Those Classmates who Suddenly Disappeared
Chapter 113: The Escape Route

Chapter 113: Chapter 113: The Escape Route

With herculean effort, Ouyang Jin managed to pull the first camel up to the hill, with the others following his example, each ascending the slope.

The eleven of them, along with their fifteen camels, all made it to the top of the hill, out of breath and exhausted. Not one person sat down to rest, instead staying alert to their surroundings.

They are surrounded by the cries of animals, their desperate wails eerily amplified in the pitch-black night. Even the aggressive howls of wolves sounded helpless. The predators, it seemed, never considered that they, too, could become prey.

On the screen of their drone, they could see that dense shadows have encapsulated the hill. All around, animals were falling, their numbers too many to count. It seems none who enters the circle of predators would survive - a horror more daunting than a pack of wolves on a hunt.

"What do we do now?" Everyone looked at the images that the drone was sending back, their hearts filled with fear.

All Ouyang Jin could say was, "Hopefully, these man-eating ants will return to their lairs after they’ve eaten their fill."

At this, everyone fell silent. All they could do now was pray and plead for divine protection.

Suddenly, Lu Yi shouted, "It’s bad, the man-eating ants are climbing up the slope!"

"Are you sure? Could they have sensed more food on the slope?" Gu Fan’s face changed drastically, but then he went and looked. My goodness, a dense shadow was steadily crawling up the slope, not fast, but not slow either.

This was bad. The slope was their only means of escape, but now Gu Fan realized they were trapped on the hill, with no possible route to escape. Even if someone wanted to escape, the hill was surrounded by man-eating ants.

"Are we all going to die here today!" At this, not only did Du Jun refuse to accept this, but so did everyone else.

Then people saw Ouyang Jin take a bucket and stride over to the slope, splashing out a puddle of liquid. It seemed he was trying to hinder the progress of the man-eating ants.

They then realized his plan - to use the rushing water to wash the man-eating ants down the slope. It might be wasteful of water, but it seemed like the only way.

To everyone’s surprise, Ouyang Jin even took out a lighter and ignited the liquid; it flared up, a raging fire. That wasn’t water, it was gasoline!

Seeing this sight, everyone felt enlivened. The towering wall of flames successfully stopped the advance of the man-eating ants. Whoever got too close would burn to death; the intense heat was unbearable.

Yet, just as everyone breathed a sigh of relief, they thanked their luck for having Ouyang Jin with them. But then they saw an unbelievable sight. The man-eating ants began hurling themselves into the wall of fire one after another, shielding their front lines with their own bodies to push through the flames.

"You have got to be kidding me?! All this sacrifice just to eat us?!" Lu Yi couldn’t help but scream in terror; the others were panicked too, but Ouyang Jin remained calm. He quickly poured another puddle of gasoline and lit it up, creating a second line of fire. Then the third, the fourth, the fifth; he kept going.

Even though the man-eating ants, one by one, desperately launched themselves into the first fire, those who survived could hardly break through the second line of fire, let alone the third.

But to everyone’s horror, the shadows started spreading on the mountain wall next to the slope, the ants had begun climbing over it.

In a rush, Ouyang Jin splashed gasoline on the mountain walls and lit it up. Yet the flames could only cover so much ground and the man-eating ants had started to swarm down from the walls. The situation was dire.

"Oh, no!" Jie shrieked in shock, as the drone recorded more and more ants coming from all directions and crawling up the hill.

After circling around the hill, the drone showed that dark shadows were slowly spreading upwards on all sides of the stone wall. Now, they truly were surrounded.

Right then, Lin Xi suggested, "What if we splash a circle of gasoline around us and light it up? Maybe it’ll provide us with some safety."

To this, Ouyang Jin shook his head, "It’s useless. There are too many ants. We can’t stop them with just a few circles of fire."

"Is this the end for us?" Du Jun refused to accept their fate, fear creeping into his voice, even as he continued to look at Lin Xi.

"Damn it, bastards!" Gu Fan was not ready to give up either. Illuminating their surroundings with his flashlight, he realized it wouldn’t take long for the man-eating ants to reach them, given the small size of the hill, and they would be consumed in no time.

"They’re here, they’re really here!" As Xu Haowen’s cry echoed, every face turned to terror. They were in serious trouble now.

"It’s all my fault for insisting on coming here and putting everyone in danger." At that moment, Gu Fan, consumed by anger and guilt, flung his flashlight away, smashing it on the ground.

