Those Classmates who Suddenly Disappeared
Chapter 1300: Mutual Slaughter

Chapter 1300: Chapter 1300: Mutual Slaughter

The mercenaries before them were caught in a dilemma, neither welcoming nor rejecting. In the midst of this standoff, General Horton arrived with his men, chasing them down and opening fire on Gu Fan.

Now was the time to declare sides and these mercenaries immediately took a stand with Gu Fan, aiming their guns at General Horton.

For a moment, both sides exchanged gunfire, bullets flew wildly, and not a few men fell to the ground.

General Horton’s arm was grazed by a bullet. Wounded, he retreated, but not without protest as he shouted loudly, "We’re all mercenaries, there’s no need to be hostile towards one another over an outsider. You should join us, and as long as we take down Lu Yi, we can all leave here alive."

"To hell with that, if a mercenary is afraid of dying and betrays their comrades, can they even be called mercenaries?" Those who firmly stood with Gu Fan hailed from a group known as Steel Mercenary Group, reputed to be the most honorable mercenaries in the world.

Seeing the Steel Mercenary Group take casualties to protect Lu Yi and managing to injure General Horton and his men, Gu Fan decided to accept them.

"All right, welcome to the true fold." Gu Fan shook hands with the members of the Steel Mercenary Group, officially forming a united front.

While their team’s strength had grown, the Steel Mercenary Group only had a dozen or so members, and most of the mercenaries still seemed to side with General Horton.

The firefight continued, with one side shooting while retreating and the other shooting while pursuing, always maintaining a distance.

Gu Fan, seeing they couldn’t shake off General Horton’s pursuit, also grew anxious, realizing that as time passed and more mercenaries were drawn by the noise, it would be hard for them and his men to escape after being surrounded.

Once in a while, a group of mercenaries would appear, giving chase and shouting. At other times, another group would emerge, yelling and attacking.

Occasionally, a group of mercenaries, previously separated and unaware of the rift between General Horton and Gu Fan, would stand dumbfounded when they saw the two sides fighting, not knowing what to do.

Both General Horton and Gu Fan naturally tried to persuade these neutral parties, with General Horton informing them that by taking down Lu Yi, they could leave this accursed place.

Gu Fan, on the other hand, hoped they would trust him, offering a simple rationale: they would die together or live together, and betraying comrades for survival was the behavior of a coward too afraid to die.

As a result, most of the mercenaries joined General Horton’s team, a total of around a hundred men.

Lightning, Flame, Harvin, and those from the regular forces remained wholly committed to Gu Fan, though their numbers were fewer, totaling less than fifty.

All were now officially split into two major factions, gunning down and slaughtering each other in this complex maze.

After a long fight, with many casualties, the pressure was mounting on General Horton.

Seizing this opportunity, Gu Fan and his group quickened their pace, maintaining a distance from General Horton and his men, for once lost in the maze, it was hard to be followed.

But Gu Fan didn’t go too far before he shouted loudly, "General Horton, as you can see, there are not a few of us here. You want to eliminate Lu Yi just to leave alive, but at this rate, at least twenty more of your men will die before you can take her down. I don’t think that’s what you want, is it?"

Upon hearing this, General Horton furrowed his brow and glanced back at the other mercenaries, only to see their solemn expressions. This was indeed contrary to what they had anticipated.

"How about it, everyone? Getting Lu Yi’s life isn’t going to be easy. Whoever goes first will die first," Gu Fan’s words once again exerted pressure on General Horton and his team, successfully capturing their psyche.

General Horton was an old fox; how could he not know that this was Gu Fan’s psychological warfare? There was no way he would admit defeat, so he forcefully ordered a few men to charge forward.

However, a few gunshots scared those men into immediately retreating, which infuriated General Horton. He cursed inwardly, labeling them as useless.

At this moment, Gu Fan’s voice rang out again: "How about it, why don’t we all take a break? You don’t want to die, do you? So, just stop coming at us."

General Horton’s brow furrowed again, and he replied, "It’s no good for us to be at a standoff like this. Do you have any good ideas? I’m all ears."

"I don’t have any good solutions. We’ve already fallen out and have been fighting for so long, with so many dead and injured. It’s impossible for us to reconcile," Gu Fan said.

Hearing this response, General Horton was rendered speechless. This was not how he had envisioned things.

So, eager to come up with a solution, General Horton recognized the terrain. He had been here before, and if they went around from both the left and right routes, they could encircle and form a pincer attack, which would then be advantageous for them in a melee.

At this point, the mercenaries had no choice but to follow General Horton’s lead and, taking his advice, split into two groups to sneak attack.

General Horton continued talking with Gu Fan, wanting to draw Gu Fan’s attention and make him think they were still honestly staying put.

But even after General Horton called out several times, there was no response. He suddenly realized he’d been tricked and hurried his men forward.

By the time General Horton and his men had frantically wound their way through the maze for over a hundred meters, there was no sign of Gu Fan and the others. They had already run far away.

"Damn it, they ran away while I was laying out the plan?" General Horton silently fumed. How could he have expected Gu Fan to be so cunning?

Indeed, whatever General Horton could think of, Gu Fan had already considered.

Earlier, Gu Fan had raised his voice during the conversation with General Horton, leading others to believe they were still nearby when it was actually just Gu Fan himself who remained. Lu Yi and the others had left earlier.

Then, when General Horton was giving orders to his men and all went quiet for a while, Gu Fan keenly sensed the sudden silence was suspicious and took it as his chance to retreat quickly.

Now, General Horton had completely lost track of Gu Fan and his group. The thought of killing Lu Yi to find a way out was extinguished, leaving them in utter dejection.

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