Those Classmates who Suddenly Disappeared
Chapter 1224: In Step

Chapter 1224: Chapter 1224: In Step

Gu Fan and the others struggled greatly, and finally managed to return to the camp, only to find that most people had already returned. However, everyone’s face still bore a look of terror, especially Irina, whose face was dirty.

"Impressive, not a single one missing," Irina couldn’t help but admire these people for their great skills and good fortune.

This time, the Lightning and Flame Mercenary Corps had suffered deaths and injuries, including those who went missing, totaling at least one-fourth. The Hunter’s Guild only lost a few members. Compared to when they set out, the number of people had significantly decreased.

It was only the first day, and such a situation had arisen; there was a long road ahead. Everyone’s morale was low, and many even thought of retreating.

But Gu Fan began to encourage everyone: "I know what you’re thinking. You definitely want to turn back, don’t you? It’s true, the road ahead is dangerous, and we don’t know how many monsters we’ll come across. Proceeding the way we are, it’s completely impossible to reach our final destination. We will all be annihilated, so we must change our approach."

"What approach?" Everyone looked at Gu Fan curiously, hoping that he could really come up with a good plan.

Gu Fan’s expression was solemn: "The saying goes, ’haste makes waste.’ Our pace is still too fast. We should take full advantage of the other mercenary groups and the main force to draw fire. Our progress should be far behind them."

Although everyone felt that Gu Fan made sense, the vice-captain of the Lightning Mercenary Corps disagreed: "Those mercenary groups will be hunting vampiric monsters in the Dark Primitive Mountain. If our progress lags behind them, our movements will be discovered, and all our efforts will be wasted."

Irina also agreed with this view: "That’s right, we can’t fall behind. We have to keep the same pace as the other mercenary groups. Whatever range they advance to, we should do the same."

Gu Fan shook his head: "This way, we definitely won’t last to the end, maybe at most three days. We won’t have many left. The only way is as I said, to start in a lagging position and accelerate to catch up once the other mercenary groups and vampiric monsters have engaged."

Everyone looked at each other and, somewhat reluctantly, nodded in agreement.

Su Hui added: "That means at night, we must fall back, stay a bit behind, and continue to let the other mercenary groups attract the attention of the vampiric monsters."

After a discussion, everyone formulated a new forward strategy. Although it was more cumbersome, it was the safest.

"Alright, if no one objects, let’s go to sleep. After a whole night’s turmoil, I believe everyone’s tired, and I believe those ’vampiric monsters’ are too scared to come again." After speaking, Gu Fan didn’t care about their expressions and crawled into his tent.

Lin Xi, Su Hui, Lu Yi, and Ouyang Jin all followed suit, which baffled the members of the Lightning and Flame Mercenary Corps, making them wonder how these people could still think of sleeping after what they had just experienced.

Irina frowned and then went back to her own tent, which made the members of the Hunter’s Guild anxious: "Irina, what’s the matter with you? Aren’t you worried at all?"

"Didn’t you hear what Gu Fan said? Those vampiric monsters are too scared to come again," Irina said matter-of-factly, which puzzled others further. "Wait a minute, Irina, are you okay? Just because he says something, doesn’t make it so. He isn’t one of those monsters; how can he be so sure?"

"If you don’t believe it, you can continue to stay up all night. I choose to believe, and I’m going to sleep," said Irina, heading back to her tent.

The members of the Hunter’s Guild were stunned, unsure what to do next, but then they steeled their hearts and all went back to sleep in their tents.

Seeing this, the Lightning and Flame Mercenary Corps became somewhat angry: "What’s with these people? Are they really not afraid?"

The vice-captain of the Lightning Mercenary Corps remembered how impressive Su Hui’s skills were and thought that if these people weren’t completely sure, they definitely wouldn’t take such a risk.

"Forget it, let’s sleep. If we are doomed, we’ll be doomed together. What’s there to fear?" said the vice-captain decisively before he too went back to his tent and fell into a deep sleep.

Seeing the vice-captain act this way, the people of the Lightning Mercenary Corps also let go of their worries and went back to sleep.

Leaving only the Flame Mercenary Corps behind, they were immediately infuriated: "What the hell, you all go to sleep and leave us on duty? Since you aren’t afraid of dying, we aren’t either."

The next morning, Gu Fan was the first to wake up, stretched, and took a breath. He had to admit, the fresh morning air of the untamed mountain forest really revitalized the mind and body.

Wait a second, something wasn’t right. Gu Fan looked around and saw no one standing guard; everyone was still asleep, which left him speechless: "Guys, having people on the night shift is still necessary; you’re being too carefree."

Soon, everyone began emerging from their tents and realized that absolutely nothing had happened. They had slept through until daylight and then looked at Gu Fan with respect.

"Alright, pack up and be ready to move out at any moment." As soon as the vice-captain of the Lightning Mercenary Corps gave the order, everyone started to pack their things and load them onto the boat.

Gu Fan focused his attention on the forest. He pricked up his ears and listened, noticing that there were still no sounds of gunfire.

Before long, the thunderous noise of helicopters hovering overhead came, signaling that the other mercenary groups had begun to move. Then came the terrifying noise of a Gatling gun firing relentlessly from the air, audible even from a great distance.

Gu Fan borrowed a binoculars and then walked to a spot where he hid behind a sturdy tree. Out of everyone’s sight, he climbed to the top of a towering ancient tree and looked through the binoculars. He was trying to determine the movements of the major forces based on the positions of the helicopters.

There they were, two armed helicopters. Besides using machine guns to strafe the ground, they even employed missiles. The firepower was indeed fierce; sparks flew and dust arose from the ground, although it was unclear what kind of vampiric creatures they were targeting.

However, Gu Fan surveyed the boundless expanse of the Dark Primitive Mountain and thought about how vast it really was. Then, something occurred to him that made his brow furrow: yesterday had been this way, and today was too. Why, when the main force clashed with the spectating vampiric creatures, was the distance from him not considered too far?

Everything depended on the third day. Gu Fan thought that if the situation remained the same on the third day, it definitely wasn’t a coincidence. Something was amiss.