Those Classmates who Suddenly Disappeared
Chapter 312: Action Begins

Chapter 312: Chapter 312: Action Begins

The night deepened, time slowly passed by. Gu Fan felt drowsiness pulling at his eyes, threatening to plunge him into a deep sleep at any moment. However, he gritted his teeth and forced himself to stay awake. He felt not only caution, but also curiosity towards Ning Qi and their team’s purpose.

Gu Fan wondered whether Ning Qi and the others are also looking for the treasure left by the Eternal Life Clan in this area. Perhaps whatever they were looking for could be of help to Gu Fan.

At two in the morning, Gu Fan noticed movement in two tents, which were then opened. He saw Ning Qi, Kang Rong, Hu Bo, and the supervisor stealthily walk out. They were dressed neatly and were carrying bags on their backs. It didn’t look like they were stepping out for a quick relief, and moreover, where was the agreed plan of group excursions for bathroom breaks?

"Have you finally made your move?" Gu Fan forced himself to stay alert, giving all his attention to their every move.

Ning Qi and Hu Bo checked their surroundings and noticed nothing unusual from the other tents. It seemed like no one had noticed their little ruse, so they relaxed, carefully opened the door as minimally as possible to let in as little cold air from outside.

Gu Fan watched as they left one by one, waited patiently for five minutes to make sure they had covered some distance, and then quickly got dressed, meanwhile nudging Lu Yi awake.

"What’s going on? You’re disturbing my beautiful dream." Lu Yi was awakened, but he was so tired that he rolled over and fell asleep again.

"Get up, there’s something happening." Gu Fan finished dressing and rushed outside the tent, waking more people up.

No one knew what had happened, but upon hearing Gu Fan’s call, they all got out of their tents one by one, looking confused. Su Hui frowned: "What’s happened, Gu Fan? Have Ning Qi and the others already left?"

Gu Fan nodded: "They have left, I don’t know where they’ve gone."

"What do you mean?" Lu Yi quickly checked Ning Qi’s tent, found it empty, but noticed that some food and drink were left behind. It seemed that they didn’t plan to leave for good and would come back later.

Xu Haowen raised his doubts: "Where have Ning Qi and the others gone? They didn’t even tell us, leaving us behind, what’s going on?"

Zhuo Hang wore a serious expression: "They must have their reasons for insisting on this route. Although we don’t know what they’re here for, whatever they’re hiding from us is probably not good."

"I’m curious, I would like to know their real purpose for being here, I don’t know if anyone else is as curious." After saying this, Gu Fan gave a meaningful smile. Lu Yi, Jie, and Xu Haowen immediately responded. Their curiosity was piqued.

Old man Tian agreed, he also wanted to see what secrets were hidden in that forest. He had spent more than half his life not knowing.

Ouyang Jin objected: "This isn’t right. We agreed beforehand that we were only going to lead the way. Since when did we agree to help you track someone? That’s an entirely separate charge."

"Here you go again, you never miss an opportunity to increase your price." Gu Fan said helplessly, then added, "Alright, Brother Ouyang, I won’t make it difficult for you. If you want to join us, feel free."

Ouyang Jin acted as if he wouldn’t budge unless the price was raised, but when he realized everyone else had followed Gu Fan, leaving him alone in the tent, he suddenly felt rather pitiful.

A gust of cold wind blew past, causing Ouyang Jin to shiver. He quickly caught up: "I was just joking, come on, we’re friends. How could I raise the price over something so trivial? That’s against my professional ethics."

If it weren’t for the blizzard that hid their faces, Ouyang Jin would have seen the collective roll of eyes from the group.

Looking out into the snowstorm, everything was white, making it impossible to see where Ning Qi and the others had gone. But Gu Fan was sure that their footprints would leave a mark. Carrying so much gear, their footprints would be deep and the storm wouldn’t be able to cover them up quickly.

The footprints near the tent were covered up by the storm but further away, the footprints of Ning Qi and their team were sure to have been left behind. Gu Fan asked everyone to split up and look for these footprints, and then decided that after five minutes, whether they found anything or not, they would all meet back at the tent.

Five minutes later, according to Gu Fan’s instruction, everyone gathered again. As it turned out, Jie had indeed found the footprints. So, everyone tracked them together, following the trail left by Ning Qi and their team.

"Alright, let’s see where you’re heading now." Lu Yi was quite excited, his feelings were those of a cop chasing after thieves, a mix of nervousness and thrill.

Everyone followed the footprints through the rough blizzard. It was indeed a severe one. The snow was quickly covering up the traces left behind by Ning Qi and their team.

Gu Fan thought how fortunate it was that they had acted quickly, otherwise it could have been very difficult to catch up with Ning Qi and their team.

Su Hui came to Gu Fan’s side and whispered, "If we bust Ning Qi and their operation, do you think there will be a conflict between us?"

On hearing this, Gu Fan felt a little worried. He hadn’t considered this eventuality.

Lu Yi, however, didn’t seem surprised: "So what if a conflict arises? Don’t forget, we have the numbers."

"Don’t forget, they have guns." Su Hui kindly reminded everyone to be mentally prepared for any unpleasant consequence.

At this point, Xu Haowen chimed in: "Although Ning Qi and their team have guns, they don’t have enough ammunition. It’s as if they don’t have any weapons."

However, Gu Fan shook his head, "How do you know that they are out of bullets? They might have kept some in reserve. If I were them, I would definitely do the same, just in case."

"Seriously? You think that they have kept some bullets reserved to deal with us?" Everyone felt a bit scared. Nobody wanted to face the wrong end of a gun.

Gu Fan reminded: "Always be careful in your actions, nothing wrong with that."

Lu Yi looked back at Su Hui, Zhuo Hang and old man Tian. They also had guns, but only a few bullets. In this kind of blizzard, it would be hard to hit the mark.

As they kept on walking, they realized the footprints from ahead were covered by the snowstorm, they had lost track of Ning Qi and their team.

Having no other choice, they decided to stick to their previous plan - split and search. Gu Fan gave everyone five minutes to search for footprints, and after five minutes, regardless of the outcome, they would all gather back here. Remember, only five minutes.

Su Hui once again reiterated gravely, "Everyone pay attention. We might be close to Ning Qi and their team. If we find them, don’t act rashly. Immediately return here and regroup with everyone. Then we will confront Ning Qi and the others together."

Zhuo Hang added, "If you’re accidentally discovered by them, just run away and don’t look back."

Everyone took these words to heart and split up. Gu Fan felt a bit uneasy in his heart. In this fierce snowstorm, a lot could happen in just five minutes.