Those Classmates who Suddenly Disappeared
Chapter 92 Adapting to the New Position

Chapter 92: Chapter 92 Adapting to the New Position

In her panic, Lin Xi rammed aimlessly in the dark, fear clung to her like a ghost shadowing her from behind. Her mind was on the brink of blanking out, all she did was run, regardless of where the path led, hoping only to get as far away as possible.

Just around a corner, Lin Xi literally ran into someone’s arms. Her initial reaction was that she had run into her abductor, which terrified her to the point of shrieking, wildly swinging her arms about.

"It’s me, Lin Xi, it’s me." Gu Fan desperately grabbed hold of Lin Xi’s arm, shouting loudly, shaking her vigorously, finally getting through to the frantically struggling Lin Xi.

Finally calming down, the overtly horrified Lin Xi looked at Gu Fan’s silhouette in the darkness and, after repeatedly confirming, threw herself recklessly into Gu Fan’s arms, then started sobbing loudly.

"It’s alright, it’s alright, I’m here." Gu Fan embraced Lin Xi tightly with all his might, feeling her trembling body. He didn’t dare to imagine what she had been through just moments ago.

At this moment, the lights in the photographic information center came on again. Gu Fan furrowed his eyebrows and then called Lu Yi on his phone, asking him to come over to bolster their numbers, believing that more people meant more security.

Jie also brought the gatekeeper and called other classmates to help. Although they were a little late, at least they could show themselves as formidable to the enemy and make them back off.

"Okay, it’s okay now. Everyone is here." Gu Fan began to wipe Lin Xi’s tears, looking at her pale face, he felt a pang of heartache.

Lin Xi was still recovering from the shock, not even knowing what to say.

Lu Yi arrived and, seeing the scene, he let out a sigh of relief: "That’s great. You’re both safe. All is well that ends well—seems like tonight was just a false alarm."

Upon hearing this, Lin Xi shook her head: "It’s not a false alarm, I think Yang Xinran has disappeared."

Upon hearing this, Gu Fan and Lu Yi were dumbfounded and then started to press for details of what happened.

"It was Yang Xinran who lured me here. She wanted to harm me..." Lin Xi recounted her horrifying experience, leaving Gu Fan and Lu Yi aghast.

******

This matter had alerted the police, and they began to seal off the scene and investigate based on Lin Xi’s account. As before, Gu Fan held no hope.

Lin Xi sat on a bench not far from the photographic information center, dumbly watching the police in action. Everything she had just been through made her break out into a cold sweat.

Gu Fan stood by, his expression complicated. He’d learned everything that had happened from Lin Xi; this experience made him think about the unpredictable nature of people and life itself.

Previously, Gu Fan had considered whether to inform Lin Xi, Du Jun, and Yang Xinran about the unusual circumstances on campus and to warn them to be careful. If he did, Du Jun and Yang Xinran would likely raise their guards. And then Lin Xi could potentially become the twelfth one to disappear. Gu Fan thought he would regret not protecting the people he cared about.

Gu Fan thought there was nothing wrong with being a bit selfish—just to protect Lin Xi. He didn’t remind Du Jun and Yang Xinran—it wasn’t him who harmed them. But his conscience didn’t allow him to ignore the safety of his other classmates. Gu Fan felt partially responsible for Zhou Yu’s and Xia Yue’s disappearance since he had once firmly told everyone that they should stick together.

After thinking, Gu Fan decided not to remind anyone. His only goal was to protect Lin Xi with all his might.

However, tonight’s events made Gu Fan introspective. He had suppressed his selfishness, not expecting Yang Xinran to do such a thing. He realized that everyone was selfish, thinking only of themselves—there was nothing wrong with being a bit selfish.

After some reflection, Gu Fan chuckled bitterly. He finally understood people change due to countless such experiences, with too much damage endured, becoming strangers, becoming selfish, becoming indifferent.

Who wouldn’t hope for the world to treat them gently? Who doesn’t become part of this indifferent world after being battered and bruised by it?

No, one shouldn’t change so easily just because of the harm caused by others’ selfishness. Perhaps those who change easily are inherently selfish and dark. But Gu Fan didn’t think he was that kind of person—he would still help his classmates, he still wanted to look for all the missing students, including Yang Xinran.

After a long while, Lu Yi came running over and shook his head: "It seems that there are no clues. I suspect that she has been taken away by them."

"I guess so," Gu Fan muttered, then looked at Lin Xi’s expression.

Lin Xi was still gripped by the gruesome memory of the event, terror still lingering, forever unable to forget the sight of several hands dragging Yang Xinran off into the darkness. At this moment, she held no sentiments of resentment and instead felt a sense of concern for Yang Xinran.

