Those Classmates who Suddenly Disappeared
Chapter 1282: The Secret Here

Chapter 1282: Chapter 1282: The Secret Here

As Gu Fan and his group faced a dire situation, Xue Wang, Lord Xiong, and Mo Yun also encountered something strange. They had been trying to cross a mountain that under normal circumstances should have been a piece of cake for them, as they could traverse walls and roofs with ease, running as if on flat ground even on steep cliffs.

Yet, something odd happened. The mountain that visually seemed to be merely four hundred meters high, according to Xue Wang and Lord Xiong’s estimation, should have taken no more than a minute to cross.

Five minutes, a full five minutes, and Xue Wang, Lord Xiong, and Mo Yun were still halfway up the mountain. They had to stop, lifting their heads they saw the peak, which had actually distanced itself further from them. Looking at the ground, my goodness, they must have climbed at least one thousand meters.

"My gods, can this mountain grow taller on its own?" Xue Wang exclaimed, shocked. It was the first time he had encountered such a bizarre event.

Lord Xiong furrowed his brows tightly. Having lived for over a thousand years, he too had never dealt with such an incident. It seemed as if some force was preventing them from getting over this mountain.

"What do we do? Should we still move forward?" Mo Yun felt the situation was quite awkward, unable to advance or retreat.

"You ask me, but who should I ask?" Xue Wang was furious, his foot stomping heavily on the mountain wall.

Lord Xiong glanced over and questioned with a slight shift in expression, "Is there something wrong with this mountain?"

"Of course, there’s something wrong. Isn’t that obvious?" Just as another member of the Xue Clan finished speaking, he was sent flying by a slap from Xue Wang.

Lord Xiong paid no attention, pointing at the spot beneath Xue Wang’s foot and commented, "With your strength, Xue Wang, normally, the cliff would surely fracture under your foot. Yet your recent pound left not a mark on the cliff."

"Right? How could that be? Too sturdy, maybe?" Xue Wang, unable to contain his curiosity, reached out to touch the wall, which felt just like any other ordinary stone wall.

With a cold snort, Lord Xiong suggested, "Let’s test how sturdy this wall really is." After saying this, he threw a powerful punch at the stone wall.

Everyone stared at the blow, expecting exploding rocks, but aside from the sound, nothing else happened. Despite bearing the brunt of Lord Xiong’s punch, the cliff didn’t show a single crack.

Sturdy, incredibly sturdy, but Lord Xiong refused to believe this anomaly and threw another full-force punch at the same spot.

This time, the cliff was unbroken, but the area that took the punch turned pitch black, like a dark television screen.

"My gods, what is this?" Mo Yun was astounded, then turned to look at Lord Xiong.

Lord Xiong offered a slight smile, "I knew it. Don’t forget whose territory this used to be?"

"Ah, indeed, how could I not have thought of that?" laughed Xue Wang.

*********

Meanwhile, Gu Fan and his group had already reached the treetops, with the water in the lake continually rising, utterly unscientific.

Ouyang Jin was somewhat anxious, "I’m saying, Gu Fan, if you have any good ideas, please speak up. My heart can’t take this stress."

"If I had a solution, you’d guarantee never to raise prices again," Gu Fan stated, his smile bitter, indicating he had no real solutions either.

"My heavens, are we really unable to surpass this obstacle?" Lu Yi felt unwilling to accept it, looking up at the sky and screaming, "I’ve just got a girlfriend. I haven’t even had my first kiss yet! Oh gods, this isn’t fair."

Hearing this, everyone suddenly felt a mix of tense and awkward emotions.

Just then, Lu Yi’s foot slipped, almost causing him to tumble down, but fortunately, Ouyang Jin grabbed his arm.

Regrettably, Lu Yi lost both his shoes in the process, one of which fell directly into the lake, causing ripples, while the other got caught on a branch.

"What’s the meaning of this, making me shoeless in my last moments? That’s just too much," complained Lu Yi, about to grumble further, when he saw Gu Fan signaling him to be quiet, as he had discovered something.

Gu Fan had been staring at the shoe hanging from the branch. As the water rose and reached halfway up the suspended shoe, the branch couldn’t bear the weight and snapped, causing the shoe to fall directly into the water. This time, however, the lake surface didn’t ripple.

Su Hui was the first to react, "This isn’t real water. It’s an illusion, just like the starry sky above."

Gu Fan nodded, "Exactly. When the first shoe fell, there were ripples but no splashes. The second shoe, hanging from the branch, submerged halfway, broke the branch, and fell into the lake without creating ripples. Could it be because the ’water’ didn’t expect the branch to suddenly break, and thus couldn’t generate the ripple animation in time?"

Irina seemed slightly confused, "What do you mean? If it’s not water below, are you suggesting it’s an image created by screens?"

"From what we see now, yes, and they aren’t ordinary screens," Gu Fan explained, looking around and making a judgement, "I think these screens are organized automatically based on the surroundings, much like how that shoe was able to pass through the screen."

The people around realized, "So that means we don’t have much to fear. We just need to let the screens pass through us."

To this, Gu Fan shook his head, "First, we don’t know if the screens passing through us would harm our bodies, and second, I’m concerned that the air underground has been slowly displaced upwards by these screens, meaning there’s likely no air left below."

Hearing this, everyone was horrified, "Gu Fan, are you suggesting that once these screens rise up, we’d be left with no way out but death?"

Gu Fan gave a faint smile, "If the person who designed this trap really wanted to harm us, they wouldn’t have set the screens to show rising water, warning us of the danger and giving us a chance to escape."

"Right, that makes sense," everyone showed a glimmer of hope. But this hope was quickly shattered by Lu Yi’s pessimistic words, "Maybe you all are wrong. The initial setting of this trap showing rising water wasn’t to warn us or give us a chance to escape but to toy with us as prey."

"Although we can’t dismiss that possibility, Lu Yi, can you just keep quiet?" Not only did Ouyang Jin, who had suffered through hardships with them, want to beat up Lu Yi, but others also wished to give the doomsayer a piece of their mind.

Gu Fan focused on the rising lake water. Except for Lin Xi, who could fly, and Zhuo Hang, who was immortal, everyone else had no way out.

"If this really is a screen, why not just break it?" Irina suggested, swiftly drawing her gun and firing several shots at the lake surface in quick succession.