Those Classmates who Suddenly Disappeared
Chapter 87: Sudden Job Transfer

Chapter 87: Chapter 87: Sudden Job Transfer

"What? What? You want me to investigate the new staff at your school over the recent period, regardless of whether they are janitors, security guards, or teachers?" Su Hui expressed considerable surprise when she received Gu Fan’s call.

Gu Fan confirmed, "Yes, I find these people a bit unusual. I hope I’m just overthinking it, but I’m genuinely worried."

"Alright, I will get it done as quickly as possible, but I need some time," Su Hui gave Gu Fan a satisfactory reply. After the call ended, Gu Fan put away his phone, his face full of concern.

If the other party truly had the capability of planting their people in the school, it could mean they had a way of making Lin Xi disappear from campus. The previously perceived safety of the school now seemed naive.

But there was one thing Gu Fan didn’t understand. The campus hosted nearly thirty thousand students, not counting the seniors on internships or the thousands of teachers. With all the activity and surveillance, how could the other party operate?

Qian Chuan had vanished after climbing over the wall and leaving the campus alone in the dead of night. He didn’t disappear on campus. Gu Fan had believed in the safety of the school, but with the current disappearances, many of the missing students had vanished in crowded places. Therefore, having many people around didn’t guarantee safety.

Gu Fan was getting increasingly restless and began questioning. He felt that Lin Xi would be in danger wherever she stayed - the threat lad looming over them all the time.

"No, it’s not like that." Gu Fan honed in on a key point - the missing students had always disappeared after veering out of public view. This meant that even if you were in a crowded place, the moment you accidentally wandered into a secluded area, the other party found an opportunity.

The campus was still a reliably safe environment, but as night deepened and many students returned to their dorms, the sprawling campus would have roads and areas where few people ventured. As long as Lin Xi didn’t go to those places by herself, she’d be safe.

Upon realizing this, Gu Fan felt it was time to alert Lin Xi, Du Jun, and Yang Xinran. But after a second thought, if he only informed Lin Xi, then she could be relatively safe, leaving Du Jun and Yang Xinran as potential targets for the twelfth disappearance.

According to Gu Fan’s calculations, once twelve students had disappeared, the criminals would be satisfied. As long as Lin Xi could get through this, everything would be fine. However, should he really be concerned about the fate of the others? If he did, the people behind the scenes might not be able to make a move on Du Jun and Yang Xinran and focus their attention on Lin Xi.

However, Gu Fan felt something was wrong. He had previously said that everyone should help each other in times of crisis, but he was now letting his self-interest influence his decisions.

Although Gu Fan repeatedly told himself he was just protecting the ones he cared about, and that it was not his fault those students had disappeared, he hoped this would alleviate his guilty conscience.

Struggling between selfishness and conscience, Gu Fan started worrying. If he only thought of protecting Lin Xi and ignored the safety of Du Jun and Yang Xinran, he might live in guilt in the future.

But if Lin Xi disappeared because of this, Gu Fan would regret it severely, wishing he had just protected her and nobody else.

"What should I do?" Just as Gu Fan was grappling with stress, his phone rang. To his surprise, it was a call from Su Hui. Excited, he wondered if she had found something.

He answered the call and heard Su Hui’s voice, "Gu Fan, your intuition is almost on par with a woman’s sixth sense. You were right; there indeed are issues with some of the staff who have newly joined your school over the last year."

Hearing this, Gu Fan grew anxious and quickly asked, "Hurry, Sister Su, what did you find out?"

Su Hui continued, "Half of them came from different regions and worked for different units without any connection. The key lies with the other half; their former workplaces may not be the same, but they all belonged to the same group."

"Oh, that’s indeed unexpected. Which group is it?" Gu Fan knew he was about to uncover the critical clue and listened carefully.

"Lieyu Group!" The mere four words from Su Hui left Gu Fan baffled, as he didn’t recognize the name of this corporation.

Su Hui continued, "This group isn’t very large, doesn’t make much money, and doesn’t have substantial assets. Yet, it has many small subsidiaries which are run by mere handfuls of people, as if they’re only there in name, not serving any practical function or displaying any signs of doing business."

Gu Fan understood now, "So you’re saying that this so-called group really does have issues. They don’t open companies to do business and make money, but for other purposes."

