Those Classmates who Suddenly Disappeared
Chapter 82: The Road to Victory

Chapter 82: Chapter 82: The Road to Victory

The first task was over, and the staff in charge of the expansion training gave Gu Fan, Lv Wei, and the others their second task note.

Upon seeing the second task, Gu Fan wanted to say something, but Lv Wei spoke first: "We should hurry up, thinking and moving at the same time."

Hearing this, the rest of the team wore worried expressions: "You’ve got to be kidding, we have to run again?"

Gu Fan also thought it was not right to be so eager, winning or losing was not the most crucial part, what mattered was the process. It was not okay to tire everyone out for the sake of winning or achieving first place.

However, Lv Wei was indifferent and he commented: "We have had enough rest already, the competition has merely started. Even if we don’t win, we mustn’t come last."

"Okay, let’s hurry to the next location." Honestly, Gu Fan also felt that if they relaxed from the start, they could easily rank the last and that would be very embarrassing.

Hence, Gu Fan, Lv Wei, and the others began running towards the next destination again.

The second task was to capture the most beautiful moment of a park with a picture, as indicated by hints from the task note.

However, Gu Fan was bewildered about what "the most beautiful moment" referred to. He wondered if it could be a scenic spot named "The Most Beautiful Moment".

Upon their arrival at the park, the first thing Lv Wei did was to approach the park’s management staff, inquiring about clues related to the"most beautiful moment.

The park’s management staff informed them that the most beautiful moment in the park was at the lake’s edge, where they could view the towering city buildings in a calm setting. Especially at night, the shining buildings conveyed a lively ambiance, yet the park remained peaceful, akin to the connection of two different worlds.

Although that sounded quite good, Gu Fan and Lv Wei felt uneasy. Could it be that they had to wait until late at night to complete this task?

The answer was definitely no! Both Gu Fan and Lv Wei began to rack their brains but couldn’t figure out the riddle. As time slipped by, Gu Fan would bet that if Lu Yi were here, he would curse: "What kind of twisted mind came up with such a quirky game?"

Speaking of Lu Yi, Gu Fan began to worry about Lin Xi; so he called to confirm that Lin Xi was safe and sound, then inquired about the progress of Lin Xi’s team. Surprisingly, Lin Xi’s team had completed three tasks and was rushing to the fourth one.

"Are you kidding me? We haven’t even finished our second task," Gu Fan sighed after hanging up the call. He did not care much about the competition or winning the first place, but as a man, he cared about having a good showing.

Gu Fan began to take the situation seriously, searching everywhere for answers. Suddenly, he heard a gong-like sound – it was coming from a bell tower, which drew the attention of both Gu Fan and Lv Wei.

The park had a beautifully designed bell tower, its only one and possibly its landmark. Both Gu Fan and Lv Wei thought that the "most beautiful moment" might refer to this bell tower.

With so many trees creating a canopy in the park, Gu Fan couldn’t help complaining. If it weren’t for the bell sound, they wouldn’t have noticed it.

The expansion training staff in the park didn’t confirm if Gu Fan and Lv Wei were right. Instead, they gave them another task, which they knew would certainly be another headache.

"Okay, task’s done, let’s get moving." Led by Gu Fan and Lv Wei, the team started running towards the next destination.

Just like before, they had to rack their brains and exhaust a lot of energy to complete the third task before they hurriedly rushed to the fourth one. On their way, they coincidentally ran into Lu Yi’s team.

Turns out Lu Yi’s team was also running. Every team was racing against time. When Lu Yi found out that Gu Fan’s team had only finished three tasks, she couldn’t help saying, "Are you kidding me? You guys are so slow. We’ve already completed five tasks."

Upon hearing this, both Gu Fan and Lv Wei were shocked, thinking to themselves, "Could it be that our team is the slowest? Despite all our efforts, could we be the last?"

After Gu Fan and Lv Wei had finished the fourth task, they encountered Du Jun’s team. On enquiring, they were utterly disheartened to learn that Du Jun had already completed the sixth task.

"Oh my God, everyone is so clever huh." Gu Fan and Lv Wei glanced at each other, both seeing their corresponding confidence crumbling in each other’s eyes.

However, Lv Wei did not give up. He was still determined to win, his fighting spirit was undiminished. Even his spirit was stirring everyone to move forward together.

At this moment, Gu Fan realized Lv Wei’s leadership skills. He could probably lead them all to victory.

After they managed to smoothly complete the fifth, sixth, and seventh tasks, Gu Fan and the others felt that the progress was accelerating and the tasks provided later became simpler.

