Those Classmates who Suddenly Disappeared
Chapter 104 Dangerous Environment

Chapter 104: Chapter 104 Dangerous Environment

Packing up, everyone set off again. Having just endured a conflict with the poachers, a sense of melancholy hung in the air, the previous light-hearted atmosphere now absent.

The crossbow held by the poachers was illegal. Su Hui considered making an arrest but loomed over by the safety of everyone. She alone might not be able to tackle five opponents, who were no simple rival, not to mention it was unclear if they only had one crossbow.

However, what took Su Hui by surprise was Gu Fan’s performance. So, she hastened over and started chatting with him: "You’re impressive! You actually held your ground against them, coming out in a draw. Seems like my stringent training did yield some results. You should thank me, and perhaps give me a discount on rent too."

Gu Fan made a pitiful face: "Please, big sister, with the soaring prices, not raising your rent itself is the same as reducing it. See how considerate a landlord I am."

"You want to raise the rent? Go ahead and try. See if I don’t beat you up till you’re picking your teeth off the ground." Su Hui threatened menacingly, making Gu Fan’s head spin. He knew better than to raise her rent.

At this moment, Lu Yi also chimed in: "I was also surprised. Gu Fan, you’re not half bad, you looked quite skilled in the fight."

Gu Fan shook his head: "That was just a facade. I only fought for a while and my hands were hurting badly. I wouldn’t have been able to continue."

"I was just praising you, why lose heart so quickly?" Lu Yi shook his head in disappointment. Subsequently, everyone reached a consensus; among the group, Professor Luo was the most knowledgeable, Ouyang Jin was the guide, Su Hui was the most skilled, followed by Gu Fan. Everyone else seemed rather ordinary in comparison.

Jie launched the drone brought with them, scouting the path ahead. He definitely did not want to encounter the poachers again nor face any surprises on the way.

Observing this, Lu Yi was quick to say: "Bro, you’re using the drone already? Will the battery last?"

"Don’t worry, there’s a solar charger and backup batteries. It’ll last." Jie replied while monitoring the screen. The area seemed desolate for miles, devoid of any life.

Perhaps due to boredom, Du Jun suddenly began shouting into the sky. His voice echoed loudly across the open space.

Seeing this, everyone became interested and began shouting as well, ears perked for their own echoes. It was quite fun, an experience you wouldn’t have in a city.

"Alright, that’s enough. Your howling might attract a wolf thinking it has found its own kind." Gu Fan joked. Then he approached Ouyang Jin: "Bro, you’re familiar with the region. You must know if there are wolves in the area."

"Normally, I guide along standard tourist routes, where there’s constant traffic and unlikely to sight a wolf. Occasionally, I do guide groups into remote areas, but we’ve never encountered wolves, probably due to my good luck. Hence, if we do meet a wolf, I lack the necessary experience to deal with it." Ouyang Jin’s response left everyone rather speechless.

Gu Fan looked at the map and around him, roughly estimated their location, and furrowed his brows in deep thought. He couldn’t quite match the ancient map with the modern one.

Although it was a barren land, it wasn’t completely lifeless. Where there were plants, there were herbivores, and with them, came carnivores. Like the eagle, soaring high in the sky and letting out a resounding cry.

Everyone got their first glimpse of a grand eagle soaring freely. They couldn’t help but look at it, some even like Lu Yi began whistling at it as if greeting it.

Ouyang Jin called everyone’s attention: "Be careful, as we venture deeper, we will encounter some dangerous animals, like wolves, snakes and scorpions."

Everyone’s faces changed to unease at his words, especially Lu Yi, who asked: "What should we do if we encounter them, particularly when we’re asleep at night?"

Ouyang Jin reassured them. Even the normal, safe routes occasionally had incidents of tourists getting bitten by snakes, but there were only a few types of snakes, for which the travel agency had antidotes prepared.

"So, that’s it. You should have told us this earlier, you had us needlessly worried." Just as Lu Yi seemed relieved, Ouyang Jin changed his tone: "However, antidotes are difficult to procure. I only have three. So, if a fourth person is bitten by a venomous snake, I won’t be able to help. You might just have to pray."

Lu Yi was at a loss for words: "You sure know how to motivate us."

"A word to the wise, everyone should be careful, especially when sleeping, make sure there are no openings." No sooner than Gu Fan had spoken, they saw the eagle that had been circling high in the sky suddenly swooped down, plunging its claws into the ground. After fighting its prey, probably a rabbit, it finally soared into the sky.

The Law of Jungle, Gu Fan understood this well, but Lin Xi felt sympathy for the bunny.

