Those Classmates who Suddenly Disappeared
Chapter 118: Jumping in Together

Chapter 118: Chapter 118: Jumping in Together

This group consisted of seventeen individuals - both men and women, young and old. They wore uniform anti-sunburn suits and sun hats. Upon their arrival at the oasis, they gave a friendly smile to Gu Fan and his team, their expressions without malice.

Gu Fan furrowed his brows slightly. Judging by their clothes, they seemed different from the previous two teams they had encountered. He wondered if this was a third team. When had this area become so popular for conflicting teams?

A man who seemed to be the team leader approached, smiling as he said, "Hello there, like us, you’re here for an adventure in this desolate land, aren’t you?"

Teacher Liu stepped forward, nodding, "Yes, we didn’t expect to encounter others with the same idea."

Hearing this, the team leader laughed, "There are plenty of people in the world with the same idea as you. Whatever the thought, someone else has likely already had it. It’s just surprising to encounter others in such a vast area."

Gu Fan thought there was some truth in this. Like Du Jun had said, why shouldn’t others explore this area too? With such a large population, there were likely more teams than theirs who thought the same.

The leader of the other team continued, "This isn’t my first time in this area. I knew there was an oasis here and thought I might fill up on water. I didn’t expect to run into others."

"More than once? Is there something about this godforsaken place that attracts you?" Lu Yi and the others looked puzzled.

The team leader chuckled, "Well, it’s a hobby, I guess. Some preferences can’t be understood by others. In my city life, I have everything I need, yet I still wander around, intrigued by the unknown."

Upon hearing this, Lu Yi sighed, "I see, so life has become too comfortable, and you needed a bit of suffering."

Gu Fan quickly nudged Lu Yi with his elbow, signaling him to hold his tongue.

The team leader, however, didn’t take offense. He laughed at himself and commented, "My parents also said so, but I don’t care. Perhaps I do seek trouble."

"Seriously..." After uttering these words, the group turned their gaze to Du Jun who, taken aback, retorted, "Why are you staring at me? I came here to accompany and support you, not to suffer. Please stop gawking at me."

Gu Fan quickly clarified, "Don’t misunderstand; that wasn’t our intention."

At this point, Teacher Liu added, "Since we’ve all come here to gather water, and there’s plenty of it, we each take our share, without causing any conflict."

"Haha, that makes sense. We’ll be on our way then. You guys keep setting up camp." The leader then took his team to the nearby lake to unload their gear and set up tents.

The group seemed harmless enough. Professor Luo nodded, and the team began to fill their water containers.

Not only the team, but the camels also needed water. Ouyang Jin led all the camels to the lakeside, so they could also hydrate. After this, the desert would present a real challenge.

Soon, with everyone working together, the water containers were full. Looking at the ample water supply, they felt confident about their journey ahead. Despite encountering numerous difficulties and dangers so far, they had made it here.

As Gu Fan and his team filled their containers, the other team did the same. Hence, Lu Yi suggested that they all take a bath. He pointed out that, to be frank, everyone stank.

Everyone nodded. After all, they hadn’t bathed in more than ten days. While the men didn’t mind, Su Hui, Lin Xi, and Qin Jia - the women in the group, who were particularly tidy - felt extremely uncomfortable.

"But bathing might contaminate the water," Gu Fan fretted. They couldn’t be reckless just because they had an ample water supply. They needed to preserve the oasis for the people coming after them.

Just as everyone agreed with Lu Yi and Gu Fan was torn, a jubilant cheer emerged from the other team. Several men stripped off their clothes, rolled up their pants and plunged into the water.

Lu Yi shook his head, "See, even if we don’t pollute the water, others will. The result’s the same, but we stand here watching."

"Alright, alright, bathe if you must. Just make sure you clean yourselves thoroughly before coming ashore." With that, Gu Fan was the first to strip down to his boxers, and he dove into the water.

"Look at you, all quick to act." Lu Yi, along with the others, followed suit. They were all feeling itchy, and a bath felt necessary. They didn’t even consider other options.

Seeing the men dive into the water one after another, Su Hui, Lin Xi, and Qin Jia looked envious, knowing they could not follow suit as casually.

"Hey, ladies, don’t just stand there. Come join us for a mandarin duck bath!" Lu Yi shouted. The others joined in the hooting, making the women blush and giggle.

"We can’t let these smelly boys laugh at us, follow me." Under the leadership of Su Hui, they returned to their tent, changed into a new outfit - short-sleeved tops and hot pants.