Perhaps the fear had dissipated Lin Xi’s resentment towards Yang Xinran, or perhaps the fear had made Lin Xi begin to worry for Yang Xinran. Only those who have experienced terror in the darkness could understand her feelings; she didn’t want to be next in line.

Gu Fan had some of the female classmates accompany Lin Xi back to the dormitory. He had other things to do. There was too much chaos on campus currently, whoever had kidnapped Yang Xinran would have certainly fled. It was impossible that they would still dare to target Lin Xi.

Seeing the police still investigating, Gu Fan stepped forward and said, "Officer, do you have any word on Su Hui? It’s so late, I haven’t seen her around."

As soon as the case had opened, Gu Fan had tried reaching out to Su Hui, but she hadn’t answered. Perhaps she was busy with something important, and so he didn’t want to disturb her.

This officer had previously worked with Su Hui. Gu Fan had seen him several times. Although Gu Fan and the policeman didn’t know each other well, they were acquainted and could make conversation after exchanging a few pleasantries.

The police officer looked puzzled, "Didn’t Su Hui tell you?"

"Tell me what? Has something happened to her? She looked fine yesterday." Gu Fan’s heart tightened as he thought: I hope nothing bad has happened.

The policeman then said, "Su Hui has been transferred. She is not a detective anymore. She should be busy mediating local disputes now. She’s quite a looker, could probably be a great mediator."

"What do you mean she’s not a detective now, but a community police officer?" Gu Fan was taken aback, hardly able to believe his ears.

The police officer nodded, "Yeah, it’s a shame about her excellent investigation skills and agility. But being a female detective was hard on her."

Gu Fan replied with a simple acknowledgement. Truthfully, whether Su Hui was a detective or a community police officer didn’t matter to him. What did seem surprising was her sudden transfer at such a crucial point in the investigation. Something didn’t feel right.

"Ok, no problem. Thank you for your hard work, officer." Gu Fan didn’t stick around to inquire more about the case, as he knew that the police wouldn’t readily disclose any clues they may have discovered.

After a restless evening, Gu Fan returned home to see Su Hui lounging on the sofa with a snack and the television on. Seeing Gu Fan, she said listlessly, "You’re back. Wash your feet, they stink."

Gu Fan was taken aback since he hadn’t even taken his shoes off yet.

Seeing Su Hui’s lack of enthusiasm as she constantly changed channels, Gu Fan could tell she was in a bad mood. He said, "I ran into your colleagues earlier. They told me you were transferred and are now a community police officer."

"I know, and without any mistakes on my part or any reason whatsoever. These days I deal with petty neighborhood quarrels all day long. Today, two older women at the market got into a fight over the price of vegetables. I tried to intervene, but they almost turned on me. Can you imagine how frustrated I am? I’m used to being the one doing the hitting, not the other way around."

Gu Fan hurriedly came over to comfort her, "How did that go? Did you ever feel like just taking them both down?"

"I wish I could, but I can’t," Su Hui said, looking frustrated. "I’ve always loved being a detective. If criminals didn’t behave, I could hit them however I wanted. It was that simple, that straightforward. Now, though..."

Gu Fan somewhat sympathized with the criminals who had encountered Su Hui. They could expect a beating if they even tried to resist.

"It might just be a matter of getting used to it. Maybe after a few days, you’ll start enjoying your work." Gu Fan was hoping to soothe Su Hui’s volatile mood; otherwise, she might take out her frustrations on him, and that wouldn’t be fun.

But Su Hui shot him a cold glance, "I can assure you, I’m having a hard time adjusting to this new job. One couple brought their fight to the station. My colleagues had just calmed them down when I walked past. The husband looked at me a few times too many, and they started fighting again. And guess who had to write a report for this ridiculous situation? It’s unfair."

"Everything’s hard in the beginning, isn’t it?" Gu Fan didn’t know how to comfort Su Hui, but she asked why he had come home so late. "Strange, why are you so late? Were you working?"

"Not exactly. The twelfth student has gone missing." Gu Fan told her this with a bitter smile, his face even showing signs of exhaustion.

"The twelfth?" It seemed as if Su Hui suddenly remembered something. She went into her room and came back with a piece of paper. "Before I was transferred, I did some investigation. Here is the information of those students. I don’t know what you will think after reading this." Su Hui handed the piece of paper to Gu Fan as she spoke.

"What will I think?" Gu Fan double-checked the content of the paper with Su Hui, who simply nodded.

"Let me think about it." Gu Fan sat down, frowning, his eyes full of confusion.