As they watched more and more of the carnivorous ants crawl closer, surrounding them and closing in, Jie kept moving backwards, until he leaned against a vegetated stone wall.

"Ah!" Jie screamed. Turns out, the vegetation had hidden a wooden board, not a stone wall. Being too old to support his weight, the board shattered, and Jie tumbled down.

Hearing the noise Jie made, everyone turned to look. Jie had vanished, fallen into an unknown place, but from behind the vegetated stone wall, a voice rang out, "Everyone, hurry over here! There’s a lot of space!"

"Heaven has not abandoned us yet! Hurry, everyone!" At Gu Fan’s shout, everyone rushed towards the crag, leading their camels. Underneath the crag was a passage just as Jie had said, large enough even for the camels.

Gu Fan and Lu Yi started clearing the vegetation to open up a path. Professor Luo, aided by Teacher Liu, went ahead followed by Qin Jia and Lin Xi.

Su Hui, Du Jun, and Xu Haowen were tasked with leading each of the camels into the passageway, and maintaining order; any chaos could be troublesome.

Ouyang Jin poured petrol in a circle around the exterior of the rocks, setting it alight, circling again, igniting it again, in a desperate bid to slow the ants’ advance and buy more time.

"Ok, we almost have everyone in. Hurry over!" When the last camel was led into the passage, Gu Fan cried out urgently.

Ouyang Jin promptly moved back, rushing into the passage with Gu Fan and Lu Yi and marvelled at the utility of the passage, their ’escape route’. Whether everyone could survive depended on where the passage led.

The numbers of carnivorous ants were vast, sooner or later they’d break through the flames and pour into the passage too. Though they might gain a moment’s respite, Gu Fan did not want to be pessimistic, but...

At the end of the passage was a large iron gate. As soon as Gu Fan and his group got in, they shut the gate behind them. Everyone took off their jackets and used them to block any gaps in the iron gate.

Unsure of the viability of this strategy, it was however their only hope. Step by step, they all retreated further back, eyes glued to the gate as they imagined the upcoming onslaught of the ants.

After a while of waiting silently and seeing no movement, just as everyone was starting to think they were safe, numerous ants began to crawl out from the gaps in the gate blocked by the jackets. No matter how many there were, they simply couldn’t be stopped.

"Damn it, that’s enough!" Ouyang Jin hastily poured the last of the petrol on the jackets blocking the gate’s openings, igniting them, causing even the gate to catch fire.

This proved effective. Because the gap in the gate was plugged, the ants couldn’t swarm in and break through the flames, hence many perished. Moreover, as the entire gate started burning hotter the ants outside were roasted, everyone held their breath as the gate’s every move was scrutinised.

The gate endured the fire for a long while, not a single ant was successful in making their way in. This meant that they had successfully defended, having escaped the jaws of death, if only temporarily. In relief, they almost sat down, exhausted.

Now was not the time to let their guard down. Although the fire completely deterred the ants outside from entering, this did not mean that they retreated. Gu Fan was constantly on edge.

The fire continued for a solid hour before extinguishing. If it had gone on for longer, they all might have suffocated. Thankfully, the space was large enough, the environment rich with oxygen, and the tunnel at the other end of the gate connected with the outside world, providing fresh air. Otherwise, the situation could have been disastrous.

The crucial time had come. The gate was still hot; no one dared to push it open, nor could they imagine the ants swarming in once it was opened.

Ouyang Jin shook the empty petrol drums, a bitter smile on his face. They had run out of petrol, no longer possessing the means to block the ants. All they could do now was to leave it up to fate.

At this moment, Professor Luo started to explore the cave. It didn’t appear to be naturally formed, rather seeming man-made. He even found some very ancient items, and so began his investigation.

The others didn’t have the same spirit as Professor Luo. Each was preoccupied with the uncertainty of what lay beyond the gate, and understandably so.

A very long time passed again, and Gu Fan checked the time. Daylight had broken outside, and the gate had cooled down. Everyone was thinking about whether to push the gate open to check.

"We can’t stay here forever, we gamble and see, what say you all?" After saying this, Gu Fan moved forward, looked at the iron gate, his heart filled with anxiety. He turned to look at everyone, their expressions etched with fear and apprehension, everyone hoping to see signs of life when the gate was opened.

Taking a few deep breaths, Gu Fan finally pushed the heavy gate open. Shining his flashlight around, he found no ants on the steps of the passage. This could mean only one thing - the ants had retreated. They were safe. Gu Fan almost let out a cheer.