Those Classmates who Suddenly Disappeared
Chapter 137 - A Glimmer of Hope

Chapter 137: Chapter 137 - A Glimmer of Hope

The water was rising quickly, soon reaching Gu Fan and the others’ calves. If things continued this way, the entire chamber would be flooded and they would be in real trouble if they didn’t figure out a way to get out soon.

Gu Fan gritted his teeth: "If I’m not mistaken, this is the water from that underground river. Does anyone here not know how to swim?"

Luckily, Du Jun, Lu Yi, and Xu Haowen could all swim. However, it was unfortunate that none of them were strong swimmers, and how long they could swim remained uncertain.

As the water level continued to rise, Du Jun suggested, with the help of the water’s buoyancy, they should try to return the way they came.

To this, Gu Fan shook his head: "I’m afraid the exit might be sealed. Then we’ll have trouble escaping."

"What should we do, then? If we don’t come up with a solution soon, it’ll be too late." Lu Yi looked at the entrance they had descended from, which was quickly being swallowed up by water. He was very anxious, but Gu Fan forced himself to calm down. He looked at the spot where the water was entering the chamber and then solemnly said: "Since water is coming in through that hole, that means there is an outlet. We swim out from here."

Xu Haowen immediately made a face: "No way, I’m not a good swimmer and I can’t hold my breath for long."

Gu Fan said: "Then you’ll be the first to go. I’m a relatively good swimmer, so I’ll go last."

Du Jun still objected: "We should still try to return the way we came. I believe Lin Xi and the others are waiting outside. If they hear us, they might be able to open the mechanism, and we can escape that way."

Gu Fan still shook his head: "The passage we’ve been descending through is quite long, and the exit is higher than the river. So, the water can’t wash us up to the exit. We will only float somewhere in the middle, not being able to get up or down, deciphering to more trouble."

"Fine, let’s give it a shot." Du Jun bit his lip, realizing they didn’t have any other options. They could only watch as the exit they had descended from was submerged by the water, placing their hope on the spot where the water was entering.

The water in the chamber quickly reached their upper bodies, and the speed at which it was rising was alarming. In a while, it had reached their necks. The situation was extremely perilous, and Gu Fan and the others were feeling the pressure.

With the rising water, they began to float upwards, getting closer and closer to the ceiling. Looking at the spot where the water was entering, which seemed big enough to accommodate a person, they felt a surge of hope. It would be faster if they pushed against the walls and swam upwards.

As the water was almost reaching the ceiling and the chamber was about to completely fill up, Gu Fan and the others took one last deep breath before they submerged into the water, battling against time.

Xu Haowen was the first to go. After finding the entrance, he used his hands and feet to prop himself against the walls, quickly swimming upwards. He knew that if he wasn’t quick enough, he would hinder his companions.

Du Jun was second, followed by Lu Yi. By the time it was Gu Fan’s turn, he was already running out of breath, but still struggled to swim upwards.

Each of them was exerting their fullest effort, striding toward their chance of survival. However, every intense movement was draining their limited supply of air. With every bit of progress, they were one step closer to hope but also one step closer to exhaustion.

"Go faster, faster, faster!" Gu Fan was mentally pushing himself while swimming upwards. His body was severely uncomfortable, and his movements were starting to falter. Yet, he still hadn’t reached the entrance of the water source.

Not only Gu Fan, but everyone else was also exhausted. They were running out of breath, their bodies aching, movements slowing, and the situation was getting worse.

Finally, Xu Haowen was the first to emerge from the entrance of the underground river. But he was already on his last legs.

Then, one by one, the others also made it out. But their conditions were no better than Xu Haowen’s. They just made it to the underground river but seemed unable to swim up to the surface.

"My God, this can’t be happening!" Gu Fan was already at his limit and knew he couldn’t swim any further. But just as he was about to lose all hope, a strange fish from above saw them and spat out a tentacle that stuck to Xu Haowen.

Everyone saw this and instantly knew what was going to happen. Without hesitation, Du Jun grabbed Xu Haowen’s foot, Lu Yi grabbed Du Jun’s foot, and Gu Fan grabbed Lu Yi’s foot.

After the strange fish caught Xu Haowen with its tentacle, it started pulling him upwards. The pull was so strong that Xu Haowen and the others were hauled up at a great speed, saving them a lot of energy.

The problem was, the strange fish was waiting with its gaping jaws for Xu Haowen. The crisis wasn’t over yet.

At the crucial moment, with Xu Haowen’s eyes almost popping out in fright, several smaller strange fish attacked from the side, biting the big strange fish. It turned out that the big fish was injured and had become a target.

