Those Classmates who Suddenly Disappeared
Chapter 1379: Who Exactly Did It

Chapter 1379: Chapter 1379: Who Exactly Did It

Gu Fan simply said, "What do we do now? Attack those people as planned, or figure out what exactly happened here?"

Xue Long answered bluntly, "Do you even need to ask? Of course, we have to find out who killed so many of our people."

Li looked around at the fallen, lying in disarray, as if they had faced a one-sided massacre, and expressed his concern, "Should we call for backup? I have a feeling the attacker is not someone to be trifled with."

"Do you think we are to be trifled with?" Xue Long snorted coldly, exuding an aura of authority. He insisted on staying and had no intention of calling for backup, solely because of his confidence in his own strength.

Within the Xue Clan, Xue Long’s strength ranked within the top ten. Moreover, he had many vampires by his side, each trained rigorously.

"Alright!" At this point, Li had nothing more to say.

Gu Fan asked another question, "Where will we stay? How should we clean up here?"

"We’ll just stay here and wait for those who made the attack to come again. You two are the least useful, so handle the cleanup," Xue Long commanded in an imperious tone, his arrogance irking Gu Fan, who felt like giving him a good beating.

Li found himself in a difficult spot: "Just the two of us to clean up, this..."

"What, you expect me to do it?" Xue Long’s gaze pierced with a sharp intent to kill, frightening Li into a shiver and he quickly nodded, "Yes, yes, we’ll take care of the cleanup."

At this moment, the third group arrived, mostly regular soldiers like Gu Fan, with no vampires amongst them.

Xue Long simply ordered these people to clean the warehouse while he took the vampires to rest somewhere.

There was no helping it; a rank above means one’s weight crushes the lower. Besides, Xue Long was an important figure from a noble family in the Western faction, and his orders had to be obeyed.

Gu Fan, Li, and others started to clean the warehouse littered with bodies. They wiped away blood traces and carried away corpses, busy for five hours, and finally finished their work as the sun rose.

"So tired, my back," Li complained, worn out after the long night, and sat down on the ground to rest.

Although the blood had been wiped clean, the stench of blood was still thick in the air. Gu Fan could only endure it, finding a corner to close his eyes and rest.

Now that circumstances had changed, the attack plan was probably going to be canceled or, even worse, they could encounter another attack here. Gu Fan could only hope that those justice fighters striking against Organization X wouldn’t get into a conflict with him.

Before he knew how long he had slept, Gu Fan was awakened by noise; it was Xue Long calling everyone to gather.

Xue Long, watching everyone standing before him with deference, felt very pleased. Then he said, "I’ve reported this matter to the two noble families, and they, in turn, have reported to Organization X. As for what to say if Organization X inquires, tell them we heard there were suspicious people here, so we sent a group to check it out and the first group to come here got wiped out. We’re the second group that came to investigate."

Everyone indicated they knew how to respond, but Gu Fan frowned deeply. This version could indeed pass muster, and even if Organization X suspected the noble families of moving in the shadows, it wouldn’t be easy to accuse them.

Xue Long meant to send people out to probe, to check the various inns for any strange newcomers.

Gu Fan immediately objected, feeling this was inappropriate because there was no guarantee they could identify suspicious individuals, and they might even draw the enemy’s attention, putting themselves at risk of another attack.

Those present saw the sense in his words, but Xue Long’s face darkened, feeling his pride was wounded, and he sharply said, "Since you love to speak up so much, tell us how we can find those who attacked Organization X. If you can’t come up with anything, don’t blame me for not being polite."

Gu Fan brow furrowed, feeling targeted.

Li secretly felt anxious for Gu Fan—Gu Fan shouldn’t have spoken out; he should have just followed orders.

Gu Fan then casually said, "Bait. We use bait to lure them out." After he spoke, Gu Fan regretted it instantly, despising himself for becoming the means by which Xue Lang used him as cannon fodder to clean up those justice fighters.

"Bait, indeed a good idea," Xue Long’s mouth curled up. He then patted Gu Fan on the shoulder, "Since it’s your plan, you execute it."

"Fine, I’d be glad to," Gu Fan thought bitterly, hating both that Xue Lang considered him expendable and his own propensity for sticking his neck out.

Now Gu Fan could only steel himself to present the plan. He first got hold of a map of the place, then began to study it, stroking his chin, giving the impression he was deep in thought.

Everyone’s attention was on Gu Fan, who seemed to possess something extraordinary, waiting for him to reveal an astonishing strategy.

However, after a long wait, other than seeing Gu Fan deep in thought, they heard not a word from him.

Impatience growing, Xue Long said, "Can you come up with something or not? If not, just say so and stop wasting everyone’s time."

"I have a vague idea of a good approach, and I’ll share it now. Everyone, give me your thoughts and see if it’s feasible. If not..." Before Gu Fan could finish, Xue Long interrupted him impatiently, "Enough with the flowery talk. Speak up if you have something to say, or just do it if you need to."

Gu Fan pointed to the map, "According to the orders of the noble families, we entered the small town in batches and in secret. There are only two ways to enter this town, and Li and I came in from the direction of Dark City, while the rest of you came in from another direction."

Xue Long was starting to understand, "You mean, the first group entered the town secretly but was still discovered. There must have been a leak somewhere."

"The only way from the entrance of the town to this warehouse is this one," Gu Fan said, as he drew a line on the map.

Xue Long looked at it and frowned, "We came using this route as well. Could it be...?"

Gu Fan asked if the third group that reached the warehouse also used this route, and the answer confirmed that indeed the third group had taken it.

The assumption was that the first group used this route to reach the warehouse and then got attacked. Why, then, did the second and third groups use the same route and stay at the warehouse for such a long time without being attacked? What was the difference between these two scenarios?

Seeing Gu Fan deep in thought, Li felt increasingly that this person was not simple at all, quickly identifying the crux of the issue. Perhaps this was why Catherine entrusted him with such an important task.