At this time, while studying an ancient map, Professor Luo posed a question: "Comrade Ouyang, have you heard of the river marked on this map?"

Ouyang Jin replied: "No, it might have dried up centuries ago and was buried by the sands, so it’s not marked on the contemporary map."

This river is located to the east of the ancient kingdom of Qian Ye. If we can find it, it means we are not far from the ancient kingdom. Without this landmark, finding the kingdom becomes more difficult, which is the greatest challenge of this journey.

According to Professor Luo’s speculation, the surroundings of the ancient Qian Ye kingdom were once teeming with life. But over the years, desertification has buried many things under the wind and sand. The ancient civilization might now be covered underneath the sand.

Lu Yi couldn’t help but exclaim, "My god, if that’s true, we are not capable of excavating sand."

"This is just a guess, also the most likely one, otherwise, why are there no remains?" Gu Fan had barely finished speaking when Teacher Liu interjected, "That’s not necessarily true. Rumor has it that the ancient Qian Ye kingdom vanished overnight. I don’t think any sandstorm could cover up an entire city overnight. Besides, the ancient Qian Ye kingdom was not built on a desert."

"A mystery, a timeless mystery." Professor Luo was full of longing as he spoke. Qin Jia also offered her opinion, "What if a major earthquake occurred? Could it have destroyed the Quin Ye Kingdom and then, with time, the desert gradually buried the ruined kingdom?"

Upon hearing this, Professor Luo’s eyes brightened. He smiled and nodded in agreement, "That is indeed a possibility, we need such bold speculation."

"I want to participate too, I love daring guesses." Lu Yi joined in and put forward his speculation, "It can also be a meteorite, a direct hit by accident."

"Well... that’s also a possibility, I guess." Professor Luo forced a smile, and everyone felt that Lu Yi’s speculation was far-fetched.

However, Gu Fan had a different view, "Whether it’s an earthquake or a meteorite, the ruins of the Qian Ye Kingdom would take time to be buried by the sand. During this time, didn’t any of the other kingdoms notice any abnormalities? Were there no investigations or records?"

This left Professor Luo in a difficult position, "I’ve read documents left by the Great Night Country, they only mention that the Qian Ye kingdom disappeared overnight, but said nothing about an earthquake or ruins."

Jie added, "Maybe what they wanted to express was that the earthquake destroyed the Qian Ye Kingdom and it was reduced to ruins overnight, and in their eyes, being reduced to ruins is equivalent to vanishing, that the Qian Ye no longer existed."

Professor Luo nodded, "That’s a bit of a stretch, but it’s a possibility."

Suddenly, everyone seemed to have developed a taste for storytelling, one anecdote after another, comparing who could make the most plausible one, it almost turned into a gathering of storytellers. Some outlandish theories were even tossed around, like alien abduction suggested by Lu Yi, and it became so outrageous that it had to be forcefully ended.

At that moment, Jie’s drone seemed to detect something, and he called everyone over in shock.

Everyone stared at the screen in horror, a picture of a yak lying on the ground, its body torn apart, blood spread all over.

"This..." Everyone turned to Ouyang Jin, hoping he could provide a reasonable explanation.

Ouyang Jin looked grave, he hesitated a bit before answering, "This was probably done by a pack of wolves. Jie, where did your drone capture this?"

"About a kilometer from here." Jie’s answer accelerated everyone’s heartbeat, and they began to wonder if they would encounter a pack of wolves if they advanced another kilometer.

Ouyang Jin couldn’t believe it. He hadn’t come across any wolves in this area before. Have they expanded their hunting territory?

Seeing the anxious faces, Gu Fan boosted the morale saying, "Don’t be afraid. We’ve prepared for the possibility of encountering wolves. As long as we don’t split up and run around aimlessly, the wolves won’t dare to attack."

Even though his words made sense, everyone was still a bit scared. Knowing you might run into wolves is one thing, actually encountering them is another. Who knows what would happen if we really run into them?

Ouyang Jin decided they couldn’t rush their journey any longer, "To be on the safe side, let’s set up camp here today and start again tomorrow."

"Good, good!" Everyone nodded in agreement.

Lu Yi started praying to the heavens, mumbling, "Ghosts of heaven and earth, hear my plea, protect us and keep us safe, amen."

Gu Fan couldn’t help but laugh, "Lu Yi, which god do you expect to understand your prayer, and how will they protect you if they don’t understand it?"

"The language doesn’t matter, what matters is that if your heart is sincere, it will be heard." After saying this, Lu Yi ignored Gu Fan and continued his prayers.