Those Classmates who Suddenly Disappeared
Chapter 115 - 15: Other Teams

Chapter 115: Chapter 15: Other Teams

Upon making a significant discovery, Gu Fan and Professor Luo immediately rushed out of the underground cave, found Ouyang Jin, and discussed the route with everyone.

Ouyang Jin listened to the inferences of Gu Fan and Professor Luo, found them reasonable, and started examining the ancient map.

Their current location on the ancient map was unclear, but they were sure it was to the southeast of the Qianye Ancient Kingdom, where there was only one small city.

Ouyang Jin began to calculate, if from this hill they ride hard, roughly where could they get to within half a day. He drew out a rough range, and that small city was likely within this range.

Ouyang Jin also reviewed his father’s notes and recalled that the team had recorded moving northwest after passing through the frontier lands. In search of a water source, they changed their course towards the north, where they found ruins of some buildings.

They unanimously believed that the ruins of these structures were that of the small city. Finding the city would mean they were not far from Qianye Kingdom and everyone was very excited.

Ouyang Jin, using the deductions made by Gu Fan’s group along with the notes from his father, narrowed down the range and determined a path that ensured minimum deviation from his father’s records.

Gu Fan was aware that even a slight deviation from the path could result in bypassing the crucial small city. If they missed it, they might never be able to find it. The pressure was immense.

At this point, Ouyang Jin couldn’t help but complain, "You guys are putting too much pressure on me. I’m struggling, but there’s no choice. As the saying goes, ’one who takes money from others is bound to help them out.’ I do have professional ethics."

Hearing this, Gu Fan shook his head and sighed, "Brother, please don’t think about increasing your price all the time."

"That’s not my intention, not my intention. Just trying to lighten the mood," Ouyang Jin laughed and said, "Now that we have a rough direction, let’s rest for a day and then set off."

"Alright, I have no objections!" Professor Luo, Teacher Liu, and the others agreed one by one and crawled back into their tents. Everyone had not slept well the night before, so they quickly took a nap.

Ouyang Jin quickly followed suit, leaving Gu Fan feeling a little confused. He muttered to himself, "You all really move fast. Well then, I’ll bear the burden. It’s not dangerous during the day anyway. I’ll keep watch." He yawned after speaking. He was very tired.

With everyone asleep, Gu Fan remembered everything that had happened the night before—the feeling of escaping death. He had never imagined confronting so many dangerous situations, and regretted leading everyone into such a terrible situation. If it turned out that the disappearance of the twelve students had nothing to do with the Qianye Ancient Kingdom, Gu Fan didn’t know how he would face everyone.

With a long sigh, Gu Fan continued to flip through the notebook of Ouyang Jin’s father, particularly about when they entered the desert and encountered a sandstorm. The surrounding area was filled with yellow sand, and there were shadows moving under the sand, followed by cries of despair.

After reading this, Gu Fan felt a chill in his heart. He truly didn’t know what other dangers they would encounter going forward. But after the last meeting, everyone had agreed to continue their journey.

"I hope we will have Heaven’s protection." This was the only comfort Gu Fan could provide himself. Suddenly, he vaguely saw something moving in the distance—a point connected to another point, seemingly a team.

This made Gu Fan puzzled: "No way, besides us, who else would dare to venture into this frontier?"

So Gu Fan took a telescope, and as he was standing on a hill, he could see quite far. He saw the team led by Leng Le and Hai.

Luckily, Leng Le was hidden behind the taller Hai, so Gu Fan didn’t see his true face. Hai had also put on a face mask and hat, concealing his identity, so all Gu Fan saw through the telescope was a team with many, many people.

At the same time, Leng Le was looking at his phone, with a confused look on his face. "Strange, they made a lot of noise last night, but they’ve stopped moving when daylight came. Could they be moving at night and sleeping during the day now?"

Regarding this, Hai said, "I don’t think so. They might have encountered some sort of emergency."

"Really?" On the move, Leng Le looked at the bones of animals around him, finding it very unusual. He wondered if something had happened.

Hai, who had also noticed this, wore a grave expression. He was once a soldier in this area, and knew what kind of occurrences might befall this territory.

Upon seeing Hai’s serious expression, Leng Le understood that something must have happened and immediately pressed for details.

"Carnivorous ants, a large swarm of them started to hunt. They surrounded this area and then closed in on their trap, feasting on every living creature. I encountered this once when I was in the military and we could only drive the ants away with pesticide spray," Hai finished, his expression growing anxious. Now, he was confident about one thing: Gu Fan and the others most likely moved abruptly last night because they encountered the carnivorous ants.

