Those Classmates who Suddenly Disappeared
Chapter 983: Concentrated Living

Chapter 983: Chapter 983: Concentrated Living

Gu Fan was still worried about one thing, "Mo Yun, the thing you did before, there should be no trace left behind, right?"

Mo Yun nodded, "Don’t worry, I disguised myself and acted carefully. Even if they manage to find that woman, they will only know that someone instigated her to accuse Lightning-curved Blade Guo Hu, but they won’t be able to find out who that person is. Too many people with interests involved are hoping for your victory."

"Good, I trust your work." While Gu Fan was pondering, suddenly, Lu Bei and Jin Yi burst in, nearly giving Gu Fan a fright.

Lu Bei came up with a mischievous grin, "Congratulations, Brother Gu Fan, on advancing to the fourth round of the Martial Arts Competition. At the same time, your betting odds have become one-to-one, you know. Your next opponent’s Martial Arts are superior to yours, and their odds are one-to-two."

Jin Yi also added, "Do you know, Brother Gu, amongst the remaining eight Martial Arts masters, only you and the leader of Xuanjian Sect have odds of one-to-one. This means the two of you have become the favorites to contend for the position of Martial Arts Alliance Leader."

Hearing this, Gu Fan was so surprised that he nearly couldn’t believe it, "No way, my odds are this low already?"

"Yes, even though they’re so low, many people are still betting on you to win, not just the next match but also betting you’ll become the Martial Arts Alliance Leader," Lu Bei said, seemingly disbelieving as well.

Gu Fan showed a helpless and bitter smile, "Thank you both for specially coming to tell me this news. I don’t know whether I should be happy or not."

Lu Bei answered, "Of course you should be happy. It’s a recognition of your strength. Even though you don’t have much of it, you’ve made it to the fourth round of the Martial Arts Competition. I’ve never seen a third-rate master achieve this before."

"Thank you for reminding me that I’m a third-rate master," Gu Fan felt demoralized and then saw his guests out.

After Lu Bei and Jin Yi had left, Mo Yun expressed some doubts, "I understand why they would lower the odds for the leader of Xuanjian Sect, he’s a favorite, and he’s certain to win, but Gu Fan, you don’t really have much skill. They’ve set up the rules, and it doesn’t look like you have much hope of winning, so why lower your odds as well?"

Gu Fan thought hard, "That’s exactly the clever part of their strategy; by lowering my odds, they’re telling everyone that Gu Fan and the leader of Xuanjian Sect are both popular candidates, enticing everyone to place their bets."

Lord Xiong nodded, "That’s right, the more people bet on you to win the fourth round of the Martial Arts Competition and to become the Martial Arts Alliance Leader, the more the World’s Number One Gambling House stands to gain if you lose."

"I see," Mo Yun finally understood the interests at play, then thought of something, "Wait, if that’s the case, to ensure you lose, what would they do?"

To this, Gu Fan shook his head, "They probably won’t do anything. After all, the rules have been set, and the people from the First Gambling House are here to protect me. If anything happens to me, they would be held responsible."

"Yes, I feel relieved then," Mo Yun just relaxed a bit, but Gu Fan’s expression became more serious, "That’s also a clever aspect of their plan. Under the guise of protecting participants of the competition, they are actually keeping surveillance to make sure competitors don’t pull any tricks. Meanwhile, they can continue to operate in the shadows, ensuring the competition goes their way."

"My heavens, so it has these functions," Mo Yun hadn’t realized the complexity and showed a look of surprise, while Lord Xiong seemed to have guessed this point, and so was calm.

Just then, several voices came from outside the door, "Is this Young Hero Gu’s place? We’ve been ordered to protect you. Please prepare to move with us to a pre-arranged residence so we can ensure your safety."

As the other party was so polite, Gu Fan couldn’t dismiss courtesy, "Alright, thank you all for your hard work."

Mo Yun shook her head with a sigh, "Well, the people who are both your protectors and monitors have arrived."

Gu Fan just shrugged, "There’s nothing I can do. When in Rome, do as the Romans do." With that, Gu Fan started to get ready and pack his belongings.

Under the guidance of the people from the World’s Number One Gambling House, Gu Fan and Mo Yun arrived at a new residence – a rare clearing among a forest with eight houses arranged in a circle.

This was set up overnight by those with ulterior motives. The purpose was to provide a unified arrangement for the eight masters to reside in, making it easy to protect them collectively and also convenient to monitor them.

Just as Gu Fan and Mo Yun were about to enter one of the houses, they saw another house open and a graceful figure emerge, wearing a mask. It was the only female in this competition, known as the Female Sword Immortal.

"Is that her?" Gu Fan was curious about the Female Sword Immortal and couldn’t help but take a few more glances.

Mo Yun, no longer able to watch, pushed Gu Fan, "Alright, it’s no use looking any more, you can’t tell if the person behind the mask is a beauty. Hurry up and check if the house is missing anything."

"Wait, that’s not what I mean," Gu Fan protested, but was kicked into the house by Mo Yun before he could finish speaking.

Since the eight houses were isolated, they didn’t have to worry about eavesdroppers, so Gu Fan and Mo Yun began to talk quietly.

Mo Yun was somewhat puzzled, "With such arrangements, the leader of Xuanjian Sect will also have to move over, so how will he explain things to the big boss later?"

Gu Fan shook his head, "They also said that if we want to leave here for a short while to move around elsewhere, we must notify them. They will escort us there and back, which means..."

Mo Yun got it at once, "That means the leader of Xuanjian Sect can also leave if he wants, and those escorting him will be his own people."

"Exactly, they have already anticipated this point, but..." as he was saying this, Gu Fan couldn’t help but smirk, "The leader of Xuanjian Sect, by doing this, allows us to know his movements."

"Right, if we see the leader of Xuanjian Sect leaving here, then it’s likely he’s meeting with the big boss. If we catch onto this point, we can expose their true faces, which would essentially eliminate the leader of Xuanjian Sect, our most potent rival," Mo Yun became somewhat excited at the thought, then understood something else, "So that’s why Lord Xiong didn’t come with us; he’s coordinating from within as well as without."

Gu Fan shook his head, "That’s one reason, another reason is that Lord Xiong doesn’t like to be watched. He needs to frequently meet with Xue Wang and the others. He doesn’t want to arouse unnecessary suspicion."

Then Gu Fan fell into thought, "My next opponent should have moved here too, and the one after that would be the Female Sword Immortal, right?"

Mo Yun looked at Gu Fan with a dubious expression, feeling that Gu Fan was paying too much attention to the Female Sword Immortal.