Those Classmates who Suddenly Disappeared
Chapter 116: Emergency Retreat

Chapter 116: Chapter 116: Emergency Retreat

After a night’s rest on the tenth evening, they embarked on the journey of the eleventh day. Everyone packed up their belongings and descended the hill together, setting off towards the frontier. If all went well, they would reach a city, now reduced to ruins, in one to two days’ time.

Along the way, they spotted many animal skeletons. It was clear what had happened: the ant swarms’ feast from the other night. Faced with the harsh laws of nature, they could not help but sigh.

Suddenly, Xu Haowen noticed a skeleton on the side of the road that resembled a human. On his word, everyone stopped to have a closer look.

From its structure, it did look somewhat human. Had someone unfortunate enough to cross paths with the ant swarms been here that night? But looking at its skull, its head was sharp, not quite like a human. They were puzzled about what it could be; even the knowledgeable Professor Luo could not figure it out.

Lu Yi then made a joke: "Could it be the remains of an ogre that met its end to the ant swarms? Seems like even they are not formidable."

With a chuckle, the group dismissed her suggestion. They decided not to dwell on what kind of creature it once was and continued their journey.

All of a sudden, Gu Fan felt a chill. What if it really was an ogre? Did that mean the ants had devoured all potentially dangerous creatures around them, leaving them with safe passage?

The thought brightened Gu Fan’s mood: regardless of the skeleton’s origin, the fact that the ant swarms had passed meant that any threatening creatures, such as wolves, had been wiped out. They could travel with ease.

"Once we pass through this frontier, we’ll enter the desert. That’s when our real trial begins," Ouyang Jin’s words served as a reminder. The challenges they had faced so far were nothing compared to what the desert had in store for them.

According to Ouyang Jin’s plan, they could reach the desert before sunset by crossing the frontier in just over half a day. But they decided to play it safe by spending the night and embarking on the desert journey the next day.

But Gu Fan had a different idea. Their water supply had dwindled; they had discussed adjusting their path to find a water source if needed.

Before setting off, Professor Luo had inspected the remaining food and water. The situation was not promising. Food wasn’t a major concern, but the lack of water was. They had used up half their water reserves over the past few days.

They needed to ensure they’d have enough water once they were in the desert and on their return. They had two options: economize or replenish. Everyone chose the latter.

To replenish their water supply, they had to change their course. Gu Fan, Ouyang Jin, Professor Luo, and the rest began to study the ancient and modern maps for potential routes.

Using the modern map, Ouyang Jin estimated their current position and locations of known water sources. The closest source was a two-day journey, but it was the safest option.

The ancient map showed a lake to the east and a river to the south of Qianye Country. But time had dried up the lake and river, leaving them buried in sand. Even if they still existed, finding them might prove difficult.

Another important factor was that the small city they needed to find was situated between the lake and the river. This fact had to be considered when choosing their route.

Everyone had differing opinions and reached a deadlock when Gu Fan said, "We still have enough water. We can try finding the lake first. If we find it, great; if not, we can take a detour to the water source Ouyang Jin suggested."

Everyone agreed to this plan, so they headed north, as the lake, according to the map, was to the east of Qianye and essentially in the north for them.

As they continued, Gu Fan turned to Professor Luo with a question: "Professor, looking at this ancient map, the lake and river are far from Qianye. It’s not convenient to fetch water. But the small city is close to both the lake and river. If I were Queen Qianye, why wouldn’t I pick that city as the capital?"

Professor Luo admitted he didn’t understand either. Perhaps the ancient foreigners thought differently, or maybe Qianye had rich underground water resources, making its proximity to the lake and river irrelevant.

Gu Fan found it plausible, and his mind began to fill with images of groundwater, lakes, and rivers.

Unbeknownst to them, another day had passed. According to Ouyang Jin, they were now very close to the desert. Resting for the night, they would push on the next day.

Studying the map and planning their route had become a daily task for Gu Fan. Together with Ouyang Jin, they determined their approximate location. They would reach the desert in half a day after crossing the frontier the next day.

They studied Ouyang Jin’s father’s notes over and over. His party also entered the desert after crossing the frontier and had spotted some ruins. But whether those were the ruins they sought was unknown.

Owing to the scarcity of water, Ouyang Jin’s father led his men northward and astonishingly found a desert oasis. Though it was small, it provided ample water.

Could the town mentioned in the notes and the desert oasis be the town and the lake east of Qianye Country on the ancient map? If two such coordinates could be found consecutively, it would be like overlaying the ancient map perfectly on the modern one, which would make it much easier to find the capital of Qianye Country.

