down.

Zhang Qiang laughed arrogantly, "It's good that they're dead! It's better that they're all dead!"

From today onwards, I am the new village chief of this deserted island!

Alcohol poisoning is good, I'll call the police after I clean up the woods..."

Chapter 18: Terrifying Desert Island (17)

The scorching sun made his throat feel like it was on fire.

Zhang Qiang's desire for power and money, coupled with his joy at the fact that 99% of the villagers had died, made him swallow hard. He walked to the large water vat, scooped up a ladle of water, and poured it over his head, trying to feel more refreshed.

Zhang Qiang threw down the water ladle and hummed a little tune as he walked towards the village, but he hadn't gone far when he collapsed, convulsed, and soon died.

“He has wounds, and the water is poisonous.” Duan Chengze shook his head as he looked from afar and said, “I’m afraid only one or two old, weak, sick, or disabled people in the village are still alive.”

"Let's go check out the beach first."

Jiang Chen rushed over first and saw signs of a fierce fight in the woods near the dock.

“Zhang Qiang and Li Dahan fought for a long time.” Liang Rumeng, soaking wet, stood on the dock, wiping the water from her face and panting, “When they came looking for us, I hid under the boat. I only went inside after they left, so I couldn’t see very clearly.”

How is the village doing?

Am I safe? Where's Xiaotong?

A series of questions elicited a heavy sigh from Duan Chengze.

Liang Rumeng immediately understood his meaning. Her thin, slightly sunken cheeks turned pale, and she pursed her lips but ultimately said nothing.

After the four of them gathered, they took a walk around the village, and every house was empty.

The widowed grandmother died in the old house, dressed neatly and lying peacefully on the bed;

Wangzi's paralyzed mother was strangled to death in her bed;

Li Mingliang, who was being held in a nursing home, was beaten to death; his face was completely disfigured and his eyeballs had popped out.

The door to Li Dahan's house was ajar. Pushing open the dilapidated door, one could see a disfigured woman with a face full of scars hanging from the rafters.

"Host! I think I found the antique you mentioned!" The little white cat ran happily and jumped onto his shoulder, boasting, "I found it in Zhang Qiang's neighbor's chicken coop. Quick, check if I found it right?"

Jiang Chen hurried to the open space, took out the porcelain bottle that the little white cat had found from the system space, put it into the pit and compared it. Sure enough, it fit perfectly!

The other three looked completely bewildered, having no idea what he was comparing.

"If my deduction is correct, we'll soon be able to break the cycle and escape the instance." Jiang Chen said calmly, looking at the delicate little porcelain bottle in his hand, "Tomorrow, the four of us will work together to trace the source!"

"You understand everything?" Song Gang and Liang Rumeng looked at each other in bewilderment.

Duan Chengze, clearly still unable to connect the dots, asked curiously, "Wangzi's mother, who killed that paralyzed old woman?"

“Grandma Widow. Do you remember that woman who was fetching water by the river said that her cousin stopped Grandma Widow from running away? Wangzi’s mother is her cousin.”

Song Gang and the others were completely bewildered by Jiang Chen and Duan Chengze's disjointed conversation.

Fortunately, this is a cooperative instance, and it's great that someone can sort things out of the mess. They can't wait to leave the instance.

Being on the island every day, afraid to eat or drink, watching people die again and again, was truly agonizing.

A new day is about to begin.

After greeting the village chief, Jiang Chen led the others to follow Li Dahan from a distance.

"Aunt Ji, the village chief told me to go level the land, but I haven't had breakfast yet. Could you please watch over my wife and have her cook breakfast and bring it to me? Lock the door when you come back!" Li Dahan said to a plump woman next door through the low courtyard wall as he fed the sheep home with a half-basket of grass on his back.

Aunt Ji smiled so much her eyes narrowed into slits, "I know! It cost 30,000 yuan to buy, and I keep it locked up in the house like a treasure every day."

Li Dahan pursed his lips and muttered, "What treasure? I'm just afraid it will run away. Besides, how embarrassing would it be if that face scared people in the village? After a few years and I have a couple of kids, the villagers will get used to it and won't lock it up anymore."

"Alright, alright, go get back to work. I'll keep an eye on things for you."

Li Dahan quickly picked up a shovel and called Zhang Qiang over. The two whispered to each other for a while and then walked out of the village.

The scarred woman was ordered by Aunt Ji to cook and heat up the dry food, which she then put in a basket and took to deliver it to Li Dahan.

"Buying a wife with money really works," Zhang Qiang praised upon seeing this. "Even with a silk scarf covering her, she's not so scary. From a distance, her figure is quite nice!"

Li Dahan chuckled, wiped the dirt off his clothes and hands, and sat down on the edge of the embankment to eat and drink.

The scarred woman didn't say anything, picked up her shovel, and went to the side of the hillside to start working.

"You're perceptive!" Zhang Qiang nodded as he ate a piece of dry rations.

Seeing this, Aunt Ji also laughed and said, "Da Han is a lucky man."

Our village has a small population, and many people can't find wives or even buy one; even if they do, they'll cry and make a fuss for a year or two.

"Look at the one you bought! It's well-built, docile, and even knows how to help you with chores."

"That's different!" Li Dahan said with a modest smile, but his words were full of pride. "Although what others buy may not be so pretty, at least it looks presentable!"

I doubt I'd ever get married even if I were outside the city.

They were carrying their own packages when they came over; I looked through them and they were all old clothes, broken shoes, pots and pans, and the like.

She couldn't be happier to come and live a peaceful life on our island!

The three ate, drank, chatted, and laughed, and none of them noticed that the scarred woman had dug a shallow pit, then took out a beautiful porcelain bottle the size of a palm from her pocket, put it in, filled it with soil, and deliberately made it uneven.

After they had eaten and drunk their fill, she casually leaned the shovel against the hillside, obediently packed up her basket, and followed Aunt Ji back home.

Li Dahan and Zhang Qiang sat on the earthen embankment and smoked for a while.

"Let's hurry up and finish this!" A moment later, he got up, dusted himself off, picked up his shovel, and then, seeing the uneven ground, Li Dahan grumbled, "It looks nice but is useless. He's been dawdling with a shovel for ages and hasn't gotten anything done!"

He picked up the shovel and got to work, but after less than two minutes he suddenly felt as if the shovel had hit something.