Su Hui pondered, "Actually, I have a theory. The group opens so many subsidiaries as a smoke screen. The purpose is to observe the candidates they bring in. If the candidate doesn’t meet their recruitment needs, they will terminate them; if they feel the candidate is suitable, they will proceed with the negotiation."

Hearing this, Gu Fan was thinking that Su Hui’s experience was invaluable. Right, to make twelve classmates disappear, you need a tight organization. The members need to be observed, evaluated, and then trained. But, if all these people have been through a single corporate group, it would be easy to expose the group. Hence, they need to establish many subsidiaries to disguise their operations.

Gu Fan was inadvertently on the right track - he found the newcomers suspicious. Su Hui found his reasoning perfectly plausible and thus she conducted a thorough investigation. Without Gu Fan’s speculation, Su Hui would have overlooked this when studying her research, as these people’s backgrounds, identities, and even past workplaces were all different.

Suddenly, Gu Fan thought of something, "Wait, why have so many unfamiliar faces appeared at our school? According to my understanding, university jobs are quite stable. There shouldn’t be a lot of turnover, or many new hires."

At this, Su Hui could only shake her head, "To clarify that, you would have to ask the teachers who manage faculty employment at your school."

"I understand now. If there really is a problem, the opposition could arrange for so many people to enter our campus, then there must be an insider." Gu Fan knitted his brows; he felt that something didn’t add up. He remembered when the mishap occurred during a summer vacation trip, after the vacation ended, many unfamiliar faces had appeared on campus. It means that the opposition’s insider had prepared early in the campus.

Gu Fan felt a chill creeping up on him. He began to puzzle it out; assuming they were already targeted after Zhao Rui’s disappearance upon returning from the vacation. To further control their movements, the opposition needed to station their people on his campus. This required an insider in the campus to carry out; a role that surely couldn’t be played by someone hired on a whim. Trust and mutual understanding could only be built over time, they couldn’t have the insider act according to their directives at will. They must have made an arrangement with the insider much earlier, probably even before they went on vacation. This meant they were already targeted before leaving for the vacation, not after.

This was only speculation, Gu Fan was feeling he might be overthinking. Reality might not be as he was imagining.

True to form, just at that moment, Su Hui called again, informing Gu Fan of a new discovery. After further investigation, Su Hui found that employees of the Lieyu Group’s subsidiaries were all working on Gu Fan’s campus as dorm supervisors, cleaners, gatekeepers, and grocery store clerks, filling the vacancies of former employees. The crux was those new faculty members, who seemed to have nothing in common, were not hired due to vacancies caused by resignations, they were actively recruited by the school.

Gu Fan wasn’t overly phased by this, "It’s not strange for a school to hire some extra teachers."

Su Hui sighed heavily, "In theory, that’s not strange at all. However, the strange part is that the number of majors at your school hasn’t increased or decreased, and the corresponding number of students hasn’t fluctuated. But because of the influx of so many new teachers, the overall teacher-student ratio has changed. Moreover, I just checked that your school’s previous teacher-student ratio completely met the standards there’s no need to recruit that many teachers all at once."

"So it’s like that. These people also have a problem. So, all the new faces are suspicious." Gu Fan felt a chill creeping up on him. Even Su Hui on the other end of the phone broke out in a cold sweat.

Honestly, Su Hui had handled many difficult cases, but the scale and precision of the operations in this particular case were unprecedented. It was as if an invisible hand was reaching into every corner."

At that moment, Su Hui had the same notion. Perhaps they were already targeted before they left for the vacation, or even were targeted the moment they stepped onto the campus as first-years. Then, the individuals behind the scenes devised meticulous plans around these college students, making them disappear one by one.

It wasn’t that they became targets because they’d been in the escape room, but that they were the targets in the first place, and their visit to the escape room was simply a part of the larger plan.

In other words, even if others went to the escape room, they wouldn’t disappear. They were not the targets. The targets were always the college students, but why? What was so special about these students?

Pondering this, Su Hui decided to thoroughly examine the information about these college students, hoping to find a common thread. But, to her surprise, she found that she had lost her computer access privileges.

An ominous premonition hit her instantly, and then, Su Hui received a transfer