However, time has passed. Whether the ruins have been buried by wind and sand, and whether the oasis still exists, whether all efforts will be rewarded, is all up to destiny.

Regardless, a good sleep was pertinent to muster spirit for the road ahead. However, everyone remained anxious about potential dangers springing up suddenly in the night.

According to Ouyang Jin, it takes a long time for the ogres to launch another large-scale hunt after one. Each major hunt indicates that there are no animals around, hence, no danger. Everyone can sleep peacefully.

Everyone trusted Ouyang Jin as their guide, and so they all went to sleep. Those on watch duty, Gu Fan, Du Jun, and Ouyang Jin, couldn’t afford to slack off and watched over the first half of the night.

Indeed, Gu Fan still had residual fear. The first night they took on the rotating watch duty, they encountered the ogre troops. He was still scared. They were fortuitous to have someone on guard, otherwise, the consequences would have been dire.

A campfire was lit, the ground was covered in spike strips, while drones flew around. Gu Fan occasionally stared at the screen, other times he would patrol around. He didn’t want to let a moment of negligence allow a crisis to creep up on them.

For some reason, Gu Fan recalled the sight of the unfamiliar team from the previous encounter. He couldn’t shake off the feeling that their appearance wasn’t a coincidence. What if they had been following them all along?

The more he thought about it, the more uneasy he felt. Gu Fan decided it was worthwhile to verify. As for how, an idea soon came to mind, the corner of his mouth curling into a smile.

When the sun rose, everyone got ready to start the thirteenth day of their journey. Gu Fan suddenly said, "Wait for me a while, I’ve got something to handle." After saying this, Gu Fan mounted his camel and picked up his telescope and headed back.

Everyone was unsure what Gu Fan was up to, but they knew that he was not one to do things without good reason, so he must have discovered something.

"I’ll go keep that guy company, Sister Su, stay and protect everyone." After saying that, Lu Yi hurriedly mounted his camel and chased after Gu Fan while calling out, "Hey man, what has gotten into you? Why are you running back? Did you lose your wallet?"

"No, I just want to confirm something." After saying that, Gu Fan urged the camel to run as fast as possible. After spending some time on the road, he had gradually mastered his camel-riding skills.

Meanwhile, Leng Le had just woken up to see a red dot accelerating towards himself on the screen. He immediately changed his expression: "What is this guy trying to do, could it be..." Leng Le quickly commanded his team to pack up their belongings and retreat quickly.

That’s right, Gu Fan wanted to verify whether the team which they saw last time was actually a problem. If they were being followed, they surely wouldn’t have expected Gu Fan to double back. Given that it was barren land all around and there was nowhere to hide, Gu Fan only needed to look properly with his telescope from an appropriate distance to know clearly.

However, Leng Le had installed a tracker on Gu Fan’s phone, so he was aware of Gu Fan’s movements and promptly departed with his team. He left without even washing his face and applying makeup. "What kind of trick are you trying to pull? You bastard made me show my bare face in public," Leng Le hatefully thought as he bit his teeth.

Leng Le’s subordinates rarely saw her without makeup. They all had strange expressions because naturally, a woman without makeup wouldn’t look as good. This only added to Leng Le’s displeasure, prompting her to secretly curse Gu Fan.

Actually, her subordinates thought that the bare-faced Leng Le looked beautiful, but the usually icy, unapproachable aura she had was absent, which made them feel odd.

"Damn it, you made me lose my dignity in front of my subordinates. I swear, if you fell into my hands, I’ll make sure you pay for it." Under Leng Le’s leadership, the group quickly moved on.

After venturing ahead for half a day, Gu Fan looked around once more with his telescope, but all he saw was an empty field with no human figures. He dismissed his initial suspicions, reasoning that the team must be just passing by and not purposely trailing them. So, he turned around and headed back to his camp.

Seeing the red dot on the screen change direction and start to move away, Leng Le finally ordered her exhausted team to stop. She herself was gasping for air. "Thank goodness, that guy finally gave up."

However, things often do not go as expected. On their way back to the camp, Lu Yi randomly looked through the telescope and spotted a team packing and preparing to set off in the distance.

"You’ve got to be kidding!" Gu Fan took the telescope and looked at it in utter surprise. "Indeed, there is a team moving in the distance, but there are fewer people and they’re dressed differently than the team we saw last time. It probably isn’t the same team, which is very strange."