Those Classmates who Suddenly Disappeared
Chapter 1269: The Earth Moves

Chapter 1269: Chapter 1269: The Earth Moves

The team continued to advance cautiously, taking each step very carefully, vigilant of any movements around them.

Seeing Lu Yi walk with such suspicion, like a thief, Gu Fan couldn’t help but laugh, "Buddy, do you really have to be like that? You’re here for an adventure, not to steal something."

On this, Lu Yi snorted with disdain, "What’s the difference between exploring someone else’s territory without their permission and taking their stuff, and being a thief?"

It sounded somewhat reasonable. Gu Fan was about to argue when Ouyang Jin couldn’t take it anymore, "Can’t you walk with a bit more swagger and flamboyance, like a bandit seizing things?"

Lu Yi hummed, "Who’s like you, swaggering about, the spitting image of a hooligan."

Irina couldn’t listen anymore, "Thieves, bandits, hooligans... You guys are getting off track, can we please be a bit more serious?"

"Alright!" Several people felt a bit ashamed for chatting nonsense and showed an embarrassed expression.

Gu Fan added, "According to the intelligence given by Mo Yun, it’s very likely we’ll encounter an unimaginable place next. That is, the ground itself will move, and not just that—it’ll move fast. Whether you are standing on the ground or up in the trees, you’ll be separated from the team by the movement of the ground and trees... Hey, why are you guys walking away? I haven’t finished."

Gu Fan’s words halted abruptly mid-sentence as he realized something was amiss, which made cold sweat stream down his face.

At this moment, everyone was terrified to discover that the surrounding trees were moving, and the distance between companions was gradually increasing—all was changing.

Trees can’t run away on their own, and companions weren’t striding away, either. Many people noticed that it was the ground that was shifting in an irregular fashion.

Neither Gu Fan nor Lin Xi had taken a step, but the movement of the ground had widened the gap between them. Gu Fan immediately rushed to catch up, while Lin Xi also headed in Gu Fan’s direction, thinking they must not be separated at any cost.

Suddenly, a tree moved between Gu Fan and Lin Xi, blocking their view. When Gu Fan got past that tree, Lin Xi had vanished.

"Where did you go, Lin Xi, Sister Su, and doomsayer Lu Yi?" Gu Fan shouted desperately, but he received no reply and began to panic.

The team of fewer than two hundred people got separated in just a moment. Some were shouting, some running—the whole scene was in utter chaos.

Now Gu Fan could no longer care for everyone; he had to find his own companions. But looking around, he couldn’t spot a single person, just trees moving all around him.

"My God, what kind of place is this?" Gu Fan tried to remain calm. He noticed something—no matter how the trees moved with the ground, they couldn’t collide with him, nor could they collide with each other. How could this be possible?

Gu Fan leaped onto a tree, hoping to find at least a few people from that vantage point.

However, to his disappointment, the trees were also moving with the shifting ground. From his elevated position, he saw a constantly changing landscape, making it impossible to know his exact location.

The moving ground, together with the trees, obstructed the view like a wall—it was practically comparable to a shifting maze.

Moreover, this place gave Gu Fan the impression that beneath the land were belts transporting people and trees along, moving in a way that they never collided; these belts perhaps interwove in a grid pattern, moving vertically while halting horizontally or vice versa.

"Wait a second, there must be a limit to this moving maze," Gu Fan frowned. If he was right, no matter how the belts moved vertically or horizontally, they would hit a conflicted edge. It’s like the escalators in the malls, where if you stand on one, you get transported up or down until the end, and then you must step off while the escalator continues its cycle.

With this moving "belt," as it kept rotating according to the machinery, when it reached the edge, people could step off like leaving an escalator, but trees couldn’t.

"There must be a key point, a simple cycle?" Gu Fan reconsidered the direction of the moving belts below ground. Maybe it wasn’t just vertical or horizontal but...

Finally, Gu Fan realized the belts must be rotating in a circular route; this would solve the edge conflict issue.

In Gu Fan’s mind, a circular moving maze began to take shape, with the outermost edge being the largest ring. The belts beneath moved clockwise, followed by the next ring rotating counterclockwise, with each subsequent ring alternating, creating a sensation similar to the revolving compass in those TV dramas, a feeling reminiscent of Qimen Dunjia.

"Could this really be Qimen Dunjia?" Gu Fan was bewildered. He knew nothing about this, what timing corresponded to which direction, what gate it opened?

Feeling dejected, Gu Fan worried whether this would be the end of the journey. He couldn’t find his companions or a way to break out of this place.

"Wait another minute?" Gu Fan frowned tightly, pondering a question. Why had the moving maze activated only after their arrival—what had triggered the mechanism here?

"If I were the one who designed this mechanism, what would I have done?" Gu Fan thought about what changes they might have brought before and after their arrival.

Was it the sound of their voices after people arrived, or the vibrations from walking on the ground that activated the mechanism here? Or was it something else?

After thinking for a long time, Gu Fan still had no clue, which was becoming frustrating. In a fit of rage, he simply climbed to the top of a tree to survey the situation and unexpectedly saw Lin Xi floating midair, as well as Su Hui and Zhuo Hang standing atop other trees, though at a distance where only familiar silhouettes were visible.

"Hey, I’m over here!" Gu Fan shouted to Lin Xi while waving his hands.

Upon seeing Gu Fan, Lin Xi flew over immediately and cursed, "Idiot, it took you so long; do you know how worried I was about you?"

Hearing this, Gu Fan felt slightly embarrassed. He should have remembered that Lin Xi could fly and that standing at a high point would have let him find her quickly; in his impatience, he had forgotten.

Su Hui and Zhuo Hang also noticed and with a push off the ground, they started running swiftly on the treetops.

Indeed, from the highest point, their view wasn’t blocked anymore. Regardless of how the ground moved, nothing could prevent Gu Fan, Lin Xi, Su Hui, and Zhuo Hang from reuniting.