Seeing this attire indicated the girls were about to get in the water. Lu Yi was the first to whistle, followed by Gu Fan and the other guys. Those who could whistle, whistled, and those who could howl, howled.

Su Hui was the first to jump into the water. Her swimming posture was like a water snake, twisting her waist. And she quickly swam to Gu Fan. As soon as she emerged from the water, her wet clothes clinging to her skin exposed her devilishly attractive figure. Her captivating smile solicited wolf whistles from the onlooking men.

Gu Fan quickly pulled himself together and with a mischievous grin said, "Welcome Sister Su, now it’s time for revenge." He then started to splash water at Su Hui. Lu Yi and Jie were quick to assist, the men worked together.

"You stinky boys!" Su Hui attempted to counter but her splashing was no match for Gu Fan, Lu Yi and Jie. She was engulfed by their huge waves of water. Overwhelmed, Su Hui cried for help: "Lin Xi, Qin Jia, come and help me."

Immediately, Lin Xi and Qin Jia responded to Su Hui’s call, jumping into the water as reinforcements. However, even with their combined efforts, it was pointless as Du Jun and Xu Haowen also joined Gu Fan’s forces. Five guys versus three girls, the advantage was too obvious.

Left with no choice, Su Hui surrendered: "Stop it, guys."

Seeing Su Hui rarely admitting defeat, Gu Fan felt greatly satisfied. He left her alone, swam over to Lin Xi, took her hand and led her to the other side.

Lu Yi couldn’t help but sigh: "Really? Do you want to take a mandarin duck bath?"

"Screw you!" Gu Fan smirked. He was just playing around with Lin Xi in the water, unlike what Lu Yi implied.

Not only Gu Fan’s group was enjoying themselves, but the other group was also swimming and cheering, very lively. It seemed that everyone would have a lot of fun today.

Gu Fan felt they had spent about an hour in the water and decided it was enough. He reached for Lin Xi’s hand and led her out of the water.

Ouyang Jin also chimed in: "At night, the temperature in the desert drops significantly. It’s just getting dark now so it’s not a problem. But let’s get out of the water quickly."

Reminded by his words, Su Hui also felt the chill and quickly swam back with Qin Jia.

At this point, Gu Fan had dried himself off and ventured out from the tent. He clearly felt the temperature drop and saw Lu Yi, Jie, Du Jun, and Xu Haowen still swimming. He couldn’t help but shout: "What are you thinking about? Aren’t you afraid of freezing tonight?"

Lu Yi quickly responded: "Okay, we got it. We’ll be right there."

"You guys are hopeless." After saying that, Gu Fan glanced over to the other group. There were still several people who hadn’t gone ashore. They were so competitive.

Suddenly, Gu Fan froze. He noticed a ripple on the lake, unusual waves. It was too dark to see clearly and he thought he might be seeing things.

"Hold on!" Gu Fan’s expression changed abruptly, the ripples were getting closer and more apparent, as if something was quietly approaching from under the water. When it got closer, it seemed like something was emerging from the water.

"Not good, everyone get back quickly!" Gu Fan urgently yelled. But Lu Yi and the others were still frolicking in the water, their noise drowning out Gu Fan’s warning.

Now not only Gu Fan saw the anomaly, but Su Hui and many others also noticed it. They started yelling and gesturing frantically, finally catching the attention of Lu Yi and the rest.

"What’s going on? Why are they jumping up and down like that, urging us to get out?" Lu Yi was puzzled when he heard something: "Hurry up, get out, there’s a situation?"

This made Lu Yi even more puzzled: "Situation? What’s the situation?"

At this moment, suddenly a person from the other team let out a terrified scream. Then he was dragged towards the center of the lake, desperately struggling and crying for help. Some force under the water seemed to be pulling his legs as he was forced toward the middle of the lake.

Everyone was dumbfounded, while Gu Fan shouted: "What are you all standing there for? Hurry up and get to the shore." This shout snapped everyone back to reality and they scrambled towards the shore.

"You’ve got to be kidding me, we just took a bath, is this the result of polluting the water source" Lu Yi was swimming desperately, but having exerted himself earlier, his strength was draining and he swam slower than before. Jie, Du Jun, Xu Haowen were no better than him.

"Come on, a little bit faster, a little bit faster." Gu Fan was shouting, his eyes glued to the water, all his muscles tensed.