Upon being attacked, the big strange fish in pain immediately let go of its tentacle and quickly swam off, with the smaller fish chasing after it.

Therefore, Xu Haowen and the others escaped being killed and hurried upstream. At the last moment, they burst through the surface of the water, taking in big gulps of air, feeling like every breath was incredibly fresh.

Lu Yi panted, "Nothing is as expected, huh? I never thought those crazy fish that almost ate us would be our saviors."

"Yeah, who could have known?" Gu Fan was also exhausted to the point of collapse, the feeling of escaping death left him weak, but he dared not stop for fear of more strange fish lurking around.

"Look, find somewhere to get onto land." Gu Fan started swimming towards the edge. Due to the surrounding darkness, he couldn’t see anything and could only feel around with his hands. When he touched what felt like the edge of the shore, he was elated. He quickly climbed up and called for Lu Yi and the others to join him.

"My God, we’re saved!" Lu Yi and the others also swam over and with enormous effort, climbed onto the narrow riverbank. They sat down, leaning against a stone wall to rest.

After a while, Xu Haowen broke the silence, "What should we do now? How do we proceed? Everyone must be worrying about us. We need to make contact as soon as possible."

"Yeah, the problem is that our phones are probably waterlogged." Gu Fan took out his phone and found that it wasn’t working, prompting a bitter smile from him.

In the pitch-black darkness, they would be tough to locate by others, and they also had no way out. It was like they fell from one predicament right into another.

Just as Gu Fan and the others felt they were out of options, a light shone from Lu Yi’s side. It instantly rejuvenated everyone with hope. They then heard Lu Yi say, "Sorry, my phone is a knockoff. Can’t say much for the other features, but it’s waterproof quality is top-notch. I love these knockoff products."

Seeing this, let alone Gu Fan, even Du Jun couldn’t help but exclaim, "Good Lord—even I have to admit, for the first time ever, that knockoff products rule. I swear from now on, I’ll only buy knockoffs."

Good, with a source of light, they could find their way. It was then that Gu Fan and the rest realized that they were sitting on a narrow riverbank that led far towards an equally dark space. It was the only path they had.

The situation was grim. If those strange fish found them again, they would have minimal means to resist. Therefore, they had to cross the river as quickly as possible.

So, with Lu Yi’s phone lighting the way, they all followed him. Though they were exhausted, their hearts pounding with fear and their bodies drained, they dared not delay.

*****

At this moment, Leng Le ordered everyone to pause. The tracking signal from Gu Fan’s phone had disappeared from her device, indicating that Gu Fan’s party may have run into unprecedented trouble.

Hai tried to comfort Leng Le, suggesting that the loss of signal could be due to poor reception underground. It’s normal not to find a signal from Gu Fan in such circumstances.

Although it made sense, losing the tracking signal meant they no longer had control over the situation. It would now be difficult to surprise Gu Fan’s group. Therefore, in case of an encounter with them, Leng Le decided to mask her face to blend in.

Hai and the others did the same, covering their faces, differentiating themselves from Gu Fan’s group and the others from the ancient town.

"Why? Why did the signal suddenly disappear when it was okay just a while back?" Leng Le felt clear that the tracking device she had installed on Gu Fan’s phone could use the phone’s power to transmit signals. She could receive these signals as long as the distance wasn’t too far. Up until then, the signal had been stable for such a long time underground.

Leng Le felt the sudden disappearance of the tracking signal may not be a good omen. They might face a host of problems following this development. The thought gave her a sense of pressure along with cold sweats in her palms.

Just like the ones who entered first, Leng Le and her group were lost in the massive palace. Unable to find directions after going up and down a few floors, they felt like headless flies bumping around aimlessly.

"Any progress in establishing contact with the outside?" Leng Le asked her subordinates, but the response she got was pessimistic: "There’s no signals on my computer at all. It’s strange, we’ve been setting up signal transmitters all the way down here. Why aren’t they working?"

"Perhaps something’s destroyed them. Now, we can only depend on ourselves." After saying this, Hai bravely marched ahead. He knew that hesitation would only trap everyone in this place.

Just as Hai prepared to push open the room’s door, he suddenly heard uniform marching sounds from outside. The cracks in the door emitted a strange green glow, and they could even see shadows moving in front of the door. There seemed to be numerous entities out there.

"What’s happening!" Leng Le whispered, "The sounds are similar to that of a large army marching. I hope I’m just dreaming."

Hai nodded at this, "You’re hopefully not dreaming. I get the same gut feeling. So, this place might be more dangerous than we thought."