Leng Le began to worry as well, "So, Gu Fan and the others might have... " He left his sentence unfinished, but anyone who saw the scattered bones would not think that Gu Fan and his companions could have escaped. The fact that Gu Fan’s icon on the screen was immobile indicated something, didn’t it?

Just when Leng Le and Hai were feeling pessimistic, they spotted a sudden flash of light in the distance. It was very glaring. Hai’s face changed instantly, "Damn, someone’s watching us through a telescope. We’ve been discovered."

"What!" Leng Le paled. He quickly turned his face away, donned his mask and hat, and then resumed his observation on the flashing spot, which seemed to correspond with Gu Fan’s location on the screen.

"God, this guy seems to be alive and he even managed to track us due to his high vantage point," Leng Le frowned before issuing an order, "We will act as if nothing has happened and pretend like we’re merely passing by here for sightseeing."

Under the leadership of Leng Le, this large team began to move northward. Their pace was slow, but they kept advancing. Gu Fan observed their actions and concluded that these people were only passing through.

"Damn, there are actually others who dare to enter this place besides us. I overestimated my own sense of adventure," Gu Fan murmured, observing the team a few more times. He didn’t pay much attention to them; he was too exhausted and didn’t have the energy to keep tabs on the sudden appearance of this team.

An hour passed. Gu Fan couldn’t hold on any longer and switched shifts with Lu Yi, each person now taking turns standing guard for an hour. Gu Fan took the first shift, followed by Lu Yi, then Jie, and so on.

Everyone quickly fell asleep until the afternoon. They finally felt refreshed, but nobody planned to set off immediately, as it would soon be dusk. They decided to rest for another night and embark on their journey only after they were fully rested.

Surviving a near-death experience was a rare occurrence that needed to be celebrated. Everyone gathered around a bonfire to enjoy dinner. The atmosphere was filled with laughter and amusement as they tried to banish the horrific events of the past.

Su Hui shared many stories of the vexing cases she had encountered as a criminal investigator. Many of her tales were amusing, captivating everyone’s attention.

A minor incident triggered bickering and playful chasing between Lu Yi and Jie, which eventually escalated into a ’cockfight’ among the men.

For some reason, everyone was in high spirits that night, they even started playing a game of ’Truth or Dare’. Gu Fan was the first one to be picked. Lu Yi was the one who got to ask him a question, which caught Gu Fan off-guard.

Lu Yi asked whether Gu Fan had ever considered booking a hotel room with Lin Xi. This left Gu Fan and Lin Xi flustered in embarrassment, especially since the question was asked in front of everyone.

Finally, Gu Fan shook his head and said he hadn’t thought about it, but the others were relentless. They asked Gu Fan if it was because he didn’t love Lin Xi that he had never considered such a thing.

Out of desperation, Gu Fan had no choice but to surrender. However, the others were still not satisfied. They believed Gu Fan wasn’t telling the truth, so they collectively voted to punish him with twenty push-ups.

Almost everyone was picked at some point and asked some bizarre and tricky questions. However, no one got angry about it. They all just wanted to create a more joyful atmosphere. Perhaps after such a life-threatening ordeal, many things didn’t seem so significant anymore.

As Lin Xi sang a soulful song under the quiet night sky, bathed in moonlight, everyone’s attention was drawn towards her. Her voice, which seemed to penetrate their very souls, brought a sense of peace to the group.

Finally, at Du Jun’s suggestion and guided by Lin Xi, everyone formed a circle, hand in hand, and started singing at the top of their lungs; they sang so loudly they didn’t even mind spooking the ghosts with their cacophonous melody.

Even from a distance, Leng Le and Hai could hear the loud singing. They let out a sigh of relief because the singing indicated that all members of Gu Fan’s team were alive. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been in the mood for such a grand celebration.

Hai was relieved to know that his brother Jie was okay. He had initially thought of texting him, but it would seem suspicious if Jie, having just experienced a crisis, received a text from Hai immediately after. One such coincidence might not raise doubts, but if such coincidences were to occur repeatedly, Hai could be suspected.

"Sing your heart out, sing as much as you want. As long as you can still sing, it means you haven’t lost the courage to move forward," Leng Le said, looking at the skeletal remains of animals around him. He couldn’t imagine what crisis Gu Fan and his companions had encountered the previous night and how they managed to survive.

Even Hai couldn’t help but express his admiration, "It’s remarkable that they managed to escape from the carnivorous ants. They are much stronger than we imagined. We really shouldn’t underestimate them, and it’s not just because of Su Hui."