The eighth task turned out to be even easier; with a quick search on their phones, they found the answer, which prompted Gu Fan to wonder if they were being set up. "Is this eighth task not as easy as I’m making it out to be?" he questioned himself.

Only the ninth and tenth tasks remained. Gu Fan and Lv Wei had no idea about the progress of the other teams, but they’d put in their utmost effort and felt they were on the verge of victory.

Just then, Gu Fan received a call from Jie which left him terribly anxious. He immediately suspected there was trouble.

Jie called to inform Gu Fan that Lin Xi was in some kind of trouble. They’d noticed someone tailing Lin Xi for quite a distance, and the situation seemed urgent; they needed Gu Fan to lend immediate assistance.

"My God, it seems their next target is Lin Xi." the location where Lin Xi was, was ironically the commercial square where they had completed their first task.

"Sorry, I have to go ahead, you guys carry on with the rest of the tasks. Lv Wei, be careful," Gu Fan didn’t hesitate and left his teammates behind, heading straight for Lin Xi’s location. He reminded Lv Wei to stay safe before leaving.

The other team members were left confused, but Lv Wei understood why Gu Fan reacted so urgently. He knew that there could be real danger surrounding Lin Xi and even though he was alone, Lv Wei wasn’t particularly worried, considering he still had three team members by his side.

As Gu Fan made his way to the commercial square, he was relieved to see Lin Xi unhurt, angrily glaring at two unfamiliar men.

The police seemed to be present both to intervene and to inquire about what happened. Gu Fan then understood. The police were on their usual patrol and just happened to pass by when Lin Xi decided to alert them about the suspicious men who had been following her.

These two men claimed that they followed Lin Xi because they found her attractive and were just hoping to strike up a conversation and get her phone number.

Incidents like these happened on a daily basis and without concrete evidence of the men’s malicious intent, the police could only advise both parties to avoid causing trouble.

Feeling humiliated under the attention of the crowd, the two men quickly left the scene.

"As long as you’re okay," Gu Fan wasn’t sure whether the men’s intentions were truly as they’d claimed, but as long as Lin Xi was safe, that was all he cared about. Then, he asked, "By the way, how did you guys find out they were stalking you?"

Jie answered, "We were counting lanterns here for a while and noticed these two wandering around, constantly looking in Lin Xi’s direction, so..."

"I see, how long have you two been counting lanterns?" Gu Fan asked, which immediately deflated both Lin Xi and Jie’s spirits. They complained about spending over half an hour trying to count the lanterns and failing, blaming whoever set this task for them. They expressed disbelief, suggesting that the people who arranged the training could not have counted them either.

Gu Fan was undeterred by their complaint and instead suggested they might need to find another method to complete the task.

"Oh, what do you mean?" Lin Xi asked, her beautiful eyes full of curiosity and expectation for some kind of hint from Gu Fan.

With Gu Fan’s help, their group successfully completed the task. Upon inquiry, he realized that Lin Xi’s group was lagging behind in their progress, having only completed the seventh task.

Initially, Lin Xi’s tasks were simple and straightforward, making it seem as though her team was advancing more rapidly than Gu Fan’s team, whose tasks were much more challenging.

Having reached this point, Gu Fan decided not to rejoin his original team, instead choosing to temporarily join Lin Xi’s team to help them complete their tasks and ensure Lin Xi’s safety, especially after the strange incident of men stalking her.

The competition was reaching its end after three hours of vigorous movement from the ten different teams. When Gu Fan, Lin Xi, and Jie returned, they were surprisingly awarded second place.

Gu Fan initially thought Lv Wei would be the first to finish but was surprised to see Du Jun had already completed the tasks, leaving Du Jun feeling triumphant for a while.

Next, the other teams also returned one by one after finishing all their tasks, save for Lv Wei’s team which was yet to return, leaving Gu Fan rather anxious about the completion of the remaining tasks they had.

Just as Gu Fan was growing increasingly worried, he saw three of his team members returning without Lv Wei. A sense of dread washed over him instantly.

Gu Fan immediately inquired, "Where is Lv Wei? Why are there only three of you? Weren’t you supposed to stick together?"

One of the team members replied, "We couldn’t keep up. Lv Wei went ahead without us. We thought he would have completed all the tasks and returned here. We even wanted to ask you if you had seen him?"

Is that so?" a sense of dread filled Gu Fan’s heart. He hastily instructed his teammates to call Lv Wei, but the call went to a switched-off notification. What could this mean?